£232m Spent on 47 Players: Liverpool Boss Spending Analysed

Aquaman - December 2nd, 2009 at 1:37 pm

Woohoo! Up at last!

I notice that my table got a bit mangled, so here it is again:

15+m 10-15m 5-10m Other Total Total Cost
2004/5 2 2 4 8 39.75 m
2005/6 4 8 12 26.29 m
2006/7 1 3 6 10 44.30 m
2007/8 1 1 2 3 7 43.00 m
2008/9 1 2 4 7 39.00 m
2009 2 1 3 40.00 m

Total 5 3 13 26 47

Apologies for the mistake. Can’t promise it won’t happen again, but I’ll try.

Aquaman - December 2nd, 2009 at 1:52 pm

sigh

seems this is doomed to failure

last try!

………………15+m……10-15m…..5-10m…..Other…..Total……..Total Cost
2004/5……..0………………2…………..2……………4………….8………….39.75 m
2005/6……..0………………0…………..4……………8…………12………..26.29 m
2006/7……..1………………0…………..3……………6…………10………..44.30 m
2007/8……..1………………1…………..2……………3………….7………….43.00 m
2008/9……..1………………0…………..2……………4………….7………….39.00 m
2009…………2………………0…………..0…………..1………….3…………..40.00 m

Total…………5………………3………….13…………26………..47

This just in: Trying to be too fancy with your first article is likely to make you look like an idiot.

mark g - December 2nd, 2009 at 2:01 pm

A great start, Aquaman.

Retryboy - December 2nd, 2009 at 2:43 pm

Great to have you writing aquaman always liked your balanced posts. As you know his transfer record is one of the things that i do like about rafa. Think we have a great squad and losing the dead wood is just as important as players coming in. Letting itandje(1m) degen(2m) dossena(6m) cavalieri(5m) kyrgiakos(2m) aurelio(3m) voronin(3m) plessis(2m) =24m bringing in only a top quality LB Cissokho £20m Koman £4m san jose(recall) nemeth(recall)…letting the quality youngsters be the back ups first team Gk-reina RB-johnson LB-Cissokho CB-carragher CB-agger CM-mascherano CM-aquilani LM-benayoun CF-torres CF-kuyt RM-babel rest of first team squad Gk-martin Gk-gulacsi RB-darby RB/CB-kelly LB-insua CB-skrtel CB-ayala CB-san jose CM-lucas CM-aquilani CM-spearing LM-riera LM-Koman RM-el zhar CF-ngog CF-nemeth CF-pacheco CF-Eccleston
Know its based on 4-4-2 but thats a different arguement and if we are going to splash out it should be on someone to strengthen the first team. Cavalieri and aurelio most would keep. Aurelio is purely based on his injury record he averages about 18 games a season not enough and cavalieri would like to keep but he would be easy to sell for decent money and we have martin and gulacsi who are quality keepers martin has picked up experience in 3 loan spells he can now do the job of back up. Losing 8 players for 2 would also generate loads of cash in wages saved so he would probably have an extra £12m to spend on another quality addition

Retryboy - December 2nd, 2009 at 2:50 pm

Messed up the first team stevie g for aquilani

Aquaman - December 2nd, 2009 at 3:22 pm

Anon @ 2:04 pm: Cisse was the other for 14mil.

Anon @ 2:56 pm: I agree. Stay tuned. The argument is that Rafa has spent a lot of money. This should equate to a strong first team. The sale of players affects the squad. My next article will focus on that, so stay tuned!

Retryboy and Mark G: Thanks!

dave - December 2nd, 2009 at 3:44 pm

cisse was a deal agreed by houllier,unfortunately it was already a sealed deal when rafa took over.

Donavan Ried - December 2nd, 2009 at 4:02 pm

Sorry seem to have been logged out for some reason

anonymous – December 2nd, 2009 at 3:59 pm

Good afternoon Retryboy and Aquaman…….

First off, Congratulations on your first (Hopefully of many) article…..

Have to agree with Retryboy that your post is usually well balanced. ….

It is all well talking about gross/net spending, but I think it is how many players that have gone and has been replaced since Houllier which is the true test of how well Rafa has spent the clubs money.
For regardless of what he has spent and recouped he has still changed the personal and could still have signed quality over quantity…..

This how ever does not take anything away from some of the signings that Rafa has made ….. Just wish he would “teak” the side with more quality signings ……

Oh, one last thing …… the Villa’s, Aguero’s and Ribery’s for the world maybe out of our reach if straight cash is required, but remember just like the deals for Alonso and Aquilani, Deals and terms can be struck …..

Again Congratulations Aquaman

Warren Bloggs - December 2nd, 2009 at 4:13 pm

Well seeing as my previous comment has been moderated i will try again but with any quotations from sites. Basically, i found a quite incredible set of rumours earlier today, no it is highly optimistic and some would say un-realistic but the more i think about itm the better it sounds. So, (I know u are all excited) what is it? Well, like so many of my posts it is concerning the incredibly exciting period we call the JANUARY TRANSFER WINDOW! Now, after all the doom and gloom we have all heard in recent weeks this should put a smile on your face!

Now, firstly i heard that all player sales will go towards paying off our debts and instead we will get a £30m transfer kitty for nest summer, financed by the new sponsorship deals Purslow has made. So instead our owners will give us a miserly £12m to spend in the winter. Now, i know what you are thinkinh what can we get with this? So here is where the rumours come in (these are not my own suggestions but are instead rumours i have heard and subsequently trust):

1. Liverpool-Hamburg SWAP deal: Voronin for Jerome Boateng.

Jerome Boateng is a young versatile defender capable of playing across the back-four. He has a dual nationality of Ghana-Germany, the later being where he was born and brought up. So far at U-21 level he has chosen to represent Germany. Seen as one of the best young defenders in Germany he would no doubt be a good addition to our squad providing cover for our main centre-backs and would be another left-back option. Rafa is very interested in his services. Another plus is we would trade the awful Voronin, win-win situation in my eyes.

2. Liverpool-Napoli SWAP deal: Dossena for Santacroce on loan (with a view to a £10m permanent signing in the summer),

I am very excited at the possibility of having Santacroce join us (even more so then Boateng) as he will un-doubtedly be world-class. A player who even at his tender age is a regular for Napoli and Italy, another plus is that he can (like Boateng) play across the back-four although he is primarily right sided. Capable of playing both Right-back and centre-back just as capably he would no doubt be a bargain buy…personally i think he is and will be better than Kjaer and Shawcross. The only sticking points are that this deal would only mean he would com eon loan in exchange but we would get first dibs on his permanent signature. Juventus are also interested in his services.

3. Liverpool-Athletico SWAP deal: Riera for Maxi Rodriguez.

Well Rafa is reportedly dissapointed with Riera’s form and even the spanish winger has come out and complained about his opportunities at the club. Rafa is a keen admirer of the 29 year old argie who we have been linked with before, and i personally would love such as an aquisition as our solution to the right wing. He is pacey and skilfull and i think such a deal would be fantastic. A real possibility.

4. Rafa will look to sign young italian prodigy Andrea Poli from Sampdoria for £3m

Unfortuanelty, not much is known about this young italian box-to-box midfielder, he is currently on loan in Serie B where he is a regular and has had some brilliant performaces. He himself (Goal.com) has said his idol is none other than Stevie G and he has said he would love to play with him in the not too distant future. Similar playing style to Pirlo.

