Liverpool FC Team Talk, Gossip, Rumours 2024/25

kingshankly

why is it every single match Liverpool fans have an issue with the ref he was fine tonight

antimatterx

Different power dynamic next season. Klopp is gone, Edwards is the main man. We're getting a head coach, not a manager.

mada999

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122059050#Comment_122059050

… we were flying when we had a good first 11 and a good bench especially attackers to come on and change things… but in fairness it was the defense that has been poor enough over the season….

awec

Our entire attacking shape and structure needs rebuilt IMO. The players we signed to replace Firmino / Mane haven't worked out, that sometimes happens in football, you're never going to get it right every time. What's important now though is we don't keep wasting our time thinking they're magically going to sort themselves out, it's time to move on.

Diaz and Nunez should both get us decent transfer fees and both should be out the door in the summer. Replacing Nunez is priority 1 for me.

Salah, if anyone offered us a respectable transfer fee for him I'd let him go. Pretty sure he's the top earner too, would surely free up a sizeable chunk of wages.

But realistically, I think it's unlikely the club will sell all 3 in a single window, so I think he'll stay.

citytillidie

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122059406#Comment_122059406

The media were about to drop it he had to let it out

LuckyLloyd

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122059603#Comment_122059603

While there would be plenty out there that agree with you - the best moments under Klopp in 2019, 2020 and 2022 wouldn't have been possible with an AWB type "solid" right back. He's an immensely talented and unique player, and the right attitude is to figure out how to showcase his talent. Klopp did the right thing with him imo.

And if we are to have an elite future post Klopp, Trent will have to be a big part of it. And not as a traditional right back that plays it safe.

LuckyLloyd

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122059610#Comment_122059610

We just got played off the park.

BorneTobyWilde

https://twitter.com/beINSPORTS_EN/status/1783249960458231946

.. He looks lost 😪

citytillidie

over to city now to win it

bdmc16

The performance tonight paired with Atalanta x2 , Palace just makes me wonder how we carve out points against West Ham in 3 days time or even tougher games like spurs or Villa.

It’s kinda mad after last night I was thinking after arsenal won we could lose the league on GD to now tonight looking back and spurs/villa trying to see where we’ll get the 3-4 points to guarantee top 4 because performance was major concern. We are imploding now in serious fashion against bang average teams.

Salah, Nunez. Szobo and Jones need to be dropped and I’d rather even Quanash than Konate . LB Robbo likely be rotated so possibly see Gomez LB on Saturday

brevity

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122059647#Comment_122059647

He is wrecked

Fitz*

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122059603#Comment_122059603

Trent is the only player who came back from injury and actually put in proper performances instantly.

Robbo, Konate, Szoboszlai, Jones, Jota & Salah haven't.

Trent's injury was the one that affected the team the most this season, and might just be why we are why we are now.

Augme

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122059656#Comment_122059656

Top 4 is guaranteed, our win against Fulham ensured that. We are 14 points ahead of spurs and they have 6 games left and they've got to play Arsenal(h), Chelsea (a),us(a), Burnley (h), City(h) and Sheffield (a). That's a brutal fixture list and they aren't winning 5 of those 6.

noodler

Yeah don't worry lads, were on the CL next year.

Such as it will be.

mada999

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122059699#Comment_122059699

was worried about 4th … this has cheered me up a little bit though…..

YNWA lads - chins up

BorneTobyWilde

We have, what we all would have taken in a heartbeat, at the start of the season, a Cup, CL qualification, and a title race, well that's what Klopp delivered, in a rebuilding season.

antimatterx

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122059650#Comment_122059650

plz arsenal

BorneTobyWilde

City are due a loss, Spurs will beat Arsenal, but the question is, can Liverpool beat WH

citytillidie

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122059764#Comment_122059764

City winning it will mean less, after all they will be saving football is that not how it goes

BorneTobyWilde

Liverpool 25-1 for the title

So City need to lose tomorrow, draw to Forest, Spurs need to beat Arsenal, and Liverpool to go top by beating WH , POSSIBLE.

ShamoBuc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122059784#Comment_122059784

It's time to call a halt to this kind of post surely.

Let's move on. We got a cup and CL back. A new manager on the way - it's time for change all round.

citytillidie

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122059801#Comment_122059801

it’s Toby you know what to expect

BorneTobyWilde

I still believe, the gap is 3pts , and City haven't put their points on the board yet…..

bdmc16

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122059699#Comment_122059699

Ya I hope you are right and can come back sunday night with that conversation put to bed, however If spurs beat arsenal and we lose to West Ham I’ll definitely but more concerned. They have knack of good results vs City in the past (though mostly driven by Kane) and will likely easily dispatch Burnley as well as Sheffield . That gets abit nervy then.

