Liverpool FC Team Talk, Gossip, Rumours 2024/25

SlickRic

I've narrowed it down to three broad things.

Not adapting to Darwin / losing Mane.

Lack of midfield depth.

Lack of intensity (which could be linked to the previous 2).

From watching last night, Robbo, Virgil, Alisson, Salah and Thiago are still non-negotiables. Thiago had an off night, but I think that was as much down to an incoherent front 3, caused by Nunez not adapting / not being adapted to. In other words, he has fewer options to hit up the pitch than ever. Trent is non-negotiable once the intensity comes back. He's a ludicrous pure footballer, honestly.

Darwin just isn't fitting. He didn't touch the ball for the first 20 minutes. He's not making the necessary runs - He's drifting inside to have his back to defenders, leaving everything too congested, giving our playmakers nothing to hit. This means we also lose the ball in midfield more than I can remember under Klopp (making Fabinho's job harder). It also means when we win the ball, we're not getting it forward quickly - Thiago, VVD, Trent are all having to choose safe passes, and opposition gets set, and winning the ball quickly ends up pointless.

But Darwin is an issue. Anyone pretending he's not is fooling themselves. It's not necessarily his fault. He's undoubtedly a cracking player. But it isn't gelling. He's not getting into games enough. He's not linking with teammates coherently. Salah tried to give him 2 last night, and it didn't work.

Also, bring back Matip. I don't care about the Gomez mistake so much. It's the lack of courage to progress forward and pass through the lines. We miss it terribly.

BorneTobyWilde

Everton, Forest, Leeds, 60 shots, 1 goal

SlickRic

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119812055#Comment_119812055

This is meaningless without context.

We're not clinical, but we're also far too open. Being open, and not being coherent as a team means that when we're being attacked, it generally leads to a big chance against.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119812194#Comment_119812194

The context is we didn’t win any of those matches.

hadepsx

I think we are all in agreement that the team needs fresh blood. If that doesn't arrive in January then top 4 is gone, quickly followed by kloop in the summer imo. I can't see him sticking around. Once that happens, what we see now with this team will be the tip of the iceberg. January is crucial, FSG absolutely must back the manager financially for new player's, even if that means paying over the odds for players.

Summitatem

Klopp won't be leaving imo....he signed an extension a mere 6 months ago and whomever sanctions signings allowed Nunez in at a big transfer fee. One transfer window has passed since he signed the extension.

I imagine Klopp is as surprised as the rest of us if not moreso actually how bad things are on the pitch. Regarding Nunez he's an obvious departure from the front3 starter type we've become accustomed to....he's what a number 9 was a decade plus ago. Obviously well able to put the ball in the net but that's likely his main thing....our front 3 folk all do much more and the goals were a byproduct. Nunez isn't that sort of player and it's unlikely he ever will be. Add in a bit of new to the PL and the situation is worse than it should be. Nunez coming good for us won't see us be anything like Mo, Mane and Firmino ever were.

We are really missing Jota.... Mo, mane and Bobby used rarely miss games, we knew that was mad at the time but it went on for years, we were spoiled in that regard.

Expecting or hoping that ox and or keita could be relied upon to make any meaningful contribution is the biggest mistake we've made as a club imo. Both are effectively useless members of the squad.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119812511#Comment_119812511

I don’t think that many of us are surprised, so I can’t imagine Klopp is either by the shortcomings in midfield.

Charlie19

https://twitter.com/GrizzKhan/status/1586737737415139331?t=HKuBYmaUbJ2AUGuUmH3azA&s=19

The desire and fight to track back from Salah and Nunez.

Summitatem

I think he's slow to realise ox and keita are effectively useless. He was suggesting he was incorrectly advised about their cl availability last week .... Keita then injured again seemingly and ox didn't come off bench v Leeds.

Tgey were both included in his our midfield is grand list iirc not too long ago.

Realistically how many midfielders did he expect to be signed within a transfer window of signing his extension? Seriously like...

Summitatem

Also.... I didn't refer to shortcomings in midfield I said "I imagine Klopp is as surprised as the rest of us if not moreso actually how bad things are on the pitch”.

ebbsy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119812055#Comment_119812055

Great point. I was thinking about this earlier.

