Official Liverpool FC Thread

[Cactus Jack]

Yeah, it's going to be a fun season ahead. I'm a typical Laker Hater, so it's weird seeing them as a lottery team. The hate isn't what it used to be lol. Atleast you have some exciting young players.

Yeah....some hopefuls. We'll see how it goes. I'm on the fence as of now with Luke. Steering the Warriors for 2 months after they were already champions, and growing this Laker squad, are two completely different things. The boys seem to like him alot, so thats good.

Don't worry about the Laker hate. It comes with the territory. Laker fans are pretty arrogant, and annoying. If they don't sign Lebron every offseason, they whine and cry. I personally like these down times. Laker viewership dropped 40% and then an additional 20% the last couple seasons. It's nice to shed the fleas now and then. Im sure 99% of them are wearing GS jerseys now. Sadly when your team gets really good....you pick up 'those fans'. They tend to be the ones who run at the mouth the loudest...give your fanbase a bad name...and then leave when the water dries up. Miami knows about this too. It's hard when your on top....suddenly all the 'cool things' your team used to do, become seen as poor sportsmanship. Look at Green. Now people think he's a brash arrogant jerk, and there's all these clips of Durant turning before his shot even goes in. "Officially a Warrior" the captions say...and stuff like that.
I personally think Green is awesome. Jerry West is a God IMO...so I prob could never hate the Warriors while he's there. I also don't hold it against Durant that he went there. It's a great team...the ball moves, plenty of shots, guys love playing together. Why stay and lose in OKC with Westbrook, who I don't think he ever saw eye to eye with? I personally love what the Warriors have done to basketball. It's great to watch....and they raised the bar. Someone's gotta come up with something better...until then, they get to run their mouth, and tromp teams by 30 points.

But anyways, its all good. The Lakers had a good run for a while there....Kobe is/was very polarizing, and the Lake-show certainly created plenty of Lakers-haters. I bet Yankee fans deal with this alot. Everyone cheers when the Yankees get their heads smushed in the mud. It's the same with the Lakers.

I'm guilty of that myself.

[Cactus Jack]

Tough draw.

[danfantastk32]

Tough draw.

Yeah....what a bummer. Real chance there to make a statement, and push up into the top of the table. Honestly, this wasn't a good weekend for my teams. One of those "suck-fest" sports weekends for me.

Moving on..

We have a nice long string of about 10-11 very beatable teams. Lets see what we do.

[Kyle_Connor]

Yup. 10 more good games to go. But I'm really skeptic about Crystal palace, Southampton and Everton (Not as much as Crystal Palace though).
We haven't won a PL game against CP recently and it's an away game where we gave away a 3 goal lead in 2014.

[Kyle_Connor]

I wish Karius could develop into someone like DaGea end of this season.

[HIF]

I wish Karius could develop into someone like DaGea end of this season.

I wish that Andy King could develop into a player like Ronaldo by the end of the season.

[danfantastk32]

Well....got the 3 points we needed today. Not our best showing...but it was enough. Shoulda had more goals.

Just need City to lay an egg, and we'll be tied for first with Arsenal.

[danfantastk32]

Just beat Spurs today. TBH...I didn't even know they played. Sturridge got to play, and scored 2 goals. I'll have to find some highlights. Good for Sturridge. Get some time on the pitch...made a case for himself.

Not to be a hater...but we're gonna fit him in the starting 11, and he'll get injured 2 weeks later. Seems to always be that way. I know this is frustrating for him, but he's gotta show he can stay out there.

Good win. Spurs are no slouch. Next up: Crystal Palace on Sat. Let's do it!

Speaking of Spurs, we got Warriors/Spurs tonight (Switching sports). That aughta be an interesting game. Gonna have to check that out. Don't know if Spurs did anything this offseason, but we all know the Warriors did a little "tweaking".

[Cactus Jack]

I missed the game.

[Baphomet]

I missed the game.

It was a very messy game between, mostly, two youth teams. It was worth the miss.

[danfantastk32]

Well well....saw that Arsenal won. Since they are my 'back up' team....and my bud's fave team...Im cool with that. Saw the score of our game, but I was working..so I haven't seen. Looks like a decent game.

Anyways..I recorded it...so I'm gonna go check it out.

