Liverpool Discussion

[Devil-Dick Willie]

You're in for a nasty shock I think, because it doesn't look like you're on your way to making any big moves, and Spike is right about a few things. You have several injury prone key players, not too much depth and Klopp burnout is real. 

[LFCMadLad]

1 hour ago, Devil-Dick Willie said:

You're in for a nasty shock I think, because it doesn't look like you're on your way to making any big moves, and Spike is right about a few things. You have several injury prone key players, not too much depth and Klopp burnout is real. 

Let's see. With the money those around us are spending they should blow us out of the water.

Klopp yesterday: -"I’m very happy with the squad, that doesn’t mean we don’t look at the market. We have a big squad and something might still happen before the end of the transfer window but I can’t say anything at the moment,” he said

I'll bump this conversation near the end of the season.

Edited August 9, 2021 by LFCMadLad

[Devil-Dick Willie]

47 minutes ago, LFCMadLad said:

Let's see. With the money those around us are spending they should blow us out of the water.

Klopp yesterday: -"I’m very happy with the squad, that doesn’t mean we don’t look at the market. We have a big squad and something might still happen before the end of the transfer window but I can’t say anything at the moment,” he said

I'll bump this conversation near the end of the season.

If you're still in the hunt to win the league with 10 wins to go you win. 

[Rick]

4 hours ago, LFCMike said:

A team loses three players in the same position and they're not as good, who'd have thought it?

It’s the fact that the players we need to rely on have shown themselves to be very injury prone. The squad needs freshened up massively. 

[LFCMike]

8 minutes ago, Rick said:

It’s the fact that the players we need to rely on have shown themselves to be very injury prone. The squad needs freshened up massively. 

It's nonsense that there needs to be massive changes. One or two is all that is needed

[Rick]

1 minute ago, LFCMike said:

It's nonsense that there needs to be massive changes. One or two is all that is needed

Origi, Shaqiri & Oxlade Chamberlain would all be on their way out if I were Klopp. None of those three are going to make any real impact are they. Or are we hoping that Chamberlain becomes some consistent attacking threat all of a sudden? He has had a good few months here before he had that long term injury but overall he has been a costly mistake. Klopp being forced to push him up into the front three positions just shows how little investment there is. 
 

We can’t pay anybody to take Origi, so that tells you all you need to know. Shaqiri seems to only have interest from skint Italian clubs, so we are hardly going to make a mint there either. Minamino has looked lost for the most part, so he’s not going to be somebody to rely upon. Harvey Elliott has come back and looked really good in pre season, and it’s likely he is going to get a bit of game time this season. But we are going into the season with those lot I’ve mentioned & Bobby/Jota as attacking options off the bench. Bobby has been on his way out for a couple of seasons now (he has his moments, but few and far between) and we were all saying he and Mane would have been dropped last season if we had any options off the bench, which we don’t. 
 

Youve got Utd with Martial & Greenwood on the bench, you’ve got City with Sterling & Silva/Mahrez, Chelsea with Abraham/Pulisic…and then us….Origi & Shaqiri. Class. 
 

Fed up of having this same go around on here though. Being told that the squad doesn’t need work even though it’s not had much of a freshen up for 3-4 years is annoying. Like Spike said, we could have built a dynasty with this team, but these owners are cheap fucks and wouldn’t gamble on Klopp and his staff to go out and really cement our spot at the top. Standing still while those around us add to their squads (that already finished above us last season) is disheartening to say the least. 

[LFCMike]

35 minutes ago, Rick said:

Origi, Shaqiri & Oxlade Chamberlain would all be on their way out if I were Klopp. None of those three are going to make any real impact are they. Or are we hoping that Chamberlain becomes some consistent attacking threat all of a sudden? He has had a good few months here before he had that long term injury but overall he has been a costly mistake. Klopp being forced to push him up into the front three positions just shows how little investment there is. 
 

We can’t pay anybody to take Origi, so that tells you all you need to know. Shaqiri seems to only have interest from skint Italian clubs, so we are hardly going to make a mint there either. Minamino has looked lost for the most part, so he’s not going to be somebody to rely upon. Harvey Elliott has come back and looked really good in pre season, and it’s likely he is going to get a bit of game time this season. But we are going into the season with those lot I’ve mentioned & Bobby/Jota as attacking options off the bench. Bobby has been on his way out for a couple of seasons now (he has his moments, but few and far between) and we were all saying he and Mane would have been dropped last season if we had any options off the bench, which we don’t. 
 