These are not difficult chances either.

yourdeadwright

By the start of next season we need 3 CM &, 1 more wide forward

We will lose Milner, Ox, Naby, Firmino at least this summer Personally i'd add Jones & Gomez to that list but we won't sign replacements so may as well keep them another year,

Midfield is The problem issue,

mormank

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119812546#Comment_119812546

Please try not to use the word "moreso" as it's so close to "Moreno" it makes me think about him every time I read it and brings up so many bad memories!! 😆

ratracer

I also think that given how many players really need to be moved on/ upgraded in the summer, it makes even less sense to splurge €150m or whatever it is for Bellingham. One player won’t fix this squad, so why blow the budget on him?

Its rather depressing, but I fear another slide back down to mediocrity for us, simply because we don’t have a rich country to give us endless funds! A European super league won’t fix that either.

yourdeadwright

Worst part of all this is we've really lost our identity, but we We look like rag ball rovers nothing is cohesive or fluid,

I reckon as soon as everyone is fit or we get some new midfielders in the door it'll be back to 4 3 3

Summitatem

Ox and keita could be easily replaced...any PL quality midfielders would replace what they've contributed. I'd not prioritise it, carvalho, Jones Elliott can take their on pitch minutes if need be conceptually imo.

Two propor midfielders to replace wijnaldum and milner is what we need.... Thiago, Henderson, Fabinho and two more with some squad filler (Jones etc) would be grand if the two proper CMs are signed...who knows who they'd be...transfer folk and klopp are paid for that sort of thing 🤣

BorneTobyWilde

In our 12 league games

Jota missed 8 games

Diaz missed 4 games

Mane MISSED

Nunez missed 4 games

Thiago missed 6 games

Matip missed 8 games

Keita missed 12 games

Konate missed 11 games

Is it any wonder we're so disjointed .

yourdeadwright

Anyone see the overlap with, VVD & Neville

Interesting part where Nev ask VVD if Klopp ever give him an earful & VVD said ye against Fulham but I look the other way & pretend I can't see him

Really seems to be the way with himself, Fab & a few others,

It makes you wonder has the Klopp effect wore off on some of the lads here years

Unless there is a significant uptick in performance, I don’t think Liverpool should be planning going into the second half of the season with either Fab or Hendo as first choice, never mind next season. Considering we are now almost a third of the way through the season, only Thiago and Elliott deserve recognition for their effort. Hendo might get a pass due to injury, but he hasn’t looked good, his pass to Salah yesterday not withstanding.

While recognising Klopp as one of the two best managers in the world, it is all the more difficult to understand how the team got here under his watch.

505_

Such a dramatic and quick decline. Can’t even be confident of beating relegation candidates anymore. Hard to see it being a quick rebuild unless there is very significant funds available.

BorneTobyWilde

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119812846#Comment_119812846

We almost completed the quad, the situation is down to Mane leaving, Nunez getting sent off, Jota not available, Keita not available, Matip injury, Konate injury. Our form is the same as 20/21 when we faced the same injuries, our squad is so strong, but we're so unlucky with injuries .

~Rebel~

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119812820#Comment_119812820

He was obviously being a bit tongue in cheek for the interview.

Potential Underachiever

People are being blinded by the fact Nunez has scored a few goals, that is only masking how he is actually performing and effecting the team.

If people were honest and look at it objectively, he has in large parts looked rubbish, his touch is awful, his link up play is non existent, he can't dribble past players, he has no creativity, having him up front is a far cry from the devestating days of Mane, Salah and Firmino of 2 or 3 years ago.

Weird thing is people on here seem to have formed a bit of a clique in defending him and championing him, trying to churn out meaningless stats to prove what a good player he is, that Jesus goals scored comparison earlier for example. Jesus has joined Arsenal and fit perfectly into their team and helped them go from nowhere to a team that's topping the table and looking formidable, the fact Nunez might have scored more is such a lazy bs way of trying to say what exactly? That Nunez is having a better season? Laughable really.

~Rebel~

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119812948#Comment_119812948

He also creates space for others... we have more chances, and more goals when he's on the field. I mean, he causes absolute chaos!

He's extremely mercurial, and still has a ways to go, but he's a million miles away from a fella who scores a few goals and does nothing else. And I think you can nearly reverse your latter statement - people feel drawn to defend him because of the way-over-the-top "hes rubbish" comments that have been there from the start. He's not amazing, he's not rubbish. He's doing alright.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119812924#Comment_119812924

Bollox to all that.