Im hoping some rotation on Saturday will inject more life into our performances. West Ham are leaking goals so awful pity Jota is out - I think salah and salah get on the scoresheet they might come out of this slump.interesting game tomorrow night now

joinme

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122059390#Comment_122059390

Totally agree with this. The players had no fight tonight, let the manager and fans down the last few weeks. I don't buy the tiredness excuse, if you want to win a title you find the energy! Salah, as the talisman is the biggest culprit.

antimatterx

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122059847#Comment_122059847

I mean, I'm tired after work. These players have it easy. Try working a real job!

fyfe79

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122059773#Comment_122059773

Yes. Looking forward to City saving football again this year.

brevity

I have to say everyone turning on Salah and saying “get rid” after what he has done for the club is a shame.

He has been poor when we needed him the most but the shady comments are unnecessary imo

Alonso77

We hit bad form at the worst time, horrific for now but we've been here before over the yrs.

We'll be back.

BorneTobyWilde

Palace was the bigger loss, had we won that we'd be top, and we had enough chances in that game to win it twice over.

Then add in that draw at spurs we got no points for, those certain penalties against Arsenal, and City that were not given, and we'd be 7 pts better of, 10 had we beaten Palace.

Liverpool are fighting not just 11 players, but all the officials too, I think that is fact at this stage, not just opinion, lightning has struck too many times in the same place, Liverpool, never City, call it corruption or unconscious bias, but it's real. Even tonight's game, ref was giving Everton everything, a slight rub and they'd fall over, and ref was so quick to give it every time, while never to us.

I guess when you hate your government, and boo your own national anthem, there will be a dislike for Liverpool country wide.

jeff bingham

I am extremely pissed off with Salah after that game. The man is on what, 250/300 grand a week. Supposedly one of the best players in the world. Theres a title on the line and a 38 year old Ashly Young comes on to mark him. Salah should have demanded the ball repeatedly instead of hiding on the wing. I was ok with him shirking 50/50s when he was in goals but to do it in a derby with a title shot its not good enough.

Oh and also his striking his touch and his pace are all shot to pieces. I think his body is gone and he knows it.

dogbert27

I don't think it's a bandwagon that people are jumping on Salah. It's just that at a critical stage of the season when he has returned from injury it just looks like he is playing half hearted. Maybe he knows he's moving on in the summer and is making sure not to get a long term injury.

His miss with the lob in the first half against Atalanta was horrendous. It would have put us 2-0 up at half time and completely changed the game.

Last night he made a half ass attempt at flicking the ball on at the half way line. I don't know who he was trying to flick it on to as there was no one behind him. Everton get the ball of him and win the corner and we're 2-0 down.

If Salah was still showing that he has the ability to win games on his own he wouldn't get much criticism but the Salah of taking on 2 or 3 City defenders and putting the ball in the far corner or leaving 5 Watford players on the floor as he buries his shot seem to be gone.

McAlister in the last 2-3 games appears to have dropped off from his Roy of the Rovers displays against Brighton and Sheffield United.

I think it was on the FourFourTwo channel that showed how more effective he was when playing with Elliot and Bradley.

Jones appears to have fallen back to his old ways. Too long on the ball last night when he got it and when he didn't have it was invisible.

The same for Szobo, you forget he's playing or large chunks of the game until he tries to score a screamer that goes wide or for a corner.

It's harder for McAlister too when he has these two either side of him in the same midfield.

The White Wolf

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122059908#Comment_122059908

I'm sorry but this type of post is useless. Sometimes great players just lose their way, like Torres did, and it's no insult to a player's legacy to call out the fact that maybe the fire just isn't there anymore.

That had to be one of the worst Salah performances I've seen playing for us. No conviction or intent on the ball whatsoever, and he's smiling throughout the debacle. How people can blindly defend that **** is beyond me. Criticising a player for a performance is perfectly OK and makes you no less of a fan. I can't believe I still have to point that out on boards.ie 16 years later.

happyoutscan

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122059833#Comment_122059833

Meh. Nonsense at this stage.

LuckyLloyd

Yeah Salah just looks cooked the last few weeks, it is what it is imo. He’ll be 32 in June. It’s a genuine shame for it to end like this, but he had key chances he failed to convert against each of Utd, Palace and Atalanta. And that’s the season! He’s the star player, getting paid the big money. It has to be fair to look at him specifically last few weeks and ask questions.

I would be very confident that he’ll never start a CL final again. He’s not going anywhere this summer or summer 2025 as a 33 year old and making us regret it. We got the best out of him over the years and he was magnificent. Arguably our greatest ever, although it will always be the King for me.

WealthyB

Huge job for the new manager. The squad is nowhere near as good as some people make it out to be, and there has to be questions around the futures of Robertson, Konate, Jones, Endo, Diaz Nunez and Salah. With Matip also going that's a huge rebuilding job, and this so called transition season is easily going to extend into 2025.

cmac2009

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122059991#Comment_122059991

His demeanour and performances appears to me like someone that knows they are leaving at the end of the season, completely disinterested and doesn't want to pick up any injury that might jeopardise the move. We shall see. At this stage I can't see Liverpool offering him a new deal so if you get a decent offer you probably let him go.

