Liverpool FC Team Talk, Gossip, Rumours 2024/25

Arsenal back in the race now too and have to play Man City, so at least there is the chance there of at least one of them dropping points.

We've a couple of tough games ourselves in April / May in Villa & Spurs but the Man City run in March will be tough. Hopefully they can drop points in a few games there.

Arsenal's tough games are a bit spread out too but they have that Man City game too, a NLD, Man Utd away in May & always have this new mini rivalry game soon with Newcastle game.

Plenty opportunities for all teams to drop points. I think it's better for us that way. It it was a 10 game win type of season, we'd fall away I reckon. We don't have the bodies to do that, before we talk about quality.

If we can keep it to 1 point between us until Citys run in March, then it could get interesting. Doing that with our injuries mounting is another story....

How are you meant to know that now? Salah could be back, VVD could slip in the shower, Mac Allister could fall down a well, Gakpo could be bitten by a radioactive spider and get super powers. Klopp might also develop an age serum and give it to Kenny and get him back in the frost 11 in time.

Definitely be a few anyway. Alisson and Gomez probably over their flu by then, Konate's ban is finished, and I doubt Trent'll be starting after reinjuring his knee.

Doubtless a few other things will become clearer during the week, like Mo, Szobo, Bradley etc. Never really get a sense of these things till around the Thursday

It was a joke, no need to get upset.

Albie Moreno is gonna get injured in a freak dog & skateboard accident!

We've seen what happens when it's just ourselves so ultimately I'd prefer it.

Side note our trip to Old Trafford looks more difficult by the minute whilst our trip to Aston Villa looks less daunting by the same token.

Yesterday was actually a quieter Nunez game, by his standards, but he still showed how pivotal he is to the team as there was 5 big moments that he played a big part in.

Early in the game when Liverpool had not started at all, Burnley had the ball and a chance or two. Ball goes direct to Nunez and he wins it. Defender pulls him off the ball with 2 hands, somehow no free kick is given but Nunez battles back and wins the ball again before driving down the wing and wins a throw in high up the pitch. Regains possession and Liverpool reset and start the recycling the ball around the back and midfield forcing Burnley deep again. Dragged us into the game a bit. Very underrated and something Bobby was and would be lauded for.

The first big chance created (iirc) came through Nunez being composed at the right hand corner of the box, beating a man and putting a good cross in for Diaz to shoot. I thought it hit the post initially but it was a good save by the keeper. We typically see him operating best on the left hand side but this showed that he is starting to learn how to dominate in both sides.

His goal. Brilliant.

His miss. Terrible. To be fair to him, it was the 95th minute and he just had sprinted half the length of the pitch, controlled it with a great first touch, but he has to place it into one of the corners. Anywhere but the keeper! Gets the leeway because he had already scored so he is lucky there, a bit.

And then a time he actually never received the ball but it really annoyed me that he didn't. Terrible decision making by Diaz and has to do better. He eventually messed up the pass to Jota too. Diaz's electricity is gone since the injury so he has to be effective in other ways. His decision making really needs to improve, he holds onto it too long. I can't say I am 100 % confident that Nunez would have scored from this position but he really should have had the opportunity to get his shot away, being straight in on goal. He had even managed to stay onside and all!

..wrong thread..

We just need them to show up against City 2 weeks from Sunday, and they can go back to their Jekyll and Hyde shambolic selves for the remainder of the season!

Yeah, he's on 8. If he gets two more he'll get a two match ban

That'll reset after match 32, so 8 more matches

EDIT: our 8th match is United away, though I'm not sure if progressing in the FA Cup could change that

Endo on 6 is probably the only other concern. Mac and Trent on 5, everyone else three or fewer

Same as Rodri, both on 8 cards. Both players are on the watchlist before that big game. Nunez would be a 1 game ban, Rodri 2 iirc.

Oh, Nunez didn't get a ban for 5 before the first cutoff? Would just be one match then

Once that's not City, I'd rather be kept being himself. If he gets a one match ban then so be it

Several of his cards recently have been for silly stuff, like kicking the ball away or waving his arms in frustration. Referees are singling him out IMHO, but either way he has to learn to be smarter - a yellow for kicking some lad is better than this silly stuff

Oh I know that about Bradley,he should take as long as he needs,just saying I would still play him ahead of Trent if he was available

When he probably should be winning a 50/50 chase and then the defender gets the body in the way, he can't help but foul sometimes.

Better to harass and Harry when they are facing their own goal.

bad as he's been, I'm sure things would have been different for him under Klopp, just as they were under De Zerbi. Chelsea is a broken club, dragging their new young players down with it. He's only just turned 22 after all.

Would still have expected more but I can see how a young player going into a total mess of a situation, with seemingly no plan or structure, would struggle.

It's always a position that relies upon structure to make it work though - where a forward to an extent can come in and just play their natural game, a DM needs to know what everyone is going to be doing in any given moment to know how they should defend a situation (whether they should drop and cover, or charge in etc), or know where the runs will be coming from to start an attack in transition.

Like, if he'd come to Liverpool we'd not have seen him until December, same as with Fabinho and Endo, while he got up to speed on how the team played. Brighton had a way of playing too, and he knew exactly what was needed of him, and did it like a boss. At Chelsea he's just a bit of flotsam bobbing around with no rhyme or reason as to what's happening around him in defence or attack. They're all just playing it by ear it looks like. it's hard for a DM to look good under those circumstances.

ha! true! It's so nuts that the club that should be the most aware of this stuff, after years of Winston Bogarde, are the ones with a whole truckload of largely unproven talent signed up for eternity.

The one for kicking the ball away, to the keeper, on Saturday was a very harsh yellow.

Nice...

Great, hopefully the spate of illnesses is gone from the group now.