The Woolster

Eh the Europa League final will be played the 15th and our game against QPR the 19th.

Think the bit about QPR and the bit about being in the semi's or even final of Europa are seperate points.

QPR might be fighting for their lives in the last game, meaning they up their game.

We might be in the semi finals or further towards the end of the season, meaning we have extra games, rotation, minds elsewhere

Prediciting our result against Southampton by using last seasons result against Blackburn is a stretch of credibility too far old boy, but it did make me laugh.

Some interesting stuff there though mate.

Its pretty common, people have been doing it for years. Out of the 19 teams faced in a season, only 3 will be wrong, so is not too bad. No prediction model is perfect, but at least this one is very simple and everyone can understand it.

ANALYSE THIS: Is the PL table telling the truth or lying?

Here is the most up to date table

Workbook: PremierLeague

I did the BBC league predictor and had the same results as best case, but us beating Spurs instead of drawing. I also had us losing to City.

I do like the match visualistions on that site though, they are pretty decent

All these people saying "if they think he is worth it, spend the extra 2m". Isnt it that sort of attitude which has got us in trouble before?

 

If they think he is worth a certain amount, why pay more? Yes, he is promising, but we aren't talking a guaranteed product here. I think we should always be cautious in these negotiations. So what if Southampton will pay more? It doesn't reflect badly on us. If he wants to go there, let him. If he holds out for a move and Inter will sell, then we will get him.

I'm not sure where going a couple of million over what we wanted for a transfer has got us into trouble, but if you think he is going to be a key player, then going a couple of million over what we value a player should not really be an issue, especially if it as a player the manager really wants. If there is a set budget then the manager should be able to spend it how he wants, if one goes a couple of million over, there is a couple of million less for the next player.

Also revenue is about to go up by about £30m a year due to new TV deal, so take it out of future budget.

I do think it is more of an issue if you are buying british though, as by going that extra couple of million, not only do you have the player, you stop a competitor having them as well.

Coutinho: "I'm not on the market"

 

 

"I'm not in the market, I hope to stay at Inter, I feel the confidence of the coach and society. Now the head are concentrated to make the most of my work and come back as soon as possible." He said the striker Philippe Coutinho, at the presentation in Milan the 52nd edition of the collection Figurine Panini, about his future. And on Sneijder has now reached Istanbul to play with Galatasaray, Coutinho said: "It's a great player and a great person, I hope you get great success with his new club." Meanwhile, Inter have announced through their official website that it has acquired the second half of the tag of Marco Benassi, '94 midfielder who made his debut as a starter in Serie A little over a week ago against Pescara. The ownership of the player belonged to Modena, where today the Nerazzurri have concluded the deal.

 

 

Inter: ultime notizie - Gazzetta dello Sport

Borini only wanted Roma | Liverpool News, Fixtures, Results, Transfers | Sky Sports

Italian striker Fabio Borini says moving to Liverpool was never in his thoughts after signing a permanent deal at Roma.

 

The frontman joined the Giallorossi over the weekend after the capital club bought the remaining 50 per cent of the player from Serie A rivals Parma.

 

He had spent last season on loan at the Stadio Olimpico, scoring nine goals in 24 league appearances.

 

Speculation had linked the 21-year-old with Liverpool and a reunion with former boss Brendan Rodgers, who he worked under while on loan at Swansea from Chelsea.

 

But Borini, currently part of the Italian squad at Euro 2012, says he was only ever focused on staying at Roma and was not distracted by talk of an Anfield move.

 

He told The Sun: "I am a Roma player.

 

"It's not my business that there is talk about whether I go to Liverpool or stay. It doesn't matter to me, I am Roma."

I doubt he told The Sun either, they probably translated it from some Italian reporters.

Thats more of an issue of age though. Would you give a 28 year old Gerrard that much?

We could afford 30m wages by that logic. We shouldn't be paying anybody that kind of money. Its ridiculous. If it wasn't, you'd see about 20 clubs rushing to sign this guy.

Are you saying we should bin Gerrard off then, cos he must be on about £6m a year as well? Whilst his current £200k per week is well out of our budget, not because we couldn't afford it, because we could with the extra £30m a year we will be getting, but because it would smash our wage structure and either lead to discontent in the squad or pay rises all round.

As for the reason there aren't 20 other clubs going for him? It will be a combination of worry about his injury record, the fact that a lot of clubs are trying to get their house in order for FFP, and the fact that a lot of clubs are already well stocked in that position.

Italian clubs are skint. He's not going back to Real, Barca won't want him, the other Spanish clubs are skint. Chelsea are well covered there, City could be interested but need to cut costs for FFP and already have good coverage there, Utd bought Kagawa and have Rooney as well for that position (although I am surprised they aren't still keen), Arse and Spurs are believed to both have wage caps below £100k.

To me that leaves from one of the big leagues who could realistically afford him, us, PSG, and perhaps a few of the German clubs. I am surprised that none of the Russian sides have shown an interest, they could probably afford to keep him on his £200k, but perhaps they have FFP issues as well.

