Liverpool FC Team Talk, Gossip, Rumours 2024/25

Brendan Flowers

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119589816#Comment_119589816

Liverpool literally played 4 of the same teams as Arsenal played in their opening 6 games.

doc_17

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119587044#Comment_119587044

To highlight their errors.

yourdeadwright

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119590441#Comment_119590441

What was it ?

Be interesting to know what kind of an non injury that could be a injury in the future

~Rebel~

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119590766#Comment_119590766

This was the quote at the time; "Nobody knew, we found it when he did his medical check. Until today he has had no problems but the medical department tells us if we don’t take care of that now, he will have a problem in the future.

So, when you are that young then of course he has a long career ahead of him, so we are very responsible in these moments"

And these are the quotes from a few days ago; "Calvin Ramsay is still out but really getting closer and closer. For him it was something with his back, something to do with age and growing and these kind of things. He didn't train now properly with us, but he gets closer."

So that all makes sense, he's only 19 so still very much physically developing, so I'd guess it was a weakness in his back that would maybe cause problems in the future as he fills out, so they're proactively strengthening. We saw this a few years ago with that Portugeuse kid João Teixeira who had growing pains problems in his back - same circumstances, was grand and playing regularly for Sporting underage, but Liverpool found it in the medical. He was around 19 too - his problems were more serious than Ramsay's it sounded like though.

rob316

Anguissa destroyed us last night, joined Napoli for 13m in the summer but there was no other midfielders out there that would of fit us and weren't going for huge money.

GiftofGab

Do you think Konate was our first choice signing or a back up to our first choice? Klopp previously went into the 20/21 season with just 3 senior centre backs when everyone told him it wasn't enough. We know how that planned out. I doubt they were waiting to buy a 20 year old Konate. They could have easily bought him that summer.

This summer we heard the same dross. The right midfielder was not available. Like 20/21, we went into this season with too little midfielders. It just looks like we made the same error again. Not only that, it's shocking that the staff could not see a major decline in Henderson and Milner. Never mind the injury record of Keita and Thiago.

yourdeadwright

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119590891#Comment_119590891

He sure did , a leggy midfielder with an engine & pace

Something we have been crying out for since Gini.

He played very well against us in 2020 when he played for Fulham in a 1-1 draw

Ottoman_1000

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119590891#Comment_119590891

Weren't UTD heavily linked with him too...thank f**k he didn't go there!

ShamoBuc

Milner is not the problem really. Having to play him from the start in a tough Champions League game is. He is a player that should really only be used to give a player a rest with 10-15 to go in a game. He is fine for that. He has already played about 4 or 5 times the amount of minutes he should have. The injuries and lack of squad depth is the real concern. If he was injured who did we have to play instead in the last couple of weeks?

The result was very poor, the defending sinmply awful at times. The difference Matip made was measureable, the calmness he exudes and Virgil was better with him there too. Virgil has been fairly poor and looke like a guy trying to save himself from injury for the World Cup.

Salah has been off the boil for quite some time. Think I read he has 6 goals from open play on the last 35 games or something like that. He simply doesn't look as dangerous on the ball.

Trent pulls out the odd great cross but would be dropped in a heartbeat I reckon - but again - no cover available really.

Robbo too is not as dynamic going forward.

At least there is bright news with the likes of Matip, Tiago, Jota being available again. The form of Diaz and the hope that Nunez will settle with better ball being sent into him and that Bobby might start to produce again aswell.

A rebuilding from scratch is not needed but a fine big kick up the hole would not go astray for few of them or simply a rest.

hynesie08

Do the weekend games get postponed if Lizzie pops her clogs tonight?

happyoutscan

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119591044#Comment_119591044

Hopefully 😉

Ottoman_1000

If anyone wants a read, todays article by James in The Athletic.

Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool have lost their identity

By; James Pearce

Sep 8, 2022

A crestfallen Jurgen Klopp walked across to the travelling Kop inside Stadio Diego Armando Maradona after the final whistle and held his hands up apologetically.

“It’s a long flight from Liverpool to Napoli. For all the things they invest, I understand 100 per cent it was a very disappointing night, so I have to say sorry for that,” he explained.

