18 Jan 2015

BR's Top Target: LFC desperate to sign 'world-class' €14m star ASAP, but it looks like he prefers Arsenal

Earlier this month, Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers confirmed that the Reds are actively seeking a new goalkeeper, and the most coveted candidate appears to be 'world-class' Chelsea star Petr Cech, who is reportedly top of Rodgers' transfer wish-list.

When asked last week Liverpool's January transfer business, Rodgers told reporters:

“We need a goalkeeper - it’s just depending on how long Brad Jones is going to be out injured.

"We have two inexperienced keepers behind Simon, so we need to assess that.”


According to The Telegraph today:

"Rodgers would love to sign Petr Cech from Chelsea, but there is a feeling that he has already decided to remain in London and is more likely to head to Arsenal".

€14m-rated Cech is also the preferred choice of Liverpool fans. I recently conducted a poll on the site asking fans to select one goalkeeper out of the seven currently linked with Anfield:

* 10450 (approx) visitors participated in the poll (which is still ongoing)
* 55% of participants chose Cech as Liverpool's next goalkeeper.
* Sergio Romero was 2nd-favourites with 11% of the vote.
* Only 3% voted to keep Mignolet as LFC's number 1.

After warming the bench for most of the season, Cech is enjoying an extended run in the team right now, and with three clean sheets in a row, the Czech 'stopper is proving his quality once again.

I'm sure the recall is only temporary, though. The minute Cech concedes a goal and/or makes a mistake. Mourinho will dump him once again, and that will probably be the pattern for as long as stays at Chelsea.

If Cech joins Liverpool, he'll be the club's undisputed number one, and play practically every game, but if it comes down to a straight choice between Arsenal and Liverpool, he'll probably choose the Gunners.

To be honest, I wouldn't begrudge him that decision. Cech will have to uproot his family to join Liverpool, but with Arsenal, nothing really changes except his club, which means no moving house, changing schools etc.

To entice Cech (or any similarly elite player), Liverpool need one of the following:

* A world-renowned manager with the 'X' factor and a track record of success.
* A genuine ability to consistently challenge for the league/Champions League.
* The presence of world-class players in the squad.

Right now, the painful reality is that Liverpool have none of the above. Arsenal, however, tick all three boxes (Wenger; Champions League every year; Sanchez, Ozil etc).

Of course, money also plays a part, but I give Liverpool's obvious focus on buying and developing younger players, I doubt the Reds will hand Cech a ridiculously inflated salary just to secure his services. Liverpool tried that with Pepe Reina, and it backfired, so the club has (hopefully) learned its lesson.

At this stage, Cech-to-Liverpool is a pipe dream, but that may change in the summer if the Reds qualify for the Champions League...or get a new manager.

Author:


71 comments:

  1. Liverpool played some of the best football in Europe last season and are looking better every game now. Pretty harsh words on last year's manager of the season. .

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  2. Mourinho wont strengthen LFC unless we break the bank. its not happening. we need to sort out the GK situation asap. its not going to be easy, but I reckon Begovic is good. we need another forward. Lacazette, Dybala or Vietto. we need one of them to boost our attacking options and then seal the deal with Moussa Sissokho for £20M. hes a top player, with a fantastic attitude for football and ability to match it. hes like Sanchez. he can wing, full back, midfield, defense mid. hes just class and we need him to replace Gerrard. then along with one of those forwards i think LFC will have big chance of top 4.


    -----------Emre Can--------Skrtel------------Sakho
    Sissokho--------Henderson-----Lucas---------Markovic
    ------Lacazette-------Sturridge------Sterling


    or


    ---------Emre Can---------Skrtel---------Sakho
    Henderson------Sissokho------Lucas----------Sterling
    ----------Lallana-------Sturridge-----Coutinho


    as long as Lovren stays away from the team and is sold in summer we will be fine. Mistake Legend

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  3. Cech is my 1st favourite but if we don't get him I want Mathew Ryan.

    He's aggressive and good with foot. Better than Neto or Romero imo.

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  4. I wouldn't want a new manager just to get big names. Chelsea signed big name Torres, we got Sturridge who was a bench warmer for them and look how that panned out. Van Gaal and Wenger have spent ridiculous money on Di Maria, Falcao and Ozil and they've hardly set the world alight either.
    Not saying we don't need to sign established players but I have a strong feeling that the likes of Can, Markovic, Moreno etc will be very important players for us in the near future and worth 3x times more than what we bought them for, which is already the case for Sturridge, Coutinho, Sterling, Henderson etc who were pretty much nobodies when they joined us. Even Sakho is proving to be a good signing in the end.

