The BigFooty Liverpool Army

[WCE1698]

Luciano Vietto's agent says that he's spoken to us. 21 year old Argentinian striker who has 18 goals & 8 assists in 35 games for Villareal so far this season, won the La Liga Player of the Month award for December, and as an added bonus, Spanish paper AS are reporting that he has a €10m buyout clause. Fits the mould pretty well in terms of what we'd be looking for in a forward from what I've seen.

I like Dybala & Lacazette too but with the hype around them at the moment and the likes of PSG & United sniffing around, I don't think they'll be moving clubs for under £35m.

Think he would be brilliant. Strike options next year of Sturridge, Balo, Vietto, Origi and even Sinclair would be immense.

 

[WCE1698]

Milner is better than people are giving him credit for. He's played for England at every level from U-15s to the World Cup team (even though he wasn't getting regular game time at City). He has dead ball qualities, great passing and crossing, good attacking instincts, can score goals, can defend and has an engine like Hendo. Glenn Roeder said he was the hardest-training playing at Newcastle, and he was both a 100m champion and cross-country champion at school. He can play anywhere in midfield and City have used him up front too, while frustrating him enough that he let his contract run-down. So he is a BR player through-and-through.

As for Moneyball, he was topping the chances created per minutes, in the first half of the league season. In terms of British midfielders I'd put him well below Stevie, Lampard and Bale, but he's more consistent than the Arsenal mob and what Lallana has shown so far.

As for Moomba's claim of his chasing money all his career, I think this is as close as we'll get to Moomba admitting Man City have more money than sense. Milner played for his hometown club, Leeds, then went to Newcastle when Leeds were bankrupt and was happy to accept a shift to Villa to get more gametime before Newcastle started playing him regularly. He eventually moved to Villa permanently and was their player of the year (and PFA young player of the year) in 09/10. A 28.5M move to City happened next where he's often appeared for less than 90mins.

The only potential thing stopping him being a Red next season is age. He'll be 29.5 by then, so it will be his last big contract but we're getting him on a free so you don't lose cash on that. 4.5 years younger than Stevie, so 4 potentially great years, especially when you consider him being underplayed the last 5 years. (And Moomba if you do read this - how will you make your home-grown quota?)

No point signing him, will just hinder the development of more talented players in his position, and he wont be content with sitting on the bench.

 

[ADL9798]

Not sure if it's been touched on but a real shame that Ibe is going to miss the next month with that knee injury. 3 MOTM awards in the 5 games he played after returning from loan, he was having a really strong impact for us and had he kept going probably would have been in line for an England call up. Still, we've seen some extremely promising signs for his future with us and it now looks as though that's another position we won't have to spend £20m filling thanks to our academy.

 

[Mad Prophet]

Think he would be brilliant. Strike options next year of Sturridge, Balo, Vietto, Origi and even Sinclair would be immense.

Saw that Sinclair popped another goal in for the U21's against Chelsea on the weekend. youd think he might be out on loan next season, similar to Ibe this year.

 

[ADL9798]

What would an ideal transfer window for you guys look like based on the players we've been linked with over the last month or 2, and what would it leave us with for the 2015/16 season?

Out:
Gerrard, Johnson, Enrique, Borini, Balotelli/Lambert, Jones, Alberto, Aspas & Coates

While we may not reap a huge amount in terms of transfer fees for this group of surplus players (£30-35m would be my guess), we will clear an enormous amount of space on the wage bill. Cutting Gerrard & Johnson alone would give us an extra £13m per year to play with, enough for the wages of 4 quality players. With those outs in mind, and a likely initial budget of somewhere around £40m, I'd like to see us go for something like this:

In:
Ryan/Perin (£10m), Danilo (£20m), Pjanic (£25m), Vietto (£15m), Ings (Free), Ilori & Teixeira (return from loan)

--------Ryan/Perin--------
Danilo-Skrtel-Sakho-Moreno
-----------Can------------
----Henderson-Pjanic------
---------Coutinho---------
---Sturridge-----Sterling---

Depth:
Goalkeeper: Mignolet
Fullback: Manquillo, Flanagan
Centreback: Lovren, Toure, Ilori
Centre Mid: Lucas, Allen
Attacking Mid: Lallana, Teixeira
Wing/Wingback: Ibe, Markovic
Striker: Vietto, Origi, Ings, Balotelli/Lambert

Not sure whether we'll stick with the 3-4-3 or revert to a 4-3-3/diamond formation next season, but I think that fortunately the players we have will allow us to be pretty flexible in that regard.

 

[VelvetSledge]

Not sure if I'd rate Maty Ryan over Mignolet just yet.

 

[Dylan8]

Dunno why you keep pushing this return to a 4-3-3, ADL.

 

[Milenko]

Not sure if I'd rate Maty Ryan over Mignolet just yet.

Maty Ryan's distribution and sweeper keeper attributes are superior. Not his shot stopping though - that's Migs' ace in his deck.

FWIW I thought Migs was really hesitant in the City game. A few "WTF are you doing?" facial expressions from the centre halves.

 

[Nuke Fremantle]

Saw that Sinclair popped another goal in for the U21's against Chelsea on the weekend. youd think he might be out on loan next season, similar to Ibe this year.

Is that you Carra?

If he's dominating his age group then it makes sense to move to senior football, as Ojo has done.

 

[ADL9798]

Dunno why you keep pushing this return to a 4-3-3, ADL.

I understand where you're coming from but I still have a feeling that with the right cattle it's going to be Rodgers preferred formation.

