United fan in peace Realistically though, with no CL football next season you are likely to be targeting the latest one-season wonders from the Premier League (Ba, Cisse, Tiote, Sessegnon etc.), or some hardened Premier league campaigners (Johnson etc). The problem is that the former bunch come at an inflated fee and are a high risk purchase, especially in the short term, as you guys have found out with the majority of your latest signings. I think it's safer to go for known entities like your Enriques, although fans will argue they will struggle to lift you into that Top 4 bracket as they are likely from mid- to bottom of the table teams that have no real history of pushing for titles. Mike Ashley must be smiling though, because no doubt at least a few of his bargain buys are going to get sold at massive prices again this summer...
This is what concerns me. I don't want Ba because I believe he was merely in a purple patch and cannot sustain it long term. Similar with Cisse, but they may prove me wrong. Newcastle have got basically every one of their players over-performing this season, and I sense they'll be back to mid-table next season. We fell into the trap with Carroll, so hopefully we won't do so again. I wouldn't call Enrique 'mid-bottom table', though. He's in the top 4 left backs in the league, and hence good enough for a top 4 team.
1. Would love Martinez he may be out of our reach, M'Vila maybe too defensive, Banega too attckin,Sissoko out of form I goin for Strootman of PSV 2. IMO i think we have agreed a deal already for Hoilett,Hansen was waxin lyrical on MOTD which made me think we have pre contract agreed for him, plus there were major rumours in jan about us bein in talks with him.One I really like is Lucas Moura( good buddy or our Lucas) gonna be a top player.Also think we would hav a V good chance of Dries Mertens of PSV, top player who also scores loads o goals for a RM scored average 2 goals in very 3 games this season from RM, classy little player in the Iniesta mould 3.Leandro Damiao( reminds me of Batistuta, may be available for right cash) 4.Matias Suarez looks a top player (pace, tecnique, 2 footed, quality), maybe Eriksen,Gaston R
1.) Strootman is a good shout and I think M'Vila wants Arsenal to come for him not us. 2.) We shall see with hoilett, I just hope he isn't another babel/pennant, pace but no end product ( goals, crosses, assists, etc) Dries Mertens just moved there so that would be pretty difficult. Would take a Defour in that CM role as well as his talk has gone quiet. marin for width would be good too. 3.) If we can shell the cash out we could get him, but depends on what clubs are calling. 4.) I think gaston ramirez might be our first buy the talk about him has gone on for awhile now and won't die down.
1, CDM - Banegar, Martinez, Annan, Huddlestone. 2, RW - Hoilett. Tough one. 3, ST - Ba, Cavani (ambitious, but we have the Uruguay connection), Hunterlaar, De Jong, Bent. 4, CAM - Sessingnon, Remirez (Uruguay), M. Zidane, Ozil.
I think Ba could do a job for any team, he is still playing ace at the moment, he's just playing off Cisse so not scroing as much. Before Newcastle he was scoring regularly for West Ham and Hoffenheim so not just a 'purple patch' or a flash in the pan. It seems english players just need a handful of good games and they're amazing whereas foreign players outside the top few clubs need to put in good performances for 2-3 seasons before people see them as being good. As for the guy who said signing the likes of Tiote, Sess, Ba, etc are only good enough for 7th - a couple of them are newcastles best players and we're in 6th. Plus look at Man Utd's team, it features lots of players from mid-table or even struggling premiership sides (Jones, Valencia, Carrick, Young, Rooney, Berbatov, Owen, etc) and you could highlight the same with City as well. Cherry-picking the most talented players from lower status clubs in the top flight is the safest, though not assured, way of getting a better squad. Youth teams and foreign signings either take longer to sort out or have higher risks involved and i'm not sure how patient the Liverpool fan base is right now.
I'm not sure of that - cherry-picking players from the Prem comes at a higher price. The proven ability and experience can pretty much double a players worth. The inflated price tag can then weigh heavy on the player - Torres, Carroll, Berbatov, Andy Cole (at the start) etc... I think the safest way is Arsenal's, buy hundreds and thousands of eastern europeans and africans for almost nothing. It only needs one success to cover the cost of the other hundred thousand.
I disagree - there are a lot of transfers between Premier League teams and the signings often take a while if not longer to settle than someone coming from overseas. We only have to look at the likes of Downing, Adam, Henderson and Carroll to prove this theory, whereas a player like Luis Suarez fitted in straight away.