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  5. Origi is a "MONSTER" striker??? since when... the hyperbole in the headlines is hilarious..

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  6. Very over-rated, and we're lumbered with him alas :-(

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  7. Pls refer to my many posts articulating exactly what you requested - articulated reasons for why BR is not a good manager.

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  8. Robo, it's good to hear your opinion even if you disagree with my comments. What I have to say about him is exactly the way I feel. You would like to know the reasons, and I would be only to happy too meet you sometime and share our comments. If you can find the time so can I, as I do not want continually want to be writing on this site about him.....better face to face. In the meantime we will both carry on supporting our great LFC.

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  9. The only way we could persuade Cech to uproot his family from London to Liverpool would be by throwing crazy money at him which we won't do so I can't see this happening. Shame tho cos he's top class

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  10. Fair enough! My usual guess is that he reminds people of people they know and don't particularly like -- their boss for example.

    The stick he gets is so personal a lot of the time, rather than objective, which I find weird and interesting. It's not like LFC fans to take against someone like that. It seems to come from the maturer fellas at lot of the time too, which is interesting as well.

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  11. Yes he is overated by many, A small man with a small mind.....he is the Imposter. If people can remember his past comments he has made from previous games over the last few seasons. This speaks volumes about the manager, too many to mention but will leave you with just one of his comments.

    Just lost a away tie in Euro, 2-0 and what does he say......that was almost the perfect away performance....need I say more.

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  12. OK, I read your posts. I like a lot of what you say and the way you say it, and you're clearly a serious and knowldgeable fan and one of the top posters on this site in my opinion ;)



    Your main arguments are:



    1. That BR doesn't learn from his mistakes.


    2. That SAS were the reason for our success last season, which came in spite of BR -- it was a "fluke because of one outstanding player".



    Well, I don't think that stands up. BR has changed the tactics, the shape, and the personnel repeatedly this season both from game to game and during games, looking for the right answers. We have the best defense in the league over the last month or so. I'd call that learning.



    And I think to go from saying that we succeeded because we had an outstanding player on top form to saying that it was a fluke is too strong. Why not just give credit where it's due. BR changed Suarez' game, built a team to support his talents, and managed an inferior squad into an astonishing run of form. He's just a good manager, isn't he. That's the simplest answer.



    You've also argued this season that:



    1. Markovic is "completely useless" and "out of his depth".


    2. And that "no pace" was added to the squad in the summer.



    Well, I think most fans would disagree with you about Markovic now, and taking against him in order to show up BR's conduct seems in hindsight a little shortsighted and opportunist. We also appear to have added pace in abundance where it counts, through Markovic and Moreno.


    Like all of us you get a few other things wrong, but you get a lot right, too. In fact you and BR agree about a lot. Often you make the same mistakes as well as the same right calls. You thought Lovren would solve our CB problem for example, just as BR did. And credit to you, you were onto the goalkeeper problem early -- BR has only come out and agreed with your position in public in the last month or so. You were repeatedly frustrated in our poor full-backs last season: so was BR. So he went and got some new ones.

    See where I'm going with this? In your case, I'd say the problem is that you and BR are *too alike*, basically. You read the game the same way, you like the same kind of football, you have the same priorities and expectations. But of course he has to contend with real human beings and all the problems that brings. So he can't just *do* the things that you would like him to do, which happen also to be the things that, on this evidence, *he* would also like to do :) I can see how that would be frustrating for you, to be honest.

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  13. If people rated him less highly, would you like him more? Honestly, I'm interested to know. Like, if everyone agreed that he was a *decent* manager doing a *decent* job managing the club in a difficult period of change, would you find him easier to take?

    Is the real problem you have with him the people that seem to think he's the best manager we've had in years, maybe ever, and who disrespect the club's traditions and the great men who built it, when they build up this whipper-snapper who's won nothing to the status of a Fagan or Shankly? Is that part of it?

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  14. This will only happen if Liverpool make the top 4, possibly at the expense of Arsenal, and Cech is therefore faced with only one viable option if he wants top European football. I doubt the money would be a big issue, Liverpool would offer him a good contract. Not stupid United or City money, but decent 100k a week kind of money.


