The Official Liverpool FC Thread [Vol 8]

The Official Liverpool FC Thread [Vol 8]

TOPIC CLOSED
TOPIC CLOSED
Author
Discussion

RedTrident

8,290 posts

234 months

Saturday 1st November 2014
quotequote all
Interesting until the manager starts his list of excuses.

Liverpool will offer Steven Gerrard a new deal but he may have to accept he will be playing fewer games

Liverpool will hold contract talks with Steven Gerrard over the coming weeks to reassure their captain they want him to extend his career at Anfield, but the former England midfielder may be forced to accept a reduced playing role before committing to a new deal.

Brendan Rodgers has made it clear to Gerrard he wants him at the club beyond this season, and the same message will be relayed by the club hierarchy to prevent any possibility of the 34-year-old moving elsewhere.

However, with Gerrard set to turn 35 before his contract expires next summer, the player could be faced with the dilemma of remaining at Liverpool and playing fewer games or accepting lucrative offers from overseas, with interest anticipated from clubs in the United States.

Gerrard said earlier this week it was “Liverpool’s decision” whether he remained at his boyhood club, and those comments have prompted a positive response at boardroom level as well as the manager’s office.

ADVERTISEMENT

Rodgers documented his desire for Gerrard to stay ahead of Liverpool’s Champions League game in Basle last month. “It is something we are looking at as a club, and with Steven and how he feels,” Rodgers said in early October. “He is still in a real good physical condition. He’s 34, he trains every day, he never needs a day’s rest. He wants to work.”

The question has been whether Rodgers’ view was shared at the highest level at Anfield, but it is understood that is the case. Gerrard will be aware his games will have to be tailored as his career continues, but with the player and club seemingly keen to extend their relationship, a solution before Jan 1 - when he could technically sign a pre-contract agreement with a foreign club - is conceivable.

Rodgers, meanwhile, has dismissed comparisons between this season and his club’s previous dips after title challenges in 2002 and 2009.

Liverpool were runners-up to Arsenal in 2002, but failed to retain loan signing Nicolas Anelka and spent heavily on El-Hadji Diouf, Bruno Cheyrou and Salif Diao.

They failed to finish in the Champions League places the following season, and manager Gerard Houllier left the club in 2004.

Similarly, in 2009, Rafael Benítez’s side finished second but lost their player of the year, Xabi Alonso, to Real Madrid. Alberto Aquilani and Glen Johnson signed for a combined £38 million and Liverpool dropped to seventh, costing Benítez his job.

Around £120 million was spent to replace Luis Suárez last summer, but none of the summer recruits has made an immediate impression.

Rodgers offered a resolute defence of Liverpool’s decision to allocate funds to buy nine new players (one of which, Divock Origi was loaned back to Lille) rather than two or three world-renowned talents who would have swallowed his budget.

“Our path is different, we had to do that,” he said. “We set out on a journey here two-and-a-bit years ago to get the club back to the elite level in European and domestic competition. Two years earlier than we expected we did that; we didn’t win the league but showed steps towards getting there. If it was like other clubs, somewhere where the depth of the squad is already there and you can only add one or two and keep that momentum going, I am sure that would be an easier path.

“We are where we are at. I think it is what was expected. The players we brought in were not really established. With young players, you get mistakes. Then there is the lifestyle. You have adaptation, new players coming into a different way of life. When they play on the field then it is different.

“It may be difficult for other people to understand it because of where we were last season. As I said the natural progress of the team was halted a wee bit because we lost a world-class talent. We needed the squad rebuilt. That decision was made [knowing] players might struggle a bit initially but in the future they would be big players for the club.

“Are we playing as fluent as we were last season? No. But is there big potential in the team? I believe there is. At the moment, without being anywhere near our best, we are in the quarter-final of a cup, our Champions League fate is still in our own hands and we are a couple of points off the top four.”

DSLiverpool

14,671 posts

201 months

Saturday 1st November 2014
quotequote all
Stevie G is going nowhere further than Stoke to Bolton - possibly Villa at a push as noway will Alex leave Liverpool, no way will Gerrard leave his girls so its commuting distance only - however in the real world its a last payday for more money and less actual work which will be given to him.

Not saying he doesnt deserve it but christ where does the gravy train end ?