5. Goran Pandev will come to ANFIELD for £4m from Lazio in JANUARY.

Rafa has been interested in the LAZIO star for some time now, and although his contract ends in the summer, there is fear the Macedonian may be forced into a move to Inter and Wenger has also been interested in his services ever since he fell out with Lazio’s manager and director of football. So, our spanish manager may need to move fast for Goran who will undoubtedly prove to be a bargain at the miserly price of £4m especially with his renowned froward versatility.

6. Liverpool fc are looking to sign Junior Stanislas from West Ham for £5m.

Well i think this would be a brilliant aquisition as the pacey wideman has the potential to be as good as say Ashley Young? A cheaper option for the left wing, and is capable of playing up-front as well, no doubt he is a talent and would provide wing cover for the likes of Benayoun and Babel. With West Ham in even worse fiancial meltdown they may need to sell in January and with Carlton Cole now injured they may have to look as well for a quick buck.

So there you have it there is the rumour, we will be given as i said only £12m and we sign the (above) 6 players. Rafa will also apparently sell Degen to AEK Athens for £2m (which will go to the owners), Skrtel’s future is also in doubt although i expect him to stay beyound January even with the two defensive additions of Santacroce and Boateng. Unfortuantely, other news states that Rafa will not be bringing Nemeth back until the summer!

Scouse Magic - December 2nd, 2009 at 4:33 pm

Quality post Aquaman, actually shows what Rafa has really spent.
Although Rafa’s hands have been tied to a certain degree, i think what this does show is that he has bought a lot in quantity rather than quality, which i think we all knew anyway. Hopefully now that he has to be more shrewd, he will think about splashing on fewer players but with higher quality.

THE CHOSEN ONE - December 2nd, 2009 at 5:09 pm

Aquaman
Good start mate, however I would of preferred myself for your next article to be mixed with this like two sides of the coin. In my opinion what hes spent and what hes recouped go hand in hand and makes an overall good debate,

btw how does one start to put articles on here?. Im curious but not sure I would have time

Donavan Ried
We are still a bizness and have to balance the books. That priority over players coming and going, I agree with you Rafa has done well considering the finance hes had and the way hes wheel and dealed.

Let us not forget also that players also get older and at times can lose their value as well as period of contract left could make us lose money as in the judas owen case.The impoortant facts is rafa after selling players each your has used on average an addition 16 mil per year if im not mistaken and the value of his squad as well as the quality has improved.

If we are going to spend more than 30 mil on a player then the age of the player will be 23-26 years tops because after the 5 year contract we can recoup as much as we paid for him.

Donavan Ried - December 2nd, 2009 at 5:58 pm

All Hail THE CHOSEN ONE

THE CHOSEN ONE – December 2nd, 2009 at 5:09 pm …..”If we are going to spend more than 30 mil on a player then the age of the player will be 23-26 years tops because after the 5 year contract we can recoup as much as we paid for him. ….. Would totally agree with you here mate

Retryboy - December 2nd, 2009 at 6:03 pm

Thing is now the youngsters are hitting their 20’s and we have seen insua, kelly, ayala, ngog, spearing are good enough to be squad players so are darby, nemeth san jose, martin, pacheco, this is the way the club should be going letting the quality youth be the back ups along with 6/7 experienced in 90% of injury situations even if you have 4/5 out the youngsters will only be on the bench. Money from fringe players can go on strengthening the first team and we could use the carling cup properly to play young players who are knocking on the first team door instead of the likes of voronin and kyrgiakos playing bringing the young players on faster and bridging the gap. The next crop behind gulacsi, Eccleston, amoo, Dalle valle, mavinga, Buchtmann looking just as talented as they come through some won’t make it all the way but if they have been seen more in the carling cup we will get more for them again for first team strengthening and the ones that do make it you have £10m players for next to nothing. A 30 man squad has got to be a lot healthier for morale and competition too.

Aquaman - December 2nd, 2009 at 6:06 pm

Thanks to all those who commented positively.

As an extension to the above article I feel that it may be necessary to show just how much Rafa has spent on each category of player:

15+m………….95.5m
10-15m………36.2m
5-10m…………84.4m
other…………..14.24m

Total…………..230.34m

In reply to the comment that Rafa has bought so many in the 5-10m bracket together with that infamous remark that “Rafa has not made any spectacular signings under 10m”, I will now list all 13 of those players in order.

Luis Garcia
Fernando Morientes
Jose Reina
Momo Sissoko
Peter Crouch
Daniel Agger
Craig Bellamy
Jermaine Pennant
Dirk Kuyt
Yossi Benayoun
Martin Skrtel
Andrea Dossena
Albert Riera

Of these players only 6 have been sold, all the rest featured prominently (except maybe Dossena) in our best title challenge in 20 years. Of those that were sold I would welcome back 3 of them with open arms (even Craig “golf club” Bellamy. The man is on fire at man city!) The other 3 are out of the prem so I can’t judge.

I think this is pretty good going myself. I would only call three (maybe four) of these 13 dodgy signings. The rest are either good or great!

kermit - December 2nd, 2009 at 6:36 pm

i dont car about rafas sepnding qwe all know ts a net sepnt of maxumin 100 million, in that he has got torres class mascherano class if played as a sole def mid, riera quality when on form reina class changing my opinion on him slowly,benayoun very goood player,babel potential to be unplayablelucas and kuyt both quality squad players, agger skrtel jonson, he has made dsome good buys these players totals well surpass 100 million
i dont moan about his spending i think he has bought pretty well

i want to see babel and torres up front together in this formation

——————————————–reina————————————

johnson————–carragher—————–agger————-dossena

————————————-mascherano——————————–

—————–gerrard——————————-aquilani—————–

————————————benayoun===================

———————–torres———————-babel————————

i d love to see this formation given a go especially at home, there s so much pace in theat front two and with benayoun aquilani and gerrard in behind there are both goals and killer passes from them all, add johnson and dossena bombing forward from wide areas , and the odd belter from 35 yards from agger , and its a class lineup

the alternative attacking positions are

————————————mascherano————————————–

—————————gerrard—————aquilani—————————

babel——————————torres————————–yossi/riera

i think we already have the players to win the premiership
but had i got some cash i d buy both micah richards and an aerial cb and sell skrtel, i dont think we need a partner for torres i think he is already there in the shape of ryan babel he just needs a chance there

kermit - December 2nd, 2009 at 6:38 pm

and for now id substitute tores with kuyt as torres isn t fit and dossena would be in my starting lineup every game for a month along with ryan babel

kermit - December 2nd, 2009 at 6:41 pm

those were my home and away teams by the way
with the fulbacks bombong on at home , and playing more defensively away from home
and either one has a healthy subs bench
kuyt, yossi or riera skrtel insua lucas, ngog

Retryboy - December 2nd, 2009 at 7:04 pm

It is a good point that while Rafa’s spending is what the media jump all over its not something that his critics that are fans of the club complain about we all recognise the weakness of the squad he inherited and the quality of young player 5 years ago compared to now. Its the use of those players, tactics, formations and other things that some fans don’t like not the signings. Think the quality over quantity points from donovan and scouse magic are good points and equate to the same as what i was saying trusting the youngsters to be back ups and having a much more manageable 30 man squad. Rafa has developed the youth slowly surely the time is now they start having an impact in the squad and spend the money created from the trim on quality.