Youve got Utd with Martial & Greenwood on the bench, you’ve got City with Sterling & Silva/Mahrez, Chelsea with Abraham/Pulisic…and then us….Origi & Shaqiri. Class. 
 

Fed up of having this same go around on here though. Being told that the squad doesn’t need work even though it’s not had much of a freshen up for 3-4 years is annoying. Like Spike said, we could have built a dynasty with this team, but these owners are cheap fucks and wouldn’t gamble on Klopp and his staff to go out and really cement our spot at the top. Standing still while those around us add to their squads (that already finished above us last season) is disheartening to say the least. 

No issues with Chamberlain in the squad to be honest. In the two seasons he's stayed fit for the most part he's chipped in with goals. 

There's no doubt we could do with a couple more players under the age of 25 as we look to the future but it's not something I would consider urgent this summer. If Shaqiri and Origi end up going then you would expect that we'll bring someone in.

I think Liverpool will surprise a few this season going by the way they're being spoken about on here.

[Rick]

13 minutes ago, LFCMike said:

No issues with Chamberlain in the squad to be honest. In the two seasons he's stayed fit for the most part he's chipped in with goals. 

There's no doubt we could do with a couple more players under the age of 25 as we look to the future but it's not something I would consider urgent this summer. If Shaqiri and Origi end up going then you would expect that we'll bring someone in.

I think Liverpool will surprise a few this season going by the way they're being spoken about on here.

Despite my gripes, I agree on the last part of that. From what we have seen in the last couple of pre season games, the constant press may have returned. Mane & Salah look unbelievably fit, and everybody looks hungry again. 

[Lucas]

Be interesting to see what Tsimikas is made of.

To be fair, Norwich and Burnley are two soft opponents to come up against, depending on how long Robertson is out for.

[Danny]

I think the owners and manager have to take a lot of the blame for his far the injury crisis went last season, but I guess that is the balance of winning the league and champions league with a thin squad of injury prone players.

What I will say is I don't think things will be as bad for them this season as they were last season, in the end a massive injury crisis led to them finishing 3rd. City are clear favourites for the title and I think that's obvious, United and Chelsea have both put themselves into the realms of needing to win the league or Champions League to consider this season a success after the signings they've made. Liverpool's squad know what sort of performances they need to put in to go all the way with City and co, Thiago will feel like a new player because he's actually had a pre-season and not been thrown into an absolute shitshow whilst coming back from an injury.

Are there players out there that Klopp could sign to strengthen the first 11/rotating subs? Surely. But does not signing them mean that Liverpool won't be able to compete for top honours? No.

[Smiley Culture]

It’s all well and good fans saying they’d get rid of x, y and z if they were manager but, firstly, it’s not FIFA and more importantly, the market isn’t exactly booming at the minute given a mixture of a global pandemic and the Euros. 

[Spike]

‘Complete shite’ and ‘absolute bollocks’, yet ignore more than half the points I made and focus on a pedantic number. Yeah I am done with this thread, enjoy the car crash.

[LFCMike]

9 minutes ago, Spike said:

‘Complete shite’ and ‘absolute bollocks’, yet ignore more than half the points I made and focus on a pedantic number. Yeah I am done with this thread, enjoy the car crash.

You asked which bits were disagreed with?  I'm also yet to see any evidence of this 'Klopp burnout' bollocks that seems to be the latest catchphrase

[Spike]

1 minute ago, LFCMike said:

You asked which bits were disagreed with?  I'm also yet to see any evidence of this 'Klopp burnout' bollocks that seems to be the latest catchphrase

Fair enough. The wheels fell off at Dortmund in a very similar way to the injuries piling up at Liverpool. Granted Dortmund were selling players but they were plagues by injury.

[LFCMike]

16 minutes ago, Spike said:

Fair enough. The wheels fell off at Dortmund in a very similar way to the injuries piling up at Liverpool. Granted Dortmund were selling players but they were plagues by injury.

I'm not going to pretend to know the ins and outs of Klopp at Dortmund but I'd say a pretty significant factor would have been constantly losing his best players. Difficult to sustain success if you're having to try and find replacements for them every summer. That's not happening at Liverpool.

I also feel like people haven't watched much of Liverpool over the last 3 years or so if they think it's just intense pressing for 90 minutes like his early Liverpool side

[Spike]

9 minutes ago, LFCMike said:

I'm not going to pretend to know the ins and outs of Klopp at Dortmund but I'd say a pretty significant factor would have been constantly losing his best players. Difficult to sustain success if you're having to try and find replacements for them every summer. That's not happening at Liverpool.

