Liverpool FC Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours 2018

MarkY91

Luckycharms_74 wrote: »

This could be our best team assembled in the last 15 years and we could still fall short, that's just how good City are .

Imagine we get 95 points which should win the league in any year, but if city repeat last years 100 pts (I don't think they will but you never know) then nothing you can do there but say well done

I still think Citys 100 pts was an amazing tally but I would assume they will drop off say 10% this year.

I think 93+pts wins the league this year

I totally agree. I can't see city getting triple figures again as I can't see them winning 15 in a row again. We need Salah to have another unbelievable season and our new players to fit right in from the get go and hope they solve most of our issues from last season.

But look at the last few seasons, nobody retained the title and teams are very inconsistent year by year lately. If that trend continues, we have a huge chance.

All I know is that in all my life of being a Liverpool fan, I haven't been as excited or optimistic than this coming season albeit I'm only only enough to remember 2002 season onwards.

shamrock55

We should be able to close the gap on city no doubt,they won't have a LGE season like last season but I still think we'll fall short of them,they are odds on to win it for a reason,if we finish within 6/7 PTS we be doing well I think

citytillidie

5starpool wrote: »

I hope there is a meltdown incoming over there, but it is still more likely that they will be an effectively functional, if not good to watch, team this season.

As for ourselves, I'm sure it'll be entertaining for neutrals, but I'm hoping we have a bit more steel and consistency about us. I'm hopeful, but still have that innate scepticism about our prospects. I do think though that Keita will be a beast for us, and I'm hoping that we have a season to match.

It is coming already, trying to get the press to put pressure on Klopp for his spending is just funny

gstack166

citytillidie wrote: »

It is coming already, trying to get the press to put pressure on Klopp for his spending is just funny

The hypocrisy is staggering from Liverpool fans! Like Liverpool football club & Jurgen Klopp especially hasn’t done it to others, both here in Germany?

Nobody cares how much money is spent at a football club, but 250m in 7 months alone, he needs to be a lot closer than 25 points off winning the league, especially finishing 1 point worse off last season than they did the season previous.

NukaCola

If City maintain their league form, even -7/8 points they'll still win the league.

We have room for improvement but I'm not sure improving 17+ points on last year is something we can reasonably expect.

NukaCola

gstack166 wrote: »

The hypocrisy is staggering from Liverpool fans! Like Liverpool football club & Jurgen Klopp especially hasn’t done it to others, both here in Germany?

Nobody cares how much money is spent at a football club, but 250m in 7 months alone, he needs to be a lot closer than 25 points off winning the league, especially finishing 1 point worse off last season than they did the season previous.

If nobody cares then why mention it? The majority of that money was spent this summer not last so why mention the 1 point worse off? What was our net spend last season? Might explain the one point less argument that has been thrown out the last few days around here.

We had a lot injuries towards the end of the season, went far in the CL and lost one of our best players mid-season. We just didn't have the squad depth. We spent money to address that. Context matters.

murpho999

NukaCola wrote: »

If City maintain their league form, even -7/8 points they'll still win the league.

We have room for improvement but I'm not sure improving 17+ points on last year is something we can reasonably expect.

Why not? We tailed off in the league at the end due to the Champion's League and threw away at least 10 points.

Last season we drew 12 and lost 5 and I see no reason why we can't turn at least 5-6 of those into victories.

We have to if we want to be competing for the league which is where we should be.

gstack166

NukaCola wrote: »

If nobody cares then why mention it? The majority of that money was spent this summer not last so why mention the 1 point worse off? What was our net spend last season? Might explain the one point less argument that has been thrown out the last few days around here.

We had a lot injuries towards the end of the season, went far in the CL and lost one of our best players mid-season. We just didn't have the squad depth. We spent money to address that. Context matters.

Net Spend FC.

NukaCola

gstack166 wrote: »

Net Spend FC.

You're the lad banging on about money

NukaCola

murpho999 wrote: »

Why not? We tailed off in the league at the end due to the Champion's League and threw away at least 10 points.

Last season we drew 12 and lost 5 and I see no reason why we can't turn at least 5-6 of those into victories.

We have to if we want to be competing for the league which is where we should be.

It can be done, I just wouldn't expect that return.....but yea we need to if we want to compete and its up to Klopp to find the answers. Still wouldn't expect a 90+ point season though. Hopeful yes.

Sofa Spud

NukaCola wrote: »

If City maintain their league form, even -7/8 points they'll still win the league.

