Summer Transfer Thread 2012

[Guest TK-421]

One or two minor adjustments. To overtake at least three of Arsenal, Chelsea, Spurs and Newcastle. Okay.

 

I don't see why not.

 

The main area we need to improve on is wages. Get rid of the older players on big wages and it frees up resources to bring in a few new faces.

 

It doesn't require a massive overhaul. Our approach play was generally pretty good all season, but we weren't clinical enough and were made to pay for it at the other end. These problems are not insurmountable and needn't cost the Earth to fix.

 

It's just a different approach to naming a big list of Latin players with an "X" or "Z" in their name.

[fowler9]

I agree with TK-421 and others who are saying we can improve without necessarily shelling out vast amounts. Personally I would be delighted if we signed the following:-

 

Jackson Martinez £6m

Junior Hoillett £3m (compensation)

Luciano Narsingh £6m

Mohammed Diame Free

 

Sterling, Robinson, Gulacsi and Shelvey should also feature much more next season. I genuinely believe those changes alone would improve us immensely.

 

The really hard part will be shifting the players that are surplus to requirements - Maxi, Dirk, Joe Cole, Aquilani, Brad Jones, Aurelio and Danny Wilson.

 

 

really don't get why Aquilani keeps being mentioned amongst those needing to get rid of, he probably will go because I don't think he really wants to be here but if he was happy to stay he'd walk into the side

[Brownie]

 

really don't get why Aquilani keeps being mentioned amongst those needing to get rid of, he probably will go because I don't think he really wants to be here but if he was happy to stay he'd walk into the side

 

Probably because he's not very good?

[Cij]

One or two minor adjustments. To overtake at least three of Arsenal, Chelsea, Spurs and Newcastle. Okay.

 

For a long time I have felt the biggest problem with our squad is a lack of balance rather than quality - we always have one or two positions where we are "making do" such as Kuyt / Henderson on the right wing or Spearing covering for Lucas. If we get a right winger, striker and defensive midfielder we will go a long way towards bridging those gaps.

 

Arsenal look as though they are going to improve if they get M'Vila, Podolski, Verthongen (apparently they are keen), Wilshire (back fit), a RB to replace Sagna and manage to hold on to Van Persie (and keep him fit again next season).

 

The rest I am not so sure about; will Spurs shell out the cash for Adebayor and hang on to Bale? Are Chelsea about to lose Drogba and what are they going to do about an ageing Lampard and Terry and a fading Essien? Will Newcastle hold on to all those players that served them so well this season - Ashley loves a big offer? How will they cope with Europe?

 

All we can do is try to improve our squad with the available resources and see where that takes us. Newcastle have shown that savvy purchases and a bit of luck with injuries can see a club make massive gains.

[Glen C]

If FSG do as we suspect they might - no significant investment, no new stadium, cost-cutting, 'make do', then I fully expect Kenny Out/ FSG out sentiments by the end of what will be a very shit next season.

 

We need at least four good new players and anothe 100m

 

We all know it. If the Yanks don't want real success, they can fuck off back to their beloved Rounders and Hotdogs

 

Why should they give another 100m after kenny and commoli wasted the last 100?

[caracaracara]

Why does the majority fall for the 'smoke and mirrors' that we spent over a £100k and that is why there is no money to spend. We made £50k from Torres deal whichhalves the outlay spend. With other transfer fees (Babbel) and a reduced wage bill then the owners spent circa £20K. Not massive. The amount they wiped from the debt.

 

If they are not prepared to pump money in then sell on and make a quick profit. Somebody from Quatar looking to make a name for hosting the world cup will buy in to an iconic brand.

[Il Fenomeno]

I don't see why not.

 

The main area we need to improve on is wages. Get rid of the older players on big wages and it frees up resources to bring in a few new faces.

 

It doesn't require a massive overhaul. Our approach play was generally pretty good all season, but we weren't clinical enough and were made to pay for it at the other end. These problems are not insurmountable and needn't cost the Earth to fix.

 

It's just a different approach to naming a big list of Latin players with an "X" or "Z" in their name.

 

I believe our attack needs an overhaul mate. We need 2x right and left wingers plus a strike partner for Suarez.

 

Replacing Kuyt & Maxi we can afford to buy these young unproven players for a small fee like Hoilett, Zaha etc if we sign top wingers ahead of them. Its unfair to bring a Zaha or Hoilett in and put the pressure on them straight away to perform week in week out like we did with Henderson. They need to be eased in slowly with no pressure like Hernandez and Lucas were.

[Guest Numero Veinticinco]

I don't see why not.

