Summer Transfer Ballache 2016

[Rick Sanchez C-137]

No he isn't king of the pigs. He was caught fucKING a pig.

[lancsred]

No he isn't king of the pigs. He was caught fucKING a pig.

Have you seen Tony Blair's missus?

[kalasoma]

Dominic King ‏@DominicKing_DM  15m15 minutes agoLiverpool, England

Martin Skrtel close to ending his @LFC career. €7m offer from Fenerbahce. Highly likely deal will be done.

[aladdinsane]

To add to that we apparently want a new CB to replace him.

[Babb'sBurstNad]

Well if it's Matip in for Skrtel then I guess we still have Toure to replace, but I assumed Gomez would be getting more opportunities this season.

[J-V]

 

Dominic King ‏@DominicKing_DM  15m15 minutes agoLiverpool, England

Martin Skrtel close to ending his @LFC career. €7m offer from Fenerbahce. Highly likely deal will be done.

 

 

Thank fuck for that.  He should have been fucked off when City were after him.

[Grinch]

Definitely need another centre back.  Gomez hasn't played anywhere near enough games at a decent level and he's coming off an injury that many players aren't the same after.

[aRdja]

Definitely need another centre back. Gomez hasn't played anywhere near enough games at a decent level and he's coming off an injury that many players aren't the same after.

He hasn't even played CB for us even once competitively, has he? We could've kept Kolo for another year, but I guess it was a bit obvious...

[Grinch]

He hasn't even played CB for us even once competitively, has he? We could've kept Kolo for another year, but I guess it was a bit obvious...

 

Can't remember tbh, I wasn't paying full attention at the start of last season until Klopp came in.

 

I just hope that next season we've a centre back partnership, feels like a very long time since we had a duo playing the majority of our games.  Chopping and changing back there can't help with building an understanding.

[Dr Nowt]

It's going to be Jonathan Tah, isn't it?

 

It'll definitely be Jonathan Tah.

 

There's no way this won't be Jonathan Tah.

[TheHowieLama]

Tah rah lah boom dee ay

I'll take your pants away

[Pidge]

To be fair, how many wide forwards/wingers are consistent? For example, Hazard was brilliant last year and turned to complete shit this year. If you want a winger who will score game in, game out you're looking at paying at least 50m and most of those players aren't gettable anyways.

 

Mane has proven that more often than not, he can change games with his pace/ability and that he'll score you more than 10 goals. He's obviously not a guaranteed success but the fact he can put up 15 goals and 9 assists in a season where he was "inconsistent" probably isn't a bad thing. Like I said, he's never scored less than 10 in a season. I'd say if anything, that shows he is consistent. More importantly, he has the exact attributes we lack and is a good fit. This isn't a Benteke situation where we would be buying a player blatantly not suited to the squad.

 

Didn't want to reply from my phone as felt this warranted a full answer.

 

My inconsistency comment wasn't in terms of his game-to-game performance, more about the type of teams he seems to excel against and the ones he goes quiet against.  My question is whether it's because he struggles to impose himself against teams who defend deep (on my MF post I speculated that it actually might be partially Koeman tactically preferring to play to Pelle's strengths in those games more).  My concern isn't that he might be a bad player, but that he might not improve us against the teams we need to learn to beat more often.

 

His goals and assists came in these games:

 

Norwich

Manchester Utd

Swansea

Chelsea

Liverpool

Manchester City

Arsenal

...3 month gap...

Liverpool

Everton

Villa

Manchester City

Palace

 

Seems like a pretty clear split between teams going through terrible defensive form, sides who will give him space to attack on the break, Everton with a manager falling apart and Palace who were distracted by a cup final.  I'm not encouraged.  A lot of these types of games are where we crack out our more cohesive performances already, if we're still mediocre the rest of the time we are not going to improve.

 

That said he has a hell of a change of pace, with Coutinho he could well give us the key to getting behind even a deep defensive line. Klopp may also want to play from deep more often and Mane's pace will really help us stay dangerous.  He's also younger than I thought and could yet have a bit more improvement to come.

[amli]

James Pearce ‏@JamesPearceEcho 23s23 seconds ago

Martin Skrtel set to seal £5.5million move to Fenerbahce #LFC

 

paul joyce ‏@pjoyceexpress 35s35 seconds ago

Martin Skrtel set for £5m move to Fenerbahce

 

Anfield HQ ‏@AnfieldHQ

Liverpool are expecting to sign another central defender to compete with Matip, Lovren, Sakho & Joe Gomez next season. #lfc (Chris Bascombe)

[Arl arse]

We are world class at 'expecting' and 'monitoring'

[3 Stacks]

Didn't want to reply from my phone as felt this warranted a full answer.

