This could say much more about the manager than the player! Lallana is in a new team and like any other player will take time to settle, how many full games has he played for you?
He doesnt usually play 90 minutes but he did have an awkward injury at the start of the season. I have been really happy with Lallana. I think he's a fantastic addition to the squad. Had Suarez stayed he'd be ideal linking up with him.
Agree with this,very good addition to the squad. Still very early to judge Lallana,especially with the delayed start to his season. One thing I do want to see from him is being stronger on the ball,maybe another one who needs to bulk up a bit
I think this season is more about what we lack. A striker of the right style and a solid CDM. If we add those I think a lot of things will suddenly click into place. Much like it did with Sturridge and Coutinho two years ago. Adding these players will free up Lallana, Sterling, Coutinho and Henderson to thrive. Right now they are just having to do to much because they have to cover for failings else where on the pitch. They are being prevented from focusing on what they are best at.
Any team with aspirations for the top four need at least one star player in their ranks that is able to single handedly win a game. Last year we had Suarez, we chose to improve the squad with the money we got for him without replacement the match winner aspect. If our rival are Man Utd, Spurs and Everton (assuming Chelsea, Man City and Arsenal are top three and Southampton drop away as expected) then who has a 'match winner' in their squad...? Man Utd have Di Maria, Falcao and Mata who can all do it. Spurs have Eriksen at a push. You could argue that Everton have Lukaku too. Who do we have? At a push, I can claim Coutinho but really its just Studge! This will be our downfall IMO, our match winner is only able to play 60% of a season in a good year!!!
Mata and Falcoa havnt really hit it off at United yet. lukaku is good but not a match winner. Mirallas on the other hand is a top player. I'm not sure I feel Arsenal quite have that player either. But they do have the luxury of a very balanced team with several players who can step up and grab a win (Ramsey, Sanchez, Walcott). But its not always the same player. Chelsea prove your point though. Last season they had a solid spine with no top striker. Add Costa and boom.
Heard some interesting news from a couple of reliable lads I know about the striker situation in the summer - apparently committee wanted Lacazette, Rodgers wanted Bony - Balotelli was the last minute compromise. Wouldn't say I'm surprised if this were true. Even if it isn't, I can definitely see a difference in opinion between Rodgers and the committee. For it to be successful, Rodgers needs to be cut off from that process IMO. I mentioned before that successful teams have a system where experts identify players and the 'manager' is only in charge of developing them. Using Sakho as an example - the committee identified a great talent with a lot of potential (still raw, mind you). Rodgers wanted Williams, failed and his frustration led to alienating Sakho.
would not be shocked at all. it looks that amatuerish. the committee... is bull ****. I want a face. at least at real you know perez is doing the buying. and at chelsea ambramovich sometimes buys his own. at spurs we saw avb sacked cos levy wanted his buys picked. no system is perfect but at least theres a face to assign blame to. If we COMPROMISED to buy that ****... thats a big issue and peoepl should be got rid of as a result cos no matter if you thought bony was too expensive either you back your manager or you sack him. I don't really rate bony either but to COMPROMISE to buy a player nobody on the planet thought would suit our team is nuts. anyway........ who cares. they are all about 3 months form the push now which is meritted.
I hope not - I hope that the committee stays and has more power, with a DoF heading the team. I just want Rodgers to keep out of it.
Arguments over signings like this are what ruined Spurs as a top 4 club and AVB. Interestingly this happened after a top 4 finish and a big financial boost. There is extra money and they are arguing about who will spend it.
I think Chelsea and Man City are the stand out teams. Arsenal could be caught up in the fight for top four. The only reason i didn't include Arsenal in my comment is because they have quite a few players that I would consider to be match winners. Ramsey, Ozil, Cazorla, Sanchez and even Walcott. By match winner I don't mean someone that takes the ball, beats three men and scores a screamer. I merely mean the ability to pop up in the right place at the right time to get a crucial goal / assist.
we'll see.. who knows. I think LFc took city lads and city took our lads so for me we took city's rejects.
I do want to point out that the mentality exists that you have your strategic thinker at technical director level who picks and buys players and coaches and a coach arrives for 3 years.. which is a mourinho and guardiola attitude. if a coach just thinks short term success he can't alienate players like a sahko just like that he can't get shut. who arrives arrives and if the coach is lucky he gets a consult. in the end we don't know whats going on but we have a right footed lovern playing lcb and what does that say.. did we buy lovern to replace sahko for rodgers or to play together
I agree - the DoF is the one to ensure that the club functions when certain people leave. To ensure continuity in our style and philosophy. Lovren is naturally a LCB. He can play on the right hand side but it's unnatural. This is what makes his signing extremely bizarre because it looks as if he is here to replace Sakho. At the end of the day, Rodgers wanted him. He got him. Now he will live by that decision.
we think..... Lovern is right footed though.... i dunno... i've said so with some other posts previously so i agree the signing doesn't make sense except as a replacement for agger/sahko. it directly led to agger requestingt o go so one can only assume everyone agrees he is an lcb.
Gerrard 'set to open Liverpool talks' Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard could sign a pre-contract agreement with a foreign club in little over a month's time, but it seems his current employers are looking to tie the 34-year-old down for at least another year. Reports in the Guardian and others today claim that formal contract talks between Liverpool and Gerrard will begin later this week. Gerrard said in October that he would continue his career elsewhere if Liverpool did not offer him an extension. - Berinho is in contract talks with West Brom. No doubt to slap a big release clause on him.
We'll end up giving him a 3 year contract and play him for 90 mins week in week out. If Paisley were in charge, Gerrard would have been gone I reckon. I'm sure he said something like 'Let him retire on someone else's pitch'. We have a knack of keeping players beyond their best years and it's hurting us. We kept Reina, Agger, Skrtel, Lucas far longer than we needed to - we could have got massive money for them had we sold them sooner. Instead, we'll get nothing for them. Time to stop being sentimental.
Well people are still moaning about Reina and Agger being let go now..... The Gerrard one is a difficult one as he is the captain and extremely influential in training, dressing room etc. I did expect him to have taken more of a back seat and think he would have if we hadn't have started so ****. I don't think BR is that sentimental.... He has ****ed off dozens of players since he arrived! Lucas was 'the future of LFC', can barely get a game now.... Skrtel was all but out the door until he played his way back in last season...
We did the right thing in getting rid of Reina and Agger IMO, but he just did it too late. I actually want Gerrard to get an extension on his contract - but only if it meant that Rodgers had to the bottle to drop and use him properly. My fear is that he won't and Gerrard will continue to play 90 mins week in week out. Rodgers is quick to drop/sell players who stand up to him - using Reina and Agger as the examples. Not to mention dropping Sakho. He has some yes men in his defence i.e. Skrtel and Johnson who keep their place regardless of performances, and obviously Gerrard who is Mr Undroppable.
Very early on Rodgers tried to be very bold and unsentimental. He picked Coates ahead of Carragher against Man City. Its strange how things have twisted in Rodgers time. For the first couple of months Shelvey was doing really well. By the end of the season he left due to a lack of game time. In the mean time Henderson did the opposite.
