Ne Moe Imya

Not sure he was boss today, but who cares?

Might be a bit of truth to this, and I'm not even sure it's all that bad an idea. It would seem that most if not all the top attacking players who are going to move (at least in our price range and at the necessary level) have gone, so I can see some wisdom in this approach. Sort the defense out for the long term with the additions of Sakho and Ilori, get a loan signing up front for temporary depth, and hold onto the rest of the cash. Then, in January, we can hopefully find a player who is available who might not have been this summer, or get a significantly better price on one of our current targets. And it's not as if we're really desperate for help up front right now anyway; Coutinho, Suarez, Sturridge and Aspas are a pretty good set of options. We could have done with one more at the level of those four, but it's not like we're in the position we were last season after we didn't replace Carroll.

Can't understand this reaction, though I've seen it from a lot of people over the last day. I first was linked to the tweet with the note "Isn't this horrible?" I looked at it for 5 minutes before I gave up; I literally had no idea what was supposed to be so bad. It wasn't until I had an explanation of the Munich reference that I even realised it was there. Unless you spend time with the kind of idiots who would chant "I like to Munich," how on earth would you possibly know that the song had been adapted that way? I'm certain the person running the account just saw the list of (bizarre) songs, made a joke, and moved on. I hardly think he would be in agreement with the gobshite making a disgusting joke at the expense of the dead.

Actually, it could turn out to be a pretty good summer overall if that happened. Depending on the attacking signing, of course, but even if it's someone who isn't a world-beater (Yarmolenko, say) hanging onto Suarez was the big coup. Combine that with Toure, Mignolet, and the Spaniards up front for depth and if you add another good CB I would put it down as a decent transfer window.

Looking over that seeding system it seems odd to me. Let's take Napoli, who most of us would like to see do well in this competition. They could have a group consisting of themselves with Benfica, CSKA, and Olympiakos OR Barca, Juve and Dortmund. Quite a range of possible outcomes, there.

Napoli, of course. Followed by Leverkusen, then Dortmund. Then Barca, then "anyone but the English teams."

I wouldn't. I hear he has the Danish rot.

It's something that's coincided with our decline, honestly. Many don't want to admit how far we've fallen so one way to console yourself is to subconsciously minimise how good we used to be. The only player in world football with the potential to be the "next Gerrard" is Julian Draxler. Henderson, to be fair to him, has improved and I think can play a role for us going forward even as we (hopefully) go up a level from where we are, but Gerrard was absolutely miles and miles better at that age.

This. Sakho/Konoplyanka and I'll take back everything negative I said about FSG this summer. Get Mata and I'll start a petition to build a statue of Henry at Anfield. Too bad neither of those will ever happen. I expect a Moses loan and a cheap, unknown centre back with "potential to be something really special in 2-3 years."

If ever there was a post that called for the avatar of the yellow thing rolling around laughing, it's this one. In the current market, where Rooney (on a 200k/week salary, no less) is rumoured to be valued at £35 million, and where Higuain/Di Maria are going for over £30 million, there is zero chance that Mata would go for less than £35 or 40 million. Spurs, for one, would LOVE to splash some of the Bale money on him. I'm sure Arsenal would be chomping at the bit to actually have a chance to sign one of the league's top 3 players. There would be an absolute feeding frenzy if he were really available for anywhere near that price.

Disagree with this. Moses' pace, at best = Sterling's pace Moses' composure on ball = Sterling's composure on ball Moses' "different dimension" = Sterling's "different dimension" I don't see anything he offers that Sterling doesn't, and if we give those minutes to Sterling we're developing our own player for the future rather than Chelsea's. The main problem is that Moses just isn't good enough to merit taking away minutes from Sterling. If he were a really good player, or at least one with a decent goal-scoring record, I would be happy to see him be the Downing/Assaidi replacement for a season. As it is, I just don't see the upside.

Do people really believe Spurs? Obvious ploy to drive up the price for Bale. No chance United would splash that much money on him. Probably the most transparently false media leak since Moyes' gambit about them turning down 20 million plus Mata for Rooney.

The thing is, it might be true, but if he's been offered to us, then he's been offered to a lot of other clubs as well, and there will be others ahead of us in the queue. It would be a miracle to get him to sign for us, even without competition, but seeing as United, PSG, Monaco, Juve, probably a Spanish club or two (though they'd struggle to afford him), and maybe Spurs/Arsenal as well would all be interested we'd have to take a number. No, it's better not to do it to yourself. Don't even think of imagining Mata, Suarez, and Coutinho all interchanging behind Sturridge. It will just be too painful when you open your eyes and come back to reality and we're busy replacing Downing with one of the myriad players of equal averageness, like Moses.

