Liverpool FC Team Talk, Gossip, Rumours 2020/2021

Fitz*

eigrod wrote: »

A suspended season would give VVD some time to recover too

It's more Matip & Jota that would benefit of a suspension.

VVD is not gonna play this season unfortunately, unless there is another big suspension lasting months.

rob316

yourdeadwright wrote: »

We havent veen great of late bar the Palace game, Lets not foget we are now entering a period of having no senior CBs available,

Honestly i think we have let standards drop this season and wont win it again, Brighton, Fulham & Westbrom games as good references to that

Way too negative. We are still top of the league, barely out of 1st gear. Jota and thiago coming back. United are doing their best and getting by with incredible luck and one world class player. They'll call away and it'll be us and city again. If united are challengers you might as well include villa and Everton.

I'm quite happy where we are given the injuries and shows the mentality is still right.

qm1bv4p8i92aoj

yourdeadwright wrote: »

We havent veen great of late bar the Palace game, Lets not foget we are now entering a period of having no senior CBs available,

Honestly i think we have let standards drop this season and wont win it again, Brighton, Fulham & Westbrom games as good references to that

Fecking hell man the constant negativity out of you is ridiculous.

We had one of the worst injury crises I can remember while supporting Liverpool, 3 senior cbs out, playing a hape of kids, marquee summer signing hardly played for us and yet we are still top of the league and qualified top of our Champions League group.

Like other posters have already said the entitlement is starting to seep in to some of our fan base alright.

A bit of perspective is needed.

Utopia Parkway

Agent Coulson wrote: »

The WBA & Fulham games were crying out for Thiago and one of his unlocking passes.

That is what we have been missing.


One defeat in the league and top of the table going into the New Year I'm happy.

We should be winning those games regardless of Thiago. We just didn’t turn up to perform. Fulham we never turned up until half time. West Brom we just went asleep after an OK first half. Players stopped moving. Stopped making runs. Less said about the Villa game the better. First 30 minutes against Brighton we were woeful. We just haven’t turned up to perform consistently this season. The team have played a lot of big games over the past 3 years. Maybe just the grind of reaching those high levels all the time is not sustainable. Who knows? Just have to hope they pick it up a bit from here on but the injuries in defence are a real worry now.

Osmosis Jones

When VVD got injured fans spoke about how we weren't going to win anything this season, then we got about a dozen more injuries and kept trucking on and now those same fans are mad we're only top of the league by 2 points.

brevity

It’s a weird season in a lot of ways and I wouldn’t rule Utd out as potential challengers.

They have plenty of confidence now.

1o059k7ewrqj3n

Where's Gary Neville saying Utd should drop out of the CL Europa League to concentrate on the league? :pac::pac:

Utopia Parkway

brevity wrote: »

It’s a weird season in a lot of ways and I wouldn’t rule Utd out as potential challengers.

They have plenty of confidence now.

I think City are still a bigger danger. They are not banging in the goals or anything but look better defensively this year and are just racking up some straightforward enough wins lately. If they get Aguero back it will help with the goals and bar the Chelsea game (if it even happens now) they have a very handy run of games until they play us at Anfield in February.

We’ll just have to start winning some games hopefully starting tomorrow.

BorneTobyWilde

I'm sure Klopp was watching United game tonight, considering we play them soon he's be mad not to be watching them, and no doubt he had same reaction to that huge slice of luck at the death.
Last season we won many games late on, this season we've had no luck, and as Klopp says, you need a bit of luck along the way.

Girly Gal

Utopia Parkway wrote: »

I think City are still a bigger danger. They are not banging in the goals or anything but look better defensively this year and are just racking up some straightforward enough wins lately. If they get Aguero back it will help with the goals and bar the Chelsea game (if it even happens now) they have a very handy run of games until they play us at Anfield in February.

We’ll just have to start winning some games hopefully starting tomorrow.

We're in the middle of a handy set of games, but, haven't got full points, we'll soon be hitting our toughest run of games in the season with no senior CBs and people aren't worried. United have momentum now, a bit like us in 13/14 when we really should have closed it out and City are capable of going on a long winning run. We need to go on a winning run starting from tomorrow if we're to win this league.

