January Transfer Window 2015

[Horus]

North Korea have just ordered Dave to close this thread.

[Nelly-Szoboszlai]

Sell Borini.

 

Buy Lacazette, who's just netted again for Lyon, and take a punt on Torres, if he's prepared to lower his wages demands and accept he's not first choice.

[El Dangerous]

Vietto had another couple of goals this weekend, I'd test the waters.

[El Rojo]

Vietto had another couple of goals this weekend, I'd test the waters.

 

Are we so bereft in front of goal that we're suggesting drug testing for anybody with the gumption to actually get the ball over the line?

[Dr. J]

 

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger insists he will only spend money in January on the right player.

 

 

 

He also implied he'd spend big, if necessary. The mancs will, as will Spurs, I think. We'd better get it right if we spend.

[Mark M]

I'd really like us to move quick and early in the month and not have Ayre flying off to Eastern Europe with hours left trying to do a deal with some awkward owner.

Identify our targets stop fucking low balling the selling club and letting the deal slip away.

 

[bonesman]

Are we so bereft in front of goal that we're suggesting drug testing for anybody with the gumption to actually get the ball over the line?

Im getting old, this made me laugh. ha.

[Denny Crane]

Tancredi Palmeri

@tancredipalmeri

 

Mancini: "Lucas Leiva is a great player, he would give a big help. But he belongs to Liverpool, so it's hard" Lucas Leiva?!?

[Lee909]

I'll be pissed off if we loan out the only good defensive midfielder we have. Unless we go and sign a top quality replacement, but seeing as I cant see us spending big id prefer to see a keeper, striker and CB signed first.

[ZonkoVille77]

We're fuckin shit at transfers so this won't end well.

[Jennings]

Footy is a simple game.

 

 

Against Arsenal we had 27 shots - and scored two; they had two shots on target and scored two.

 

So we have problems scoring goals and saving shots.

 

Ergo buy a striker who can score and a keeper who doesn't concede many.

 

'kin'ell this is easy. 

[Gym Beglin]

The more I look at Neto, he would be a great addition for us.

 

Good age, good height, good stats in terms of saves and distribution, decent with the ball at his feet (Brazilian), at a club where he's 'gettable'.

http://www.squawka.com/football-player-rankings#performance-score#goalkeeper-stats#top-5-european-leagues|season-2014/2015#all-teams#goalkeeper#16#44#0#0#90#08/08/2014#22/12/2014#season#1#all-matches#possession#desc#total

 

Whereas this lad might be the next Lloris, and I bet will vie with Mandanda and Lopes for the top keeper spot in Ligue 1:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Lecomte

 

In fact, according to Squawka, De Gea is only the 60th best keeper in Europe presently in terms of saving shots, and 52nd overall when you factor in distribution etc.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron-Robert_Zieler is another that's on the up and up, used to be a Manc trainee, now 25 and doing well at Hannover in terms of defensive and offensive stats.

 

Another possibility should be Sergio Romero at Sampdoria, currently the Argentina #1 keeper and still only 27.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergio_Romero

[Lee909]

http://www.squawka.com/news/liverpool-target-neto-makes-a-huge-error-for-current-side-fiorentina/247278

[Gym Beglin]

http://www.squawka.com/news/liverpool-target-neto-makes-a-huge-error-for-current-side-fiorentina/247278

I'm not deterred at all. Gaffes happen, it's a shitty job, you're always going to let goals in, it's all about how you deal with it mentally. They were 2-0 down at the time and then went onto win 4-1. He also made a couple of good saves last night as they drew 1-1 away.

 

If you're looking for a perfect keeper, there isn't one, stop looking.

[Lee909]

 

 

They were 2-0 down at the time and then went onto win 4-1.

WOW 2-0 down to win 4-1

[magicrat]

Neto is an odd name for a keeper.

It suggests a bargain basement supermarket or a fella that is well versed in the art of picking the ball out of the net in which case we have two already

[A_S]

 

WOW 2-0 down to win 4-1

 

Mason was the ref then, obviously. Cunt. 

[Gym Beglin]

Looking at forwards, I did one of these the other day, and this is just a reprise based on current Squawka performance scores this season. I'm also comparing these scores with Suarez's scores this season.

 

There are three main areas of scoring, those being defensive work/success, attacking work/success, and passing work/success.

