The Liverpool FC Thread XIV

Also Rooney, Ramsey, Payet, Cabaye, Eriksen, potentially Mahrez too. Premier League has some creative players.Posted from TSR Mobile

Lol did you even see the pass? Have you ever seen Rooney play a pass of that quality. Does Ramsey even know how to use the outside of his boot?

It was a jizztastic pass and few play them with the consistency that Coutinho does, however craply Luke wants to word it

Shrewd signing is Matip. Klopp knows his bargains...

How come even when you agree with me you're still a massive tool?

Because gassing up Liverpool players after one good performance and elevating them to *pundit talk* 'only a handful of players in the world' is idiotic and disrespectful to our reputation as a knowledgeable fan base.

'Like ever.'

I can't really see us going into the new season with 4 first choice CBs though. Typically your fourth option (like Toure) is either very young and promising or past his peak and in both cases, happy to warm the bench until they get their chance.

Along with Ilori and Caulker though? With our injuries and amount of games, we don't really differentiate between 1st and 4th choice.

Also, we don't know how Matip will turn out, I'd rather not sell our most reliable player since 2008 till it's confirmed we have a better player.

Caulker is on loan so he'll go back in the summer. Ilori and Wisdom are our youth options but not sure Klopp thinks either are good enough.

If Skrtel is going to be demoted to the bench, we can't afford to be paying him 100k a week so sit there. Matip, Sakho and Lovren all have age on their side. Matip seems to have been a mainstay for Schalke so I can't really see him being anything other than first choice?

Well we do differentiate since Toure only plays when everyone else is injured or in a rotation game.

Sometimes I wonder whether you've ever been nice to a human.
Like ever.

'Like ever.'

Caulker is on loan so he'll go back in the summer. Ilori and Wisdom are our youth options but not sure Klopp thinks either are good enough.

If Skrtel is going to be demoted to the bench, we can't afford to be paying him 100k a week so sit there. Matip, Sakho and Lovren all have age on their side. Matip seems to have been a mainstay for Schalke so I can't really see him being anything other than first choice?

Well we do differentiate since Toure only plays when everyone else is injured or in a rotation game.

Why can't we we afford that? Secondly he won't be on the bench, we have played our 4 first choice CBs plus Ilori, Caulker, Enrique, Lucas. The first of those 3 are gone so for the sake of saving the difference between Skrtel's and Toure's wages at the sacrifice of possible quality that will almost certainly be called upon throughout the season and the possible need of something extra like we have this season, which costs further wages plus transfer fee, I see no reason to sell Skrtel unless he himself doesn't want to fight for his place.

I meant that you could hardly tell from looking at the amount of games each CB has played.

Another factor on the CB issue (and not relating to any of my points discussed thus far) is the versatility of our signings. I don't advocate going for signings based upon versatility but rather quality in a certain position, though if we happen to get a full back or a defensive mid that can play CB then it allows a greater leeway to go into next season with only 3 quality CBs.

It's a very frustrating scenario because although Skrtel has his faults, he has been such a presence for us over the years. I don't think he's good enough to be starting next season and I agree that his wage is too high to warrant having him sit on the bench. Reluctantly I think we should sell.

I'm happy with Sakho and Matip as main with Lovren and Toure as back up. We already know Sakho can be rock solid when paired with another quality defender - if Matip turns out good we could find a long term CB partnership.
Lovren has improved a great deal so I wouldn't oppose to him being around when Sakho (inevitably) gets injured.

All in all, with Matip coming in I don't think we need to buy another CB. We certainly need a keeper, and potentially a LB on top of that. One we've made those signings, it's up to defensive coaching to make things tick.

Interesting that the two players we have signed so far (Grujic and Matip) are both over 6ft. It's good to see that we are addressing the lack of height in our squad as our players are beaten far too easily in the air, would help a bit with defending set pieces too.