Liverpool FC Team Talk, Gossip, Rumours 2020/2021

Girly Gal

Ottoman_1000 wrote: »

Well what a 24 hours we have had here on the forum. Lots of opinion on the current situation with levels of delusion/denial at both ends of the spectrum.

For those saying that Klopp's position is under threat, I am putting you in the highest level of delusion category! The man has basically put together a Championship winning and Champions League squad with a nett spend off F-All. Most sane people understand this and more importantly the board of members at the club understand this more than anyone, they know there is few if any people out there that can replicate what Klopp has done with the way they run things!

That's where the worrying part is, Klopp looks a broken man on the sideline and when he speaks before and after games. If he does decide to take a step back in the summer (which he would be more than entitled to do so) then we are really in the sh##e...

There has also been a slight denial, lots of people saying that we can turn this around and we will get top 4 before the season finishes aren't been realistic about the from/position we're in. Currently we're not even confident that we can beat Sheffield Utd at the weekend and sadly that's where we're at...If we look at out potential starting 11 for the next 4 games there is noting to suggest we can win 1 not to mind 4...This has kinda shone a light on what can happen to the FSG management model when the first team takes some heavy hits, the drop off can be huge to the next in line.

My take of what's happening on the field, its hard to really gauge because of the players available to us. I suppose one criticism could be the continued way off setting up the team game after game when its quite clear we don't have the personal in defense or midfield to carry out that game plan. But maybe Klopp just feels he has no other system he can turn to with what he has available and he would know better than everyone on this forum. My main criticism would be the sending of Taki out on loan (not that he is a world beater) but its been clear for a while that we are really struggling up front, Origi and Firminho are just not at it and with the way injuries are piling up I though it was mental to send a decent member of our 1st team squad out on loan in the middle of the season!!

Where we go from here, I am not going to get wound up about results for the remainder of the season because there is very little that can be done about it now. The remaining fit squad member's is what it is...A Champions league run would be nice but its going to be difficult with potentially playing a championship level player and a 20 year old loanee as your starting central partnership. We could take a heavy beating against a top side with that... My main hope is we show a bit of fight before the end of the season that can give us some hope for next year because I do feel for where Klopp is at personally if this continues.

Great sum up of the current situation

theoneeyedman

The biggest disappointment has been the inability to change up the pattern of play, formations, or method over the last year or so.

There were signs around the lockdown that certain teams were succeeding in closing down our attack, especially the low block defence, crowding out Bobby, filling the zone and the passing lanes in Central areas.
Now, there are mitigating factors, not least the injuries, and the schedule that im sure prevents a lot of tactical work between games, but we're still playing generally the same way with the same formation, with generally the same players, and expecting something to change.

I don't think it reflects well on our coaching team (not just Klopp) that we haven't really freshened things up in any meaningful way, except to gut our midfield to patch up our back line.

We're 12 or 13 games into this current slump by now, we're running out of time to get things back on track.

At least with Leicester winning Aston Villa didn't get closer to us.

Ottoman_1000

yourdeadwright wrote: »

Hold on buddy you said we should give him the rest of the season off
Hes already said he doesnt need it but now when things are extremely poor on the pitch we should give him 3 months or more off, come on man

What?? Where did I say give him the rest of the season off???

ShamoBuc

Augeo wrote: »

At least with Leicester winning Aston Villa didn't get closer to us.

Then I see that they still have 2 games in hand and are only 4 behind.

~Rebel~

yourdeadwright wrote: »

I never said he couldn't have time to morn,
I said it was laughable to think ud give him the rest of the season off?
Makes no sense he said he dosnt need it then all of a sudden when things go bad you want to give him what 3 months off,

You’re replying again to something I didn’t say and am not talking to you about.

Again, the thing I’m pulling you up on is you saying you’d give abuse to an opposition manager if they needed to take a step back because of a death close to them.

yourdeadwright

~Rebel~ wrote: »

You’re replying again to something I didn’t say and am not talking to you about.

Again, the thing I’m pulling you up on is you saying you’d give abuse to an opposition manager if they needed to take a step back because of a death close to them.

No if it was the same situation, as in he says hes fine and then things on the pitch go bad and he takes 3 months off,

Im not some kind of evil man with no heart

~Rebel~

yourdeadwright wrote: »

No if it was the same situation, as in he says hes fine and then things on the pitch go bad and he takes 3 months off,

Im not some kind of evil man with no heart

Glad to hear you clarify it that way, as it's not how your initial post read at all.

kingshankly

Augeo wrote: »

West Ham now in 4th, 5 pts ahead of us.
You'd expect is to reel them in though.