 

If you look at the premium, Messi, his ratings today are:

 

Def: 76 Attack: 907 Passing: 312 Overall: 1294

 

 

If you look at, say, Diego Costa, his ratings are:

 

Def: -37 Attack: 521 Passing: -50 Overall: 434

 

 

So you see that Messi is a better overall player, scoring positively in all categories.

 

 

 

 

So what kind of striker are we missing in Sturridge and Suarez?

 

 

Let's look at Suarez last season:

 

D: 32 A: 1616 P: 44 Total: 1693

 

 

And let's look at Sturridge last season:

 

D: 40 A: 969 P: -91 Total: 919

 

 

I think, put simply, he was the recipient of more passes than a provider of passes. Suarez had excellent assist stats, hence his key passing put him at 44.

 

 

 

 

So, in theory, we need to find a player like Suarez. Someone who scores positively in all aspects, a creator and a finisher, so let's have a look at some candidates with similar qualities who won't cost £100m and might come:

 

 

Max Kruse

D: 10 A: 435 P: 22 T: 467

 

Jose Callejon

D: 35 A: 377 P: 39 T: 451

 

Karim Benzema

D: 10 A: 419 P: 19 T: 448

 

Adam Ljajic

D: 15 A: 307 P: 105 T: 427

 

Edison Cavani

D: 75 A: 329 P: 12 T: 416

 

Ezekiel Lavezzi

D: 16 A: 103 P:22 T: 141

 

Jurgen Locadia

D: 43 A: 184 P: 2 T: 229

 

 

I mean, this is just looking at the balanced players according to stats, so it doesn't include players like Memphis Depay, for example, who has a negative score in the passing department. But that's the trade-off, and maybe someone's passing will get better, and their defensive work will get better, so another list would be to look at scores for attacking only.

 

Bear in mind that your score increases the more you play, so someone with injuries this season, like Depay, might not be as high as you think, but this is the 'good attacker' scores for players in the top 5 leagues in Europe (not Dutch):

 

(unobtainables omitted, such as Messi, Aguero, Ibra etc)

 

Lacazette: 896

Dybala: 582

Austin: 582

Tevez: 578

Gignac: 545

Bony: 490

J Ayew: 440

Kruse: 435

Seferovic: 431

Benzema: 419

Huntelaar: 414

Yedder: 412

Ntep: 405

Gabbiadini: 404

Menez: 394

Bacca: 392

Honda: 386

Nolito: 382

Callejon: 377

Diabate: 354

Icardi: 350

Gradel: 350

Garcia: 340

Raffael: 337

Bobadilla: 335

Son: 334

Cavani: 329

Ujah: 327

Berahino: 326

Vietto: 323

Joseulu: 319

Volland: 319

Bueno: 311

Ljajic: 307

 

 

And from here, you then have chats about whether or not so and so could do it on a cold Wednesday night in Stoke. Of course, many of those names are just riding out a lottery win for a season and will likely be shit in this country, and any other country, 12 months from now. But I didn't create these stats, I just know they exist.

[Gym Beglin]

And by the way, of Lacazette's 17 goals this season, 4 of them have been from outside the area, which is something we need when we face deep defences like we did yesterday.

[Adebisi]

Be madness if we don't go out and by a striker. I'm not even expecting a big name, there surely must be someone out there we could pick up for peanuts like West Ham did with Sahko 

Or do a loanie swaps deal with Borini or something. 

[Guest Numero Veinticinco]

Tancredi Palmeri

@tancredipalmeri

 

Mancini: "Lucas Leiva is a great player, he would give a big help. But he belongs to Liverpool, so it's hard" Lucas Leiva?!?

Please. As long as we buy a proper DM then I'd be happy to see him in Italy.

[TheHowieLama]

Wait -- they were 2-0 down, then went on to win 4-1?

[Russ Atmosphere]

Be madness if we don't go out and by a striker. I'm not even expecting a big name, there surely must be someone out there we could pick up for peanuts like West Ham did with Sahko 

 

Or do a loanie swaps deal with Borini or something. 

 

There's no such deals that Liverpool could achieve, been reading it on here for months. There is no level of player in between the elite who we definitely can't get, and utter shite.

[Koptimus Prime]

Live in hope we can get a hang of this transfer lark but not with the set up we have at the mo.

 

Hope im wrong but just can't see FSG trusting Rodgers and co with any major funds like in the summer.

 

My guess would be a Borini sale and couple loans in.

[TheHowieLama]

This time last year we had Moses and Aspas