Liverpool FC Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours 2018

Ox's stats with a year left on his contract didn't look great compared to the £30+ we paid for him either, to be fair.
That turned out well for us until his unfortunate injury.

rossie1977

TitianGerm wrote: »

15-20 in the league, Bobby and Mane with the 15 as well.

I'm expecting a decent few from midfield this year though with Kieta, Henderson, Lalana and Gini all chipping in with between 5-10 each. Fabhino could get a few as well if he's on penalties.

VVD (and Lovern to a lesser extent) to get a few as well.

Edit: Sturridge to get 10 if he stays fit.

Considering Henderson, Milner and Wijnaldum scored one goal each in the league last season you might be a tad optimistic expecting 5-10 goals each from those players this season..

Lack of goals from midfield is probably going to be a big issue for Liverpool again.

TitianGerm

rossie1977 wrote: »

Considering Henderson, Milner and Wijnaldum scored one goal each in the league last season you might be a tad optimistic expecting 5-10 goals each from those players this season..

Lack of goals from midfield is probably going to be a big issue for Liverpool again.

Were going to see an awful lot of doubling up on Salah this season so there's going to be more space for our midfielders to run into.

Harry Palmr

Keita and Shaqiri will score 5-8 goals each with little bother.

Utopia Parkway

Harry Palmr wrote: »

Keita and Shaqiri will score 5-8 goals each with little bother.

Keita got 6 goals and 5 assists for RBL last season in 23 league games. If he can stay fit and not pick up suspensions like he did last season he should get between 5 to 10 without much bother. Shaqiri the same. Lallana might get a few if he stays fit.

Henderson and Fabinho to mind the house.

Mr.H

People think that Salah will be shackled more this season because now everyone knows about him.

By December last season everyone knew about his threat. They tried to double up already. They put in harder tackles, played narrow, played wide. Hell man city tried to play a center back against him. Nothing worked. Nobody figured out how to handle him because he is not predictable. Salah will be as effective this season as last. Its not like people have only started to notice him now. The last six months was probably his most prolific and thats when teams were aware. I know i could end up with egg on my face but i guarantee at least 30/35 goals this season from him in all comps.

rob316

Mr.H wrote: »

People think that Salah will be shackled more this season because now everyone knows about him.

By December last season everyone knew about his threat. They tried to double up already. They put in harder tackles, played narrow, played wide. Hell man city tried to play a center back against him. Nothing worked. Nobody figured out how to handle him because he is not predictable. Salah will be as effective this season as last. Its not like people have only started to notice him now. The last six months was probably his most prolific and thats when teams were aware. I know i could end up with egg on my face but i guarantee at least 30/35 goals this season from him in all comps.

All rival fans say the same. Same was going to happen to Suarez too :rolleyes:

x43r0

Mr.H wrote: »

....i guarantee at least 30/35 goals this season from him in all comps.

Mr.H

Mr.H wrote: »

.......... i guarantee at least 30/35 goals this season from him in all comps.

He scored 44 goals for LFC last season.
A drop off to 30 would be both unsurprising but still excellent.

His 32 PL goals in 36 appearances was simply outstanding. Ridiculously good.

TitianGerm

https://twitter.com/LFC/status/1024681603715543041?s=19

Probably a given but good to hear anyone going will get to see his first game for us.

BorneTobyWilde

I think Premier League will have a Leicester City type of season, where the like of Spurs, Arsenal, Man U, Liverpool, City and Chelsea lose 55 games between them.
That's what happened when Leicester won league, 55 games lost by the 6 clubs above . I see everyone beating everyone.

MD1990

BorneTobyWilde wrote: »

I think Premier League will have a Leicester City type of season, where the like of Spurs, Arsenal, Man U, Liverpool, City and Chelsea lose 55 games between them.
That's what happened when Leicester won league, 55 games lost by the 6 clubs above . I see everyone beating everyone.

No chance that will happen. Especially with Man City losing 1 game last season.

Talisman

MD1990 wrote: »

No chance that will happen. Especially with Man City losing 1 game last season.

But they lost 2 league games!

BorneTobyWilde

MD1990 wrote: »

No chance that will happen. Especially with Man City losing 1 game last season.

Man U need players, City really can't improve, they can only tapper off, Arsenal are in transition, Spurs have spent no money and have a new stadium to get used to, Chelsea could lose Hazzard and their keeper, Liverpool will always lose a few as they do.
It might not be on same scale as that Leicester season, but I see a more even playing field. 83-88pts wins it .

NukaCola

The top 6 lost 44 between them last season, I think its likely Arsenal and Chelsea will improve and i think total games lost between all the top 6 will probably drop below 40 rather rise above 50. I think the gap between the top 6 and everyone else will increase, not sure anyone outside the top 6 have improved their squads enough.

BorneTobyWilde

City are away to Arsenal, Liverpool, Spurs , and away to two promoted sides in Wolves and Cardiff in first few games . I see them with 2 loses in first few weeks.

A bit nervous about going into the season with VVD as the only standout CB. If he gets injured it'll weaken us a lot.