BlackST

9,079 posts

164 months

Saturday 1st November 2014
quotequote all
Can't see Gerrard anywhere else other than us, especially to win a premier league medal as a player on the bench. That's what he would be at Chelsea an City as 1) they're the only two who will win it the next 5 years
2) I don't think they'd want him anyway.

A great stat this...
@BassTunedToRed: #LFC away defence in the PL under Rodgers:
Clean sheets - 10
Conceded once - 7
Conceded 2 or more - 25

ras62

1,086 posts

155 months

Saturday 1st November 2014
quotequote all
Gerrard has already had one extension of his huge contract. Like Johnson I think the club will be happy to give him a 12 month contract on reduced terms plus bonus similar to the rest of the squad.

BlackST

9,079 posts

164 months

Saturday 1st November 2014
quotequote all
dafuq?
@LFC: Confirmed #LFC team to face Newcastle: Mignolet, Johnson, Moreno, Lovren, Skrtel, Gerrard, Allen, Henderson, Coutinho, Sterling, Balotelli.

hornetrider

63,161 posts

204 months

Saturday 1st November 2014
quotequote all
He's certainly giving Balo a chance.

BlackST

9,079 posts

164 months

Saturday 1st November 2014
quotequote all
Surprised to see Borini on the bench.
We won't score before 45 mins with only 1 up top.

epom

11,396 posts

160 months

Saturday 1st November 2014
quotequote all
Happy to see him stick with Balo, just wish Borini was upfront with him. 3-0 win today. Goals for Balo, Borini and a Stevie G spotter.

BlackST

9,079 posts

164 months

Saturday 1st November 2014
quotequote all
Why are people thinking we can score more than 1 with 1 up top? laugh

Jake on BTSport just said then after next weekend we could be 3 points behind Chelsea or we could also be 15 points behind them, mad.

curlie467

7,650 posts

200 months

Saturday 1st November 2014
quotequote all
epom said:
Happy to see him stick with Balo, just wish Borini was upfront with him. 3-0 win today. Goals for Balo, Borini and a Stevie G spotter.
No chance. Another draw at best. Most likely a loss against a completely gash team.

NRS

22,079 posts

200 months

Saturday 1st November 2014
quotequote all
Somewhat funny/ depressing to see our join top scorer with Sterling is Own Goals!

jammy_basturd

29,776 posts

211 months

Saturday 1st November 2014
quotequote all
Somewhat funny/depressing to see Johnson in RB again!

Also - why are we so fking slow on the break!!?

BlackST

9,079 posts

164 months

Saturday 1st November 2014
quotequote all
Looks nasty that for Obertan.
Interesting on there Skrtel an Balo attacking the ball and not marking against corners.

Aarons the pacey attacking player coming on. See how our defence deals with it.

BlackST

9,079 posts

164 months

Saturday 1st November 2014
quotequote all
Johnson off the line.

35 mins in and Tim Krul is falling asleep. Rodgers's 1 up top plan is working flawlessly. For Newcastle.

NRS

22,079 posts

200 months

Saturday 1st November 2014
quotequote all
Almost nothing going on in attack. Sterling has hardly had a touch of the ball. However the defense is looking a bit better on set pieces so far. It makes me think of Pep Guardiola's comment that he hated Tiki Taka, it's about making space to attack, not just passing for the sake of it. And we seem to just be passing it for the sake of it.

Dan_1981

17,351 posts

198 months

Saturday 1st November 2014
quotequote all
not really setting the world on fire is it?

type-r

13,918 posts

212 months

Saturday 1st November 2014
quotequote all
Where is the Liverpool fluency of last season? What exactly in Rodgers working on, on the training pitch? Can't defend and can't score. The makings of a thoroughly sh!te team.

jammy_basturd

29,776 posts

211 months

Saturday 1st November 2014
quotequote all
Thought Sterling has been poor - but then so has all our team. Balotelli has had two touches.

Our passing has been woesome.

BlackST

9,079 posts

164 months

Saturday 1st November 2014
quotequote all
jammy_basturd said:
Thought Sterling has been poor - but then so has all our team. Balotelli has had two touches.

Our team has been woesome. All season
I agree.

anonymous-user

53 months

Saturday 1st November 2014
quotequote all
jammy_basturd said:
woesome.
That new word is the best thing I have seen this afternoon as the match is depressing.

We should adopt it to describe how we are playing.

Defence looking less st than before. That's the only good thing I can think of to say.
TOPIC CLOSED
TOPIC CLOSED