He was only really in the team because there weren't a lot of alternatives. This season we'll have Sterling, Alberto, Borini and Coutinho who can play his role.

I think out of those four only Sterling and possibly Alberto are suited to playing on the wing (Haven't seen enough of Alberto to say for sure).

I would much prefer to have Coutinho as the 10 and Borini imo has done little to impress when he's played out wide.

Yeah, but neither has Downing. Point is, we've got 4 guys who can play Downing's role at an equal or better standard and on half the wages.

Did not think this would be the case :lol:

Have no idea what they count as a "chance" though

If Rodgers wants to play Coutinho as the 10 then Allen misses out on the XI. He's been playing as the most advanced midfielder.

If we were to bring in a new AML like he's saying, then it becomes:



Hopefully we can get Willian or Eriksen or Muniain or whatever. Although I don't think we'll get any of those :lol:

I would say Willian or Muniain would go to AML but Eriksen would push Coutinho out there. Also as now it looks like Suarez is going to stay we might want to hold off and have Sterling/Alberto/Ibe (don't know if Alberto really plays there so may be wrong) play out wide Allen/Coutinho through the middle then when Suarez comes back have Suarez on the left. Also I think Rodgers is trying really hard to get Allen to work in this team because of him really seen as being his player and I don't always think it has worked.

Alberto's main position is on the left wing.

Willian's asking price is up around 50m. Not going to happen. Eriksen is a good option but I'm not sure he represents value for money either when Ajax are asking around 20m for him. Muniain is unsettled at Bilbao (who had a shocking season last term) and will miss having Llorente in the team this season, I think he'd be a great option.

ESPN saying that a Uruguayan reporter has tweeted that Luis will stay and will sign a contract extension because of the support shown by the fans....

I laughed at first but if true, can see his new contract having a more defined release clause (i.e. no UCL and a bid of over 40m from a non-English club and we sell). Hope it also has a clause where he doesn't get paid if suspended for more than 3 games....

What the fuck would a reporter in Uruguay know though? He hasn't been there for almost a month now.

Isn't he with the national team which could have Uruguayan reporters around the camp

Weird, they called up Suarez and Forlan but not Cavani or Hernandez.

Yep, he's in camp for the Japan friendly.

Sounds like he's staying.

He's still a cunt.

But after his first 5 goals this season I'm sure all will be forgotten. :lol:

He was always going to be staying. We weren't going to have anybody willing to match his asking price.

How do you feel about that after what he said?

I'd rather he left. His attitude is an embarrassment to the club. But the more he kicks up a stink and rocks the boat looking to leave, the more clubs are going to be put off signing him. That combined with the fact that he's already seen as a liability from his previous controversies and suspensions mean nobody's going to match our asking price.

If he wasn't viewed as a liability from his suspensions he'd be worth 60m. As it is we see him as worth 50m but other clubs see him to be barely worth 45m with all the turbulence.

Being linked to Willian and Sahko, would be nice (we can dream).

Willian, Sakho, Cissokho, Papadopoulos, Costa, Siqueira, Alderweireld...lots of names linked, not a lot of movement.

Would have taken the 40m if he was changing leagues. if rumors are true I would take Willian + 4m (probably a straight trade if you take wages into account) or Eriksen + 18m I feel this whole saga has really stopped any positive momentum we would have going into the season and he can't start his redemption for a few weeks anyway because of his ban.

Anzhi are greatly overvaluing Willian. We'd want more like 10-15m + Willian for Suarez.

I thought some people were saying they thought he was worth 45m but with their fire sale you could get him for close to 10m off at 36m but yeah lookin it up I see it is reported he could go for below 30 my bad. anyway I was only prepared to pay up for him because I think he is the best wide left player on the market instead of a central player we chuck out wide

Most of our play dictates that our wide players cut in wide. We're supremely ineffective with traditional wingers on the field. So the practice of playing more centrally oriented players out wide is ideal for us.

but I think that is similar to how he played for Shakhtar. I only watched the Chelsea games but I remember especially from the Chelsea home game Shakhtar looked a lot better and Srna was always pushing down the right from RB and if they also did that on the left I think Willian was seen in the squad as a goalscorer and his goal return is not too bad

Edited by moofa: 15/8/2013 01:24:59 AM

BBC now reporting that the quotes from Suarez saying he wants to stay aren't exactly real :lol:

This doesn't surprise me at all :lol:

Premier League preview No9: Liverpool

Brendan Rodgers was afforded rare patience last season but this time the pressure is on to mount a serious top-four challenge, despite the Luis Suárez
Saga

Last season's position: 7th

Odds to win the league (via Oddschecker): 33-1

The one certainty about Liverpool next season will be the name in Brendan Rodgers' envelope. Everything else, from the consequences of Luis Suárez's toxic transfer saga, the direction of the club and the squad's capacity for Champions League bridge-building, is shrouded in doubt. Both John W Henry's assurances about Suárez and the manager's project must have substance to prevent Liverpool being cast further adrift.

A fourth season without Champions League football has had its inevitable impact at Anfield. Leading transfer targets have been missed, young potential has arrived while proven talent such as Henrikh Mkhitaryan moves in different circles and the club's finest player views a team in the Champions League play-offs, Arsenal, as an upward step. Last summer Andy Carroll, Suárez this; Rodgers merits some sympathy for the havoc a Liverpool striker has wreaked over his two pre-seasons at the helm.

