Transfer news
A news article on 2013-06-10 07:43:00 from: ESPN
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ECHO – Liverpool FC News: John Aldridge: Credit our local Liverpool FC lads
May 7, 2013 by Leave a Comment
LIVERPOOL’S two best players against Everton were the home grown lads.
A news article on 2013-05-07 09:39:00 from: Liverpool Echo
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ESPN – Carragher proud of Merseyside derby record
May 6, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher insists he can be proud of his record against Everton as he heads towards retirement.
A news article on 2013-05-06 11:44:00 from: ESPN
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TTT: Euro Hangovers – and How Much Rest Do We Need?
April 23, 2013 by Leave a Comment
TTT: Euro Hangovers – and How Much Rest Do We Need?
By Krishen Bhautoo. In March 2011, Graeme Riley wrote a piece “European Hangover? LFC’s Record After Euro Games”. After the recent “Symposium #12 Next Year’s Europa Anyone?”, I thought that it could be something worth revisiting. If you haven’t read the piece by Graeme, he looks at the results that Liverpool have achieved when playing within five days after a European tie. These were broken down as Home and Away European games, as well as during the different eras of European competition These were his findings (I hope he doesn’t mind me using them): After Europe home matches, within 5 days P W D L 1964-1985 60 31 18 11 1990-2001 21 10 4 7 2001-2010 57 29 9 19 Total 138 70 31 37 After Europe away matches, within 5 days P W D L 1964-1985 62 33 21 8 1990-2001 22 16 4 2 2001-2010 58 29 15 14 Total 142 78 40 24 After Europe all matches, within 5 days P W D L 1964-1985 124 65 40 19 1990-2001 44 27 8 9 2001-2010 115 58 24 33 Total 283 150 72 61 Using Graeme’s figures, I have recalculated them into percentages: After Europe home matches, within 5 days P W D L 1964-1985 60 51.7% 30.0% 18.3% 1990-2001 21 47.6% 19.0% 33.3% 2001-2010 57 50.9% 15.8% 33.3% Total 138 50.7% 22.5% 26.8% After Europe away matches, within 5 days P W D L 1964-1985 62 53.2% 33.9% 12.9% 1990-2001 22 72.7% 18.2% 9.1% 2001-2010 58 50.0% 25.9% 24.1% Total 142 54.9% 28.2% 16.9% After Europe all matches, within 5 days P W D L 1964-1985 124 52.4% 32.3% 15.3% 1990-2001 44 61.4% 18.2% 20.5% 2001-2010 115 50.4% 20.9% 28.7% Total 283 53.0% 25.4% 21.6% It seems that in general, we do better after having played away in Europe. But with the recent history of Liverpool in Europe (Champions, Finalists then Europa League-ists), I wanted to see if there have been any differences in the what type of competition we compete in, i.e. is playing in the Europa League more detrimental to your team’s performance in the league than playing in the Champions League? There has been some discussion on the merits of being in the second tier European competition, or whether ‘accidentally’ avoiding it would be more beneficial to our league campaign next term. Personally, I see both sides of the argument but am 70/30 on the side of Europe being a good thing for the club. As many have said, how can we get into the Champions League and expect to stay there if we can’t handle a league campaign and ‘only’ Europa? Others have said, let’s get to the Champions League (with its pot of gold) and worry about the season after that when we will have money to buy the players of the right calibre to bring the squad to the right level. Then there are the financial implications of Europa, as summed up nicely by Dan75: Purely on the financial side 1) Difference between finishing 8th and 5th in the Premier League is about £2.3m in “merit payments” from Sky 2) Europa League group stage worth about £2.5m 3) Prize money for winning final is 5m EUR but only 1m EUR for Semi-Finals and lower again before that 4) It’s difficult to estimate the matchday revenue for Europa League but as a PL game at Anfield is c£1.8m-£2m, I’d estimate a range of £750k to £1m per home EL match. A conservative estimate of five home games would therefore be £3.75m