Soccer 2014 - 2015
- Thread starter PKS
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The reality is you can compensate for losing his goals by tightening up the defence
Chris
Potato del Grande
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Oops. Looks like Liverpool missed their only chance last season? Since Chealsea/Manchester United were rebuilding their teams and should be more competitive next season.
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How were Chelsea rebuilding - the only area they were lacking was a decent centre forward - and that's only because the ?50m Torres failed to replicate his LFC form. What an absolutely ridiculous statement.
Elerion
N00b
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Stop being dense, every single other challenger had issues last season. Chelsea lacked a decent striker, Arsenal had no backup striker and were fucked by injuries, City had a new manager (though otherwise solid) and Man U was all sorts of fucked up.
You don't have to go full retard whenever someone says something remotely negative about LFC or the team's chances.
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I never said anything about Man Utd - because clearly they were in a state of rebuilding. Why even mention Arsenal? Chris didn't and I didn't. I completely disagree that Chelsea were rebuilding last season and I completely disagree that a forward trio of Torres/Ba/Eto'o is "lacking a decent striker" and consists of "issues".
Let's tackle these points one at a time shall we.
WERE CHELSEA REBUILDING LAST SEASON?
New Manager - Jose Mourinho. Already managed the club, already brought success, already worked for Abramovich - familiar with a good portion of the squad. Is this the same as Moyes having to replace the manager who had been at Old Trafford 26 years and who had left behind an ageing squad = NO
2013/14 Signings
Andre Schurrle ?18,000,000
Marco van Ginkel ?8,000,000
Mark Schwarzer Free
Cristian Cuevas ?1,700,000
Samuel Eto'o Free
Willian ?32,000,000
Christian Atsu ?3,500,000
Isaiah Brown ?209,000
Stipe Perica Undisclosed
Bertrand Traore Free
Jan Nemanja Matic ?22,750,000
Jan Mohamed Salah ?11,000,000
Jan Kurt Zouma ?12,500,000
From that list then only Schurrle, Willian and Eto'o would be considered signings that could go immediately into the first team squad. And none of them were ever-presents - according to wikipedia Schurrle made the most appearances with 30, Willian 25 and Eto'o still managed to score 9 goals in 21 games which surely indicates he's still a decent striker. Rebuilding would imply that they had lost a number of vital first team players and replaced those with new signings that were expected to go immediately into the first team - instead they just signed some squad players and more kids they can send out on loan.
Mourinho even had the luxury of completely isolating Juan Mata - their player of the year the previous two seasons? And then selling him to a rival in Man Utd, the money was then spent on re-signing Matic from Benfica.
Based on the experience of the manager and the signings they made/players they sold/released - then I am adamant that Chelsea were not "rebuilding" last season.
DID CHELSEA LACK ANY DECENT STRIKERS LAST SEASON
Demba Ba scored 29 goals in 54 games at Newcastle - that's a decent record. Wiki also says that Arsenal (a decent team?) wanted him on loan
Samuel Eto'o scored 9 in 21 - that's a decent return for a free transfer
Fernando Torres - is still missing open goals but HE COST ?50m - if you spend ?50m on a striker then you a) better make sure that he's still got it b) better make sure you can get the best out of him. Crying because your ?50m striker is not performing is ludicrous
ANYTHING ELSE WORTH MENTIONING?
Yeah, how about the fact that lining up behind whoever Chelsea play at Striker is 3 from Hazard/Willian/Oscar/Schurrle - who in total cost roughly ?90m. All expected to contribute goals in addition to assists.
So please, cry me a river that Chelsea lacked a decent striker last season - that has nothing to do with Liverpools success and run of form.
Elerion
N00b
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You know what he meant, and you choose to argue semantics instead. You could easily make the argument that Man U weren't "rebuilding" either, considering they had the same squad that won the PL by a ton of points the previous season.
The point is that the key competitors, including Chelsea and Man U, had obvious issues that made them weaker, to the benefit of Liverpool. (6 points collected vs Man U, while Chelsea dropped points due to bad strikers and still finished just 2 points behind LFC.) Those issues will presumably be rectified this year, at least partly.
The point is that the key competitors, including Chelsea and Man U, had obvious issues that made them weaker, to the benefit of Liverpool. (6 points collected vs Man U, while Chelsea dropped points due to bad strikers and still finished just 2 points behind LFC.) Those issues will presumably be rectified this year, at least partly.
Springbok
Karen
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Decent little match - thought LFC were well on top at the break, but as soon as Manc scored they looked in control. I as well thought Herrera was gash last night - I know he's had a stellar pre season, but he was giving away possession left and right and made some pretty Scholes-esque challenges! Shaw on the other hand I thought looked composed and decent, if a bit unfit. For LFC, thought that the defense in the first half was good and Sterling was the best player on the pitch. He'll be crucial this year and will need to bang in more goals than last season. Beating his man off the wing and cutting in is great, but LFC really need to have him finishing those moves off with Suarez gone.
