Liverpool FC Team Talk, Gossip, Rumours 2024/25

That second half was as bad as it gets. Absolutely appalling.

We've had a number of really embarrassing games this season.

Forrest, Bournemouth, Madrid at home, Brighton/wolves away, this.

In Klopp's previous seasons I don't remember ever describing an entire performance as embarrassing.

I'm not sure who has had a bigger decline this season, Virgil or Fabinho? Both need replacing now, but VVD annoys me more because it seems like he's just not bothering whereas Fab just looks physically spent.

Virgil is done, his heart isn't in it.

A small example earlier, at 1-1 there was a minute or 2 of crazy stuff, with tackles flying in. The ball broke between Virgil and an opponent, it was 75/80 % his ball, and he could have won the ball and taken out the City Player and laid down a marker to boot. Instead, he pulls out and loses the tackle. His head is done, hasn't been the same since his injury and has lost his nerve. His cocky demeanour doesn't help, makes him look like he's not trying which I don't think is actually the case but he's a poor shadow of the player he was pre-Pickford.

To be honest we probably need 6 or 7 new players and we're not going to get all those in one transfer window. FSG have backed themselves into a corner now and they are left with a big rebuild on their hands rather than gradually adding to the squad over the past few years.

April fools....what time is the real kick off at? 🫣

He wasn't incredible last season. He was OK, and better than he's playing now, but never recovered to that level. Allison saved his bacon lot let year.

The whole forum and other forums have been saying this for a long time. Is there any other plan other than plan A. The inability to adapt tactics could be Klopps achilles heal.

And for your other post, I agree we need a whole midfield and now it appears the bones of a defence. The failure to refresh the squad has to be pointed at the owners. Maybe Klopps dedication to players that should be shifted on long ago is because of lack of signings.

It's very disappointing after last season's climax to see the team in a state of collapse. Very hard to watch them without expecting the worst.

Yes, because 12 months ago, we had a cup in the bag and were in the hunt for 3 others.

Besides, what do you want for being first to claim these players are done? A medal? It changes nothing. We're all frustrated as fans to see such a rapid decline but banging on about what anyone with eyes can see this season, to prove some sort of personal score is just pointless.

It's all very frustrating alright... like, surely there's some logic to adapt the tactics even for the rest of the season. You look at our squad and it's easy to see our strengths and weaknesses. Surely it's worth trying 3 at the back to add a little more defensive strength to make up for the weakness in midfield, and cover for trent's laziness. Sitting that bit further back would probably actually help our attack, giving Mo and Nunez space to run into. Doesn't have to be forever, just for while our midfield (and Trent) is so embarrassingly dodgy.

I'd also be in favour of playing Gomez over Trent at RB for now if we're sticking with a back 4. Joe's been a travesty at CB this year, but has been decent at RB - at very least he's usually actually there, which alone is an improvement..

A new midfield full of high energy defensively strong players sorts that out alright I think - the whole thing works when 2 roles are split in half, with one midfielder effectively being part time midfield and part time right back like Hendo used to be, with Trent being part time fullback, and part time midfield/winger. The current options just can't do that, so it definitely needs a brand new midfield to ever go back to that plan again. The other option is to just buy a more orthodox RB and try to convert Trent to the sort of 'free' 3rd man in midfield with a 6 and defensively strong 8 (not unlike Thiago's role for us). Or, finally, to relegate Trent to only playing games that suit him where we're not under too much defensive pressure.

Looking forward to hearing the City fans explain how a bottle is more dangerous than a brick.

Scummy behaviour.

I'm seeing reports that the brick was sponsored by Eithad. A smashing £100m for for the deal.

Yeah that Ox sub was infuriating. His performance even worse.

Like Keita, he is leaving in the summer. Keita was basically told to f**k off, maybe because of his attitude this season. Is Ox getting game time because he has a good attitude? That's on Klopp there for being too nice. I'd rather Bobby Clark play, or Jones, or Carvalho. Someone still with a future at the club, on paper at least.

Klopp's teams seem to live off being fine tuned machines.

All his teams seem to be almost impenetrable when right, but are a cog out of place away from everything falling apart.

Dortmund were in the relegation zone for a while.

We'd makeshift CBs and lost an obscene amount in a row.

He blatantly wanted a CM last summer. He was beaten to Tchouameni and told to go away 'for now' on Bellingham. He obviously thought he might eek another season out of the options he had by just playing Elliott more than he should and hoping declines weren't quite so bad in others. He was wrong.

When a cog is wrong (our midfield at the minute) everything falls apart.

Trent and Robertson looked absolutely hopeless today. And they were. But you can't tell me they weren't covered in previous seasons. You can't tell me that Trent has ever had to do as much defending as this season. He's never been good at it, but he was covered by others so he could be released to do what he is best at. It doesn't excuse how bad he is defensively at the moment, but he's being asked to do things he simply wasn't having to do when the team was a fine tuned machine.

And this is Klopp's weakness. He simply struggles to find a way to get through seasons properly where his team isn't a well oiled machine. When it is, and he has the pieces correct, there's not one manager I'd rather have. But when it's not, he can't figure things out.

What manager does succeed when you take 4/5/6 cogs out of their machine for months?

It's poor coaching though too.

No team can go 100% flat out all the time. There has to be times to kill the game, keep latent possession, get a breather, make the other team chase the ball while you get a breather yourself.