Liverpool FC

[77dave]

Fulham have completed the signing of Mexico left-back Carlos Salcido from PSV Eindhoven for a reported fee in the region of £1.6million.

Looks like the Konchesky deal will be done now.

[crip17]

We have just baught Raul Meireles from Porto as a replacement for Masca for 10.7 miillion.   Was probebly portugals best player in the world cut.
Konchesky will also sign pending a medical also.  Just need to sign up Toivonen and maybe a new winger and things begin to look slightly better than they were a day ago.


Just what we needed, can score a lot of goals too.  Meirles best bits      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyHJwWHo1bY

[kinboshi]

The eagerness to get the Mascherano deal done, and the willingness to offload Aquilani now makes more sense.

A decent player, and offers a lot more offensively than Mascherano.  Booder will like his tats too.

[kinboshi]

Konchesky isn't ideal, but far better than what we're doing at the moment with the LB spot.  At least he won't have to adjust to the Premiership, and he knows Woy, etc.

[boldie]

We have just baught Raul Meireles from Porto as a replacement for Masca for 10.7 miillion.   Was probebly portugals best player in the world cut.
Konchesky will also sign pending a medical also.  Just need to sign up Toivonen and maybe a new winger and things begin to look slightly better than they were a day ago.


Just what we needed, can score a lot of goals too.  Meirles best bits      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyHJwWHo1bY

You're not signing Toivonen, Liverpool pulled out a couple of days ago according to the Dutch press.
Also, Toivonen really won't solve any of your problems. It took him a fair while to settle in at PSV and he still hasn't proven himself to be top class, so I wouldn't get too excited about him even if he did sign in the next few days, if I were you.

Meireles best bits is just lol...first goal was terrible goalkeeping, second goal you can see properly, third took a massive deflection (as did the 4th). He has never scored more than 4 league goals in season so I wouldn't get carried away with that one either.

The guy was linked with every club under the sun (but which player wasn't this transfer season?) and no-one really wanted him (Real and Chelski didn't go through with their interest as they found better players). £10mill might be a fair price in today's market..but you've not bought anything exciting here.

[Josedinho]

I think Meireles is a good player. Always liked him for Porto. If i was a pool fan i'd be happy. I still think they need a winger rather than a striker though before the window closes.

[crip17]

We have just baught Raul Meireles from Porto as a replacement for Masca for 10.7 miillion.   Was probebly portugals best player in the world cut.
Konchesky will also sign pending a medical also.  Just need to sign up Toivonen and maybe a new winger and things begin to look slightly better than they were a day ago.


Just what we needed, can score a lot of goals too.  Meirles best bits      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyHJwWHo1bY

You're not signing Toivonen, Liverpool pulled out a couple of days ago according to the Dutch press.
Also, Toivonen really won't solve any of your problems. It took him a fair while to settle in at PSV and he still hasn't proven himself to be top class, so I wouldn't get too excited about him even if he did sign in the next few days, if I were you.

Meireles best bits is just lol...first goal was terrible goalkeeping, second goal you can see properly, third took a massive deflection (as did the 4th). He has never scored more than 4 league goals in season so I wouldn't get carried away with that one either.

The guy was linked with every club under the sun (but which player wasn't this transfer season?) and no-one really wanted him (Real and Chelski didn't go through with their interest as they found better players). £10mill might be a fair price in today's market..but you've not bought anything exciting here.

LOL yeah best bits was a bit extreme. I should a said a few glimpses haha.    He was only linked with Chelsea, Real and United.  3 of the biggest clubs in the world and can pick anyone basically. So we'll take there sloppy seconds  lol
Just looking at his stats he hasn't scored many goals but if he plays like he did in the world cup then we've got a lot to be excited about.

[The Baron]

Apparently Masch was for 18+6, and the 6 is looking pretty likely bar 1m based on CL success, so feeling slightly better.

[The Baron]

I like Meireles, he's no quarter back but will make well timed runs into the box. Make no mistake though, he's a DM to go with Lucas and Poulsen.

IMHO, I wouldn't play Kuyt + Jovanovic, and I wouldn't play 4-4-2. Surely the solution is obvious?

Gerrard behind Torres and Cole on the left. I don't think we have good enough attacking personnel to play Gerrard in CM.

[77dave]

So this would be your starting XI and formation

                     Reina

Johnson      Agger             Carra   Konchesky


                  Meireles         Poulsen


Kuyt                 Gerrard                 Cole

                              Torres

[The Baron]

Three months after Rafael Benítez was deposed from his Anfield throne, Roy Hodgson's template for Liverpool's renaissance is becoming apparent.