Lovren has lots of good days but he's not in the same bracket as VVD. Same as the other cover.

~Rebel~

BorneTobyWilde wrote: »

Man U need players, City really can't improve, they can only tapper off, Arsenal are in transition, Spurs have spent no money and have a new stadium to get used to, Chelsea could lose Hazzard and their keeper, Liverpool will always lose a few as they do.
It might not be on same scale as that Leicester season, but I see a more even playing field. 83-88pts wins it .

What I see here is even greater reason why City will probably walk it again. You're describing that all the teams who should be best placed to take points off City, are less than they were a year ago. City, as you say, can't really improve much because their squad was incredible - and yet they've still added more depth.

rossie1977

RoboKlopp wrote: »

A bit nervous about going into the season with VVD as the only standout CB. If he gets injured it'll weaken us a lot.

Lovren has lots of good days but he's not in the same bracket as VVD. Same as the other cover.

Losing VVD for an extended period would be a disaster as would losing one or two of the front three.

~Rebel~

Wonder if Klopp really does rate Brewster highly enough to be prepared to genuinely use him as a first teamer in the second half of the season. It's about the only thing that really makes sense, as it currently looks like we're going into the season a bit light with 5 players to cover 3 positions (presuming Origi and Ings leave, as seems to be suggested widely).

If Klopp reckons Brewster can actually come in without a significant drop in quality, it also make sense of Brewster being convinced to sign a new deal to stay and fight for his place, if he was assured there was a space for him.

rossie1977

rossie1977 wrote: »

Losing VVD for an extended period would be a disaster as would losing one or two of the front three.

Shiqiri and Sturridge(if fit!) would take the heat off the front. I think we'd get though it.

Back 4 more of a worry cover wise.

Midfield pretty ok.

murpho999

RoboKlopp wrote: »

Shiqiri and Sturridge(if fit!) would take the heat off the front. I think we'd get though it.

Back 4 more of a worry cover wise.

Midfield pretty ok.

Do you really expect us to have aa VVD level cover player for VVD?

No squad has that?

Otherwise we have plenty at the back.

murpho999

murpho999 wrote: »

Do you really expect us to have aa VVD level cover player for VVD?...

Otherwise we have plenty at the back.

It's just without Virgil we are likely back to lovren & matip.... not great more often than not.

Although Moreno not being in the back4 is crucial imo....& karius / mig not in goal.

murpho999

murpho999 wrote: »

Do you really expect us to have aa VVD level cover player for VVD?

No squad has that?

Otherwise we have plenty at the back.

Klavan
Gomez
Matip


The latter very injury prone. It's flakey enough if VVD was out for a while.

Another top class CB alongside VVD would be ideal. It wasn't priority obviously.

~Rebel~

Augeo wrote: »

It's just without Virgil we are likely back to lovren & matip.... not great more often than not.

Although Moreno not being in the back4 is crucial imo....& karius / mig not in goal.

As a backup pairing, Lovren and Matip is still grand... remember a year ago we were despairing over the possibility of Lovren and Raggy.

In fairness to him, Raggy has done better than expected, and a squad with him at 4th or 5th choice (depending where Gomez stands) isn't one we can complain too much about.

There's a drop without VVD, of course, but it wouldn't be a complete disaster, especially with (hopefully) a more confident, controlling keeper behind them. Would hope that helps bring Matip back to better form too... he had a rough season last year, but has shown more ability in the past.

murpho999

RoboKlopp wrote: »

Klavan
Gomez
Matip


The latter very injury prone. It's flakey enough if VVD was out for a while.

Another top class CB alongside VVD would be ideal. It wasn't priority obviously.

We have Lovren who got his teams to a Champion's League and World Cup final.

I don't think any other CB will be coming in this window.

rossie1977

Liverpool are not going to be buying a centre-half now but Lovren is an accident waiting to happen.

RoboKlopp wrote: »

Shiqiri and Sturridge(if fit!) would take the heat off the front. I think we'd get though it.

Back 4 more of a worry cover wise.

Midfield pretty ok.

Salah or Firmino on the shelf for six months or worse both and top four would be a struggle imo.

Aguero missed quite a bit of playing time last season and City were able to deal with it.

murpho999

murpho999 wrote: »

We have Lovren who got his teams to a Champion's League and World Cup final.

I don't think any other CB will be coming in this window.

I'm just saying it'd be nice to have another top class CB.

I hope it's not something an area we'll regret not strengthening.

Agree with you on another CB not coming in. If we are in a bad place come December we could always buy someone then.

Agent Coulson

Off topic,

Anyone watch Arsenal vs Chelsea?


When did Arsenal clone David Luiz?

Demosthenese

I'm not too worried by the CB situation. Unfortunately you just cannot strengthen everywhere in one transfer window - but our current additions are really after pushing us towards building a very capable team of challenging for all fronts.