* Mane, though he was good for the 6 months after Afcon, had been in decline for the previous 18months. We got the best of Sadio, but he was not going to be given another bumper long term deal.

* Nunez getting sent off was unfortunate and throughly stupid, but that is not why we are where we are,

* Those players getting injured was not only foreseeable, it was assured.

And in my personal opinion, Klopp being the superb manager he is, got the last drop out of these players last season. It was negligent of the club as a whole to go forward this season with an aging, tired and injury prone unit that is our midfield.

yourdeadwright

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119812946#Comment_119812946

Ud have to worry as they can't be listening to the manager and putting in performance like they are week in week out

Peps timing of his book couldn't have come at a worse time

BorneTobyWilde

Suddenly it's 1985, and our midfielders are old because they're 29, 27, 31, 30,

Milner is the only old guy in the squad

brevity

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119813315#Comment_119813315

It's not the years it's the milage.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119813315#Comment_119813315

The 1985 team won another three league titles before they hit the same wall in 1990, without European football as a result of the ban on English clubs. I’m not going to look up their ages in 1985, but you can to make your point.

Zak Flaps

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119810753#Comment_119810753

Ok....worse than LOI stuff.

Girly Gal

It's laughable that people are surprised a bunch of sick notes like Keita, Ox, Matip and Thiago have missed so much time this season, why the club didn't at least get rid of Ox and Kieta and replace them with at least one able bodied midfielder is a mystery, instead we added to them by getting another crock in Arthur on loan, you couldn't make it up. It must be part of the clubs strategic to sign players with a question mark over their fitness, maybe they get a discount on them!

yourdeadwright

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119813600#Comment_119813600

Myself along with some other posters where called idiots for giving out about it in the summer, Klopp knows best we already have 8 & and all that Jazz, Stevie Wonder could see it in coming

Fitz*

And those same 4 players were fully fit for the entirety of January to July with no injuries. Some even longer. So there was reason for optimism in terms of their fitness.

You can't just decide to dump 2 senior players after the season the club had. It damages morale. What does it say to the players? 'Thanks but you can f**k off now'.

I'm all for selling a few players alright but what's the point in selling Ox for £10m when you're not buying someone that has a current better ability level for the same amount. Unless it's a kid, and Carvalho Elliott & Jones are already in the squad so the club are not going to buy another under 21 midfielder.

Like it or not, Keita was a key player on the run in last season. He is not going to be sold, especially on the cheap.

It's easier just keep the status quo. It's clear that the club wanted to sell Ox and tried to, but there was nobody going to spend the money that they wanted, and needed in order to bring in a replacement. If a West Ham or Leicester had paid the £20m, then yeah we probably would have seen a new midfielder come in permanently.

They will probably both leave the club this summer now, with no incoming fees and the club are worse off financially. It is a chance to reset though.

BorneTobyWilde

..

Pat_bottom

@yourdeadwright

They still call you an idiot but you talk sense. If any manager(or director of football) doesn't keep renewing the team and refreshing it then it gets stale. No one team dominates without rebuilding its a fact. You have to keep the best players hungry and challenged its what separate the greats like pep and Jose and Fergie to the rest.

giveitholly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119813831#Comment_119813831

Every Liverpool supporter knew we made an awful mistake not signing a midfielder this summer. You are making yourself out to be some martyr that you saw what was going to happen. You wanted klopp gone the year of covid,saying he lost the dressing room. Shows you know sweet F all. After the Arsenal match you were getting giddy over a photo of all the Brazilian players meeting up seemingly condemning henderson of being a racist. Show me one post where you were called an idiot because you keep referring to it without any evidence

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119814021#Comment_119814021

Fitz I’d agree with you on most things, but I have to disagree with you on this. Renewal of the squad keeps them on their toes, it prevents complacency. The same players listening to the same team talks can’t be a good thing. Keeping the same players regardless may be good for morale, until it isn’t, and right now, it isn’t.

There are no buyers for our midfield, for good reason, they are either old, injury prone, or out of contract, which is most certainly not a good situation to be in. Ideally, and if Liverpool planned to be competing with the best, they would have been buying established young quality players for the last two years, not the likes of Carvalho, Elliot etc who are good, but unproven at top level.