 

My inconsistency comment wasn't in terms of his game-to-game performance, more about the type of teams he seems to excel against and the ones he goes quiet against.  My question is whether it's because he struggles to impose himself against teams who defend deep (on my MF post I speculated that it actually might be partially Koeman tactically preferring to play to Pelle's strengths in those games more).  My concern isn't that he might be a bad player, but that he might not improve us against the teams we need to learn to beat more often.

 

His goals and assists came in these games:

 

Norwich

Manchester Utd

Swansea

Chelsea

Liverpool

Manchester City

Arsenal

...3 month gap...

Liverpool

Everton

Villa

Manchester City

Palace

 

Seems like a pretty clear split between teams going through terrible defensive form, sides who will give him space to attack on the break, Everton with a manager falling apart and Palace who were distracted by a cup final.  I'm not encouraged.  A lot of these types of games are where we crack out our more cohesive performances already, if we're still mediocre the rest of the time we are not going to improve.

 

That said he has a hell of a change of pace, with Coutinho he could well give us the key to getting behind even a deep defensive line. Klopp may also want to play from deep more often and Mane's pace will really help us stay dangerous.  He's also younger than I thought and could yet have a bit more improvement to come.

 

The season prior he scored against the likes of Stoke, Crystal Palace, Sunderland and Chelsea, all teams who defend pretty deep. I think when you look at the type of player he is, it's fair to wonder if he can do it against teams who restrict space but I don't think it's too much of an issue with him.

 

I think the 3 month gap between goals is a more legitimate worry because in 14/15 he had two periods of about 1.5 months where he didn't score, so game to game consistency could be a problem for him. Like I said though, I think that's relatively normal for almost all wingers/attacking midfielders. For example, Alexis Sanchez this season had three seperate one-month periods where he didn't score, but he still ended up with 17 goals. Mane is similar. He goes through scoring droughts but his goal total is always good at the end of the season. Whether his actual performances are still good when he goes through barren spells, I am not 100% sure because you'd have to watch Southampton almost all year for that and I haven't.

 

That being said, I like Mane's quality but his attributes are what is most important. Whether we sign him or not, we need someone of his profile. A quick attacker who can finish and make us less oned-dimensional in attack should be one of our biggest priorities.

[Red House]

We are world class at 'expecting' and 'monitoring'

 

Sounds like we are adding 'anticipating' to our skill set.

 

Offers are anticipated for striker Christian Benteke and goalkeeper Adam Bogdan this summer. #lfc (Chris Bascombe)

[Josef Svejk]

We are world class at 'expecting' and 'monitoring'

'Expectoring'. It's what we do.

[Frankenhooker]

Who, in their right mind, would bid for Adam Bogdan ? I've honestly seen league 2 keepers that are better. I'd stick a raffle ticket on him, alongside a tray of Ferrero Rocher and a bottle of port, and hope that someone pulls out his number first.

[Paco]

Mercado supposed to be joining

[Dr Nowt]

Mercado supposed to be joining

Super.

[Nightcat]

Who, in their right mind, would bid for Adam Bogdan ?

Liverpool F.C.

[Paulie Dangerously]

James Pearce ‏@JamesPearceEcho 23s23 seconds ago

Martin Skrtel set to seal £5.5million move to Fenerbahce #LFC

 

paul joyce ‏@pjoyceexpress 35s35 seconds ago

Martin Skrtel set for £5m move to Fenerbahce

 

Anfield HQ ‏@AnfieldHQ

Liverpool are expecting to sign another central defender to compete with Matip, Lovren, Sakho & Joe Gomez next season. #lfc (Chris Bascombe)

 

 

So long Martin "The assassin faced baby" Skrtel.

 

Cheers for the odd goal and good times. 

[Chairman Meow]

Skrtel out and we want another centre half, Rui Fonte £40 million nailed on. 

 

 

We are world class at 'expecting' and 'monitoring'

 

If we could crack the ability to swoop we'd be set.

[Guest]

Super.

Is supermercado Spanish for supermarket? Are we joining forces with the Spanish Tesco?

[Paco]

Is supermercado Spanish for supermarket? Are we joining forces with the Spanish Tesco?

netto