Why Liverpool had to sell Xabi Alonso to catch Manchester United

[Mattshark]

naaah don't buy that to be honest....

If inter did bit 30m for him last year, then NOBODY in italy wanted him this year....for 20m???? I know that roma are in the financial **** but the fact that nobody in italy didn't bid for him to me states that either:

A. He is over-rated
B. He is too injury prone....

i mean AC MILAN have a the bones of 60m from the kaka sale burning a hole in their pockets........

it is comparable to a club like spurs selling somebody like Aaron Lennon and not getting any english club to bid for him........

Or maybe he just would not play for another Italian team. But yeah, look on the negative side.

[little dave hedgehog]

Problem is can we afford a "class" striker who is going to be a sub/back up most of the season.

Conversely though, matt, if torres should go down for say several months, who would you want leading the line in his absence?

Based on my own assessment, kuyt is the only other real option, and while he does have backup at right wing, a season of kuyt trying really really hard week in week out would probably have us all in hospital with a valium drip.
Look beyond kuyt down the bench and replace valium with something harder each time you move down the pecking order.

[Shaggy]

One problem i do have though is this Aquilani guy. Now I haven't seen a lot of him but surely if he was THAT GOOD, then at least one of AC Milan, Inter or Juventus would have also been in for him..........

Inter bid €30m for him last summer and it was turned down. Roma were reported to not want to sell him to a rival club in the same league.

[Craig_H]

Conversely though, matt, if torres should go down for say several months, who would you want leading the line in his absence?

Based on my own assessment, kuyt is the only other real option, and while he does have backup at right wing, a season of kuyt trying really really hard week in week out would probably have us all in hospital with a valium drip.
Look beyond kuyt down the bench and replace valium with something harder each time you move down the pecking order.

Babel, despite being thick as pig****, is powerful & quick enough, and can finish decently enough, to do a reasonably good job of playing up front, if he did it week in, week out.

[Exiled_red]

Babel, despite being thick as pig****, is powerful & quick enough, and can finish decently enough, to do a reasonably good job of playing up front, if he did it week in, week out.

As much as he seems to fancy himself as the next Henry I don't think he's a lead the line type player.

[little dave hedgehog]

As much as he seems to fancy himself as the next Henry I don't think he's a lead the line type player.

[Craig_H]

As much as he seems to fancy himself as the next Henry I don't think he's a lead the line type player.

I think he'd be our best option if Torres was out.

Not saying he's ideal, but there's no one in our squad who'd do better at it. Apart from Gerrard

[little dave hedgehog]

I think he'd be our best option if Torres was out.

Not saying he's ideal, but there's no one in our squad who'd do better at it. Apart from Gerrard

which was exactly my point.

measure whether we can afford genuine back-up for torres against whether we can afford not having the same.

our bench is woefully shallow.

[andrewces38]

to be honest, i think that we will be able to compete without alonso.....even if we didn't sign aquilani, then a team of....

---------------REINA---------------

JOHNSON...CARRA.....AGGER....INSUA

-------------MASCHERANO----------

--------------GERRARD--------------
BENAYOUN---------------------RIERA

------------KUYT----TORRES--------


is going to blow most teams apart - also, with lucas, babel, ngog, skrtel, not in that line-up, then it is looking good overall............. if we needed to, then i'd even be comfortable enough to see the same formation as last year with fabio aurelio instead of alonso...........


One problem i do have though is this Aquilani guy. Now I haven't seen a lot of him but surely if he was THAT GOOD, then at least one of AC Milan, Inter or Juventus would have also been in for him..........

I remember two of these were in for Biscan before we signed him So I dont think you should read to much into that

[Exiled_red]

I think he'd be our best option if Torres was out.

Not saying he's ideal, but there's no one in our squad who'd do better at it. Apart from Gerrard

That's the problem, for me Babel is an enigma. I don't know where his best position is personally I think his style would suit the Gerrard role, but for me he lacks the game intelligence of Gerrard or Benayoun to play it effectively (maybe this will come with experience).

[Redspin]

I think there will be a fair amount more goals from Rooney if he is played centrally. Last season it was more about the number of players who presented a threat and types of goals they could score. The contributions in their 1-0's from people who got few goals all season was significant as was the fact their corners were dangerous. They often went for the old McClaren tactic of bunging on 5 forwards for the last 10 minutes to snatch a goal they don't have that option so much this year and as you say their defense is unlikely to have such a purple patch this year.

Their whole title bid rests on how many Berbatov, Rooney and Owen can score for me. Whether the likes of Park, Nani and Valencia are capable of supplying the ammunition I guess is, particularly in Owen and Berbatovs cases, one of the factor that will go in to that. Berbatov was far from as bad as some make out - his movement is intelligent if possibly not frequent or fast enough at times and he has excellent touch and awareness. He has a ~1 in 3 goal scoring rate, while in and out of the team, which isn't bad.

Scoring just 9 goals in the league and only 1 in 3 appearances is a pretty poor return for a £30m player, whether he was in or out of the team or not. The fact that Berbatov was in and out reflects his poor return rather than is the cause of it.

Rooney has never been a prolific goal scorer so there's not reason why he'll be any more successful this season than he has been when playing through the middle for Man U, Everton or England for that matter. I suppose his goals record may benefit from presumably being their penalty-taker in Christina's place, but he's an infrequent scorer in open play.

I don't think anyone would argue that Owen's best years are well behind him and even at his absolute best he never once scored 20 league goals in a season.

I personally think they're going to struggle for goals. Even with Ronaldo's 18 goals they averaged below 2 goals a game, so without him I can't see whose going to make up the shortfall to the modest total of 64 league goals they got last season, much less surpass it. Because of that I make them the outsiders of 3 between us, Chelsea and them.

[Redspin]

Actually I think Man U scored 68 not 64 as I said. It was a low total anyway

[dww]

Scoring just 9 goals in the league and only 1 in 3 appearances is a pretty poor return for a £30m player, whether he was in or out of the team or not. The fact that Berbatov was in and out reflects his poor return rather than is the cause of it.

Rooney has never been a prolific goal scorer so there's not reason why he'll be any more successful this season than he has been when playing through the middle for Man U, Everton or England for that matter. I suppose his goals record may benefit from presumably being their penalty-taker in Christina's place, but he's an infrequent scorer in open play.

I don't think anyone would argue that Owen's best years are well behind him and even at his absolute best he never once scored 20 league goals in a season.

I personally think they're going to struggle for goals. Even with Ronaldo's 18 goals they averaged below 2 goals a game, so without him I can't see whose going to make up the shortfall to the modest total of 64 league goals they got last season, much less surpass it. Because of that I make them the outsiders of 3 between us, Chelsea and them.

I'm not sure that a players price tag should really be used to judge them. Berbatov didn't have a great season but 1 in 3 is not a bad scoring rate and I think with a season at United plus a team set up more to suit him he will improve.

Rooney is a streaky scorer or at least has been. However he has been much more consistent as a player in the last two years and upped his international scoring rate when played centrally. I think he will up his scoring rate in a similar position for United.

I'm not convinced Owen is a good move for them but he will probably bag a few goals .

Writing off United is a bad idea IMO. They have the most hardened squad of any of the three who have challenged for and won things in a number of different guises in recent years. They may have a transitional season but that could also be said of us or Chelsea with the change in management for them and the loss of Alonso who was a key part of our tactics.

[wiw]

Berbatov got 10 assists as well