Diaz to Barca/PSG rumours recently doing the rounds, his work rate and commitment is tremendous but his end product isn't there - if you want to be a title contender then he shouldn't be starting. I'd probably keep him and see if the new manger can rediscover that player we saw when he first arrived.

Nunez - woeful. Would be delighted to see that back of him. He has zero football IQ. Serious error in paying 85m for such a dud. Can't see the club selling him, god knows what the financial hit would be on that transfer.

Momentous summer coming up.

SlickRic

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122059439#Comment_122059439

I think it does.

You can't run on adrenaline for 4 months.

Also, I really do think all the sudden snatching of chances and goalscoring situations was to do with pressure. Pressure of the title race, and pressure of it being Klopp's farewell.

doc_17

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122059674#Comment_122059674

Szboszlai was ok until the second international break in October. After that he hasn’t really been anywhere near that same level.

Fitz*

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122060205#Comment_122060205

Brilliant against Forest and best player on the pitch in November. I know that as I was at both games. It's more January time that his form slumped and definitely after the injury he never really fully recovered from it. Bar one good performance against Chelsea but got injured again.

You can put it down to settling into the league but there's a lot of revisionism around Szoboszlai and he'll be fine again next season season. It was his first season in the PL as a younger player. Macca's first season at a club that combines league + European games. There's a few more like that.

WealthyB

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122060205#Comment_122060205

Szob is the least of my worries - its obvious he's a number 10 being ran into the ground playing Henderson's old role. Any new manager that has an ounce of sense easily fixes that.

Augme

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122059908#Comment_122059908

It's a much bigger shame in seeing are highest paid player and one of the supposed leaders of the team look so disinterested in wanting to win a PL.

IrishOwl...

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122059975#Comment_122059975

That's the greatest pile of rubbish I've read on here, and that's says something. Liverpool will miss out on the title because of poor officiating??

Liverpool will miss out or either City of Arsenal because they're not at their level and it's as simply as that. How many times have Liverpool conceded first and early? have many goals have they handed to the opposition? How many chances have they missed due to lack of quality up top?

I've never seen a title winning team so fragile at the back, they genuinely look like they can conceded from the most basic of attacks. Bar McAllister and at a push Elliot you look very average in the middle too. Jones I've never understood the hype, Szolbolzi doesn't look related to a No.8 if you ask me, Gravenberch does not look up to it at all, and Endo will be 32 next season and should only really be coming in off the bench to maybe see out games.

8-10

As new manager I would:

1. Renew van Dijk
2. Renew Trent
3. Release Matip
4. Release Thiago
5. Release Adrián
6. Keep Salah for last year of his contract then let him leave on a free
7. Transfer list Tsimikas, Morton, Carvalho, Scanlon, Koumetio, Jaros, Phillips, Williams, van den Berg, Musiałowski, Beck and one of Núñez/Díaz
8. Sign new keeper
9. Sign new defender
10. Sign new striker
11. List Danns, Gordon, Frauendorf, Koumas and Chambers for loan
12. Bring Calvin Ramsay and Marcelo Pitaluga into the first team squad at least to start the season to gauge levels

IrishOwl...

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122060364#Comment_122060364

The new manager will have zero say in any of these transactions. Especially with Edwards back, I'm not sure I see a new deal on the table for VVD with him around.

spockety

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122060364#Comment_122060364

Based on that, I'm pretty happy with the decision to recruit Arne Slot 🤣

8-10

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122060361#Comment_122060361

Agree with the reasoning - we conceded first in 16 of the league games out of 35 and only clean sheets this calendar year were Bournemouth in January and Forest in March. Conceded in every other league game (and 7 cup games) since the start of the year. Not sustainable certainly for title chasers and was always going to catch up.

But I find your take on Endo strange, 32 isn't that old and he's looked very good when he's played. Gravenberch too is a u21 player and has loads of potential but also experience. What he doesn't have is a set role in the team or run of games yet. I'm not worried about him at all, that will come. He's way ahead of most other players his age

8-10

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122060373#Comment_122060373

Dutch manager though who will see the Dutch captain with 12 months left on his contract in his squad.

He'll definitely want to have a say in what they do - not the final say or the most influence, but he'll absolutely set out what players he wants.

8-10

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122060376#Comment_122060376

Which would you disagree with?

IrishOwl...

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122060383#Comment_122060383

I think Endo is worth keeping around but at 32 he's not the future for you guys. I also think he lacks a yard or two of pace and he can often be easily bypassed when teams counter quickly. Liverpool need to build a midfield foundation and he is not the long term solution.

Gravenberch looks athletic but that's it for me so far, he often looks lazy, pulls away from tackles and for someone so big he gets knocked off the ball way to easily. But he's young and may come good.