Saintslfc13

Out of subs. Agger, Hendo, Coutinho already on.

Just a few years ago didn't we all want to go back to business being conducted behind closed doors? I hate the cunt but it's relevant in that Mourinho has just basically came out and said that if Tottenham hadn't publicized Willian's medical and fee they might not have gone in for him. How many targets have we lost out to other clubs on because we've done all the legwork publicly only for the player to change his mind when someone who looks better now came in?

Was rumoured a few weeks ago by that Uruguayan journo wasn't it? Haven't seen anything since other than what you've just said.

He is being harsh but he's never been a fan of Lucas to be fair from what I've seen on here. That said towards the end there were a few times I was pissed off with Lucas whilst watching. I don't think a DM is needed however, because if we get a better player for the wing Henderson can provide the cover and Coutinho will play in his stead. Agree with the rest, easy to say when it's not your money I suppose but Rodgers needs to be given a budget and then allowed to live and die by his signings for me. He's shown that he can have us playing very well so he deserves that type of backing at this point.

Yea I think that's what will happen as well. I've never seen (or even heard of) Abdennour, but Sakho and Papa would be perfect in my opinion. Papa would most likely instantly replace Toure if/when he's fit and Sakho looked (when he played) like he could at the very least challenge Agger. I think we'll end up with Sakho this window and try to sign Papa again in January. Still we were crying out for another option in the second half, which was compounded once Coutinho and Aspas started to fade. So with that said I can see why a quality winger is the top priority for Rodgers.

Rodgers wants a more established winger so that we can use Sterling and Ibe as cover rather than start one of them. Aspas looks to be a good player but if we can get someone in better than him (or even just more comfortable on the wing) then he's the perfect cover/competition for Sturridge. Suarez will likely be deployed on the left or right, depending on if we get a good winger in and what side he plays since the manager has said he wants a left-winger, I believe he'd prefer to play Suarez on the right. Henderson would get dropped for the new man right now in most games. I like his energy and he's shown he can deliver a good cross and finish well when he gets in positions to do so but he doesn't do that often. I'd feel much better with him coming off the bench than Allen especially against larger sides. In the short time he was on today I saw the ball go just over his head on more than one occasion, you can argue he should be jumping but for me he just looked well smaller than everyone else around him. I would like a new CB so that Agger has to look over his shoulder when he makes silly mistakes but I don't see the need for another DM because Henderson can play there if need be so long as we have a better option from the start. Lucas was fine today bar a few instances in the second half and to be honest the whole team looked like they smoked a carton of ciggies at half time for some reason.

Yep, it's a terrible idea and I'm saying that as an American. I love most of our sports (not the biggest baseball fan but then the team I support are dogshit this year despite having arguably the best field player in baseball and definitely the best young player, there's also so many games that it becomes a bit tedious to follow the whole season and your team can kick ass in may and be shit by july with the season basically over despite only half of it being played) but bar the NFL they aren't really as competitive as some would have you believe. In the NBA there are a handful of teams always in the conversation for example the Lakers have reached the NBA finals on average about every 2 years since the current format was implemented, they're down right now but eventually will get players via free agency, the draft, or trade and own the league for 2 to 3 years at a time, right now Miami is that team. The only reason the Knicks aren't on a similar level is because of their owner being terrible. In baseball it's even more stratified, there is absolutely no fucking point in being a KC Royals fan for example as once they get good they start selling players because they don't have a choice. Free agency for all it's benefits fucks teams like the above because who the fuck really wants to live in KC when you're other options are New York (and I don't even like New York City), Los Angeles, Miami, etc.? Not many people I suspect. Occasionally you'll get a player who stays with his first team out of loyalty but in general when the Yankees, Red Sox, Dodgers, Giants, or Angels come calling players from the other teams are very interested for more factors than just pay as well. If one of the above teams are having a down period then the rest will at least attempt to poach their best players off of them as well, which is probably going to happen to the Angels if they don't get their shit together soon. The NFL has the most parity by far but still there are those teams always in the conversation. The main difference being the hard salary cap keeps it more competitive and/or gives owners excuses for not spending money. Still, teams very rarely join that elite conversation and when they do it's usually because they have a masterstroke coaching hire. Sean Payton for example turned my Saints from perennial "also-rans" to a team always in the conversation but even then it was San Diego's ineptitude and an injury that allowed us to get one of the leagues best players for cheap at the right time. This subsequently has more players coming there because they see the Saints will pay (eventually at least) and will also be capable of winning a championship. Whether it's sustainable after Payton and/or Brees is another matter entirely. In terms of playoffs, one need only look at the Patriots a few years ago when they went undefeated all year only to be fucked by a few lucky Eli Manning passes and lose it all. The nature of American football doesn't allow for playoffs to have series but you still can't tell me the Giants were really the better team. They were just the better team on the day. Instead of trying to add extra games to the regular season that cunt Goodell should be trying to get home and home aggregate games added to the playoffs (bar the Superbowl as it would take away from what that day already has become). He kills two birds with one stone in that he gets extra games, in the playoffs as well, and increases the legitimacy of the championship game. Instead though he's trying to add two regular season games which will be meaningless for most teams as they'll either be out of it by then or trying to get stay healthy for the playoffs. I don't know if Scott is a hockey follower but an negative example of playoffs is easily found there, for a few years recently the Vancouver Canucks pissed all over the league in the regular season only to be fucked once the playoffs came for some reason. Still at least there are series in hockey's playoffs. The only reason I'm in favor of College Football having a playoff system is because they already do except it's just one game, and that one game has resulted in blowout wins for all to often recently, usually by SEC teams which I love (I'm a Gator fan) but it goes to show that one team didn't deserve to be there at all. With the fact that there are so many teams that it's impossible to have everyone play one another it makes sense, but it's not so in the Premiership. I also have a sneaking suspicion that those who don't follow the SEC will be tired of the playoffs once it becomes clear that more often than not two SEC teams will be playing each other for the championship. Since I was first exposed to proper football I've felt that most American sports could benefit with a relegation/promotion system, of course for financial reasons of those already involved it would never happen (why take the risk that your team gets replaced when you don't have to?), but it would generate interest (loads of people turn up at minor league baseball games for example, imagine how many more might turn up if those teams had a shot at winning it all one day?) as well as give more people the opportunity to play a sport professionally. TL;DR - I agree with you.

