alias75

Its pretty worrying looking at pre-season once again so many of our key players haven't had a full pre-season because of international commitments and its showing this time. We are missing a couple of players that you'd probably put in our strongest 11 but we should be good enough to cope with that. Obviously losing Alonso was always going to be a big loss and it may take a little time for the team to learn how to play without him, hopefully Aquillani can come in and give us something quickly because if he takes time to settle i think we'll struggle this year. Its typical of how this club has been run the last 10-15 years that after one of our best ever seasons in recent memory we sell one of our best players and have a net spend of zero in the transfer market. Its probably going to take the team not making top 4 for G+H to realise you can't move forward in this league without speculating somewhat because plenty of other teams will and it doesnt take much for them to catch up.

We need to get these young defenders out on loan to the Championship its a huge ask for somebody like Ayala to come straight from the reserves to the PL.

Rafa Benitez says Javier Mascherano is now fully focused on Liverpool after being wanted by Barcelona. Mascherano had been linked with a move to the Spanish giants earlier this summer after reportedly growing tired of life in England. However with Xabi Alonso finalising his move to Real Madrid, Benitez says the Argentine has now purged all thoughts of leaving Anfield from his mind. Benitez believes Mascherano, who has impressed in training over the past 10 days, has accepted his long-term future is as Liverpool. "Javier knows he is staying," said Benitez. "He has accepted his future is here and that he is going to be a key player for us once more. "Mascherano is now fully focused on us and what we might achieve together this season, I can guarantee that 100 per cent. "We've spoken about his situation before and we spoke again. Before, it was difficult and he could see Xabi Alonso was on his way. "There has been a significant improvement in his game over the past 10 days. He has been a lot more focused, and we are seeing the real Mascherano again."

http://www.sportinglife.com/football/news/...ual_072433.html

Think Turner could end up being a very good replacement for Carragher, i have a few friends that support Hull that really rate him and from what ive seen he looks a good player who importantly for us is very dangerous from set pieces (something we lack since Sami's gone) still only 25 so should be coming into the prime of his career. For around £8million i think it'd be a good signing.

Id be tempted to go with the following for most games until the new guy is fit... ........................................Reina.................................. Johnson................Carragher..........Agger / Skrtel..........Insua ...........................Mascherano.....Gerrard............................. Kuyt................................Benayoun..........................Riera / Babel .......................................Torres................................................ Maybe a bit harsh on Lucas because hes been very good in pre-season but Yossi deserves to play somewhere and its not as if Stevie won't get forward playing in a more traditional central midfield.

Rafael Benitez has held talks with Hull boss Phil Brown over the possible transfer of defender Michael Turner to Liverpool. The Anfield chief has a number of injury worries in defence, which were compounded on Saturday when Jamie Carragher limped off early in the first half of the friendly with Atletico Madrid nursing an ankle problem. Benitez is increasingly short of defenders, having seen Sami Hyypia and Alvaro Arbeloa leave the club this summer. The problem has been made even more pressing with both Daniel Agger (back) and Martin Skrtel (hamstring) doubtful for the season's opening league game at Spurs next weekend. Benitez has been linked with a bid for Turner, as well as Portsmouth's Sylvain Distin. And the Spaniard said after the 2-1 defeat by Atletico Madrid at Anfield: "I was talking with (Hull manager) Phil Brown, but I will not talk about figures. But maybe I was just talking to Phil about the weather."

http://www.sportinglife.com/football/news/...ual_181453.html

This probably means we're going to have to start the season with Lucas and Mascherano in central midfield which is a little bit of a worry. Even if the Defour deal still happens its still going to be one inexperienced player in a pretty important position.

just been told it will still happen, although maybe it depends on whether Lucas goes or not.

anyone else hearing that we'll still sign Defour?

Poulson is somebody i mentioned as a possible a few weeks ago, but only if we sign another top class attacking player. (like Silva) that way we have a solid midfield 2 in Mascherano and Poulson and then 4 top class attacking players in front of them. The midfield 2's main job would be to simply win the ball and give it to the attacking players to do their thing. Its not disimilar to how Man Utd played last season, they could get away with 2 defensive type midfielders because they had so much attacking ability in front of them. Losing Alonso is obviously a big setback because hes a great player but it might also allow us to change the way we play at home against "weaker" teams, with 2 holding type midfielders very often Mascherano's role in those home games was irrelevant but maybe we will sign a much more attacking central midfielder like Aquilani and then Mascherano's job in those home games will be vital as he becomes basically the 1 man midfield with everyone else used in an offensive way.

well in terms of new signings pretty often, granted they all haven't been first team starters but you still have to integrate them into the squad. This season should be the most continuity we've had in a long time.

