He'd be better cover than Adam. We wouldn't need to give them any money on top of Adam (maybe 1-2 mil) and wages wouldn't be dissimilar.

Downing. Sterling.

We're clearly after a winger so relax, either Gaston Ramirez permenantly or Affellay on loan I reckon.

Don't really know about Ramirez, but Afellay is definitely a wider player.

I'm pretty sure they're both wingers.

http://www.talksport.co.uk/magazine/features/120806/two-liverpool-transfer-targets-go-head-head-who-should-reds-sign-178040#xxlvYgeDki0JyjRD.99

I used to always sign Quaresma at Liverpool on Fifa 06 :lol:

Oh boy, I will piss myself if you sign Quaresma :lol:

They are all correct. Yes he did complete a higher % of passes than Iniesta, but then again John Terry completed a higher % of passes than Joe Allen, and that doesn't mean anything of course.

One thing that isn't correct is the assists, he only provided 2 assists last season not 4.

Edited by sydneycroatia58: 12/8/2012 12:08:03 PM

Just realised Sami Sami Hyypiä is coming back to Liverpool tonight. All reports were saying he wasn't going to take the job full time. They should let him walk out onto the field on his own before the teams come out (out of character but would be cool)

Ramirez is definitely more central/Trequartista. Afellay is mostly on the left.

Quaresma :lol: NO fucking way. Not a chance in hell. Joe Allen is bad enough for 15m, let alone Rogers saying he'd pay more. But fuck me sideways...some of the names we're being linked to are just atrocious.

We're obviously going to go with a primarily narrow formation this season, so I reckon Ramirez is a good bet. Then we've got Sterling, Downing, Gerrard and Henderson who can push wide if need be.

Good win this morn. Sterling's goal was sublime, I hope to see more of him in the first team.

Lucas got on the scoresheet which was lovely... very nice FK but horrible defending :lol:

And nice to see Andy get a goal, nice turn to make the chance but definitely a GK error.

Read that Ramirez deal has been agreed at 17m... it's a lot of money but I hope he's worth it.

I don't think we're going to be playing very narrow.... there will definitely be wingers, but they'll be cutting inside, with Downing on the right and Suarez on the left.

Going to miss Bellers - always positive and go for it attitude - thanks for your efforts.

Yep nice win - imno's love scores :lol: good on him.
Pretty happy of the Allen signing but for the figure :-k

Well its soon to start to finally see how we really look on the park, can't come soon enough.

I think he'll throw Allen straight in, and the rest of the team picks itself tbh




I'll be surprised if that's not the team v WBA.

Also, Downing once again was good. He seems a totally different player to last year. Strange what confidence can do.

Could we see Rodgers try a 3-4-3. He experimented last year and I think it could work with Liverpool especially with them getting rid of 3 of their wingers in kuyt, Maxi and Bellemy. Only problem is that you normally need to use a lot of positional intelligence and Liverpool has Carroll, Henderson, Adam and probably also Gerrard (showed discipline in euros). Anyway the linup:

-----Suarez-Carroll-Borini
Enrique-Allen-Gerrard-Johnson
------Agger-Skrtel-Lucas
------------Reina

Was a very nice goal.

I don't think he'll play 3 at the back, but there is definitely width provided by the fullbacks.

It really does seem that BR has gotten in his ear and instructed him to go down the line more, he very rarely done that last year whereas against Leverkusen he chose to do it more often than not. He's really coming along as a player and this video shows that more often than not he looks up and chooses the right ball to play which is very rare for a player of his age.

We were absolutely fantastic at winning the ball back last night, i think BR is a little surprised at how quickly we have adapted to doing this. Our passing on the other hand still has a long way to go as is to be expected, we are not giving the player on the ball enough short passing options and a few players are often still playing what i would call 'counterattacking passes' both long and short.

Joe Allen will transform this team.

3 at the back doesn't work in the premier league - in a winger oriented league it leaves too much space down back. The alternative to your suggestion is 5 at the back, which Hodgson tried and which failed miserably.

Imno's lineup is pretty well on the money. I'm not sure where Ramirez fits in though...Unless we go 4-1-2-1-2...
----Borini---Suarez----
--------Ramirez--------
---Gerrard---Allen-------
-------Lucas-----------
Enrique-Agger-Skrtel-Johnson

I'm just worried that Johnson is going to be too exposed, but that could see the rise of Kelly.

I am not saying it as a permanent change but for maybe 10-15 games over the season against teams who make it viable or maybe this season just use it in the Europa league to get players used to playing it. Wigan changed to 3 at the back permanently halfway through last season and it helped keep them up. They got 8 wins 4 draws and 3 losses in their last 15 games with a back 3 and this is Wigan.

That was because they flooded the midfield though. And they had competent wingers. Flooding the midfield for Liverpool when they have a serious lack of depth at the wings is complete suicide. You can't go into a match with no natural right winger and Downing on the left and no fullbacks and expect to come away with points.

I can't wait to see him and Lucas together. Teams wont be able to get the ball off of us.

Until Downing puts a cross in :lol:

I don't care what anyone says as far as I am concerned Bellamy is a great bloke and player. This is now twice that he has probably taken a pay cut to try and help his home team Cardiff and also playing at a level below which he could. Also terribly underrated or maybe more under-appreciated probably because of his strong personality but he was one of Man Cities best players in 2009–10 and was on the out and again this year he was one of Liverpool's best but still never got a lot of game time (started only 12 games) and yet I did not see him complaining, it may have been he couldn't start every game because of his knees but Downing got 9 more games and 16 more starts. He also has his self funded a Sierra Leone football academy investing 1.2 Million pounds out of his own pocket. I hope his knees hold up and if Cardiff get promoted it is because of him and he can last 2 more season and he can help Wales qualify for Brazil 2014 and represent them.

Edited by moofa: 13/8/2012 11:59:29 PM

At first glance I thought your signature was Crouch :lol:

moofa one thing is for sure Bellers should have got more game time last season - he was a shining light everytime he came on, as I have said will miss him, wears his heart on the sleeve love this type of player.
I'd be pissed IF we agree to releasing Agger for the 1 step back 2 forward thinking gaining more spending money but I feel this maybe the motive.
Squad needs to be settled now and the pairing of he and the Beast Skrtel are the stability required for the whole campaign imo.

Going on listening last night on the world game incl Europa looks like up to 70games ahead of us, is the thought process getting good $$$ for Agger helps to have funds for 2 more players for eg ? at what quality ? to loosing a part of the back spine.

Look forward to imno's and afro's posts to come :)

Edited by M.L.: 14/8/2012 10:14:46 AM

I always rated Bellers and was glad he came in. Afro was the one against it :P

I'll be disappointed if we sell Dagger - unless we bring in a quality replacement and the deal involves us getting Johnson as well on loan. 24m + Johnson I think is what we want... that would be a great deal tbf.

I don't want him to go though. He's a tank.

My comment line was more to do with the Agger scenario not with Bellers.

24+ Johnson still doesn't gaurantee a quality pairing with Skrtel, we have a proven combo that works and now is not the time to unsettle this imo.

The main concern with Bellamy leaving is that we've lost ANOTHER wide player. We're going to be very, VERY narrow this season unless BR makes some big moves on the wings in the next week or so.

Anything under 25m for Agger is unacceptable. Don't forget, they paid 22m for Lescott in '09. Agger is worth a fair sight more than that.

Yeah. I don't want us to sell him, but I can see on a business level why we might. Especially with his injury record.