team discussion Liverpool FC

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History

Liverpool were founded in 1892 following a groundshare dispuate between the owner of Anfield and an already existing club called Everton. After Everton moved to Goodison Park, Liverpool was founded by the owner, John Houlding to play at Anfield.

Liverpool had patches of success during the early part of the 20th century, but by the mid fifties the club had fell into disrepair. Bill Shankly was appointed boss in 1958 and set about major changes at the club, this included the founding of the "Boot Room" a coaching phenomenon in which Shankly and his backroom staff could discuss tactics, the next match and training. These changes continued into renovations to the clubs training ground, changes to the clubs kit becoming into the famous all red strip, and did renovations around Anfield. Shankly whilst not remaining the most succesful of the managers (a honour that would fall to Paisley and remain untouched even today), he is considered the modern day father of the club. Indeed, since his arrival the team have not been relegated and owes much of it's success to him. Bob Paisley, Shank's no.2 succeeded him as manager following a shock resignation. Whilst Bob was a reluctant manager, he carried on what Bill had started, transforming the team into a major European powerhouse and dominant champions of England. It was Bob Paisley that brought in what is considered the clubs greatest player ever, Kenny Dalgish, who formed a formidable partnership with young striker Ian Rush, who would later go onto become Liverpools top scorer. Paisley racked up a reputable 6 league championships, 3 Football League Cups, 5 Community Shields and 3 European Cups amongst others. Whilst Liverpool during the 80s weren't as dominant as the previous decade, success nevertheless continued with a fourth European Cup coming under Joe Fagan. Under Fagan, during a match between Liverpool and Juventus, the club endured the Heysel Disaster when fighting occurred between Liverpool and Juventus fans following poor segregation. This resulted in the barring of English football clubs from Europe for five years, with Liverpool receiving an additional year out. Fagan himself would resign and be replaced by club legend 'King' Kenny Dalglish. It wasn't until 20 years later when Liverpool and Juventus drew each other in the 2005 Champions League, were old wounds finally healed between the two clubs. Liverpool knocked Juventus out in the finals and went on to win the competition.

Whilst on the pitch Liverpool continued with success it was under Dalglish that the club would suffer the second of two tragedies. An FA Cup match between Nottingham Forest and Liverpool were to be played at the Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield. The stadium due to hooliganism in the 80s had a steel barrier placed around the pitch. This caused problems with crushing in previous years yet warnings went unheeded and following poor policing of the match, Liverpool fans were directed into an already overcrowded pen. In the moments ensuing the barrier gave way as Liverpool fans poured on the pitch. 94 fans died on the day, with the death toll reaching 96. Kenny himself attended a majority of the funerals, including four in one day, and later resigned in February 1991 citing emotional stress and exhaustion.

The club pushed on in appointing another member of the bootroom, former Red Graeme Souness. Whilst he had great success as a player, his managerial career alienated him from many fans, who sensed that his changes were coming too thick too fast, and disrupted a rythm. Souness was sacked in 1994 following a run of bad results, he was the only manager to have been sacked by the club since Don Welsh before Shankly took charge.

Roy Evans was given the job of rebuilding Liverpool into a major English force again, a job which took all of the 90s. It was during this time two Liverpool greats broke from the youth team into the first team, midfield magician Steve McManaman and God himself, Robbie Fowler. This period was also dogged by the spice boys era, where a majority of the younger players at the club became more focussed on celebrity lifestyle than the team. The team under Roy became involved in title challenges and whilst led championships at points over several seasons failed to secure one.

The 2000s marked a change in direction following the appointment of their first foreign manager, Gerard Houllier. Houllier brought about several successes to the club including a treble and a runners up place but never secured that elusive 19th title. Following a poor finish he was sacked in 2004 and replaced by Spaniard Rafa Benitez. Rafa's period is considered successful, following the addition of the fifth Champions League title dubbed the Miracle of Instanbul, in which Liverpool led by Steven Gerrard overcame AC Milan coming back from 3-0 down to win on penalties. The following season Rafa added his first FA Cup to the cabinet, and following a takeover, fans felt that the club was soon gonna be back at the top, a feat nearly achieved by Rafa in 2009 when the club finished 2nd. Leading for much of the season a bad run of draws allowed Manchester United to steal the grand prize. Whilst many fans felt eager to see the club get the trophy the following season was a disaster for Rafa following the sales of some key players that were not replaced and saw him sacked.

