Nobody expected us to be title challengers last year. I have faith in BR's vision. He knows what he wants.
Absolutely. We didn't have the greatest players in the squad last year ( Suarez aside) and no quality of the bench but look what BR did with them. We went so close with a donkey at RB ,a RB at LB who is barely old enough to shave. A constantly changing back 4 , a error prone keeper. A 34 yo in midfield alongside a player who was going to be let go of . Add to that Allen who people love to hate and a 19yo winger most thought had blown his chance. Not what you'd call an elite squad of players. You need the system, the style of play and players with desire and attitude to fill those positions and make it work. Rodgers did exactly that. Have faith
You clearly know little about Lambert. He is in great shape and is a very nifty player. I think his early struggles and late start to his career have bought him a bit of extra fitness in his thirties. Lallana is a very good scorer from midfield. I think your being pessimistic for the sake of pessimism.
Hardly pessimistic for the sake of it!! One of the best 30 something players we signed was McCallister so no issue with that. Lambert will be great to bring on when Studge tires...better than last seasons options but with losing Suaraz and if we don't get Sanchez I see another transfer window like last January or July/August last season. Talk of promise nut signing second rate rubbish or no one at all. BR has done great with transfers since he joined!!!! Apart from studge and Ford the rest have been a huge success....not!
Judge Rodgers signings in a few years time. Look at Lucas, great signing by Rafa but at first it did not look that way. Kuyt to.
Disagree. Lucas improved but has not become a great player, more of a squad player. Kuyt was bought as a goal scoring striker, something he never achieved, his success was because he worked hard. Again Kuyt turned out to be a good player but not for the reason he was bought. Losing Suarez is a major issue, he is a world class and makes a major difference. If we are to look for CL next year we do need someone close to his level. Can't wait always wait for a couple of years otherwise we end up back where we were. Also Rodgers transfer record is spotty at best. Granted some are for the future like Ilori, some are going to get better with time like Coutinho but then there are the Aspas', Borini and Assman.
Borini could still turn out great. Injuries ruined his first season. We may well profit on Assaidi, Aspas was a fail. Even if Kuyt did not bang the goals in he was a key player.
So what point is being made here? It seems like yet again people are starting to fear the worst and accuse the club of cocking up in some way. We've lost a world-class player, but that's hardly our fault and I fail to see what the club could have done differently about it. The value of the release clause was always speculation, and the amount we get for him still unknown, so accusations of poor negotiating skills are at least premature. We can't replace Suarez, but how we spend the proceeds and how we reorganise the team remains to be seen. Why assume everything's going to turn out bad all the time?
I think criticism of Diggler's goal-scoring record is a bit harsh. He only ever had one full season as our main striker before getting shunted out to the wing to accommodate Torres. True, he didn't set the league alight that season, but many players take time to adapt to the PL and we'll never know whether or not he'd have grown into it.
Lol, Other than Dave and jK, there weren't many people on here who thought we were getting CL THIS year WITH Suarez but apparently he's now the key.....why wasn't he the key last year?..........hindsight is always the strongest argument. Managers don't get to make that particular argument.
During the season we have just had a lot of players stepped up and proved themselves. Sturridge, Coutinho, Sterling and Henderson especially, and Gerrard adapted well to his new role. As a result I actually see Suarez as less of the key now then I did a year ago. But we will need another top attacker in when he goes to keep numbers, goals and creativity up. They dont need to be a 30 goal 20 assist wonder though.
AC Milan president Silvio Berlusconi wants make it clear that Balotelli is available: âOther than Italy, Iâm the one who lost at the World Cup,â âI was selling Balotelli to an English team for several millions, but, after this World Cup, who will buy him now? 'I was going to sell it to a top English club for 35million [euros], then the deal has stalled.' Not a fan personally, but feel a bit bad for Balotelli. Also imagine being owned by Silvio Berlusconi, got to feel for those Milan fans.