    I think the club will be looking elsewhere, we can't rely on Cech and in fact a keeper is needed now, not in the summer when Cech will be available. I still expect Liverpool to go with a solid young keeper who is currently number 1 for a top flight club and has shown his quality for at least 18 months. There are a few around but poaching another club's reliable number 1 in the middle of the season is a big ask. Why would they sell and why would the player want to interrupt his current good form to move to a club not guaranteed of anything?


    Also, despite Mignolet's shaky status any inbound keeper in January won't go straight into the team. They'll need to be assessed in training for a couple of weeks and at that point it will be a straight competition between the two to see who trains better. I think there are just too many factors like that making it really hard to sign a quality keeper and I simply don't see the point in signing one of those second choice keepers like Ochoa except as backup for Migs. I'm afraid Mignolet is going to continue to be Liverpool's number 1.

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  15. 4eva LFC, LFC 4eva3:07 am, January 19, 2015

    It wouldn't be too hard to keep three clean sheets with Chelsea's team, they what hold the ball for 70% of the time and are scoring for fun.

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  16. Origi isn't the answer, leave him at Lille where he'll get more playing time. The idea of brining him to Liverpool to solve the current striker problem is kind of absurd. Borini is getting a bit of a chance and although he's got some improvement to make I don't see that Origi would be much better, certainly not in the short term. Origi will need a full pre-season in order to fit into the system. There are just too many reasons why it won't really work. It wouldn't be a terrible idea, I mean of course there is no real problem having another good young striker in the squad, but it's not going to make Liverpool that much better.


    The big failure from Liverpool in the summer was not replacing Suarez. I suspect they were relying heavily on Sanchez being the answer and maybe in the off-season they had some word from his agent that Liverpool were a consideration. Arsenal spoiled all that and then no one else wanted to come. The notion that this is somehow Rodger's "fault" is strange to me. As manager his job is to identify the kind of player he wants and then sign off on the final choice. Convincing players to come here, arranging healthy and attractive contracts, dealing with agents ... he does none of that.

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  17. 18th gone..13 more days to go, still no signing...


    Are we going to see new players or new Manager?

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  18. Kop,

    I would like to make a run at Begovic but I can't see his team letting him go. Getting Lacazette, one other striker and a real DM. Do you think Sissoko is better than Alex Song? Not challenging you just want your opinion.......

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  19. Never going to happen....must be a really slow news day

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  20. We wont even sign a new person to mop the floors we would be struggling to get anyone who would make a real difference anyway!!!!

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  21. No int ripping up the floors and replacing them we just need to teach the current floor moppers how to get the best out of the mops they have

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  22. I notice the increasing number of references to the possibility of replacing the manager. Nothing concrete of course just flicking pebbles into the pond.

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  23. We should be waiting till the summer now, stick with what we have. We could have got friedel or schwarzer on a 6 month loan deal as cover. Not ideal, but huge experience.

    If we get champs league then go big for loris, song and a striker (higuain, benzema, lacazette or Martinez). Jon done! 3 players is all we need, get rid of a couple ofI players. Lucas, borini, Johnson, Mignolet/Jones. Probably ditch the other lads on loan as well. That should bring in 15-20 mill which would pay for lloris. Song is 11 mill and we have to find up to 40 for a striker which champs leagu and the new stand should pay for.

    That would leave us with 5 strikers including origi (6 with sterling). A proper midfield with a range of wingers, CMs, DMs and AMs, four or five CBs proper wing backs and 2 keepers. Good players in every position without too many weak points.

    With the summer recruits having had a full season and not too much disruption to the squad I genuinely think we could make a run at the league. Don't thik we would win it, but if Sturridge could stay fit and we get a striker with similar goals to suarez we could get up there, especially if the defence isn't leaking like it is at the moment!

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  24. Classic. Sorry I'll just repeat my point. Classic.

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  25. Oh, and keep Brendan. He deserves a few seasons. We should never be a club that changes it manager because of one bad season (or half a bad season) unless that person is Roy Hodgson. Rogers wants to play football the right way, he wants to win and I think he will deliver us a title before long. Fair enough if he was trying to turn us into a pulis team or trying to lower our expectations but he has never done that. He wants us to work within the limits of what we have and improve the players and the philosophy of how we play. We can't buy the title so we have to try and buy sensibly and improve. That means sometimes we need patience and sometimes a player may not develop into what we hope but that shouldn't mean we stop trying. Bringing someone else in will just mean starting again and you're ina perpetual state of transition. Only if you can bring a new manager in with existing world class players and a heap of cash will they seriously change anything quickly. We don't have that but we do have a progressive, clever, young and talented manager. He will make mistakes but I beleive he will also deliver over time.