The club placed Roy Hodgson in charge of rebuilding Liverpools fortunes but despite some good results, the performance in general was not good and was soon himself sacked. By October 2010 Liverpool had new owners who soon wiped off the debt following the previous owners and brought about the return of the King Dalglish to the helm, whilst he rescued the season for Liverpool as best as he could, he realised the scale of the task he had on hand, and despite the signing of Luis Suarez, the club struggled to work its way even higher. Fans felt eager to see KD back at the helm and felt optimistic that he could bring about success once more, but despite some huge investments, Liverpool failed to deliver in the league although Kenny secured a League Cup and finish FA Cup runners up, even he was not saved from the chop.

Now in 2012, the board placed up and coming manager Brendan Rodgers in charge of the club to set about a strategy for success.

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Your Expectations

The board's minimum expectation is for you to challenge for Europa League Qualification. They have given you a transfer budget of £3m and a wage budget of £1.48m to do this with. The board also expect you to play a brand of attacking football and enforce a strong youth development policy.

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Your Squad

THINGS TO NOTE:
One thing you'll need to note when taking into account player ability and potential is the strength of the staff and the reputation of the club. Clubs with higher reputations will judge players with harsher standards. A player that may have a 4 star CA now, may not be 4 star in the future if your reputation rises. Likewise, the judging ability of staff will also affect reputations, Colin Pascoe (the assistant manager) has got quite poor attributes so it is likely that he'll be unreliable for giving you accurate reports. Likewise I've rebuilt the majority of my backroom staff. However, I'll give you players reports from Frank McParland who is the clubs Head of Youth Development, due to having the highest of the starting staff for judging players,

Just so you know, McParland has a 'Judging PA' and 'Judging CA' attribute of 17, Determination attribute of 19 (put the latter because it seems to be important to scouts) and max club players knowledge, so I'd expect him to be fairly accurate with his reports.




Overview: Naturally Reina is your first choice keeper, the Spanish no.2 has been one of the best keepers in the Prem over the past 7 years (although his recent poor form mean he's somewhat declined in game, however at 30 his experience will prove invaluable. Doni and Brad Jones are your backups. Whilst Doni is the better of your backup, his higher wages mean that he should be the one that is sold. Jones is more than capable at backup although with their age and reputation they will both inevitably become unhappy on the sidelines. With Reina hitting 30 I'd look at bringing in a younger keeper such as Butland to succeed him.




Overview: Normally Jose Enrique would be your number one left back and whilst Liverpools defense are quite versatile with positions, the only real backup would be Jack Robinson who should remain your ideal choice to succeed in the LB position. Should you be desperate then Glen Johnson could play there with Kelly at right back or you could place Agger on the left although he is better in the BPD role.




Overview: Liverpool have somewhat an abundance of CBs. The starting CB pairing should be Agger and Skrtel although Agger is injury prone and starts off injured at the start of the game. Coates has the potential to be one of your starting CBs in the future, whilst a difficult choice is for the second. I rate Kelly more as a CB than a RB and he would be my first choice there, however, Wilson has got potential to be a good CB for you so he could start there with Kelly being RB. The other choice is Wisdom in the reserves, but he has not got potential to become a reliable first choice CB.




Overview: Glen Johnson is the best RB in this team and Englands first choice RB. Reliable going forward, he is a natural attacking fullback, however that leaves some minor concern defensively, still he should be your starting RB and potential to be a good player for you. Backup department, Kelly is a good player for that position, natural in both CB and RB (although as I stated above, I prefer him to be a CB), Flanagan is another young RB with a good amount of potential to be a good player, although lacks attacking threat. Be wary of Ryan McLaughlin in the reserves aswell who could be a decent squad player but not much more.




Overview: This is where Liverpool's strength lies. They've got enough depth here to play a three man CM. Lucas is your main DM although he is injured and with Spearing out on loan, it may be neccessary to deploy Sahin there, or see who is avialable on the frees or loan market, Gerrard is adept at DM but his attacking threat means he should be your main attacking playmaker. Allen is a controlling midfielder able to orchestrate from deep in CM. Henderson and Shelvey are two young English CMs with potential to be good playmakers although Shelvey's lack of pace puts him at a disadvantage for me. At 30 and with those wages, Joe Cole should look to be sold, plus he ain't exactly the fastest player on the planet. Sahin is having his full wages covered by Liverpool so I terminated his loan and sent him back although he is rated as your third best CM.




Overview: Left wing has been a problem area for Liverpool in the past. Downing is the first true natural left winger Liverpool have had in years although depending on your style of football, he may or may not be in the team. Personally I play Suarez on the left as an inside forward and Downing on the opposite side to match their strongest foots, but Downing has had a decrease on his finishing ability so he may be surplus to requirements in the future. Assaidi is, like Downing a good winger, versatile on both sides. Assaidi is a technically gifted dribbler and crosser possessing great pace, he could be rotated with Downing. Borini likewise can play there but he is the best player for that striker position. Note the presence of Sterling, whilst he isn't good enough to start (unlike his performances in the EPL that have suggested alot more to him than ingame) he has the highest potential of all the youngsters at the club and with the right training, he could develop into your best player.




