Liverpool FC Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours 2016/2017

One_Of_Shanks

ricero wrote: »

So does everyone think we are done in the transfer market ?

I still have a little hope that we will see at least one more addition to the squad but after klopp's comments yesterday i reckon its false hope

I still think we will sign a left back.

I bloody refuse to give up hope

Vicxas

The worrying thing is that im far more bitter than i should be at the start of a season.

Nerdlingr

At risk of repeating myself...just use the Benteke cash to get Ricardo Rodriguez!!

Knex*

kfallon wrote: »

2 games into the season and I'm deflated already! So I don't care who gets moved on cos, imo, the squad we have at the moment is pretty damn poor!

(Only quoted the end to cut down on the post size)

I wrote this 6 weeks ago. Not much has changed.

Knex. wrote:

Couple of off the cuff points:

- Rodgers was right when he said that most seasons you need over 70 goals to be going places in this league. I'm not sure we have that.

- I haven't seen Sturridge sprint in about two years. Origi is still raw, Ings back from a horrible injury, Firmino more of a CF/AM, and Benteke getting sold. Annoyingly, the player I see with the best shout of reaching 20 goals next year would be Benteke if he joins palace. I agree he doesn't suit us, however.

- The league will be even tougher at the top next year, considering the changes at United, Chelsea and City. I'm not sure we can finish above any of them, plus you have to add Spurs, Arsenal, and you can't be disrespectful to Leicester either. The Klopp effect would have to be on steroids for us to finish ahead of all of them, in my opinion.

- We have no superstar in the team that frightens players. Coutinho is our main man, but he's still not consistent enough.

- We have no midfielder that is either a formidable force in defence, or a potent attacking threat. We also don't have a midfielder who can control the game. We have a lot of nearly men, in Henderson, Can and Allen, but they still need a top player alongside them, or in front of them, to make things tick over.

- Serious question marks over our defence. Kolo is gone, no idea what happens with Sakho, Moreno cannot be first choice LB for 40 games, and we don't know who our goalkeeper is going to be.

- Leadership is a massive issue. Kolo is an obvious loss in that manner, and we still haven't found anyone capable of stepping up to the fore, ala Carragher, Gerrard, and more recently Suarez. Klopp effect has helped massively in this regard, but if Sakho doesn't play this year, I'm very worried about the spine, resolve, and leadership of this team.


tl;dr
As things stand, I'm honestly not even remotely optimistic of us getting fourth.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=100257186&postcount=6694

I am still not even remotely optimistic of getting fourth.

Knex.

Knex. wrote: »

.............
I wrote this 6 weeks ago. Not much has changed.



..............

I am still not even remotely optimistic of getting fourth.

Back then we were all thinking a LB was a certainty to come in and so too a very good CM. Wij' was a surprise signing as he's more AM seemingly & allegedly.

Also, with Benteke being sold another striker coming in wouldn't have been a must have but certainly a might have.

I'm surprised how things have panned out.

One_Of_Shanks

I wouldn't be getting too pessimistic just yet lads. Get Emre Can back into the side and we'll be more stable, then hopefully sign a very good left back and you'd be surprised how much more solid those two things alone would make us.

We'll be in the running for top-4 coming towards the business end of the season imo.

A win of any sort against Spurs (not forgetting tonight's League Cup game) and people will be feeling much better

5starpool

I was as disgusted and unsurprised as anyone about last Saturday but some people are really losing the run of themselves with the pessimism in here.

We played terribly and Klopp is not a miracle worker. I do however have belief that he will improve our lot as a club and I am not going to throw the baby out with the bathwater and wave my hands saying everything is awful.

I am going to complain about individual decisions and games, and have a moan about things, but I am not prepared to concede just yet that we will have a terrible season and are bound to fail. There are 2 games gone, it is far too early to judge how things will go. I don't personally think we will get top 4, but I think we will improve on last seasons total points by hopefully 10 points and give top 4 a good rattle.

Of course we'll lose to Burton tonight and I'll be angry again, but that's hours away yet.

