Thread: Bolton v Bindippers

My guess is 'Arry and Jordan were there b/c it was the best game close to Manchester since, presumably, the club is already up there. Couldn't very well get all the way out to Carrow Road for Norwich/Chelsea, United wasn't playing today... that's the best option they had.

Things that jumped out to me as I watched this match:
1) Bellamy would've been a nice signing for us.
2) Bolton may survive.
3) There's just no rhyme or reason to Liverpool's squad. None of it makes sense. You sign Charlie Adam when you already have Steven Gerrard, Jordan Henderson, and Raul Meireles but your only cover in the holding role for Lucas is Poulsen?! How did Liverpool pass on Parker? And couldn't you have pocketed the 50 million from Torres, held off till the summer and grabbed Bent, Gyan, Ba, Cisse, or even Yakubu? None of them could be worse than Carroll. Most basic, how exactly do Liverpool want to play? You don't necessarily need to have like-for-like subs for every starter, but you do need some kind of coherent tactical approach that players fit into. But what is that for them? It seems like Liverpool's strategy is "Hope Suarez scores a cracker or that Gerrard or Bellamy do something inspirational." With the amount of money they've spent, here's what Liverpool's squad could be today:
Reina
Johnson, Agger, Skrtel, Enrique
Parker, Lucas
Kuyt, Suarez, Gerrard
Bent

Skip the 40 million on Downing and Henderson and the 35 on Carroll. Grab Adam if you must for seven. Splash out 25 for Bent or try to sign Adebayor for around 15. See if Spurs would be willing to sell Kranjcar for around 10 million, who could offer cover for your three forward mids, esp. the oft-injured Gerrard. Hold onto Meireles and let him be a Swiss Army Knife player who can plug into any of the five midfield roles. Make a play for Ba (on a free, no less) to back up Bent. Look into signing Palacios (for around 8 million) as back-up for Lucas and Parker.

These are all fairly cheap moves (compared to what they actually spent) that all work toward building a Liverpool squad that plays 4-2-3-1, uses two destroyers to control midfield, allows both Suarez and Gerrard to have some joy in their preferred advanced roles and slots in a proven Premiership goal scorer in front of them. How does this not make sense? But instead of doing any of those things, they end up spending 100 million on a striker and wide man who look like Hodgson-esque failures at Merseyside and a couple of unproven midfielders. And they managed to spend all that money without addressing their two biggest gaps: a cutting edge up top and cover for Lucas in midfield.

EDIT: And if their heart is really really set on spending 35-40 million on a striker, why not see if Falcao would come? You've got several Spanish speakers at the club already and a Suarez/Falcao partnership would be immense. Why not give it a try?

hope they aint in a bad mood when i go up there i dont fancy a stanley knife in my arm.

Don't wait for one get in first!!!

It appears @StPaulSpur has better tactical acumen than Queen Kenny and Commoli combined.

Hell 75% of football fans could have told you that team. It's simple and only from cheap players in the Prem, with the amount of money they have they could probably have bought a marquee player or two from Germany or Spain. Hindsight may be 20/20 but give me that money and I'll make you a team capable of challenging for the title.

Carroll, £35m--- Cavani, £35m. If that's not realistic enough, Falcao for that amount.

Henderson (Wide/CAM) £18m--- Kagawa £16m. If you don't think he can cope in the Prem, Niko £10m.

Adam £9m---- Diarra, £10m.

Downing, £20m---- well Young for a start, but Reus £15m.

I'd have bought Enrique.

So we end up with...

------------------Reina----------
Johnson--Agger-- Skrtel--Enrique
---------Diarra/Lucas--Gerrard
Reus-------------------------Kagawa
------------------Suarez-------------
--------------Cavani/Falcao--------

Maybe that's a tad unrealistic but look at that. With the amount of money they spent, and with that team, they would be 4th or higher. Jesus. Hell if they even used StPauls simpler team that would still be good enough.

I'm honestly shocked how they messed up so badly.

Apparently, there's a thread on RAWK called Locked. It was started to ask why threads on RAWK are locked. It has been locked.

I heard on the jungle drums the reason they paid 35 for Carroll was because the 50 they got for Torres would of been taken by the bank to start repaying debts... Still it doesn't cover for the fact that there are and was better young options around at the time. Unless they were planning on building a team round him for the future...

They weren't going to get Reus as he was set on coming back to where he was from in Dortmund and Kagawa wasn't going I to leave for a season or two. I know as follow Dortmund as much as Spurs.

The rest, I will agree 100%. Those would have been far better moves.