No problems with that my friend. I think we're all a bit tired and pissed at what is seemingly "the same old shit". Still though, and I said this at length in the Willian thread, I'm not really sure he's THE player we need but rather that he is a player that would compliment what we have to an extent which the players we already have won't, or at least haven't shown that they will yet. His price is high for what's on record for him, but despite that I'm pissed that it seems we are losing out on another target and the fact that it's to Spurs only exacerbates that feeling. To be fair though, just a day or two ago he was nailed on to sign for us so who the fuck really knows?

Spot on. It's the most likely answer for Numero's question in my opinion. The agents leak this shit to the press, whether or not there are more than one club interested, in order to facilitate a bidding war. Said bidding war subsequently helps to line their own pockets, which is fair enough really, but a bit shit for everyone else involved except the player who can say "I was sold for XXmillion euros/pounds".

It's fucking trash that he has to answer a question like that, but at the same time I'm glad that's the answer he's given.

I think we have goal-scorers in Sturridge, Aspas, Suarez*, and though we haven't seen it much in a red shirt I think Borini can become a decent goal-scorer for us as well. For me Borini's main weakness is his inability to create for himself at this point in his development, he's young so could add that to his locker but so far he looks to be as much of an out and out poacher as you could find. He makes good runs and has good positional sense but bar a quick 1-3 yard burst of acceleration or a quick turn doesn't seem able to beat players with the ball at his feet. TL;DR - He needs someone to set him up at his current ability level and form. You could also call Coutinho a goal-scorer as well but for me at the moment he's more of a set up man although I have no doubts that as long as he applies himself in training he'll be capable of getting 15-20 a season eventually and since we've only really had for half a season he may already be capable of that. Willian is in the same mold as Coutinho for me, a set up man who may eventually be able to score goals. Thing is he's older 4 years older than Coutinho and hasn't shown a real consistent goal-scoring ability in a lesser league thus far. Now I don't watch Anzhi very much (think I've seen them two or three times) so I don't know if his record has less to do with his ability and more to do with coaching tactics and his role within that team but since we're buying him for the wing, for the price I think you'd rather a player that's at least been able to grab 10-15 goals in a season especially given he played for one of the better teams in Russia (on paper). The market has inflated sure, but that doesn't mean you need to spend £30m on a player just for the sake of it. That said if he comes and helps us reach the CL I'll be happy, if he doesn't then we should have other targets to help us reach that goal. The main reason it would annoy me if he went to spurs is because he went to spurs over us. It's getting to the point with those cunts where I would leak targets we aren't interested in to the press so they can hop on them while we go after who really want. Fuck spurs. * - Provided his performance levels remain at the height we saw last season.

I disagree. I think, with the exception of timing at times (and who doesn't fuck up at times with timing tackles), Lucas is great at all of the things you mentioned. Of course we should hope he improves but other I really can't think any immediate upgrades to be purchased when other areas are a priority. Another attacking player, preferably one who can play on the left or right wing (I believe Suarez can play both and if need be Coutinho can play on the left certainly, not sure about the right with him though and I'd prefer him central in any case), a CB, and a LB are all necessary before we worry about CM/DM in my opinion.

It would seem that plan B is Willian. Some would say he's better, others say he's not as good. In any case his skillset fits what we need - A player capable of playing wide-left with a bit of pace and trickery about him. Needs to work on scoring sure but he's still a good player and would improve us. As far as net spend goes: in this particular window it's a load of shit. We didn't just sell Alonso to try to replace him with Barry, that was years ago. We sold players who clearly had no future here. Of course I'd like the owners to splash the cash but seeing as spending loads on shit players has been a problem recently I'm fine to let them pick and choose who they splash said cash on. Does being this negative come naturally to you or do you just enjoy it?

