Summer Transfers 2015

Keyser Söze wrote:Why would you expect unwavering loyalty from Sterling anyway? Pretty sure Liverpool know what he's about, they've already had to make him the highest paid player in his age group twice just to please him. So I don't think they expect blind loyalty from him, they're probably just a little shocked that so soon after making his breakthrough season and with only 2 year left on his contract he's pushing for a move so publicly and aggressively.

This is my problem.  The argument thrown out by opposing fans that "Liverpool did this to Southampton, why are they angry now?" doesn't really hold true in my opinion.  It's the public interviews before an important part of our season & the comments by Aidy Ward that have bugged me.  Also the fact that he's played like crap for months.  Liverpool aren't purely the victims, of course-Rodgers has opened his mouth too much and something has clearly happened behind the scenes, but normally agents keep their skulduggery behind the scenes.

Glen Miller wrote:

Keyser Söze wrote:Why would you expect unwavering loyalty from Sterling anyway? Pretty sure Liverpool know what he's about, they've already had to make him the highest paid player in his age group twice just to please him. So I don't think they expect blind loyalty from him, they're probably just a little shocked that so soon after making his breakthrough season and with only 2 year left on his contract he's pushing for a move so publicly and aggressively.

This is my problem.  The argument thrown out by opposing fans that "Liverpool did this to Southampton, why are they angry now?" doesn't really hold true in my opinion.  It's the public interviews before an important part of our season & the comments by Aidy Ward that have bugged me.  Also the fact that he's played like crap for months.  Liverpool aren't purely the victims, of course-Rodgers has opened his mouth too much and something has clearly happened behind the scenes, but normally agents keep their skulduggery behind the scenes.

It seems pretty clear now Liverpool initiated it by leaking contract details in an attempt to force Sterling's hand with negative PR. Sterling felt the need to come out and clear his name on the BBC, got thoroughly pilloried for it and received no support from the club, now he's asked to leave and the club are saying they're going to keep him against his will. Nothing that's been said in relation to Liverpool is skulduggery, all they've really done is refute the things that have been said about them as a result of Liverpool's leaks, the most recent comments boil down to "He's not signing, it's not about money".

The other section of the interview that's been printed relates to James Carragher, but let's look at the context. Carragher came out and started giving Sterling shit over the whole situation, more importantly he said that Sterling was badly advised - essentially saying that Aidy Ward is bad at his job - without knowing what advice he has been given. If someone went on television who didn't really have a clue what I was doing in my job and said I was bad at it I'd respond that they don't know what they're talking about too. Those comments from Carragher and being associated with this saga are going to have a serious impact on his career, all because he's doing his best for his client. It's not right, a reaction is to be expected.

If he's complaining about bad press then why did he call one of the club's favourite players an expletive?  Seems a bit moronic.  Sterling's camp has only exacerbated things.

Glen Miller wrote:If he's complaining about bad press then why did he call one of the club's favourite players an expletive?  Seems a bit moronic.  Sterling's camp has only exacerbated things.

Several possible reasons, first of all Carragher had a pop at him, he was responding, possibly while under the impression it was off the record, you can argue it was moronic, but he was being honest about his feelings, some people feel compelled to do that; second, if he's being calculating it may make Sterling's position at the club untenable and help him get his move; finally the fact that it's true, Carragher is a knob, everyone knows it. The main instigator of the Carragher situation is Carragher himself for talking about things he doesn't know anything about and publicly defaming Ward. He's lucky Ward doesn't sue.

On the contract situation I don't think either side comes out of it particularly well, Liverpool instigated a bad situation by leaking the details of the negotiation, Sterling's public response wasn't a good idea either. Airing your dirty laundry in public is usually a bad idea but I'd lay the majority of the blame with the instigator rather than the respondent.

Yeah, it's clearly a ruthless strategy that should get Sterling his big move 1/2 year(s) earlier than expected.  I just think & hope you agree that everyone comes out of this looking like jerks.

Carragher, and other Liverpool pundits, had a comment like that coming. They've been picking at Sterling and how he's been "badly advised" for quite a while even before his interview with the BBC. And all without being privy to discussion between Sterling, his agent and the club. Ward certainly could have worded his response differently (more civil) and still had a strong impact, but calling him a nob was basically burning bridges, showing Liverpool that's it's seriously over and he's not going to fanny about.