J Mysterio

Nerdlingr wrote: »

Damn, the sakho fanboys ain't gonna be too happy about that!

Im not happy at all :mad:

5starpool

5starpool wrote: »

I was as disgusted and unsurprised as anyone about last Saturday but some people are really losing the run of themselves with the pessimism in here............

It's just the Milner at LB coupled with Sakho being shoved out the door is a bit grim really unless adequate reinforcements come in.

dogbert27

I'm a Sahko fanboy but I'm pissed off with him that he doesn't have his sxxt together. The Sahko/Lovern performance against Dortmund at home was what I was hoping to be seeing this season.

Now we have another season of CB's being mixed around trying to see what works and having potential results like last Saturday or shipping 3 goals in a game like the previous weekend.

Henderson is too nice to be a leader on the pitch. Can has not been any way vocal on the pitch and I don't see that changing. There are no leaders in midfield or attack. No one is there to take a game by the scruff of the neck like Gerrard could or to bollock someone out of it like Carragher could.

Sappy404

5starpool wrote: »

I was as disgusted and unsurprised as anyone about last Saturday but some people are really losing the run of themselves with the pessimism in here.

We played terribly and Klopp is not a miracle worker. I do however have belief that he will improve our lot as a club and I am not going to throw the baby out with the bathwater and wave my hands saying everything is awful.

I am going to complain about individual decisions and games, and have a moan about things, but I am not prepared to concede just yet that we will have a terrible season and are bound to fail. There are 2 games gone, it is far too early to judge how things will go. I don't personally think we will get top 4, but I think we will improve on last seasons total points by hopefully 10 points and give top 4 a good rattle.

Of course we'll lose to Burton tonight and I'll be angry again, but that's hours away yet.

Some of us were miserable pessimists before the Burnley game, thank you very much.

For what it's worth I'm very happy with our attacking threat, even if we did just have yet another shocker against a stubborn defence. I reckon we'll clear that 70 goal mark that Knex was referring to. We got 63 last year and that was with an Origi that was half the man he is now and Rodgers for 2 months of the season.

The additions in midfield will score a few too. Now if we could only add one that can run a midfield and stick a couple of decent left-sided defenders behind them...

Agent Coulson

The Boss has spoken.

https://twitter.com/LucasLeiva87/status/768074329087238145

@JamesPearceEcho can you have more responsibility when you involve my name?
You putting me against the fans for something I've nothing to do

Sappy404

Agent Coulson wrote: »

The Boss has spoken.

https://twitter.com/LucasLeiva87/status/768074329087238145

It's weird. The article only says the following about Lucas:

The versatile Lucas proved last season that he’s also an option at centre-back, while Joe Gomez isn’t far away from making a comeback after 10 months out.

The Reds boss is keen to retain Lucas’ services. Klopp blocked a potential transfer to Galatasaray for the Brazilian midfielder earlier this month after insisting he needed him to stay put.

Unless Lucas pushes for a move prior to next week’s deadline then he will remain at Anfield for the final year of his existing contract.

Can only assume Lucas has been getting the brunt of the blame for the Sakho news from the mouthbreathers and Lucas is blaming the journos in turn.

One_Of_Shanks

Sappy404 wrote: »

It's weird. The article only says the following about Lucas...

Yeah but the headline said Liverpool open to Sakho loan offers with Lucas set to stay. So the implication was there from Pearce that poor old Sakho wouldn't be leaving if it wasn't for Lucas.
It was a stupid headline to use, no need to mention Lucas at all. We already knew he was staying.
He should have been focusing on the player leaving in his headline.

I can see why Lucas is a bit pee'd off personally.

Sappy404

One_Of_Shanks wrote: »

Yeah but the headline said Liverpool open to Sakho loan offers with Lucas set to stay. So the implication was there from Pearce that poor old Sakho wouldn't be leaving if it wasn't for Lucas.
It was a stupid headline to use, no need to mention Lucas at all. We already knew he was staying.
He should have been focusing on the player leaving in his headline.

