In 1987...

[TheBunnyman]

... we made three signings which utterly transformed our team.

We signed a prolific striker (John Aldridge) to replace another prolific striker (Rushie).

We signed the best left-winger in English football, and one of the most talented young footballers in the world: John Barnes.

And we signed a no 10 (Peter Beardsley) for what was then the highest transfer fee in English football history: £1.9m.

The results were instant, and they were glorious. That 87/88 team is my favourite Liverpool side by miles. It really was like watching Brazil.

It was also the perfect example of how signing a small number of very very good attacking players can change your team from being very good but slightly pedestrian (in 86-87 we came second, and finished without a trophy) to being sublime.

Now I accept that we're not even at the 'very good' stage at the moment, and that we need to sign players in quite a few positions to bolster our threadbare squad. But let's forget that for the moment.

This is the deal: you've got £75m (a rough guess at an equivalent amount to what we spent in 1987) to spend on three attacking players: a prolific striker, a dazzling no 10 and a gloriously skilful and goalscoring left-winger. But it's summer 2011, not 1987, so who do we buy?

 

[Sunny]

Will they be available for Bolton away Bunny ?

 

[TheBunnyman]

Nope. Next summer.

All right, I'll go first:

LW: Michel Bastos from Lyon (about £20m)
no10: Sergio Aguero from Atletico Madrid (about £35m)
striker: Darren Bent from Sunderland (about £20m)

 

[Wilko7]

It was an absolute privilege to be a Kop season ticket holder during the Barnes and Beardsley era. I remember many fantastic games since the late seventies however none more exciting than 1987-90. The fact that they were British must have helped with the instant results produced however I can't think of any lads of today that come anywhere near to comparing.

 

[Buddha]

[quote author=TheBunnyman link=topic=42443.msg1206342#msg1206342 date=1288121889]
Nope. Next summer.

All right, I'll go first:

LW: Michel Bastos from Lyon (about £20m)
no10: Sergio Aguero from Atletico Madrid (about £35m)
striker: Darren Bent from Sunderland (about £20m)

[/quote]

Darren Bent? 20m?

 

[peterhague]

i dunno, maybe robben, hazard and milito - would that be about £75m?

 

[spider-Neil]

personally I think purely having an attacking mentality would transform us.

we have;
torres
gerrard
cole

we also have the likes of;
johnson
kuyt

we lack pace down the wings and the desire to attack teams from the first whistle. but as I said earlier I think it's more tactics than personnel as we went from a slump in the winter to absolutely thrashing teams in the new year (season we came second) we didn't buy anyone of note in the winter transfer window.

imho a forward thinking manager is more important for us than another attacking option.

 

[Judge Jules]

Not sure I agree with the last bit (we do IMO need another striker option and more penetration out wide) but overall that's a very good post.

 

[keniget]

I think it would probably take more than 70M to buy established stars given the sums of money players have gone for recently.

LW - Bale - 35M

I don't know whether they would sell (or whether he'd want to come to us), but he's been playing out of his skin for a while now and on current form he's probably the best option around.

I can't think of anyone I desperately want in the other positions and we have Gerrard and Torres (for now) filling them anyway. Ozil would've been perfect sadly, but that ship has sailed.

 

[Insignificance]

Not to forget, in 1987 Roy Hodgson was allready an old boring babling fart.

 

[spider-Neil]

[quote author=Judge Jules link=topic=42443.msg1206351#msg1206351 date=1288122837]
Not sure I agree with the last bit (we do IMO need another striker option and more penetration out wide) but overall that's a very good post.
[/quote]

that's just adding depth I mean a quality first team. I think the attacking players we have on our books would really hurt teams if they occupied the oppositon half more often but currently they are spread out too far and the team as a whole sit too deep absolutely curtailing the effectiveness of the likes of cole.

our strength lies in our attacking players because our defensive players are mostly average. this is why I want to see a 'rijkaard' or an 'emery' or a 'flores' come to the club rather than a 'lippe' or a 'cappello' because the former group of managers would play to the strengths of the attackers whilst the latter group of managers would play to the strengths of the defenders.

this isn't about 'gung-hu' football it is about looking at the big picture of the entire season. the way I see it if you are an attacking team (with good players) you will win a lot of games and you will tend not to draw a lot of games. admittedly this style of play requires defensive players that require little protection as your attacking players will be placed further up the pitch but the benefits far outweigh the cons.

