Summer Transfer Window 2015

It's not hard to ask for, but probably too much to wish for

Djjjaaaaamn!

srigooner wrote:It's not hard to ask for, but probably too much to wish for

Art Morte wrote:

Butland
Johnson - Caulker - Wisdom - Milner
Henderson - Clattermole - Lallana
Walcott - Sturridge - Sterling

Djjjaaaaamn!

Morty for manager of England. Someone please do it.

RedOranje wrote:Raheem hasn't really "thrown a tantrum" or displayed a poor attitude though, has he?

I mean, he's rejected a pretty extraordinary offer and he made the unwise decision to give an interview over the situation (without club consent) but he's continued to work just as hard as always in training and on the pitch. There's no indication his attitude with the squad has changed at all or that he's caused any trouble or unrest.

At the moment its simply a wage dispute and contract negotiations that have been put on hold until the season's over. If there's bad blood at all it's between the agent and the club, so far there hasn't been any indication of issues with the player.

Let's not go assigning blame or decrying the player... it will only make him less likely to sign a new deal and/or more likely to look for a move.

No, he hasn't 'thrown a tantrum' exactly. But think about it, he has rejected a very generous offer. It's not the dooms-day scenario but it certainly is the very first step towards that. What bothers/irritates me most is the fact that, we offered it quite early. What I mean, if we offered it late into his contract he could have had reason to feel aggrieved. He can't even say that we don't value him.

While I'm not vilifying him, he definitely acted (and still doing so) in a way he is definitely not worthy of.

Art Morte wrote:

Butland
Johnson - Caulker - Wisdom - Milner
Henderson - Clattermole - Lallana
Walcott - Sturridge - Sterling

Djjjaaaaamn!

Milner at LB and no Flanagan in the side? Johnson instead of Clyne?

RedOranje wrote:

Art Morte wrote:

Butland
Johnson - Caulker - Wisdom - Milner
Henderson - Clattermole - Lallana
Walcott - Sturridge - Sterling

Djjjaaaaamn!

Milner at LB and no Flanagan in the side? Johnson instead of Clyne?

Going for experience

Being completely honest, I'm not entirely sure what I want to see happen this summer. A RB is absolutely and obviously necessary now that Johnson is all but confirmed to be off, but beyond that I'm uncertain of what type of moves I'd like to see after that. A great deal relies upon what out base-approach is going to be moving forward into next season. A 3-man backline carries very different needs from a 4-man defense, and a 4-3-3 or even 4-2-3-1 requires different signings than a formation with 2 forwards (diamond midfield or the like). Our current compliment of attackers makes it quite difficult for me to nail down a likely approach as whatever formation we adopt someone or someones will inevitably be left out or unsuited.

I think we've got a lot to see from Markovic yet and would like to try to find a means of working him into the starting XI in an attacking role somehow, but without forcing Coutinho out of position or limiting the chances for Ibe and Lallana to play as I think both have quite a lot to offer in the coming seasons. The uncertainty surrounding Sterling certainly doesn't help either.

Yeah that's a great point, depending how we finish off the season formation wise it'll be very interesting to see who we go after. I think for me the Only 100% is a top quality striker and a RB, as good as Sturridge if possible, provides competition for DS and Tactical flexibility if we want to play with 2 strikers.

Definitely need to get rid of Borini, Lambert and maybe balo.

Have DS, New striker and Origi competing against each other, on the basis we go with a 3 at the back, if we do go with four, i want yesil to step up for second back up.

I have no problem keeping Lambert for another season if he's willing to continue to accept his current role as (basically) 4th choice striker and a different option. He's got the necessary mentality and love for the club to keep him working at his hardest even when not starting or featuring regularly, and his wages clearly aren't terribly high. At the same time, if he wants to leave in search of regular football I wouldn't be bothered seeing him go either, assuming we ensure we have a reasonable number of options overall up top.

My concern with pursuing another starting quality forward is that said player will expect to be a starter and to earn starter's wages... so do we force a change in formation to accommodate that when Sturridge is fit and play with 2 strikers? If so who misses out? Not many real formations that allow for Coutinho, Sterling, AND two forwards to regularly feature and play in effective positions. Then again, as fragile as Sturridge has apparently become it may not ever been an issue we'd face.