We have room for improvement but I'm not sure improving 17+ points on last year is something we can reasonably expect.

Didn't we lose something like 14 pts from winning positions last season? With VVD, TAA and Robbo bedded in, Clyne and Gomez back and Lovren improved when paired with VVD and Fabby potentially bringing more defensive clout to midfield, that's an area where we should be able to improve our points tally... But yeah, if Citeh don't have a significant drop in form, it'll be hard to pass them. Getting close to 90 pts would have to be considered a good season as long as there's decent runs in all cup comps.

gstack166

NukaCola wrote: »

You're the lad banging on about money

Find where I banged on about it? I merely quoted the money spent this year, big deal? It’s ok for me to agree with Mourinho about pressure winning trophies while at the same time saying no body cares how much they spent you know.

Dickerty

NukaCola wrote: »

If City maintain their league form, even -7/8 points they'll still win the league.

We have room for improvement but I'm not sure improving 17+ points on last year is something we can reasonably expect.

I dunno - we improved after Dec when VVD, Trent and Robertson were regulars, and Karius to be fair. Even Ox made us more effective, and Salah was fully settled. And we did it while maintaining a CL run.

If we could start like that, we wouldn't be so far behind...

NukaCola

Hitting 90 points would be incredible, a highest ever tally for us in the EPL. Its do-able but I'm not as confident as many would be I guess.

Sofa Spud

NukaCola wrote: »

Hitting 90 points would be incredible, a highest ever tally for us in the EPL. Its do-able but I'm not as confident as many would be I guess.

True, but it's preseason, so we're allowed to get carried away with nonsense fantasies

5starpool

I'll be very pleasantly shocked if we get more than 90 points. I'm hoping it is realistic that we can get into the 80's and see where that places us. It might not be enough to win us the league, but who knows. We could get 81 points and say it is a poor season all things considered, or we could get 81 points and be happy with the season, so it depends on other competitions and also the general feel of the season. It is hard to state at the start of a season "this is my minimum expectation and anything worse is bad".

Having said that, I'll make an attempt at it.

Winning the league - amazing, dream come true, other comps pretty irrelevant
Winning the CL - fantastic, could gloss over poorer than expected league performance, but who'd care for a while. Likely to be classed as a great season.
Winning the FA/League Cup - very good, but if not an acceptable league season (at least 4th) then not a good season most likely
Top 4 only (2nd-4th) - depends on points, performances, closeness to the title. Could be a very good season or could be just OK.
No cups, miss top 4 - Hard to see how it wouldn't be classed as a bad season unless it was a freak season where there was 4 points between the top 5 and we finished 5th or something.

NukaCola

gstack166 wrote: »

Find where I banged on about it? I merely quoted the money spent this year, big deal? It’s ok for me to agree with Mourinho about pressure winning trophies while at the same time saying no body cares how much they spent you know.

I'm not disagreeing that there will be pressure, there always is at LFC. I just added some context as to why we finished one point less than last season. Then you gave a smart arse reply despite bringing up money in the first place.

mightyreds

gstack166 wrote: »

Net Spend FC.

You started out in here defending city fans saying they are not all like bluemoon, but then you start drifting closer and closer to going full bluemoon, next thing you'll be banging on about VAR conspiracies and calling us "dippers"

gstack166

NukaCola wrote: »

I'm not disagreeing that there will be pressure, there always is at LFC. I just added some context as to why we finished one point less than last season. Then you gave a smart arse reply despite bringing up money in the first place.

It’s not smart arsed at all. It’s not smart arsed mentioning it as a reason for falling 1 point behind the previous seasons tally. 150m for Coutinho was always going to get the club in profit for the year. The fact is, you had a much stronger team last season with a record breaking player than you did the year before & finished 1 point worse off.

That’s not trolling, or being a wind up merchant, that’s fact. You can’t dispute facts. You can’t put context on it.

gstack166

mightyreds wrote: »

You started out in here defending city fans saying they are not all like bluemoon, but then you start drifting closer and closer to going full bluemoon, next thing you'll be banging on about VAR conspiracies and calling us "dippers"

The day I ever mention net spend about a football club is the day I’ll pack it in. What a horrible boring way to look at your club.

ricero

gstack166 wrote: »

It’s not smart arsed at all. It’s not smart arsed mentioning it as a reason for falling 1 point behind the previous seasons tally. 150m for Coutinho was always going to get the club in profit for the year. The fact is, you had a much stronger team last season with a record breaking player than you did the year before & finished 1 point worse off.