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  26. In some respects I think he's guilty of his own success. After last season the fans expectations where through the roof, including myself. I think through our poor start to the season BR has learned alot about his team for better or for worse which inevitably will help him become better and I also think it put his feet back firmly on the ground. There's no doubt his a good manager and right man for the job in my eyes.

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  27. In the papers or on the terraces?

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  28. Yes because arrogance in a manager never works does it?!! nearly all the top managers are arrogant.


    Strange how a clueless manager has been the closest to bring us the title in 20 years.

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  29. Cech is not coming to Anfield it's as simple as that.
    Has anyone noticed the familiar ' He prefers a move to Arsenal' comment?
    Sanchez ? anyone?


    The ability to attract Top Players is no longer possible due to the lack of established talent (Gerrard,Suarez) or the Brendan who doesn't have that reputation.
    Ot it could be the Transfer Committee.
    Besides all this since the transfer committee started making player purchases they don't go for older players unless they are for beans (Lambert).

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  30. sissokho is far better. Song is a good player with alot of ability, but can he play down the wing with maximum effect for club and country? can he score goals from midfield regualarly like sissokho? and can he lift the fans of their seats like sissokho with sheer work rate and quality. i like Song very much but i'd buy him more to replace Lucas. Sissokho has the energy and skill to break lines and start counters. hes a great player, hes a cross between Yaya toure and alexis sanchez, but sissokho is so quick and skillful and strong he has an edge over most players in the PL. Sissokho should be bought at all costs. Sissokho, Pogba and Matuidi will lead france to Euro 16 success in there home country. if they make history on home soil they could become legends and we need Sissokho at LFC.

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  31. Yeah, I compare it to the Suarez move as well. But I think we are a season late to move for Lacazette. We should have gone all out for him this summer.

    It's a strange one. Cuz he's not *that* good and not yet established, the top CL clubs aren't going to move on him right away probably, or not as a priority signing when there are others around they want more. So they wouldn't go big on him: they don't *need* to offer Lyon £50m or whatever, obviously, and they don't *need* the player that much.

    At the same time *he* isn't going to be satisfied with one of the nearly-there clubs like Dortmund, Atletico, maybe even Arsenal, despite being French. The usual plan would be to go somewhere like that for a couple of seasons, catch the eye of one of the super-clubs, and then put your feet up and wait for the Ballon d'Or to come rolling your way :) But is he really impressive enough for those clubs to gamble a big proportion of their budgets on him?

    That might open the door to somewhere like Liverpool, I guess, except, as I say, would he want to come...? Hard one to call. I am puzzled.

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  32. the club needs to turn Jotdan Ibe into Alexis sanchez. we must make him watch many videos of Sanchez because Ibe and Sanchez play the exact same. quick, srong, skillful and explosive. if we make him model his game on Ibe i think he will improve massively. watch his goals for Derby, there all Sanchez goals and finishes. if he follows sanchez and adds a massive work rate to his game with non stop pressing, Ibe will be a top player. the club should get him watch goals of Sanchez and look what he does to improve and make Sterling watch Hazard. Last Season Sterling was playing like Hazard, controlling the game and slowing down the tempo or fastining the tempo like Hazard, hes tailed off abit and has become abit more direct. but was nice to see him pass to Rickie and hopefully he can get his playmaking skills back. Sterling needs to model his game on Hazard. hazard does score goals but not in abundance. he gets about 10-15 a season. still class, but its his playmaking which makes him so crucial for Chelsea. we need Sterling at the heart of our playmaking.

    -----------Emre Can--------Skrtel------------Sakho
    Sissokho--------Henderson-----Lucas---------Markovic
    ------------Sterling-------Sturridge------Ibe



    LFC need to have faith. Ibe as Sanchez and Sterling as Hazard. everyone needs to promote that Ibe plays like Sanchez to give him confidence and to realise he has the ability to be like a top player like Alexis Sanchez. they play EXACTLY the same

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  33. There are many reasons not to do this. First of all the fact that we have Sturridge, Borini, Lambert and Balotelli and they should simply do the job. Bringing in Origi will do nothing for them. It won't push them, it won't make them better. Linked to that, there is no guarantee that Origi will click right away so there is no guarantee that bringing him will solve our current situation. Worst case scenario, he will not hit the ground running and after five months he'll be a write off just like the others. He knew the deal when he signed it and I understand being in 12th in Ligue 1 isn't that exciting but he'll get plenty of chances to be excited again next season. Plus, we keep another five million quid in our pockets which can be used elsewhere. At the end of the day, by some miracle, we are winning matches now and I don't see how bringing Origi in now will do anything but disrupt that flow. If we can keep this up until Sturridge returns we may actually end up in the top four. We should be looking to sign a goalkeeper. That should be our first concern.