I can see why Lucas is a bit pee'd off personally.

In fairness that was the gist of the story that broke last night which smacked of editorial from the club. I'm sure we can all agree, it's Not like Lucas to put in an unnecessary late challenge...

One_Of_Shanks

Sappy404 wrote: »

In fairness that was the gist of the story that broke last night which smacked of editorial from the club. I'm sure we can all agree, it's Not like Lucas to put in an unnecessary late challenge...

Oooh bitchy, I like it. Must be pick on Lucas day today

Nah the gist of the story is that Sakho would be going out on loan.
After that it's up to Klopp to decide who plays games at CB.
There was really no actual need to mention Lucas in the main headline.
If i was Lucas I'd have been annoyed too.

Out of all the other papers who carried the story how many mentioned Lucas in the main headline i wonder.

Francie Barrett

I agree with Knex. When I look at the players we already have, and what we then brought in, I feel very "meh" about our prospects. United were wretched last season, but a change of manager, and a bunch of players (all of whom would walk into our team) have changed them. Same goes for City, a Guardiola team with those resource simply will not finish out of top 4. Chelsea already look to be back in form with the likes of Costa and Hazard no longer downing tools. The only team in the top 4 that I think we have a realistic chance of displacing would be Arsenal. I think it would be asking a lot for us to displace a team that have been in the CL for like the last 50 years now.

murpho999

Francie Barrett wrote: »

I agree with Knex. When I look at the players we already have, and what we then brought in, I feel very "meh" about our prospects. United were wretched last season, but a change of manager, and a bunch of players (all of whom would walk into our team) have changed them. Same goes for City, a Guardiola team with those resource simply will not finish out of top 4. Chelsea already look to be back in form with the likes of Costa and Hazard no longer downing tools. The only team in the top 4 that I think we have a realistic chance of displacing would be Arsenal. I think it would be asking a lot for us to displace a team that have been in the CL for like the last 50 years now.

Serioulsy, you cannot judge any team after 2 games.

Utd still have issues at the back and it can all go pear shaped.

Chelsea have not been convincing either, they were relieved to win at the weekend.

City will be a force but this is a major challenge for Guardiola.

There are 36 games for everyone to go with major twists and turns ahead as well as injuries, suspensions and setbacks.

At this stage teams are still finding form and fitness so you just can't say a team that wins their first two games are going to keep that going all season.

Agent Coulson

Agent Coulson wrote: »

The Boss has spoken.........

Fair play to Lucas, pure class :cool:

I'd sooner Sakho at CB though all considered.

NukaCola

Moyes turned down Sakho on loan? Sunderland are in big trouble this season if true........

Strange that Sakho isn't rated as a starter, how poor is his fitness if we are resorting to a loan?

Harry Palmr

NukaCola wrote: »

Moyes turned down Sakho on loan? Sunderland are in big trouble this season if true........

Strange that Sakho isn't rated as a starter, how poor is his fitness if we are resorting to a loan?

Not that weird really - last game was Everton 4-0 in early April, I suspect Klopp sees Matip and Lovren as his preferred partnership. Matip hasn't played a minute in the league but is on the edge of returning fully (ie tonight), Klavan is obviously someone he is happy to trust as a starter so he is third choice, Lucas, Can (now) and Gomez (later) can all play a part and none of them have pissed off the manager like Sakho has.

I wouldn't be surprised if he has a chip on his shoulder after missing the EL final and his place in the France squad. He might feel seriously aggrieved (rightly or wrongly) and might not be performing as he should.

Who knows what went on between club and player etc etc but we did see when he didn't play against Everton two seasons ago that he doesn't toe the line all of the time, he could have an issue with authority or something.

I'm not overly bothered if someone else comes in, I don't want to see Lucas at CB and Milner at LB. Not gone on seeing too much of Klavan either to be honest but I'll admit that's due to the presumption he was bought as 3rd/4th choice back up.

