Loic Remy for £8m & Borini for £14m. The apocalypse is upon us.

We have apparently sealed the deal to gain a striker with an amazing goals on pitch difference and let go of one who does not.  I've written about what Loic Remy did for Newcastle last season, when he was on the pitch, they were a much better side.  In fact, had he played all 38 matches for the Magpies, they could have possibly finished with 66 points and ahead of Man United.  Instead, they finished 10th with just 49.

How we got him for £6m less than we sold Borini is beyond me.  Borini does not have the pace to be a star in the Prem.  Sunderland may be the perfect fit for him as their 'grind it out' style better suits his game.  I understand he is still 'young' by many standards, but even at 23, he's had his chance to prove he can be of value to a 'big' club like Liverpool.  If he was smart, he'd go back to Italy, where 'technique' is favored over pace.  That's called sarcasm, Serie A is far from technically superior to the Prem and uses that excuse to make up for it's home grown snail's pace.

If the rumours are true and we've added Remy, that makes three solid adds and one which, at best, will go done as 'meh'.  If Lambert will just let the game come to him like he did at Southampton, he'll be a great contribution, but if he tries to force things, he won't see the pitch much and will be gone after this season. He's not the one I'm referring to as 'meh' though, if Loic Remy is worth only £8m, Lallana should have come on a free.  Speaking of additions, Can was apparently injured today in our 2-1 win over Preston North End, I really hope he it's just a niggling and he'll be okay, we need him to compete for minutes pronto.

Speaking of that match, Jordon Ibe was apparently quite impressive.  I didn't get to watch it due to other obligations, but I did get to see some of the highlights.  This first video shows Ibe finding Suso right outside the box, then the Spaniard does his magic with a fine curler.  The second video shows Ibe hooking up Kristoph Peterson for his second goal of the pre-season.  Will Rodgers take the latter on the tour of the US now?  It looks like he'll have an open spot now that Borini is gone.

Good riddance Suarez, we'll be better without you

If Suarez leaves, and it's looking highly likely, we'll be fine.  We still have Sturridge, Sterling, Coutinho, Gerrard, and Henderson, all but one are young and all will be improved.  We don't need to necessarily make up 31 goals, we could actually play better defense.  If we would have prevented just 5 more goals last year, we would have won the league.  Last season, we lead the league in defensive errors with 42, 13 which directly resulted in a goal, that obviously has to stop.

If there ever was an example to follow,  look no further than Ateltico Madrid from last season.  They only scored 77 goals, 27 less than Real, and 23 less than Barça.  They also only allowed 26 and committed just 17 defensive errors, which was not best in league, but only 5 off and light years better than 42.  They also lost Falcao and Martin Demichelis from the season before.

Falcao scored 28 goals for Atletico in the 2012-13 season, that was a ridiculous 43.1% of their total output of 65.  Suarez was 'only' responsible for 30.1% of our goals last season,  but his 13 assists means he took part in 42.6%.  Atletico rebounded with Diego Costa and added David Villa, we have Sturridge and added Rickie Lambert.

In fact, over the years, Atletico has lost a number of key players.  Since summer 2007, they've lost Falcao, Martin Demichelis, Eduardo Salvio, Serio Aguero, David De Gea, Diego Forlan, Jose Manuel Jurado, Simao Sabrosa, Maxi Rodriguez, Martin Petrov, and of course, Torres.  In that time they've won a Copa Del Rey, 2 Europa Cups, and 2 UEFA Super Cups.  Their progression in La Liga since 2009-10 has been consistent to say the least, they went from 9th to 7th to 5th to 3rd to winning it last season.  

They also reduced their goals allowed each season starting in 09-10 they conceded 61, then 53 in 10-11, 46 the next season, and 31 the year before last.  The thing is, their goal scoring showed no such progression save last season.  Over the same period from 2009-10 to 2012-13, they scored 57, 62, 53, and 65 in each successive season.

Brendan Rodgers appears to have solved our goal scoring issues, but now he needs to focus on defense.  I think we'll be better because our defenders, Sakho in particular, should be more familiar with on another.  Communication appeared to lack last season, I just hope that changes.  Also, the addition of Emre Can gives us another option at defensive midfielder, which is the most important defender on the pitch.

Suarez leaving is far from the end of the world.  Yes, he scored and created goals, but he also gave away the ball an awfully lot.  Counter attack goals killed us last year, particularly late in the season.  We can make up for Suarez by playing smarter defense and most of all, holding on to the ball longer and making smarter passes, though we will need to add at least one more attack-minded player.  Hopefully that's Shaqiri, Sanchez, or in the very least, Memphis Depay.

Emre Can will be boss

I remember back in the day when Momo Sissoko galloped across the pitch to and fro, wreaking havoc, it's just too bad he couldn't hold on to the ball.  Well Emre Can, our latest signee, can and does, he just needs to sharpen his passing skills and decision-making.  Here's how he matches up with his new teammates (stats from last season, Can played at Leverkusen in the Bundesliga):

	Can	Lucas	Allen	Gerrard	Henderson
age	20	27	25*	34	24
app (sub)	24(5)	20(7)	15(9)	33(1)	35
mins	2190	1896	1443	2895	3129
goals	3	0	1	13	4
assists	3	0	0	13	7
chances	16	13	18	67	62
npg90	0.12	0	0.06	0.09	0.11
gcp90	0.25	0	0.06	0.81	0.32
ccp90	0.7	0.62	1.13	2.1	1.78
ap90	0.12	0	0	0.4	0.2
ccv	0.17	0	0	0.19	0.11
pass %	77.9	90.8	86.7	85.9	87.1
bp %	39.6	30.3	38	30.6	41.2
sacc %	31.4	22	42.1	51.7	0.15
shot %	12	0	5.3	27.1	0.12
TTI90	13.2	7.9	9.8	10.9	9.7
tp90	3.1	4.2	4.2	3	2.4
t%	44.8	43	56	52.2	42.8

Can certainly holds his own with the exception of passing and turnovers, but he's only 20 and the guidance of Rodgers should help.  His versatility is what makes him exciting, he clearly is more of a box-to-box midfielder, but can play at the holding spot as well.  He sort of reminds me of a young Gerrard or Yaya Toure, when the latter was at Olympiacos & Monaco.

The thing Can will have to display most of all is discipline.  If he's playing defensive midfield, he must be cautious about going forward, but I'd rather see him be something of a factor on the attack unlike Lucas, who prefers not to get involved except via long balls.  Man City's DMs go forward all the time, but when you pair a Yaya Toure with either Fernandinho or Javi Garcia, you always have coverage.  So does that mean we should start Lucas and Can together? If it gets to that, it probably means Gerrard and Henderson are both out due to injury or discipline, which I don't think anyone wishes for.  It would be great to see it as an experiment in a cup tie though.

Another interesting aspect is that Can can play left back.  He did so for 10 matches last season at Leverkusen.  In fact he got some of his highest match ratings on whoscored playing that position:

His talent alone makes him a steal at £9.75m, but his versatility may make Rodgers look like a genius.