Liverpool FC Team Talk, Gossip, Rumours 2024/25

Mane pre Christmas in the 2022 season was poor. He only hit a run of form when he was moved to CF.

Was class for 5 years.

In 2022 specifically, he banged in crucial goals in the title run in (at City, against Utd, Villa, Wolves) and CL knockout stages (semis against Villarreal, quarters against Benefica).FA cup semis against City.

28 goals in all comps in 2021/2022 even if only 9 of these came in the first half.

The way he's being remembered on here is absolutely shocking.

A real issue for me.

One injury or suspension like we currently have with Mac and Thiago and Bajetic/Jones/Elliott are to be called upon.

Their league runs until December, so I think that was always likely. Is there anything concrete to say we're after him though?

I think Gakpo has been a brilliant first team signing.

When will we know the outcome on the appeal?

The Lavia saga was a complete embarrassment. Bid £40m and got rejected and told £50m was the asking price, then bid £41m and got rejected and then bid £45m and got rejected and then bid £60m and got rejected by the player. Caicedo was fair enough, not much could be done there.

No, I haven't seen him play, I don't watch that many mid table Bundesliga teams, unlike yourself obviously. 😂 The signing of Andy Robertson is nothing like this. Andy Robertson was signed as a 24 year to compete with the current starting left back. Low risk, high reward. Endo is a 30 year old who is going to be our only DM this season. As I said, the regression is of standards from the club is frightening.

Chelsea messed around with the Caicedo bid and it was only our interest in the transfer that forced them to spend the money. That is how transfers are done and those that just say, "pay the club what they want", I wonder if they go into a shop and tell the owner to charge them what they want and they are happy to pay that. I know that is simplistic, but we are not Chelsea and we are not going to be shafted for fees.

On Robertson, sure I get it we are looking at 2 different players with different age profiles, but honestly tell me that posters would not have been complaining about us signing him and him not playing the first few months as well when City spent £115m on 3 LB/RB that window. It is easy to say in hindsight that his transfer was lauded at the time but I bet you had people moaning that we weren't spending money to sign other players instead.

The equation I am making between the 2 is that people are dismissing the Endo signing based off his fee. But they were quick to call Keita a waste of space due to his fee and the investment we made. So basically between a rock and a hard place, sign Endo for £15m and he does not work out, waste of time. Sign Lavia for £60m and he doesn't work out (like Ox or Keita), waste of time and money.

This is just interesting to see.

"We are not going to be shafted on fees" We were going to be shafted, Chelsea moved the goalposts with their long contracts,a big risk to the clubs long-term future imo but they seem to be living in the moment , I can see Salah getting his head turned by a Saudi offer in the next two windows, just hoping we get the full season, he was a signing most said wasn't good enough also.

So you don't want any of the young lads starting or indeed being brought into the team to cover for injuries?

God, it's a good job you weren't managing Liverpool when Trent came through - he never would have gotten a sniff of first team action

But Liverpool are not going to be competing at the business end of the CL this season. He may very well be the starting 6 for this season and then Andre or whoever comes in for next season.

Realistically the team are in a transition at the moment, you can't lose as many midfielders as we have and expect to compete for a league or CL. What needs to be done this season is to integrate the new signings, improve the tactics and mentality of the players and build a solid base to challenge again next season.

Top 4 is the goal with a focus on winning the EL and going deep in the FA cup.

At top clubs, young players need to force their way into the team over time. Look at the likes of Foden who still isn't even a guaranteed starter at City. Palmer and Lewis are being very slowly introduced too, which reduces the pressure on them. At the moment we're one or two injuries away from relying on one or both of Elliott and Bajtetic playing week in, week out. That puts massive pressure on them and the rest of the team and potentially damages everyone's confidence.

Man City is a financially-doped club that can spend 10s of millions on back-up players to sit on the bench.

I wouldn't be using them as a yardstick for Liverpool.

Young players need to have a path to the first team and opportunities to play when injuries occur to the starting 11 - that's how they get better.

Using City as an example is not exactly a great barometer as they operate in a different stratosphere to us! Arsenal might be a better comparison, 2/3 years ago they underwent a process of bleeding in young players, Saka, Martinelli, Smith-Rowe, Elneny, Odegaard to name a few. Most of these guys played week in week out and it was to mixed results to say the least. Calls for Arteta to be gone and proven talent be purchased were called for on numerous occasions by Arsenal fans. They went 12 games in all competitions with only 1 win at one stage. No obviously not all players have worked out as well as others, Smith-Rowe seems to have died away after a very promising start. I’ve no idea if Liverpool’s youngsters will have the same success, but as fans we can’t expect young players to be bleed in and not suffer some pain along the way…Look at our transfers targets, Gravenberch and Andre, 2 21 year olds. We have no idea if these guys will propel us to the next level or not if brought in through the door. But the club seemed to have identified them as primary targets and youth seems to be the way forward for the club. If both the guys are brought in, I’d still expect some poor results while they build up the required experience. 

If we're rebuilding, then we should be moving Salah, Virgil and Thiago on. Retaining them doesn't make sense. There will be huge question marks over their future next summer and Thiago will be off. At that point Robbo has another year on the tyres too as a 30 year old that relies on his engine and athleticism.

A team that has Salah, Virgil, Allison, Robbo in it probably shouldn't have Endo and kids there too. It all seems a bit muddled.

You cant rip out key players all at once, Forward department doesn't need the level of rebuild that midfield needed anyway, that has been the one area of the pitch that has been kept fresh.

Im struggling to understand what you want Lloyd, you didn't want Fab and Hendo to go but you think moving on Salah and Virgil is the right move.

Whatever about transfer policies and what we have got wrong, you can’t seriously expect a team like Liverpool to be able to completely overhaul midfield and defense in one summer. Rightly or wrongly, they seemed to have focused on the forward line overhaul first and now seem to be onto midfield, I would have liked some midfield options last summer, but funds were allocated to Diaz (previous January), Nunez and then Gakpo, I didn’t necessarily agree with that, but it is what it is. There would be holy murder if we got rid of Hendo, Fab, Salah, Robbo and VVD in one window. We wouldn’t even finish within the top 10 the following year. We would also be screwed trying to purchase new players as teams would know how departure we are, look at the mess we’re in trying to replace Hendo and Fab after the fact! If Pearce and these guys are to be believed, 2 more midfield options and a left sided centre back are the targets in the next couple of windows. Hopefully 1 of those midfield targets gets landed this week! Fans who want the overhaul done and title challenge ready within a few months are not being realistic. 

Again with this we left 5 midfielders go, Hendo was the only one any fan should of been arsed about. Ox and Keita were non entities, Fabinho was our worst Mf last season and Milner came off the bench. We have brought in 3 able bodies and potentially a 4th to come.

Teams should always be a little bit in flux, with a few older lads, and a few younger prospects, with a core in peak age. We made the mistake of not gradually refreshing that middle bracket, which has of course led to this big rebuild.

But tbh I think we're not too far off finding the right balance again, probably 2 players - one more starter-level midfielder, and one more high level CB for competition and we're in decent shape. I think we may get one of those two before the window closes (probably CB), with hopefully the other to arrive in January if the Andre thing pans out.

Honestly, given the state things we were moving towards with the midfield and forwards all aging out together, I thought this interim period would've lasted longer. We pissed away the last big push the previous iteration of the team could've gone for, but we've done a lot of the hard yards of the rebuild reasonably well with Diaz, Jota, Gakpo, Nunez, Mac Allister, and Szoboslai. Add two more names to that list and I'll be happy enough.