 

The main area we need to improve on is wages. Get rid of the older players on big wages and it frees up resources to bring in a few new faces.

 

It doesn't require a massive overhaul. Our approach play was generally pretty good all season, but we weren't clinical enough and were made to pay for it at the other end. These problems are not insurmountable and needn't cost the Earth to fix.

 

Arsenal with Podolski and M'vila and Chelsea with God only knows who, are not going to be overtaken by making a small adjustment or two.

 

 

It's just a different approach to naming a big list of Latin players with an "X" or "Z" in their name.

 

I don't care what players are called, just as long as they're better than Downing and friends. What little bit of tinkering would you do to turn this horrendous season into a really good one?

[Cij]

really don't get why Aquilani keeps being mentioned amongst those needing to get rid of, he probably will go because I don't think he really wants to be here but if he was happy to stay he'd walk into the side

 

I have always liked Aquilani and I think he is a far superior player to the likes of Adam. However, all the indications are he does not want to be here and his wages are very significant. In addition, I can see us playing two up front a lot more next season and I am not sure whether he would be trusted to play in a two man midfield here ahead of Lucas / Gerrard / Henderson etc.

 

His injury problems appear to be behind him and he has performed reasonably well for two of the biggest clubs in Italy over the past two seasons so I would be shocked if there were no suitors. We need to stop accepting unfavourable loan deals and just make a decision on his future. At £5m he would be a bargain for any Italian team and he should take a wage cut if necessary if he is so desperate to return home.

[1892-LFCWasBorn]

I don't see why not.

 

The main area we need to improve on is wages. Get rid of the older players on big wages and it frees up resources to bring in a few new faces.

 

It doesn't require a massive overhaul. Our approach play was generally pretty good all season, but we weren't clinical enough and were made to pay for it at the other end. These problems are not insurmountable and needn't cost the Earth to fix.

 

It's just a different approach to naming a big list of Latin players with an "X" or "Z" in their name.

 

I think it's not that simple.

 

Yes. We were quite unlucky for the first few months, but after that we have been atrocious most of the time.

 

We're far too predictable and seem to be the only team in the league that hasn't got a game plan. Far too predictable and too laboured in our approach, making life easy for the opposition to defend against us.

 

It's the more experienced players like Bellamy that have carried us for most of the season. Most of our signings haven't been up to it. Add to that most of our recent signings are on quite high wages. In some cases, they saw their wages treble after joining us.

 

We're going miss the likes of Dirk and Maxi, especially with their experience and I don't think we're going replace them sufficiently that we need unfortunately.

[Torvald Utne]

Well his wages aren't an issue if he's out on loan

[zico]

David Texeira - groeningen

Wolfswinkle - sporting

Diego - athletico

[ngogswilly]

I suppose another thing is we have to hold on to our best players.

 

Even if they say they want to stay, fuck knows how a player's head might get turned if a club in the CL comes in for them.

 

So on top of trying to add some key additions, we've also got to worry about keeping the best of what we've got.

[Guest TK-421]

Arsenal with Podolski and M'vila and Chelsea with God only knows who, are not going to be overtaken by making a small adjustment or two.

 

As Cij says we can't control what Arsenal and Chelsea do so I'll not waste time discussing that.

 

We can improve our own team and it needn't cost eye watering amounts.

 

I've already said what I would do - find cover/competition for Lucas (his injury had profound and disastrous consequences on our league campaign), try and find a clinical goalscorer and add a dash of flair in whatever form we can find.

 

I also think Carroll and Suarez can both be more prolific next season, both a year older and wiser in the PL.

[Glen C]

Why does the majority fall for the 'smoke and mirrors' that we spent over a £100k and that is why there is no money to spend. We made £50k from Torres deal whichhalves the outlay spend. With other transfer fees (Babbel) and a reduced wage bill then the owners spent circa £20K. Not massive. The amount they wiped from the debt.

 

If they are not prepared to pump money in then sell on and make a quick profit. Somebody from Quatar looking to make a name for hosting the world cup will buy in to an iconic brand.

 

They said from the beginning that we would only spend what we earn. They never said no snoogy doogy crap, so i don't see the problem. Thats why we should have spent A LOT wiser last season. We didnt and thats kennys and commoli's fault. Even with another 100m there's no guarantee that we would spend any wiser. Maybe with it we'll buy bent for £25m.

[Cij]

Our squad is chronically short of players with the pace and skill to beat players one on one. Suarez, Bellamy and Johnson were the only ones who did it with any consistency this season and it is no surprise that they were three of our most creative forces.