kermit - December 2nd, 2009 at 7:07 pm

yeah so the solution retro seems obvious move rafa upstairs, to director of football at the club and bring in abrighter more attack minded manager to manage the first team

kermit - December 2nd, 2009 at 7:13 pm

on aquamans list of under ten million pound players

luis garcia was shit all he did was give the ball away
morientes a mystery should have done well but didnt really
reina accepted
sissokko i once said he should have stayed as an african goat herder, couldnt pass the ball two yards to a team mate , absolute rubbish, i know people will disagree but i think he was brutal as a footballer
crouch accepted
agger accepted
bellamy accepted
pennant – headless chicken of a player no one could cathc him but he never knew wherehe was going
kuyt accwepted but better as a striker
yossi accepted
skrtel accepted started brilliantly bossed drogba, fallihg to bits, wonders whats going down in his personal life , he is very poor so far this year
dossena accepted , would be my first choice left back
riera , great on his day

kermit - December 2nd, 2009 at 7:15 pm

i make that 8 out of thriteen successes, you could argue all day about garcia making it nine, and dossena not being included making it eight again, in my view 8 out of 13 isnt bad

kermit - December 2nd, 2009 at 7:19 pm

some good points aquaman

Aquaman - December 2nd, 2009 at 7:31 pm

For me personally, I include Momo Sissoko as a good buy. I know you don’t like him, but the man’s making a real name for himself out there at the moment. If he hadn’t left then I think he would have been great backup for Masch which would, perhaps, have allowed Lucas the luxury of being more offensive minded. Plus he scored our 4000th goal! hehehe.

My bads would be Pennant, Dossena and Morientes (though D & M really shouldn’t have been bad. Can’t win em all though. Garcia is a 50/50 as well).

kermit - December 2nd, 2009 at 8:02 pm

i still think dossena has something which our other left backs dont , he loves to get forward and attack and this ought to be utilised more esp in home games
yeah i d give garcia fifty fifty

Dirty Sanchez - December 2nd, 2009 at 8:19 pm

Nice article. I good to see proof to that Rafa’s transfer policy hasn’t been as bad as some has made it out to be.

The January transfer window is for desperation moves only and you will pay a premium. Let’s try and use this to our advantage and cash in on our mediocre fringe players with bleak futures. Even if the money obtained on sales only will line the pockets of Laurel and Hardy it will contribute positively to our current financial situation through shaved wages and towards a possibly bigger transfer budget come Summer time.

Don’t know what to say to all those rumoured loan swaps and what have you – except they sound very unrealistic – especially in light of Aquaman’s research for this article.

Pandev – the Macedonian menace – I’m not sure why anyone would be a fan of his but maybe I’m un-enlightened when it comes to Macedonian talent.

Boateng – great prospect, but don’t we have some of our own promising young players who don’t play? Same goes for the dago Santa’s Croch.

Donavan Ried - December 2nd, 2009 at 9:56 pm

Retryboy – December 2nd, 2009 at 6:03 pm…… “A 30 man squad has got to be a lot healthier for morale and competition too.”…. Yes agree with almost everything that you have said, but I would go further and have a 28 man squad as I feel that 28 is quite a large enough squad anyway ….

Aquaman – December 2nd, 2009 at 6:06 pm…… Juses you’re such a Perfectionist…LOL

Aquaman – December 2nd, 2009 at 7:31 pm…… Sissoko is playing better now than at Liverpool….. If you remember the Reading game we lost, we had both him and Masch’ playing for most of the game…. Rafa wouldn’t change it until the last 12 mins or so he took off Sissoko (Must win CL game 4 days later)

As for Morientes I don’t feel we go he must out of him, or used him right……. Garcia I like he was good…. But get what your say though

kermit - December 2nd, 2009 at 10:00 pm

i think we should buy both micah richards and simon kjaer, while sellinjg skrtel and whilst january is a bad time to buy generally, there are exceptions and its a good time to get loan moves with an option to buy on good players who may not be doing well at their clubs,
bentley pavlyuchenko, van dervaart
with the price set into contract at the time of taking them on loan that if they proove a huge success their price doesnt skyrocket.
i would value this way of buying players, it makes good sense to take them ona asix month trial run, either way you dont lose, if they are bshit send them back if they proove fantastic you get a great player at a moderate price

dave - December 2nd, 2009 at 10:04 pm

sissoko is playing well at juve,he was good at liverpool until an eye injury then his form dipped and was sold at a good price and funds were put towards signing mascherano.

Retryboy - December 2nd, 2009 at 10:11 pm

Garcia used to do my head in! Used to just waste possession every time the ball came near him. Was good to start with but got moved all over the place scored some great goals though and valuable ones. Morientes i really liked seemed perfectly suited to the english league maybe got him at the wrong stage in his career. Sissoko was great to watch if the ref stood still long enough he would have put in a leg breaking tackle on him! Totally useless with the ball i couldn’t believe we got as much for him as we did but he has gone on to good things.

THE CHOSEN ONE - December 2nd, 2009 at 10:27 pm

KERMIT

Agree with you on richards but bently lacks work ethics, He too lazy and flatters to decieve. Plays good one in every 7 games if that. dossena hasnt got it mate the league is far too fast for him. Italy is slower and fits him. He can only run for 60 min tops and it effects his play. He will improve but with his age time is against him.

THE CHOSEN ONE - December 2nd, 2009 at 10:30 pm

Don`t expect too much in the tranfer window in january. If everyone is fit we may not gett anyone unless we ship out people and lets be honest its hard to find quality in january.

kermit - December 2nd, 2009 at 10:35 pm

bentley at blackburn was scoring all the time and was playing well every week. disagree about dossena also , dont think the football is too quick for him , i think he could be great for us, esp now he has aquilani there with him, he came to us as italy s left back.
richards gives us options , play him right back and johnson right wing
play him at centre back (where i think he is better) then play johnson rb and babel right wing. worst coming to worst richards started life as a right midfielder, so he could fill in there , and i know rafa likes adaptabilty in his players,
plus he is english and for ten million , it would be a great signing.
i wasnt particularly interested in signing bentley btw, or pavlyuchenko , but they are both better players than people on here give them credit for.

i like anon at 10.05 s lineup
id change the front three to yossi in the hole behind torres and babel as stirkers, but still a good formation and line up

kermit - December 2nd, 2009 at 10:37 pm

van ver vaart is quality
adriano is quality
both available for the europa league also
both would add considerably to our squad

Aquaman - December 2nd, 2009 at 10:57 pm

Donavan: Hehe. Yeah I know. When I was writing I felt I should keep it short, but then it turned out that I had a lot more space than I thought. Hopefully I’ll get it in one next time. Probably not though.