Girly Gal

Girly Gal wrote: »

We're in the middle of a handy set of games, but, haven't got full points, we'll soon be hitting our toughest run of games in the season with no senior CBs and people aren't worried. United have momentum now, a bit like us in 13/14 when we really should have closed it out and City are capable of going on a long winning run. We need to go on a winning run starting from tomorrow if we're to win this league.

No, we don't.

There's 23 games left.

ratracer

United are an injury to Fernandez away from a total collapse. They are a more one-trick pony team than Spurs.

Charlie19

All the stick OGS has got over the last couple of years has beenw warranted but you have to give credit to him, he just scraped top 4 last season and has Utd in the running at the moment.

That said... It's early stages in the league and a lot of points to play for and I still feel who ever finishes above City will win the title.

We've only lost one game and all things considered we're not really in too much of a bad position at all.

Ken Tucky

The CB situation has supporters feeling negative.
Poxy really because even with a few injuries spread out normally this season would be a procession. But that's not the ways it's happening.
United picking up the late wins. That's what we did for the last two seasons.
Still a lot of ball to be played...its just much harder due to the long term injuries

Girly Gal

6 wrote: »

No, we don't.

There's 23 games left.

We've only won 3 games in a row in the league once this season (the first 3 games), at some point this season we'll need to win at least 4/5 in a row if we hope to retain the title, we can't rely on other teams dropping points. Also by going on a winning run it kills off the hope of our opponents, if we keep dropping points it only encourages our opponents.
People can dismiss United all they like, but, they are getting the results whether they deserve them is another issue, but, all that matters is that they're getting them.

KevRossi

I said it before, but Utd have a decent squad, I just think they are lacking in the manager department. Not saying it's a PL winning squad, but not far off. Agreed with the poster above that Fernandes is the best midfielder in the PL, possibly the best player in the PL right now.

It's all about very small percentages. Wolves could have gone ahead with a shot straight at De Gea. Didn't happen, a split second earlier contact and it would have gone in. Rashfords goal took a good deflection and was so tight they'll probably have to give the post a lick of paint tomorrow. WBA's goal could have bounced out if it was 3mm the other way, but instead it deflects around Alisson, has a perverse spinned bounce and goes in. Firminio's header; if the goalie was 1/100th of a second later to the ball it was in.

I'm not that bothered. I think we have been unlucky with injuries, but when those players come back we'll have very fresh players to attack the PL and CL. I think things even themselves out over a season and the others will have issues with injuries as well as the dice falling against them.

I really think we will win the PL again this year, I've every confidence in this Liverpool team to do it. Yes, results like Fulham and WBA are frustrating, but they'll learn from that. We just need to keep our heads, avoid the 'disaster' mentality and we'll see the Hendo dance again in May or whenever.

rob316

Fernandes gets injured they are bolloxed, it's a flimsy title challenge

Ikozma

Ffs all we have to do is up our game slightly and we'll win this lge at a canter, you won't be winning lgs by 20-30 pts every year
We are top by 2 pts, I think this time last year we were 7/8 points ahead,could be 5 again tomorrow night

Charlie19

Its not like we've forgotten what we're missing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_oNaHm_urs

yourdeadwright

Madalynn Dazzling Gurney wrote: »

Fecking hell man the constant negativity out of you is ridiculous.

We had one of the worst injury crises I can remember while supporting Liverpool, 3 senior cbs out, playing a hape of kids, marquee summer signing hardly played for us and yet we are still top of the league and qualified top of our Champions League group.

Like other posters have already said the entitlement is starting to seep in to some of our fan base alright.

A bit of perspective is needed.

Surely entitlement would be us thinking we will still win it?
I just think we have dropped of in standard this seaosn and are letting to many points slip away aginst poor teams, I think it will come back to haunt us,

No entitlement in thinking that

facehugger99

I think after the WBA performance, Klopp will have the team pumped up tonight.

I'm expecting a statement victory.

Liverpool to win by 3 or 4 goals.

qm1bv4p8i92aoj

yourdeadwright wrote: »

Surely entitlement would be us thinking we will still win it?
I just think we have dropped of in standard this seaosn and are letting to many points slip away aginst poor teams, I think it will come back to haunt us,

No entitlement in thinking that

Wrong. Entitlement is still thinking it's a "disaster" when we don't win every game in a League where it has proven that any team can take points off another nevermind when your team has been decimated by injuries and covid. You have completely unrealistic expectations of how this season should be panning out after all that's happened to us.
I think it's a miracle (Klopp) that we qualified top of our Champions League group and are still top of the league at the end of December. You seem to think we should win every game still even after all our absenteeism.

