José Enrique

[Ameritoon]

Somehow doesn't hurt as much as I though. Not that he's gone, yet. But, like someone else mentioned, once the Carroll sale happened, I stopped getting so attached to the players.

[JH]

Disagree, especially when they said all along that he wasn't for sale at any price. You only have to look at the effect it's had on the supposed new contract talks to see that some of the players are unconvinced. From being reportedly close to announcing them, now the players want to wait and see what happens. Even Barton, who has agreed a deal in principle and says he wants to stay etc etc (personally I do believe him) has put the brakes on.

 

We don't know what the feeling is within the dressing room, for all we know they might have been told that we're not going to spend the money.

 

Did Liverpool show a lack of ambition in selling Torres?

 

Torres has played like a drunk for the last 18 months, and Chelsea were willing to bankroll them buying a top striker and the best young striker in England to replace him. Also, they had those moves lined up before letting Torres go, amazingly enough. So no.

 

Indeed. Can't emphasise the last sentence enough, they parried a blow and came back with a haymaker by spending every penny. Some might question the wisdom (I don't), but rhetorically it was a massive statement of intent which is rewarding in itself. No one was talking about Liverpool's new plight as a selling club, but they were talking about our historic 'place' in football.

 

Which we still effectively could do.

 

We were always going to spend money if we stayed up. I doubt we will be spending that wedge + AC money only the loons would think that.

 

I agree.

 

But until they've not spent the money, I'm not going to criticise them for not being ambitious and not spending the money.

 

How much of it would we have to spend in the summer to convince you it influenced the intended spending plans? Not having a go, just wondering at what point you'd consider it being ambitious.

 

Every penny of it. On transfer fees, like Liverpool did.

 

So £35m net? Again, just wondering, before anyone steams in and tells me that net spend is meaningless.

 

Yup, pretty much. Although I would see any net over £20m as being a sign of intent.

 

Doesn't mean I think it'll happen, but I won't criticise them before they've even had the chance to not do it, if that makes sense.

[Village Idiot]

How much is he on right now?

 

I think the Spain callup is weighing heavily here. Going to Villa wouldn't help, but if he goes to Liverpool he'll be on Marca's homepage every weekend.

 

On another forum today, someone said that it had been mentioned in the Spanish press that he was going to Liverpool and that he would be in the next Spanish squad.  They didn't say which newspaper it had been mentioned in.

 

 

I'll search the usual suspects.

 

EDIT: Found it. Today in Marca. They claim Del Bosque considered calling him against Colombia and might feature soon.

 

The same article claims that he was named MoM against Brum. Wasn't it Bentley?

[Dave]

The best we can hope for is Ben Arfa comes back and lights up the league.

 

Kind of difficult to get excited about things when you have the nagging feeling that if anyone becomes a great player we're going to sell them.

 

IMO I don't think Ben Arfa would go in the summer regardless of if he lights up the league in the 7-8 games he might get. He's come back from a serious injury, "big" clubs aren't feeling ready to risk money on him before they see that he can maintain his eventual form, surely?

 

Based on what I've seen so far, and hoping/assuming he fully recovers his pace etc, I'll be fucking stunned if he isn't gone next January. We haven't got a hope in hell of keeping Ben Arfa under wraps like we have with some of our other lesser-known players.

[JH]

How much is he on right now?

 

I think the Spain callup is weighing heavily here. Going to Villa wouldn't help, but if he goes to Liverpool he'll be on Marca's homepage every weekend.

 

On another forum today, someone said that it had been mentioned in the Spanish press that he was going to Liverpool and that he would be in the next Spanish squad.  They didn't say which newspaper it had been mentioned in.

 

 

I'll search the usual suspects.

 

EDIT: Found it. Today in Marca. They claim Del Bosque considered calling him against Colombia and might feature soon.

 

The same article claims that he was named MoM against Brum. Wasn't it Bentley?

 

Bentley got Brum's man of the match. Not the Premier League MoM iirc

[Ketsbaia]

Bentley was sponsors MoM, which always goes to a home player. All Brum players were rubbish.

[Alberto2005]

Fuck sake.

[Crumpy Gunt]

It'll be wonderful the next ten years watching our talent disappear to the Clubs we've got no fucking chance of catching up to.

[Dave]

Disagree, especially when they said all along that he wasn't for sale at any price. You only have to look at the effect it's had on the supposed new contract talks to see that some of the players are unconvinced. From being reportedly close to announcing them, now the players want to wait and see what happens. Even Barton, who has agreed a deal in principle and says he wants to stay etc etc (personally I do believe him) has put the brakes on.

 

We don't know what the feeling is within the dressing room, for all we know they might have been told that we're not going to spend the money.

 

Did Liverpool show a lack of ambition in selling Torres?

 

Torres has played like a drunk for the last 18 months, and Chelsea were willing to bankroll them buying a top striker and the best young striker in England to replace him. Also, they had those moves lined up before letting Torres go, amazingly enough. So no.