EDIT: I should add, that the issue isn't whether we as a club could afford it, as we could, it is whether our owners are willing to pay it, especially as there will be little sell on value.

With tv money going up £30m or so next season, we could easily afford £6m a year wages.

QPR and Everton interested in Yann M'Vila | Mail Online

And in the evening standard

QPR face £7m game of tug of war for Yann M'Vila - Football - Sport - London Evening Standard

The Mail (I think) said it was Everton

Who knows, it might not even be true. I'd like to think we would have at least considered him though.

From the little I have seen of him, I really like M'Vila, and thought that we should have gone for him last Jan. Since then it seems he is a little bit of a nutcase, but for the price that is booted, it could be a gamble worth taking, A year and half ago he was being touted as a £20m+ player.

There was someone on RAWK who mentioned in the summer that he knows one of the match analysts at the club, and he was aksed to put a video compilation together of both Allen and M'Vila. He was just junior level, so it was simply putting the videos together and not involved in any decision making. Seemed genuine enough, so perhaps we have looked at him aand decided he wasn't for us, for whatever reason.

@andrewisdom47x

"Me n conor, deh pon a tommy lee ting ya si mi Gaza man crazy"

I believe that Tommy Lee is a Ragga singer/rapper.

What he is saying is the he and Conor are on a Tommy Lee thing (listening to him) and I reckon "ya si mi Gaza man crazy" are lyrics from a Tommy Lee song they are listening to.

I wouldn't mind some of this extra tv money being used on extending Anfield.

I kind of agree. I think we should spend some of that TV money before we get it, so now and in the next transfer window, after that, we should limit ourselves to 1 transfer per window, and put the money not spent on transfers towards the stadium so we can get it built as quickly and with as little debt as possible.

They do loan players from other Premier League clubs. I know Wenger likes to send players there because of their style of play, even though it's the other end of the country.

Fair do's, hadn't noticed any (then again not really been looking).

Ibe isn't allowed go on loan till he's 17

Ibe was 17 in December.

Having said that, I don't think we should send any youngster on loan until they are at least 19 (unless they are going to another Prem team), as I think the coaching at that age is still more important than the playing of proper games for experience.

Does anyone think that Crewe would be an excellent club for some of these youngsters to go to?

It would be, but they make a fair bit from developing their own youngsters and selling them, so don't think they'd want to take other teams youngsters on a develop them and not be able to get the transfer fee from it.

We have already signed my ideal signing, my 2nd ideal signing is Walcott, who now doesn't seem like he will be on the move, so my 3rd ideal signing is Remy, who is available by the sound of things, and not too expensive either.

He's also wrong because you have to be playing abroad to sign a pre contract agreement

Not quite wrong (unless I am wrong, which is also possible). You have to be abroad to sign pre contract agreement in the 6 months before it ends, but I think you can sign one 1 month before it ends in the country you are playing in.

In reality though, a deal could also be agreed on the hush hush

Mignolet would be my pick as well, very good shot stopper.

Since Shilton and i suppose Seaman and Martyn to a certain extent England have not produced top class keepers. And the overall level has been worse than in Spain, Italy, Germany, Holland and France. Don't think anyone could disagree with that.

That may be the case, but is it a coincidence that it coincides with the start of the Premier League and the massive increase in TV money? If young keepers are not given a chance at the top, it becomes very difficult to reach the top. And just because a keeper is English, it does not follow that they won't be a good keeper.

I reckon England have 1 world class GKs compared to Spain's 4 or 5 minimum and Germany's 4 or 5. This puts English GKs on a par with some of the worlds lesser nations in terms of GKs.

I don't know a lot about Butland but I don't want ANY English GKs at the club as I think there are far better and more overseas GKs who would also be better value for money.

I actually don't want to get rid of Reina and reckon we should only be looking for a back up GK and nothing more.

You are also forgetting that the Premier league pays some of the biggest wages and is supposed to be the best in the world.

I simply reckon that this doesn't guarantee the best players and particularly the best English players to compete for their country.

I'm a bit ignorant on keepers in other leagues to be honest, but who are Spains 4 or 5 world class keepers? I can only think of Casillas, Valdes and Reina.

Who are Germany's as I can only think of Neuer?

How many do France and Italy have?

To be honest, I think we can say the other keepers are simply good, and not world class. Almost by definition, number of world class keepers must surely number less than 10.

And then, if you think about the numbers, out of the thousands of prefessional keepers there are around the world, Spain have only a couple more world class keepers than England means that it is not statisticcally significant, it could be down to them having a system that makes better keepers, or it could be down to pure luck.