Is it just me or is it the strangest thing to be a Liverpool fan and to actually be thinking WOW we can actually properly challenge for the league? I mean, Chelsea/City and even United in the past have all spent serious money - we never have - i mean really until now. VVD/Fabinho/Kieta/Shaquiri/Allison all coming into this side is very exciting. We've addressed the midfield losing legs in our style of playing. We've addressed losing one of our 2 main men attacking wise. Proper defencive mid. that leaves the keeper - for too many years we've heard the same thing - The keeper will cost you eventually, cannot win titles with a dodgy keeper etc ... sweet jebus we've literally just smashed that line out of the park in one go.

Now for the hard part. Expectation ... we always operated under a cloak of "Ah sure we cannot compete with the bigger fish in the pond" type of scenario. but this year we've held onto our assets AND strengthened to a really good squad. My only concern is exactly that ... expectation. Suddenly a good start and a title assault is a necessity - a requirement - not just something that we aspire to.

It's a completely different type of pressure for the players to deal with. City took that expectation last season and took off liker a bat out of hell. League over by Xmas. I doubt anyone that match this stat this year. but we need to start well and compete now.

I'm really looking forward to the season more so possibly more than any other in recent memory. Can't wait even for Saturdays game in the Aviva!!! We'll get a minimum of 45mins from the starting 11 the week after so that's always nice!

Sofa Spud

RoboKlopp wrote: »

I'm just saying it'd be nice to have another top class CB.

I hope it's not something an area we'll regret not strengthening.

Agree with you on another CB not coming in. If we are in a bad place come December we could always buy someone then.

Worse case scenario if VVD was sidelined, could Fabby slot in and let Hendo be no.6 while VVD is mended?

marklazarcovic

The Hudson kid ripping arsenal a new one here, exciting player

Johner

marklazarcovic wrote: »

The Hudson kid ripping arsenal a new one here, exciting player

Will be great for Vitesse next season. :pac:

Utopia Parkway

Sofa Spud wrote: »

Worse case scenario if VVD was sidelined, could Fabby slot in and let Hendo be no.6 while VVD is mended?

We have 5 centre-halves? Why would we be putting Fabinho back there?

Agent Coulson

Ojo next to go out on loan with Middlesbrough showing interest.

citytillidie

PAOK beating Basel 3-0 so 5-1 up over all, just need Benfica to lose now in either round

Sofa Spud

Utopia Parkway wrote: »

We have 5 centre-halves? Why would we be putting Fabinho back there?

Well, if people are concerned that we don't have a quality replacement if VVD is out - which is what was being discussed in the thread - and no offense to Raggy, Matip, Gomez and assuming Lovren is fine to play as is, then Fabby, who had played RB and is a DM, could he not slot in in the short-term if folks feel the others are not up to scratch to play if VVD is out?

~Rebel~

Sofa Spud wrote: »

Well, if people are concerned that we don't have a quality replacement if VVD is out - which is what was being discussed in the thread - and no offense to Raggy, Matip, Gomez and assuming Lovren is fine to play as is, then Fabby, who had played RB and is a DM, could he not slot in in the short-term if folks feel the others are not up to scratch to play if VVD is out?

If that was an actual possibility for Klopp to be thinking of a non-CB as being above all his other CB's in the pecking order, then we should/would be selling Raggy, Matip and Gomez right now. I daresay the only way Fabinho will be playing at CB is if each of the above lads (especially Raggy and Matip) are injured as well as one of Lovren and VVD, or a CB goes off injured and we've no subs left.

(You're probably not wrong that Fabinho could probably do a job there if needed, but I think it would need to be a seriously desperate case for us to find out)

SuperTortoise

I think how much success we have this season will depend on injuries to key players, Mane, Salah and VVD being the obvious ones, i think everywhere else we have decent enough cover.

54and56

SuperTortoise wrote: »

I think how much success we have this season will depend on injuries to key players, Mane, Salah, Allisson and VVD being the obvious ones, i think everywhere else we have decent enough cover.

Fixed that for ya!!

Charlie19

Agent Coulson wrote: »

Off topic,

Anyone watch Arsenal vs Chelsea?


When did Arsenal clone David Luiz?

It's uncanny how alike they are.

corwill

Not sure how Roberto gets left off that list!?

ShamoBuc

Je_suis_Jean wrote: »

Fixed that for ya!!

Alisson

54and56

ShamoBuc wrote: »

Alisson

Mods are grammar Nazi's

Mods are grammar Nazi's

Mods are grammar Nazi's

Mods are grammar Nazi's

Mods are grammar Nazi's

Mods are grammar Nazi's






















I'm sorry

Charlie19

Je_suis_Jean wrote: »

Mods are grammar Nazi's

Mods are grammar Nazi's

Mods are grammar Nazi's

Mods are grammar Nazi's

Mods are grammar Nazi's

Mods are grammar Nazi's


IFYP

Sorry

BorneTobyWilde

elbyrneo

BorneTobyWilde wrote: »

Cycling a bit risky pre-season. Hope they stayed off the TUE's. They could all have asthma now.....

BorneTobyWilde

Knex*

This time last year I was bricking it about playing Hoffenheim in the CL qualifiers.

Mad how much we've progressed.

Charlie19

Have we just one qualifier to get through for entry to the group stages of the CL?