Saintslfc13

I actually agree with this. I think he's probably a top 5, maybe even top 3 player in our current squad. In terms of our midfield he's comfortably #2 and barring the recent injury issues has been our most consistently good midfielder for a while now. Sahin could change that (so could Allen for that matter as I've been pleasantly surprised by him so far) but since I haven't seen him kick a ball for us yet, Lucas will remain at number 2 in terms of overall quality. Top class is a bit of stretch though, he's one of my favorite players but let's be honest here he wouldn't just walk into any team out there (a lot of them perhaps but not all of them) and immediately start, and I think that's the mark of a real top class player (using "top class" as a synonym for "world class"). I do think he's the best defensive mid we have at the club, and could turn into a world class all around midfielder if given the chance. He has the attitude, the intelligence, and the ambition. Skill wise he's not normally a fancy dribbler (we've seen some great pieces of skill from him but it's not routine) but that's not necessary to be a world class center midfielder and his shooting/finishing definitely needs work. That said it's obvious Rodgers rates him and there will probably be games we miss him in, but by and large we should be able to cope without him this time around. Allen can cover for him for now, and when he gets back fit we'll see if he earns his place back in the squad. Personally, I believe he will.

Not criticizing so much as an observation. I don't know what Sterling did because I didn't see the whole issue. He could have been a total cunt for all I know, wouldn't surprise me any. The point was that from what I saw I thought Rodgers came off as a dick. However, being an American, most coaches/managers are dicks (though not so much in soccer/proper football), so I'm totally okay with it.

The irony of this is that there is a mod on there who fucking hates conspiracy theories, merely the mention of not believing everything your told by "officials" or the media in terms of current/past world-events and he's there to tell to you to shut the fuck up or do it for you, and yet here is the football/LFC related equivalent. I personally think he's most likely going to stay here for good, barring Madrid having a serious run of injuries to midfielders and him getting recalled early. If the move works out for him on the pitch and we end up coming 4th I can't see him leaving, even more so if we win a trophy.

I thought we soaked up their attacks pretty well barring the two goals, which were mistakes really (one it could be argued was probably more a miscommunication). It was also an instance of us needing to be more clinical yet again, we had more than a few good chances. Borini should have had one off that cross from Sterling, yea it's hard to control that but he was all alone and wants to be a top player I really think he needs to finish that. Suarez also probably should have another one and an assist though I don't blame him for that entirely, he rushed and hit it where Gerrard (I think) was but at the same time I'm not sure there any need for Gerrard to move either it looked like he wasn't covered but that's from the tele. Lack of understanding really, which is the kind of thing that will get better with time provided we don't change fucking philosophies again. I even think Skrtel's mistake wasn't so much the back pass as it was the accuracy and pace of it. He could have easily placed that ball where only Pepe was ever going to get to it first. Should have been more composed still but again it's something that will get better with time as he becomes more used to passing out rather than clearing the ball to wherever.

Been suggesting him all summer as well. He's got a decent amount pace, not much shorter than Carroll (looks a bit lighter though) and far better technically from what I've seen. Not to mention being Brazilian he's already accustomed to playing similarly to how we want to play. Highly doubt we'll be in for him though, I'm honestly not sure we're really looking to bring in a striker if Carroll doesn't move on.

Thought Rodgers came off as a bit of a dick in this to be honest. Though we don't have the context so who knows really. Sterling had the look of not knowing what he done, or maybe not realizing it was a big deal. Funny how the sneak peek is him getting chewed out on the same day he gets his real full debut. Very pleased with the kid today, hope he continues to play.

Great first half, a bit nervy at times but I particularly like how even though we'ved scored we're still trying to add more. Too often we suffer from going into a shell when we go up early. Any updates on Lucas over there? Didn't hear anything about him in the states yet and I'm not sure if we're all watching the same feed.

Agree with this. Surely the owners and Rodgers will have seen how selling Torres so late caused a massive inflation in Carroll's fee. Part of that was the ridiculous money we got for Torres but Newcastle also knew were desperate for a striker and didn't have time to weigh options. It would be the same if we sold Carroll late except we'd likely have to give a higher percentage of the fee than we did to buy him for his replacement. Total money involved would be less but we'd still be selling him to use most of if not all his fee on a replacement who may or may not work out.

Wouldn't be surprised to see us try Gerrard in the center of the front three in emulation of Spain's "false 9" at the euro's. I remember seeing it being said that Rodgers likes the idea of a "false 9" but as it was in a newspaper and not official who knows if he really does. I'm not as confident of Gerrard wide right as I was a few seasons ago so I wouldn't mind seeing us try it but who knows if it would work. Certainly would take the shackles off the man though.