The Liverpool manager infamously claimed that three players, their names hidden in a sealed envelope, would betray their team-mates at the start of his debut campaign. They did not exist but Suárez has made amends on that score. His desire for Champions League football is understandable, his worth on that stage not in question, but all a player banned for another six matches has achieved is further disruption before a campaign of critical importance to Liverpool and their manager.

From transfer strategy to a famous club's image to dressing-room harmony; much has been jeopardised by a player who declines to ask himself why Europe's elite are not fighting over his supreme talents.

The top four is not just an aspiration this season, Henry admitted on Thursday, it is essential to Fenway Sports Group's designs for the club. Based on the impressive second half of last season, plus his categorical stance that Suárez will remain a Liverpool player regardless of who comes in for him or what they offer, the principled principal owner believes Champions League qualification is achievable.

Rodgers, afforded rare patience during his debut season, accepts that pressure is on him this time out. So too the captain, Steven Gerrard, who says "we can prove people wrong and break into the top four". Pointedly that came with the caveat that "certain things have got to happen to help us do that. If we keep Luis and add to him we will have a much better chance".

Additions include the striker Iago Aspas from Celta Vigo, who has been prominent in pre-season, the midfielder Luis Alberto from Sevilla, Kolo Touré on a free from Manchester City and the goalkeeper Simon Mignolet from Sunderland. The sales of Carroll to West Ham United and Jonjo Shelvey to Swansea City have covered the bulk of the £23m outlay and the depth of the squad will be even greater if a youngster like Jordon Ibe can replicate Raheem Sterling's initial impact last year. But even with money available, such as the £21.8m offered to Atlético Madrid for the Brazilian striker Diego Costa, enhancing the team with players of "the right quality" – as Rodgers put it – has proved elusive so far.

All of which explains the need to keep even a disillusioned and distracted Suárez. Refusing to sell to Arsenal is self-explanatory when no transfer fee could compensate for the prolonged exile from the Champions League that would guarantee. Equally, a team that has finished 7th, 6th, 8th and 7th over the past four seasons and is struggling to attract world-class talent cannot afford to release the world-class talent it has.

Suárez is currently training away from the senior squad at Melwood, alone with his thoughts of constant persecution. He finally provoked a Liverpool manager into public condemnation of his actions this week, produced an uninterested cameo in Gerrard's testimonial last Saturday and was a notable absentee from the captain's charity gala later that night.

Tiresome as he has become, the greater risk would be selling the Uruguay international. He can have the first six matches of next season to sulk over Liverpool's intransigence, to wonder why only Arsenal registered an interest and the remainder of the campaign to keep his head down, his teeth to himself and earn the move to Real Madrid or Barcelona that Gerrard believes is inevitable.

It is to the manager's and players's credit that, as in the 6-0 rout of Newcastle that followed Suárez's 10-match ban for biting Branislav Ivanovic in April, the striker has not proved a distraction to Liverpool's performances on the field.

The pre-season record reads played six, won six, scored 17, conceded one and counts for precious little but the fitness levels after a summer Gerrard described as his toughest at the club have been marked. That was always Rodgers' intention. The manager spoke in May of the need to "start flying" this season and, with eight of the opening nine home games against teams who finished below Liverpool last term, the fixture list provides an opportunity to build momentum.

There is no European workload, though it was jarring to hear Rodgers admit last season that Liverpool of all teams could benefit from a year away, a better understanding of the manager's ideals, Lucas Leiva now fully fit, Martin Kelly fitter and the rich promise of a first full campaign from Philippe Coutinho. The Brazilian was outstanding as Liverpool went from 10th and 25 points at the mid-point of last season to seventh with 61 points by the close, for all that the campaign failed to yield a serious challenge in any competition. That has to be rectified, as do Liverpool's returns against the leading lights of the Premier League.

Rodgers' men were flat-track bullies last season, often flourishing with the luxury of an early goal against teams that finished below them but able to claim only one win (Tottenham) and one clean sheet (Everton) against the six clubs above. The manager spoke of the need for more leaders and for Liverpool to "man-up" – pre-discrimination guide, obviously – but has since lost two of the strongest characters from the changing room in the retired Jamie Carragher and the loaned out Pepe Reina.

Improvement, or simply a continuation of 2013's form, should be expected of Liverpool. Whether that bridges the gap on stronger rivals and prevents the club being cut adrift of the top four before Financial Fair Play – "That is my main worry," Gerrard said last week – is doubtful. Or up to Luis Suárez.

http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2013/aug/09/premier-league-preview-liverpool

Aly Cissokho woo

If we get Willian as well will be stoked !

So Suarez has apologised and is training again with the senior team.

The same day Wenger says Arsenal are preparing another bid. Two steps forward one step back.

Line-up v Stoke City: Mignolet, Johnson, Enrique, Toure, Agger, Lucas, Henderson, Gerrard, Coutinho, Aspas, Sturridge.

Subs: Jones, Sterling, Wisdom, Ibe, Allen, Borini, Luis Alberto.

Love it