It blows my fucking mind that Milner has been offered four years on £165,000 a week by City, turned it down, and has several other clubs after him. I'm half convinced this is all an enormous practical joke at his expense and they've used decimal points in the contract figures instead of commas.

ResurrectionRooney wrote:It blows my fucking mind that Milner has been offered four years on £165,000 a week by City, turned it down, and has several other clubs after him.  I'm half convinced this is all an enormous practical joke at his expense and they've used decimal points in the contract figures instead of commas.

If that blows your mind, you must be a tad stupid. There's a reason he's highly sought after. Not only are City desperate to keep ahold of him, but Arsenal have been in talks with him too, if that's not enough to convince you that maybe your perception of Milner's talents are wrong, then I don't know what is.

Milner is criminally underrated and is a great player to have in the squad. Certainly an upgrade on the modern-day Steven Gerrard if he were to come to us. I just can't envision him letting the game bypass him so easily, like we'd see with Gerrard. (Tbh, that's not saying much, actually. I personally feel like offloading Gerrard feels more like a new signing, rather than it feeling like we're losing a player He's costed us in so many games and our win percentage with him was shocking last season, compared to without him.)

Is he worth the £150,000 a week and the apparent £8-10 million signing on fee, though? I'm not so sure.

But it not hard to see why he's a wanted man.

http://moresport.com/football/why-liverpool-fans-will-love-james-milner-in-6-months

Oh that's why Scott's defending him, he's signing for Liverpool.

Theo Filippo wrote:Oh that's why Scott's defending him, he's signing for Liverpool.

Why are you always such a cunt when it comes to me?

Scott_LFC wrote:

ResurrectionRooney wrote:It blows my fucking mind that Milner has been offered four years on £165,000 a week by City, turned it down, and has several other clubs after him.  I'm half convinced this is all an enormous practical joke at his expense and they've used decimal points in the contract figures instead of commas.

If that blows your mind, you must be a tad stupid. There's a reason he's highly sought after. Not only are City desperate to keep ahold of him, but Arsenal have been in talks with him too, if that's not enough to convince you that maybe your perception of Milner's talents are wrong, then I don't know what is.

Milner is criminally underrated and is a great player to have in the squad. Certainly an upgrade on the modern-day Steven Gerrard if he were to come to us. I just can't envision him letting the game bypass him so easily, like we'd see with Gerrard. (Tbh, that's not saying much, actually. I personally feel like offloading Gerrard feels more like a new signing, rather than it feeling like we're losing a player He's costed us in so many games and our win percentage with him was shocking last season, compared to without him.)

Is he worth the £150,000 a week and the apparent £8-10 million signing on fee, though? I'm not so sure.

But it not hard to see why he's a wanted man.

http://moresport.com/football/why-liverpool-fans-will-love-james-milner-in-6-months

I get him being sought after, he's a decent central midfielder on par with the likes of Henderson and Carrick and he's available on a free transfer, I don't get offering him a contract worth over £30m for four years of his services when he's 29 years old.

Scott_LFC wrote:

Theo Filippo wrote:Oh that's why Scott's defending him, he's signing for Liverpool.

Why are you always such a cunt when it comes to me?

He's not wrong though, is he?

Scott_LFC wrote:

Theo Filippo wrote:Oh that's why Scott's defending him, he's signing for Liverpool.

Why are you always such a cunt when it comes to me?

Fucking hell.

Milner/Liverpool deal agreed

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/33002472

ResurrectionRooney wrote:

Scott_LFC wrote:

If that blows your mind, you must be a tad stupid. There's a reason he's highly sought after. Not only are City desperate to keep ahold of him, but Arsenal have been in talks with him too, if that's not enough to convince you that maybe your perception of Milner's talents are wrong, then I don't know what is.

Milner is criminally underrated and is a great player to have in the squad. Certainly an upgrade on the modern-day Steven Gerrard if he were to come to us. I just can't envision him letting the game bypass him so easily, like we'd see with Gerrard. (Tbh, that's not saying much, actually. I personally feel like offloading Gerrard feels more like a new signing, rather than it feeling like we're losing a player He's costed us in so many games and our win percentage with him was shocking last season, compared to without him.)

Is he worth the £150,000 a week and the apparent £8-10 million signing on fee, though? I'm not so sure.

But it not hard to see why he's a wanted man.

http://moresport.com/football/why-liverpool-fans-will-love-james-milner-in-6-months

I get him being sought after, he's a decent central midfielder on par with the likes of Henderson and Carrick and he's available on a free transfer, I don't get offering him a contract worth over £30m for four years of his services when he's 29 years old.

