My pov, time to bench Reina and Gerrard as well.
Cannot let poor form player has an automatic start.
Must have some competition.

Unfortunately, our manager is still task with achieving the top 4 with such limited resources. It's like saving Titanic from sinking.

Couldn't agree more with you. Without the instant success (at least getting the top 4 spot), we will never ever be able to attract top class players and what we do is to keep waiting and waiting...

This post has been edited by vcj1992: Sep 3 2012, 11:10 AM

The fact that Borini is showing no form whatsoever isn't really helping the situation. He's brought in to be goal poacher, but hasn't been able to do so. Though, to be fair, we aren't really terrorizing opponents final third lately.

With Stevie G being out of his depth time and time again, I think BR should consider getting a quality AM to gradually replace Stevie G's role. Make good use of our limited transfer fund buying quality attacking midfielder/striker in the January transfer window instead of hiring semi-retired footballers.

For the time being, I would rather see Morgan and Yesil given more chance to play in our first team than rather than hiring Owen/Del Piero/Drogba. I just hope BR could handle the pressure from fans and not resort to any short term solution or panic buy.

On the positive notes, our youngsters are really showing great potentials, namely Sterling, Shelvey and the inspiring Allen.

This post has been edited by Yluxion: Sep 3 2012, 11:19 AM

u missed out on they will buy young & re-sell for higher value. That means irregardless of whether we're challenging, if there's offer big enough, they will sell. No exception. From day one they already stated this.
Unless we have a great academy or scouting, in the future we'll keep on losing key players like the gooners.

and where is ousama? dont even have the chance to play?

Read somewhere here that he isn't match fit as he had a poor pre-season. So we'll have to wait..

And I was hoping he'd terrorise defenses for us.

Maybe we can "pay"

Someone mentioned it's BR's stubborn pride not to overpay. BR is probably right About the chap that spurned us for spurs. It's hard to really know, it could be his ballsy show how he can help save FSG's money long term.

I don't know.

I too advocate sometimes some talent(s) is worth the money. Sometimes we need to spend correctly. Not guided by sentiments. Which our buy british brigade was a total waste of resources the last time. Dalglish may have his reasons to get those players but not at that price.

Sometimes I wonder why those Arabs bought Man City and PSG and not Liverpool. We are a bigger global brand than those 2 combined.

and how can carrol score if u only give him the final 10 mins?

If 3-4 years consistent without CL football, good talented players in the team may be lured away.
It may become like a selling club, then.

It is almost impossible to challenge the top with a selling club situation.

It is like chicken and egg issue.
Without CL, it is difficult to retain your top player.

Owen? Heaven forbid. I appreciate what he's done for us in the past but he's lost a lot of his pace and if I'm to be honest, he is half the player he was without it. He burst into the international scene at the tender age of 17 when at the 98 World Cup, he skipped past one of the best defenders in the world at the time, Roberto Ayala and Jose Chamot before slotting the ball into goal. He had blinding pace and even such renowned and experience defenders had problem coping. As injuries took it's toll however, he had to rely on other attributes and was never really the player he was before. I wouldn't even label him a stop-gap measure at the moment. I'd much rather play Adam Morgan and have him gain more experience. I would not put Michael Owen in the same category as players like Drogba and Dempsey who still play regular football and get the job done.

You also have to consider the type of player that they are. Drogs unlike Owen relies on power and not pace. The latter diminishes faster with age and injury than the former. In short, Drogba has a longer lifespan that someone like Owen does.

Now, on the issue of stop-gap players. We already have a bunch of relatively young players in today's side. If you look at the players who lined-up against Arsenal, we fielded a team with an average age of 25.

Pepe Reina (30), Glen Johnson (28), Luis Enrique (26), Daniel Agger (27), Martin Skrtel (27), Steven Gerrard (32), Joe Allen (22), Nuri Sahin (23), Fabio Borini (21), Luis Suarez (25), Raheem Sterling (17).

