not directed solely at you, but the current trend to absolve anyone of any responsibility because an action is ‘not solely his/her responsibility’ or ’ theres more to it than that’ is really just deflection.
absolutely there are hundreds of moving parts to any transfer, options and obstacles abound in every direction, and things are never black and white…
but…
Hughes is the director of football…annndddd…
we started the season with VVD who is ageing and needs to be replaced in the medium term-not this season- but you get someone in…Konate, out of contract…Jo Go, as much as i love him, hes about a maximum 120 minutes away from his next injury at any given point in his career now…and an 18 year old kid who maybe phenomenal, but yknow…
so all four centre backs we started the season needed phasing out over time, or phasing in…anyone who says ‘who could of predicted’ is being myopic.
Richard Hughes…heavy is the head that wears the crown.
I think the last 2 games, and yesterday’s in particular, have been a real eye-opener in how fucked we actually are.
I wasn’t kidding myself, I’ve droned on on here for months about how fucking poor we have been for getting on 12 months.
But it’s now apparent that despite spending 450 million quid in the summer the whole fucking team needs re-building from front to back. The players who need binning off the most won’t bring in a lot of coin, maybe Gakpo and MacAllister will fetch a decent fee, but the likes of Konate, Gomes, Endo, Chiesa and Robbo will bring in buttons. We might get a decent fee for Salah and maybe we can try and offload VVD to Saudi if he continues his half-arsed passive defending til the end of the season.
We need a minimum of 3 CB’s, a left-back, 3 centre-mids and 2 quality wide players. That’s how fucked we are.
And a new manager of course, let’s not forget that.
You missed out where I said ‘sooner’. The issue behind the deal collapsing was the failure by Palace’s recruitment team to provide Glasner with suitable alternatives by deadline day two days after the deal was agreed.
Getting the agreement in place earlier either reduces the need for the selling club to bring in an alternative first before the move completes, or at the very least gives them greater opportunity for finding that suitable player in time.
Robbo is only 31 and hes not nearly as ‘Knackered’ as alot of people want to make out, a new manager might work another season or two with him and Kerkez (plus we need a scot in the squad)
3 centre backs could be a two year transition, depending on Leoni…man, imagine if we had of kept Quansah…
and the winger thing is dependant on who we get as a manager…Frimpong is more than affective higher up the park, Isak, Ekitike and Wirtz all love the freedom to drift, and ill still say it, Rio is no slouch… one winger would have this squad looking completely different.
im not ready to play the doom and gloom card, there are issues, but very managable…
we are doing nothing this winter window by the looks of it, and i think thats a massive issue
should be
CB this window
CB and winger next window
CB the following…
the rest of the movement is virtually player for player…i.e ‘Mac leaves; Wharton comes in’ as an example.
Robbo could be gone this time tomorrow. I’m assuming that’s why Tsimikas is coming back.
If Frimpong ends up playing right wing then we probably need 2 right backs as well because we sure as fuck can’t rely on Bradley.
However you dress it up we need 8 or 9 new players unless we decide to keep the lads who have fallen off a cliff this season.
Yeah I’d agree. Even that would probably be too late. We could be out of the CL race after the next 4 because right now I don’t see us winning any of them.
thats my point though…theres players in our squad who arent ready for the scrap heap…despite how frustrated you may be with them.
the Frimpong point was both he and Bradley can exploit the space high, from the full back role, if you have the likes of Ekitike and Wirtz drifting about…
If football worked like that, there would be 3 times more transfers than there is…
Of course Bradley will be here next season. He’s had issues with injuries and consistency so far in his Liverpool career, but I can already place a bet that we will absolutely not sign two RB’s this summer.
It’s not at the point of totally giving up on him, far from it.
But that’s still four centre backs which is pretty standard right?
You could equally argue that we’d just given Virg a new contract so we had faith in his condition, we’re still trying trying to get Konate to sign a new deal and Gomez may pick up injuries but he may not. Also you can’t predict the kid is ruled out for the season after half a game.
And we did try to bring in another CB but that would have likely seen Gomez go. Now, I’d have been very happy to have Guehi even if that meant Gomez moving on. That would have still left us with four and wouldn’t have stopped Konate being a liability, Virg slowing down or Leoni doing his knee.
The other thing is one of our issues has been squad turnover. How much more do we want to do in one window? Not saying I don’t think Hughes has questions to answer or been perfect but that squad of players is better than our results.
See how you dropped Isak from your previous post, is that accidental or tactical?
It’s not easy to fit all of them players in.
We started the summer pretty well, but ended it in a way that left me with a lot of question marks about how they imagined it on the board, before going out on the pitch and different issues that can happen any time (Isak being totally unfit, certain players needing time…).
Florian Wirtz has told his father and agent, Hans-Joachim Wirtz, that while his relationship with Arne Slot remains very strong, the idea of reuniting with his sporting father, Xabi Alonso, genuinely excites him and is already being discussed within the squad. Their relationship remained intact after their respective departures from Leverkusen, with Alonso continuing to support Florian’s move to Liverpool by advising him on where to live, which areas to explore, and how to adapt off the pitch, keeping their communication close and ongoing.
I can also reveal that at the beginning of the season, during a brief adjustment period marked by minor on-field difficulties, Xabi Alonso proactively reached out to Florian. There were direct exchanges between the two, including video material sent by Alonso, breaking down situations and outlining small positional and decision-making adjustments for Florian to implement. The channel between them has remained open, active, and highly personal, with Jeremie Frimpong, who is very close to Florian and his family, also fascinated by the idea of working with Alonso again.
Florian has further told his father that he feels Arne Slot’s time may be running short due to recent results, though he remains cautious, aware that he does not yet fully understand the club’s internal structures and dynamics, and that Liverpool is not an institution known for throwing managers under the bus, even if things can change very quickly in modern football.
Quality players both of them, but it wouldn’t be the first time in football where a club realized that it’s a bit too much and there’s a struggle to make it functional in all phases of the game.
I mean, it’s objectivelly better to have Isak and Ekitike than Torres and N’Gog (before someone’s too smart to say there was also Kuyt!), but let’s say that it’s a sweet problem that can become too sweet, having a bit too much sugar for our own health…
And by the way, I’m not convinced we’ll find a way even if Salah goes this summer.