Making a total minimum revenue estimate of £2.3m + £2.5m + £0.3m + £3.8m = £8.9m. Get to the QF and you could be looking at £10m, win it and you could be looking at £15m. All in all, that’s not to be sniffed at, especially when you’re making big losses But the big debate (and source of several ‘gates’) has been whether European competition has a detrimental effect on points gained in the following league game. The research done by Raymond Verheijen states that: Based on 27,000 games it has been proven that only 72hrs recovery between games means 40% less chance of winning compared to 96hrs or more. This stat has been ‘discredited’ by many knowledgeable posters on TTT that the figure of 27,000 isn’t completely genuine and that the figures are slightly skewed to fit the theory, and nor did it take into account the difficulty of the opposition. This lead me to start doing some digging myself and see if there was indeed any correlation at all. To do this, I looked at EVERY competitive Liverpool FC game from 2000-01 up to and including the recent win versus Tottenham (gratefully sourced via lfchistory.net). For the league games, I used each opposition’s final league standing for that season as their level of difficulty (using league standings as of Friday 15th March for this season). This is 734 games, 485 of which are in the Premier League. Not quite at Mr Verheijen’s 27,000 matches but hopefully enough to see a trend. In an ideal world, I would have the data for six or seven English clubs that have been in European competition, but unfortunately, due to the level of work that was required just to compile and sort Liverpool matches, it was almost impossible for a part time stats man! So what did I find? On the face of it would seem that the Euro sceptics are right, playing in the competition is detrimental to your league form. If we were to (hypothetically) win the Europa League next season that would constitute six group matches, eight games getting to the final and the final itself, so 15 matches which could be equivalent to 3.24 dropped points. Not completely devastating, but could mean the difference between 4th and 5th. I still wanted to look a bit deeper… The rest of this article is for Subscribers only. Member-only content – you need to subscribe to read it ! A subscription costs only £3.50 per month. Find out what you get with your subscription, or Subscribe now.
View the full story here: The Tomkins Times
A news article on 2013-04-23 10:58:00 from: The Tomkins Times
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TI – Liverpool owner John Henry ‘humbled’ by Hillsborough families
April 15, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Liverpool’s principal owner John Henry praised the perseverance of the Hillsborough families in their campaign for justice, admitting he was “humbled” by their dignity.
A news article on 2013-04-15 15:58:00 from: The Independent
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TTT: Symposium#14 – Who’s For Sale This Summer?
April 8, 2013 by Leave a Comment
TTT: Symposium#14 – Who’s For Sale This Summer?
By Chris Rowland. I put ‘Who’s for ale this summer?’ at first. Subliminal. On to this week’s question, which was ‘which players would you look to sell in the summer, and how much money do you think they could bring in?’ Answers are below, starting with mine: Let’s start with the obvious – Andy Carroll. He has no part to play in a Rodgers team – unless it’s as an impact sub, according to the Daily Mirror. Can’t see why Carroll would find that alluring at the age of 24, unless he had no alternative. If he keeps scoring goals like the two against Albion, his value will increase towards something like the £17m sell-on fee allegedly agreed with West Ham. If they don’t take up the option and Newcastle are still interested then I’d take £15m. No point crying over spilt milk, as they say, we’re not going to recoup what we paid but then Chelsea paid that for us anyway. Martin Skrtel – I’d take anything over £10m, and nothing below