The other, more immediate question would be WHO we pursue for that role? Do we pursue a player in the position of Lacazette/Higuain and pay the type of fee needed to convince club and player to alter their "not for sale" stance? Do we take a punt on someone like Pedro who appears to be available but may not settle well into the role/league as we'd need? Bet on potential and sign the heir apparent to Babel and Elia (Depay) or Ings? Try a cheeky move for a rival's player like Hernandez or Walcott? Pay the PL premium for Berahino or Benteke?

All of those options appear (to me at least) either rather undesirable or hugely unlikely.

Goals scorers goal scorers goalscorers

Even if we blow our entire budget on one player...as long as it's a proven goalscorer, I'm fine with it.

Goals win games, and we don't have enough goal-scorers as it is. It's the #1 priority for this summer by a landslide.

I think Mignolet, Skrtel, Sakho, Moreno, Emre, Henderson, Coutinho, Lallana, Raheem, Balotelli and Sturridge are the starting quality for a team that can guarantee T4 next season. Players like Ilori, Flanagan, Lucas, Allen, Markovic, Ibe and Origi can best be rotation at their present state. Let's forget about Balotelli since he simply doesn't fit in the way we play.

Natalie Portman wrote:Goals scorers goal scorers goalscorers

Even if we blow our entire budget on one player...as long as it's a proven goalscorer, I'm fine with it.

Goals win games, and we don't have enough goal-scorers as it is. It's the #1 priority for this summer by a landslide.

agreed, we can manage top 4 with ease if we can get a 15 goal (EPL) scorer for next season apart from Sturridge.

And CM like Pjanic would be a nice addition.

Otherwise we can manage somehow but without those a creative CM and 15 goals striker we are frrracked.

Yep, priorities have to be a good RB, a great CM and a proven goal scorer. Someone more reliable than Sturridge (and maybe a bit less selfish too). Higuain would be perfect and we've been linked with him a few times over the years.

Clyne, Kovacic and Higuain plz.

I guess the other option, of course, would be to move Coutinho somewhere I think he would be more natural playing anyway and be more involved in the game, and that's midfield. He's not an instinctive goal-scorer, and is usually looking for the pass option. He does however have a decent long-range shot when he's feeling it. Rodgers has said in the past he sees him more as an 8 and Coutinho has mentioned embracing this role also. If you watch his video against Newcastle that I posted you can often see him dropping deeper into midfield while others run up ahead of him. Do we really need to buy a marquee midfielder with Coutinho available? Some of his very best performances with LFC have come from midfield. If we're going to persist with the 4-3-3 and I believe that is the ultimate goal of Rodgers I see no problem with a midfield triangle of Henderson - Lucas/Can - Coutinho for our starting XI. It definitely opens up a few more options in terms of buying maybe a young talented midfielder or just a back-up (like Leroy Fer for example). Then we can focus on buying an attacker and a rightback maybe even a keeper which we really need.

That would give us a base of say:


That could be adapted to either a 4-3-3 or a diamond depending on whether Sturridge is healthy and we buy a big time striker like Higuain or if he's injured or not playing well. We can easily support either formation with that in mind and swap between the two depending on how the on-field battle is going (as well as switch between them for player accommodation with cup games etc.

It leaves one of Lucas/Can, Allen and whoever else we might buy/call-up for midfield, and then we can use any 3 combination of Sterling, Sturridge, Ibe, Markovic, Origi, *buy* (Higuain?) and Balotelli/Borini/Lambert if one is not sold.

I think it's worth exploring tbh. Especially if we are being priced out of a real marquee midfielder, but either way I think at least having it in mind leaves flexibility in the summer.

I'd offer a 1-2 year extension to Johnson. I think he's still our best full-back and at least we know what we're getting with him. Apart from a great goal against Tottenham (and another goal against Swansea), Moreno hasn't convinced me, not going forward and in defense. Yeah, he deserves more time, but let's put it this way that if we had a bette RB than Manquillo (who also hasn't convinced me), I think Johnson should be playing LB right now instead of Moreno. I'm not sure has Flanagan got it in him to be a full-back for us and it's so difficult to tell where he's going at progress wise when he's been injured the whole season. Enrique seems to be firmly on the fringes and possibly gone in the summer anyway.