I don't see it or feel it as starvation. I just prefer not to eat in the mornings and then I get hungry generally at sometime between the times mentioned. The exceptions being after a night that's a bit heavy on the sauce. I pretty much just eat one main meal a day maybe have something small before then right around 3 pm my time. I find it quite easy to function on an empty stomach, also don't get sick as much though I'm not sure that's related. Obviously if I have to take a medicine or when I would take some supplement combination that I couldn't hold down without eating I'd have a small portion of eggs in the morning but without those I find that all I need is some water and maybe some coffee to start the day. @ Horus - Why the name if you don't believe in "fairytales and magic"?

It's not as big of a deal as it sounds (in terms of sports not religion), it's essentially an intermittent fast on a daily basis. Basically, wake-up before sunrise eat (if you feel the need to) definitely drink copious amounts of water (for a sportsmen, people without a high activity level could go without a lot of water until nighttime when the fasting of the day is done), go through the day, eat dinner and drink more water, do whatever, sleep, and repeat. Obviously they can drink whatever they want when not fasting but water is essential for all of us and more so for highly-active people especially if you live in a place where it's hot during this month. For example I fast intermittently just about everyday, not just during this month (I'm not a Muslim), because I choose to. I don't usually eat anything until anywhere from 3 to 6 pm and sometimes later on a regular basis. I do this even when I'm maintaining a workout (most likely nowhere near a premiership quality workout but a workout nonetheless) routine. Never had any complications arise from it, and in fact I started it my senior year in High School during two-a-days for american football. I DO however drink water throughout the day, whereas Muslim's observing Ramadan do not.

No doubt but if you bring it up then people just accuse you of a "conspiracy theory". Look at the reaction to Rafa's fact sheet and Luis saying the mancs control the politics in English football. Very few journo's are willing to investigate and report the reasons for those ideas and "theories" when it comes to the Mancs, I'm not sure if it's because of the club, Slur, or both but they don't.

No need for apologies my friend, that was a great and insightful post. I tend to agree with most of your points, the pace thing not being so much a disagreement as a caveat. I don't think it's overall pace that's important so much as the ability to quickly turn it up a notch and outpace people for about 10-15 yards. Some players have that, some have just the long haul and some have both. Obviously both is better but not necessary in terms of necessity I'd say the ability to accelerate quickly and burn someone over a short distance is favorable to being able to beat someone in a footrace from one side of the pitch to the other.

Spot on again spot on, just don't let the little poison cunt bleed on you.

The majority of the first half was a bit like last season (in terms of flow of the game not style), we played well for most of it, created some good chances that didn't get finished and then we got hit by a wonder strike from Gera. Second half can be thrown out the window, the shit just kept piling up and it all went downhill.

My fault, misunderstanding and I agree with you.

What he said is exactly what I thought I posted that... but fair enough Reacher man, all in good fun and I don't really much care for twitter anyway. Don't have one, don't want one, don't need one. @manwiththestick - In regards to Sahin, I say we bring him in if possible and I think he'd improve our midfield drastically. As far as him improving Barcelona who the fuck cares? We aren't even on Barcelona's horizon right now, if he can improve us and help us make the CL then we can worry about signing players that would improve Barcelona. It's like this, without a massive injection of cash a la Abramovic or the Arabs at city, we won't be attracting players that would definitely improve Barcelona until we get to the CL. Now we already know we don't have that cash, so the next idea is to target players that have shown the quality to improve us whilst having the potential to develop into a player that can definitely improve one of the best sides in the world but maybe aren't getting chances are their current club do to a plethora of talent in their position (as is the case with Sahin, injury also playing a role) or have stagnated a bit and might do well with a change of scenery/in a different league. Of course we should try for whatever player we can afford but as has played out recently it seems to be the case where players either want loads of cash, the CL, or both. We can't offer either right now, so if we can get a quality player that might help us to be able to offer one (even if he personally only stays for a season) then we need to be in for him. I'm also of the opinion that if he came here, it worked out for him on the field and we made the CL him leaving for good isn't certain. Same with any other player of similar quality we might attract on loan.

We spent that on Carroll though, if we ship him out for 17m pounds or so I think we could afford to buy the Brazilian. It doesn't have to be him though, just anyone comparable to him. Relatively tall, decent pace, good technically, good at finishing and able to interchange without being completely exposed in the build up. I don't care if he's Damiao from Brazil or some obscure Macedonian I've never heard of so long as the attributes are present.

Yup, either that or play him in the middle of the front 3 and try out that whole "false 9" idea. The problem as mentioned is that as poor as he's been at times in the middle recently there is still a pretty big drop off in quality between him and Shelvey, Henderson, and Spearing.