I panicked on every set play, but to be honest I think that was more down to our past record than to today's effort. Really looking at it I stand by what I said. We did seem nervy, especially in the first half, but looking back I feel they only threatened directly twice with the third time being Agger's arms fucking it up. I suppose you could say there was a legitimate reason for that but I'm not really sure there was other than nerves.

Yea I think we're on the same page then my friend, for the most part anyway. Personally what I usually do with salt is add pure garlic powder in a 2:1 garlic to salt ratio. That said it's not ideal for everyone because not everyone likes garlic as much as the next person. For me my favorite "styles" of cooking, mexican, cajun, and creole, involve lots of herbs and spices so it works out. To be fair though traditionally all 3 are heavily reliant on rice but I've found sufficient substitutes for that such as finely chopped cauliflower.

Can we just fuck off with this net spend bullshit? Especially considering that everyone who went out wasn't good enough. Also we had our top target turn us down for a move to different club, not much you can do about that when you don't have CL football and the subsequent income to offer. If Lucas plays like he has today more often than not then his pairing with Gerrard will work just fine. Agree that adding Willian and Cissokho would have us with a very nice squad though. I saw it differently today. They really only threatened off of set plays 3 times and even then one of them was only threatening because Agger gave away a penalty. That said we could definitely improve there.

Agree. If/When he goes elsewhere I hope it's out of the premiership since we obviously won't be in for him. For some reason I can see him ending up at the mancs though.

Agree with this whole heartily. Great game by Lucas today, also loved the way him and Coutinho didn't take shit off of that twat N'Zonzi. Overall I thought we were good but not great. We definitely need to sort out the finishing but as others have said this was a draw a best for the past few seasons. Personally I thought we were fucked once the pen was given but Mignolet had that double save which was amazing. You can definitely see how we'd benefit from a couple more signings though and I wasn't particularly happy with Enrique today, mostly going forward but a win is a win anyway.

Noticed it as well but he's still very young despite his brilliance. I feel with age and experience he'll learn to pace himself a bit more and perhaps even increase his overall endurance as well. Thought he played good today overall but it definitely wasn't the best we've seen from him. Still he created a couple chances for himself and a few more for others which that's all you can ask for really from that role. His ball to Henderson was great and should have been converted.

Just on the starvation response thing I don't think it's a "myth" per se as FrenchEyeGlass put it, but rather the time it actually takes to happen is severely underplayed by most. Sure if you go days on a water fast for example it's bound to happen eventually (though the time will vary based on other factors), but it's not something that happens in a matter of hours as some would have you believe. At least that's my understanding of it from my own research and experiences. Also on the carbs, in my experience the simple carbs which as you rightly said are shit for you also serve to only make you hungrier throughout the day. I believe that's the main reason it's easy to binge when snacking on them, the small input of sugar with each one is pleasurable both physically and mentally and they aren't immediately filling so before you know it you've had half a bag/tray of chips or 4-5 slices of toast. Whilst I'm no nutritional science major I found long ago when I was a kid that eating something sweet and simple carb loaded for breakfast (pancakes, french toast, donuts, waffles as examples) only served to have me craving some sort of meat within the next few hours. Since giving them up bar the occasional treat I've found that most simple carbs are really very bland without a topping of some sort anyway, which has made it easier from a mental standpoint to lay off them.

Loved reading stoned when I used to partake as well. That said I'd have been pissed if American Psycho was read to me while high, talk about a fucking downer.

On RAWK the individual does not give opinions, instead opinions are given to the individual by the RAWK Elite (mods). Now as far as why people put up with it I've got no idea. A lot of their posters get really sycophantic towards the mods there (who in turn act like some sort of forum oligarchs) though which leads to their hive-like posts. To be honest though I'm surprised you've found an open thread on the transfer forum.

LFC video thread and the rawk.impulsed or whatever hads loads of footage of old matches, not just ours either I think they have every 1970 Brazil WC game. Other than that though I agree completely. I'm also fairly certain that some of their posters/mods trawl other forums to see who has defected and if they're talking shit on their new forum of choice. The main reason everyone finds RAWK is because it's the first thing that pops up when looking for an LFC message board. You get left thinking it's your only option until they themselves start talking shit about the other forums (particularly this one when I used to go on there a lot but they'd have a go at TIA as well occasionally, never really seen them bitch about YWNA.tv though but then you can't even browse that forum unless you have registered which you have to apply for now I believe) and you realize there are indeed other places to go.

I'm going to have to pay for a membership so I can rep most on this thread. I've said it before but I'm an American. I'm not really a fan of the whole "President" idea, at least not in my lifetime (No problems with Washington, Jefferson, Jackson, etc.) , but a monarchy based on heritage and I'm supposed to pay for it in part?! fuck that. To be honest I'm really not a fan of Government and/or rulers as a whole minus Police (so long as the don't overstep their boundaries, which they often do) and Fire services.

You're right but one can make crash dieting like that work if they don't go over the top with the cals once they pull the workout regimen in. That type of workout is more ideal for maintenance if you're eating 4k cals a day though. It's definitely not ideal, but my advice to him is to keep the motivation up while he can and make sure not to go from that to being a lazy fucker whilst adding more cals, as that is exactly how people end up losing to gain.