Granero seems like a makeweight kind of signing. He played 650 minutes last season.

It's frustrating to think that we're a club resorting to other teams' cast-offs.

At least it's cheaper that way

I really like Aqua. i think he deserves his chance and could do a much better job than Henderson.

Also, it seems like you guys are 90% done deal on Fabio Borini.

Yep. Would be very happy with that, we certainly need more options up front, especially with Kuyt gone too.

If we bring in Borini, Dempsey, Ramirez and maybe one more, I'll be happy.

Wasn't sold on Dempsey initially but the fact of the matter is he consistently scores goals from midfield, is very versatile in that he can play attacking/defensive mid, and he will only be 6-7mil. Would mean we had Gerrard, Aqua, Hendo, Lucas, Shelvey, Dempsey, Adam, Spearing for the middle, which is fantastic depth.

Each to their own.

I'm sorry, what would i know? So, because I support Blackburn, it means I wouldn't know what a world class player looks like? Solid reasoning. It's obviously not possible that i watch football apart from Blackburn.

I agree with Benjo. World class is the top bracket of players in the world and none of those are. Reina :lol:

How can Gerrard possibly be world class? He has been made to look a muppet numerous times over the past season. Not the player he once was.

Also, if you lot had all those world class players you wouldn't be finishing 8th in the league.

Edited by sleel6: 10/7/2012 01:17:16 PM

Edited by sleel6: 10/7/2012 01:19:30 PM

Suarez will play as one of the inside forwards IMO. Behind Carroll, and next to Downing/Ramirez if he signs.

Lucas
Gerrard - Dempsey
Ramirez - Suarez
Carroll

Something like that.


[youtube]Od9IOuWc05s[/youtube]

Watched him multiple times in the youth/ressie games last season. The boy is a big, big talent. Has the dribbling/balance/agility/pace of someone like Robben, but his passing range and vision is sublime also. I hope he gets a shot this season.

This.

Borini would be a good pick-up as well.

Pay peanuts, get monkeys. It failed in the past with Cole, Morientes, etc. Why would it work now?

Why the fuck would Roma sell the guy they just paid 5.3m for? :lol: Borini won't be joining Liverpool.

Dempsey is another letdown. He's a mediocre player at best. I don't see the point in jettisoning Kuyt only to sign Dempsey.

Signing a player who is younger, with a better goal scoring ratio, all while playing in a worse team, right before you tour his home nation. Clearly pointless.

Getting rid of one fringe player only to bring in another doesn't take the team forward.

I think he'd be more than a fringe player for sure. And either way, he's a big improvement on Kuyt, Improving your squad depth is always a good thing.

World Class is the top bracket of players who consistently perform at the top level, on multiple fronts (maybe not the 30 best - but I think Benjo's point was more to the top bracket part). Gerrard is most definitely world class - he just pwned the Euros in an underperforming squad and rightly made team of the tournament. Suarez is on the borderline, but imo he is top class - top performer in the epl and key player for his NT. Lucas will be world class, Agger isn't and Reina doesn't get the chance unfortunately (but tbh he isn't even in the top bracket of EPL keepers).
At the end of the day though, 'World Class' is highly subjective.

And Sleel - with that comment I honestly hope you weren't involved in the Scholes debates over the past few weeks.

Yeah, for me its a narrow 4-3-3 - With Suarez and Ramirez as inside forwards (I think Ramirez is more like a striker anyway??). Anyway, their movement will give plenty of width and depth to come and get the ball.

All in all these signings don't strike me as anything that's going to take the team forward from the same problems that they had last season.

For me, I don't see why everyone wants this 433 system. With the defensive qualities of your fullbacks, they shouldn't need any encouragement to get forward. This system needs attacking full backs which you have but I would be concerned with how exposed they are going to be or the gaps that will appear.

Everyone wants this 4-3-3 system because it fits what they perceive as the 11 'best' players at the club on the park.

But as we've seen with England, just because you play 4-4-2 doesn't mean that GJ is going to perform all of a sudden.

I'm just going off the system Rodgers played at Swansea. I believe he'll use a similar system here.

Also, with Lucas in the team, the FBs can push right up, with Lucas dropping deeper to make a back 3 essentially. I'm not worried about lack of defensive cover.