Retryboy - December 2nd, 2009 at 11:13 pm

None of our left backs compare well to the other big clubs aurelio is the best but too injury prone, dossena isn’t strong enough defensively insua will keep getting better and better would rather he was a back up to a significantly better player as he carries on his development. Johnson and Cissokho would be awesome. Johnson reminds me of ashley cole there were question marks over his defence and people wanted him moved forward but as the years went on his defence kept on improving and took nothing away from his attacking game think the same will happen with johnson. He seems to be improving that area of his game already with us pace like his can get you out of big problems at the back. A good option further forward if we have injuries but moving him there permanently would be a mistake.

Stillontheperch - December 2nd, 2009 at 11:19 pm

Interesting article Aquaman. Kudos for stepping up. Loads moan on here but don’t have the balls or nouse to create something worth reading themselves.

I’m guessing the conclusion will show Rafa transfer record is not as bad as the perceived wisdom suggests. The more important analysis needs to be on why we are having such a poor season, with a squad tweaked and perfected.

Heard a worrying interview on the radio with Steven Gerrard this afternoon. He didnt entirely commit his future to us, the classic “I’m happy at the moment” and also had nothing say with regard his faith or otherwise in Rafael Benitez.
He markedly praised everyone else.

Something is definitely up with captain and dont mean injury wise. His demeanor etc reminds me of the times he looked to leave.

I can see him off to Madrid in the summer. I think Aquiliani is Gerrards replacement and not Alonsos.

Retryboy - December 2nd, 2009 at 11:26 pm

Have commented before on the same subject from his interviews about alonso leaving and seeing michael owen in a utd shirt you can see him getting disillusioned with the regime.

Retryboy - December 2nd, 2009 at 11:29 pm

If we were to buy a striker i would rather have Kenwyne jones than the other names mentioned.

Stillontheperch - December 2nd, 2009 at 11:32 pm

I just feel it in the water. He’s going to go. Plus Real’s President said he was their number one target. As you say he’s praised Alonso to the hilt whilst everyone else has said he was good but we’ll get over him etc.

Hope I’m wrong. The Best player to ever pull on a Liverpool shirt.

dave - December 2nd, 2009 at 11:53 pm

michael ballack missed a pen,chelsea out the carling cup

dave - December 3rd, 2009 at 12:03 am

chelsea’s team included a £17m paulo ferreira,£17m yuri zhirkov,£26m didier drogba,£16m jon obi mikel,£13.5m florent malouda,£9.7m ivanovic,£8m deco,£6m joe cole

dave - December 3rd, 2009 at 12:05 am

i said it was stupid to throw all subs on at half time,hopefully carlo will make some more silly mistakes in the prem.

Stillontheperch - December 3rd, 2009 at 12:08 am

How do you guys get pictures on your profiles?

dave - December 3rd, 2009 at 12:14 am

go to gravatar.com

it will explain on there when you sign up

mark g - December 3rd, 2009 at 12:24 am

Kermit, I doubt Man City would sell Richards to us, we compete for 4th place in the league..

mark g - December 3rd, 2009 at 12:27 am

Dave, Blackburn boys may be tired this weekend, we should have fresh legs and maybe even Torres available..

Stillontheperch - December 3rd, 2009 at 12:27 am

thanks

dave - December 3rd, 2009 at 12:31 am

i doubt that too mark g.richards started tonight anyway,just going to watch the carling cup highlights,it’s nice to see 3 teams through to the semi’s that actually care about the competition.
yuri zhirkov made only his 3rd start for chelsea and they paid £17m for him.

dave - December 3rd, 2009 at 12:42 am

yeah hopefully they will be tired,got to watch the set pieces though.

dave - December 3rd, 2009 at 12:43 am

excellent save from robinson from ballack’s pen

kermit - December 3rd, 2009 at 1:36 am

still on the perch
i agree that aquilani is gerrards replacement but not for the reasons you state
but for the reason that next season gerrard will drop back to deeo lying playmaker as he loses his legs like scholes at man utd

kermit - December 3rd, 2009 at 1:38 am

they might not mark but they are a business, like us and they spashed out heavily on defenders last summer and at some point despite the intial spree at some point the idea will be to make them into a money making adventure through success.
richards wont go to a club that isnt top four level

kermit - December 3rd, 2009 at 1:40 am

gerrard wnt leave, he is thrity and has played ten years of scintillating football and he is losing his speed i think , he is getting older and needs to adapt his game, and will i am sure next season sit alongside mascherano in midfield with aquilani in the gerrard role

kermit - December 3rd, 2009 at 1:41 am

but i would not be surprised to see aquilani play this deep lying playmaker role for this season, and switching slowly over time as gerrards pace goes even more

kermit - December 3rd, 2009 at 1:41 am

i think this is why benitez opted for aquilani instead of a like for like replacement of alonso

THE CHOSEN ONE - December 3rd, 2009 at 4:12 am

kermit

im sure i mentioned richards and johnson of city last week mate and yep agree.
your comments about bently is true. HE WAS……… JUST LIKE MORIENTESS was but hey good call but not mine.

kermit - December 3rd, 2009 at 4:32 am

apparently babel was a great player at one point also

THE CHOSEN ONE - December 3rd, 2009 at 7:27 am

KERMIT

good player kermit not great. he played for ajax and how far did they go in europe. he played for holland u 21 but so does anton ferdinand and ive never rated him. ok hes not got in the senior squad but bottom line hes is a player with promise unlike MORIENTESS who won things and was GREAT.

if you can see my point………

THE CHOSEN ONE - December 3rd, 2009 at 7:52 am

Aquaman article got me thinking alot all day on footy and articles people write and ive come to the coclusion that I may have some knowledge but lack discipline and desire. Im the creative type maybe this will change.
But I ask myself what article would really excite me and hopefully get people interested.is liverpool related. It would have to be the right timing and make people think. debate, reason and even argue lol. So heres my call……..

YOU HAVE SUDDENLY ( because of your experience and knowledge of football lol ) BEEN APPOINTED MANAGER OF LIVERPOOL FC. UNFORTUNATELY THE BOARD HAS ORERRED YOU ALL THE MEMBERS OF YOUR SQUAD WHO HAS UNDER ACHIEVED TO OBTAIN AN ESTIMATED VALUE OF 130 MIL. THE BOARD WILL ALSO GIVE YOU ANOTHER 100 MIL TO SUPPORT YOU IN YOUR QUEST FOR THE TITLE. SO IN TOLAL 230M IS AVAILABLE TO YOU BUT YOU HAVE NO TEAM PLAYER EXCEPT GERRARD ( ok ill even toss in Carragher if you want him lol) and JUST BACK UP SQUAD PLAYERS AT BEST.
IT THE SUMMER AND YOU CAN BUY ANY PLAYER IN THE WORLD BUT YOU MUST QUOTE THE REALISTIC VALUE IF NOT YOUR POST LACKS CREDIBILTY. AND THE FORMATION IF ITS NOT OBVIOUS. WHO WOULD YOU BUY TO BRING FOR FIRST TEAM FOOTBALL TO LIVERPOOL TO END OUR TITLE DROUGHT.

REMEMBER YOUR JOB DEPENDS ON IT LOL

oh god i suppose i have to bloody answer now lol.
ill think about it lol

kermit - December 3rd, 2009 at 7:56 am

can we not keep torres also

kermit - December 3rd, 2009 at 7:57 am

and can we resign players

THE CHOSEN ONE - December 3rd, 2009 at 7:58 am

LIVERPOOL FANTASY FOOTBALL ( with correction )

Aquaman article got me thinking alot all day on footy and articles people write and ive come to the coclusion that I may have some knowledge but lack discipline and desire. Im the creative type maybe this will change.
But I ask myself what article would really excite me and hopefully get people interested.is liverpool related. It would have to be the right timing and make people think. debate, reason and even argue lol. So heres my call……..