in the league we tend to be very cautious and though it meant we were very difficult to beat silly points would slip through the fingers.

so basically looking at defensive team that is good enough to win games, tend not to lose many but sometimes not doing enough to break down the opposition in microcosm of three games
win - 1
draw - 2
lose - 0
total 5 points

then you have an attacking team that is always likely to score but in having players further up the pitch are vunerable to the counter attack, so they'll draw very little but will win more than they lose, in microcosm of 3 games
win 2
draw - 0
lose - 1
total - 6 points

so at the time it will sting losing the odd game to a counter attack, but over the course of a SEASON, which is how I chose to look at games rather than insolation you are far more likely to win the league.

 

[keniget]

So an attacking team can get more points out of 3 games than a defensive team can out of 2 games.

A cunning argument!

 

[Judge Jules]

;D

 

[spider-Neil]

[quote author=keniget link=topic=42443.msg1206363#msg1206363 date=1288124321]
So an attacking team can get more points out of 3 games than a defensive team can out of 2 games.

A cunning argument!
[/quote]

you say that as if it isn't rocket science but we've played in this manner for the better part of ten years so clearly the penny hasn't dropped. imagine if rafa had been more adventurous in the winter slump (the season we came second). we went top at christmas and was more concerned with not losing than actually going all out to win.

 

[keniget]

Paddy... if you wouldn't mind doing the honours.

 

[Paddy]

 

[spider-Neil]

rafa had an amazing home record but only one did we come close to winning the league on this watch, we also tended not to lose many games. it definately would have been worth being more adventurous that would have seen us lose more not question but we would almost certainly have turned a lost of draws into wins. two seasons ago turning just two more draws into wins would have made us champions.

 

[ibromurph]

HAHAHAHA.. right on cue!

Spidey.. re-read Ken's statement before this gets worse.

 

[spider-Neil]

this is why this forum is fucked up. I've put an argument forwards, explained my corner and it's been meet with a facepalm picture. is it any wonder why people lurch rather than posting their views.

 

[Judge Jules]

Neil, check the arithmetic in your post of 9:16:25 above, mate.

 

[Sunny]

Hahahahaha. Neil, neil, neil. I pass on the facepalm baton to you sir.


*can change avatar at last*

 

[manwithnoname]

Er, spidey, you're on 6CM

 

[LeTallecWiz]

I'll go for a lower budget 3 - would cost 45-50 mill I think

Striker: Muller (Bayern) - I think he's a star. He scores goals, passes, tracks back. He may be more of the #10 guy but I'm not sure he's like Beardo

no10: Madrid just got Ozil, so take Canales from them. He's going to be one of the best no10s in the world

LW: Ashley Young.

 

[ibromurph]

Oh god.. I think it's time for the double.. Paddy?

 

[spider-Neil]

[quote author=ibromurph link=topic=42443.msg1206375#msg1206375 date=1288124750]
HAHAHAHA.. right on cue!

Spidey.. re-read Ken's statement before this gets worse.
[/quote]

I know what the opening post was, I was simply saying a change in mentality would see us reap bigger benefits than a high profile attacking signing. I probably should have started a new thread.

 

[Sunny]

[quote author=spider-neil link=topic=42443.msg1206377#msg1206377 date=1288124840]
this is why this forum is fucked up. I've put an argument forwards, explained my corner and it's been meet with a facepalm picture. is it any wonder why people lurch rather than posting their views.
[/quote]

You're heading into double facepalm territory mate

 

[keniget]

I think we should've had the triple by now. Sunny you're too nice.

 

[Sunny]

[quote author=spider-neil link=topic=42443.msg1206384#msg1206384 date=1288124960]
[quote author=ibromurph link=topic=42443.msg1206375#msg1206375 date=1288124750]
HAHAHAHA.. right on cue!

Spidey.. re-read Ken's statement before this gets worse.
[/quote]

I know what the opening post was, I was simply saying a change in mentality would see us reap bigger benefits than a high profile attacking signing. I probably should have started a new thread.
[/quote]

Perhaps treble.

 

[Sunny]

Neil, read your arithmetic in your argument.

 

[manwithnoname]

Still not the Full Dreamy, or anywhere near