3-4-3 is working very well for us at the moment, but I think at the end of the day we were forced into it because of injuries (namely to Sturridge) and individual form issues in the first half of the season.

I suppose it all depends on who we bring in over the summer though. Once we know what players we have to work with it'll be easier to figure out which system is best suited to fitting them all in.

 

[Zidane98]

Hendo ' s record as captain: 9 wins 3 draws.

 

[kane249]

Stevie who?

Come at me Jod!

 

[Ashton Agar]

Stevie who?

Come at me Jod!

Blasphemy!

 

[WCE1698]

Saw that Sinclair popped another goal in for the U21's against Chelsea on the weekend. youd think he might be out on loan next season, similar to Ibe this year.

Hopefully to Derby.

 

[WCE1698]

Not sure if I'd rate Maty Ryan over Mignolet just yet.

Don't want Matt Ryan, especially as a number 1 or even as a back up. Better options out there for a back up, like Scuffet who is one of the most talented keepers in the world. An option for a number 1 could be Trapp who's contract is expiring.

 

[Zidane98]

Interesting to see how BR uses Gerrard from now on. He can't play in either of Hendo or Lucas's positions with our pressing & tempo. Will probably be used as a sub to replace Lallana from now on you'd think.

 

[moomba]

As for Moomba's claim of his chasing money all his career, I think this is as close as we'll get to Moomba admitting Man City have more money than sense.

He forced a move to Villa because Newcastle knocked back a transfer fee (£10m IIRC) so Milner said if you think I'm worth more than £10m you need to start giving me a salary to match.

He got a good payrise moving to City and he was pretty pro-active about it too.

More money than sense? He's been part of a squad that has won two league titles in three years. I'm not complaining.

(And Moomba if you do read this - how will you make your home-grown quota?)

I would imagine if a home grown player leaves he will be replaced by another home grown player from another club or the academy. Lopes (Lille) and Denayer (Celtic) have been doing very well on loan and may be part of the squad next season. I would imagine Kelechi Iheanacho will be as well who doesnt need to be on a squad list as he'll be 18/19.

 

[moomba]

As for Milners position at Liverpool if he signed, I havent really been impressed with him in the central role he craves.

Wide of a front three or wingback he could do with no real problems.

 

[00Stinger]

What would an ideal transfer window for you guys look like based on the players we've been linked with over the last month or 2, and what would it leave us with for the 2015/16 season?

Out:
Gerrard, Johnson, Enrique, Borini, Balotelli/Lambert, Jones, Alberto, Aspas & Coates

While we may not reap a huge amount in terms of transfer fees for this group of surplus players (£30-35m would be my guess), we will clear an enormous amount of space on the wage bill. Cutting Gerrard & Johnson alone would give us an extra £13m per year to play with, enough for the wages of 4 quality players. With those outs in mind, and a likely initial budget of somewhere around £40m, I'd like to see us go for something like this:

In:
Ryan/Perin (£10m), Danilo (£20m), Pjanic (£25m), Vietto (£15m), Ings (Free), Ilori & Teixeira (return from loan)

--------Ryan/Perin--------
Danilo-Skrtel-Sakho-Moreno
-----------Can------------
----Henderson-Pjanic------
---------Coutinho---------
---Sturridge-----Sterling---

Depth:
Goalkeeper: Mignolet
Fullback: Manquillo, Flanagan
Centreback: Lovren, Toure, Ilori
Centre Mid: Lucas, Allen
Attacking Mid: Lallana, Teixeira
Wing/Wingback: Ibe, Markovic
Striker: Vietto, Origi, Ings, Balotelli/Lambert

Not sure whether we'll stick with the 3-4-3 or revert to a 4-3-3/diamond formation next season, but I think that fortunately the players we have will allow us to be pretty flexible in that regard.

Manquilo is on loan and I suspect we won't be signing him permanently

 

[Zidane98]

I'd retain Enrique as cover at LB. Wouldn't be against keeping Balo as am impact player.

 

[WCE1698]

Manquilo is on loan and I suspect we won't be signing him permanently

i hope we do, hes got so much talent. Shame this system doesn't suit him.

 

[JohnnyDrama1]

scenario: Playing stoke on last day of season (Gerrards last ever PL game) and need to win to get top 4 otherwise United go in. Front 3 of Sturridge Lallana and Coutinho been working since the City game and Lallana/Coutinho have been our 2 best players for the past 4 games. Gerrard obviously deserves a send off in style but is jeopardizing the team's chances of winning if he starts. Start him or not?

 

[BlueBen]

scenario: Playing stoke on last day of season (Gerrards last ever PL game) and need to win to get top 4 otherwise United go in. Front 3 of Sturridge Lallana and Coutinho been working since the City game and Lallana/Coutinho have been our 2 best players for the past 4 games. Gerrard obviously deserves a send off in style but is jeopardizing the team's chances of winning if he starts. Start him or not?

The most important thing is and should always be picking the best team to win the game, not indulging the desires of individual players.

If playing Gerrard jeopardises the team's chances of winning a must-win game then starting him simply can not be justified.

 

[jod23]

Stevie who?

Come at me Jod!

Let's fight to the death. Immediately.

 

[jod23]

scenario: Playing stoke on last day of season (Gerrards last ever PL game) and need to win to get top 4 otherwise United go in. Front 3 of Sturridge Lallana and Coutinho been working since the City game and Lallana/Coutinho have been our 2 best players for the past 4 games. Gerrard obviously deserves a send off in style but is jeopardizing the team's chances of winning if he starts. Start him or not?

Start him, he will score a hatty.