That was in the blind auction to win his rights. If they sold him now for something like 8mil it would be good business for them (I think)



I'd say Dempsey is not only currently better than Kuyt, but he would also be on lower wages, is younger, more versatile, and scores more goals from midfield. And his signing would massively boost merchandise sales in the US, especially with us about to tour there. I'd be all for his signing, although I don't know what position he'd play in the team. He could play in the CM spots or even the inside forward ones IMO.



We're (potentially) adding 4 quality players to the squad without losing any. How is that not taking the team forward?

We struggled to score goals - Dempsey, Ramirez, Borini will all solve that issue. Defensively we were sound, and with Lucas back we'll be even better. Up until his injury I think we had the best defensive record in the league. And we needed more depth for when we had injuries/fatigue - again, these signings will be addressing those issues.

Having attacking fullbacks as a tactic isn't the same as using the 433 system. You can have defensive minded fullbacks in a 4-3-3, but in saying that - in the modern game every fullback is expected to get forward in some capacity.

For me, the 433 can give Liverpool fluidity - which works well if you have Suarez and another inside forward type of player. Also it encourages movement from the midfield, which fits Gerrard's mould.

They paid Parma 5.3m for their 50% of his rights, valuing him at 10.6m on June 26th. They won't be selling him to us for 8m.

Dempsey is only 18 months younger than Kuyt. And the idea that we're going to make the disparity between their transfer fees (some 6-7m) in merchandising in the USA is just absurd. There's no fucking way that Liverpool are going to sell over 150,000 ADDITIONAL Liverpool jerseys in the United Stats because of signing Dempsey.

Because they're not solving the problems we had last season. You sign Borini, Dempsey, and Ramirez, we still have inadequate cover in defensive midfield, we're still lacking quality on the wings and we still don't have a prolific finisher.

They are not defensive fullbacks though. Their main attribute is their attacking, I would be getting them to focus on their defensive duties first.

Jose Enrique is definitely a defensive fullback.

He looks far more comfortable going forward in my opinion. Love watching United players run at him, long may it continue.

Above in bold is the No1 priority imo but hey I'm just a armchair critic.
I'm with afro re many points on player recruitment but heck I'd love to be proven wrong BUT I'm not excited to date !

Just to put it in perspective: Arsenal Sign Podolski, Chelsea sign Hazard, United sign Kagawa...Liverpool sign Dempsey.

Are the Liverpool hierarchy taking the piss?

If players didn't join clubs that weren't in the Champions League then Atletico would never have signed Falcao or Aguero, Valencia would never have had David Villa, Anzhi wouldn't have Eto'o or Samba, Spurs wouldn't have Bale, Modric or VDV.

I reject the constant notion that Champions League football is the only lure for 'big name' players.

There's also Eduardo, Mandzukic, Ben Arfa, Veloso and Jelavic all off the top of my head that gave up European football.

Thing is, they only paid 2mil for the other 50% earlier this season. They haven't outlayed 10m on him. But yeah, we may need to offer a bit more than 8 to entice them .



Kuyt was only going to decrease in value. And 150k jerseys isn't that much tbh. And then you factor in more people wanting to come watch our pre season games, autographs etc, all the fanfare that comes with it. It would be very profitable. But it's not the purpose for signing him, it' sjust an added bonu.



It was never going to be possible to solve every problem we had in one window. I expect us to sign a DM cover in any case. Ramirez adds quality to the wings, and Borini adds goals up front. I think Carroll and Suarez both have the ability to be prolific scorers this season in any case.



I'm so sick of hearing this. You do not sign big name players in the prime of their careers unless you offer them a buttload of money, or UCL football, especially if they're coming from a club where they already have that, or from a league with similar stature. Suarez was an isolated case, and we're extremely lucky to have him.

Even then, I'm not sold on Podolski or Kagawa having any significant impact for their new sides. I don't think they're any more likely to be a rousing success than Dempsey.

There are plenty of top class players out there who could be lured the club and would perform for the club who aren't the 5-10m 'bargain bin' player that Liverpool have been reduced to signing.

When Liverpool are signing Downing, Adam and Dempsey and City are signing Johnson, Silva and Nasri there's obviously somethign wrong.

Times change. Probably not going to take note of this because I'm a United fan but Liverpool are not the club they were. There are so many more attractive options for players than going to Liverpool.