I also feel like people haven't watched much of Liverpool over the last 3 years or so if they think it's just intense pressing for 90 minutes like his early Liverpool side

The intensity was also his hallmark at Dortmund as well, you’re right I’ve only watched the bigger games and maybe by coincidence they play a higher intensity. IIRC Dortmund had injury issues with Kehl, Bender, Subotic, Reus, Schmelzer, and Hummels. Someone like @Tommy would have better recall.

Also let me clarify what I meant by ‘one injury leading to disarray’. Obviously it is an overstatement but how CBs do Liverpool have? Three, right? Take out van Dijk and you have two forcing Fabinho to cover defence in a pinch, which weakens the midfield. Another injury and it’s a risky game on the razor’s edge. That is what I meant by disarray, it isn’t ideal and puts stress on other parts of the squad. I didn’t mean the team is shit all of  a sudden losing 5-0 to everyone

[LFCMike]

27 minutes ago, Spike said:

The intensity was also his hallmark at Dortmund as well, you’re right I’ve only watched the bigger games and maybe by coincidence they play a higher intensity. IIRC Dortmund had injury issues with Kehl, Bender, Subotic, Reus, Schmelzer, and Hummels. Someone like @Tommy would have better recall.

Also let me clarify what I meant by ‘one injury leading to disarray’. Obviously it is an overstatement but how CBs do Liverpool have? Three, right? Take out van Dijk and you have two forcing Fabinho to cover defence in a pinch, which weakens the midfield. Another injury and it’s a risky game on the razor’s edge. That is what I meant by disarray, it isn’t ideal and puts stress on other parts of the squad. I didn’t mean the team is shit all of  a sudden losing 5-0 to everyone

I don't think you'll find many arguing now that it wasn't a mistake to go into last season with only 3 first team CBs, even though I had no issue with it at the time. 

[Dr. Gonzo]

I think we've got 4 senior CBs again, unlike 3 with last year. Although tbf we still don't know how VVD will be post-injury in competitive games and everyone else also has a bad injury record so... 

[Rick]

1 hour ago, Smiley Culture said:

It’s all well and good fans saying they’d get rid of x, y and z if they were manager but, firstly, it’s not FIFA and more importantly, the market isn’t exactly booming at the minute given a mixture of a global pandemic and the Euros. 

I’ve been wanting improvement on these players for 3 years. 

[LFCMike]

 

[LFCMike]

 

[Rick]

29 minutes ago, LFCMike said:

 

My guess is 6 weeks out. No time frame means it ain’t gonna be a fortnight. Good job Tsimikas looks very handy as a replacement. 

[Dr. Gonzo]

1 hour ago, Rick said:

My guess is 6 weeks out. No time frame means it ain’t gonna be a fortnight. Good job Tsimikas looks very handy as a replacement. 

Yeah, even though we didn't see much of him last season - he was really highly rated by Olympiakos fans and so far he's never put in any performance where you'd think "holy shit this lad looks like he forgot how to play after being sat on the bench for so long" (even though he's not had many appearances).

[Dr. Gonzo]

Minamino's done well this pre-season in terms of getting on the scoresheet. I don't really watch friendlies, cos I can't be arsed caring about them... so I have no idea how his performances have looked (although his goal today takes a deflection, so he's a bit fortunate... but still done well enough to get on the scoresheet).

Is this something we should be encouraged by while so many of us are wanting us to have a bit more depth up front. Because when he played us while he was at Salzburg, I thought he was their best player over two legs (which is saying something because Haaland was playing, and I believe scored at least one goal)... but in England he's just looked too lightweight to be effective (which gave me doubts he'd ever really come good here).

But an attacking player scoring fairly regularly in pre-season is definitely encouraging. And I hope he does kick on a bit this season because he looked brilliant in those two matches against us (and like he'd fit in really nicely here). Would be cool to see him perform for us the way he did those matches at Salzburg.

[Rick]

Minamino was very good in the first half today. Him, Bobby, Tsimikas & Chamberlain were the stand out performers today. Ox looks like he has gained about 2 yards of pace from somewhere. 
 

What I’m most impressed with is that every single player looks hungry, even the young lads don’t look that out of place next to these senior players.
 

I may just have to eat my words about some of these players. But if I do, you can bet your arse I’ll be throwing the word “hindsight” around plenty.

Edited August 9, 2021 by Rick