Why? All one has to do is ignore the posts where twitter is involved. Skip right over them. It's not very hard...

This... Suarez is infinitely better coming in from either flank (but I particularly think the left is where he should start games). He has more space, and whilst not quite a "burner" pace-wise his technical skill allows him to fool even the quickest of fullbacks and once that happens the CB's shit themselves and either pull off their man/zone or leave him with a chance to shoot. He can provide assists and goals from the left so I don't see why we wouldn't play him there. I'd say the same with Borini for the right, or even play him through the middle for the time being. It's not as though Luis is a prolific header of the ball and they're the same height, which one is more clinical is up for debate but we've seen Luis there before, might as well try Borini if we refuse to play Carroll. If we don't refuse to play Carroll then play him through the middle whilst Suarez and Borini are wide left and right respectively. Allow the three to interchange at opportune moments (ie - Carroll drifts towards the back post whilst one of the others drift towards the center when its time for crosses) but not randomly (If Carroll plays we shouldn't ever be building up attacks with him anywhere but the middle in my opinion). If we do refuse to play him then sell him, be done with the Carroll saga, and bring in someone like Damiao if not the man himself. In regards to Damiao, he's Carroll's age, more athletic albeit probably not as strong, and seems capable of both scoring and fooling players with the ball on the ground. He's also not much shorter than him, and seems to have more pace (not that it's saying much because Carroll isn't exactly fast, for whatever reason) and technical ability. For me, he or someone comparable to him is the ideal replacement for Andy Carroll should he be moved on. I'd prefer Carroll gets a chance though because I think he can develop but with the window closing if we aren't going to play him the we should just shift him. Disclaimer - With Damiao, I've only ever seen him for Brazil who obviously have loads of talent and pace in their squad, but I do feel that in terms of the style we want to play we compare to them. Basically he could be trash for Internacional for all I know, but I could see him or someone similar being the ideal striker in the "front 3" for us.

I think it just shows that people have more faith in the players we have to back-up midfield than in the player we'll most likely use wide right... Personally I think we definitely need either a striker to better fit Rodgers style (someone like Leandro Damiao would be perfect I think but that's just my opinion) or an attacking player suited for the right. Both would be nice but I think Borini can do either at a good level so only one or the other is really a need. Then a player than can adequately cover Gerrard should his injury issues resurface. If we sell Agger though then a quality defender jumps to the top of the list.

If we sell we're creating a void where we don't have one, nor do we need one either as we don't have a surplus of central defenders. We have Agger and Skrtel who are both sound, though Skrtel has had one GREAT season whereas Agger has been consistently great when fit. We have Carra who can fill in when needed but shouldn't be starting a majority of games, especially given the style we're going to be playing under Rodgers. We have an unproven Coates who's shown flashes both ways. I don't really rate Wilson at all, but part of that could be down to seeing him primarily play at leftback rather than centerback. Kelly could probably make the move over, but the club seem to rate him more as a Rightback, and he's done very well there when called upon so why fuck with that? The only reason to sell him is to get someone in of comparable quality (right now, not potential) who is younger and less prone to injury. I don't know who that player is off the top of my head, and I think it would cost us the majority if not all of Agger's fee (should he be sold) to sign him once identified. So I really wouldn't see the point. We'd be creating a hole that we'd need to immediately address which means we wouldn't be using the money to address the holes we have, which are mainly a player to be deployed wide right, or a striker better suited to the style we're going to play than Carroll is now.

I'm starting to feel as though the reason FSG don't seem to mind selling to our domestic rivals is because that's the only option you have in the sport(s) they're most familiar with. Could be another reason why the supposed (and apparent) "buy british" policy got any traction, because if I'm honest British players have been over-priced and have left a lot to be desired for quite some time now barring the obvious standouts like Gerrard, Rooney, and to a lesser extent in my opinion Lampard. In American sports you deal with primarily American players, albeit with Baseball probably being the most diverse in terms of nationality. Hope I'm wrong though because if they haven't realized that if one of our better players really wants to go you can sell him to a team literally anywhere in the world (unless it's a massive fee like Torres, most clubs are priced out of those) AND that you can buy quality players from other leagues (usually cheaper than British/English players too) by now then we're more fucked than anyone thought.

The dosage on the ephedrine in that seems a bit high. I don't know how many you're supposed to take per day but I wouldn't do more than 2 really. If you're looking for something to remove some stubborn fat I'd suggest reading up on Ketogenic dieting and/or Protein sparing modified-fasting. They work, though it's quite a transition for some people.