RipCordless

A pop-culture consumer who keeps it, by design, in the shallow end of the pool.

Premier League

Liverpool with Five Left

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Am I nervous? Of course. Do I think Liverpool Football Club can win the remaining five games left in the 2018/19 Premier League season? Uh, yes. Do I think Liverpool will win the Premier League for the first time since the league was formed 26 years ago? Now that is another matter. Why? Because Liverpool don’t control their own fate. Manchester City, the Pep Guardiola led juggernaut, is currently two points behind Liverpool but have one game in hand. Should Manchester City win all their remaining games, there is nothing Liverpool can do except finish in second place finishers, bereft of the title once again. So you’re saying there’s a chance?!

All it takes for that chance is for Manchester City to slip up. One draw, or loss, and Liverpool are in with a shout — if they have the bottle to remain in first place for the remainder of the season. Tomorrow, Sunday, April 14, is likely an important moment in deciding exactly who will win the Premier League title in 2018/19, because Liverpool face an old foe in Chelsea, the team responsible for “The Slip” and capitulation in Gerrard’s final run at glory. Without a doubt, Chelsea mark the biggest hurdle of quality players (no disrespect intended) remaining in the schedule. Should Liverpool lose, it’s likely over. Should Liverpool win, they remain poised to snatch the title if Manchester City falter.

Truth be told, there’s more going on than simply the Chelsea game. Some Reds look over the Manchester City run-in and eyeball the Manchester United game as a possible hurdle. Not me. You ask any self-respecting Man United fan who’d they’d rather see win the league, every one of them will tell you they don’t want Man City, but despise Liverpool. From where I sit, Manchester United will fold gracefully to City on Wednesday, April 24. The real test for Manchester City will be the week before when Spurs come to town. Hungry for a top-four finish, Spurs may likely be the strongest test of City’s resolve and Liverpool’s chance at daylight. Barring that game, things appears quite comfortable for City on the way to the finish line — much to Liverpool’s chagrin.

My final thought is on of what could have been. Liverpool had a ten-point lead during the holidays but clearly felt the pressure of that lead. No team in Premier League history has managed to piss away a ten-point lead and fail to win the league, since it’s inception. But Liverpool and Jurgen Klopp aren’t used to winning or being in the lead — they are used to being the underdog. Sure enough, they managed to leak points and piss away that lead, finally succumbing the unrelenting pressure of Manchester City. Why?

Honestly, I think Liverpool are running on emotion these days. They ebb and flow, like tidal water, and want it so badly, they can taste it. Meanwhile Man City quietly go about their business as professional winners, dispatching opponents with relative ease on their way to another title. The true difference between Liverpool and Man City is the mechanics of their respective journeys. One team, dressed in powder blue, coldly execute the plan. The second team, dressed in red, are driven by passion. Passion is certainly exciting but may not get it done. And I’ll be devastated.

Post-Match UPDATE

Liverpool 2, Chelsea 0

Pressure is an interesting thing. Something people fold, other thrive. Liverpool continue to deal with the pressure after dispatching their most dangerous opponent, 2-0 on Sunday. Chelsea left without a repeat of five years ago and their hand in preventing Liverpool from lifting the Premier League trophy. Not this time. Salah scored a stunner from the top of the box to secure a two-goal lead. Chelsea had their chances almost immediately and Hazard continues to show his brilliance, thumping one off the post but when the dust cleared, Liverpool resume their position at the top of the league and hope Manchester City stumble just once in the final few games.

Coutinho Wants Transfer

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So it’s real, Philip Coutinho, the one we’ve come to know as the Little Brazilian Magician, has officially handed in a transfer request — right before the first game of the season against Watford but more importantly, a couple of days before the first-leg of the Champion’s League final qualifier with Hoffenheim. Just a shocking state of affairs.

In what began as an off-season of potential and hope, confirmed by news print speculation from the Liverpool Echo announcing this could be one of the biggest summer spending sprees in club history — we’re edging from improvement and closer to disappointment. This was the summer where Klopp would finally be able to stamp his identity upon the squad, while strengthening for the rigors of the impending Champion’s League. But we’ve done little to strengthen or deepen the squad (with quality). All those aspirations seem to be slipping away at a rather alarming pace but for those not keeping track, why don’t we remind ourselves of the hiccups.