For the first time in a long time we don't have 5 or 6 new players we need to blood at the start of the season. IF we can keep Alonso then we're in pretty good shape in terms of our strongest 14-15 players. Looking at the pre-season games the worry for me is central defensive cover and cover for Torres but you also have to remember when the youngsters play in these friendlies its usually in weakened teams, put them in our strongest team and im sure they'd do better. Pre-season results mean nothing especially as Rafa likes to use so many players hopefully they're ready for the first PL game.

Think he may end up regretting this move, playing for us has got him into the Spanish national team but if you look at the players in front of him at Madrid i think he would have played more games here even if most of them would have been at left back. Can't really blame him after seeing us spend 17million on a player in his position, hopefully we replace him with somebody that can cover a few positions defensively.

If its games in the PL he wants he can still get that, but if we are still interested in him (and he did come down to Melwood a few years ago) then better get him now for a few million and loan him out than wait and probably have to pay 3 or 4 times that if he does prove to be a top player. Id imagine the financial packages we could offer him would be better than Wolves and i can understand him wanting to play games which is why we'd loan him out.

If James McCarthey is as highly rated as it seems and we have been keeping tabs on him why don't we buy him now for the £2 million being talked about and loan him out to Wolves or whoever so hes getting the games he obviously wants. I get the feeling he's going to be another player we could have got fairly cheaply that will end up costing much more. As for Alonso i agree with the 2 posts above, i don't see us replacing him with a similar type of player because there aren't many like him, but if we can replace him with a good solid central midfielder and maybe use some of the money to get better attacking players that could make us a stronger team overall. Man Utd play with 2 pretty defensive central midfielders and they can do that because of the attacking players they have, if we got somebody like Silva, along with Gerrard, Torres and Kuyt thats 4 very good attacking players. All you really need from a central midfielder is somebody thats tidy in posession and can get the ball to our attacking players, can handle the physicality of the PL and chips in with the odd goal. Trying to find a like for like replacement is pointless because there aren't any (that we could afford anyway).

If you look at how a team like Man Utd set up you can get away with hard working competent players in central midfield if your attacking options are exceptional. Therefore if Alonso is going to be sold we could be looking at a situation where hes replaced with somebody solid and experienced with the majority of the money going on another attacking wide player (like Silva). When you have a player like Alonso who so much of our play goes through its difficult to imagine how we'd cope without him but there are a lot of good solid central midfield options out there that might not be able to control the tempo of games like Alonso but can give us strength in the middle while acting as a continuity player to get the ball to our attacking players.

Theres also the chance Madrid will look elsewhere meaning hes not needed next season. The player has to understand hes very important for the team and unless we get the valuation we're looking for we're not obliged to sell. We're trying to run a football club here this isn't a charity for the benefit of Madrid, if they want him that badly they'll pay what we're asking if they don't pay what we want he doesn't go simple as that.

On this Rafa and Alonso not getting on business im not sure what Alonso wants. He played almost every game last season so its pretty clear Rafa sees him as an important player for us, there may be a personality clash but im sure neither would allow that to get in the way of their professionalism towards their jobs. By all accounts Rafa doesnt mix too much with the players anyway. If Rafa was leaving Alonso out of the team based on personal issues then he'd have every right to want to leave but hes clearly one of our most important players and plays all the key games when fit, I agree with those that say we probably would sell if our valuation is met but if that isn't going to happen then we have no obligation to sell one of our key players on the cheap.

Those comments from Valdano should be more than enough for us to not even bother talking to them, even if Alonso asks for a move he surely understands we have a valuation of him and if that isn't met we're not obligated to sell him. If Madrid value him so highly they'll pay what we're asking they've paid over the odds for several players already this season so its hardly an alien concept for them. Valdano himself has commented how rare a player of Alonso's type is so surely that only adds to his value since we'd have to replace him. Hopefully they look elsewhere and come next season they won't need him.

Real can't have it both ways, they've been talking about what a good player Alonso is and how there aren't many like him yet their trying to get him on the cheap after spending tens of millions on other players. If they rate him that highly then they pay what we want or look at someone they can afford. We can stick to our guns over this if they don't pay what we want he stays and hopefully they sign someone else and that means Alonso isn't needed even after this season. Alonso is a top professional theres no chance of him sulking if the move doesn't happen, he needs to understand hes a key player for us and if his valuation isn't met then we're not selling, its up to Madrid to either meet the valuation or look somewhere else.

KOP Holdings?

Madrid and Barcelona in a bidding war for one of our players, we should milk them for everything we can get (assuming Mascherano does want to go)

Bojan is in the top 3 players of his age in Europe, the fact hes played games for Barcelona aged 17-18 tells you everything about his potential. But at the moment thats all he is really, hes shown signs at Barcelona but it would be a risk especially since the PL would be a tough league for him to adapt to given his physique. Because its Madrid and Barcelona interested in our players it does raise the possibility of cash plus players because both those squads are full of top quality world class players that would improve our squad.