For God's sake after losing the best defender in the world and his CB partner we are now playing a 19 year old who was playing in the 6th tier of English football last year in central defence alongside a midfielder who we are subsequently now badly missing in the middle of the park, nevermind the rest of our issues. But no, we should win every match and it's a disaster when we don't.

Like I said, you are lacking perspective on this.

Bandana boy

The worry about united is they have probably got 8-10 points they have nowhere near deserved already this season while playing quite poorly .
they have the players (up front at least ) to actually start playing well and go on a run of deserved victory's , They did this twice already in latter parts of the season with Ole.
We on the other hand have probably dropped 4points with bad luck and another 4 with an uncharacteristic lack of clinical finishing

An injury to Bruno probably derails the season but they have cover pretty much every other position in the squad . Ole is a weak manager but momentum has a way of fixing many problems . January is a tough set of fixtures and I suspect if they get a couple of defeats their season will implode but if they get through them in touching distance of us I would start to worry.

SlickRic

ratracer wrote: »

United are an injury to Fernandez away from a total collapse. They are a more one-trick pony team than Spurs.

But he may never get injured.

Everyone should really be ok with where Utd are at in the table. Its not a false position. It's not luck. They've spent a lot of money, have key players fit, and have possibly the Player of the Season so far playing for them.

Liverpool are the better team. I know it. You know it. They know it. Gary Neville knows it. The world knows it.

Doesn't matter a jot.

All they have to do is keep beating teams they should be beating, and they're challenging. It's that simple. And while we continue to have injuries, it'll be a monumental challenge to stay consistent.

Embrace it.

It'll be one of our greatest titles if we do it.

MD1990

My biggest concern is not where we are in the league currently.

It is if these reports are true that we are not buying a CB. Now like in previous windows Im think this is a smokescreen & we will get someone in.

We are not winning the league with our current defence unless Matip by some miracle comes back & stays injury free.

Williams/Phillips have done ok but either starting alongside Fabinho long term will cost us points. Imagine Williams up against Rashford & Man Utd's attack in a few weeks, Too much to ask from him.

Girly Gal

Madalynn Dazzling Gurney wrote: »

Wrong. Entitlement is still thinking it's a "disaster" when we don't win every game in a League where it has proven that any team can take points off another nevermind when your team has been decimated by injuries and covid. You have completely unrealistic expectations of how this season should be panning out after all that's happened to us.
I think it's a miracle (Klopp) that we qualified top of our Champions League group and are still top of the league at the end of December. You seem to think we should win every game still even after all our absenteeism.

For God's sake after losing the best defender in the world and his CB partner we are now playing a 19 year old who was playing in the 6th tier of English football last year in central defence alongside a midfielder who we are subsequently now badly missing in the middle of the park, nevermind the rest of our issues. But no, we should win every match and it's a disaster when we don't.

Like I said, you are lacking perspective on this.

I think the main worry is that we went into the season with only 3 senior CBs and now we're relying on a midfielder and 2 very inexperienced players at CB, a situation the club could have rectified in the summer, but, chose not to. Most people did highlight that not replacing Lovern was a mistake at the time, obviously VVDs' long term injury couldn't really have been foreseen, but, both Gomez and Matip are injury prone, so it was definitely an oversight not getting in decent cover here.
Remember Philips was on the verge of joining Swansea, but, the deal fell through. It also looks like the club want to hold out until the summer before getting someone in, that might change now depending on how long Matip is our for.

fyfe79

Ferguson's United teams used to drop random points against no-marks in every season. These results were treated as the disappointments they were, but not disasters, and they'd invariably go on to win the league anyway.

The unbelievable form of Liverpool and Man City over the last 2/3 seasons has skewed the perception of the landscape massively. Liverpool do not need to show the form of the last 2 seasons to win this league, therefore dropping silly points isn't the end of the world. Essentially, due to covid, injuries and a general drop-of in quality/consistency, neither City or Liverpool are as good as they were.