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  34. Brendan will be a top manager... in five years, if we qualify for champions every year until then, and Sterling, Coutinho, Sturridge, Can, Sakho all hit their primes we will attract the top players. Until then, bye bye big boys.

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  35. Great article JK, personally i would rather send Origi out on loan to swansea next season (or another premier league team that plays good football) so he can prove himself in the premier league and get more valuble playing time rather than rot on our bench and then flop whenever he gets the odd game or 15 mins off the bench.

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  36. I cant stand these Cech to liverpool rumours. Mourinho would never sell a top keeper to liverpool or arsenal when is painfully obvious that both teams need one. Personally my targets woulld be:
    Begovic
    Ochoa
    Ter Stegan
    In that order, all are within the budget, all are good goal keepers and all of them would happily join liverpool, infact for begovic and Ochoa it would be a step up in every sense

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  37. We need a back up keeper with a set of nads and a real striker ( Suarez never replaced. If the owners aren't prepared to spend now, slap it up them when Sturridge most definitely gets injured again and we don't get into the CL!!!!

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  38. Pessamist in me says the table is now set - perhaps with the exception of WH. All others seem to be playing as well, if not better than us. So, seventh at best?
    My new year resolution was to be positive but I know it won't happen!

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  39. I don't think anything will happen in The regard until the summer and I would imagine it will only happen with no champions league. Even then nothing for sure. I think the whole transfer process will change though for sure. With the manager I would say he has better than a fifty fifty chance of staying. But nothing until the summer.

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  40. Az for the form table on two teams are doing better than us.

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  41. I'm believing again. Thanks!

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  42. Looks like Lille or Origi agent pushing through a deal.

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  43. Does Cech have kids? If so, I can imagine he would opt for the decision that will be the least intrusive on his family. Football players are people too, they don't always just decide to go for the highest salary. And seeing as he is as likely to play at Arsenal as he is here and considering the fact that their hopes of qualifying for the Champions League are a lot better than ours right now, it's an easy decision. We have no one to blame but ourselves on this. It has been abundantly clear that Mignolet isn't good enough for two seasons now so we should have signed someone in the summer.

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  44. You say your against him coming to us early Jaimie but he's coming to us inevitably so even if your worst fear were to happen and he failed to perform wouldn't you rather get it done and dusted out the way now so we would have a better idea of where we're at by the summer. We might be going through a decent patch of form but i still don't see us finishing in the top 4 at the mo and an extra striker for 5/6 mill would be a welcome addition

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  45. I'd go for Mitrovic from Anderlecht in summer before Origi

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  46. So where does Origi fit into the team with a fit Sturridge, Coutinho and Sterling? Can Liverpool play with 2 strikers given their problems at the back / defensive midfield?

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  47. Good point - totally agreed. These cleaners are hired at a younger age with a long term vision & for good money....question remains, who 'll teach them? Current trainers or a new bunch? My hunch is, behind the doors, they are sorting resume...........

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  48. I'm not sure Origi is a striker!!!
    It's obvious that players who come off the wings into more central role score more goals but personally I see Origi as a wide man who can come inside off the wing during games and defiantly not as an out and out striker. I haven't seen much of Lille this season and maybe they play old school with out and out wingers who just run the Chanel's to the byline and cross, but I doubt very much that they do...so not sure why you think he will play up front for LFC?

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  49. RedWill, you are entitled to your opinion and of course I know where your coming from, and I have to agree with you that all top managers have that arrogance about them. But the one thing that he is not is a top manager....just a ordinary one at best. Last season we played some incredible stuff, because we had a world class striker and a very able partner in DS. Suarez inspired everyone around him, and Rodgers cannot take the credit for this signing.

    So he leaves a gaping hole in our attack, and what does the imposter do about replacing him......quite frankly nothing need I really say more it is there for all to see. Then we come to out defence who leaked in more than fifty goals last season, everyone new that we needed tightening up at the back......what happened he brought players in that do not cut the mustard, and we probably have the worst goalkeeper in the EPL....need I say more.