YOU HAVE SUDDENLY ( because of your experience and knowledge of football lol ) BEEN APPOINTED MANAGER OF LIVERPOOL FC. UNFORTUNATELY THE BOARD HAS ORERRED YOU to sell ALL THE MEMBERS OF YOUR SQUAD WHO HAS UNDER ACHIEVED (except gerrard)TO OBTAIN AN ESTIMATED VALUE OF 130 MIL. THE BOARD WILL ALSO GIVE YOU ANOTHER 100 MIL TO SUPPORT YOU IN YOUR QUEST FOR THE TITLE. SO IN TOLAL 230M IS AVAILABLE TO YOU BUT YOU HAVE NO TEAM PLAYER EXCEPT GERRARD ( ok ill even toss in Carragher if you want him lol) and JUST BACK UP SQUAD PLAYERS AT BEST.
ITS THE SUMMER AND YOU CAN BUY ANY PLAYER IN THE WORLD BUT YOU MUST QUOTE THE REALISTIC VALUE IF NOT YOUR POST LACKS CREDIBILTY. AND THE FORMATION IF ITS NOT OBVIOUS. WHO WOULD YOU BUY TO BRING FOR FIRST TEAM FOOTBALL TO LIVERPOOL TO END OUR TITLE DROUGHT.

REMEMBER YOUR JOB DEPENDS ON IT LOL

oh god i suppose i have to bloody answer now lol.
ill think about it lol

THE CHOSEN ONE - December 3rd, 2009 at 7:58 am

oh yes we can
what you think kermit
ud have a field day with this lol

THE CHOSEN ONE - December 3rd, 2009 at 8:00 am

nope youll have to buy torres kermit like rafa did lol

got ya lol

THE CHOSEN ONE - December 3rd, 2009 at 8:02 am

KERMIT THINK ABOUT IT. THE FUTURE OF LIVERPOOL DEPENDS ON YOU.
ILL TRY AND PLAY THE BOARD MEMBER AND BE NEUTRAL LOL. I THINK WELL ALL LEARN ALOT FROM THIS LOL.

kermit - December 3rd, 2009 at 8:03 am

okay how big should our squad be at the end
25 players , 20 players,
because for my money losing all the liverpool players is more than 130 million on the current market
lucas ten aquilani 20 mascherano 20 benni 10 kuyt ten torres 40, johnson 20, agger ten pepe ten, riera ten, skrtel 8 carra 10 , unsia 6 dossena five aurelio 5, babel ten, . i m well past 160 already,

kermit - December 3rd, 2009 at 8:04 am

yeah but i can t buy torres for 20 millino like rafa could, so its unfair

kermit - December 3rd, 2009 at 8:06 am

and i am quoting low prices for player torres for forty million is less than market value, which would be fifty in my mind, so you are gonna have to rethink our squad value first

kermit - December 3rd, 2009 at 8:06 am

okay wehwen i am clear on the full rules i think about it

kermit - December 3rd, 2009 at 8:08 am

and what about youth players can i keep them, and then what qualifies as a youth team player, you need more parameters for your proposal than what you have given

kermit - December 3rd, 2009 at 8:13 am

i value our squad at and this is being reasonable

reina 10
cavalieri 5
johnson 20
carragher 8 agger 8 skrtel 8
dossena 5 insua 5 aurelio 5
mascherano 20
lucas 10
aquilani 20
riera 10
yossi 10
babel 10
torres 40
kuyt 10
ngog 5
degen 3
spearing 3
kelly 2
voronin 5

thats 22 players for an estimated 222 million pounds add your one hundred gives me 322 to buy 22 players fair enough

kermit - December 3rd, 2009 at 8:15 am

are these parameters reasonable , in that these are the 22 players i have to replace

THE CHOSEN ONE - December 3rd, 2009 at 8:21 am

kermit
any player that hasnt played more than 5 games for liverpool first team you can keep. its a guide line and im sure if we go slightly over our budget the bank wont mind lol. yes well go of your value of squad, made mine which is about the same.

im talking about first team. you have young players u can use but remember you want the title and they are not tried and tested,

THE CHOSEN ONE - December 3rd, 2009 at 8:22 am

remember carragher is free

kermit - December 3rd, 2009 at 8:25 am

okay i am assuming they are and i am going to go ahead and replace these 22 players
gk lloris lyon ten million
reserve gk cavalieri 5 million
rb johnson 20 million, micah richards 10 million, anyukov cska 4 million
cb kjaer 10, agger 8,carra 8
lb drenthe 7 million, evra 16
def midfield defour 13, lucas 10,
attacking midfield yossi 10,
right wing babel 10 million,
left wing juan mata 16 million, martin petrov 5
strikers torres 40 adriano 10 aguero 40

currently at 252 million for 19 players….
masch 20
jovetic 20
inesta 30

kermit - December 3rd, 2009 at 8:29 am

leaving me with a starting lineup like this

———————————-lloris——————————–

johnson———-richards———kjaer—————–evra

————————–mascherano—————————

——————gerrard—————-mata——————

——————————-iniesta——————————

————————-torres——aguero———————-

subs defour, carra, agger, yossi, lucas, anyukov,adriano, babel, drenthe, petrov, jovetic, cavalieri

kermit - December 3rd, 2009 at 8:29 am

and to be totally honest the future of liverpool is in safe hands

THE CHOSEN ONE - December 3rd, 2009 at 8:32 am

impressive and you stole some of my players lol

half way through mine

kermit - December 3rd, 2009 at 8:32 am

the title is mine.

kermit - December 3rd, 2009 at 8:33 am

awaits your team and lineup

kermit - December 3rd, 2009 at 8:35 am

is debating swapping essien for mascherano

kermit - December 3rd, 2009 at 8:35 am

and actually id rather rooney for forty than aguero but theres no chance of thta happening, but i d like to see torres and rooney together

kermit - December 3rd, 2009 at 8:43 am

rafa letting his players off the reigns was the reasin for our rtun in last year, ie his tactics, and those are the the problems now tactics , starting lineups and poor substitutions, those are the reasons for our current predicament, and not getting the best out of babel, as i m sure you know like me or anyone else babel has an awful lot more to offer than what we are seeing

kermit - December 3rd, 2009 at 8:45 am

anyways geenerallt rafa has done well at liverpool, i always have the same peeves with him though, playing fullbakcs as attacking wide players, procrastinating over making substitutions, lack of enough creative players on the field at any given time, rafa uses four i would have five, with one holding midfielder and two attacking midfielders,
i like kuyt but i dont think he deserves an automatic place in the team for effort alone, we could have had a tevez who gives as much but has more abilty