Scott_LFC wrote:

Why are you always such a cunt when it comes to me?

He's not wrong though, is he?

Yes, he is. You won't find me defending the signing of Ings or Benteke, should we sign them, which goes against Theo's theory entirely.

ResurrectionRooney wrote:Milner/Liverpool deal agreed  

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/33002472

You're pretty much the only person I've seen who's "making fun" of this deal. Most people recognise it's a good signing.

Maybe we should sign Falcao on loan for £6 million, whilst paying him £265k a week. You know.. like United did.

Even Balotelli (4 goals in 24 appearances) scored at a better rate than Falcao (4 goals in 29 appearances) did

Scott_LFC wrote:

ResurrectionRooney wrote:

I get him being sought after, he's a decent central midfielder on par with the likes of Henderson and Carrick and he's available on a free transfer, I don't get offering him a contract worth over £30m for four years of his services when he's 29 years old.



He's not wrong though, is he?

Yes, he is. You won't find me defending the signing of Ings or Benteke, should we sign them, which goes against Theo's theory entirely.

ResurrectionRooney wrote:Milner/Liverpool deal agreed  

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/33002472

You're pretty much the only person I've seen who's "making fun" of this deal. Most people recognise it's a good signing.

Maybe we should sign Falcao on loan for £6 million, whilst paying him £265k a week. You know.. like United did.

Even Balotelli (4 goals in 24 appearances) scored at a better rate than Falcao (4 goals in 29 appearances) did

Let me explain something to you that I missed earlier. Milner is not underrated, you can't be underrated if everyone says you are underrated, it is self contradictory. If "most people" think that this is a good signing then it is further proof that he is not underrated.

English players who lack ability but work hard running around a lot invariably become overrated and more importantly overvalued, that's reflected in their transfer fees and wage packets, in this case it's Milner's wage packet. To prove that point, in 2011 the Football Writers Association in this country voted for Scott Parker to win the award for being the best player in England ahead of Gareth Bale, Robin Van Persie, Dimitar Berbatov (who won the Golden Boot that season), Cesc Fabregas, Yaya Toure, David Silva, Carlos Tevez (Also won the Golden Boot), Petr Cech, Edwin van der Sar, Luka Modric and Rafael van der Vaart. Just think about that. Football writers in this country, the people who write for the media, voted for Scott Parker as being better than all of those players in the 2010-11 season. If that doesn't prove that there's a remarkable bias in English football towards industrious Englishmen I don't know what does.

Signing an overrated, overpriced industrious Englishman onto a long contract when he is 29 years old is a very bad move which you will undoubtedly regret in the future.

Falcao was a terrible signing, a gamble that didn't pay off. When you're the biggest club in the world you can afford to make gambles like that.

ResurrectionRooney wrote:

Scott_LFC wrote:

Yes, he is. You won't find me defending the signing of Ings or Benteke, should we sign them, which goes against Theo's theory entirely.



You're pretty much the only person I've seen who's "making fun" of this deal. Most people recognise it's a good signing.

Maybe we should sign Falcao on loan for £6 million, whilst paying him £265k a week. You know.. like United did.

Even Balotelli (4 goals in 24 appearances) scored at a better rate than Falcao (4 goals in 29 appearances) did

Let me explain something to you that I missed earlier.  Milner is not underrated, you can't be underrated if everyone says you are underrated, it is self contradictory.  If "most people" think that this is a good signing then it is further proof that he is not underrated.  

English players who lack ability but work hard running around a lot invariably become overrated and more importantly overvalued, that's reflected in their transfer fees and wage packets, in this case it's Milner's wage packet.  To prove that point, in 2011 the Football Writers Association in this country voted for Scott Parker to win the award for being the best player in England ahead of Gareth Bale, Robin Van Persie, Dimitar Berbatov (who won the Golden Boot that season), Cesc Fabregas, Yaya Toure, David Silva, Carlos Tevez (Also won the Golden Boot), Petr Cech, Edwin van der Sar, Luka Modric and Rafael van der Vaart.  Just think about that.  Football writers in this country, the people who write for the media, voted for Scott Parker as being better than all of those players in the 2010-11 season.  If that doesn't prove that there's a remarkable bias in English football towards industrious Englishmen I don't know what does.