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Man Utd replaced their manager of the last 26 years with someone who had never won a trophy in his entire managerial career. They were obviously in a transition phase.
And don't tell me that I knew what he meant and what I chose to argue. I've completely destroyed the argument that "they lacked a decent striker" and that's without mentioning they loaned out Lukaku to Everton, or sold Sturridge to LFC 6 months prior to the start of last season.
They had one obvious issue - which was entirely of their own making. It's such a stupid argument to say that any club finished where they finished because of weaknesses of the other teams - if my auntie had bollocks she'd be my uncle. Plus anyone could just say that LFC lacked a decent back 4 and that if they shipped less goals we'd have won the title.
Asshat Brando
Potato del Grande
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The thought that Chelsea were going through a transition is hilarious and I can assure you at the start of last season there was no ManU fan thinking they wouldn't challenge for the title let alone finish top 4. Go look at Pks posts in last years thread were he couldn't even admit that as a possibility until after the new year.
I'd actually say ManU has a bigger transition this year, they have no depth at CB and the ones they have can't seemingly pass the ball out of their own half. If it wasn't for Johnson being complete shit yesterday, and almost everyday for the last 18 months, allowing Young to look like a real footballer again then ManU wouldn't have had anything. Rooney's goal was their first on goal and that took 60mins.
For LFC, we don't have to replace Suarez and honestly that's impossible sans signing Ronaldo or Messi which isn't happening. Sterling isn't Suarez but he's well on his way to being a world class player, ManU couldn't handle him at all last night and if Johnson would have been arsed to do anything that whole right side of ManU should have been overrun. Maul's comment aside, Lovren is going to be huge for us and as long as Johnson is benched for good we should see a large improvement this year defensively. The only concern would be Sturridge picking up knocks as he did already, as Lambert is something of a duck out of water in our system by the looks of it. Rodgers said again last night after the game that we will get 1 more striker and I have no doubt we will. LFC will be different this year because we don't have Suarez but that doesn't mean we can't be just as good or better overall.
I'd actually say ManU has a bigger transition this year, they have no depth at CB and the ones they have can't seemingly pass the ball out of their own half. If it wasn't for Johnson being complete shit yesterday, and almost everyday for the last 18 months, allowing Young to look like a real footballer again then ManU wouldn't have had anything. Rooney's goal was their first on goal and that took 60mins.
For LFC, we don't have to replace Suarez and honestly that's impossible sans signing Ronaldo or Messi which isn't happening. Sterling isn't Suarez but he's well on his way to being a world class player, ManU couldn't handle him at all last night and if Johnson would have been arsed to do anything that whole right side of ManU should have been overrun. Maul's comment aside, Lovren is going to be huge for us and as long as Johnson is benched for good we should see a large improvement this year defensively. The only concern would be Sturridge picking up knocks as he did already, as Lambert is something of a duck out of water in our system by the looks of it. Rodgers said again last night after the game that we will get 1 more striker and I have no doubt we will. LFC will be different this year because we don't have Suarez but that doesn't mean we can't be just as good or better overall.
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I'm pretty certain Liverpool will not be better after losing one of the best players in the world. I'd like to know what kind of tactical magic you're anticipating that might result in that.
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Yeah, I was actually being "kind" by not pointing out that teams that win the title by 11 points, generally don't need rebuilding. But clearly they were in transition with the new manager, hence I didn't bring it up.
But yeah, Chelsea rebuilding = laughable
Elerion
N00b
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You'd expect Sturridge to score more than 21 now that he is the 1st choice striker. 10 goals is a realistic target for Lambert. And you would hope that +Lovren, the defence concedes less goals than last season. All those factors don't replace Suarez but hopefully they can compensate for the 31 goals he scored last season.
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What's your counter argument - oh wait there is none.
Arsenal wanted Ba on loan. Lukaku has just gone for ?28m. <-- Both players Chelsea had available last season.
Asshat Brando
Potato del Grande
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Depends on your definition of better. As already noted you can't replace Suarez, there are LFC fans that think we need a marquee signing for this and no matter who it would be sans the two already mentioned they won't be Suarez. With that said the "team" can be just as good or even better not because we have an all new starting 11 but because we have quality in depth, something we had none of last year as we trotted out basically the same 11 every game as there was no other choice.
But the truth is there is no way to know at this moment. We haven't seen Lallana or Lovren yet, Markovic has played all of 45 mins and Kelly and Johnson are not our actual starters at full back. And even if the worse were to come to pass and I have to see Johnson slug his way around the pitch we fucking played Aly Cissokho last year and still were fine. Let me know if you want his highlight vid, it's something to behold.