    He claims to be a top man manager of people, Well are you satisfied with his handling of Carroll Renia, Agger Gerrard, Assadi, and now Suso. Then you have to constantly listen to his excuses after games and his embarrassing comments. He also thinks he is some kind of master technician with his tic tac high pressing game. May I remind him that we were playing this type of football under the great managers of the past ( Shankly and Paisely) it appears he knows nothing of our history and if he does he seems to ignore it.

    I quite simply have no respect for him in footballing terms, of course other supporters see things differently. I care about my club and I am hurting at the way this manager, and others who hold responsible postions run this club. I really hope FSG take a long hard look at what's going on, after all it's their money that there investing, if you pay big money you expect the best. This is the way I see it form a loyal supporter of more than fifty five years.

    YNWA

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  50. Bring him back and send him to derby on loan for rest of season the championship is a haed league which will prepare him for english football i would say he is a class above everyone in the championship so he should do really well this will get his confidence back as he has been booed by his own fans for most of the season at lille this will have taken alot out of a young player and if he stays the psychological affect if the torment from the fans continues could ruin his self belief and leave lfc with a player shot in belief confidence and not ready to play next year where as at the championship he could flourish ready to go next season for us, this also could soften them up to selling us a certain young man they have in the center of the park

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  51. Don't worry mate, at least we sold Assaidi for a 2.7m profit, now we can go on to win CL with that huge transfer everyone is raving about.

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  52. Who will we attract without CL football? To be honest, if I were a player, I'd see no difference between a move to Liverpool or a move to Spurs. I think we really blew it on the summer transfer window. As a 2nd place CL EPL club, transfers like Hummels, Nainggolan, Lacazette, would have been a piece of cake. We could have even made a move for Cavani if we really wanted to. I don't want to say our transfers were bad, because if you look at it, Markovic, Can, Moreno, I wouldn't consider fails. Even Lallana has done a fair deal for us and has so much class and skill, but everyone just hates on him. Personally, I'd wait for our players to develop for a few years, and then debate on BR's position

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  53. All the players that i mentioned above are quality & can get even better @ lfc. So why not? Depay can play as a secondary striker. Barkley can reply gerrard. obviously we need a good goalkeeper and defender.

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  54. Sissokho is amazing when he's given the freedom to attack and has a disciplined defensive midfielder next to him. He's way under-rated. He'd give Hendo some serious competition.

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  55. 'Everywhere' sounds rather ominous. Hope he stays, anyway. Btw, great bit of language with pebbles and ponds.

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  56. I dislike the man's hypocrisy. He claimed to be all about improving his team as players and men, while the cameras were filming Being: Liverpool.


    A year later, he's abandoned his wife and shacked up with another woman. Who knows why it happened, but recall his loving words about his supportive wife, and then revisit them in light of his subsequent actions. That's the kind of man our manager is, or has become.


    That, and I don't trust him with transfer decisions. I believe he has a glass eye for talent.

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  57. Are you serious?



    I find it hard to believe that someone in this day and age would make a moral judgement like that about a total stranger. You don't know what his life is like, what his relationships are like, what they mean to him and those around him. And what has that got to do with football anyway? Who are you to make high-handed judgements like that about someone you don't even know? And even then, what business would it be of yours? Are you so pure?


    Wow.



    The notion that he's bad at spotting talent is, well, your opinion. I think it's wide of the mark, and would point to the performances of players written off by others who have vindicated his faith in them, showing that he sees things others miss. For example, Jordan Henderson, Raheem Sterling, Daniel Sturridge, Philip Coutinho, and Lazar Markovic.

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  58. It's fine to have these opinions, I respect that, but some of this is, if you don't mind me saying so, wide of the mark.

    If you can't give credit to a manager for good performances when they happen, your judgement is always going to be questioned: you come off sounding biased. Why not just give credit where it's due. He did well last season, and the second half of the season before. It's not hard to admit it. Someone you don't like or rate did a good job -- grit your teeth and say well done to him. Then by all means make your argument about the things he's done wrong. Don't write off his achievements though, it just sounds like sour grapes. He's done good things for Liverpool.

    I'm not sure about some of your arguments here either. The players you mention: Carroll was not good enough and it's amazing the club got money for him. Reina was trying to leave for at least a year, maybe two, before he left. Agger was finished, his legs had gone. Gerrard the same. Assaidi and Suso? Who cares man, good luck to them, but these lads were not good enough, end of. You'd really stick Assaidi and Suso in the team ahead of Sterling, Coutinho, Lallana, Gerrard, Markovic, Ibe...?

