stozo

I can only think that it's Ben Arfa workrate that is keeping him out. He obviously doesn't press as hard as Ba or Best and Pardew obviously doesn't want to lose that by playing him?

Isn't needing a striker and putting all your eggs in one basket by only following one target who, if it doesn't come off, leaves you not even attempting to buy a striker in about the 5th transfer window you've needed one "betting the house"? In real life I don't think things work like this. You can't actively pursue a player as a back-up just in case the deal falls through. There may well be players who we like and have researched but who simply aren't available in this window because the club won't sell or the fee is too high. In this scenario why would we sign player Y in January just because he is available when player X who the club knows is better will be available in the summer? I will say however if it is simply the club haven't done the work (which is a possibility) then they have fucked up and deserve to be criticised.

If the club can get 50,000 people sharing your view, Ashley has got himself a nifty business model. Staying up is enough, and a professional footballer is a professional footballer, no matter what their actual level of quality may be. What is there to gain by buying now? We look on course to finish higher than last season, even if things don't go as well in the second half of the season we will be OK. If our plan is Europe in the next three years then it is better to make steady progress in developing the squad than betting the house on a player to get us there in 6 months. Because it's quite possible that the 7th position we currently find ourselves in could make this our most attractive period in terms of appealing to players for some time if we now slide down the league? Let's be honest unless we have European football to offer there isn't much difference between finishing 8th and 14th. Also the point I'm trying to make is that whoever the new 'panic buy' striker in January was they would have been a massive gamble. High transfer fee, high wages, long contract and not enough reearch done to ensure they are right for the team. For a club that currently has Alan Smith and Xisco on its books and had Albert Luque on its books for many years surely we should have learnt the problem with this strategy. So presumably if we now buy Cissokho you'll condemn Ashley for making a mistake in not waiting until the summer? Or is there doublethink going on here where if he doesn't buy a striker now his only target has "fallen through" it's because to do otherwise would be foolishness, but if he does then that's just fab? Cissokho is clearly a long-term target who have done our research on and who appears to be available at a price that suits us. It is a little pointless as its a hypothetical scenario but say the club was called tomorrow and offered Gameiro, Gervinho or Erdinc at the right price. I honestly believe the club would move for those players as they are targets who the club had done there research on. What I don't think we will do anymore is buy players who we are not certain about and for me that's the right policy.

There is nothing to say it would have been a massive gamble as surely we have scouted other strikers than Maiga and I find it hard to believe that he is the only player ni Europe who could have improved our squad and was in our price range. Again, no reason to say the fee or wages would be 'high' (however you define that) but may well have been higher than in the summer. Perhaps we should have thought about that last summer, rather than looking forward to the next one. You seem to think people moaning about this are advocating a mad panic buy. The no reason to say the fee or wages would be high comment is just ridiculous. It is a fact that clubs have to pay higher fees for players in January because clubs are reluctant to sell in the middle of a season. Just look at Carroll, there is no way we'd have got £35m in the middle of a summer transfer window.

We sold Carroll for £35m which I think looks like one of the best deals the club has ever made. We bought Ba who is the second highest scorer in the league this season. Despite this I was annoyed we didn't get another striker in the summer, we should have got our man. I'm not saying the club does everything right, it clearly should have got another striker in the summer, but in this case I think the club is pursuing the right strategy.

If the club can get 50,000 people sharing your view, Ashley has got himself a nifty business model. Staying up is enough, and a professional footballer is a professional footballer, no matter what their actual level of quality may be. What is there to gain by buying now? We look on course to finish higher than last season, even if things don't go as well in the second half of the season we will be OK. If our plan is Europe in the next three years then it is better to make steady progress in developing the squad than betting the house on a player to get us there in 6 months. No-one said to do that, don't try to prove a point by taking an opposite extreme. No-one is shouting we should sign a mega-money player. Maiga was going to join for £6m, that's a pretty modest amount in the modern game. That's hardly 'the house'. Odd you mention developing the squad as this is something we have shown no interest in doing- which is why we have resorted to dross like Perch and Lovenkrands in times of need. In fact we have done the opposite- focused on our first XI (the ones who are in the shop window each week) and tried to fill the rest of the squad as cheaply as possible. Maiga wasn't betting the house because all the work had been put in. Betting the house would be a new target who I think it is pretty safe to say would be costing considerably more than £6m. As for the point on Perch and Lovenkrands you should look at it judging by steady progression year-on-year. Last year Perch and Lovenkrands were regular starters for us. This season they have played a handful of games. Next year Lovenkrands won't be at the club and I imagine Perch will be gone or even further down the pecking order.

If the club can get 50,000 people sharing your view, Ashley has got himself a nifty business model. Staying up is enough, and a professional footballer is a professional footballer, no matter what their actual level of quality may be. What is there to gain by buying now? We look on course to finish higher than last season, even if things don't go as well in the second half of the season we will be OK. If our plan is Europe in the next three years then it is better to make steady progress in developing the squad than betting the house on a player to get us there in 6 months. Because it's quite possible that the 7th position we currently find ourselves in could make this our most attractive period in terms of appealing to players for some time if we now slide down the league? Let's be honest unless we have European football to offer there isn't much difference between finishing 8th and 14th. Also the point I'm trying to make is that whoever the new 'panic buy' striker in January was they would have been a massive gamble. High transfer fee, high wages, long contract and not enough reearch done to ensure they are right for the team. For a club that currently has Alan Smith and Xisco on its books and had Albert Luque on its books for many years surely we should have learnt the problem with this strategy.