I know Johnson isn't the ideal option, but I'd like to keep him for rotation. The way I see it is that if we let Johnson go, we should buy both an RB and LB that are starting quality. I find that kind of risky, because even if one of them is a turd, our full-back quality will be very questionable. I'd try to keep Johnson and buy an RB, so we would have that new RB, Moreno and Johnson available for either flank. Then who ever survives the summer out of Manquillo, Enrique and Flanagan.

In his short time on the pitch Johnson has regularly looked less reliable overall and contributed less in both attack and defense than Moreno.

Moreno, for whatever reason, has been designated one of this season's boo-boys and, bar a few poor performances, regularly received criticism for little discernible reason.


Even putting aside divided opinions on Moreno, do you really think Johnson is worth keeping around on 100+k? He's absolutely refused to consider a drop in wages for a new deal.

There is 0% chance Johnson is staying, like Red said, 100K for a sub par player.

He's not going to get anything like 100k from anywhere else and we shouldn't offer that either, but I'd put a two-year, 60k-70k pw deal on the table for him and let him decide what he does.

I just don't think it's a good idea to be at the start of the summer in a situation where Moreno is the only reliable full-back we have - and even he isn't that reliable. I'd rather have two rather-reliable full-backs in Johnson and Moreno than trust that we're going to snatch two good full-backs from somewhere in one window.

I'm sorry Morty, but I have to say this is by far your craziest idea. It even beats the Gerrard sale thread 4-5 years ago.

Very alert on the Klopp situation.

Leaving sentiments aside, I think it may change the whole complexion of our summer plans.

Plays attacking football, we have players suited to pressing football, has already WON things and proven to be good in Europe. Has basically pulled a "Moneyball" that FSG furiously wank to. Not to mention his name is a big pulling power, especially to a very good market like Bundesliga players.
An opportunity basically.

I think John Henry will have a chat if Brendan doesn't get 4th or win FA Cup.

I would be disappointed if FSG didn't discuss this in a private meeting in their ivory tower.

We're essentially banking (hoping) on Rodgers to become a Klopp in the future. Well, if the real Klopp is available today, at the very least letting the thought cross your mind isn't going to hurt.

Art Morte wrote:He's not going to get anything like 100k from anywhere else and we shouldn't offer that either, but I'd put a two-year, 60k-70k pw deal on the table for him and let him decide what he does.

I just don't think it's a good idea to be at the start of the summer in a situation where Moreno is the only reliable full-back we have - and even he isn't that reliable. I'd rather have two rather-reliable full-backs in Johnson and Moreno than trust that we're going to snatch two good full-backs from somewhere in one window.

I'm not sure why you're insisting on discussing theoretical that directly contradict all current evidence, to be honest. Every report has indicated Johnson has refused to discuss reduced terms for a new deal. So it's 100k or so or bust for this situation.

No reason to even think about Klopp unless we sack BR in the summer which isnt going to happen obviously.

If we do start slowly, I can see BR leaving by January but by then Klopp will already get a new club. He aint gonna wait for us.

But i think this Klopp news is going to put pressure on BR, Liverpool fans are very vocal on what they want usually.

Also the Glen Johnson ship has sailed.

Why are we talking about Klopp over Brendan now when Klopp just failed miserably this season with more talent as his disposal than Rodgers?

Rodgers will get more time, and should. I don't want Klopp over him ATM. Not really sure where the 'drawing' power comes from given he has had to sell off or lose his stars year after year for free and this summer would have been no different with likely Reus, Gundogan and Hummels leaving.

Don't get me wrong I like Klopp but I don't think it instills confidence in our managers to sack them so often especially with Rodgers' relative success in his short time here. To build a truly successful club, outside of essentially unlimited spending (which Liverpool do not have), you need time for the manager to really implement his philosophy, structure and personnel. Rodgers is getting there and works fantastically at bringing out the best of his younger players (he also knows how to build around star players).