Klaus wrote:

Liverpool signed known entities like Milner and Wijnaldum; players who are never going to be stars but have enough quality and allround skills to be dependable, and they have used them to great effect to build a strong backbone in their squad. Why can't we do the same? Fraser strikes me as exactly the kind of good opportunity that we should consider. With a year left on his deal he's obviously not going to cost £30 million, and even if he does, is that really absurd money in this market for a guy who created more and assisted more than anyone else in the league this season

This. And he's young enough and at a cut price due to his contract that you can probably sell him for more or less the same fee in 2 or 3 years when you've hopefully solidified us back in the CL and are looking for an upgrade. I'd find it very hard to turn my nose up at any player going cheap who's in his mid 20's and would walk into our current first 11.

That this thread exists is pathetic and damning.

Gunner89 wrote:

Watch the club try to tie up this signing

Hopefully. It'd be a massive improvement on Ozil and Mhki thats for sure.

Probably out of our reach now.

Klaus wrote:

Gazza M wrote:

somehow we seem allergic to recruiting players that can dribble. it kills me

and before anyone starts - this guy is not a dribbler. he can kick and chase, scamper onto the end of through-balls, and cause problems for a back-pedalling defense. he doesn't beat his man, and will generally opt for whipping in crosses around the fullback rather than taking him on

and while his stats are good ask yourselves 2 questions

1. would you be satisfied if he was the only wide player we signed?
2. while his stats look good, would he be as productive in our system? emery is a fullback merchant as we've seen. fraser doesn't come inside to take advantage of those overlaps. the most i could see him doing is sending in crosses becks style when the oppo fullback is pulled away by the overlap

for 15-20m i'll take him, but i'd want another wide player that offers something different

I share the love for a proper dribbler, and I'd give... maybe not my left hand but at least the pinky for someone proper exciting, like Cengiz Ünder. I think people need to look at where we are and ask themselves what the best course to rebuild is though. Do we worry about how high the roof is gonna be at first or how low the floor is?

Is the best course of action to sign a high risk, high reward player like Ünder who is coming off a bad season with Roma and probably needs a year adjusting anyway before we even know if he can deliver on his potential? Or to bet our entire transfer kitty on someone from Ligue 1, which is notorious for offering up too much time and space to attacking players - the two things they'll never get in England? Or to secure some form of base level for the team by signing a low risk, medium reward player like Fraser who has bags of Premier League experience, is at the right age, has decent attributes, and is coming off a season where he has been playing the best football of his life?

Liverpool signed known entities like Milner and Wijnaldum; players who are never going to be stars but have enough quality and allround skills to be dependable, and they have used them to great effect to build a strong backbone in their squad. Why can't we do the same? Fraser strikes me as exactly the kind of good opportunity that we should consider. With a year left on his deal he's obviously not going to cost £30 million, and even if he does, is that really absurd money in this market for a guy who created more and assisted more than anyone else in the league this season?

Emery's abject style where everything originates from the fullbacks is a concern for sure, but it will remain a concern even if we sign a more cultured player. If the argument is that he's not going to use whoever we sign to great effect then we might as well not sign any wingers at all.

From a tactical point of view it's better to have a different point of attack if you rely upon the flanks.
A wide forward who can provide quality service in the last 3rd by cross or pass then allows you to sign a defensive focused player behind him.
You can then get a dribbler inside forward type on the other flank to run at defenders and also have a overlapping WB for the final ball delivery.
Just gives the defence something to think about instead of simply relying upon the same patters of play on both flanks.

Gunner89 wrote:

If ryan fucking fraser is out of our reach the I am done with this club till kroenke fucks off.

The most expensive season tickets in england for what?

Watching mustafi watch players go past him?

Nah mate = that's Xhaka and his lack of positioning and pace.
Mustafi's the one who charges out to try to intercept when Xhaka's been 'done' and then either misses the ball/tackle and then gives away a free kick or leaves the door open in on our goal.