We only need to replicate an average Ferguson winning season points total to win the league this year.

fyfe79

Girly Gal wrote: »

I think the main worry is that we went into the season with only 3 senior CBs and now we're relying on a midfielder and 2 very inexperienced players at CB, a situation the club could have rectified in the summer, but, chose not to. Most people did highlight that not replacing Lovern was a mistake at the time, obviously VVDs' long term injury couldn't really have been foreseen, but, both Gomez and Matip are injury prone, so it was definitely an oversight not getting in decent cover here.
Remember Philips was on the verge of joining Swansea, but, the deal fell through. It also looks like the club want to hold out until the summer before getting someone in, that might change now depending on how long Matip is our for.

I still don't get this thinking. 3 senior CB's have gotten injured. Of course, in hindsight, the club should've gotten another CB.

But, what if none of our CB's got injured, we signed a CB, only for all our goalkeepers to get injured instead? Hindsight would then say why didn't we sign any keepers but we signed a CB instead when there was no need.

3 CB's being out injured is not normal.

The signing of Thiago, in theory, allowed Fabinho to be used as a 4th choice CB, in an emergency, while not weakening the midfield. The issue is that Thiago is injured as well so we don't have as much control there, as now, due to 4 injuries, we can't play either Thiago or Fab in midfield.

All these injuries would decimate any squad, no matter what you do.

qm1bv4p8i92aoj

Girly Gal wrote: »

I think the main worry is that we went into the season with only 3 senior CBs and now we're relying on a midfielder and 2 very inexperienced players at CB, a situation the club could have rectified in the summer, but, chose not to. Most people did highlight that not replacing Lovern was a mistake at the time, obviously VVDs' long term injury couldn't really have been foreseen, but, both Gomez and Matip are injury prone, so it was definitely an oversight not getting in decent cover here.
Remember Philips was on the verge of joining Swansea, but, the deal fell through. It also looks like the club want to hold out until the summer before getting someone in, that might change now depending on how long Matip is our for.

Don't think anyone is disputing that we all wanted Lovern replaced in the summer when he departed. From what I understand with our finances taking a massive hit due to covid it was either a CB replacement or Thiago. The club obviously thought we would be ok with the 3 senior cbs at the club and Fab covering whenever needed for the 2 injury prone one's. I think given the option of a 4th choice centre back ala Klavan or a world class midfield like Thiago then the majority of us would have opted for the latter.

We have been extremely unlucky with injuries but are still top of the pile. But I do agree it would be wrong not to purchase a CB in January but once again luck has been against us drawing RB Leipzig in the Champion's League who reportedly our top CB target plays for which will prevent them from selling to us. Not sure if the club will sanction buying someone they don't see as a top target. It's not really in their MO.
But heres hoping we get a brilliant player out of left field like we did with Jota as I agree we won't win the PL with CB options of Matip, Fab, Williams and Philips but we've done brilliant to be in this position with those 4 defenders.

atilladehun

fyfe79 wrote: »

Ferguson's United teams used to drop random points against no-marks in every season. These results were treated as the disappointments they were, but not disasters, and they'd invariably go on to win the league anyway.

That's not how I remember it. I remember thinking it weird that utd supporting friends would completely over react to losses back then. I think it's just fan nature.

I think it's the opposite of what klopp wants from fans. But that's irrelevant with almost no-one in the ground.

I also think it's mad for fans to say "the club don't seem to want to sign anyone in January". How do you know? Because of Twitter? The media who are paid to write nonsense everyday? Have you not seen loads of our transfers? They appear out of nowhere. You'll know when you know.

If we leave the squad as is I think we will still have a chance in this crazy league but an extra cb would make it much more secure.

This squad deserves at least one more medal.

Girly Gal

fyfe79 wrote: »

I still don't get this thinking. 3 senior CB's have gotten injured. Of course, in hindsight, the club should've gotten another CB.

But, what if none of our CB's got injured, we signed a CB, only for all our goalkeepers to get injured instead? Hindsight would then say why didn't we sign any keepers but we signed a CB instead when there was no need.

3 CB's being out injured is not normal.

The signing of Thiago, in theory, allowed Fabinho to be used as a 4th choice CB, in an emergency, while not weakening the midfield. The issue is that Thiago is injured as well so we don't have as much control there, as now, due to 4 injuries, we can't play either Thiago or Fab in midfield.

All these injuries would decimate any squad, no matter what you do.