Liverpool have given their supporters so many memories to cherish with their European exploits during Klopp’s reign. Last season, they became the first club in Champions League history to win all six away matches en route to the final in Paris.

Yet the contrast between the team that dug deep to fight for glory on all fronts and the one that was humiliated by the rampant Serie A side on Wednesday could hardly be greater. Rarely has a team fallen so far, so quickly.

This was Liverpool’s worst result in Europe since they were thrashed 5-1 by Ajax in December 1966. That contest was played in thick fog, with manager Bill Shankly complaining that he couldn’t see the action from the touchline. This time, their glaring deficiencies were painfully clear.

It wasn’t a bolt from the blue. This 4-1 defeat had been coming. Liverpool have made their worst start to a season domestically since Klopp took over nearly seven years ago, with just nine points out of a possible 18. Injuries have certainly played a part but the malaise goes deeper than that, and this was the night when a slow start spiralled into something more serious.

Why did Liverpool crash to their heaviest European defeat for more than half a century and how does Klopp arrest this worrying decline?

Anger and frustration are abound among Liverpool fans and understandably so. The gulf between expectation levels and what’s currently being delivered on the field is vast.

This can’t just be shrugged off as an inevitable season of transition. The exit of Sadio Mane didn’t cause upheaval on that kind of scale.

“Our identity is intensity” is a Pep Lijnders quote that adorns the wall outside the home dressing room at Anfield. Make no mistake: Liverpool have lost their identity. They are unrecognisable.

They are getting outworked by opponents and that’s alarming. Napoli were first to everything during an embarrassingly one-sided opening 45 minutes. They showed the greater desire in all departments. They won every 50-50 battle.

Liverpool’s back line was exposed time and again by Napoli (Photo: Carlo Hermann/DeFodi Images via Getty Images)

There are two possible answers. Either there’s an attitude problem in Klopp’s squad or fatigue is a major issue after the demands of a 63-game campaign followed by a gruelling pre-season programme when the injuries kept stacking up.

Klopp prides himself on Liverpool being “mentality monsters” and showcasing the ability to fight back, but there was no response in Naples until it was far too late. Not even Alisson’s penalty save from Victor Osimhen woke them up.

The club’s summer transfer activity will inevitably come under scrutiny and it was crazy that they left it so late in the transfer window to bolster their midfield. The owners should have dug deeper. The need was glaring. The debut of loan signing Arthur off the bench against Napoli late on showed that getting him up to speed will be a challenge after four months without playing.

But it’s far too simplistic to suggest that not spending enough on new talent explains why Liverpool are struggling. Just look at the names who are underperforming.

Mohamed Salah, Fabinho, Virgil van Dijk, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson are elite — but none of them are operating anywhere near their usual levels, and that’s hurting Liverpool. Belief seems to have been sucked out of them. Heads appear scrambled. The same mistakes keep happening.

Van Dijk had a run of 150 matches in all competitions without giving away a penalty for Liverpool. He’s now conceded two spot kicks in the last seven games by being uncharacteristically rash. Salah has had his most barren start to a season and his touch keeps letting him down. The problems on the right flank are being compounded by Alexander-Arnold’s erratic displays.

Joe Gomez endured a torrid night before being replaced by Joel Matip for the second half. Somehow, James Milner, who senselessly gave away the penalty that led to Piotr Zielinski scoring the opener, survived past the hour mark before Thiago made his comeback from injury.

Klopp’s selection calls didn’t pay off and he was slow to make the necessary changes. Handing starts to both Milner and Roberto Firmino meant there was an obvious lack of pace. Darwin Nunez needs game time to adapt to his new surroundings and leaving him out was an odd decision.

The balance of the midfield was hopeless. The pressure on the ball was non-existent as Liverpool’s high line was repeatedly exploited. The goals they conceded were so cheap and it could have been even worse.

“We were miles too open. It felt like they had an extra man,” admitted Robertson. “You can’t come to a place like this and not be compact. They were by miles the better team.

“Too many times they had spaces to run at us and cause us problems. You come away in the Champions League and you can’t be wide open like that. We have to get back to basics and be compact. We have to wake up and quickly because we can’t perform like that.”

Klopp bemoaned that Liverpool were “too wide in possession, we were not pushing up with the last line, the midfield was not connected, the least compact performance I saw for a long, long time”.