I think any jackass who says that FSG buys only what the club earns is an unreasoned ass, FSG are investing in the stadium because it makes the club worth more in terms of income when they cash in and sell the club, but they are neglecting the value of a successful team. FSG are not poor owners, they are an investment company who see only profit and loss, which of course are a monumental improvement on their predecessors, but, we are either a club that competes for top spot or we aren’t. If we are just a business that gets along, fair enough, but Klopp won’t stay around for four more years of dross.

BorneTobyWilde

The absolute hate the players get on their social media is saddening,

Summitatem

"It's clear that the club wanted to sell Ox and tried to, but there was nobody going to spend the money that they wanted, and needed in order to bring in a replacement. If a West Ham or Leicester had paid the £20m, then yeah we probably would have seen a new midfielder come in permanently"

I'm hoping there's no one dumb enough working at LFC to have been expecting to sell ox for 20m to finance a player purchase

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119814257#Comment_119814257

Edit: I misread Toby’s post.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119814482#Comment_119814482

You seem very obsessed with posters getting likes you seem to bring up at least once a week.

That seems a bit unhealthy obsession worrying about what likes posters get.

Agent Coulson

The Swiss Ramble always there with a good Twitter thread.

https://twitter.com/SwissRamble/status/1586982870106652672?s=20&t=hFzJKgk75SlMt5nETiU-Uw

https://twitter.com/SwissRamble/status/1586982872409415680?s=20&t=hFzJKgk75SlMt5nETiU-Uw

https://twitter.com/SwissRamble/status/1586982959256674306?s=20&t=hFzJKgk75SlMt5nETiU-Uw

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119814526#Comment_119814526

Do you consider two an unhealthy obsession? Hardly.

Mr Crispy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119814549#Comment_119814549

He didn't say posters hate our players, he said the players are receiving hate on their social media.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119814567#Comment_119814567

Posters on social media. What is the relevance to this thread without context?

Mr Crispy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119814573#Comment_119814573

Before we go any further, could you make up your mind what you're actually annoyed about first.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119814581#Comment_119814581

I’m annoyed with myself for missing the reference to “their social media” in Toby’s post and jumping to the conclusion he was talking about posters on boards.

Sorry Toby.

Girly Gal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119814021#Comment_119814021

Those 4 players being fully fit for that length of time was an anomaly, in the previous 2/3 seasons all 4 were rarely fit at the same time. Keita and Ox the biggest offenders, I'm fine with holding onto Matip and Thiago for this season. The reason Ox and Kieta should have been sold in the summer is that Ox despite being fit was hardly used since January, so wasn't really part of the first team plans, plus only had a year left so last opportunity to get anything for him, Keita also in the last year of his contract and wasn't going to sign a contract so again last chance to get anything for them. The funds raised by selling them last summer could have bought a midfielder that was badly needed, both are going to leave in the summer for nothing, having taken another year's wages and so far we've only seen Ox for a few minutes and I don't think Keita has even played this season. Squads need to be refreshed every season or else it gets stale.

City let go 3 senior players in Jesus, Sterling and zinchenko in the summer, all players that contributed more to City than Ox or Keita have to Liverpool, refreshing the squad is vital, holding onto players, especially injury prone players is not clever. By your logic we would never let players leave.

.

A quirky story, I wish Luis was at the real Liverpool at times like this.

https://www.thisisanfield.com/2022/10/luis-suarez-nets-twice-against-other-liverpool-to-seal-title-for-boyhood-club/

Infoseeker1975

Our matches are like basketball games at times, we definitely should be able to beat Forest and Leeds with the current players available but like any elite sport, a lack of confidence plays it part.

We need more dynamic midfielders to have any chance and we at least will only have played 16 games when the transfer window opens.

If we are spending then the players need to be sorted and signed on Jan 1st, if no money is available then we are not finishing top 4 as with Newcastle there are more teams involved and not all of them will do a Arsenal from last year.

The loss of top 4 will be huge with owners that operate as FSG do, we will lose Keita, Ox and Milner in June, out of contract, and there will be litle/no transfer budget as we have no one with a large sale value to generate funds.

If we are able to sell Kieta in Jan then hopefully we get 2 midfielders and with Diaz returning and hopefully Konate staying injury free then we are a force in all the cups.