Manure tied...tsk tsk. Oh...my heavy heart.

[danfantastk32]

So that wasn't my favorite game. We looked really good in the first half offensively. We just did whatever we wanted, whenever we wanted. But our defense really let us down. Both goals by CP were totally on us...especially the first one.

The second half they really made an effort to get right on us when we got the ball, and it worked. They just out-muscled us. Our defense was pretty bad the second half....and there really shoulda been a pk (maybe even 2) awarded to Palace. I will say that there was a hand-ball by them in the box that wasn't called. It wasn't intentional, but his arms were above his shoulders, and that's typically called. So we did have one "missed" as well.

Lastly....I'm not seeing any difference between our two goalies. I feel like Mignolet's weaknesses are Karius' as well.

We won on the road....so I can't complain. But I really don't think we have the defense to ultimately mount a serious title challenge. I have noticed that Sturridge doesn't get any EPL minutes, and I wonder if we couldn't work out selling/trading him and getting a legitimate defender back. You put Hyypia and Carra on this squad, and I think we absolutely have a shot at the title this year. And neither of those two were ever 'the best'. Just a couple solid defenders. I mean even Agger and Skrtel would make me feel so much better about our chances. It's pretty bad at times.

Great attacking today though. Really nice movement. Def keep doing that. I just hope we can work something out in the transfer window. We need better defense. The goalie is still pretty raw...I'll cut him some slack, but so far I don't see those Mignolet issues being fixed by this guy either.

[Cactus Jack]

So that wasn't my favorite game. We looked really good in the first half offensively. We just did whatever we wanted, whenever we wanted. But our defense really let us down. Both goals by CP were totally on us...especially the first one.

The second half they really made an effort to get right on us when we got the ball, and it worked. They just out-muscled us. Our defense was pretty bad the second half....and there really shoulda been a pk (maybe even 2) awarded to Palace. I will say that there was a hand-ball by them in the box that wasn't called. It wasn't intentional, but his arms were above his shoulders, and that's typically called. So we did have one "missed" as well.

Lastly....I'm not seeing any difference between our two goalies. I feel like Mignolet's weaknesses are Karius' as well.

We won on the road....so I can't complain. But I really don't think we have the defense to ultimately mount a serious title challenge. I have noticed that Sturridge doesn't get any EPL minutes, and I wonder if we couldn't work out selling/trading him and getting a legitimate defender back. You put Hyypia and Carra on this squad, and I think we absolutely have a shot at the title this year. And neither of those two were ever 'the best'. Just a couple solid defenders. I mean even Agger and Skrtel would make me feel so much better about our chances. It's pretty bad at times.

Great attacking today though. Really nice movement. Def keep doing that. I just hope we can work something out in the transfer window. We need better defense. The goalie is still pretty raw...I'll cut him some slack, but so far I don't see those Mignolet issues being fixed by this guy either.

I would agree in regards to Karius. I was expecting more from that signing. Moreno & Lovren in the back is a recipe for disaster. Sakho is finished at the club. Definitely need reinforcements in the window.

[danfantastk32]

Yeah...It was a good game, all in all. Just some bad defensive moments.

My thing is this: This ain't the 70's anymore. It sucks to say it...but Liverpool just isn't the destination is was. When guys like Messi, and Pogba, Zlatan, Neymar are schoolkids, they aren't dreaming about winning a title with Liverpool. It's Madrid, Barca, Chelsea, Milan. And I'm not sure thats ever going to change back.

So for us...it's about windows. We are still a big club. We will attract good youth. That A- level player, and guys slightly past their prime. The problem is whenever these young guys turn into gold...or that A- guy get's it going....your gonna see Barca, or Man-City/Chelsea just gobble them up. Anyone watching us over the last 10 years has seen that happen over and over (Mascherano, Chompers, Arbeloa, Alonso, Torres, Sterling) just to name the guys off the top of my head. Now...I know we do the same to the lower clubs...so I'm not crying here....it just is what it is, and you have to recognize.

So with that understanding....you look at some of our core (Lallana, Firmino, Coutinho specifically) and you just gotta know most or all of them will get poached over the next couple years. Lallana is 28...so maybe he's safe, but you get the point. I figure that if we make a good run this year, your gonna see interest this offseason, and although Klopp might be able to keep them for another year, they will want to leave if we're not winning...and those huge clubs will seem so enticing.