THE CHOSEN ONE - December 3rd, 2009 at 8:45 am

ill be 30 min after my fag tops i think almost done with first team

kermit - December 3rd, 2009 at 8:47 am

the heart of the team being gerrard fair enough, torres also two huge players missing i admit that but its rafas job to have adequate replacements on the bench to have contingency plans for such situations , so i cannot blame injuries, my squad could cope with inuries to gerrard and torres and johnson and even mascherano so why can t his

kermit - December 3rd, 2009 at 8:51 am

take gerrard torres masch and johnson out of my team and it looks like this
———————————lloris———————————

richards———–carra ————kjaer————-evra

—————————–defour——————————

—————-iniesta ————–mata——————-

—————————-aguero—————————

———————joevtic——adriano——————

does this team look like it would seriously miss those four players

maybe a better thing would be to take away the bonus hundred million, that would give a better comparison to benitez

THE CHOSEN ONE - December 3rd, 2009 at 9:20 am

DEFENCE 71M
MIDFIELD 100M
ATTACK 70M
OTHER SQUAD MEMBERS

GK
REINA 10m
DAVID JAMES 3MIL

DEFENCE
ASHLEY COLE 15MIL
AURELIO 5M
RICHARDS 10MIL
AGGER 8MIL
CARRAGER FREE
JOHNSON 20MIL TOTAL 71

MIDFIELD
LUCAS 6MIL
GERRARD FREE
FABREGAS 40ML TOTAL 94MIL
YOSSI 10MIL
MICHEAL JOHNSON 5MIL
ASHLEY YOUNG 20MIL
GARETH BARRY 13MIL

STRIKERS
BELLAMY 15 MIL
OWEN 3 MIL
TORRES 40 MIL
ETO 13MIL
DROGBA 15MIL TOTAL86M

OVERALL TOTAL 249 MIL

i would have 70 mil left over by your standard KERMIT. and use 30 mil for other covers and problably make ONE LAST 30 MIL BIG SIGNING for a more creative left player on the who cah play both wings but cant think of any one yet.

ok my goalkeeper and defence speak for themselves.
my two central midfield gerrard and fabregas but id have to keep it tight with the wingers or wider midfield platers so id go for Ashley young and yossi

Up front would be Toress and drogba. God help any defence.
Id have the squad. the team and still have money in the bank for January. british core team. tried and tested and I could even make a bid for rooney lol.

KERMIT SO FOR YOU WOULD ONLY COME SECOND MATE LOL

Aquaman - December 3rd, 2009 at 9:32 am

An interesting point, kermit, about Rafa letting his players off the reigns last season. I think that you’re spot on there, but I don’t think that anything has changed. With the tactics more free our defense has suffered. You may remember a comment I posted a day or two ago where I showed that LFC have conceded 2 or more 8 times in the prem alone this season. This is where our problem lies. We still managed to win 2 and draw 2 of those games, so goal scoring is not the problem.

Unfortunately our offensive players are starting to become jaded. I don’t think they are bleak about Rafa, but more about the fact that even if they score 2 goals every game, there’s still a 50/50 chance that we won’t win it. This then compounds the problem because if we aren’t, attacking then our opponents are which puts the defense under even more pressure.

Rafa just needs to say to our attackers “ok, so we’re conceding a lot. Just make sure that we get more than they do!”

kermit - December 3rd, 2009 at 9:35 am

oh man you canty have drogba for 15 and eto o for 13 no way, i d have the youthfulnessm with defour jovetic mata kjaer richards lloris aguero all 22 or under, then i have drenthe at 22 inesta and agger 24 masch 24 lucas 22 johnson and torres at 25 id be domnating for the next ten years, without having to make any purchases
you d win it this year maybe its debatable, i didnt even consider fabregas , funny how you make quick decisions without thinking about it, i d have fabregas in there somewhere.

kermit - December 3rd, 2009 at 9:38 am

aquaman i have already atrricuted our defesne ive leaky=iness to the loss of the reassuring presence of sami hyppia, esp aerially and whether on the pitch or not, he was a reassuring presence to have around for carra even to look up to , i fully feel that carra misses his resassuring presence , and in turn skrtel has looked to carra for it, with carra faltering the effect hads been rippled onto skrtel,
its no coincidence hyppia departs and our defense becomes sieve like.
a really strong commanding aerial centre back is needed, kjaer might be good , but we need someone a little more mature i think

kermit - December 3rd, 2009 at 9:38 am

attributed

kermit - December 3rd, 2009 at 9:41 am

i forgot mata is 21 and babel 22 also , so thats fifteen members of my 22 man squad under the age of 25, fuck it i ll sell egrrrard for forty million and bring in cesc now for forty and i m dominating thew league for the next ten years

THE CHOSEN ONE - December 3rd, 2009 at 9:42 am

kermit

only bought owen so he could sit in the stand all season and watch class players play!!
I could also change our system to 3 in the middle and letting barry sit depending on the match. I think your team would be more entertaining but mine would be more efficient, it would be goals goals and goals!!

On the subject of your last comment. yes our team has tried to be more attacking minded but I think they have forgotten how to. More importantly they cant even spell the word defencd when it comes to set pieces but they are improving and getting back to their best.

kermit - December 3rd, 2009 at 9:42 am

i sell gerrard to city for 40 million and sign cesc for forty million, there done deal, anychance i can sell torres to barca for 100 million plus messi, didnt think so , it worked with eto o and ibrahimovic

kermit - December 3rd, 2009 at 9:43 am

and i d ratherkeep torres

kermit - December 3rd, 2009 at 9:44 am

come on aquaman 322 million to spedn on 22 players , you need to replace the players mentioned above

kermit - December 3rd, 2009 at 9:46 am

erm chosen not playign with aurelio wide left would be a start having riunners coming from midfield to support gerrard and ngog would be another, giving babel a shot wide right would be another

kermit - December 3rd, 2009 at 9:46 am

my team would be brazil from anfield

kermit - December 3rd, 2009 at 9:47 am

too much watchign mourinho for you methinks

kermit - December 3rd, 2009 at 9:49 am

or too much watching chelseas crushing machine, i want to win games 6-2 and 5-3 every week, i dont care how many we are conceding once we score more each game

THE CHOSEN ONE - December 3rd, 2009 at 9:51 am

kermit
I still have funds and counld easily accomodate eto and drogba with another 20 mil extra mate . you are now sounding like moaning red nose face taggot lol.
wed be 9 points in front of you by xmas and my team would reign for 3 years at least. young fabregas (who would be future captain) johnson, agger,riena,torrees, all 7 year material.
And as a good manager id plan and weel and deal for the future lol

kermit - December 3rd, 2009 at 9:53 am

the tactics are as defesive as the y were last season, aquaman lucas isnt given license to get forward til after half time, watch every game he is allowed ot get forward after the sixtieth minute not before, aurelio a left back and one of the slowest in the premier league playing wide left , and his delivery ( his supposed strong point) has been utterly woeful.
kuyt is absolutely almost dea don his feethe would benefit hugely from a few weeks on the sidelines, anyways thwe noises from benitez says that aquilani will be featuring i the comign weeks and i m really looking forward to this as i have been all season, i think he can be really great for us, i just dont want rafa and the fans doing a babel on him

kermit - December 3rd, 2009 at 9:55 am

okay i grant you could get your team for the adequate price, but i just sold gerrard and bought fabregas, and after three years of playing together in the same squad my team will be maturing into a unit , that will oputstrio and arsenal invincibles i predict in four years we go a whole season without losing or even drawing a game
lol i m jk