Overview: Likewise, AMR is a position covered by the versatile wingers Liverpool have, although there is no natural right winger at Liverpool other than Joe Cole who I wouldn't recommend on this game. For the first season I've got Downing on that side as inside forward but Assaidi can do a good job there. This would be a position to strengthen in game.




Overview: FYI the game classes a team with IFs as a 4-3-3. Borini and Suarez are your best strikers, and could play in either a partnership or with either as an IF and a lone striker. Borini has got a finishing attribute of 17 but at the moment not alot else for him. Likewise Suarez has got the pace and dribbling ability but has had a decrease on his ability to finish. Yesil should be noted as a hot prospect for this position with Morgan being listed as a squad player for the future. Pacheco remains a good squad player for a few seasons at first but lacks the potential to develop much further.

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Formations to Consider

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Tips for Success

Due to the tight budgets and mixed standard of squad, Liverpool can be difficult to get off the ground at first. Whilst you will get a substantially better budget owing to TV revenue and commercial sponsorship deals, the first season may leave you frustrated. Despite the board being alot better than the previous *bleep* who were in charge, FSG are unwilling to increase either the transfer budget or the wage budget. However, selling Doni, Cole and cancelling Sahin's loan will free up a good amount of wages from the budget. Use this gap to budget adjust, taking even a £100k off your wage bill will give you a decent increase in the budget. Doing this I have managed to increase my transfer budget to £10m whilst keeping £60k head room for players.

In the first season you will need to look for bargains, several can be found. Dzagoev's contract will be expring in January meaning that you can negotiate a contract directly with him to bring him in on a free. Demba Ba has also got a £7m minimum fee release clause, meaning a good striker is fairly cheap. Likewise, if lucky enough it may also be able to sign Anderson from Manchester United (although I hold my breath at that) who is currently transfer listed there.

Should you fail to get either of them and owing to different plans, want a new striker, then I would recommend Ademilson with a £5m buyout clause, has potential and looks get. Alongside him Adryan is another good prospect.

Likewise you may need to shore up your team with several experienced older players on short term contracts such as Zannetti to cover for Lucas, or rely heavily on youth in the first season.

Look hard enough and you'll be surprised with what you can find.

Haven't started properly yet as i'm still getting it set up. Had a quick look at the squad though. Is there no Jerome Sinclair? Also thought Shelvey should be a bit better, and Allen's passing was only 15 I think. Not bad but a bit low for someone who nearly always has higher than a 90% pass completion per game.

JohnRush Is that Shelvey or Allen that's been class? Either way, good to know that they're decent. I haven't played a match yet so I know I shouldn't just judge on stats, they were just my initial thoughts

Started up as Liverpool, trying to implement tiki-taka. First match I played was a dominant performance against my reserves, although TBF I expected to win, Allen did complete 107 or so passes out of 114. Hopefully as my team becomes more competant at that, they'll be able to outplay teams completely.

Bit of a problem with the team report is that for some reason the SW and CB position on the position strength page has overlapped each other so I can't select CBs, meaning I'll have to do that the old fashioned way.

DragoonAndLance I'll get it up tomorrow.

Just confirmed a deal to sign Dzagoev on a free when his contract expires.

Also watch out for Llorente, his contract expires at the end of the season and it's got the 'Leaving on a free' thing set.

I know it's a beta but the shortcuts are annoying me, they keep stopping working for some reason.

Nice to know transfer fees are still *bleep* arse stupid. Derby want £14.7m for a 16yr striker Scout puts his wage demands at £6.75k-£9k a week. HE'S A *bleep*ING 16YR OLD. SI WHAT THE *bleep*!? So much for the EPPP.

Just sold Doni though.

EDIT:
Just had my first injury of the game, John Flanagan out for 4 weeks with a back strain whilst lifting weights.

Getting beat by New England 3-0 has just proved there is something wrong with my tactic somewhere. It isn't playing like it does on FM12... I'm racking up passes, but the amount of long shots and balls hoofed from deep was disturbing.

Does anyone have any suggestions for cheap(er) forwards that could suit liverpool? The only thing I am considering now is John Guidetti on loan, but I have sold Jones and Doni and after a bit of a shuffle have about 7m to spend. Ideally, a good finisher

Thanks John Rush. Its a shame Suarez's finishing and composure has dropped, I don't feel too confident having him as my lone striker so I play him wide left instead. I will check Matias suarez, its a shame that Mr consistent Liedson isn't available like other versions, he always did the business for me in season 1 for about 6m.