And that's why I get so irritated. Our owners need to recognize that this club has built something good. It's gonna have a 2-3 year window, and you gotta go all in. Go get some serious defense. Cause this will get torn up, and we'll have to start it over again, and it may be a good 6-8 years before the next legit window opens again.

I know there are no guarantees, but we have a squad good enough to be right there at the end. It's gonna be our defense that lets us down, and so I think ownership is squandering a real opportunity here, if we don't do a couple slick moves in the transfer period.

[danfantastk32]

This was from an article in the liverpoolecho today. They are interviewing Jamie Carragher a few days ago:

"Jamie Carragher admits Philippe Coutinho’s brilliant form for Liverpool has changed his mind on the Brazilian playmaker.

The Liverpool legend admits that when the two trained together at Melwood in 2013, he used to roll his eyes at some of the things Coutinho tried on the training ground.

But Carragher says he’s not rolling his eyes any more.

Writing in his column for the Daily Mail , Carragher says: "There used to be a time when I would roll my eyes. Philippe Coutinho’s name would be mentioned alongside a team such as Real Madrid but I never took it seriously.

He added: "His performances are making everyone sit up and take notice, so much so that it has even got to the point where the Brazil legend Ronaldo gave an interview to a Spanish radio station two weeks ago and said he ‘would love to see Coutinho at Real Madrid’."

Yeah....that's exactly what I'm talking about. I really hope our owners understand the moment. Throw down some $$ and get a couple legitimate defenders (yes..I know they don't grow on trees....but jesus...pay the fee's!). No one's saying we need the best of the best. But if we have just a "good defense" ...I think our guys can be right there at the end.

[Cactus Jack]

I'm not too worried about the clubs reputation honestly.

[danfantastk32]

Well...been looking at some premier-league defenders. Trying to get some ideas. Ashley Williams plays centerback. Virgil V Dijk is another centerback, and has been linked with Liverpool.

Charlie Daniels is a Left back. He's 30...so prob has a couple years in him. Fonte is 32...but still solid. Another good Left Back.

We should definitely shoot for a C-B and a L-B come transfer window. if we could get 2 of those guys, that would be huge, IMO.

[Cactus Jack]

‘COUTINHO WANTS BARCELONA MOVE’

http://www.football365.com/news/gossip-coutinho-wants-to-swap-liverpool-for-barcelona

[danfantastk32]

‘COUTINHO WANTS BARCELONA MOVE’

http://www.football365.com/news/gossip-coutinho-wants-to-swap-liverpool-for-barcelona

I want to join a team with "players of touch" myself. =0) That was pretty funny.

It's a bummer. Honestly, I look at our core of Milner, Mane, Coutinho, Firmino, Lallana, Henderson, and I really don't see a problem. Great ball movement. Guys are sharing. Guys are on same page. Talent may not be A++ but it's certainly A. Effort is there. Things are moving in the right direction, for sure. Add a couple good defenders...maybe another top-notch midfielder, and your looking at a seriously legit squad able to match anyone in Europe. Coach is great....everyone loves him. Why would you wanna leave?

I dunno...why go be a cog in Barcelona when your MAKING something here? But guys want it.

[Cactus Jack]

‘COUTINHO WANTS BARCELONA MOVE’

http://www.football365.com/news/gossip-coutinho-wants-to-swap-liverpool-for-barcelona

I want to join a team with "players of touch" myself. =0) That was pretty funny.

It's a bummer. Honestly, I look at our core of Milner, Mane, Coutinho, Firmino, Lallana, Henderson, and I really don't see a problem. Great ball movement. Guys are sharing. Guys are on same page. Talent may not be A++ but it's certainly A. Effort is there. Things are moving in the right direction, for sure. Add a couple good defenders...maybe another top-notch midfielder, and your looking at a seriously legit squad able to match anyone in Europe. Coach is great....everyone loves him. Why would you wanna leave?

I dunno...why go be a cog in Barcelona when your MAKING something here? But guys want it.

A guy like Coutinho will eventually leave, but klopp will find his replacement. That's how much faith I have in the Kloppster.