kermit - December 3rd, 2009 at 9:56 am

lucas would be my long term captain, i really admire him

kermit - December 3rd, 2009 at 9:56 am

lucas is my long term liverpool captain anyway

kermit - December 3rd, 2009 at 9:57 am

he is also my long term captain of brazil

THE CHOSEN ONE - December 3rd, 2009 at 9:57 am

KERMIT u wrote

my team would be brazil from anfield

EXACTLY!! REMINDS ME OF A TEAM I KNOW DOWN LONDON CALLED THE GOONERS. AND WHERE ARE THEY IN THE LEAGUE NOW? LOL

i rest my case lol

love the post where you actually gave rafa a compliment …..wow thats a first lol

kermit - December 3rd, 2009 at 9:58 am

i m not gonna write is again but i made my feelings about lucas pretty clear last night on one of these articles, the really long one i think 250 comments or so

kermit - December 3rd, 2009 at 10:00 am

erm they wouldnt be like the gooners , the gooners lack bite in midfield , and they wouldn t have shitty white sleeves on their jerseys, if the gooners had bite real bite in mdfield then they would be pushing the for the title much more than they are, but thats wengers fatal flaw, putting beauty over substance

kermit - December 3rd, 2009 at 10:01 am

and chosen , they are ahead of us in the league, lol

kermit - December 3rd, 2009 at 10:02 am

i still have masch in midfield and defour as his replacement two really strong tackling midfielders

THE CHOSEN ONE - December 3rd, 2009 at 10:04 am

kermit and you even mentioned arsenal lol i didnt see the post. Listen mate the
1-I wouldnt sell fabregas to you or anyone . hes under contract.
2-The board wouldnt wait 3 years after your slating of rafa

but ill be honest you would probably be a better all round european team than us, but wed still win it with me as manager.

3 years? you might get sacked lol

THE CHOSEN ONE - December 3rd, 2009 at 10:07 am

ahead yes but its not my team and they are not top lol

kermit - December 3rd, 2009 at 10:10 am

and to be totally honest i know many people say that arsenals style is beautiful , i much prefer the explosive fiery nature of ferguson s teams, his man utd teams of the last ten years have been awesome, and a team` s style of play totally in my opinion , reflects the character of its manager,these are tough times for benitez we will learn lots about him in the coming weeks.
i think he has a bit of fight in him, i feel his fatal flaws stubborness unwillingness to adapt might be his downfall, i hope i am wrong and we do really well under him.

and yeah i do have positive things to say about benitez, his choice of purchases is very good in my opinion, actually at times i have thought i must have a mental link to rafa, because he bought kuyt babel , mascherano, and i was urging him mentally to buy those three players, before they arrivied , before robbie keane came i didnt want him to come, rafa and me are totally on the same wavelenght about lucas, i see lots of positives, i just see one huge frustrating drawback.
when things start to go against us in games, like against man city, like against debrecen he waits to long to make his changes, instead of making them early and affecting whats happening on the field of play

for creative players esp, it takes more than fifteen mins at the end of a game to come on and make a huge difference, it takles fve or so mins to even get up to the speed of play

kermit - December 3rd, 2009 at 10:12 am

hahahahahah, lol right
and i dont know any other team from north london called the gooners

kermit - December 3rd, 2009 at 10:13 am

lets try replace the players with just 222 million, and no you cant have et o for 13 or drogba for 15

THE CHOSEN ONE - December 3rd, 2009 at 10:14 am

kermit – December 3rd, 2009 at 10:10 am
good points and i agree

THE CHOSEN ONE - December 3rd, 2009 at 10:18 am

lol your making me giggle the seasons alreay started lol and has you can see its easy for me to adjust my team sell a couple of players like bellemy and barry and still win it . im bullish totay and will stand up to taggot at a press conference lol

kermit - December 3rd, 2009 at 10:21 am

first players i am keeping

masch 20, johnson 20 , torres 40, agger 8, insua 5, yossi 10, babel 10 lucas 10
thts 123 million, fuck this is gonna be more difficult

richards ten, 90 million left, drenthe 7, hangeland 8

65 million left
adriano 10, suarez 15

lloris 10
forty million left

mata 15, hamsik 15,
now i have ten million to buy seven players great., looks like i fucked this edition

kermit - December 3rd, 2009 at 10:23 am

okay rafa well done wihtyour purchases , but anyways i ve never been anti benitez in terms of purchases
i think we have a squad strong enough to win the league as we are

kermit - December 3rd, 2009 at 10:24 am

ah look you are already selling off your rubbish because you know my team is superior, i dont need to sell anyone to win it

kermit - December 3rd, 2009 at 10:26 am

i might just have to sell torres for forty and sign up eto o and drogba for 28 million, that ll save me 12 plus the price of another striker

kermit - December 3rd, 2009 at 10:26 am

i had seven million left so here i go spending the whole seven million on seven members of the nigeria u 17 squad

kermit - December 3rd, 2009 at 10:30 am

at the moment i cant see past the diamond formation to succes

——————————-reina——————————-

johnson———–carra———–agger————insua

————————–mascherano————————

——————gerrard————-aquilani—————-

——————————yossi——————————–

———————-torres——–babel———————–

subs kuyt, lucas, skrtel dossena aurelio, riera ngog, cavalieri

i think that team is more than capable of winning the league

kermit - December 3rd, 2009 at 10:32 am

possible switches with aquilani in where yossi is and riera in where aquilani is, eventually lucas where gerrard is in this formation because i think that will be his best position, and babel to get ten games in a row up front next to torres, no questions asked just ten games in a row, kuyt to use as an impact sub

isaac hunt - December 3rd, 2009 at 6:09 pm

anonymous – December 2nd, 2009 at 2:56 pm

absolutely right. everybody seems to think that we buy these players and sell them for hardly nothing.

—
what a surprise donavan is having a go at rafa again. please can you give it rest now mate. we know you hate everything about him so can you stop telling us how bad you think he is.

isaac hunt - December 3rd, 2009 at 6:24 pm

an interesting fact is that he has actually spent 210 million and has recouped 140 million since he has been manager.

he has overall made around a 22 million profit on the players that HE has bought. this shows that he is actually very good in the transfer market.

Donavan Ried - December 3rd, 2009 at 6:51 pm

isaac hunt – December 3rd, 2009 at 6:09 pm ……. Issac I don’t hate Rafa as a person. I don’t know him ……
Secondly I was not have a go at Rafa, Rather i was try to explain to the anonymous poster why it is that some people are feed up of Rafa ….

isaac hunt – December 3rd, 2009 at 6:24 pm …… “he has overall made around a 22 million profit on the players that HE has bought. this shows that he is actually very good in the transfer market.” …….
That would be great if the Idea is to make money, but it is to improve the team so I don’t really care if he makes money or not ……
Plus have you taken into account the signing on fees, and the wages paid? …..

Said this long ago ….. If you buy a player for £4m plus £2m signing on fee, keep him for 4 years, pay him £10m wages and then sell him for £10m you have not made £6m you have lost £6m …..

isaac hunt - December 3rd, 2009 at 7:14 pm

Donavan Ried – December 3rd, 2009 at 6:51 pm

yes i agree with you that overall the signing fees and agents fees and wages would make the transfer much more expensive but every team has to pay them if they want to buy a good player. i know that the idea shouldnt be to make money but i was just saying that the players that he buys obviously become better and helps the team become better while they are there.