The option wasn't between a CB and Thiago, we could have signed a CB who could cover for Robertson instead of signing the Greek fella, don't think anyone would have cried over missing out on him as most didn't know who he was.
The club knew 2 of our 3 CBs are injury prone so Fabinho would more than likely have to play CB more than expected. Yes we have been unlucky with how the injuries have fallen, but, we could have been better prepared. Your point about the goalkeepers is irrelevant as no one expects us to have more than 3 senior goalkeepers, even then an emergency signing would be allowed.It's not a case of hindsight either, this was flagged before the season started. The club has also known for the last two months that VVD is out until next season and Gomez won't be fit until later this season, so it will be gross negligence not to sign a decent CB with experience at this level, even if only on loan. I'm not expecting them to break the bank and sign the next VVD, just a solid, reliable defender to get us through the next 2 or 3 months, when hopefully Gomez is back.
We've been lucky that Matip has held up pretty well since Gomez's injury, if he's out for a few weeks and we don't get better cover in, it could cost us the league

Shanee.

Can we stop talking about United and focus on ourselves? Win tonight against Newcastle and we go 5 ahead that’s all that matter going into the new year. Players to come back in, sign a CB in January and we are laughing

Daemonic

I haven't seen any pics/videos of Joe back rehabbing his injury so 2-3 months could be optimistic.

fyfe79

Girly Gal wrote: »

The option wasn't between a CB and Thiago, we could have signed a CB who could cover for Robertson instead of signing the Greek fella, don't think anyone would have cried over missing out on him as most didn't know who he was.
The club knew 2 of our 3 CBs are injury prone so Fabinho would more than likely have to play CB more than expected. Yes we have been unlucky with how the injuries have fallen, but, we could have been better prepared. Your point about the goalkeepers is irrelevant as no one expects us to have more than 3 senior goalkeepers, even then an emergency signing would be allowed.It's not a case of hindsight either, this was flagged before the season started. The club has also known for the last two months that VVD is out until next season and Gomez won't be fit until later this season, so it will be gross negligence not to sign a decent CB with experience at this level, even if only on loan. I'm not expecting them to break the bank and sign the next VVD, just a solid, reliable defender to get us through the next 2 or 3 months, when hopefully Gomez is back.
We've been lucky that Matip has held up pretty well since Gomez's injury, if he's out for a few weeks and we don't get better cover in, it could cost us the league

Oh, I fully expect the club to sign a CB in January as a reaction to what's happened this season. My point is that when the summer transfer window closed, we had 4 fit senior players for the CB position. For us to be down to 1 in December is bad luck and very tough is legislate for. If we were City or PSG or whichever club has endless pockets, then yes, by all means have a huge squad with multiple players covering every position, but Liverpool don't have those resources and, perhaps more importantly, Klopp favours a smaller squad which comes with its own risks but also its own rewards.

yourdeadwright

Madalynn Dazzling Gurney wrote: »

Wrong. Entitlement is still thinking it's a "disaster" when we don't win every game in a League where it has proven that any team can take points off another nevermind when your team has been decimated by injuries and covid. You have completely unrealistic expectations of how this season should be panning out after all that's happened to us.
I think it's a miracle (Klopp) that we qualified top of our Champions League group and are still top of the league at the end of December. You seem to think we should win every game still even after all our absenteeism.

For God's sake after losing the best defender in the world and his CB partner we are now playing a 19 year old who was playing in the 6th tier of English football last year in central defence alongside a midfielder who we are subsequently now badly missing in the middle of the park, nevermind the rest of our issues. But no, we should win every match and it's a disaster when we don't.

Like I said, you are lacking perspective on this.

What your saying makes no sense, Im saying i dont expect us to win the league but some how u think i expect us to win every match?

Injury crisis or not taking 3 points from 3 games against Fulham, Westbrom and Brighton isnt form of Champions in waiting

I think we missed opportunities for 3 points recently and i dont think we are playing well enough to win it this year,
Dont really see a problem with saying that,

Its not entitlement its just a observation of our current form

Fitz*

Daemonic wrote: »

I haven't seen any pics/videos of Joe back rehabbing his injury so 2-3 months could be optimistic.

By all accounts, his injury is much worse than what VVD has.

I read recently that he was still struggling to walk unaided a few weeks ago.