We tried but thus far have failed to sign a rock solid center back named, Virgil Van Dijk — a position which is much needed. We tried and completely failed to sign a high-potential, box-to-box, midfield player named, Naby Keita — a position which needs quality. Due to the unique rigors of Klopp preseason prep, we have a handful of players suffering from injuries, including the much loved Adam Lallana who will be gone three to four months with a thigh tear. And the final straw, our best player, Philipe Coutinho, wants to leave Liverpool for Barcelona. (Honestly, who could blame him but goodness, the timing is horrific.)

For good measure, all of these troubling issues were highlighted during the first game of the Premier League season against Watford. In an uninspiring display, Liverpool took a long time to get up to speed in the game, only managing a 3–3 tie at the closing whistle. The defense looked suspect while the midfield could only be described as average.

Remove Coutinho from the squad and we’re looking like a team which could score plenty but struggle to keep a lead. That defensive frailty could be exposed especially in light of how the other top teams have strengthened during the summer. The likes of Morata, Lacazette, and Lukaku arriving at new clubs looking to cause mayhem in the opposition’s box.

I grow concerned. I thought Klopp would be the difference maker, the guy who could bring glory back to the club. His personality, demeanor, and excitement for the club are evident but if this summer transfer window closes with a whimper instead of a bang — while we lose the quality in Coutinho, then this could be a long and frustrating season.

FIFA 15 Challenge | Do Better Than Rodgers

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A lot has been made 0f Brendan Rodgers current situation at Liverpool FC in light of the Suarez departure and his (questionable) transfer selections for the 2014/2015 season. If you play EA Sports FIFA 15, it is rather easy to set up a career mode game to replicate a similar situation. Setting up the game is quite simple: all you’ll need is one “Financial Takeover” from the career mode catalogue and a little tinkering with the current (default) roster. The scenario is set up to approximate the conditions directly after Suarez is sold to Barca, the money arrived and it is time for some decision making on summer transfers. Do you bring in Markovic? How about Lovren? Is Lallana worth £25m or can you get him cheaper? Perhaps you go a different directly entirely.

As you can see, from the image below, Liverpool are desperately thin all across the board. There are only two strikers, one out of favor, the other injury prone. The attacking midfield, though okay, is spread exceptionally thin, and the defense requires some much needed patchwork. I should mention, nothing can truly approximate the actual conditions facing Brendan Rodgers but this goes about as close as one can manage in the moderately unrealistic FIFA environment. Let’s get down to setting up the game.

The LFC squad just after Suarez left and before 2015 summer spending

STEP 1

Start up FIFA 15 and go into CUSTOMIZE > EDIT TEAMS then click on DOWNLOAD UPDATES. Doing this first resets the team roster to the current default roster (note: there may be some unforeseen changes due to January transfers which are not listed here). Balotelli, Moreno, Lovren, etc. will all be on the LFC roster, while Agger, Reina, and Kelly have been transferred away.

Download the latest updates from EA servers

STEP 2

Staying on the CUSTOMIZE page, go to CLUB TRANSFERS and start with the team you want to transfer players away from. I suggest you start with Liverpool FC and start transferring players back to their original teams. Here is the list of recommended moves which account for approximately £114,000,000 worth of roster transfers:

Transfer all the 2014 summer spending out, then bring back all the players who left

  • Adam Lallana — transfer BACK to — England > Barclays PL > Southampton
  • Emre Can — transfer BACK to — Germany > Bundesliga > Bayer 04 Leverkusen
  • Ricky Lambert — transfer BACK to — England > Barclays PL > Southampton
  • Lazar Markovic — transfer BACK to — Portugal > Premiera Liga > SL Benfica
  • Dejan Lovren — transfer BACK to —  England > Barclays PL > Southampton
  • Alberta Moreno — transfer BACK to — Spain > LaLiga > Seville
  • Javi Manquillo — transfer BACK to — Spain > LaLiga > Athletico Madrid (was on loan)
  • Mario Balotelli — transfer BACK to — Italy >Serie A > AC Milan

Continue with the club transfers, this time selecting teams from which you will transfer players back to Liverpool FC. Here is the list of recommended moves:

  • Germany > Bundesliga > Bayern Munich > Pepe Reina — transfer BACK to — Liverpool
  • England > Barclays PL > Crystal Palace > Martin Kelly — transfer BACK to — Liverpool
  • Denmark > Superligaen > Brondby IF > Daniel Agger — transfer BACK to — Liverpool

There are a few very low rated players (sub 65 ovr) and some of inconsequential value which have been ducked for simplicity but these recommended adjustments hit the high points and will be challenge enough. Lets begin the season so we can add the Financial Takeover package to the mix.