NukaCola

Francie Barrett wrote: »

The only team in the top 4 that I think we have a realistic chance of displacing would be Arsenal. I think it would be asking a lot for us to displace a team that have been in the CL for like the last 50 years now.

Its their 20th straight season in top 4 so only 40 years......

Pyjamarama

For all those lamenting the issues in the squad (and they exist) one thing that nobody seems to be mentioning is that we have Jurgen Klopp... thats got to count for something.

yourdeadwright

The club seems to be in a right mess at the minute.,
No left back, no cover at right back, Midfield not sorted or even close , Main striker injured/not the same, Defence looks worse than last year
Sending Sahko on loan is nuts, sell him or keep him,
I think Kloop will be gone by next summer

Sheeeeit

yourdeadwright wrote: »

The club seems to be in a right mess at the minute.,
No left back, no cover at right back, Midfield not sorted or even close , Main striker injured/not the same, Defence looks worse than last year
Sending Sahko on loan is nuts, sell him or keep him,
I think Kloop will be gone by next summer

Jesus Christ!

yourdeadwright

Pyjamarama wrote: »

For all those lamenting the issues in the squad (and they exist) one thing that nobody seems to be mentioning is that we have Jurgen Klopp... thats got to count for something.

Surely its his job to fix the squad issues ?
In Germany he coached players to be better but this isn;t Germany,
You have United,City, Chelsea ,Spurs, Arsenal brining in top names and have top mangers , coaching what we have won't be enough

mosstin

yourdeadwright wrote: »

The club seems to be in a right mess at the minute.,
No left back, no cover at right back, Midfield not sorted or even close , Main striker injured/not the same, Defence looks worse than last year
Sending Sahko on loan is nuts, sell him or keep him,
I think Kloop will be gone by next summer

Can't speak for everyone but I'm pretty certain no-one is fully writing the season off after two games.
However, I think the fact that two major areas of concern for us last year haven't been addressed and that we've been exposed specifically because of those two positions in our two opening games, you're gonna get some grumbling.

sword1

Sheeeeit wrote: »

Jesus Christ!

Keep hearing about him on the thread but have to admit i haven't seen him play ,whats his best position

mav79

sword1 wrote: »

Keep hearing about him on the thread but have to admit i haven't seen him play ,whats his best position

Central midfield, but sadly sold to Stoke.:D

Boom_Bap

I feel for Sahko, loves the club, loves the city, love the fans but he rubs Klopp up the wrong way. He's obviously causing trouble behind the scenes and disruptive to the atmposphere that Klopp is trying to cultivate.
Klopp probably overlooks him as well as he doesn't cover the left back enough which we need and he doesn't understand his awkwardness.

It also doesn't help that Klavan has come in and is doing the basics to a decent level so far.

Pyjamarama

yourdeadwright wrote: »

Surely its his job to fix the squad issues ?
In Germany he coached players to be better but this isn;t Germany,
You have United,City, Chelsea ,Spurs, Arsenal brining in top names and have top mangers , coaching what we have won't be enough

So he can't fix it with training?!? You say its not Germany but his Dortmund team at their best would p*ss the league. They'd walk it. If we're not betting on him being able to do similar here then why on earth hire him?!?

Its not like he's not bringing in anyone...

mosstin

Boom_Bap wrote: »

I feel for Sahko, loves the club, loves the city, love the fans but he rubs Klopp up the wrong way. He's obviously causing trouble behind the scenes and disruptive to the atmposphere that Klopp is trying to cultivate.
Klopp probably overlooks him as well as he doesn't cover the left back enough which we need and he doesn't understand his awkwardness.

It also doesn't help that Klavan has come in and is doing the basics to a decent level so far.

Sakho's ceiling is much higher than Klavan's.
And that wasn't a pun.

~Rebel~

The most frustrating part is that we're actually really close! A good quality left back, and a nailed on starter in CM to partner Can, and we'd be there I think.

Christ what i'd give for a quick cheeky move for Mascherano.

