Transfer Spending &* Squad Costs

[Craig_H]

You keep using the amount of money Rafa has spent, relatively to the mancs, stick, and beating rafa over the head with it, and you say you haven't got an agenda against him.

You keep saying we always buy "squad" players without actually acknowledging that in order to buy top quality players we need more money than we have.

Each "squad" player Rafa has brought has been an inprovement on the out going "squad" player.

I can see rafa's thinking here, and I'd rather get one quality player, plus better squad players, than one expensive world class player per window.

Something that we've always done.

If I'm strange, I wouldn't want to live in your world.

Please point me to where i'm beating rafa over the head with it?

When have i ever hid behind an opinion? If i had an agenda, i'd happily say i didnt like Rafa. Stop being silly.

£20m buys you one top quality player. So yes, we DO have the money to do that.

As for rather one quality player and better squad players...

One 'quality' player is going to cost £10m - so that'll be another Kuyt.
'Some better squad players' - so that'll be another Pennant at £7m and Benyaoun at £6m.

You'd rather have 3 players of the 'quality' of Pennant, Kuyt and Benayoun than one torres?

I give up.

[Craig_H]

If we get rid of a load of "average squad fillers" though, isn't that going to leave us a bit thread bare?

I doubt we'd miss the likes of Voronin, Riise etc, given the 'contribution' they've offered. We can easily replace them with a couple of kids who'd do no worse. So no, not thread bare at all.

Why are we bringing in all these youngsters if they never get used?

[Craig_H]

This is our squad from 03-04.

Did we need to buy squad players since Rafa has been here. I think so. When next season comes around I doubt that we'll have more than 4 of those players on our books.

*Jerzy Dudek
*Paul Harrison
*Paul Jones
*Chris Kirkland
*Patrice Luzi
*Markus Babbel
*Igor Biscan
*Jamie Carragher
*Steve Finnan
*Stephane Henchoz
*Sami Hyypia
*Jon Otsemobor
*John Arne Riise
*Djimi Traore
*Gregory Vignal
*Bruno Cheyrou
*Salif Diao
*Steven Gerrard
*Dietmar Hamann
*Harry Kewell
*Anthony Le Tallec
*Danny Murphy
*Richie Partridge
*Darren Potter
*Vladimir Smicer
*John Welsh
*Milan Baros
*El Hadji Diouf
*Emile Heskey
*Neil Mellor
*Michael Owen
*Florent S Pongolle

What would todays squad look like if we'd only bought one 20m player a season

I'm not disputing that we needed some squad players THEN.

But NOW we've got a squad FULL of them. We dont need any more.

It's been pretty much the consensus round here that now we're in the position whereby we should be buying TOP players, even if it means only one or two per summer.

I wasnt aware that there was a group of people who still want 4 Jermaine Pennants rather than a Torres and a Mascher...

[Craig_H]

By who?

If he's not good enough to be Aurelio's understudy, i very much doubt rafa would be starting to involve him with the 1st team.

[El Jefecito]

That really is an eye-opener & shows exaclty how much Rafa has built us up & what a great job he has done in doing so. What I like is that he seems to get money back for sales, which GH never did. He also gets rid quick of players that dont work out to minimise the damage financially & on the pitch/bench. GH's purchases look really awful in retrospect, despite bringing in the odd brilliant player- Didi, Sami, Marcus & Stephan for example.

However, whilst I acknowledge that building up the squad bit by bit in the past has been necessary post-GH, I do think we need at least 1 top top player up top to take us to the next level (ideally 2-3) & we should be focussed on that in the window, because our squad is sufficiently developed to do that now. We (sadly) might have to go cheap again for the fullbacks to ensure that we are able to splash out a but more up top.

Whilst I think we are really weak in FB positions & need to look into that in the long run, in terms of next season I think we can improve massively if we bring in solid but unspectacular FBs at a minimal cost (a fit version of Fabs would be ideal) & a top attacker at siginificant outlay, rather than just another option such as Valencia (not taking the rumours as fact, just using him for example purposes only).

Personally, I dont want to see too many changes, because that destablises, but Rafa knows best.

Would make most sense.

[Manofthebog]

[QUOTE=DJS;1042066]Please point me to where i'm beating rafa over the head with it?

When have i ever hid behind an opinion? If i had an agenda, i'd happily say i didnt like Rafa. Stop being silly.

£20m buys you one top quality player. So yes, we DO have the money to do that.

As for rather one quality player and better squad players...

One 'quality' player is going to cost £10m - so that'll be another Kuyt.
'Some better squad players' - so that'll be another Pennant at £7m and Benyaoun at £6m.

You'd rather have 3 players of the 'quality' of Pennant, Kuyt and Benayoun than one torres?

I give up.[/QUOTE]



I wish you would.


I am now bored of your internal bleating, so I suggest you save your breathe for blowing up your missus tonite.

[Manofthebog]

I'm sorry for the last insult, forgive me, I'm bored and I'm strange.

You carry on talking tosh, and I'll do the same.

A tip, rather than blowing up your missus, try sitting on your hand until it goes numb.

[Craig_H]

Why not actually answer my points?

[Manofthebog]

Why not actually answer my points?

Because I'm going home in a minute, and I really can't be bothered wasting anymore of my life on you .

[Craig_H]

Because I'm going home in a minute, and I really can't be bothered wasting anymore of my life on you .

The stock 'i have no argument' response.

[wiw]

The stock 'i have no argument' response.

To be fair, reading your arguments with other people can be tiring (both sides obv), I can only imagine what it's like being involved in one

[Manofthebog]

The stock 'i have no argument' response.

No, actually, at 5.30pm I'm going home, and when I get home, I've a life to lead, so..............

[Ketario]

No, actually, at 5.30pm I'm going home, and when I get home, I've a life to lead, so..............

Dude, we still on for Dungeons and Dragons tonight? I'll pick up some Appletiser as promised.

[Roboklopp]

Dude, we still on for Dungeons and Dragons tonight? I'll pick up some Appletiser as promised.

[friedk]

How does your post show comparible spending since the PL began?

With all due respect that is meaningless. Rafa hasn't been around since the PL began and signing fees have changed significantly. I remember Roy Keane was a league record signing and he only cost them £3m.

The season before Rafa came in, we had a squad that was slightly behind Chelsea. That season Chelsea spent over £100m+ to bridge the gap, then the season Rafa arrived they spent another £100m+, the result being they have caught up with United and overtaken Arsenal (who the season of Rafa's arrival were league champions having gone the season unbeaten).

People also like to say we were only a point behind United a couple of seasons back and look at the difference now. But that season United had a side which underperformed terribly and still managed 83 points, whereas we achieved our best ever league total and managed 82 points.

The truth is that to bridge the gap we either had to mega-spend as Chelsea did or we must stick with Rafa and allow him to continue with what he is doing. Liverpool under him has improved on every level from our youth side, to our reserves, and to our first team.

Next season will be as tough as ever, Chelsea are going to go on another spending spree and no doubt United will add to their squad, but I have no doubt that we will continue to improve, and perhaps, with decent support at management level, and a bit of luck, we may even compete for the league title.