To assert that Meireles, a Portuguese international of considerable repute and, at 27, in the prime of his career, will be a success in the Premier League is to indulge in astrology, but his arrival does at least indicate that Hodgson has identified the weakness which ultimately cost Liverpool their status among Europe's elite and his predecessor his job.

Sport on television What Liverpool have lacked in recent years – even when the midfield axis of Javier Mascherano and Xabi Alonso was at its destructive, creative best – is dynamism.

Moving Steven Gerrard into an advanced trequartista role behind Fernando Torres elicited the best from the England international, but came at the cost of robbing Liverpool of impetus from deep, of the thrust particularly vital in the frenetic world of the Premier League.

That is exactly what Meireles provides. First for Boavista, then for Porto and Portugal, his role has been to prompt attacks, not with the range of passing that makes Alonso such a rare gem, but with his relentless energy, his movement, his thrust. Whereas the Basque controlled space, Meireles fills it. If he can replicate the form which earned him the move, the Portuguese will bring an end to the sight of Liverpool lost in stasis.

It is too soon, of course, to suggest that a pairing of Meireles and Christian Poulsen, another new arrival, are suitable heirs for the players so long – and, judging by their new employers, rightly – proclaimed by the Kop as the best midfield in the world. As a duo, though, they possess the characteristics to thrive.

Whereas Mascherano is an attack dog of a midfield player, hunting down and ruthlessly eliminating his targets, Poulsen exists to guard, patrolling in front of the back four, positioning himself and picking off danger. The Dane will control Liverpool's shape, switch the angles of attack. He will play in the horizontal. Meireles adds a vertical element.

Despite the failed flirtation with 4-4-2 at Eastlands, Hodgson seems likely to employ his two most recent signings in the 4-2-3-1 with which the bulk of his squad are familiar. Gerrard will return to his role behind Torres, with the bustle of Dirk Kuyt or the finesse of Maxi Rodríguez on the right.

Joe Cole will, nominally, be stationed on the left, but it is an article of faith with Hodgson to allow his wide players a degree of fluidity. There will be no restrictions on the England player's freedom of movement, as there were in those days at Chelsea where he struggled to impose his authority on games. Liverpool's most naturally gifted technician ought not to be sacrificed.

Yet while the capture of Meireles – and Paul Konchesky, who arrived on Merseyside for a medical on Saturday ahead of a £3 million move – provide an answer to where Liverpool are heading on the pitch, they serve as a reminder that only questions remain off it.

Most poignant, as the transfer window draws to a close, is the inquiry as to why Hodgson's revolution did not begin to take shape until the final weekend of August. He was, after all, supposed to have £12 million to spend upon taking the job, plus whatever money is raised through sales, currently £16 million.

When Mascherano, who arrived in Barcelona on Saturday for his medical, signs for the Spanish champions, the total sum supposedly available to Hodgson should stand at £50 million. Yet the captures of Meireles and Konchesky take the club's outlay this summer to £24.2 million. As always at Liverpool, something does not add up.

Since Benítez decided to sell Robbie Keane back to Tottenham for £16 million in January 2009, Liverpool have recouped some £80 million in sales.

Mascherano's departure will take that figure to £102 million. The Spaniard and Hodgson between them have spent just £59.8 million, when Meireles and Konchesky are factored in, in the last 18 months.

At a club where both Tom Hicks, the co-owner, and Christian Purslow, the managing director, have asserted that the "player fund" is sacrosanct, in theory Hodgson should have £40 million burning a hole in his pocket. It is safe to assume he does not.

For all that Meireles represents a coup for Liverpool, a putsch is required before Hodgson's renaissance can truly take hold.

[relaedgc]

What choice did they have? Tell Barcelona to do one and have Mascherano cause a back room disruption and refuse to play games, etc? We got held to ransom by the guy because he wanted out. Better to get something out of it than nothing, sadly.

I don't dispute the fact that Mascherano was worth far more to us, but sadly we didn't really have much hope with him being as he was.

[The Baron]

It's just brinksmanship. If they think they'll have to wait a year and compete with Man City for his signing at £15m next summer they'll cough up. They just received 23m for Ibrahimovic!

[The Baron]

Wow I'm hearing Lucas wants out and Rory Smith is tweeting that we've bid 9m for Inler! Pls be true! I like Lucas but what an upgrade!

[Josedinho]

Scharner is apparently at Anfield.