Luis Suarez pwned by the Lizards and is Staying, and has said sorry to BR and teammates
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Mourinho said he was lazy apparently - I think someone posted that the other day.
I thought he'd really come of age before Benzema had arrived but not quite sure where he is at these days because I don't watch much of Madrid any more.
I kinda agree with Modo though - signing a striker like Higuain would leave us with two #9s and its not really a luxury we can afford. Neither would want to sit on the bench and one would suffer if played out wide.
I thought he'd really come of age before Benzema had arrived but not quite sure where he is at these days because I don't watch much of Madrid any more.
I kinda agree with Modo though - signing a striker like Higuain would leave us with two #9s and its not really a luxury we can afford. Neither would want to sit on the bench and one would suffer if played out wide.
Sturridge has been very successful leading the line, but I still think we need another striker. A flexible player is probably ideal,but a quality finisher like Higuain could click very well with our creative players.
With all the shifts at major clubs though, we could do very well to sign some quality players who have been pushed to the fringe.
That quote was not real 😉
Higuain was 8th in La Liga in goals last season, with 16 in 19 starts and 9 substitute appearances, and also added 5 assists.
Sturridge floats around quite a bit though, we frequently see him working on defenders from the wings, or playing other strikers in. He has the pace to make his way around the box, and the touch as well. He's no Iniesta clearly, but he can certainly pick a pass/cross and does so frequently.
The idea is to find attacking players who are versatile.
But like I've said before, I really don't think we need another striker. Sturridge, Aspas, Borini will do when were only competing in three competitions. I don't think we'll ever see all three of them on the pitch at the same time. Sure their injury record is a bit worrying but I'd rather we focus on getting another attacking mid who can compete with Coutinho and Alberto.
Mad isnt it
The idea is to find attacking players who don't suck, we've had plenty of experience with that in the last few seasons. Flexible players work on paper, but in actuality it isn't such a bad idea to have a few guys with established positions in the squad. Downing doddles off to the right wing and does nothing there for example, Lucas poorly tackles people in our own third, etc. They may be awful, but other players know where they are and have to deal with them. Being unpredictable is good and all, but having an established striker like Higuain leading the line makes the opposition commit more heavily to him, opening up space for everybody else.
The worrying thing for me is that if Suarez leaves, and Sturridge gets hurt at all, we could be floundering very quickly. Borini is capable of being a lone striker for us, but I don't think Aspas is. I would have more confidence in this group if we at least had some depth at all(Yesil, Shelvey), but it's a precipitous fall very quickly from the top of that striking group. It's not as if they're all going to be actively competing for minutes against one another either, all will get minutes playing wide, or elsewhere. If we get another AM, I think it means Aspas is expected to lead the line, and if we get a striker it means that Aspas is expected to play a slightly deeper role.
I don't know if he's lazy but I do know he needs half as many shots as Suarez before he scores a goal.
He scored a goal once every 3.5 shots last season. You won't get much more clinical than that
They're two very different players and stats got us Downing and Henderson.
You don't need to shoot to waste a chance either, you can lose the ball, mis-control a ball etc. Hence why I don't focus on stats.
I just haven't been that impressed when I've seen him play.
Versatile, yes. Doesn't necessarily have to play like him.
The reason I want a versatile player is because I think we need someone to play on the right wing and also cover the number 10 role.
Özil would be fantastic, but there's no chance he'd want to sign for us.
Most importantly I'd rather have Sturridge playing upfront than Higuain.
Liverpool striker Luis Suarez can expect to retain the support of the team’s fans even though he’s agitating for a move a way from the Premier League soccer club, Managing Director Ian Ayre said.
The 26-year-old Uruguayan has been linked with Real Madrid, Chelsea and Arsenal after he said he’d like to leave the 18-time English champion during interviews at last month’s Confederations Cup. Ayre confirmed that Liverpool rejected an offer from Arsenal for Suarez, who scored 30 goals last season.
“I don’t think anyone will be against him at this point,” Ayre said in a telephone interview. Suarez, who joined from Ajax for 26.5 million euros ($34.6 million) in January 2011, will miss the first six games of the season wherever he plays because of a 10-match ban for biting an opponent. He was banned for eight games a year earlier for racially abusing a rival.
“He only needs to do what he did last season and everyone will feel he’s in the right place and he should carry on getting the support that he deserves and gets from Liverpool,” Ayre said. “We’d love to see Luis put on a Liverpool shirt for this season and beyond and we hope that once he gets back things will settle down.”
Even with Suarez’s goals, Liverpool finished seventh in the league, failing to qualify for European competition. Suarez has said he wants to move to a club playing in the Champions League, a competition Liverpool hasn’t been in since 2009. He also cited critical treatment from the U.K. media as a reason to quit the country before saying most recently he was “flattered” by interest from London-based Arsenal.