 

When teams drop deep to defend we need more players who are able to beat a man in order to open up space or else we just end up passing back and forth in front of their back line - this is a large factor in why our possession stats were so high but goal return so low. All too often the "chances" we created were speculative shots from distance or balls aimlessly tossed into the box from deep.

 

It is blindingly obvious that the top teams in England over the last decade have always been littered with players that could consistently go past players and unlock defences. United have always recognised this, Chelsea had it with Robben, Cole and Duff and City, Spurs and Newcastle improved immensely when they got the likes of Silva, Bale and Ben Arfa. We need to sort this out in order to improve.

[Evil_Ways]

Didnt Wenger just come out and denied the M'Vila rumour ?

We oughta move for him quickly and see if it can be done, he'd really help sort out our midfield.

 

Anyway, last season, including the january window, we spent something in the region of £40-50m net. I would imagine we'll afford to spend something similar, if not more, now. I also expect the likes of Aquilani, Cole, Maxi and Kuyt to leave. Possibly one of Adam, Henderson, Downing and Carroll too. So say we are looking at £60m, that should go along way to sort us out if the money is spent wisely.

[silverlining]

Didnt Wenger just come out and denied the M'Vila rumour ?

We oughta move for him quickly and see if it can be done, he'd really help sort out our midfield.

 

Anyway, last season, including the january window, we spent something in the region of £40-50m net. I would imagine we'll afford to spend something similar, if not more, now. I also expect the likes of Aquilani, Cole, Maxi and Kuyt to leave. Possibly one of Adam, Henderson, Downing and Carroll too. So say we are looking at £60m, that should go along way to sort us out if the money is spent wisely.

 

Not. A. Chance.

[Evil_Ways]

Not. A. Chance.

 

Why not ?

When our books were released people who seem to know about finances seemed to think it looked healthy. Personally i dont know but what they said, made sense.

 

Now, im not saying we will spend 40-60 million net, but that we should be able to afford it. I guess what we do spend, will show the clubs intentions. As it's clear we wont improve much without significant investment in the playing squad.

[Guest Numero Veinticinco]

Not. A. Chance.

 

Surely, what with the new shirt sponsorship and manufacturer deals, and normal profits, we'll be able to stump up some decent funds + player sales?

[Ranxerox]

Surely, what with the new shirt sponsorship and manufacturer deals, and normal profits, we'll be able to stump up some decent funds + player sales?

 

It's not just economics though. If Dalglish has defended his signings in private with FSG like he has publicly (ie mostly down to bad luck, and time to bed in) then how does he justify asking for more? What he has now should be sufficient with perhaps some added from sales and better luck and bedding in.

 

If FSG is willing to accept this argument as a basis for giving him another year at least than they would also be justified in being tight with the money as a way of hedging their bets due to the possibility this years results may be less about bad luck and bedding in and more about poor buys.

[Guest TK-421]

Not. A. Chance.

 

I think you're probably right.

[Guest Numero Veinticinco]

It's not just economics though. If Dalglish has defended his signings in private with FSG like he has publicly (ie mostly down to bad luck, and time to bed in) then how does he justify asking for more? What he has now should be sufficient with perhaps some added from sales and better luck and bedding in.

 

If FSG is willing to accept this argument as a basis for giving him another year at least than they would also be justified in being tight with the money as a way of hedging their bets due to the possibility this years results may be less about bad luck and bedding in and more about poor buys.

 

From the owner's perspective, why would they keep a manager they don't trust to spend money? I do, of course, thing they should back him, but if not then why keep him on?

[Evil_Ways]

It's not just economics though. If Dalglish has defended his signings in private with FSG like he has publicly (ie mostly down to bad luck, and time to bed in) then how does he justify asking for more? What he has now should be sufficient with perhaps some added from sales and better luck and bedding in.

 

If FSG is willing to accept this argument as a basis for giving him another year at least than they would also be justified in being tight with the money as a way of hedging their bets due to the possibility this years results may be less about bad luck and bedding in and more about poor buys.

 

What Dalglish says behind closed doors and what he says in public will most likely differ a hell of alot. And i doubt the owners are stupid enough to be fine with the explenation of bad luck, better luck next year, eh.

 

Dalglish is fine with critisising the team after bad performances in public, you'll never see him single out an individual for a bad performance though. And Comolli has already been singled out by the owners for the failed signings, remains to be seen if Dalglish is indeed safe. But listening to Comolli yesterday it seemed evident that stats were more important to him when scouting a player than actual footballing ability.

[Bobby Hundreds]

What do people think of the Mohamed Diame link, I think he'd be useful back up, better than spearing.