That’s not trolling, or being a wind up merchant, that’s fact. You can’t dispute facts. You can’t put context on it.

We got to a champions league final and phoned in some of our games in the run-in.

I think most fans would argue lfc would of finished higher if not for the champions league run.

8-10

gstack166 wrote: »

Nobody cares how much money is spent at a football club, but 250m in 7 months alone, he needs to be a lot closer than 25 points off winning the league, especially finishing 1 point worse off last season than they did the season previous.

Everybody needs to be closer than they were to City last season. It was a crazy total they put up.

In 2016/17 they got 78pts in the league
In 2017/18 they got 100pts

It was a mad jump from City. The last few title races haven't even been close, Chelsea and Leicester before that weren't seriously challenged.

So I don't really buy into the narrative that 100 is now the total and we have to make up 25pts and finish ahead of City. Every league season recently takes on a life of it's own. And with the top 6 being as they are, with Arsenal and Chelsea missing out on CL but also both bringing in managers who should play better football than last season, I just can't call it any which way.

What I do know is that we need to be much much better against the rest of the top 6 this season than last.

And we need to be much much better in early kick offs!!!

A quick review of all our games last year that started before 3pm in the day (Sat or Sun):

• Watford (A) 3-3 draw
• Man City (A) 5-0 loss
• Man Utd (H) 0-0 draw
• Everton (H) 1-1 draw
• Man Utd (A) 2-1 loss
• Crystal Palace (A) 1-2 win
• Everton (A) 0-0 draw
• West Brom (A) 2-2 draw
• Stoke (H) 0-0 draw

1 win from 9 early kick offs....pathetic

gstack166

ricero wrote: »

We got to a champions league final and phoned in some of our games in the run-in.

I think most fans would argue lfc would of finished higher if not for the champions league run.

And that’s fair enough, no argument & if anything I’d be in agreement with you. No need for the check the ‘net spend’ why we tailed off like some on here.

gstack166

8-10 wrote: »

Everybody needs to be closer than they were to City last season. It was a crazy total they put up.

In 2016/17 they got 78pts in the league
In 2017/18 they got 100pts

It was a mad jump from City. The last few title races haven't even been close, Chelsea and Leicester before that weren't seriously challenged.

So I don't really buy into the narrative that 100 is now the total and we have to make up 25pts and finish ahead of City. Every league season recently takes on a life of it's own. And with the top 6 being as they are, with Arsenal and Chelsea missing out on CL but also both bringing in managers who should play better football than last season, I just can't call it any which way.

What I do know is that we need to be much much better against the rest of the top 6 this season than last.

And we need to be much much better in early kick offs!!!

A quick review of all our games last year that started before 3pm in the day (Sat or Sun):

• Watford (A) 3-3 draw
• Man City (A) 5-0 loss
• Man Utd (H) 0-0 draw
• Everton (H) 1-1 draw
• Man Utd (A) 2-1 loss
• Crystal Palace (A) 1-2 win
• Everton (A) 0-0 draw
• West Brom (A) 2-2 draw
• Stoke (H) 0-0 draw

1 win from 9 early kick offs....pathetic

Would many of them have come after a champions league game too? I’d imagine Liverpool to be slow out of the blocks following a European away game for example.

NukaCola

gstack166 wrote: »

And that’s fair enough, no argument & if anything I’d be in agreement with you. No need for the check the ‘net spend’ why we tailed off like some on here.

I gave that as a reason but you ignored it.

gstack166 wrote: »

It’s not smart arsed at all. It’s not smart arsed mentioning it as a reason for falling 1 point behind the previous seasons tally. 150m for Coutinho was always going to get the club in profit for the year. The fact is, you had a much stronger team last season with a record breaking player than you did the year before & finished 1 point worse off.

Theres a reason he was 140M. He could cover the AM and forward 3 positions expertly and had he stayed we wouldn't have been so light for cover with our injuries. I also put forward other reasons but you ignored them and instead went for the smart arsed reply.

gstack166 wrote: »

That’s not trolling, or being a wind up merchant, that’s fact. You can’t dispute facts. You can’t put context on it.

Of course you can put context on facts. I'm not disputing that we finished one point less, just that there was a reason.

murpho999

NukaCola wrote: »

It can be done, I just wouldn't expect that return.....but yea we need to if we want to compete and its up to Klopp to find the answers. Still wouldn't expect a 90+ point season though. Hopeful yes.

