Liverpool FC Team Talk, Gossip, Rumours 2024/25

Lets not play anyone in case they get injured and sign another 20 players to cover those who we don't want to get injured but aren't playing in case they get injured.

Injuries are part and parcel of the game.

Elliott was looking like a fine replacement for Gini till he got injured If the club had signed someone as a replacement for Gini in the summer that would have stunted Elliott's path to first team football or Jones path Liverpool are not Man City or Chelsea they can't afford two world class players for every position that is why they are prepared to give young talent a chance.

Fab, Hendo, Ox, Jones, Keita, Milner, Elliott, Thiago that is 8 players vying for 3 spots.

Pep said Kelleher will start tomorrow.

Yes but he has 3 goals from about 30 attempts in those games. When he used to be so clinical. He used to be able to take a touch and waltz past players like they werent there and score wonder goals, these days he is finding it hard just to control the football never mind the rest. I love Mane but he is a shadow of the player we had between 2017 and early 2020. Really really hope he gets his form back, remember all those retired African footballers that said Mane was the best player in the world a few years back?...well, nobody thinks that anymore unfortunately.

He's got 5 in his last 6 Prem games should be 6 but for a hand ball on the line ( i used the last game of last season in there) ,

Bang on

I notice all of his goals this season have been from max 2 touches,

If he takes anymore he seems to miss,

He really could have done with that chance going in the weekend.

He may actually start tomorrow just to try get him a goal

Yeah 100%. He defo needs a goal and a bad miss like that one won't help at all. Defo think Bobby comes in at the weekend if he's fit to start.

Take a look at that video of Mane's 100 goals for us. See how many of those goals are unbelievably clinical and cool finishes like dinks over the keeper and rockets into the top corner with his LEFT foot etc and how he glides past players like they are not there...you can't seriously be telling me you guys are still seeing that same player in Mane each week for the past year or so. These days you could start a drinking game where you take a drink each time Mane is in on goal and should be finishing or passing to a team mate for an easy finish but just falls over himself instead and you would be hammered by full time.

I think he's looking sharper in recent weeks, hopefully he's turned the corner and will return to his 2019 form.

In 2019 he was the best player in Europe, absolutely fantastic, and did the business in all the big games. We wouldn't have been champions of Europe in 2019/20 without him.

I think it's confidence too. He's over thinking what's happening - maybe he's actually getting into too good a position and has too much time!

To be honest, when I think of a typical Mane finish, I think of him sliding in back post or running onto a through ball and shinning the ball into the net, or hitting the ball into the ground with a scuffed shot. I've a mental image of Mane picking himself off the ground with a big beaming smile because he just scored while ending up flat on the floor. It was instinctive. He just knew where the ball was and where it needed to go. Because he was hitting the ball at pace and in the right area and aiming towards the right area of the goal, he was scoring. He just put the ball into the back of the net somehow, nearly always with his first touch, and it just felt instinctive.

Whereas now I think he is taking an extra touch to set himself as he is not confident in hitting the ball first time. He doesn't back himself to score. He's getting chances now but he's taking a touch and then faking a shot before turning back and then shifting the ball back to his other foot again and by then the instinctiveness of the chance has gone and the opposition defence has had time to reset or get bodies back blocking the shot line.

He's getting into the right positions, he just needs to go back to basics and start firing them shots on target. Easier said than done, I know!

Theres a big difference in saying, as most people are, that Mane isn't at his best but is still producing the goods well enough, to saying he's finished and is a pale shadow of himself. Which is rubbish. Sorry mormank. Incidently heres a good graphic I saw earlier regarding all our shot metrics. We take alot of shots every season, much more than usual this season but the goal output is still the same as our best season. We're even underperforming going by our xG so room to improve for all of the forwards.

Granted its still early doors but nothing to worry about yet.

I never said he was finished. I simply said he has been out of form for 18 months, which is true. To say anything else is just fantasy. Go take a look at that video of his 100 goals and tell me the player we have seen for the last 18 months as we see in the first 80% of that video.

Manes all round game looks fine again look at the amount of chances he is creating for himself, , its just confidence in front of goal at the minute,

As i said its obvious when you see all his goals have been with 1 or 2 touches meaning he has no time to think , He is messing up when he has time,

He needs to score cleanly from a one on one or beat a player and score and all of a sudden he will be back to his best,

It's looking like there is a big onus on set piece shots this season - creating real chances from set piece scenarios, and not just from the direct set piece but the second balls also. The number of corners has increased a lot this season, and so has the number of shots taken from set pieces has increased an awful lot too.

Last season, the average number of corners taken per game was just under 7. This season we have seen 11,8,12,11,15,10. Every game so far has comfortably last season's average. This season's average is over 10 per game. Now this could be down to a number of factors - having VVD & Matip back in the starting line is obviously a massive contributing factor. We saw a few times last season in the last minute that the players were reluctant to put balls into the box and instead took short corners and full time blew up while they were messing about. Maybe the players were instructed to not try and win corners, whereas this season they are? They now have players to aim for. VVD just creates chaos. Salah's goals against both Norwich & Palace came from this where everyone becomes gravitated towards VVD and leaves Salah in space. VVD automatically creates an issue that at least 1 or 2 defenders have to worry about. Matip too. This disruption is creating space for others.