Tusky

Imagine the reaction if we lost both games so far...good grief.

murpho999

yourdeadwright wrote: »

The club seems to be in a right mess at the minute.,
No left back, no cover at right back, Midfield not sorted or even close , Main striker injured/not the same, Defence looks worse than last year
Sending Sahko on loan is nuts, sell him or keep him,
I think Kloop will be gone by next summer

Of course, he probably won't make it till Chirstmas.

Pyjamarama

Tusky wrote: »

Imagine the reaction if we lost both games so far...good grief.

Jurgen Klopp... more like Jurgen Flopp... we need someone willing to really spend the money. Whats David O' Leary doing these days?

mosstin

Pyjamarama wrote: »

Jurgen Klopp... more like Jurgen Flopp... we need someone willing to really spend the money. Whats David O' Leary doing these days?

There are flaws in the squad. People are pointing out those flaws. No hysteria.

Pyjamarama

mosstin wrote: »

There are flaws in the squad. People are pointing out those flaws. No hysteria.

There's loads of hysteria. People are saying if we don't buy x we won't finish top 4. There's posta doubting that Klopp can figure out how to beat a packed defense. there's a post saying he'll be gone next summer.

Of course there's flaws in the squad, there's flaws in every squad in the league but the manager has already said his plan is to coach players to improve not just go out and try to buy ready made solutions. I don't understand how people aren't prepared to give the world class manager we have the benefit of the doubt that he might have a decent idea of what he's doing.

For me any issues should be directed at the players who didn't do their jobs at the weekend. The players who played with fear when we went 1 down. They have to learn from this and Klopp has to coach them so it doesn't happen again. We don't need to buy more players to beat Burnely. The lads we have are more than good enough if they execute.

mosstin

Pyjamarama wrote: »

There's loads of hysteria. People are saying if we don't buy x we won't finish top 4. There's posta doubting that Klopp can figure out how to beat a packed defense. there's a post saying he'll be gone next summer.

Of course there's flaws in the squad, there's flaws in every squad in the league but the manager has already said his plan is to coach players to improve not just go out and try to buy ready made solutions. I don't understand how people aren't prepared to give the world class manager we have the benefit of the doubt that he might have a decent idea of what he's doing.

For me any issues should be directed at the players who didn't do their jobs at the weekend. The players who played with fear when we went 1 down. They have to learn from this and Klopp has to coach them so it doesn't happen again. We don't need to buy more players to beat Burnely. The lads we have are more than good enough if they execute.

This rah rah rah type of argument does my head in. Do you honestly think that LB is not an area of concern? Happy with our CMs?
We only have a two game sample to go on so far this season but the pull your hair out nonsense we were guilty of last year is rearing its head again.
Klopp is a wonderful coach but isn't above criticism which seems to be the prevailing attitude at times. If we don't add to our squad in the next few days, I think we'll definitely come up short for a top 4 place.
And the only hysterical quote you gave there was the loon calling for Klopp's head by next summer. Every club has those.

LuckyLloyd

Pyjamarama wrote: »

For all those lamenting the issues in the squad (and they exist) one thing that nobody seems to be mentioning is that we have Jurgen Klopp... thats got to count for something.

It would be terrible shame if we squandered his time at the club through such an unambitious and limited transfer policy though.

NukaCola

yourdeadwright wrote: »

The club seems to be in a right mess at the minute.,
No left back, no cover at right back, Midfield not sorted or even close , Main striker injured/not the same, Defence looks worse than last year
Sending Sahko on loan is nuts, sell him or keep him,
I think Kloop will be gone by next summer

NukaCola

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

It would be terrible shame if we squandered his time at the club through such an unambitious and limited transfer policy though.

Do you think he'd sign a 6 year deal if his transfer targets were restricted?

Harry Palmr

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

It would be terrible shame if we squandered his time at the club through such an unambitious and limited transfer policy though.

Who's policy?