 

Indeed. Can't emphasise the last sentence enough, they parried a blow and came back with a haymaker by spending every penny. Some might question the wisdom (I don't), but rhetorically it was a massive statement of intent which is rewarding in itself. No one was talking about Liverpool's new plight as a selling club, but they were talking about our historic 'place' in football.

 

Which we still effectively could do.

 

We were always going to spend money if we stayed up. I doubt we will be spending that wedge + AC money only the loons would think that.

 

I agree.

 

But until they've not spent the money, I'm not going to criticise them for not being ambitious and not spending the money.

 

How much of it would we have to spend in the summer to convince you it influenced the intended spending plans? Not having a go, just wondering at what point you'd consider it being ambitious.

 

Every penny of it. On transfer fees, like Liverpool did.

 

So £35m net? Again, just wondering, before anyone steams in and tells me that net spend is meaningless.

 

Yup, pretty much. Although I would see any net over £20m as being a sign of intent.

 

Doesn't mean I think it'll happen, but I won't criticise them before they've even had the chance to not do it, if that makes sense.

 

Cheers. If we spent £20m net this summer I'd be very disappointed if players like Enrique still wanted to leave.

[The Prophet]

Would be interesting to hear the question he responded to just to add a bit of context to the answer. I don't think it's nailed on he'll leave but I'll certainly be sitting uncomfortably until he puts pen to paper.

[80]

Disagree, especially when they said all along that he wasn't for sale at any price. You only have to look at the effect it's had on the supposed new contract talks to see that some of the players are unconvinced. From being reportedly close to announcing them, now the players want to wait and see what happens. Even Barton, who has agreed a deal in principle and says he wants to stay etc etc (personally I do believe him) has put the brakes on.

 

We don't know what the feeling is within the dressing room, for all we know they might have been told that we're not going to spend the money.

 

Did Liverpool show a lack of ambition in selling Torres?

 

Torres has played like a drunk for the last 18 months, and Chelsea were willing to bankroll them buying a top striker and the best young striker in England to replace him. Also, they had those moves lined up before letting Torres go, amazingly enough. So no.

 

Indeed. Can't emphasise the last sentence enough, they parried a blow and came back with a haymaker by spending every penny. Some might question the wisdom (I don't), but rhetorically it was a massive statement of intent which is rewarding in itself. No one was talking about Liverpool's new plight as a selling club, but they were talking about our historic 'place' in football.

 

Which we still effectively could do.

 

Timing is everything, live in the moment or you get left behind. A drunk clambering off the floor and picking up his teeth before hollering after the guy who put him there that if he 'comes back here he'll get f***ing mullered' doesn't look clever to anyone. We didn't parry the blow, we got punched.

 

Anyway, we patently clear we won't even try to throw that haymaker. Even if we spent it all, we'll be getting four £5m kids (wages too, remember), not one gargantuan golden boy and a star of the last world cup.

 

To me it's clear all manner of negative things are stemming forth, which themselves disrupt the chances of a good Summer. Players will look at the 'newly brilliant' Enrique and see he's attracted by clubs like Villa and Liverpool - so if he's going, why would they come?

 

So they could go to Liverpool eventually too?

 

The big idea

[JH]

Disagree, especially when they said all along that he wasn't for sale at any price. You only have to look at the effect it's had on the supposed new contract talks to see that some of the players are unconvinced. From being reportedly close to announcing them, now the players want to wait and see what happens. Even Barton, who has agreed a deal in principle and says he wants to stay etc etc (personally I do believe him) has put the brakes on.

 

We don't know what the feeling is within the dressing room, for all we know they might have been told that we're not going to spend the money.

 

Did Liverpool show a lack of ambition in selling Torres?

 

Torres has played like a drunk for the last 18 months, and Chelsea were willing to bankroll them buying a top striker and the best young striker in England to replace him. Also, they had those moves lined up before letting Torres go, amazingly enough. So no.

 

Indeed. Can't emphasise the last sentence enough, they parried a blow and came back with a haymaker by spending every penny. Some might question the wisdom (I don't), but rhetorically it was a massive statement of intent which is rewarding in itself. No one was talking about Liverpool's new plight as a selling club, but they were talking about our historic 'place' in football.

 

Which we still effectively could do.

 

We were always going to spend money if we stayed up. I doubt we will be spending that wedge + AC money only the loons would think that.

 

I agree.

 

But until they've not spent the money, I'm not going to criticise them for not being ambitious and not spending the money.

 

How much of it would we have to spend in the summer to convince you it influenced the intended spending plans? Not having a go, just wondering at what point you'd consider it being ambitious.

 

Every penny of it. On transfer fees, like Liverpool did.

 

So £35m net? Again, just wondering, before anyone steams in and tells me that net spend is meaningless.

 

Yup, pretty much. Although I would see any net over £20m as being a sign of intent.

 

Doesn't mean I think it'll happen, but I won't criticise them before they've even had the chance to not do it, if that makes sense.

 

Cheers. If we spent £20m net this summer I'd be very disappointed if players like Enrique still wanted to leave.

 

[Stifler]

Fucking hell, are you guys really changing the thread title over a DAILY MAIL quote?