I don't believe Maiga would fail a medical at any other club judging by his agents comments. Ba & Santon passed our medical ffs. Seems very apparent to me that once Steve Taylor got injured we needed to buy a defender and Pards was told defender or striker. Defender was a more pressing need, so Maiga was binned off - probably had a small injury or something. If we did sign a second striker to play alongside Ba where would that leave Ben Arfa? If he's never going to play on the wing and if we have Ba and a striker we've shelled out on up front, you couldn't keep everyone happy. We need a striker whilst Ba is away definitely but Maiga wouldn't have been here anyway. We'll know in a couple of years who was right on this one. However, on the medical side though I'm pretty sure it would be illegal for someone with a medical licence (as our club doctor will have) to lie about the health of someone i.e Maiga.

If the club can get 50,000 people sharing your view, Ashley has got himself a nifty business model. Staying up is enough, and a professional footballer is a professional footballer, no matter what their actual level of quality may be. What is there to gain by buying now? We look on course to finish higher than last season, even if things don't go as well in the second half of the season we will be OK. If our plan is Europe in the next three years then it is better to make steady progress in developing the squad than betting the house on a player to get us there in 6 months.

Some of the reactions to the striker 'news' on here are ridiculous. We had Modibo Maiga ready to sign, everything was agreed and then he fails his medical. What is the club suppossed to do at this point? From some people's reactions on here they want a return to the past where we panic buy and spend £10m+ on a striker who we clearly don't know nearly enough about to justify spending that much money. Yes, it is frustrating but people need to realise the other circumstances in play. We've found out we need to find a new striker target less than a month before the January transfer window opens. By the sounds of it we've had Maiga as a nearly done deal for some months so we've not been actively pursuing other strikers in that period. So we're left scrambling to find a player to try and sign in a ridiculously short period of time. On top of that even if we identify a player we like we then have to pursuade the club to sell, agree a fee (which because its January will be several million over the price we'd pay in summer) and then agree terms with the player. Frankly I think it is a thoroughly sensible approach being taken by the club. We're not in any danger of relegation and we have Ba, Ben Arfa, Best, Amoebi, Lovenkrands who can all play upfront. Better to save our money and get someone who we really want in the summer than panic buy in January.

A nice little tidbit on why playing Perch and and Simpson might not be so disastrous tomorrow. http://fourfourtwo.com/blogs/statszone/archive/2011/12/16/liverpool-defend-smart-newcastle-face-different-challenge-amp-rio-fills-vidic-void.aspx

Had a shocker today.

Really bad performance today. Defending was horrible from set pieces and basically cost us the game. That said it was just the defending that was bad it was our whole team. We basically had two chances the whole match and were lucky enough to score both of them. Praying that Colo is fit for next week so we at least have one decent CB. Dan Gosling was our worst player today though in my opinion. Did next to nothing in the hour he was on the pitch and then well and truly cost us the game by getting sent off at 3-1. It looked unlikely and would have been a long way back from 3-1 but it was perhaps do-able with 11 men but with 10 it was just too much.

Agreed.

Thanks Gosling. 3-1 down and you do that. You've been fucking useless over the last two years, please fuck off.

Get Shola and Obertan off!!!

How on earth has he been on the bench for so long?!? Looks so composed on the ball going forward.

Delighted to be level at HT. We have been nowhere near positive enough in the first half. The defending and dodgy decision cost us the first goal but it was coming simply because we haven't played enough football in the first half. Really hoping Shola comes off at HT for Best or Ben Arfa. He really improved us after HT last week but he's been fairly poor this half.

Hopefully Gosling steps up to the plate tomorrow. It's a shame he's not had many chances since arriving but this is his big chance to make something of himself at this club.

Our injury record really isn't that bad at the minute. Five teams currently have more players injured than us (inc. Man U + Arsenal) and we are level on injuries with Spurs. The only reason it seems we have an injury crisis is that 3 of the injured players play the same position and one of the others is arguably our most important player.

I think that's the lineup we will see, although perhaps with R.Taylor and Santon on different sides.

Very mixed feelings about that. First half we were really poor and deserved to be behind. Couldn't keep hold of the ball and there was some really poor defending as well. Second half we played much better and up until the 88th minute it felt like we could snatch an equiliser. We had some really good chances and were a bit unluky not to score. Of course after the 88th minute everything went a bit wrong but that was largely because we were attacking while playing with 10 men (Taylor could hardly run when they scored their second). Very worrying about Taylor and Colo. Perch wasn't horrific (not brilliant mind) but apart from him we have no other CB. Krul: 8 - Didn't deserve to concede three today. Kept us in it for a lot of the game Simpson: 6 - Not massively impressive either going forward or going back Colo: 7 - Solid until forced off (Perch: 5 - Poor marking of Drogba for the goal and looked a shaky at times) S.Taylor: 7 - Again solid until he came off R. Taylor: 4 - Seemed to play better as the game went on but Sturridge tore him apart too many times Obertan: 4 - How he didn't get taken off I'll never know. Gave the ball away loads and created very little Cabaye: 5 - Didn't pick up for the first goal. Wasn't as impressive as Guthrie going forward. Guthrie: 6 - If he keeps it simple and stops trying to be Steven Gerrard he'll be a good player. Drove us forward in the second half at time but gives the ball away too much while trying to do too much with it Lovenkrans: 5 - Wasn't too bad but didn't give a whole lot of cover to R.Taylor and didn't offer a lot going forward (Sammy: 6 - Promising when he came on) Ben Arfa: 4 - Anonymous (Shola: 7 - Great effort to hit the bar and helped make us look much more lively second half) Ba: 7 - Kept working and had a few good efforts.

Have to say although the quality of opposition has been high I don't think Ben Arfa has really impressed in the last three games. We offered much more with Shola on the pitch in the second half today and personally I'd drop him for Best at Norwich.

To be fair HBA was poor first half.

Not good enough in the first half. There have been some defensive mistakes but I think the problem is more that the midfield isn't keeping the ball.