Finally, pointing at the number of English keepers in the Premier League does not prove anything. The Prem is by far the richest league in the world, and the shared distribution of TV rights means that the lowest clubs revenues will be higher than the most other teams around Europe, for example there are 11 English teams in the Delloites money list top 30, and this means that English clubs are able to go out and get some of the best in the world. Looking at Code's list, the fact that you can see that there are keepers from all over the place goes to proive that. I don't know the answer, but apart from Spain, Italy and Germany, would I be right in saying that pretty much every nation that is represented, we have that countries number 1? Perhaps not when you include the back up keepers, but from the first choice ones, I'm almost certain. That simply means that it is very difficult for young English keepers to get a chance as they are generally up against an International keeper.

Lucas and Cole both broke down for extended periods after reporting an injury and being told to carry on anyways. So forgive me for seeing this as nothing more than smoke being blown up asses.

 

New guys > old guys. Them's the rules. Until the new guys become the old guys.

Wasn't Burgess still here then though?

Most of Burgess' and Bruckner's methodology was based on the latest scientific research, which often clashed with the traditional way of doing things. If Driscoll thinks he can beat the research, then great, we have a competitive advantage. If not, expect the blame to be shifted back to previous management. Swings and roundabouts really.

I'm not doubting you, but how do you know that previous regimes methods were based on latest research, and even if they were, how do you know that Driscoll's aren't based on even more rececnt research?

Only just come across the below article. I think since Burgess has left, we look a lot fitter, and we are suffereing from fewer injuries. Maybe its just luck, but what Driscoll says makes sense to me and it seems the lads were being overworked before, leading to fatigue and injuries.

WHY LIVERPOOL ARE NOW IN GOOD SHAPE

 

Liverpool's Glen Johnson benefits from his new fitness regime

Tuesday December 11,2012

By Paul Joyce Have your say

 

ONE OF the first points made to Brendan Rodgers when he took charge at Liverpool was that victories such as Sunday’s notable triumph against West Ham would not be possible.

 

Not because Sam Allardyce’s side was expected to tear it up in the Premier League. Rather that one of the main performers, Glen Johnson, who opened the scoring with a blistering drive in the 3-2 win, would not be available for selection.

 

Rodgers was told it was highly unlikely Johnson could play three matches in a week, as he has just done.

 

Steven Gerrard and Daniel Agger would also struggle to make repeat appearances.

 

Game by game the myth is being dismantled.

 

The art of management is governed by player availability and as Liverpool display the green shoots of recovery following a difficult start to the campaign, another piece in the jigsaw is being put in place.

 

Agger is enjoying his best run of Premier League appearances. The only match he has not started this season was due to suspension.

 

You can easily prevent injury by wrapping your players in cotton wool and not letting them play games, but that isn’t the point

Glen Driscoll

 

Gerrard is the only player to feature for every minute of every league game and Johnson, in the form of his life, is now playing midweek matches, as was the case against Udinese in the Europa League last Thursday.

 

The improvement is not down to luck. Liverpool’s medical team, which includes Glen Driscoll as head of performance, have improved how they protect and condition players.

 

Instead of pulling players out of games, the idea is to manage their recovery better which is achieved, in one instance, by modifying training sessions using small spaces rather than full-scale pitches.

 

“You can easily prevent injury by wrapping your players in cotton wool and not letting them play games, but that isn’t the point,” said Driscoll, who first worked with Rodgers at Reading before joining him at Chelsea, Swansea and now Anfield.

 

“For Steven, Dan and Glen it was a simple process of looking back at every soft tissue injury, hamstring and calf strains are examples] that they had over the past two seasons and going through the process of analysing their training and recovery between matches and before each injury.

 

“Steven, for example, covers 120metres a minute in a game and in training previously he was hitting 90m a minute.

 

He is currently performing to 30 per cent of his average speed and only 10 per cent of his highintensity distance in the training sessions before matches, compared to when he got those previous injuries, which aids his recovery and reduces fatigue in preparation.

 

“In pre-season, we did say with confidence to Steven that we could keep him fit and recover him better, so that he could have another three or four years playing at a high level if he wanted.”

 

It may seem that Liverpool are divulging some of their secrets.

 

Another area looked at has been the removal of gym work on certain days because it does not aid recovery.

 

Yet the reality is that without Rodgers’ own understanding of the process, and willingness to embrace it, the facts and figures would be largely redundant.

 

“Controlling the extrinsic causes of injuries means controlling the training on the football pitch and understanding that it is all down to space, numbers of players and duration,” said Driscoll, who is aided by physio Chris Morgan and Ryland Morgans, another recruit from Swansea who is head of fi tness and conditioning.

 

“In football drills these decisions allow you to either protect or condition footballers. When to place these sessions in context to your next or previous match is the key.

 

“Many sport scientists don’t understand this, let alone managers. Some do but don’t have the influence to affect the management and their training.

 

“The beauty here is we have a manager who not only gets it but manipulates it as part of his own methods to achieve success and protect players from injury.

 

“The manager is aware that each player has a threshold level and if he goes above that threshold then the probability of injury in the next match rises.”

 

Players such as Luis Suarez, who only ever seems to miss games due to suspension, are regarded as being “relatively unbreakable”.

 

Others need more careful handling. The fact both groups are playing together shows the progress being made.