Lassana Diarra is better than Tiote and he is available. Ba? Must it be Ba? Carroll was hitting in goals as well when we went for him. What are all the lfc scouts all over the world doing? Surely there is someone out there who is not in the headlines but can hit the back of the net. Personally, i will love to see these players in LFC red: Soldado/Cavani/Lucas Barrios. Lassana Diara. Clint Dempsey. Ike Munaian/Angel D'maria/Arjen Robben. And a promotion for Sterling, Eccleston, Coady. When we have such players in the squad, the not so up-to-scratch players will eventually, on their own accord, asked to be sold rather than hurriedly offloading some players this summer.
I mentioned on another thread that we need players with high expectations and have that desire to win. The reason I say this is because if we take a look at our recent signings of Adam, Hendo, Carroll, Downing and Enrique - they all come from smaller club which have less pressure and expectation associated with them. Then we look at Luis Suarez who helped Nacional win a league title, helped Ajax win the KNVB Cup and respectable league positions, led Uruguay to Copa America victory - he knows what it feels like to win and has that desire to win. I genuinely believe that if we had bought the aforementioned players one at a time over a course of years, we would have maintained a winning mentality and then educated them. What I mean by that is if we had only bought Downing in the summer - he would have been working with the likes Kuyt, Suarez, Maxi, Lucas, Gerrard etc who are winners and know what it's like to perform on the big stages. Now, he is working with Adam, Carroll, Henderson and he is less likely to learn anything from them.
Couple of things there. I think its often easier for strikers to fit straight in than for other positions, not always the case as the team may play in a different style but if you are asking them to do the same job its less of an issue than a defender having to integrate into a new back line. Proven ability and experience does definately raise the price, and if someone is British that raises the price too. Sometimes beyond reasonable limits. That's understandable generally as you work on the basis you have a better idea of what you're getting - its not always the case though. As for youth players it depends how you're getting them and at what age. The way Barca and Arsenal (and previously Ajax, etc) get in youngsters and then bring them up with their own footballing philsophy is ideal but not every team can do it and it requires the fans to be patient and understanding. Buying from abroad needs your scouts to be very sure the player is going to fit in, plus there's always the chance that the player is perfect and would be ideal but other circumstances come up which are a risk of bringing people from further afield (the likes of Aquilani, Tevez, etc). Yes there are examples of players who move within the league and don't fit in, and of players who come from relative obscurity and settle immediately but generally I'd say its a case of "better the devil you know".
Not Ecclleston. IMO he is not good enough for Liverpool, or even the Premier League. He went on loan to a league one team and struggled to get in the first eleven.
LFC-009 I think you make a good point about winning mentality. Teams like Man Utd can pretty much buy anyone and be confident that the winning mentality already imbued in the players they have will rub off. Other clubs - like City and yourselves - haven't won the league for a generation and as such need at least a handful of players who have won major trophies ona fairly consistent basis to be brought it. Success breeds success. That is one big advantage of buying players from major foreign clubs i would concede.
Think your right, I predict we will get Hoilett and Gaston Ramirez, heard rumours ther are gonna be 5 ins, perhaps those 2 a CM,CF and a creative British player under 20, either Zaha or Redmond
Tried to say something similar last night: any of these players would probably have continued their previous seasons form surrounded by a bedded high class team. We had to rebuild quicker than that allowed: and yes it's a gamble that has caused us problems. But; a few higher class signings this summer, takes the pressure of some & hopefully all of this lot & they can start providing the team with what they are good at.
I said in the summer that I didn't think we should bring in too many players wholesale. The management decided otherwise and I accepted the decision but I still believe continuity is the best policy with a cautious introduction of new players in key areas. If we make too many changes again we run the risk of going back to square one so I hope we first address the areas where we are crying out for improvement, then steadily try to strengthen elsewhere.
Good point; I was being short sighted & overly ambitious; not likely we were going to snag 5 world class players in one summer anyway. Actually think it just needs two: striker & either winger or attacking midfielder. If we get that, the pressures of most of our acquisitions and may I say the aging players who we rely on too much for their own good! Always a gamble though: could bring messi to the team & he'd get kicked every week, hate the cold & rain; his Missus could hate the shops & his kids get bullied at the new school so he goes to 8 goals a season....
A Tioti type next to Lucas? We'd never score a goal again! We need creativity next to Lucas. We need a LM, RM, AM, ST at the least. Also a CB as shown up badly recently.
8 a season would be an improvement at the moment. Seriously though, I said a few weeks ago if we'd had someone who'd put away 16-18 by February we'd have been top 3 and wouldn't even been having the discussion. Since then of course, we've fallen away a lot more but I think it's because we've lost confidence. A couple of lucky wins would do us the world of good I think.