90 might be a push but after spending so much money in the last year you have to expect an increase in points and a title challenge.

Otherwise, what's the point?

8-10

gstack166 wrote: »

Would many of them have come after a champions league game too? I’d imagine Liverpool to be slow out of the blocks following a European away game for example.

No actually, we played 7 times away in Europe not counting the final, none of the subsequent games were early kick offs. Still not near good enough with 11pts from the 7 games, including 1pt from 3 against top 6 opposition which is where we really fell down across the season.

Edit: I'd also discount the West Ham win as it was 10 days after the Porto game, we had no game that weekend as it was FA Cup 5th round and we were already out, so it's 8pts from 6 directly after away European games

Our results after European Away games:

• Crystal Palace (H) 1-0 win (after Hoffenheim)
• Newcastle (A) 1-1 draw (after Spartak)
• Spurs (A) 4-1 loss (after Maribor)
• Chelsea (H) 1-1 draw (after Sevilla)
• West Ham (H) 4-1 win (after Porto) *There were 10 days between these games though because we weren't in the FA Cup 5th round
• Bournemouth (A) 0-3 win (after Man City)
• Chelsea (A) 1-0 loss (after Roma)

NukaCola

murpho999 wrote: »

90 might be a push but after spending so much money in the last year you have to expect an increase in points and a title challenge.

Otherwise, what's the point?

I'd expect an increase of 10. Low/mid 80's is a target we can reach realistically I think. If we are talking about 90+ point finish the front 3 have to continue their exceptional form, defence has to improve etc.....its do-able, we have addressed key areas, a great start and the new players hitting the ground early will make all the difference.

Knex*

I'm annoyed I didn't come up with this first.

murpho999

NukaCola wrote: »

I'd expect an increase of 10. Low/mid 80's is a target we can reach realistically I think. If we are talking about 90+ point finish the front 3 have to continue their exceptional form, defence has to improve etc.....its do-able, we have addressed key areas, a great start and the new players hitting the ground early will make all the difference.

An increase of 10 puts us on 85.

It's unlikely that City will get 100 points next season and they could easily drop off by 10 points.
If that happens then we should be challenging them and then they will be under more pressure than last season and that can make a difference.

Boom_Bap

I see more teams having less fear when playing City next season. Unfortunately I see a similar points haul for them because of this.

Ste-

Things must be boring in the other team threads if they come in here to try wind us up over net spend etc.

gstack166

Ste- wrote: »

Things must be boring in the other team threads if they come in here to try wind us up over net spend etc.

Come again?

.red.

gstack166 wrote: »

The FACT is, you had a much stronger team last season with a record breaking player than you did the year before & finished 1 point worse off.

That’s not trolling, or being a wind up merchant, that’s fact. You can’t dispute facts. You can’t put context on it.

Is that you Rafa?

MarkY91

All this ****e talk about the points tally from last two seasons. We got to a champions league final and made the world respect us. I'd much rather that then finish a few points better off when the few points extra change literally nothing. X amount of points could be seen as decent one season and crap another season.

GBX

yourdeadwright wrote: »

Wonder what that's about, Is it a move , Did he recently have a baby ?

https://twitter.com/AnfieldExpress/status/1022803679399895040

.red.

GBX wrote: »

https://twitter.com/AnfieldExpress/status/1022803679399895040

I'm glad he's taking the preseason diet seriously anyways

GBX

.red. wrote: »

I'm glad he's taking the preseason diet seriously anyways

Easy to assume its his. Whats to say its not the person holding the phones food?

One_Of_Shanks

MarkY91 wrote: »

All this ****e talk about the points tally from last two seasons. We got to a champions league final and made the world respect us. I'd much rather that then finish a few points better off when the few points extra change literally nothing. X amount of points could be seen as decent one season and crap another season.

I would usually agree but under the new rules you can only deal in facts. And you can't put a context on facts apparently, so the fact is you're not allowed remotely attempt to qualify the points total with the champions league run.
FACT.

In fact I think I'm getting the hang of it

LuckyLloyd

The last two seasons we've garnered 75 and 76 points respectively, so 2ppg. A 10% improvement would leave us on 83 / 84 points. 10% improvement in anything is pretty damn good. If we could do that and remain a tough out in Europe at the same time I think we'd all be feeling pretty good about things at the end of the year.

gstack166

One_Of_Shanks wrote: »

I would usually agree but under the new rules you can only deal in facts. And you can't put a context on facts apparently, so the fact is you're not allowed remotely attempt to qualify the points total with the champions league run.
FACT.