it. Then there’s Assaidi, Jay Spearing and Dani Pacheco – maybe £6m the lot. Maybe Coates, for £4-5m. Carra and Wilson will go for nowt, so we’re looking for at least two central defenders. We need more from Borini too, but maybe this summer would be too early to sell him when he’s hardly played (and that’s another thing …). Then we need to talk about Stewart. He’s improved, yes, and credit to him and Rodgers for that, but has he improved enough? Partly depends on who we buy in the summer too. If we got £8m for him I’d be OK with that. That’s about £35m without Downing, £43m with. Then I’d hope we had at least £20m net to spend, or £55-63m gross. By Martin McLaughlin: I would sell every player currently not being utilised and I’d gladly accept transfermarkt valuations ONO. Namely, Carroll (£10m – just bite the bullet), Spearing (£2.5m), Assaidi (£4.5m), Skrtel (£13m), Shelvey (£5m + sell on clause) and Coates (£4m + sell on clause). That’s £39m, more than enough to add to the transfer kitty and create head room in the wage bill. With 31(14) appearances in total, that is a lot of idle money making little tangible contribution. There are a few players that I would put in the ambiguous bracket, they could stay, or they could go next summer. I would put Downing, Enrique and Borini into this bracket. Downing is a £10m 20-game per season squad player, but selling him for £10m and replacing him with someone who will more than likely be the same or potentially worse is a distraction that can be left for another time. Jose Enrique is 27 and somehow valued at£12.5m on transfermarkt. When he’s good he’s very good, when he’s bad he’s horrific. Borini may not have played enough to assess his ability and he is only 22, but his almost annual injury layoff is starting to look concerning. By Krishen Bhautoo: Assaidi has made 12 appearances since his £4m transfer. Looked like a tricky winger who could add to our attack but isn’t fancied and therefore should go. His record in 2011/12 in Holland means his stock there should still be high so would look for £3m for him. Shelvey. With 5 goals (4 in Europa) and 4 assists in 33 games, he was Rodgers’ golden boy. Initially a starter, he now rarely gets a chance to put his shin pads on. There is talent there, but I’d loan him to a Prem club and hope he develops. At a push I’d take £5m for him. Flanagan is another who initially looked promising. With Ryan McLaughlin snapping at his heels he may drop down the pecking order another place. I’d bite your hand off for £1m. Dani Pacheco was loaned out by his loan club last season and hasn’t been fancied by four successive managers. I’d take £2m. Spearing has done well at Bolton (by most accounts). Good battler but not LFC quality. Like the guy and wished it worked out, but leaving (like Danny Guthrie) would be the best for him. £3m and he’s yours. Coates needs football. I’ve felt he has done well when he’s played (obviously some mistakes) but he has quality and you can see it, he just needs football. Loan to a Prem team or sell for £7m. He is a young Copa America winner. Carroll is the typical English forward. I’d want £15m for him (but that is only because of what we paid for him. Transfermarkt values him at £9.7m) but how many teams would pay that? Part of a swap deal with Newcastle could be interesting. Tiote? Cabaye? Ben Arfa? Santon? Skrtel is as good as gone (unless Rodgers goes first ;o)). £15m from Zenit is a figure I’ve heard a couple of times, but knowing we want rid, we may take a bit of a hit on him. I think he would be a very good player at the right club, so hopefully a bidding war will commence. If all goes to ‘plan’, that’s a possible £49m for players that don’t really figure for us. Add any transfer kitty and we could have a big summer, but I feel we still need a lot of players. The rest of this article is for subscribers only. Member-only content – you need to subscribe to read it ! A subscription costs only £3.50 per month. Find out what you get with your subscription, or Subscribe now.