Arguably, the most galling sight of the night was Fabinho and Gomez both stood watching as Andre-Frank Anguissa played a one-two with Zielinski and slotted home Napoli’s second. Alexander-Arnold and Gomez were both beaten far too easily in the build-up to Giovanni Simeone tapping in the third. Zielinski’s second punished more shoddy defending after another simple pass in behind.

What’s happened to Klopp’s mantra of “everyone is responsible for everything”? The body language was worrying.

“There are a lot of things lacking. We have to reinvent ourselves,” vowed the Liverpool manager. “We need to be much better in pretty much everything. We are not working as a team.”

Klopp wasn’t hinting at some major shift in style or formation — more a case of trying to re-establish the kind of characteristics that made his team so difficult to stop last season.

That will be easier said than done with the quick turnaround for Saturday’s visit of Wolves but we’re talking about basics like closing down space and tracking runners. We’re talking about organisation and communication.

Liverpool, who will return to Merseyside on Thursday afternoon, have looked ridiculously vulnerable on the counter-attack since the opening weekend at Fulham.

Luis Diaz, who pulled one back with a sweet strike, provided one of the few positives in Naples. Another came courtesy of Thiago’s lively cameo. Talk about showing what Liverpool had been missing.

The Spain international was only on the field 28 minutes but made six tackles: more than the starting midfield three and the two full-backs combined. He also won seven of his nine duels (78 per cent). Fabinho won just two out of eight (25 per cent) and Milner won just three out of 11 (27 per cent). “Until Thiago entered the pitch, I saw no counter-pressing situations,” said Klopp damningly.

Jurgen Klopp apologises to the travelling Liverpool fans after the full-time whistle at Stadio Diego Armando Maradona (Photo: Francesco Pecoraro/Getty Images)

Thiago has to start against Wolves. The hope is that Fabio Carvalho will be back available after recovering from a dead leg. Naby Keita, who has a serious hamstring injury, remains sidelined along with fellow midfielders Jordan Henderson, Curtis Jones and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.

With Diogo Jota looking so rusty, Nunez has to lead the line. The only way to improve his understanding with his new team-mates is to give the Uruguayan a proper run.

Klopp is famed for his man-management skills and now they really need to come to the fore. Chins need to be lifted off the floor because morale has taken a battering.

corcaigh07

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119591044#Comment_119591044

It's a major possibility. POTA for any travelling fans if it happens that way.

yourdeadwright

I'd say the weekend fixtures will be canceled as the Queen of England passed away

TitianGerm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119591357#Comment_119591357

We'll find out soon enough then as BBC just reported she's died.

Ottoman_1000

Not so sure about this weekend, I read something when she got sick a few weeks back that the Commonwealth will go into 10 days of mourning but the only official day off will be the day of her burial. The following weekends games could be the ones that get canned as you would have to imagine the funeral will be either the Saturday or Sunday.

Might be a good thing. We need players back and fit.

Also, need time to dispose of Gomez!

Shooter_galway

Funeral won't be for 10 days or so, alot longer in UK, would imagine games off this weekend which to be fair is a blessing, get the lads back and few training sessions, behind closed doors game or something over weekend for sharpness..

Agent Coulson

Could lead to some backlog of games that need to be fitted in before the world cup if this weekend's games the midweek champions league game and the following weekends games are postponed.

OTB reporting that all sports events expected to be cancelled this weekend.

antimatterx

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119591679#Comment_119591679

If her funeral is in 10 days, that clashes with the Chelsea game. I expect both rounds to be called off.

Former Red Adam Lallana to take over as Brighton boss on temp basis, but reports it could be permanent. Best of luck to him.

AdrianG08

First trip to Anfield in 6 years this weekend, paid small fortune for it too.

Does anyone know if tour operators (day trip- ferry, coach transfers and match ticket) offer refunds.

Be a sickener to get nothing back. Rescheduled weekday game wouldn't be suitable either for day trip.

citytillidie

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119591897#Comment_119591897

I would just wait, they could play this weekend but not next weekend when the funeral is. I say they will announce it tomorrow not ideal for those travelling.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119591897#Comment_119591897

You might be ok. Sickener if you miss out

Captain_Crash

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119592123#Comment_119592123

It’s being reported now that all games this weekend are off!

citytillidie

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119592214#Comment_119592214

You would expect them to cancel them I read else where that the England cricket test game was only cancelling tomorrows play and resuming on Saturday but that could be mis information. Just have to wait and see.

