Posted December 16, 2012 Same every week for every manager. Bit of a joke, I admit. Liverpool are paying the price for not buying a striker or two in January. Very surprised they didn't put a bid in for somebody like Ba. Everton have a better and more balanced team, which is where I think Liverpool need to look and take note of. We need more out wide, we don't need a striker. Suárez obviously starts in the middle, with Borini as backup, or he started out wide before he got injured. If we buy a striker, that means he's either going to warm the bench, or we're pushing Suárez out wide for him, which is very unlikely. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted December 16, 2012 We need more out wide, we don't need a striker. Suárez obviously starts in the middle, with Borini as backup, or he started out wide before he got injured. If we buy a striker, that means he's either going to warm the bench, or we're pushing Suárez out wide for him, which is very unlikely. You'll need a plan B if Suarez doesn't score, like he didn't yesterday. I thought the same when we bought Van Persie. "What will happen to the other strikers?" The answer is that you rotate them and use your subs wisely. Also, if Suarez does get banned or injured, then it's a big problem. Not sure what I think of this "Shelvey as a false-9" idea. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted December 16, 2012 You'll need a plan B if Suarez doesn't score, like he didn't yesterday. I thought the same when we bought Van Persie. "What will happen to the other strikers?" The answer is that you rotate them and use your subs wisely. Also, if Suarez does get banned or injured, then it's a big problem. Not sure what I think of this "Shelvey as a false-9" idea. Shelvey playing there was a last resort. He's a reasonable goal threat, there weren't really any other options. I'm not too keen on Adam Morgan. Samed Yesil is an exciting talent, but I'm not sure he's ready. Suárez gets his fair share of goals easily, we need more goals from the other 2 of the front 3. You can usually expect some from a few midfielders, but we have none that get goals other than Gerrard. And Gerrard is very much on the decline and he's very nearly getting in the first 11 on name rather than his level of performance. Our best 11 is probably this: Reina Johnson Skrtel Agger Enrique Lucas Allen Gerrard Borini Suarez Sterling Other than Borini (injured atm) and Suárez, there's not much at all in terms of a goal threat. Sterling will get better with age, it's insane what he's doing right now at the age of 18, so you can't be too critical of him. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted December 16, 2012 Shelvey playing there was a last resort. He's a reasonable goal threat, there weren't really any other options. I'm not too keen on Adam Morgan. Samed Yesil is an exciting talent, but I'm not sure he's ready. Suárez gets his fair share of goals easily, we need more goals from the other 2 of the front 3. You can usually expect some from a few midfielders, but we have none that get goals other than Gerrard. And Gerrard is very much on the decline and he's very nearly getting in the first 11 on name rather than his level of performance. Our best 11 is probably this: Reina Johnson Skrtel Agger Enrique Lucas Allen Gerrard Borini Suarez Sterling Other than Borini (injured atm) and Suárez, there's not much at all in terms of a goal threat. Sterling will get better with age, it's insane what he's doing right now at the age of 18, so you can't be too critical of him. That bolded part is why you need another striker. :p Borini is young and has time on his side, but isn't really much of a wide player like he's being played in for that formation. He's also not good enough (yet, maybe) to be a first choice striker. I'm glad you recognise that Gerrard is on the decline. He hasn't really been playing well for a while, but that's understandable due to his age. Still, if this were my team that I were looking at, I'd be begging for a striker in January. And a wide player. Anyway, for a club like Liverpool, there should be competition for places as that will drive up the quality of the team. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted December 16, 2012 That bolded part is why you need another striker. :p Borini is young and has time on his side, but isn't really much of a wide player like he's being played in for that formation. He's also not good enough (yet, maybe) to be a first choice striker. I'm glad you recognise that Gerrard is on the decline. He hasn't really been playing well for a while, but that's understandable due to his age. Still, if this were my team that I were looking at, I'd be begging for a striker in January. And a wide player. Anyway, for a club like Liverpool, there should be competition for places as that will drive up the quality of the team. A Walcott/Sturridge type player would be perfect. Maybe not them exactly, but a player who can play both positions and has bags of pace. I wouldn't actually mind Walcott, but i don't rate Sturridge at all. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted December 16, 2012 A Walcott/Sturridge type player would be perfect. Maybe not them exactly, but a player who can play both positions and has bags of pace. I wouldn't actually mind Walcott, but i don't rate Sturridge at all. Yeah, would be surprised if you went for Sturridge. Seems quite unlikeable and quite selfish. Not really much of a team player. Walcott would do well but he now only wants to play through the middle, apparently. On another note, couldn't help but be disappointed watching Adam Johnson yesterday. He's lost it, big time. No excitement when he's on the ball, no creativity. He's quickly turning into a bland footballer. Big wages for a guy who doesn't do an awful lot. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted December 17, 2012 Things are looking very good for the mighty yiddos! Got an easy christmas period (relatively) and pretty confident we'll be third come 2013. I didn't want to come in after Bradford and mock, too easy a target and actually, it's becoming less of a shock now. I really think Arsenal could struggle to even get a europa place this year, though depends on January. And Chelsea could easily crumble out of the top 4 again so who knows. But another exciting season ahead I reckon. The only thing that wont be exciting, i can see Man U running away with the league! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted December 17, 2012 (edited) Funny thing is, if we win tonight we go 5th, 2 points behind Spurs and Chelsea. How is that a crisis? I mean sure we should always be aiming for the Premier league summit but the Bradford game sort of blew our situation out of proportion. Barely half way through the season, so I still think we'll be up there. The thing is it's very congested 3rd to 13th, all are in range of Europe. Edited December 17, 2012 by Emerald Emblem Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted December 17, 2012 On another note, couldn't help but be disappointed watching Adam Johnson yesterday. He's lost it, big time. No excitement when he's on the ball, no creativity. He's quickly turning into a bland footballer. Big wages for a guy who doesn't do an awful lot. Sucks. Generally had a bit of a spark at city, always looked bright when he played for England too. Wonder if anyone would come in for him if Sunderland were to go down this year. Things are looking very good for the mighty yiddos! Got an easy christmas period (relatively) and pretty confident we'll be third come 2013. I didn't want to come in after Bradford and mock, too easy a target and actually, it's becoming less of a shock now. I really think Arsenal could struggle to even get a europa place this year, though depends on January. And Chelsea could easily crumble out of the top 4 again so who knows. But another exciting season ahead I reckon. The only thing that wont be exciting, i can see Man U running away with the league! Even I, pessimistic Spurs fan, am loving it. Working weekends so have only been watching the highlights and reading up online, but even without Bale we seem to be doing real good lately. What are your thoughts on January? I actually think Sturridge would be alright as backup for Defoe, if he wasn't the nobhead that everyone makes him out to be. Got the Spurs pace on him, reckon he's actually got potential, wasted at Chels. I'd snap up this Erikson chap that everyone's making noise about, his buddy Verto seems to be trying to get him onboard. Midfield of Erikson / Moutinho - Sandro Bale-Dembele-Lennon With Dempster and Sig as backup makes me salivate. Agree with @Emerald Emblem though, Arse are massively inconsistant but I still think they've got enough to challenge for 4th again. Plus from what I've heard in interviews lately it could be a big January for them for a change (That said if Walcott goes it won't help, he's looked great from what I've seen lately. Incidentally don't really know why everyone's talking about a Liverpool move there? Surely he's holding out to go to Chelsea or somewhere bigger?). Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted December 17, 2012 Realistically we need the three main targets AVB wanted in the first place - Mouthino, Willian and Dimiao; if we could get left back cover even better, we could survive without that. I would say wing cover and a striker is incredibly important. However good a season Defoe is having, he's still not been amazing to our system and severely limiting our atacking play (Bale and Lennon ALWAYS cutting the ball back because they can't cross, not being able to hoof it forward, or anyone up top to hold the ball up), Ade makes a huge difference but he only wants to play one up front and Ade has been injured, suspended most of the season and maybe going to the African Nations in Jan. If we got those players that would give us Team 1 ----------------Lloris------- Walker--Kaboul--Vertonghen--Ekotto ------------Sandro--Moutino--- Lennon------Dembele-------Bale --------------Adebayor----------- Team 2 ------------------Friedel---------- Naughton--Dawson--Caulker--Gallas -------------Parker--Huddlestone Willian--------Siggurdsson----Dempsey ----------------Dimiao-------------- With Livermore, Defoe, Townsend, Falque, Carroll etc as more back up. That's only 3 players, and a pretty exceptional squad. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted December 17, 2012 Funny thing is, if we win tonight we go 5th, 2 points behind Spurs and Chelsea. How is that a crisis? I mean sure we should always be aiming for the Premier league summit but the Bradford game sort of blew our situation out of proportion. Barely half way through the season, so I still think we'll be up there. The thing is it's very congested 3rd to 13th, all are in range of Europe. The problem is our season has been so Jekyll and Hyde you never really know which Arsenal is going to turn up. Like you say a win tonight and we're back in the hunt. Still in the Champions League, got the FA Cup coming up in January. However if we don't start a run going we could end up finishing 5th-8th. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted December 17, 2012 The problem is our season has been so Jekyll and Hyde you never really know which Arsenal is going to turn up. Like you say a win tonight and we're back in the hunt. Still in the Champions League, got the FA Cup coming up in January. However if we don't start a run going we could end up finishing 5th-8th. Seems as though it was Jekyll who showed up, though Hyde nearly came out in that breif 10 minute spell. Santi Claus got us a great early Christmas present mind, well taken poachers hat trick, he ran the show tonight. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted December 17, 2012 That game literally summed up our season. We can be brilliant, but we've let ourselves down in spells. Apart from 10 minutes of madness where we let Reading get two goals it was all us. Fantastic 3 points and now we move on to Wigan. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted December 18, 2012 That was one of our best, if not the best attacking performance we've had this season. We need some consistency now, string together some wins and slowly work our way up the league. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted December 18, 2012 Oh bloody hell I didn't you know you were a gooner too Demo Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted December 18, 2012 When Brendan Rodgers said he thought Liverpool could finish second, I didn't realise he meant in every game. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted December 18, 2012 Zenit St Petersburg fans want black and gay players excluded Kicking Racism out of football is still a long way off it would seem, in Russia anyway. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted December 18, 2012 Zenit St Petersburg fans want black and gay players excluded Kicking Racism out of football is still a long way off it would seem, in Russia anyway. How in the name of all that's holy did they get the 2018 World Cup again? And how do you claim to be a "supporters group" and want, amongst others, Hulk to leave? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted December 18, 2012 Santa Clauzora. Best player in the premiership this season. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted December 18, 2012 How in the name of all that's holy did they get the 2018 World Cup again? And how do you claim to be a "supporters group" and want, amongst others, Hulk to leave? + = Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted December 18, 2012 Oh bloody hell I didn't you know you were a gooner too Demo Heh heh, you find out something new everyday Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted December 18, 2012 Heh heh, you find out something new everyday You'll have to get fifa 13 then and let me smash you up on that Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted December 19, 2012 You'll have to get fifa 13 then and let me smash you up on that Only chance Spurs have of beating the Arsenal. :awesome: Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted December 19, 2012 Only chance Spurs have of beating the Arsenal. :awesome: Arf! Arf!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