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A news article on 2013-04-08 09:42:00 from: The Tomkins Times
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TTT: Liverpool’s “Losers” and Mental Scarring
March 18, 2013 by Leave a Comment
TTT: Liverpool’s “Losers” and Mental Scarring
By Dan Kennett. I’m very interested in the sporting psychology around “mentality”, “baggage” and “scarring”. I believe that most sportsmen become scarred by repeated losses and defeat. The starting point for this is that since the start of the 2009/10 Premier League season, Liverpool have lost one in three games. The Reds’ full record is P144 W61 D35 L48. I then wanted to look at the “senior players” who’ve been with the club throughout that period. I collected detailed data for Johnson, Skrtel, Agger, Gerrard and Lucas (starts only). (Note: it doesn’t take into account the quality of the opposition.) P W D L Loss% Win% All 144 61 35 48 33.3% 42.4% Johnson 102 46 22 34 33.3% 45.1% Skrtel 109 41 28 40 36.7% 37.6% Agger 88 40 20 28 31.8% 45.5% Gerrard 94 38 25 31 33.0% 40.4% Lucas 92 42 20 30 32.6% 45.7% Looking at the headline numbers, it’s remarkable to think that a talented footballer like Glen Johnson has lost 34 of the 102 league games he’s played for Liverpool. It’s a staggering number of defeats. Martin Skrtel has only won one more league game than he’s lost in four years (41 to 40). Again that’s simply astonishing. Four of the five players are close to the average loss rate of 33.33%. The relative performance of Lucas and Agger is not significant. Skrtel stands out as his personal loss rate is over 3% worse then the overall figure. In terms of wins, Johnson, Lucas and Agger are all aboot 3% above the club win rate. Skrtel again is the big exception being 5% below. Next I looked at results depending on how many of them start: Number of Starters P W D L Loss% Win% 5 12 7 0 5 41.7% 58.3% 4 58 22 16 20 34.5% 37.9% 3 49 21 15 13 26.5% 42.9% 2 21 10 5 6 28.6% 47.6% 1 4 0 0 4 100.0% 0.0% When all five start the team win% is up to 58% but loss rate also 42%. Interestingly, eight of the 12 occurrences have been this season under Rodgers and the record is W4 (Southampton H, West Ham A, Fulham H, Sunderland H) L4 (WBA A, Villa H, Stoke A, Man Utd A) When only one of them starts there’s a 100% loss rate. A total of 107 of the matches feature either three or four of them starting but the results show better win% with three than four, so I moved onto “without you” analysis. Last table is where one of the five does not play but three or four of the others do play. The results here are extremely interesting Combo P W D L Loss% Win% PPG No Skrtel 29 17 7 5 17.2% 58.6% 2.00 No Agger 32 10 9 13 40.6% 31.3% 1.22 No Lucas 40 15 14 11 27.5% 37.5% 1.48 No Gerrard 32 14 7 11 34.4% 43.8% 1.53 No Johnson 42 14 13 15 35.7% 33.3% 1.31 Here we see Skrtel doesn’t start and the team win% goes up to a very good 58% while the four-year loss% is almost halved to 17%. Points per game is a Champions-League-like 2.00. The absence of Agger looks key as the team only has a 31% win rate without him and the loss% rockets to 41%. PPG plummets to a Hogdson-esque 1.22 Lucas is a curious one, perhaps counter-intuitive. The numbers suggest that the team doesn’t lose that many when he’s absent but don’t win many either. The numbers without Gerrard are very close to the overall team performance in the four years (win 42%, lose 33%) Johnson is the other interesting one along with Agger. When’s he absent the team lose more and find it much harder to win. The first part of this again seems somewhat counter-intuitive as the narrative is that Johnson can’t defend and he contributes to defeats. The most important combination appears to be Agger and Johnson starting. That’s happened in just over half the league games in the last four years (73 out of 144). The record with both of them is a respectable P73, W35, D16, L22, a win rate of 48% and a loss rate of 30% (1.66 PPG, 63 points for a season) In games where Agger and Johnson start and Skrtel is absent the numbers are P23 W13 D5 L5 (1.91 PPG) Trying to sum up, there does seem to be the makings of a case to say that the most important factor in Liverpool getting better results is if the talented but nervy Martin Skrtel is not in the team. His absence looks to be more significant than any other combination of players. A classic case of addition by subtraction?
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A news article on 2013-03-18 16:28:00 from: The Tomkins Times
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ECHO – Liverpool FC News: Blood Red: Ian Callaghan and Ian St John take to the stage for night of nostalgia
March 9, 2013 by Leave a Comment
IAN CALLAGHAN vividly remembers the moment on the training ground when he realised he was going to add another remarkable chapter to his record-breaking Anfield career.
A news article on 2013-03-09 00:00:00 from: Liverpool Echo
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ECHO – Liverpool FC News: VIDEO and GALLERY – Xabi Alonso training with Real Madrid and his Liverpool career in pictures
March 5, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Xabi Alonso played a crucial role in Liverpool FC’s 2005 Champion’s League triumph, and is still fondly remembered by Kopites for his exploits in a red shirt.
A news article on 2013-03-05 13:52:00 from: Liverpool Echo
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