Longview1982

How did that whole replacing Suarez with £75m thing pan out? Here's the reality for chumps like you who value macho posturing and sounding tough over actually creating a football team that can win trophies in the modern era: Raheem Sterling is exactly the kind of player that FSG tell us they are trying to bring to the club. They have spent very large sums of money on bringing in players from abroad who are a couple of years older than Sterling and haven't achieved Sterling's stats at the highest level. It is self-defeating to penny-pinch when you already have at the club the kind of player you are scouring Europe for. Given what we saw last summer, what would FSG pay to a German, French or Portuguese club (or Southampton) for a 20 year old who had Sterling's stats? £30m? What wages would they pay him? £80k-£100k? Additionally, there is no risk involved with Sterling. He's here now. He's delivering excellent goals, assists, chances created, dribbling stats that stack up against the very best. We're spending huge sums on young players who haven't delivered what he has at that age, and who are a gamble on whether they will deliver what Sterling does already. Imagine what we'd be saying about Markovic if he'd delivered the stats that Sterling has this season? He'd be described as a roaring success. An absolute bargain. Sterling, a younger player, having actually delivered those stats finds himself having his contribution diminished and undervalued. £150k a week for Sterling is exactly the kind of investment we need to be making. It would be the lowest risk one we will make over the summer. As for Reus, is he going to sign for a club that sells off it's best players every season?

I agree with you, but by the same token Rodgers stating that "...if the club don't want to sell we don't have to.." is also bullshit, as was proven by Suarez. Sterling's "interview" and his agent's public statements have done him no favours, but Rodgers and LFC have been very free with their public statements and briefings against him - as they have been in other contract negotiations. Henry admitted that the club had lied to Suarez during their very public dispute. We've also seen Gerrard have his hand forced by the club's unique approach to contract negotiations. Plus, there's the fact that our supposed captain next season, Henderson, has had his contract renewal left unresolved and will be within 12 months of it ending before anything is decided. There is also this rather unedifying episode with Sterling. There's a pattern of poor conduct here and a common theme amongst all of this and it isn't the players.

You say that like it's not important. It's not a coincidence that all three of those young men in that small car driving to that do at The Hilton have developed a new found confidence since discovering the visceral boost that a good skin care regime brings to a man. Mignolet - fucked off soap and water and changed to Nivea facial scrub and active moisturiser and has grown from gaffe-prone weakling to goalkeeping leviathan. Henderson - jettisoned his shower gel for Nivea moisturising body foam and has been transformed from headless chicken into mature captain-in-waiting. Sterling - discarded having his face licked clean by a gaggle of babymommas in favour of a nightly Nivea energising facial mask and has metamorphosed into a Gordon Gekko-like fiscal monster, terrorising Ian Ayre into shitting his pants on an hourly basis. If anything, we need Nivea everywhere. Even in the water supply. Possibly.

I agree that Suarez was better, just don't see when Torres was bullied by anyone when he was with us.

I love reading all this macho bollocks about getting all tough on players and playing hardball with them and their agents. Europe's best young players are going to look at us and be queueing up to sign when they watch Suarez get lied to and Sterling get publicly fucked over when they try to negotiate with our owners. Their agents are going to love it too. You keep up with feeling all masculine and proud of your toughness as we have our best player sold, our next best player retire and our next best player sold in the space of 12-18 months. Sterling, at his age, is head and shoulders above any other player in the League and, as stats show, ahead of almost every other player in Europe's main leagues. Be careful what you wish for.