Donavan Ried - December 3rd, 2009 at 7:27 pm

isaac hunt – December 3rd, 2009 at 7:14 pm …. Point take

Aquaman - December 3rd, 2009 at 11:53 pm

Hehe. Isaac, you’ve hit the nail on the head for my next article. It’s in the pipeline so it should be up tomorrow. I look forward to hearing what you think.

Warren Bloggs - December 4th, 2009 at 12:38 am

George Gillett has sold his hockey club for a porfit of £180m, does this mean Liverpool fc’ s fiancial state is about to improve? Could we now have more funds for January and the following summer transfer window? Or is this part of his plan to leave the club?! Either way Liverpool fc win…..great news i think.

Warren Bloggs - December 4th, 2009 at 1:25 am

What is it with this squad changing thing? Our squad is very good and very capable we just need possibly one more class winger and another goal-machine as Torres is (i hate to say it ‘Injury prone’).

Our squad ratings (* means they have the potential to be better)

Goalkeepers:

Pepe Reina (10)
Diego Cavalieri (7)
David Martin (5)
Peter Gulacsi (6*)

Full-backs:

Glen Johnson (9)
Phillip Degen (7)
Stephen Darby (7*)
Fabio Aurelio (8)
Emiliano Insua (7*)
Andrea Dossena (7)

Centre-backs:

Jamie Carragher (9)
Martin Skrtel (8)
Daniel Agger (9)
Sotiris Kyrgiakos (7)
Daniel Ayala (7*)
Martin Kelly (7*)

Defensive Midfielders:

Javier Mascherano (10)
Lucas Leiva (8*)
Jay Spearing (6*)
Damien Plessis (6*)

Attacking Midfielders:

Alberto Aquilani (9)
Steven Gerrard (10)
Yossi Benayoun (9)

Wingers:

Dirk Kuyt (lol) (8)
Albert Riera (8)
Ryan Babel (8)
Nabil El Zhar (7*)
Nathan Eccleston (6*)

Forwards:

Fernando Torres (10)
David Ngog (7*)
Dani Pacheco (7*)
Andriy Voronin (6)

This is what i see as the ‘main’ squad but obviously there are others with Amoo, Palsson and Dalle Valle to name a few. I have also not included the loaned players such as Nemeth, Simon, San Jose, Itandje etc.

With the addition of a right-winger and striker we would be complete:

Milner
A.Young
Forlan

Warren Bloggs - December 4th, 2009 at 1:27 am

Sorry Degen should be 6.

Aquilani4goals - December 4th, 2009 at 1:58 am

I use to like rafa ,but now I just cannot trust his judgement. I want you guy to understand something about rafa. With Rafa it has being up and down. Remember after we won the champions league we were unable to qualify for the next champion league we were only lucky to go because we were the winner of the previous champion league cup. Last season we were 2nd in the league table and now we are struggling to be in the 4th position to qualify for next champion’s league. Having players with injuries is not new to football club, it is the nature of football for players to be injured. NOW don’t you guy think that rafa lack the leadership skill to carry the team to the next level .Because victorious leader feel that the alternative to winning is totally unacceptable. If rafa have this mentality we should picking up trophies in every competition. A great leader should have the ability to read situation and know instinctively what to do to change the situation of the game for the better. But with rafa,he is predictable you can tell what he is going to do through the course of 90 minutes. We know when substitution takes place .it has become a tradition with lfc. I am not getting at rafa but he has actually turned games we were winning and controlling to defeat .With rafa on board we wont go far. We are already out of the champions league. Who should we blame? the head of cos and that is rafa not the players or the injuries .Rafa should take responsibility of the teams failure. I strongly believe is time for a change………….

Aquaman - December 4th, 2009 at 8:36 am

Hahaha. Never been accused of being a manc before.

isaac hunt - December 4th, 2009 at 1:51 pm

Aquilani4goals – December 4th, 2009 at 1:58 am

i know where you are coming from and so many tactical decions are weird but you realise that we have beaten all the massive teams in the last 5 years in europe (ac milan, inter milan, real madrid, barcelona, juventus, chelsea, arsenal). he has showed that he is one of the best managers when it comes to europe and nobody can question that. this year has been awful in europe but people wont agree with me when i say it but i think winning the europa league is a good achievement. however i am wondering if he will ever be able to crack the premier league. he came close last year and we improved a hell of a lot but we still came second. now we are out of it this year and have been mid table at best. there is no doubt that we have been so unlucky but we still have poor players in our first team(kuyt,skrtel,insua,lucas). personally i think the most important thing a title winning side needs is a very strong squad. obvious maybe but our bench is crap. we arent getting enough money to make our squad one of the best. when we have our first team out we will beat anybody. rafa just needs to get squad players that are willing to come on for the last 20 mins and play cup matches. players like lucas,kuyt,skrtel and insua would not get into any of the other top 5 teams. they would be good back up but not first team standard.

Aquilani4goals - December 4th, 2009 at 1:54 pm

I use to like Rafa ,but now I just cannot trust his judgement. I want you guy to understand something about Rafa. With Rafa, it has being up and down the word consistency doesn’t go with rafa. Remember after we won the champions league we were unable to qualify for the next champion league we were only lucky to go because we were the winner of the previous champion league cup. Last season we were 2nd in the league table and now we are struggling to be in the 4th position to qualify for next champion’s league. Having players with injuries is not new to football club, it is the nature of football for players to be injured. NOW don’t you guy think that rafa lack the leadership skill to carry the team to the next level .Because victorious leader feel that the alternative to winning is totally unacceptable. If rafa have this mentality we should picking up trophies in every competition. A great leader should have the ability to read situation and know instinctively what to do to change the situation of the game for the better. But with rafa,he is predictable you can tell what he is going to do through the course of 90 minutes. We know when substitution takes place .it has become a tradition with lfc. I am not getting at rafa but he has actually turned games we were winning and controlling to defeat .With rafa on board we wont go far. We are already out of the champions league. Who should we blame? the head of cos and that is rafa not the players or the injuries .Rafa should take responsibility of the teams failure. I strongly believe is time for a change………….

Donavan Ried - December 4th, 2009 at 2:32 pm

Isaac hunt – December 4th, 2009 at 1:51 pm ……”we have beaten all the massive teams in the last 5 years in europe (ac milan, inter milan, real madrid, barcelona, juventus, chelsea, arsenal). he has showed that he is one of the best managers when it comes to europe and nobody can question that.” ….. Isaac Rafa has still gotten it wrong in Europe and often gotten away with it, But I will give you this He is one of the better managers when it comes to the Champions League, and Yes win the Europa League would still be a great achievement, But remember there are still some massive team in the Europa League and it will not be as easy as most people think….. Said this before, jokingly, “Maybe we should have two managers, Rafa for Europe, and someone else for the Premier League”….. It the premier league were Rafa does not seem to get it ….
And of course you are right when you say ….” players like lucas,kuyt,skrtel and insua would not get into any of the other top 5 teams. they would be good back up but not first team standard”