I see BT Sport are not showing any adverts during these Europa games.

rob316

The only game I got in the ballot go figure. Only lost like 30 quid on flights so that's grand but it'll be rescheduled to a week night.

TitianGerm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119592309#Comment_119592309

Is there even a weeknight free before the world cup?

citytillidie

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119592439#Comment_119592439

Doesn't have to be before the World Cup

rob316

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119592439#Comment_119592439

Will have to be after which is also a scheduling nightmare if we are in the latter stages of competitions.

giveitholly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119592508#Comment_119592508

Let's hope that is a problem for us!!

citytillidie

Could be this weekend and next weekend, with them scrapping replays for the FA Cup 3rd and 4th rounds to fit them in.

Agent Coulson

Sure look if worst comes to worst in the Champions League and we finish 3rd in the group no problem just go on and win the Europa League and make it a clean sweep of all club trophies and get into next seasons Champions League that way.

Always a bright side.

theoneeyedman

Re Virgil.

He's not playing well. However, I don't subscribe that he's being lazy. When he's played well, at his best, he looks like he's strolling round the place and making little effort, his gait and stride make it look like he's not breaking sweat.

As I say he's not playing well, and I dunno why, but it's too simple to say he's not trying. He has Jo Go on one side of him (an ordinary player not playing well), and a miss functioning midfield in front of him. He bears some responsibility as the defensive leader in that side, but I can't buy him not trying.

He hasn't been the same player since the knee injury imho.

Cartman78

Maybe a few extra days training/soul searching with Klopp mightn't be any harm right now

fyfe79

According to Sky; "A decision on the weekend's games will be made on Friday morning, following discussion with the Department for Culture, Media & Sport."

boosabum

All those networks around the world paying top money for rights might have a big say on that

ShamoBuc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119592798#Comment_119592798

Doubt it. they will still cover the games whenever they are played later in the season instead.

Agent Coulson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119592798#Comment_119592798

I doubt as all those big networks will have news channels that will be covering the next 10 days with wall to wall coverage and making a fortune from ads as they will have 100 times more eyes on this than any football game.

corcaigh07

Got a ticket for Wolves in the additional sale on Tuesday. Praying the game goes ahead, hate flights getting wasted and not going to bother if it's off.

citytillidie

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119592856#Comment_119592856

No ads have been shown all night on UK TV at least

Agent Coulson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119592930#Comment_119592930

Do you think American stations are going top go ad free they have ad breaks every 10 minutes.

JimboJones99

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119592731#Comment_119592731

He was in the Premier League Team of the Year last season. He was excellent. So I dont agree with your last line.

steve_r

With VVD, I wonder has his pace dropped off a bit. The physical and mental implications of all those mins last year can’t be underestimated. Gomez and Fabinho both being rubbish doesn’t help him either.

I was thinking recently about Ox before his big injury. We need someone with that type of energy levels who can press properly in midfield. I love Elliot but defensively it seems he gets dribbled past and around a lot. Likewise Bobby up top can’t press the way he used to.

My hope is that the Napoli game is for us what the Brentford game was for Utd - it lays bare in a brutal way what is not working in the current setup and what and who need to change.

Game off. The break is welcomed. Get some bodies back.

facehugger99

BBC reporting that the funeral will be in 10/11 days on what will likely be declared a Bank Holiday - so next weekends fixtures will go ahead I presume.

Will be a scheduling nightmare if they are canceled too.

rob316

Could be a blessing in disguise, a bit of a break and reset for the players and coaches to work on things.

robwen

Could be a fair old break with the international fixtures coming up after Chelsea game, they'll hardly cancel the champions League fixtures for British teams next week?

Robert2014

The Queen was a Liverpool fan after all, who knew!

Cannot see how games can be played next weekend with a state funeral. Surely the police manpower needed to manage the crowds means games in London at least cannot go ahead. And I doubt the transport systems handle sporting events and people going to London for the state funeral too.