STEP 3

Return to the main FIFA 15 HOME page then go to PLAY > NEW CAREER > MANAGER CAREER (interestingly, there is a picture of Brendan Rodgers, your competition, looking very sure of himself) then select ENGLAND > Barclays PL > Liverpool. The roster should be updated with our customizations already but we’ll make sure on the next step.

Start the new career with the customized rosters

Choose the appropriate CAREER SETTINGS which work for you (i.e., financial rules, difficultly, length of half, etc.) but pay specific attention to two items: SQUADS USED and EUROPEAN COMPETITION 1st SEASON.

Use the Current Customized and include European Competition

In SQUADS USED choose the CURRENT CUSTOMIZED option. This will ensure you use the rosters we just adjusted. Next choose EUROPEAN COMPETITION 1st SEASON and set that up (just follow the simple directions in the FIFA interface). I always use the second “realistic” draw to select the teams — just feels right. After you’re done, advance to MANAGER PREFERENCES, update with your choices then advance and the game will first set up the starting season, then ask you to save the game. I saved the game using something like, “LFC v1 db S1” (v1 = version 1 of this experiment, db = “do better,” S1 = season 1).

STEP 4

Now you have the game saved, take a quick look at your starting transfer budget. It will be something around £34,000,000 with a weekly wage budget of £190,000. Not shabby numbers but you just sold Suarez and the board has been happy with the results from the prior season thus are allowing you to spend heavily in the summer transfer window. Let’s add the Financial Takeover package to bump up those numbers to a more realistic representation of 2015’s summer budget.

Exit the current season and go to HOME > CATALOGUE > CAREER and buy one of the Financial Takeover options (Level 9 for 1,000 FCC -or- Level 39 for 3,000 FCC -or- Level 65 for 5,000 FCC). Once purchased, go back and load the ” LFC v1 db S1″ career you just created. Warning, if you load any other career, the Financial Takeover will affect that career only. You must load the LFC season (i.e., LFC v1 db S1) directly after buying the Financial Takeover for it to be applied to the correct season.

Drop some money in bank for the new season

STEP 5

Now you’ve loaded the “LFC v1 db S1” career, check out TRANSFERS > FINANCES section. Don’t be surprised, the numbers won’t have changed — yet. You have to advance the season at least one day for the Financial Takeover numbers to update. You should now be looking at a Remaining Transfer Budget of £114,000,000 with a Weekly Wages Budget around £190,000. That’s a lot of cheddar to mess with as you take the helm of LFC and attempt to do better than the current management.

The beginning budget adjusted down to rounded numbers

Some closing thoughts: LFC will face a number of games both on the weekends and during the week with Champion’s League, Capital One cup, etc. If you take a look at the basic roster, post-customization, you’ll see it looks horribly thin. Shockingly thin, truth be told. Now check out the calibre of the players you have at your disposal — again, very pedestrian and lacking impact or punch. Remind you of Liverpool’s current season? Sure it does. Now mess with formations, see if you can get the feared midfield diamond to work. Tough with no impact second striker and limited options in the middle of the park. How about that defense? You think it will stand up to the newly signed Diego Costa or Falcoa? Unlikely.

Now you’re in charge (like it or not) of Liverpool’s renaissance season. You’ve got a pocket full of money, the blessings of the board, so go hit the transfer market and see what magic you can make happen. Do you fatten the roster? Do you boost the defense? Do you put Pepe back in goal? Do you move Gerrard? Perhaps you focus on young talent or bring in impact players to support your current team? So many questions. Time to find out what works. Best of luck!

CLOSING

I’ve had a go at this particular scenario two or three times, each going with a different angle on success. My third attempt appears the most interesting and rewarding, check out the details here. I should warn you, I blow up the current LFC roster entirely, trading almost everyone of value and bringing in new players I’d like to see on the pitch including Lavezzi, Lacazette, and Pogba to name but a few (no one said this had to be realistic but it sure as hell is fun).