"......As the saga continues regarding Raheem Sterling's contract at Liverpool, Adam Bate argues that nobody should lose sight of what an extraordinary talent the Reds have on their hands... The sceptics are out in force and understandably so. Raheem Sterling's claim that he just wants "to be seen as a kid that loves to play football" is an admission that it's perception that matters now. A public relations battle. A phoney war. The ambition for Sterling and his 'intermediaries' will be to win hearts, minds and avoid some of the criticism that came Steven Gerrard's way on Merseyside when he flirted with a move to Chelsea in 2005. Is it too late for all that? Sterling need only talk to his club captain or indeed the England skipper Wayne Rooney to appreciate that bridges can soon be rebuilt in this business. But amid the cacophony of noise surrounding Sterling's contract, an unlikely aspect of the debate has been the attempt to downplay the player's significance. The salary figures mentioned are dazzling and when the story features on the main evening news, the public forum is shifted from the Kop to the Co-op, where perspectives on footballers' wages can be rather less sympathetic. The greedy young man narrative has gathered pace. They'll tell you that Sterling has shown flashes of potential but has managed little more than one good season. John Barnes has joined the list of Liverpool greats pointing out that the youngster has much to prove and even more to learn. Others are on hand to stress that Sterling owes Brendan Rodgers and Liverpool a debt of loyalty. Against this backdrop, the danger is that we lose sight of the vast potential that has inflamed such opinion. As a result, it is worth revisiting some of the statistics that serve to highlight the point that this is not an ordinary talent. Football might be a global game but the list of players showing similar levels of quality to Sterling at the same age remains remarkably short. Consider the numbers. At first glance, Sterling's tally of six Premier League goals this season might not seem particularly high but he's the only player yet to celebrate his 21st birthday to have found the net more than once. He's also the only player under the age of 23 to have delivered seven assists or more, ranking seventh overall in the top flight. Sterling has created 62 chances from open play. That puts him third behind Eden Hazard and David Silva, but more tellingly the closest player younger than him is Adnan Januzaj with less than a quarter of that number. Sterling has also completed 83 dribbles, behind only Hazard and Alexis Sanchez, and there is nobody at the same age that has come up with more than 20 of them. The versatile 20-year-old topped all of these charts last season too, and while his brief experience in the Champions League earlier this term was not an obvious success, Sterling still ranked among the top dozen dribblers. Indeed, he was the youngest among them and it's to the continent that many will be looking until Liverpool are able to resolve this contract situation. Barcelona and Real Madrid have been mentioned as potential destinations and while the Spanish clubs are known for either promoting from within or acquiring the finished product, their interest cannot be discounted. Contrary to popular opinion, the statistics suggest that La Liga is not exactly teeming with young talent producing the numbers Sterling is delivering for Liverpool. There is no player in La Liga aged 21 or under that has completed even half as many dribbles as Sterling this season. Likewise, there is no player in La Liga aged 21 or under that has created half as many chances as Sterling this season. As in all of Europe's five major leagues, the players with more assists are all older than him. As was clear from the very beginning, he is that special. "I couldn't believe my eyes," said Liverpool youth scout Mark Anderson when describing to Michael Calvin in The Nowhere Men the moment he first saw Sterling in action. "There were some raw edges, but he was the best thing I'd ever seen. I flagged him up immediately, and watched him countless times. He produced something special in every game, showed me everything." Calvin himself summed up those early days of barely-concealed anticipation well. "The name Raheem Sterling was always spoken in hushed tones at Melwood, Liverpool's training ground, as if reverence would spare its owner the random cruelties of fate." Well, fate is looming large and looking ready to strike the blow to Liverpool instead of the player himself. How complicit has the club been in allowing that situation to develop? Sterling could point to a stint at wing-back at a time when he's surely entitled to regard himself as Liverpool's main man. Rodgers has provided a platform on which to play, but if that does not include the Champions League next season, then Sterling's stalling seems entirely explicable. The blame game could run and run. As the mood changes, some might tell you that Jordon Ibe is the bright new thing at Anfield these days. Others will rightly argue that nobody is bigger than Liverpool Football Club, pointing to the exit of Luis Suarez and diminished importance of Steven Gerrard as recent evidence that the club can overcome the loss of any individual regardless of their stature. But what nobody should be in any doubt about is that Raheem Sterling is a player of substance. A pure talent. The scouts have witnessed it and wondered at it. The analysts have quantified it and mapped out the predictions for its progression. Now Liverpool are being asked to put a number on what it's worth to them. Don't doubt that Europe's very biggest clubs will be doing so too....."

Let's imagine for one moment that you have a point here, and that we have a situation where colour isn't even a consideration. Is that the only form of discrimination in football recruitment? Given how women are represented much more frequently at executive level in "normal" businesses, isn't it strange that there are so very, very few in one of the richest businesses in the country? Now, why would that be? It's because football is unique in being the fiefdom of prejudiced, white males who view anyone who isn't one of their own as unworthy of anything other than menial labour. Football attracts so many of this type of owner/executive/manager/player/fan precisely because it has a governing body that isn't the least bit bothered in changing such a culture and is happy to povide a safe haven for such attitudes and behaviours as long as the money keeps rolling in. The facts are there. Black managers are denied jobs, or don't apply, because football tacitly allows racist discrimination. Women are denied jobs, or don't apply, in executive roles because football tacitly allows sexist discrimination. That's why colour is an issue in football.

Forced? Rodgers was "forced" to play Balotelli up front? Rodgers wasn't forced to play Sterling at wing back at any point during that match. It was a choice.

If we were at such a low point, perhaps he felt it was easier to make the breakthorugh here. Bascombe is full of shit. Where is our regular track record of winning league titles, or even challenging for them, during the last 25 years? Most players have left their clubs to join us primarily because we offered them bigger wages than they were getting. They weren't joining us feeling like they were guaranteed a hatful of Premier League titles and European Cups.

You don't think Tapatalk has much of a future?

It's bollocks because a player never knows how the future will pan out. At 20, you only have a maximum of 14 or 15 chances to win a league title or an FA Cup. Given that even the very best clubs don't win them, or sometimes properly challenge for them, every season, that reduces your opportunities even further. Tell Steven Gerrard in 2006 if he'd only win one more trophy before he retired (hopefully, 2!) and he'd have thought you were crazy. That's even before we talk about possible injuries.