Have you not seen us play lately 😂

Riesen_Meal

Seems Everton won the UCL and the PL all in one go last night with their twitter page admins carry on, bless....

https://twitter.com/FootyRustling/status/1363062247812136962?s=20

fyfe79

kingshankly wrote: »

Have you not seen us play lately 😂

It's gonna be VERY bleak on here if Klopp's finishes behind Ole, Moyes and Rodgers in the table!! :eek:

Agent Coulson

I see there is a few stories that Pulisic might be on his way out of Chelsea in the summer. For the right price I wouldn't mind seeing the us go in for him.

Ottoman_1000

fyfe79 wrote: »

It's gonna be VERY bleak on here if Klopp's finishes behind Ole, Moyes and Rodgers in the table!! :eek:

We might have to give boards a miss for the summer....

ShamoBuc

ShamoBuc wrote: »

Then I see that they still have 2 games in hand and are only 4 behind.

Yeah.... We're not in a simple two horse race with Chelsea for 4th. It's mad competitive outside the top4.... Pleased to see City ahead at arsenal as they aren't too far behind us either.

~Rebel~

Agent Coulson wrote: »

I see there is a few stories that Pulisic might be on his way out of Chelsea in the summer. For the right price I wouldn't mind seeing the us go in for him.

That’d be surprising! Really like him as a player, love him at the club. I’d imagine they’d never sell to us though, or at least for anything other than extortionate fees.

Sam Hain

Agent Coulson wrote: »

I see there is a few stories that Pulisic might be on his way out of Chelsea in the summer. For the right price I wouldn't mind seeing the us go in for him.

Not a chance, surely if he was to leave Chelsea, he would command a high fee and would also want his career to continue on an upward tragetory. Hes a bit of a sicknote too.

Girly Gal

Sam Hain wrote: »

Not a chance, surely if he was to leave Chelsea, he would command a high fee and would also want his career to continue on an upward tragetory. Hes a bit of a sicknote too.

He'll be perfect for us so and feel right at home with the rest of our sick notes

redmgar

Do any group of players drop off to this extent and then rediscover the level previously? Sadly I think that was our couple of years back and we will be back to fighting for fourth again going forward. Chelsea and utd could just throw money at it to solve the problems when it happened to them.

yourdeadwright

redmgar wrote: »

Do any group of players drop off to this extent and then rediscover the level previously? Sadly I think that was our couple of years back and we will be back to fighting for fourth again going forward. Chelsea and utd could just throw money at it to solve the problems when it happened to them.

And neither have solved it yet

Mad to think when the stadium was last full of fansnit was chatting where going to win the leauge and when there in there again we'll be playing AZ Alkmaar in the Europa leauge

fyfe79

yourdeadwright wrote: »

And neither have solved it yet

Mad to think when the stadium was last full of fansnit was chatting where going to win the leauge and when there in there again we'll be playing AZ Alkmaar in the Europa leauge

Finishing 5th to 7th are the 'poison chalice' slots in the PL. I know there's a few bob on offer in the Europa League but the sheer number of games would be to our detriment and you'd need to go pretty deep in it to make it worth your while.

When's the last time any team won the PL while playing in the Europa League? I remember Leicester and Chelsea both winning the PL after finishing outside the European spots the previous season. CL or bust for me.

Ottoman_1000

If City win the Champions League does 5th place become a CL spot in the Premier League?

cj maxx

Ottoman_1000 wrote: »

If City win the Champions League does 5th place become a CL spot in the Premier League?

I think so. Wasn't that brought in after 05?

Iused2likebusts

People need to calm down. It's the perfect storm of things going wrong. This season is a write off if we could scrape top 4 that would be great. It's nowhere near a permanent demise . Just have to suck it up for now.

ratracer

What about if Liverpool win the CL, do 4th get binned to EL?

ShamoBuc

Thought Europa League winners get a CL spot, could make things interesting also.

City win CL and Utd win EL.....

Stuff of nightmares, unless it got us CL

KaiserGunner

Ottoman_1000 wrote: »

If City win the Champions League does 5th place become a CL spot in the Premier League?

ratracer wrote: »

What about if Liverpool win the CL, do 4th get binned to EL?

The answer to both of them questions is no.

Ottoman_1000

ratracer wrote: »

What about if Liverpool win the CL, do 4th get binned to EL?

No they allow 5 teams from the same country if that happens.