BillyHasMates

MD1990 wrote: »

My biggest concern is not where we are in the league currently.

It is if these reports are true that we are not buying a CB. Now like in previous windows Im think this is a smokescreen & we will get someone in.

We are not winning the league with our current defence unless Matip by some miracle comes back & stays injury free.

Williams/Phillips have done ok but either starting alongside Fabinho long term will cost us points. Imagine Williams up against Rashford & Man Utd's attack in a few weeks, Too much to ask from him.

I am more concerned about our performances this year in certain games. Yes we have had more than our fair share of bad luck with injuries and have been on the wrong end of some very tight (to say the least) VAR calls. But to me it is just excuse making. My concern is how we have performed so well against the top teams, the teams expected to give us a game and then in the very next game against a Fulham or West Brom we don't show up. We got a scutching off Villa and barely deserved a point against Brighton and Fulham. This team has performed so well with injuries against good sides and with the same team the following game have not been at it at all. The only conclusion you can come to is that complacency has seeped in. There has been an obvious lack of energy and focus in these games.

I think that what gets some fans annoyed is that the points we have dropped this season have been silly points, dropping points and not performing against the teams we should comfortably expect to beat even with injuries, while at the same time performing so well against more dangerous opponents. It makes those dropped points harder to take, especially in a season in which the title race looks like it will be very tight.

Fitz*

Fitz* wrote: »

By all accounts, his injury is much worse than what VVD has.

I read recently that he was still struggling to walk unaided a few weeks ago.

Any long term plans that include Matip, Gomez, Ox and Naby fall into the hope rather than strategy category, I'm sorry to say

koppy

A win tonight is a must. Utd can go top before our next match. Need to keep the pressure on, need them having to win to stay in touch when we play them.
Plenty of time to turn things around if they do get ahead but rather be leading than chasing

Fitz*

Deleted User wrote: »

Any long term plans that include Matip, Gomez, Ox and Naby fall into the hope rather than strategy category, I'm sorry to say

To be fair, Gomez only missed one game through injury last season, but over the course of his career, he has had 3 massive injuries now, with more niggles thrown in around them.

Over the last few seasons, Liverpool were able to balance the injury issues at CB between Gomez/Matip/Lovren. There was always one of those 3 available. But this was balanced with VVD always being available. VVD being fit this year would have covered over the injury issues of the others. This year is completely different. Never seen a team in the PL to have such consistent injury problems in one position for a prolonged period of time.

fyfe79

Deleted User wrote: »

Any long term plans that include Matip, Gomez, Ox and Naby fall into the hope rather than strategy category, I'm sorry to say

I think so too. With the exception of Joe, I can see the other 3 and Shaqiri being moved on over the next few windows. Even as back-ups they're just not reliable if they're regularly not fit.

fyfe79

Fitz* wrote: »

To be fair, Gomez only missed one game through injury last season, but over the course of his career, he has had 3 massive injuries now, with more niggles thrown in around them.

Over the last few seasons, Liverpool were able to balance the injury issues at CB between Gomez/Matip/Lovren. There was always one of those 3 available. But this was balanced with VVD always being available. VVD being fit this year would have covered over the injury issues of the others. This year is completely different. Never seen a team in the PL to have such consistent injury problems in one position for a prolonged period of time.

Bingo.

Much like how the superb fitness of Firmino/Salah/Mane covers over the fact that we've never had much cover for them for years. We go and sign cover in Jota and he gets an injury worse than any of the 3 lads have had combined (in terms of amount of time out).

If VVD isn't recklessly assaulted, the CB pairing for the majority of the season is him and Fab. Nobody is slagging Klopp or the club for not signing another CB in that scenario. I refuse to criticise either the club or Klopp for the actions of Jordan Pickford.

qm1bv4p8i92aoj

yourdeadwright wrote: »

What your saying makes no sense, Im saying i dont expect us to win the league but some how u think i expect us to win every match?

Injury crisis or not taking 3 points from 3 games against Fulham, Westbrom and Brighton isnt form of Champions in waiting

I think we missed opportunities for 3 points recently and i dont think we are playing well enough to win it this year,
Dont really see a problem with saying that,

Its not entitlement its just a observation of our current form

What are ya on about, you do expect us to win every match. That's very clear on here. Every match if we don't win is a disaster with you and every match is a must win in your own words. We have lost one match all season in the league! An absolute freak of a result even when we had VvD playing in it. We are doing fantastic without him, the rest of the injuries, players out with covid and all the dodgy var decisions against us(way more than any other club had against them).

