Wayne Bridge? Please god no. I would'nt mind seeing us sign Lavezzi and Diego they could bring creativity to our team.
Its not the idea of how he fill into the team, its more a case of his ability, I don't know if it will add enough depth in that area. If Liverpool buy Downing, what are we planning? Downing on one wing and Henderson on the other? Its just not enough depth, we need creativity and flair. Henderson provides some good backup for the midfielders as well as some quality passing. Edit - Birmingham City have rejected a double bid for Cameron Jerome and Liverpool target Scott Dann from Stoke City, believed to be in the region of £16m. Click here for the full article
Our problem was depth when Rafa had to be thrifty and we ended up with Riera instead of Downing. What you mean is he's not a top name. His skills and stats are good enough to improve out squad depth and he's a team player. As a true left winger Downing is better than pretty much everybody at the club right now. He'll be better than Babel, Riera and Maxi. That is an improvement to squad depth. One player won't add enough depth, whoever it is. You think Mata's going to save us single-handedly? Overseas players are a gamble early doors as they try to settle and adjust. We got lucky with Torres. Ronaldo was £12m and labelled a diving showpony when Fergie bought him. He did little in his first seasons to dispel that idea and even his teammates were telling him to cut the diving out. In his first three seasons he scored 6 in 40, 9 in 50 and 12 in 47, while Dirk Kuyt got 14 in 48, 11 in 48 and 15 in 51 from the same position. And Liverpool fans said Kuyt wasn't good enough. But what are we (i.e. Kenny and Steve) planning? If we knew then it might be possible to say which players would suit better. But we don't know. What we do know is Kenny has an eye for a player and a way of getting the best out of them. So when judging abilities it's wrong to believe they'll transfer as is. Who knows what Kenny can do with Downing or any other player deemed, like Kuyt and Lucas once, as "not good enough for Liverpool"?
I agree with the General on this. IMO too many wish lists contain players who impress as individuals without taking into consideration the balance of the team. Yes, there are players with greater technical ability than say, Kuyt- but will they improve the team overall? Dirk has never managed to score bucketloads, but he has scored consistently even though played out of position- including some crucial ones. Torres was obviously more talented but how often did he chase round harrying defenders or track back down the line to double up on the opposition? If we were to replace Kuyt with a more gifted attacker we would also have to compensate for the loss of the rest of his contribution to the team. This is what building a balanced team is about. The same principles apply to Lucas and any of the less spectacular players. Having said all of that, I'm sure Kenny and Steve understand it better than we do and I have faith in them doing the best for the club.
in the end its up to the management at the club to ge tthe players whether or not the FM2011 brigade agree... i think though people can see we're way short of where we need to be today and have huge gaps to fill so filling them is what people want. I'ts nearly preseason so the later it goes the more disorganised we'll be in the season. utd on the other hand are sitting pretty with young, de gea and jones in and ready to go effectively and only the scholes/modric thing to be sorted..... and thats a bonus as schole didn't play that much anyway. we've so far to go that i'm afraid the lack of results in the market so far will become a source of worry very soon for the majority.
Why would we have to replace Kuyt with another hard working player? You can always make a talented player work hard with good man management skills, you cannot make a hard worker a talented player, which is where Kuyt falls down.
Can't agrue with that, I agree about the team effort rather than rating players as individuals. And now you mention it I reckon King Kenny can get the best out of Downing.
I agree you can't instil natural skills in a player if he hasn't got them, but I'm not sure it's quite as easy as you say to make players work. My point is that a team needs a balance of skilled players and workhorses. The relatively unsung, less glamorous players are as much a part of the team as the stars imo. If we can find a player who gets through the donkey work and has supreme skills on top then yes, lets go for him and I'll chip in a fiver myself.
you guys. 1. i absolutely HATE this new threads within a thread rubbish. Can't you resticky some of the good threads to the board page, you just made it awkward to use the system for the majority. daily news and rumours threads at minimum shold be top of the forum. 2. talking about kuyt like he's a doneky is pointless. you see the fact is every side needs this type of player. if yuo marry off a player like kuyt to a player like suarez you end up with something really effective, flair and graft, if you notice as well how many of maxi's goals in the end of the year came from kuyt and suarez who looked great together.... well do you get the point? i think the ultimate points are; a. ferguson couldn't get ronadlo to track back so i don't think "good management" can actually instill work ethic into guys all the time. b. kuyt is not that much of a donkey, he's not that type of player but guess what? a guy who can juggle the ball on his head 4million times while standing in a bin on one leg doesn't necessarally make a footballer.... eg suarez said his borther was the best of his whole fmaily but he is back hone in urugay doing an ordinary job. Kuyt has skills its just they are not related to control or passing lol.... his poistioning and finsihing skills are very very good. he works hard but we all know he's slow and has a poor touch but he's damned effective.
Liverpool back in for enrique http://www.football.co.uk/newcastle_united/liverpool_set_for_new_enrique_offer_rss1702757.shtml I love how people have got hold of Henry's quotes and twisted them to sort their rumour needs. This makes me laugh as John doesn't even sign the cheques... sure he has input but not as much as Kenny, Comolli, Ayre, Werner & the coaches
I thought personally that hearing newcastle "state" they expected enrique back for preseason next week was tantamount to a come and make an offer statement.
Rumour is that Gael Clichy is on his way out of Arsenal to Manchester City. The price is believed to be £7M. Full link here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2011/jun/30/arsenal-gael-clichy-manchester-city Anyone thinks we should put in a last-minute bid for him?
I think he would do a job for us and improve our squad overall. Wouldn't be dissapointed if he joined us but for over £7million I dunno - it's right on the limit for me... You would think LFC may appeal to him though as he is likely to play a few games more with us than MCFC - I'd love to see the player choose for once!
Good afternoon all, new to the forum!! looking through the speculation and gossip it seems that if Man city are going to be signing gael clichy, we will not be competing with them for the players because they have unlimited cash and also can offer champions league football next season. Also there are other options im sure as well as looking within our squad. Downing would be a good addition due to being left footed naturally and we are in desperate need of a wide man to put balls into the box for big Shandy Andy Carroll and also give width. Also following form that charlie adam should hopefully be completed over the weekend as he has expressed he wishes to leave blackpool and we are his preffered destination. At £8mil I feel this is a good buy. FInally, our midfield will be full of strength and depth with Aquilani also returning and with adam, henderson, lucas, gerrard, miereles and spearing.
Welcome to the forum! You make some good points. I still would want Clichy at left-back. He's good attacking and if we brought him, we could improve him defensively. He is pretty young as well. Fits in with the buying young policy. Maybe match City's bid and let the player decide where he wants to go?
Thanks for the welcome message. I agree that he would add stability to the back four or 3 as the king may choose. The only reason I feel we wont be doing that is because city's spending power over the last 2 seasons is too high and does become ridiculous. They have paid over the odds for players they dont need just to stop clubs like arsenal, chelsea, us, tottenham and even everton & villa from buying. (I forgot 1 team who can't be named for reasons we all know haha) There are players out there who would want to join us for a good price and as the club announced recently that we need players who want to be at the club rather than big priced players who are there for the money.
There are players out there who would want to join us for a good price and as the club announced recently that we need players who want to be at the club rather than big priced players who are there for the money.[/QUOTE] absolutely spot on,we dont need money mad mercenairies give me a player who wants to play for Liverpool and who is not happy to sit on the bench and get big wages. I would rather carry on with what we have than sign players like that.lets face it the team spirit is more essential than anything else
LMAO!!! Twitter & Sky sports are goin mental as Man City are poised to snatch Samir Nasri out of Sir Alkie's clutches... Brilliant