Harry Palmr

CL is gettable. Draws against one of BVB/Seville, Juventus/Porto even Bayern would feel perfectly doable. In fact only Real Madrid, PGS, City, Atletico I'd prefer to avoid.

Ottoman_1000

Harry Palmr wrote: »

CL is gettable. Draws against one of BVB/Seville, Juventus/Porto even Bayern would feel perfectly doable. In fact only Real Madrid, PGS, City, Atletico I'd prefer to avoid.

I mentioned this earlier in a thread today but I don't think its possible this year. We could end up with Kabab and Davis as our centre back partnersnip. In reality that's a championship level centre half and a 20 year old loanee from a team rock bottom in the Bundesliga. If we come up against Bayern or PSG we could take a bit of a beating....

Harry Palmr

It's all about the draw plus Fab and Jota. And if reaching the final just saying "feck it!"

redmgar

I think the highest we will get is 6th, but I would guess it'll be 7th.

~Rebel~

redmgar wrote: »

Do any group of players drop off to this extent and then rediscover the level previously? Sadly I think that was our couple of years back and we will be back to fighting for fourth again going forward. Chelsea and utd could just throw money at it to solve the problems when it happened to them.

Man City just last year had a massive drop off with a great group of players, then exploded back a few months into the season. Our drop off in the last 3 weeks has been bigger, but we’ve also had far far far more injuries.

Chelsea also collapsed under Jose after winning the league, and then roared right back under Conte with the same squad.

jeff bingham

theoneeyedman wrote: »

I'd be annoyed if I was Phillips tbh.

We obviously don't see how training goes, but to me Phillips has never let us down, is a basic enough player I'd say, but gives his all and hasn't been caught out too badly in any of his first team games. Still, he doesn't seem to have the confidence of the coaching staff and Klopp, if we could have gotten rid of him last summer we would have, and as soon as anyone else is available he's turfed onto the bench.

He will never command a starting place at Liverpool, from his point of view he's better off forcing a move out bad make a career for himself.

Annoyed? Think he should be counting his blessings to be honest. This will be the highest level he ever gets to. Honest direct player but hes playing way out of his league. Looks better than Kobak though thats not saying much.

mosstin

Ottoman_1000 wrote: »

I mentioned this earlier in a thread today but I don't think its possible this year. We could end up with Kabab and Davis as our centre back partnersnip. In reality that's a championship level centre half and a 20 year old loanee from a team rock bottom in the Bundesliga. If we come up against Bayern or PSG we could take a bit of a beating....

That's pretty embarrassing.

citytillidie

fyfe79 wrote: »

Finishing 5th to 7th are the 'poison chalice' slots in the PL. I know there's a few bob on offer in the Europa League but the sheer number of games would be to our detriment and you'd need to go pretty deep in it to make it worth your while.

When's the last time any team won the PL while playing in the Europa League? I remember Leicester and Chelsea both winning the PL after finishing outside the European spots the previous season. CL or bust for me.

From next season the Europa League will have the same number of teams as the Champions League, and no team will have the run Spurs had for qualification as there is only two qualifying rounds but both English teams will be straight into the group stage. Also travel will not be as bad. It will have two rounds of 16 however one round where group runners up play 3rd placed teams from the Champions league and those winners will join the 8 group winners in the 2nd round of 16. So you really want to win your group for less games. Teams who finish 3rd in their group will be places in the Conference League to play off against the runners up in the groups in that comp.

Also if Man City win the League Cup and FA Cup whoever finished 7th will be in the new Europa Conference League next season, this is the comp you want to avoid for travel.

~Rebel~

jeff bingham wrote: »

Annoyed? Think he should be counting his blessings to be honest. This will be the highest level he ever gets to. Honest direct player but hes playing way out of his league. Looks better than Kobak though thats not saying much.

Absolutely, this is his career high. He was expected to be sold to Middlesbrough or Forest before the club pulled the plug with the VVD injury. He's likely gonna go on a similar move next season - big solid defenders who aren't great ball players or don't have pace aren't really being bought by Premier League clubs, hence someone like Duffy being sent away on loan - but for this season he's an important part of a Premier League squad.

I'd say he's thoroughly enjoying his increased importance this season, and doing admirably.

yourdeadwright

Sheffield United away, Then Chelsea at homs.
Anything but 6 points and our slim top 4 hopes are over, i just cant see how current form how we beat Chelsea,
Mental to think itll probably be our 5th home defeat in a row

~Rebel~

Ottoman_1000 wrote: »

I mentioned this earlier in a thread today but I don't think its possible this year. We could end up with Kabab and Davis as our centre back partnersnip. In reality that's a championship level centre half and a 20 year old loanee from a team rock bottom in the Bundesliga. If we come up against Bayern or PSG we could take a bit of a beating....