Klaus wrote:

Gazza M wrote:

somehow we seem allergic to recruiting players that can dribble. it kills me

and before anyone starts - this guy is not a dribbler. he can kick and chase, scamper onto the end of through-balls, and cause problems for a back-pedalling defense. he doesn't beat his man, and will generally opt for whipping in crosses around the fullback rather than taking him on

and while his stats are good ask yourselves 2 questions

1. would you be satisfied if he was the only wide player we signed?
2. while his stats look good, would he be as productive in our system? emery is a fullback merchant as we've seen. fraser doesn't come inside to take advantage of those overlaps. the most i could see him doing is sending in crosses becks style when the oppo fullback is pulled away by the overlap

for 15-20m i'll take him, but i'd want another wide player that offers something different

I share the love for a proper dribbler, and I'd give... maybe not my left hand but at least the pinky for someone proper exciting, like Cengiz Ünder. I think people need to look at where we are and ask themselves what the best course to rebuild is though. Do we worry about how high the roof is gonna be at first or how low the floor is?

Is the best course of action to sign a high risk, high reward player like Ünder who is coming off a bad season with Roma and probably needs a year adjusting anyway before we even know if he can deliver on his potential? Or to bet our entire transfer kitty on someone from Ligue 1, which is notorious for offering up too much time and space to attacking players - the two things they'll never get in England? Or to secure some form of base level for the team by signing a low risk, medium reward player like Fraser who has bags of Premier League experience, is at the right age, has decent attributes, and is coming off a season where he has been playing the best football of his life?

Liverpool signed known entities like Milner and Wijnaldum; players who are never going to be stars but have enough quality and allround skills to be dependable, and they have used them to great effect to build a strong backbone in their squad. Why can't we do the same? Fraser strikes me as exactly the kind of good opportunity that we should consider. With a year left on his deal he's obviously not going to cost £30 million, and even if he does, is that really absurd money in this market for a guy who created more and assisted more than anyone else in the league this season?

Emery's abject style where everything originates from the fullbacks is a concern for sure, but it will remain a concern even if we sign a more cultured player. If the argument is that he's not going to use whoever we sign to great effect then we might as well not sign any wingers at all.

as crummy as emery's fullback tactics are, they would be improved by a winger that can be productive coming inside or outside. fraser is too one-note for that, which is why i'm hesitant to say he'd be worth the trouble

to be fair, everyone thought sterling was a one trick pony and nothing special when citeh spent a ton on him, and hes come good and developed well under pep

mdgoonah41 wrote:

to be fair, everyone thought sterling was a one trick pony and nothing special when citeh spent a ton on him

wut

Diaby KungFu wrote:

mdgoonah41 wrote:

to be fair, everyone thought sterling was a one trick pony and nothing special when citeh spent a ton on him

wut

which part is confusing? plenty of people questioned that transfer at the time and thought he was overrated and that he had no end product and was too one dimensional and bad in front of goal. in his 3 full seasons at liverpool before the transfer, he only scored 18 goals in 93 league appearances. in his first 2 seasons at city he scored only 13 goals in 64 league games. hes scored 35 goals the last two seasons.

mdgoonah41 wrote:

to be fair, everyone thought sterling was a one trick pony and nothing special when citeh spent a ton on him, and hes come good and developed well under pep

even if they did (which i didn't), he was clearly always far more talented/younger than fraser, if that's where this 'comparison' is going

Sterling is world class. Fraser never showed the potential to be that and he's already 26.

Fraser turned 25 in February.

I don't think I'd sign him. He's got some strengths, but he's not the player I want playing wide for us.

Fraser looks ok. I think he'd do a decent job here, and we can't spend too much money on any single player.

Why the fuck are people talking about Sterling? The guys arguably the best winger in the league, no one thinks Fraser is that or will become that. He's a decent player at a cut price. Thats why he makes sense for us now.

I'd rather go for ACM, someone with more potential than Fraser, wingers are usually the most expensive players and if we do want to piggy back of big player sales then we need to focus on young wingers with potential to hit the £60m+ price range.