Win tonight we are 5 points clear. If we buy a CB in January, which is a strong possibility, then we have a fantastic chance to win the league. You'd swear we were fighting relegation with your negative posts. You have the towel thrown in already with the league even though half way through we could be 5 points clear at the top! It's bizarre behaviour tbh.

Anyways I feel like we are going round in circles here with this so I'll leave you to your pessimism.

MD1990

i think Trent has been poor this season.
Not as good going forward.

But he doesnt even attempt to block a cross & is beaten too easily 1v1.

Robertson is a better full back no question

daheff

For me this season was always about getting through it. Covid is going to make an absolute shambles of the season between compressed schedule(ie 2-3 games a week nearly every week) and games getting cancelled and then compressed into even shorter timeframe...and Euro 2020/1 at the end of it.

While we'd all love to win trophies, I just want to get through this without anymore injuries and a champions league place so we can keep competing there next season. I worry about the amount of games players have to play in such a short timeframe. we'll be seeing fall out from this for a few seasons i think.


I honestly wouldn't be surprised to see more games fall victim to covid and the season being written off. We just have to hope to get to the Everton game (#25) in Feb still top of the table.

fyfe79

daheff wrote: »

For me this season was always about getting through it. Covid is going to make an absolute shambles of the season between compressed schedule(ie 2-3 games a week nearly every week) and games getting cancelled and then compressed into even shorter timeframe...and Euro 2020/1 at the end of it.

While we'd all love to win trophies, I just want to get through this without anymore injuries and a champions league place so we can keep competing there next season. I worry about the amount of games players have to play in such a short timeframe. we'll be seeing fall out from this for a few seasons i think.


I honestly wouldn't be surprised to see more games fall victim to covid and the season being written off. We just have to hope to get to the Everton game (#25) in Feb still top of the table.

If there wasn't a vaccine being rolled out, I'd probably agree, but I think we'll see a few games off before things settle in a couple of months time. I think if things got bad enough we might see the FA Cup being abandoned (as lower league teams can't test as much which puts the PL teams at risk, and abandoning it would lower the number of games and allow re-scheduled PL fixtures to be fulfilled) but the PL will plough on to a conclusion.

Robert2014

Going into the season without a 4th centre half was a risk, taking into account the injury issues of Matip and Gomez. However no squad is ever complete, in other seasons we were lacking cover up front, full backs etc.

I think the club would like to bring in a centre half but it will be hard. Other clubs won't want to sell, they will want top dollar. There are issues with the no. overseas players that we can register too. Most likely we have to sell before we buy, and Origi is the obvious player to sell but that won't be easy either

fyfe79

Robert2014 wrote: »

Going into the season without a 4th centre half was a risk, taking into account the injury issues of Matip and Gomez. However no squad is ever complete, in other seasons we were lacking cover up front, full backs etc.

I think the club would like to bring in a centre half but it will be hard. Other clubs won't want to sell, they will want top dollar. There are issues with the no. overseas players that we can register too. Most likely we have to sell before we buy, and Origi is the obvious player to sell but that won't be easy either

But we did have 4 CB's. Yes, Fab isn't considered a designated CB but he can obviously play there. Would you consider Fab or Lovren (4th choice last year) to be a better CB? At this moment, the answer is overwhelmingly Fab.

As alluded to earlier in this thread, I believe the option in the summer for the club was to either sign a 4th choice CB (in the Klavan/Lovren mold), or Thiago (which would allow Fab to be the 4th choice), but not both.

Our 3 first choice CB's are injured so our 4th and 5th choice need to play. The real crux is the fact that Thiago is injured at the same time so our midfield is suffering for having neither Fab or Thiago in it. Because the midfield is suffering, our results are suffering, so the disgruntlement is rising.

Fact of the matter is 4 injuries (3 CB's and Thiago), not just the 3 CB's, has really disrupted the defense and midfield.

atilladehun

Fulham Spurs off.

When does the season become under threat?

Don't need any CBs if it's off.

koppy

Our game under review aswell, seemingly. The 2 week break looking possible now