Moses on loan would be a total admission of defeat in the transfer market. Downing = Moses in terms of production, maybe Moses has a bit more potential but if it were a loan deal that really wouldn't be a factor for us anyway. Willian to Moses in a week. Quite a comedown. I assume this would mean we're buying a big-name defender or two, then? Or are we Arsenal now, "keeping the powder dry" for when there's "value in the market"?

Sturridge - won the match for us, again Toure - dominant Mignolet - didn't lose focus Can't understand all the shouts for Gerrard; I thought he was average, particularly in the first half. Came into the game in the second half when everyone else around him was falling apart, mind.

Do we really need reminding that form is temporary, while class is permanent? There's a reason Agger is wanted by the likes of Barcelona. He's one of the best ball-playing centre backs out there, and loyal to LFC. If this is a windup, it's a ridiculous one. If it's not, then it's just sad.

Twitterati (I know) are abounding with news that Mata is quietly being made available. If so, I will be sad because we will never get him, and he would be absolutely perfect for us. Coutinho, Mata and Suarez behind Sturridge? Would that such a thing were possible. *sniff

Don't think it will be a "marquee" signing, but we will sign someone. Probably a CB and an attacking player (midfielder/wide forward-type). The latter will be the interesting one - the danger is that Rodgers complains that he's being left in the same position as last year when we shipped out Carroll with no one coming in to replace him, and we act foolishly on a Dempsey-type signing on deadline day. However, I think we'll avoid that and probably bring in a 15-20 million pound player sometime before the end of the window.

We will score, so will they. It will come down to a question of who is more clinical, and I would back us with the quality of chances Coutinho sets up to put 2 or 3 past them. As someone said above, Guzan is no Begovic.

Wouldn't matter - it's a win-win for us, and I can't for the life of me understand why we seem to be staying away. We go in for him and get him - we win as we add one of the best goal-scoring wide forwards in Europe (and isn't that what we're trying to do? Add goals? Because if so Lamela makes a lot more sense than Willian). We go in for him and Spurs get him - we still win, albeit on a much smaller scale, because our interest should help to push the price up a couple more million. Can't see a negative outcome if we put in a bid for 28 million or so, unless our scouts just don't think he's that good.

This from tonight: :D:D Not being sarcastic, either - he goes on to boast of how many he's already banned. What a joke of a site.

Agree with this. Lamela would be the same as Mkhitaryan here, actually. If he's really available for 25-28 million then he's the one we should be going for. Can't understand why we would value Willian higher than Lamela, especially when we're trying to add goals.

So you'd rather prioritise the short-term over the long-term, then. Fair enough. I disagree. If the pursuit of Hughes is genuine, then for me it shows us one thing: FSG are basically conceding fourth this season. And I have no problem with that, at least not with the caveat that we're after something bigger over the longer term. Arsenal will spend money on someone, eventually, but still, Spurs have spent so well that they're practically certs for the CL spot Arsenal gives up if indeed they do fall back. Even if we pick up Pjanic or someone like that at this point, we have what? a 10-20% chance of fourth? I think the owners/Rodgers have seen that, analysed it, and decided to go a different direction. I think we're after a bigger target, the league title, rather than being content to cement a 3rd/4th spot year after year like Arsenal. And if we want to win the league, with our level of financing, we've got to play the long game, because we're not going to get anywhere near it in the next two years. Hence Hughes. Hughes (assuming we get him), Sterling, Ibe, Rossiter, Alberto, Sinclair, Canos, Suso, Chirivella ... the list of top, top young, technical attacking players at this club is a long one. And we've spent a LOT of money on them, especially for a club in our financial position. So maybe that's the thinking here. We'll take our chances at CL this season, accepting that it's a bit of a long shot. If it comes off, great, then we accelerate the plan a bit. If it doesn't, next summer we'll have the Suarez money and be coming into a season where some of those players are starting to reach first-team level. We look even better 4-5 years from now when some (not all, of course; that's the nature of the beast where youth players are concerned) of them are coming into their primes. The disadvantage is, of course, if you have players like Suarez who are going to agitate for a move in the meantime, so I think the club will be locking these players down to long-term contracts and making sure we profit from them if they want to go. Spurs have shown us the perfect blueprint for the long-game, and now it's our turn to go and set something like that up, only better because we have the advantage of being a bigger club.

Lot of truth in this.