Champions League
“This is an ambitious young player, he’s talked in the media about wanting to play in the Champions League and all these things,” Ayre said. “It’s our job to convince Luis that this is the right place to achieve those things.”
Ayre wouldn’t detail the team’s targets for next season, but pointed to this summer’s recruitment drive as proof the Reds, owned since 2010 by the U.S.-based Fenway Sports Group, will try to secure a top-four finish to reach the Champions League. At 9 million pounds goalkeeper Simon Mignolet is the most expensive recruit and he’s been joined by Spanish attackers Iago Aspas and Luis Alberto as well as defender Kolo Toure. Still, the club failed in its most ambitious bid when Shakhtar Donetsk midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan chose Champions League finalist Borussia Dortmund.
“We’ve got other people in our sights and we’ll keep plugging away,” Ayre said. “But we’ll do some more business, there’s no doubt about that.”
Popularity
Liverpool leaves today for a tour of Asia, a region where the team, which last won the English championship in 1990, remains popular. A match at the 100,000-capacity Melbourne Cricket Ground in Australia was sold out in hours. That popularity, said Ayre, has helped recruit talent even though the team hasn’t been competing for top honors of late.
“We’ve brought in great players who recognize we’re not in the Champions League but see the size of this club, see the size of the opportunity and what we’re trying to build and want to be part of it,” he said.
Liverpool has revamped its operations in the last 12 months, hiring Dave Fallows as head of recruitment and scouting and Barry Hunter as chief scout from Premier League rival Manchester City as well as a number of others based overseas.
The structure will allow the club to replace Suarez or other players quickly should they depart, Ayre said. The changes came after the team spent 35 million pounds in 2011 on Newcastle’s Andy Carroll, a striker who last month moved to West Ham for as little as 15 million pounds.
“In every position on the pitch we have a fairly good idea of who are the best players available at what price in the event one of our players leaves,” Ayre said. “But that doesn’t mean we’re painting a negative scenario, it just means you’re planning well, which is what people expect.”
The 26-year-old Uruguayan has been linked with Real Madrid, Chelsea and Arsenal after he said he’d like to leave the 18-time English champion during interviews at last month’s Confederations Cup. Ayre confirmed that Liverpool rejected an offer from Arsenal for Suarez, who scored 30 goals last season.
“I don’t think anyone will be against him at this point,” Ayre said in a telephone interview. Suarez, who joined from Ajax for 26.5 million euros ($34.6 million) in January 2011, will miss the first six games of the season wherever he plays because of a 10-match ban for biting an opponent. He was banned for eight games a year earlier for racially abusing a rival.
“He only needs to do what he did last season and everyone will feel he’s in the right place and he should carry on getting the support that he deserves and gets from Liverpool,” Ayre said. “We’d love to see Luis put on a Liverpool shirt for this season and beyond and we hope that once he gets back things will settle down.”
Even with Suarez’s goals, Liverpool finished seventh in the league, failing to qualify for European competition. Suarez has said he wants to move to a club playing in the Champions League, a competition Liverpool hasn’t been in since 2009. He also cited critical treatment from the U.K. media as a reason to quit the country before saying most recently he was “flattered” by interest from London-based Arsenal.
Champions League
“This is an ambitious young player, he’s talked in the media about wanting to play in the Champions League and all these things,” Ayre said. “It’s our job to convince Luis that this is the right place to achieve those things.”
Ayre wouldn’t detail the team’s targets for next season, but pointed to this summer’s recruitment drive as proof the Reds, owned since 2010 by the U.S.-based Fenway Sports Group, will try to secure a top-four finish to reach the Champions League. At 9 million pounds goalkeeper Simon Mignolet is the most expensive recruit and he’s been joined by Spanish attackers Iago Aspas and Luis Alberto as well as defender Kolo Toure. Still, the club failed in its most ambitious bid when Shakhtar Donetsk midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan chose Champions League finalist Borussia Dortmund.
“We’ve got other people in our sights and we’ll keep plugging away,” Ayre said. “But we’ll do some more business, there’s no doubt about that.”
Popularity
Liverpool leaves today for a tour of Asia, a region where the team, which last won the English championship in 1990, remains popular. A match at the 100,000-capacity Melbourne Cricket Ground in Australia was sold out in hours. That popularity, said Ayre, has helped recruit talent even though the team hasn’t been competing for top honors of late.
“We’ve brought in great players who recognize we’re not in the Champions League but see the size of this club, see the size of the opportunity and what we’re trying to build and want to be part of it,” he said.
Liverpool has revamped its operations in the last 12 months, hiring Dave Fallows as head of recruitment and scouting and Barry Hunter as chief scout from Premier League rival Manchester City as well as a number of others based overseas.
The structure will allow the club to replace Suarez or other players quickly should they depart, Ayre said. The changes came after the team spent 35 million pounds in 2011 on Newcastle’s Andy Carroll, a striker who last month moved to West Ham for as little as 15 million pounds.
