RandoEFC

A pretty much perfect lap indeed. Watching that reminds me how much I love driving that track on games with the off camber corners and different lines you can take through some parts. Wolff reckons Mercedes are losing half a second to Ferrari in straight line speed. Probably an exaggeration but he's not a happy bunny. Today is a good day for Bottas to get his first win of the year but it will need a significant turn around from Mercedes. I don't really know how they compared to Ferrari on the long runs on Friday.

Did he turn around with that massive grin on his face after?

Apparently we lost due to a comedy penalty miss from Oumar. A gif of that would be much appreciated.

Off out now so missing the last ten. Hope we get a goal. Besic the standout tonight, the rest okay but not much more. Attacks tending to start well but not decisive enough around the box.

I'm actually hoping he gives these 90 minutes more or less then saves the first team to get the same tomorrow. This is a much changed Lille side apparently and we've been the better side so these should be able to get the job done tonight.

The only significant measure by which I can put Liverpool ahead of Manchester United is that they've won more European Cups. I wonder if @SirBalon wants to apply the same logic to which club is bigger out of Barcelona and Real Madrid?

Sandro hits the post. Should have scored even though that looked about 5 yards offside to me.

Besic and Klaassen looking sharp. Klaassen goal wrongly ruled out for offside which is a shame.

Line-up vs Lille Definitely our shop window team with the actual first team being rested for tomorrow night's Porto game.

Liverpool fans have learnt never to say it's our year. They probably never did apart from a few token whoppers. The 'it could be Liverpools year' originated from the media unless I'm misremembering. Several years in a row you'd get a Sky pundit writing a column on the website or tipping them for a title challenge on Soccer Saturday only for them to end up nowhere near. It's possible that Phil Thompson was the main culprit so it ended up getting associated with Liverpool fans themselves, it's been a while though. Also it's quite clear that when rival fans use it to poke fun at Liverpool it's an obvious joke and not a genuine accusation that Liverpool fans think they're going to win the league every season.

He's being a whiny bitch. Monaco and Singapore for a start are much worse. There's a massive straight here where I wouldn't be surprised to see him pass two at a time in the first few laps he has such a power advantage.

I really hope next year's rule changes bring the top three teams closer to the midfield. You'd say what a race we have on tomorrow with Hamilton and Ricciardo battling from the back but you know they'll just pass two cars a lap in obvious places with DRS and minimal wheel to wheel action to get to 5th and 6th then do the rest though strategy. That said, Haas only 0.4s behind Verstappen today.

Time for Valtteri to save the day.

Bit over dramatic with his reaction because he'll probably start from the pit lane and still be back up to 6th within 7 laps.

2pm

Wet qualifying? Yes plz.

I don't think any Liverpool fan in this thread is still saying they're spending the Coutinho money this window.

Exact money isn't the point though. You make good points but it's still fair to say Liverpool made a significant amount of their war chest by selling Coutinho and that the signings have had to be of a more consistent quality to maintain and improve the quality of the squad because they've sold key players unlike most of their main rivals.

The net spend argument shouldn't be discounted. It is better and more impressive to have spent big money but also sell your best players to generate that money, than it is to have that much money to spend every summer without having to sell key players. The net spend argument has always been a controversial one but in this case it's fair enough to bring up the fact that yes Klopp has spent big money but selling key parts of his squad which is a disadvantage has allowed him to do that until this window.

5 minute walk

Exactly why people are on about it. You can't finish a post giving a balanced view without trying to "win" with this sort of parting comment. If you think people commenting on other clubs business is just them having their feathers ruffled then why are we all posting on a mixed football forum.

Weird point to make. Signing a world record keeper prompts discussion. Just as many Liverpool fans in the Richarlison thread last night as soon as there was something to talk about Everton wise. As to the rest of the debate, can't be bothered repeating myself and others. It only continues because people are making factual comments about what Klopp has spent just like people do with any other manager or club spending that money and a couple of you lot are taking offence to it for some reason. "Yeah but, yeah but".

I don't give a toss about net spend personally but Klopp said he wanted to do things a different way. If he's abandoned that fine, it's the sensible thing to do, and I'm not arguing whether he's built a good squad. However, you can't expect to sit there and pretend that he has made a profit or a positive net spend then just laugh it off when someone provides facts proving you wrong with no effort to make a counter argument. Would have infinitely more respect for someone who just went "alright fair enough Klopp has spent a lot of money now but it's been worth it because look at the squad we've ended up with compared to others who have spent similar or more overall". And how hard is it to admit one fault (not even really a fault) in what Klopp has done at Liverpool when there are so many positives? How hard is it to just add a tiny bit of balance and self awareness to your point of view and in the process add a significant amount of credibility to your opinions on football? But for some people they can't make a simple concession because they need to believe that everything Klopp, any Liverpool player or any Liverpool employee does has sunshine and rainbows shining out of its anus whilst also making a profit for the club in the process. A shame as you mostly have quality posters on here when it comes to Liverpool fans who can have a reasonable opinion with only the normal amount of club bias that you get with any fan but some just can't accept that only 95% of things are rosey and have to pretend it's 100%.

He's had half a year. How long are they expected to wait? He was playing games months ago so unless he's suffered a further injury it would be ridiculous to not expect him to be fully fit for the start of this season.

I don't rate Mr in his arguments most of the time but those are hard figures he's laid out and if you refuse to either dispute his argument/sources or accept that he has a point then Au Revoir to your credibility.