If you factor in the subs that came on i.e. Jonjo Shelvey (20), Stewart Downing (28), that figure drops to 23. Fact is we do have a pretty young squad. We had wanted to build a squad for the future and we have. Pepe Reina can play well into his 30's if he keeps himself fit. When Glen Johnson and Stevie G are eventually phased out, we have the likes of Jonjo Shelvey, Lucas, and Martin Kelly waiting in the wings. What I feel we need right now more than anything, is Champions League football. The financial windfall from just qualifying means we can spend on younger, more expensive players who can potentially yield more returns on investment in the future. We need proven players even if they are a little older than we'd like to take us into Europe's top competition. Ageing, proven players may not be good value (considering their age and price) but if they get us into the Champions League, their value increases based on how much we stand to gain just by qualifying, considering they are cheaper than a lot of young talent out there. If I were desperate for it, I'd much rather rely on older players who we know will have no problems adapting to English football than an unknown quantity, with a big reputation. I think it's what we need now given the expectation of the owners and our desperation to get back into the CPL.

This post has been edited by Duke Red: Sep 3 2012, 11:21 AM

I'm trying to understand our decision not to pay more for Dempsey (if report is correct). The only thing that I can think of is that we will send the wrong message that is we can be bullied and willing to pay crazy price. By refusing to pay the quoted price we are basically saying that we will only pay the fair value.

for a long time Duke, finally i feel your opinion

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Added on September 3, 2012, 11:26 amsimply put, we are more concerned about saving face

This post has been edited by Petre: Sep 3 2012, 11:26 AM

Saving face? How? We are losing face more than saving face. LOL

exactly. what an idiot whoever was behind it. 1m? liverpool cant bloody spend 1m. now thats funny

Somehow I suspect it was Ian Ayre's decision. If I recollect, BR wanted Demps badly. The Yanks even announced in their website about Demps coming and of course would welcome their fellow American as also a PR effort in US.

I can only think of Ian Ayre as the culprit and no one else.

My personal opinon, Drogba would be quite unlikely. He's already in the last leg of his career and he's likely out to make the best out of the remaining years in him, monetary wise and not so much of chasing over more honours. He would have sticked to Chelsea if he is looking for more honours. It's as good as asking Samuel E'too to go back to Barcelona now while he's driving the latest Bugatti.

The unlikely scenario of Owen joining us is fast becoming likely in view of current circumstances. Yeah, we're still bitter over him joining MU, who wouldn't. But, we may also need to be fair to Mikey to reflash back all those years that Benitez had no place for him in the squad and he joined Real, instead of going on a free the season after.

When Real released him, he was desperate to come back to us and Stevie did some serious brokering with Benitez but to no avail and he must have been heart broken then and he joined MU instead. Let's also be fair minded, he has bills and commitments to take care of and their wages and/or commitements whichever way we look at it comes in thousands every week and he can't be without football at all. Sentiments doesn't come into the equation in this case.

Ok, I'd take it as tit for that, all things being equal now I'd say no love lost I'd certainly welcome him back with open arms, it's becoming to look more like we need him as much as he needs us.

I can't forget those Benitez years where he single handedly destroyed defences and he was left alone to score most of the goals, and score he did and never a moment he moaned about it.

He will not be a long term solution but good enough till Jan and as back-up where we can look at other options. Say anything about him but he gave LFC his best playing years and I'm looking forward to some kind of a reunion before he bid us farewell.

I don't know what actually happened on the final day of the transfer window, I don't think any of us do. All we an offer is speculation. What I do know is this however, that we were made to look like fools. What makes it worse is that reports are now suggesting that Rodgers is having an open rift with FSG, and we all know that spells trouble as the latter is all about the bottom line. What makes us look more like idiots now isn't that we are considering bringing in Owen or Drogba to resolve our striker shortage, it's that I've read unconfirmed reports suggesting that Rodgers is considering recalling Carroll from his loan spell!

Things are obviously not harmonious in the board room and I shudder to think that Rodger's reign may be the shortest in our history as he doesn't strike me as the sort to back down. FSG had initially pledged to get behind their man but it doesn't look like they've done that, have they?