Rodgers benefits most because, due to the shambolic failure to sign a striker of any reasonable standard in the summer, he was staring a humilaiting dismissal in the face had our form up to December continued - he admitted as much himself. Imagine a Sterling injury at that point. Regardless of what formation Rodgers played, Balotelli, Borini or Lambert leading the attack for the next 3 months would almost certainly have meant much poorer results and even more pressure on Rodgers. Sterling playing so well as a striker was one of the most significant factors in turning our season - and Rodgers' job prospects - around. It isn't even close when assessing who benefitted the most from it. You clearly have little understanding of the Dutch and Barcelona systems you claim as supportive of your case to play players in daft positions they are wholly unsuitable for. They taught KIDS the different positions so they grew up with an instinctive knowledge that allowed them to fill in momentarily as cover and support for team mates during the fluid changes of shape in matches. It absolutely was not their intention to suddenly ask 20 year old attackers to play full back for whole matches when they have no obvious attributes, education or instinct to play in that role. The Dutch didn't stick Cruyff at right wing back for whole matches. Barcelona didn't put Iniesta at right wing back for whole matches. They would only fill in for moments in a match. Your assertion that Rodgers picking Sterling as a right wing back against the mancs was a superb tactical and educational move that the great visionary coaches of Total Football would heartily applaud is utter bollocks. If you had any decency about you, you would write to the family of Rinus Michels and ask for forgiveness.

Now then, numbnuts, get a grown up to read my post to you again and you'll see that I questioned your bizarre notion that Rodgers had done him a massive favour - the main beneficiary in this is Rodgers. Any extra gain for Sterling is purely incidental to Rodgers' decisions about which position to play him in. Furthermore, playing someone out of position does not automatically improve them, as has been apparent by playing Sterling at right wing back.

I can't wait to read your total re-write of this when Ibe starts asking for a big contract in a couple of seasons.

You miss the point. It isn't just top jobs - it's all jobs right throughout all four divisions. Your list is of a bunch of people who had no problems securing coaching or managers jobs despite being sacked - sometimes on more than one occasion.

Suarez.......Balotelli........Ings.......Zamora.......Sharps......Cureton.......Me Given how were on a well established path to downgrade our strikers, it looks like I'm due for a game by 2020. Oh well, silver linings and all that.

That's not a very Nice thing to say. It's not like his injuries have kept him a wafer a whole season. Errr.....erm......fuck it - Garibaldis.

No-one comes close to Sturridge's goal scoring prowess in our squad. Even in his few games in an injury hit season, his goals/games ratio is way above anyone else. Get him out there on the pitch at every opportunity.

I hear a lot of this talk, but can't see what it's based on - other than he's bigger than Sterling. If you compare their achievements and their record at the same age, Sterling is miles ahead of Ibe. Jordon Ibe is an exciting young player, but some of the hype is fuelled more by our lack of decent alternatives in that RWB role, rather than his actual performances.

Is Rodgers doing him a massive favour, or should he simply be grateful that Sterling's all round attacking talent has saved their arses for the piss poor efforts at signing a striker last summer? In what way were Sterling's performances last season Aaron Lennon like?

That isn't true. 55 current managers are under 50 - so they will have played in the late 90's and 00's in a time where there were several black players in every team. When you look into just how many job opportunities there have been in the last decade - usually 40 or 50 every season - it's incredible that there have been, and still continues to be, almost no black managers in English professional football. Total managerial changes Season Premier League Championship League One League Two Total 2014/15 1,11,4,7,....23 2013/14 9,18,8,6,....44 2012/13 10,19,17,14,...60 2011/12 11,9,10,9,....39 2010/11 12,14,19,10,...55 2009/10 12,7,18,11,....48 2008/09 13,16,12,10,....51 2007/08 14,12,9,15,....50 2006/07 10,17,13,4,....44 2005/06 8,11,14,15,....48

Oxlade-Chamberlain has scored only 15 league goals in 5 seasons. 9 of those league goals came in League One! Sterling is a year younger, and has 17 league goals in 2 and a half seasons all in the Premier League. Goals aren't the only indication of a players talent, but that record is a significant difference in quality when it comes to purely attacking players like Sterling and Oxlade-Chamberlain.

Johnson was permanently injured rather than spoiled by vast riches. SWP was good at Chelsea but was never going to start often ahead of Arjen Robben, Joe Cole and Saloman Kalou, so his first two seasons saw him mostly making subs appearances. Is not getting picked ahead of Arjen Robben a clear sign that your head has been turned by money, or just a sign that you, like almost every other winger, aren't as good as Arjen Robben?

So, you see him as being permanently injured but you'd still sign Chamberlain? You hate Sterling so much that you'd rather we sold him and replaced him with the new Keiron Dyer?

Age and captaincy have nothing to do with this issue. It's simply a case of what it would cost to replace Sterling if we were to turn him down and invite him to move on. What wages would you expect to have to pay for a player as good as him now in a central or wide attacking position? Then, you also factor in his potential and how you expect him to improve over the next 5 years. If his progress continues in the way it has over his 3 seasons as a first team player, then what wages would you expect to have to pay for an attacking player as good as Sterling? If you expect him to continue to improve, then his wage demands are pretty reasonable given the cost and risk of having to find someone of equal ability when you already have someone proven ability at the club. That's not caving in to demands, it's just common sense, and there's nobody else at the club next season, Henderson included, who is more difficult or expensive to replace than Sterling, so anyone prompted to ask for a similar increase can easily be told to fuck off.