    You must have missed BR talking about his tactics and his respect for the traditions of the club. He has spoken *from the start* about how his tactical ideas are those which for him represent the traditions of the club, simple passing and moving, direct and quick, and he has spoken frequently of his respect for Shankly et al. I think you are just choosing the facts which fit your prejudice against him in this case.

    I have concerns and criticisms about him too of course but overall he just seems a very talented coach to me. I like him. I like the way he talks about football, about intensity and pace and versatility. And most importantly, I like the way his team plays.

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  59. Robo you appear to like him as much as I dislike him, that's fine because we all have opinions and that's healthy. You see things one way and I see them in another way. When we play well I will say so, but this season so far we have been diabolical in most of our games. Yes we have improved over the last few weeks, but we should because I don't think we could get any worse.

    Look at his signings, can you honestly say that they are what we need. There is no getting away from what is in front of your eyes, and Rodgers is the main culprit of this. As much as I dislike this guy, if I could see a genuine improvement I would certainly say so. It was only a few weeks ago that he played Sterling to lead the attack, do you think that this was good tactics, or was it enforced upon him, because of what he had on the bench.

    As far as the players mentioned, I am well aware of what you say and that is correct. At the same time they were still superior to what we have now, with Carroll it was a little different we all know what his game is about, but it gave us a option which we surely needed many times. Just cast your mind back to the cup tie played at Oldham, we where bullied of the park and I find that very hard too take. It's not the only time that this has happened, we need to mix up the play when needed. Unfortunately Carroll was never given that chance.

    Rodgers likes small players and there is nothing wrong in that, providing that the team is well balanced, but we also need fighters with the never say die attitude who play with passion and of course quality. I am from the old school
    Yeats, Byrne, Smith, St John, Case, Souness, Whelan, and many more these type of players were there heart on their sleeve. Then of curse we had the great man himself leading us from the front Bill Shankly, need I say more.

    We waited five years to get back into the Champions Leauge, what did we do we went out in a whimper in one of the easiest groups, was it just bad luck or the lack of quality that we did not have.....back to Rodgers again. So as biased as you may think I am, then maybe you are also in your liking of him.

    At the end of the day my club will always come first, nothing will ever keep me away, I'm as red as you will ever get I just dislike the way my club appears to be heading with the likes of our MD and the Imposter Rodgers.

    YNWA

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  60. Your comments are fair and irony is wonderful.
    We make judgments about people all the time, overt and covert. You just exemplified it with your monologue ending it "Are you so pure?"


    The answer is "No", by the way.

    I dislike his hypocrisy and used an obvious example to illustrate it.


    You wholeheartedly disagree with me. I can accept that at face value without thinking any more or less of you for it.


    Why? Because I want to hear different perspectives.
    That's a major reason for being on this site.


    As for his talent spotting, what about the names conspicuously absent from your roll-call? Try Allen, Borini, Aspas, Luis Alberto and Ilori. Note that 3 of those 5 barely played, and probably won't play for us again.


    I'm being as selective as you were, of course, but it does support my argument that we've wasted more money than derived value from our signings.


    Sturridge and Coutinho were among his successes. 2 out of 25 is the unfair number bandied about. (it's not that bad, and subject to change) In fact, Markovic will hopefully hasten that change.


    What I got from your point is that he is good at rehabilitating players. I have no reason to disagree.

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  61. I wasn't making a judgement concerning your virtue, I was asking a question. I didn't imply that I didn't like you, that I disapproved or that others should disapprove of your moral choices in your private life, and I didn't use incendiary language to denounce those choices. I wouldn't do so, because I think it's wrong to treat people, especially those we don't know well, in that way, whoever they are.

    I am presently frustrated with the persistent refusal of anti-Rodgers posters to acknowledge the good things the manager has done already for the club, I believe fans need to adopt a more intelligently critical and less confrontational, reactive, and emotional attitude. I'm glad to see those good qualities expressed in the second half of your post.

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  62. Thanks for getting back Geoff, and thanks for taking the time to write calmly and at length. You're right, I do find myself arguing in his favour with bias. I actually have criticisms of him, but it hardly seems necessary to mention them given that so many other people are queuing up to have their say ; )

    One of those criticisms I share with you, which is a failure early on to grasp the importance of the strength side of the game, especially in midfield, among the top clubs. It's arguably even more important now than ever, because you must
    have midfielders who can dominate in the tackle without going to ground. I was pleased to see Can signed because one of his main strengths is... his strength. He also expressly signed Lambert, a much better and cheaper player than Carroll, to add that option up front. And Sturridge is not really a delicate flower in the way he plays. So my feeling is that Rodgers is changing and learning there. Carroll used his strength so badly when he was with us, it was a liability. Constantly giving away needless fouls. Awful.