“In every position on the pitch we have a fairly good idea of who are the best players available at what price in the event one of our players leaves,” Ayre said. “But that doesn’t mean we’re painting a negative scenario, it just means you’re planning well, which is what people expect.”
Okay
Suarez turned the ball over more that twice as frequently per game than Higuain, and was dispossessed more than three times more frequently.
Suarez did attempt significantly more dribbles/long passes/key passes, but both players had a similar pass completion %. Suarez is obviously the better creator, but a lot of his success comes from volume.
But like I said Suarez is versatile, something I don't think Higuain is.
I wouldn't be disappointed if we actually signed Higuain but I just don't see how we'll be able to fit him and Sturridge in the starting line up.
This 'shots to goals' ratio has been brought up quite a few times recently - particularly in relation to Suarez - and I wonder is it now considered a genuine barometer of a strikers efficiency?
For me it lacks context. It doesn't tell you about the kind of team the player plays in, the chances they create, the quality of the chances, the level of involvement of the player in question or any of the other variables.
It can provide you some indication that the player isn't wasteful with the chances that are presented to him and that's good to know but can it really be used as a basis for comparison between two players in very different environments...
yup
Well I was making a simple point - and that's an easy way to make it. To say Higuan is wasteful when he isn't really and is a lot less so than Suarez.
Apart from actually watching a striker, id say shot charts are particularly useful when dealing with strikers because it adds a bit more context. You're never going to be able to factor in everything but at the same time you don't need to.
I don't see why the quality of the chance should be some sort of excuse though - a good striker doesn't shoot at every opportunity, he shoots when he gets the right ones.
I would have reservations with using the shot/goals ratio across leagues without a bit more info though - whats the average of the league - we know some leagues can be easier than others to score in
It's not good, but then someone like Higuain will have 7 of those 8 shots created by his teammates at Madrid. With Suarez, 6 out of the 8 might be created by him all on his own, when our team might be looking clueless in the final third, which was often the case.
You have to accept the good with the bad and there's no doubt the cunt's presence was vital for us not dropping further down the table last season.
The argument makes sense to some extent, but you have to take into account that
- Those numbers(6 of 8, 7 of 8) are inflated to fit your argument. While historically he has had to create a lot of his own shots for us, Suarez was played into dangerous areas with higher frequency this season. He's still one of the best in the world at setting himself up to shoot, but the quality and quantity of opportunities presented was much higher this season.
- There is a certain tactical quality in strikers to get into dangerous areas. While Higuain isn't exclusively a poacher, smart movement is a big part of his game. For every tap in he's put in, we can probably think of a number times when a chance has been missed because we were lacking that presence over the last few seasons.
Tevez was quite poor, but he may not be in that same category anymore.
Jovetic has a ratio over 10, I guess that's one. Schurrle as well, but his assist and passing numbers are superior.
I think your point 2 is where Sturridge comes in, and I think it will be a bit of a waste of investment if Higuain was brought in (on HUGE wages) and Sturridge ends up playing second fiddle or put out wide. His best performances last season came from him playing down the middle to lead the attack. Yes, he drifts out wide but that's an advantage for a player in the middle (like Henry) because you get to drift to the wing that you choose, i.e. with less players to deal with, and you're still going right back in to the middle the moment wide attackers start dealing with the ball in the final third.
I think getting a few million and Higuain for Suarez is a bad deal for us. We need to tell Real to fuck right off if that's what they're offering. And you can also be sure they'll be certain they're getting the better deal out of it.
My concern though is that when Sturridge inevitably gets hurt/suspended, we're suddenly down to Aspas and Borini at striker, if we do indeed sell Suarez. We definitely need another option for that group.
By getting Higuain, we prevent Arsenal from signing him. Definitely not a motivational factor for signing him, but it's a silver lining that's worth pointing out. As Arsenal without Higuain is definitely worse than one with him.
Have the stats been posted in this thread already? I don't see them
http://teetribute.wordpress.com/2013/07/06/stat-attack-higuain-against-the-best-of-epl-2/
http://teetribute.wordpress.com/2013/07/06/stat-attack-higuain-against-the-best-of-epl-2/
Thinking on the negative side here... What happens to a player like Higuain when he loses his form, or some little muscle injury somewhere screws up his shooting by a few inches? What would such a player offer under those circumstances?
I'd prefer a player that has certain other qualities to go with a decent goal scoring record.
I wouldn't have such reservations if we were certain of getting a top fee for Suarez and Higuain was younger and cheaper.
But a direct replacement? I really don't like it.
I'd prefer a player that has certain other qualities to go with a decent goal scoring record.
I wouldn't have such reservations if we were certain of getting a top fee for Suarez and Higuain was younger and cheaper.
But a direct replacement? I really don't like it.