It's horses for courses. In the league against teams sitting back, it's worthwhile going with a weaker CB pair to have a stronger midfield to go out to win the game. In Europe it's more likely we'll start with at least Fab (due back in a week) and one other back there, which instantly is much more solid. With a bit of luck we get Hendo back fit too inside of a month.

Also to be fair to Davies, he was one of the highest rated CB's in the championship. We've seen plenty of CB's come up and do well in the Prem, so I wouldn't write him off just because of that before we've even seen him play for us.

yourdeadwright wrote: »

Sheffield United away, Then Chelsea at homs.
Anything but 6 points and our slim top 4 hopes are over, i just cant see how current form how we beat Chelsea,
Mental to think itll probably be our 5th home defeat in a row

Our form has been atrocious of course, and absolutely nothing can happen without that improving dramatically. But as far as Chelsea go, it's worth remembering that their improved run under Tuchel still only came against Burnley, Sheffield Utd, Newcastle, Barnsley, and Spurs. A win is a win, but there's only one decent team in there, so I wouldn't consider them unbeatable by any means.

I'm kind of glad to have a week to reset before the Sheffield Utd match to fuckin make sure we get a win, and then roll right into Chelsea immediately after.

giveitholly

yourdeadwright wrote: »

Sheffield United away, Then Chelsea at homs.
Anything but 6 points and our slim top 4 hopes are over, i just cant see how current form how we beat Chelsea,
Mental to think itll probably be our 5th home defeat in a row

A week ago you were saying we would finish second,then before the Everton game you said if we lost our top 4 chances would be finished,last night you reckoned klopp might of lost the dressing room and today you were saying klopp could be fired. That is some shifting of the goal posts in the space of a week. Now you are saying Chelsea are going to beat us

Alonso77

What's this best or worst defence of their title thing that seems to have cropped up lately. Genuinely have never heard it really be such a thing before.

giveitholly

Alonso77 wrote: »

What's this best or worst defence of their title thing that seems to have cropped up lately. Genuinely have never heard it really be such a thing before.

Cuz its liverpool innit

qm1bv4p8i92aoj

giveitholly wrote: »

A week ago you were saying we would finish second,then before the Everton game you said if we lost our top 4 chances would be finished,last night you reckoned klopp might of lost the dressing room and today you were saying klopp could be fired. That is some shifting of the goal posts in the space of a week. Now you are saying Chelsea are going to beat us

It's hard to keep up.

Zak Flaps

Paula Beautiful Caboose wrote: »

It's hard to keep up.

See your doctor.

Harry Palmr

Alonso77 wrote: »

What's this best or worst defence of their title thing that seems to have cropped up lately. Genuinely have never heard it really be such a thing before.

Worst title defence is by Man City in 1938 - won it then relegated.

mosstin

Alonso77 wrote: »

What's this best or worst defence of their title thing that seems to have cropped up lately. Genuinely have never heard it really be such a thing before.

You see, many people have to keep inventing new metrics to show that last year's title win doesn't bother them anymore, whilst in the very process of doing exactly that proving that it still does.

SteM

Alonso77 wrote: »

What's this best or worst defence of their title thing that seems to have cropped up lately. Genuinely have never heard it really be such a thing before.

I remember it getting brought up in Moyes' season at United for sure.

Girly Gal

Alonso77 wrote: »

What's this best or worst defence of their title thing that seems to have cropped up lately. Genuinely have never heard it really be such a thing before.

It definitely came up when it looked like Leicester might get relegated after winning the league and was also brought up when Mourinho lost the dressing room at Chelsea, it definitely isn't just being brought up because it's Liverpool

Utopia Parkway

Hendo out the next 5 games according to the Mail. Back after second RBL tie.

giveitholly

Utopia Parkway wrote: »

Hendo out the next 5 games according to the Mail. Back after second RBL tie.

Probably won't see him until after the international break so

PropJoe10

Surely time to admit that Phillips is our first-choice centre half until someone better gets fit, and stick with him for a run of games. I'm not at all convinced that dropping Kabak into a struggling team is going to help anything. At least Phillips is aware of our system and he's been pretty solid since he came into the team.

I'd go with Phillips and Davies against Sheff United and have Fabinho shielding them at 6. There's little to lose at this stage.