Signing an overrated, overpriced industrious Englishman onto a long contract when he is 29 years old is a very bad move which you will undoubtedly regret in the future.

Falcao was a terrible signing, a gamble that didn't pay off.  When you're the biggest club in the world you can afford to make gambles like that.

Ignoring my reply to your first post?

I never said Milner was underrated.

James Milner created more chances than Juan Mata this season, recorded more assists than Mesut Ozil and scored more goals than Cesc Fabregas.

I don't think we will regret it. He's an upgrade on Gerrard.

Yeah you did

Scott_LFC wrote:Milner is criminally underrated

My bad, I did. Oh well. Point still stands. He's a good signing.

For Liverpool, yeah.

"James Milner created more chances than Juan Mata this season, recorded more assists than Mesut Ozil and scored more goals than Cesc Fabregas"

Sounds like he packs quite a punch.

Looking forward to when he's physically incapable of putting in 6/10 performances every match.

Interested to see how he does with a more important squad role, which I assume is the main reason he left. Not sure he's as good as some people are making out, but he's a decent player. He works hard and tracks back which is why a lot of fans like him I think, but his technique can be very inconsistent. Some games he'll spray the ball around, cross it well and score, then others he'll go missing and misplace a lot of passes. His attitude is second to none though, which is why managers love him. I have a lot of respect for the way he approaches the game.

I remember him coming on against us the season before last, at Anfield, when we were beating you 2-0 at half time. He changed the game completely and was pivotal in getting you back on level terms, if I'm recalling it correctly? Coutinho strike won it for us in the end, but that Milner performance was something else. He was absolutely destroying our full back.

Edit: From the BBC

"City were a team transformed after the break, with the introduction of James Milner for Jesus Navas a contributing factor. He helped Silva pull one back when his run and cross gave the Spaniard a close-range finish."

I don't think he ever goes invisible in the big games, so that's a benefit for us. We have too many players who do disappear.

Yeah he was very visible in the game against Barcelona when Messi raped him.

Good thing he won't have to worry about playing against players of that calibre for a while.

Keyser Söze wrote:Yeah he was very visible in the game against Barcelona when Messi raped him.

They raped everyone, not just Milner, you utter simpleton.

I was talking about in the PL.

Of course every team is gonna get well beaten from time to time. Remember when we raped you 5-1?

Scott_LFC wrote:I remember him coming on against us the season before last, at Anfield, when we were beating you 2-0 at half time. He changed the game completely and was pivotal in getting you back on level terms, if I'm recalling it correctly? Coutinho strike won it for us in the end, but that Milner performance was something else. He was absolutely destroying our full back.

Edit: From the BBC

"City were a team transformed after the break, with the introduction of James Milner for Jesus Navas a contributing factor. He helped Silva pull one back when his run and cross gave the Spaniard a close-range finish."

I don't think he ever goes invisible in the big games, so that's a benefit for us. We have too many players who do disappear.

Yeah, I bet you do

He was great against United in the 6-1 game, remember he scored a decent goal against Arsenal too. He does go missing in games more than you think though, his whole first season he went missing tbh. It can happen to wingers more easily than every other position.

Is there anything worse than fans making up chants in their bedroom then singing them alone? I don't think so: 
http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/row-zed/revealed-james-milners-new-liverpool-5834889

Scott_LFC wrote:

Keyser Söze wrote:Yeah he was very visible in the game against Barcelona when Messi raped him.

They raped everyone, not just Milner, you utter simpleton.

I was talking about in the PL.

Of course every team is gonna get well beaten from time to time. Remember when we raped you 5-1?

Barcelona molested City. Milner was raped by Messi.

No I don't, probably too long ago. I do remember when we violated you 4-1 two months ago

Theo Filippo wrote:

Scott_LFC wrote:I remember him coming on against us the season before last, at Anfield, when we were beating you 2-0 at half time. He changed the game completely and was pivotal in getting you back on level terms, if I'm recalling it correctly? Coutinho strike won it for us in the end, but that Milner performance was something else. He was absolutely destroying our full back.

Edit: From the BBC

"City were a team transformed after the break, with the introduction of James Milner for Jesus Navas a contributing factor. He helped Silva pull one back when his run and cross gave the Spaniard a close-range finish."

I don't think he ever goes invisible in the big games, so that's a benefit for us. We have too many players who do disappear.

Yeah, I bet you do

What?