Brendan Rodgers

[Bender]

looking much trimmer these days BR - and those teeth would put a camel to shame.

Been reliably informed they are from a camel

[el matador]

Been reliably informed they are from a camel

[Norbs]

Still needs to sort his hair out though

[MrMichael]

Sorry not sure if you misunderstood me but when I said "We can't afford another situation like we've already been through with so little time of the window to go" I was referring to the difficulties we've had in securing our targets this summer because of other clubs getting involved. With very little time left we don't want another drawn out process so I think we'll be targetting low profile players who we'll have a better chance of securing imo.

Ah right, yes got you

We're in a better position than last year but we still don't have enough to get 4th I'm afraid and that is a massive problem. If we finish outside the top 4 again then Suarez will be off and I don't believe we could replace him properly, we've demonstrated again this summer that our negotiation team is not good. Aside from Suarez I would expect murmurings next summer about the futures of Coutinho, Sturridge, Agger and Johnson. Gerrard will also be a year older.
Quite simply we have to get CL's football this season or we're in big trouble IMO, we're not a million miles off it but what we need now is 2 first class players who will go straight into the first 11 - a CB and forward/LW. What's holding us back from that is FSG's obsession with wages and not overpaying by even a few million. The players we need are there and I believe that if we offered big wages we could get them. The good news is that there's still time left in the window, the bad news is that I have zero confidence in our negotiators.

I don't see how that is what is holding us back. It has been well established that we missed both our first 2 big targets (Mikitarkyn and Costa) not because of wages or fees. So we didn't want to pay €35m for Willian; lots of people rate the guy but I've not seen one who thinks that was good value.

Frankly we might well finish outside the top 4 even with 2 huge signings, there are 6 clubs competing for 4 spots and all of them have things going for them. And all of them are starting ahead of us. I really want us to show ambition but I do not want us to take yet another boom-to-bust approach and waste oodles of cash which would be so much better spent calmly with an eye on the long term. Where would we be now if we still had that ~£100m from the Comolli spree?

I also don't think trying to run a club sensibly so we have use our finite resources to the maximum effectiveness constitutes an obsession with wages. People keep bringing this one out... apparently Spurs wage bill was £30m less than ours in April (thanks Barnyard), that's a HUGE difference, like 25% less for a team who have been finishing above us. Our wage bill is also comparable with Arsenal if not more than theirs, who have been in the CL forever. This is a huge financial burden on the club and has not been achieving the results it has been paying for, any owner who wasn't concerned about that would be an idiot imo.

[Fredo]

You all leave Lee alone FFS.

[~LFCHistory~]

I don't see how that is what is holding us back. It has been well established that we missed both our first 2 big targets (Mikitarkyn and Costa) not because of wages or fees. So we didn't want to pay €35m for Willian; lots of people rate the guy but I've not seen one who thinks that was good value.

Agree with you on this.

Frankly we might well finish outside the top 4 even with 2 huge signings, there are 6 clubs competing for 4 spots and all of them have things going for them. And all of them are starting ahead of us. I really want us to show ambition but I do not want us to take yet another boom-to-bust approach and waste oodles of cash which would be so much better spent calmly with an eye on the long term. Where would we be now if we still had that ~£100m from the Comolli spree?

Yeah we might finish outside the top 4 even if we make 2 big signings or we could take a calculated gamble and try rather than accepting defeat and settling for a 6th place finish which is what our current squad of players will deliver. BTW I don't want the club to spend 60m net and give players 200k a week wages, we have the financial means to sign 2 top class players I'm sure considering that we've made a profit this window and we still have yet to sell Skrtel which will give us even more money to spend.

I also don't think trying to run a club sensibly so we have use our finite resources to the maximum effectiveness constitutes an obsession with wages. People keep bringing this one out... apparently Spurs wage bill was £30m less than ours in April (thanks Barnyard), that's a HUGE difference, like 25% less for a team who have been finishing above us. Our wage bill is also comparable with Arsenal if not more than theirs, who have been in the CL forever. This is a huge financial burden on the club and has not been achieving the results it has been paying for, any owner who wasn't concerned about that would be an idiot imo.

We've lowered the wage bill considerably 3 windows in a row while at the same time signing players who are on comparatively low wages, surely enough is enough and we can pay 1/2 players 85-110k a week ?? If not then we're screwed.

[MrMichael]

Agree with you on this.

Yeah we might finish outside the top 4 even if we make 2 big signings or we could take a calculated gamble and try rather than accepting defeat and settling for a 6th place finish which is what our current squad of players will deliver. BTW I don't want the club to spend 60m net and give players 200k a week wages, we have the financial means to sign 2 top class players I'm sure considering that we've made a profit this window and we still have yet to sell Skrtel which will give us even more money to spend.

I guess I just think a reasonable expectation of our squad right now would be that it could improve on last season by around 10 points. That would put us right in the mix for 4th. I totally agree that 2 more good signings would make that much more likely, and want to see those occur, but I don't think we are in desperation stakes and nor do I want us to spend badly.

We've lowered the wage bill considerably 3 windows in a row while at the same time signing players who are on comparatively low wages, surely enough is enough and we can pay 1/2 players 85-110k a week ?? If not then we're screwed.

I think we can, we uplifted Suarez significantly in his contract last summer and reports were that we were prepared to pay Willian a lot. I really don't see there is any evidence that our willingness or not to pay certain wages is the issue. We do want to get value for those wages though and not pay average players **** loads.

We also haven't reduced the wage bill as much as people think. If you added up the amounts people think we've cut each window (I've seen £300k each time mentioned) you'd be looking at a drop of almost £50m a year. Our last accounts showed a reduction for that one period of something like £3m iirc which is nowhere near as significant. I'd love to see someone properly work it out now (from our accounts not in their head) but I do know when FSG took over wages as a % of turnover was spiralling massively, if they've pulled that back that had to be done.

[Lee]

This thread has been great today.

[marcus50bucks]

Jay_Riley @Jay_78_ 2h
@Anfield_Talk I think its clear from today's Press conference that its not a happy relationship between Rodgers & FSG at present.

[marcus50bucks]

BrentLFC @BrentV_RSA 3h
@Jay_78_ @Anfield_Talk surely that's presumption? There's also a chance he's just annoyed with a certain agent?

Jay_Riley @Jay_78_ 2h
@BrentV_RSA @Anfield_Talk Not from what I've heard mate.

[baronvonskidmark]

Jay_Riley @Jay_78_ 2h
@Anfield_Talk I think its clear from today's Press conference that its not a happy relationship between Rodgers & FSG at present.

This is a worry for us if true. I really like Rodgers and his positivity is an asset imo. Hopefully this summer's dealings won't drive a wedge between him and FSG or leave him jaded with all this ****.

[marcus50bucks]

Jay_Riley @Jay_78_
2h
@DAVEPETHARD Its hard to disagree with that mate. Fine balance between overpaying & being too cautious.


Jay definitely hinting all is not well in the camp. Lets not be so quick to dismiss what Jay said either because he is one of the reliable ones out there.

[Alex]

Employee annoyed at boss shocker.

[Fivex]

Who's Jay meant to know again?

[kingfunk]

I think FSG are sure the squad is good enough to finish in the top four, which is very naive.