In fact I think I'm getting the hang of it

Saying ‘look at the net spend’ of the club no matter how hard you try & tell yourself, doesn’t put into ‘context’ the 1 point difference in seasons. It’s embaressing to even attempt to use it.

NukaCola

You can only talk about money when you are spending it. If you spend loads you are expected to win. If you don’t spend loads and spend less than you bring in it has no effect and is embarrassing to bring it up.

gstack166

NukaCola wrote: »

You can only talk about money when you are spending it. If you spend loads you are expected to win. If you don’t spend loads and spend less than you bring in it has no effect and is embarrassing to bring it up.

Utter nonsense. Absolute garbage youre spewing. You paid more for a keeper than everyone bar 2 clubs in the league has spent on their record transfer. There comes expectancy with that regardless of your ‘net spend trophy’ being +150m in the bank or -150m in there. You’re spending money that matches anyone else in the league in terms of key players. You have set 2 world records for key positions & 40M+ spent on 3 midfielders & an attacker each in the last 12 months. That’s why your expected to win trophies now. The players you brought in, again, I’m stressing, I’m not complaining about the spending how could i? But he has to win trophies, time for excuses is over! That’s my point.

yourdeadwright

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

The last two seasons we've garnered 75 and 76 points respectively, so 2ppg. A 10% improvement would leave us on 83 / 84 points. 10% improvement in anything is pretty damn good. If we could do that and remain a tough out in Europe at the same time I think we'd all be feeling pretty good about things at the end of the year.

Last season we where on course to get at least 80 points but once we got into the latter stages of the Champions league that went out the window, This year we will have a better squad to cope

qm1bv4p8i92aoj

gstack166 wrote: »

NukaCola wrote: »

You can only talk about money when you are spending it. If you spend loads you are expected to win. If you don’t spend loads and spend less than you bring in it has no effect and is embarrassing to bring it up.

Utter nonsense. Absolute garbage youre spewing. You paid more for a keeper than everyone bar 2 clubs in the league has spent on their record transfer. There comes expectancy with that regardless of your ‘net spend trophy’ being +150m in the bank or -150m in there. You’re spending money that matches anyone else in the league in terms of key players. You have set 2 world records for key positions & 40M+ spent on 3 midfielders & an attacker each in the last 12 months. That’s why your expected to win trophies now. The players you brought in, again, I’m stressing, I’m complaining about the spending how could i? But he has to win trophies, time for excuses is over! That’s my point.

Jaysus Gerry relax!
I know there isn't much traffic over on the Citeh thread but there's no need to be getting all bent out of shape in here. Chill lad

If we hit a points tally of mid 80s I'll be surprised and pleased.

gstack166

Addyson Rapid Saxophonist wrote: »

Jaysus Gerry relax!
I know there isn't much traffic over on the Citeh thread but there's no need to be getting all bent out of shape in here. Chill lad

Haha! All is good humour, it might look angry but I’m not an angry person

It’s confusing just, half the thread say he’s being brilliantly backed in the market, & the other half say he’s spent nothing in terms of what he’s brought in.

He has spent top dollar on top quaility, even I can admit that. He has to deliver is what I’m saying, so going back to my oringinal post, I agree with Mourinho.

He doesn’t have to win the league, he has to win a trophy.

BorneTobyWilde

You need goals from everywhere to win league. I think last season we had too many players who took to the pitch with no intention whatsoever to score, I think this year will be different.
I see Van Virgil getting 10 in league, I see Keita getting 10 in league, I see Shaqiri with 5, I see Lallana with 7, I even see Lovern and Trent getting 5 between them. Last season we would take to pitch with Milner, Henderson and Can and all 3 had no intention to take game and make it their own, like a Gerrard would have. It was left to the front 3, well not this season.

5starpool

gstack166 wrote: »

Haha! All is good humour, it might look angry but I’m not an angry person

It’s confusing just, half the thread say he’s being brilliantly backed in the market, & the other half say he’s spent nothing in terms of what he’s brought in.

He has spent top dollar on top quaility, even I can admit that. He has to deliver is what I’m saying, so going back to my oringinal post, I agree with Mourinho.

He doesn’t have to win the league, he has to win a trophy.

Do you love making stuff up for the sake of being argumentative?

BorneTobyWilde

RoboKlopp wrote: »

If we hit a points tally of mid 80s I'll be surprised and pleased.

I see us hitting that by Christmas