 

[Wallace]

Somehow doesn't hurt as much as I though. Not that he's gone, yet. But, like someone else mentioned, once the Carroll sale happened, I stopped getting so attached to the players.

 

I won't be hurt as much as with the Carroll sale because I can accept that players who move to the club see it as a career move.  In our current situation, we could never attract a player of Carroll's quality and the fact that he was a young local lad who loved the club and who we had developed should have meant we could have held on to him for longer if we wanted to.

 

I am just concerned that if Enrique goes, how many offers will be received for other players and will they want to move as well.  We are seriously short of players as it is and to lose several more of the better quality players we have could be disastrous.  And if we end up turning down bids, will that leave us with unahppy players?

 

[Toon Hoser]

Will there ever be another player who wants nothing more than to wear the black & white stripes?  Or is that just foolish romanticism with no place in this century? 

[Wallace]

How much is he on right now?

 

I think the Spain callup is weighing heavily here. Going to Villa wouldn't help, but if he goes to Liverpool he'll be on Marca's homepage every weekend.

 

On another forum today, someone said that it had been mentioned in the Spanish press that he was going to Liverpool and that he would be in the next Spanish squad.  They didn't say which newspaper it had been mentioned in.

 

 

I'll search the usual suspects.

 

EDIT: Found it. Today in Marca. They claim Del Bosque considered calling him against Colombia and might feature soon.

 

The same article claims that he was named MoM against Brum. Wasn't it Bentley?

 

Bentley got Brum's man of the match. Not the Premier League MoM iirc

 

Jose was MOM at Blackburn.  Had everyone drooling over his performance in that game.  Not quite as good last night although decent enough.

 

[Village Idiot]

Interesting, the Marca journo that wrote that article seems to tweet fairly often about José. I'll follow him.

[The Prophet]

Some more eloboration on the quotes from Barton:

 

Barton's cut down quotes in the Mail:

 

'You need to spend money, if you pay peanuts you get monkeys. So hopefully they spend it and spend it wisely and if you bring certain characters into this dressing room they will buy into the work ethic. That might not have happened four or five years ago.

 

‘I know it’s the nature of this club that it’s stop-start. As soon as we get something going players get sold and then we have to start again.

 

‘We’ve got some good players and if we can add more to that in the summer then we’ve got the basis, a spine of a top side that is capable of challenging for Europe.

 

This squad wants to keep pushing on but we need to compete on all fronts. It’s up to the men upstairs to make sure we amass a squad and get the bodies to do that.’

 

Barton's actual quotes in the Indipendent:

 

'You need to spend money. If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys. So hopefully they spend it and spend it wisely. There are certain characters who, if you'd brought them into this dressing-room four or five years ago, wouldn't have gelled. The mentality now is such that you could almost pitch anyone in and they would buy into our work ethic. Everyone who has come in over the past year has had to buy into our principles and there are lads who sacrifice individual performances for the team.

 

With all the adversity that's gone on around the club, we're probably a bit low on bodies [to compete in the Premier League] and go on cup runs and the things we all want to do. We played on Saturday and Tuesday, and obviously teams who can rotate are at a massive advantage. If we can add more in the summer, we've got the spine of a side that can push for a European place.

 

The nature of this club is that it's sometimes stop-start. As soon as we get something going, players get sold and we have to start again. It feels like a constant work in progress and it's tough in that respect, but what we have is character in abundance.'

 

Either way you look at it it's a message to Ashley and co, got to love how the Mail take the positive end the second quote in partiuclar though.

[Willow]

Lets face it, everyone should be surprised we've managed to keep a hold of him for so long.

 

He's one of my favourite present toon players but I'm resigned to him leaving unless we pull out all the stops for him and new players in the summer.

[Tachikoma]

Well, can't blame Jose if he wants to leave now. He clearly wasn't happy about Hughton getting sacked (evidence on twitter) and Carroll's sale was probably the straw that broke the camel's back. Would a 20m net spend be enough to fix all that? I somehow doubt it.

[Dave]

I wonder whether those Barton quotes will prompt Ashley/Llambias into speaking with the players about the future or piss them off. Or neither.

[Alberto2005]

We won't even get half of what we got for Carroll and yet he's a better player in his respective position.

[Anderson]

We won't even get half of what we got for Carroll and yet he's a better player in his respective position.

 

Strikers will always cost more than full-backs.

[Guest Roy the Irish Magpie]

Will there ever be another player who wants nothing more than to wear the black & white stripes?  Or is that just foolish romanticism with no place in this century? 

 

lol that is romantic like thinking nowadays to think a player actually loves the club inside out and is loyal 100 per cent. The only thing a footballer is loyal to these days is money that's the truth and it hurts. It was the case with carroll and many others(*cough* rooney)

[80]

Hahaha, here's one for the Ashley-Hater-Haters - maybe Jose Enrique is loyal to us and trying to let us know we shouldn't be renewing our season tickets so early. He knew about the Board's dastardly trick of shipping him out once everyone had handed over their money so he decided to force the issue so they couldn't get away with it and con his beloved supporters.

 

I reckon that is definitely true.