NukaCola

We at the very least, right now, at this moment, absolutely need a LB......I would also say a CM of better quality but thats probably open for debate.....

mosstin

NukaCola wrote: »

We at the very least, right now, at this moment, absolutely need a LB......I would also say a CM of better quality but thats probably open for debate.....

I don't think there's even the slightest doubt about it - Henderson isn't smart enough to take possession, sniff out a bit of trouble, take up the right positions. We absolutely need a new CM.

LuckyLloyd

Tusky wrote: »

Imagine the reaction if we lost both games so far...good grief.

I feel really calm tbh. Klopp will give us a huge amount of clarity whatever happens. If we can't become a regular in European competition and push towards a major title under his stewardship then it probably can't be done under FSG. We were never going to have a clear answer under Dalglish and Rodgers.

We can only let it play out. But it's been a very disappointing effort in the transfer window for me. Making a run to a European Final allied to an influx of new TV money begged for an ambitious push forward. That hasn't happened imo. I severely doubt the manager wouldn't bring in better players if he could.

Pyjamarama

NukaCola wrote: »

We at the very least, right now, at this moment, absolutely need a LB......I would also say a CM of better quality but thats probably open for debate.....

Personally i'd like to see both signed too. But only if they're the right guy. I still think that Can can play the CM role that we all want, he won't be an Alonso but he can create space by bringing the ball forward himself while Alonso would do it with a pass. A left back is needed and tbh I think he will sign one but I don't think that Moreno is going to cost us top 4. Thats way too simplistic. He didn't stop us getting to the Europa league final and while he did contribute to costing us a goal in that game he was hardly alone in that regard. I feel he's made a scapegoat a lot and that what he brings to our attacking play is really underrated. That being said if getting a guy like Rodriguez was do able i'd be all for that but I'm not sure it is without us massively overpaying and we don't know that he'd even suit what Klopp wants in a full back.

Pretty much every move we've made this summer makes perfect sense to me bar the Gini deal but even that I can see why Klopp likes the idea of him and thinks he can develop him given his obvious qualities.

I just think the total doom and gloom from the weekend isn't really warranted. We're going to be up and down all season. The rest of our competitors for 4th place will be too. Arsenal, Spurs, West Ham etc all look just as uninspiring at times as we did. And they have Europe to come. 4th is still well within our grasps.

Glico Man

yourdeadwright wrote: »

The club seems to be in a right mess at the minute.,
No left back, no cover at right back, Midfield not sorted or even close , Main striker injured/not the same, Defence looks worse than last year
Sending Sahko on loan is nuts, sell him or keep him,
I think Kloop will be gone by next summer

Was he ever really here in the first place?

~Rebel~

Pyjamarama wrote: »

Of course there's flaws in the squad, there's flaws in every squad in the league but the manager has already said his plan is to coach players to improve not just go out and try to buy ready made solutions. I don't understand how people aren't prepared to give the world class manager we have the benefit of the doubt that he might have a decent idea of what he's doing.

Ugh, it's just a shame that it basically guarantees another year of mediocrity. In general I'm in favor of his approach, but you need that first step to improve upon. Is he going to spend half a year on the training ground trying to turn Moreno into a defender? or Milner into a left back? If not, then when we eventually do buy an actual left back we're back to square one in starting their development.

Maybe for CM he sees something in some of those guys that he thinks he can develop sooner rather than later, but if it takes, say, 6 months, then it's another write off of a season effectively. But it's not like we didn't spend money there...I'd be delighted to have bought Kante instead of Wijnaldum and Grujic for instance - he's the same age as Wijnaldum, but a much better player. We could have afforded to spend 50% more than Chelsea did to be honest, since he went at such a great price.

Development is all well and good, but buying 2 more attacking midfielders to go along with the 3 we already had (not even counting Coutinho, Firmino and Lallana who can also play there)....the squad just feels so unbalanced in the middle. More than development is needed in those positions now it looks like, it's more a case of transformation being required, getting some of these guys to switch from what made them pro's in the first place. It's when we don't have the ball that our midfield is really shown up in our half. If the first high press doesn't work, we always look in serious trouble.