In some games, it's been like Liverpool are either happy to lose the initial duel, or are just quicker to continue the action and re-create another chance from the second ball. Fabinho's goal against Leeds for example, Henderson v Milan another. Fabinho doesn't usually go into the box for set pieces, but he did against Leeds. So that would strike me as a pre-planned tactic for that specific game and that they targeted a weakness in Leeds set up, which is good to see that those small details are being looked into.

Liverpool are the highest scorer of set piece goals in the league, but are head and shoulders above the rest in taking shots from set pieces. It's all well and good winning set pieces, but actually making those worthwhile and getting shots away is even better. They are winning the most corners, taking the most shots from set pieces, also taking the most shots and are one goal away from being the top scorers in the league. It all seems a bit planned. There was a new member of the backroom staff brought in during the summer to directly help in this area too.

The sheer number of shots being attempted may be part of the plan. Whereas previously they would recycle possession, now they take a few more shots with the plan being to generate more corners.

I reckon Gomez & Konate start but he could play Gomez RB if we are short,

Kelleher ,Tsimakas ,Gomez,Konate,Phillips, Jones, Ox, Origi, Takki, Gordon , that's 10 but its missing someone to play in the 6 role ?

And if that happens, that’ll create more spaces to cross the ball into and keepers palming the ball back into dangerous areas

It’s win-win for Liverpool. 😀

Didn't we bring in a new guy over the medical department in January , Probably didn't have enough time to work with them last season ,

Also Naby & Matip tend to always struggle in the winter time with injury, possible due to the ground ,In January the new head of the medical department said Naby leg's where not strong enough for soft ground or something along them lines

I also never said he cant get back to his best. Stop putting words in my mouth. All Im saying is Mane hasnt been "peak Mane" for about 18 months. If you cant see that then there is no point chatting about it. It's blatantly obvious. It's not even controversial in any way shape or form.

Also "He has the highest xg" just means he has missed the most chances. I remeber when missing easy chances in football was a bad thing but since they invented XG now its a good thing apparantly cos at least his XG goes up when he misses easy chances. Pull the other one...

In a totally unrelated subject, would you like to buy some snake oil by any chance?

18 months feels a fair bit over the top... he was perhaps our best player in 19/20, and certainly right up there with Salah (remember Carra absolutely fawning over Sadio on trophy presentation day?), and started last season on fire with 4 in his first 4. Then got Covid during the international break and never really came back from that. So it's really since last November that his form has dropped off. He already looks markedly improved on last season when he'd stopped even trying things, instead turning back more often than not. Right now he's back looking sharp - just lacking a bit of finese in his finishing (while still scoring).

18 months would be fair to say of Bobby, but not Mane imo.

OK that is just splitting hairs tbh. Mane hasnt been at his best for 18 months or Mane hasnt been at his best for 12 months are basically the same point. He has been out of form for a very long time, much longer than a usual blip players might have during a season or whatever.

I'm well aware he is still scoring goals, I have him in my fan team team since week 1 this season, which I wouldn't have if I didnt think he was still capable of scoring and he is currently the second highest points scorer in fan team after Salah. I get all this, however it can be true that has scored 5 goals in 6 games whilst also being true that he has not been at his best. They are not mutually exclusive.

The only reason I'm getting any pushback at all here is because G has been putting words in my mouth, I never said Mane was finished as a player, I never said he was a bad player even...all I said is that he hasnt been at his best for a very long time which everybody so far has agreed with and yet are still calling me out as being wrong despite all of ye, including G himself, agreeing with me.

Mane hasnt been at his best for over a year (is what I'm saying)....Now does anyone disagree with this??

Nah, didnt think so.....

Ox, Minamino & Origi need to show they have something to offer now.

Happy with that team, want to win but will shrug my shoulders if we lose. Looking forward to seeing Gordon, who has apparently impressed a lot.

I just looked at "The End of The Storm" doco for the first time last night and it was sad to hear Mane talk about not having a wife or partner and not been able to see his family during lockdown. It must have been very lonely for him....was also sad to hear Klopp talk about how much his mam meant to him and she has sadly passed since the doco came out.

Sure, agreed. However my original point was simply that Mane has been poor for a long time, not that he is finished as a player so your distinction is correct but has nothing to do with what I was saying which was simply he has been poor by his own standards for a very long time, not just a few game blip.

But now that you mention it, I would argue that he has actually been poor since pretty much "Project Restart" when we started playing with no crowds but again since my point is simply that he has been poor for a long time and NOT that he is finished as a player it's not really relevant whether its been 12 months or 18 months as both are a very long time in football for someone to be below par.

If you wanna start a separate discussion about Mane being finished as a player or not thats up to you but that is not what I was saying...that is what G said I was saying, when I was not. I firmly do not believe he is done as a player or else I would have him in my fan team starting 11 every week this season thus far. Do you see what im getting at now about splitting hairs?

Am I the only one who sees the amount of chances Mane is fumbling constantly these days tho? Maybe it's because I have him in my fan team starting 11 that I'm hyper focused on him each game and notice it. I mean, we are essentially saying the same thing and you are arguing a point I never made, you are arguing a point that "G" claimed I made but I never did.