    One of the things I remember about Oldham is that it was Sturridge's debut -- and I remember the goal he scored. And I remember too Rodgers showing us a little of what he might be like behind the scenes after that game, when he said that "the young players at our club have seen what League 1 is like now... and if they don't want to be playing down there then they better start working hard..." or something like that. There was this steel in his look I hadn't seen before. I was impressed.

    But we can't judge a Liverpool boss on games like that anyway. It's about finals and crunch league games isn't it. For me, this is the first truly decisive period of Rodgers' tenure. The
    next month or so will determine our whole season. For me a lot of the
    negative judgements have been premature (and too extreme) -- let's see
    where we've got to at the end of February.

    Just lastly, I agree that there's been some disappointing transfer business. I would say that it's been disappoining for about 25 years. Only 1996-97 and 2007-08 were half decent for transfers. It's depressing looking through our history in that respect. I'd also say that the last 2 years have seen more quality brought to the club than virtually the whole of the rest of that period put together. Lallana, Coutinho, Sturridge, Sakho, Markovic, Can, Moreno... these are class first team players the likes of which we haven't seen recruited at Liverpool too often since the last league championship. That, combined with the exciting youngsters coming through, makes this for me a really interesting and exciting moment, and the coach is an important part of that. The football played in the last two years has been incredible at times. We've not seen anything like that in a while.

    Anyway, let's talk again at the end of February and see how we're getting on. Enjoy the game tonight!

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  63. Judgments aren't always bad, you know. We make decisions based on them all the time, both instinctive and thought out.

    They're also not always set in stone. Not for me, anyway.

    I have taken no personal offence to your responses. They're well thought out and I welcome the mental exercise.

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  64. If it hasn't been covered, BR loves to count his chickens before they hatch.


    Every good result is pounced upon as the beginning of something great when it's simply added momentum. Invariably it's like a jinx that invariably stalls progress, at which point the conversation skips to "a strong show of character".


    The perfect example was the crunch game v Basel where BR claimed he "wasn't even thinking of that" with reference to dropping into the Europa league.


    These proclamations are premature and embarrassing when they collapse, and few top managers are caught out as often as he is when making them. Perhaps it's his love of a soundbite?


    But then again, I believe BR is in the second tier or "potentially great managers" alongside Martinez, Koeman, Sousa and Pochettino. From that short list, all but Pochettino are ahead of Rodgers in their development.

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  65. Hi Robo, hope your ok. Are you still feeling the same way about this guy.

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  66. Hello Jockinthekop, are you still feeling the same way about the Imposter Rodgers, as you did 4 months ago.

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  67. Hello Robo, hope your ok and not to dissappointed with our season. Are you still backing Rodgers like you were some months ago, or can you now see the downside of this guy and quite happy to give him another year. Like to hear from you again anyway take care of yourself.

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  68. I think mistakes have been made but not just from Rodgers. There's a bit of restructuring needed in the club's strategy.
    Look, if FSG decided to sack him I would understand why but without that restructuring, any manager coming in is going to have the same problems Rodgers has.
    I'm still of the opinion Rodgers should be given the chance to rectify where we've gone wrong this season but if Klopp was to express an interest I can understand why FSG might see it as too good an opportunity to miss

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  69. Thanks for the reply Jock, I have to agree with you as far as the restricting goes that certainly needs changing. But I still feel that we need to change the manager. I maintain he is the root cause of our decline this season, his signings are nothing short of dismal his team selections bewildering at times, full of excuses, embarrassing comments, arrogant, over inflated ego, and totally inept. Would I give him more time.....no way, would not give him the time of day.

    If only we could find another Shankly.....I wounder what the great man would make of all this. I passionately care about my club, after all been supporting the for more than 55 years.....so when I see the likes of Rodgers doing what he does week in week out.....makes my blood boil....that's how I feel.

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  70. I understand your points and they are valid. To be honest I can see both sides of the coin. There have been some questionable decisions this season no doubt both in terms of transfers and squad selections and there has undoubtedly been some issues in the dressing room.
    That being said, we've been unlucky with injuries we're still 5th despite all the aforementioned issues. I honestly think if Sturridge had been fit for even half the season, we'd be in the top 4 right now and everyone would be singing a different tune.
    None of the teams we're competing with have had to do without their main striker for the whole season either

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