Expectations for the season

The Albert
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Come on man, you’ve pessimistic for years but this just takes the cake. We have lost our entire 1st choice back four, yes, but Matip is fit for now, Fabinho is back, we’ve identified and signed a competent backup to Roberston, we have a decent up and coming youngster in Neco Williams plus we have Rhys Williams and Nat Phillips to augment things with neither looking a complete shambles.

As it stands we can field a back 5 post international break of Alisson, Tsimikas, Matip, Fabinho and N Williams, which is better by far than many first choice defences in the league, and the positions in front of them are filled by the best in the league despite also having injury troubles. I am not sure why the squad depth and form of City and Chelsea is something to be going gaga over when our squad depth has started being implemented weeks ago already with excellent team form on the pitch already. We will be stretched, we will be tested, we will lose something on the pitch and we will really come up against it but I think we will be fine. If City or Chelsea or any other of our rivals managed to lose their entire 1st choice defence in a matter of weeks they’d be fucked the lot of them. We literally just have and can still field a better defence than some of them.

Head in the game, mate. Such doom and gloom isn’t doing anyone any good least of all yourself.

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At this moment we have no idea if Fabinho is fit for next Sunday

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IMO we will win the league if we beat Leicester, Atalanta (because of the possibility to rest players in the other two group games) and Brighton.

Wrote two posts about why it will be very difficult to beat Leicester and Brighton in our current situation in the PL thread last night.

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I understand where you’re coming from Nikola, but look at the other side of it.

The Chelsea version of yourself is currently stating that Chelsea have had an incredibly easy run of fixtures and have failed to beat any decent side they’ve come up against, whilst Liverpool have beaten Ajax, Atalanta and Chelsea away, held City to a draw and beaten Arsenal at home.

Despite all the injuries, refereeing decisions and the much tougher run of fixtures we’re still two points better off in the league and CL than Chelsea are. We’re a better team with a better manager and it’ll take this run of awful luck to continue for a while for them to better us.

It’s going to be tough to overcome City now, I’ll concede that, we probably need some long term injuries to De Bruyne and co for that to happen. But we’re still better than the rest of the teams in the league even with Phillips or Williams in the starting 11.

We have an easier run of fixtures in the league approaching and we can make plenty of changes for the CL games. We’ve been in these bad spots in a number of times over the last few years and often it only takes a couple of weeks for things to start looking rosier.

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If we have Thiago, Keita and Shaqiri combined fit and on form; we will edge City as well.

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Agree with this, Nikola. We can reasonably expect Top 4 finish and quarter finals in the champions league for the reasons you mentioned (particularly the squad depths of some of the oligarch clubs).
Anything above that, particularly the title, would be a bonus.

Of course, as fans, we should hope for the best though. Hope is important. Then again, so is realism and judging the club, players and coaches on realistic expectations. No one should get angry and start shit posting, if we don’t manage Top 2-3 with events going the way they are going.

As for the discussion as to “we should have bought a good center back” and foreseen all the injuries, I find it a bit unrealistic. Some of our injuries could not have been foreseen with ease, others maybe could, but people have to understand that Corona took, and takes, an immense economic toll and that our owners run a business and not the Salvation Army and that we are not owned by various dictatorships or oligarchs with a pet-project to throw their billions out on a whim. Obviously less funds for star players in the summer and now in January than there would have been without the pandemic.

This is how I see it anyway. But there is still hope, we may be able to retain the title. But difficult that will be, as Yoda would say.

Edit: However, to end this on a more positive note, so far all clubs have been unstable apart from novel cases and I don’t think Manchester City, even though they may win in the end, will run away with anything. This season will be quite close I think.

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As long we we’ve got Alisson in goal, having inexperienced CB’s is mitigated. Still have the intact ability to score lots of goals, even better than last year now with Jota. Everyone will have injuries this year. Leicester have been very dinged up since the spring. They top the table. Going to be a weird struggle for all teams this year. We’re in great shape in the league and have one of the best managers for knock-out tournament football.

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I’m generally far too stoned to realise how big of a problem we’re in,plenty of teams would be fucked losing just one player and i’m hoping it does,fingers crossed.

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Can we get Carol and Caroline drafted in for cover. Uff! The injuries seem to be never ending.

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So, in an international break literally nobody gives a fuck about we’ve lost Gomez and Salah for certain and possibly Robertson and Henderson. And there’s more games to come. Just fuck off.

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I really don’t want to sound like a right tit (well, that’d be a first) and make it sound like I’m wishing injury or illness to them but their injury lists, aside from Leicester’s, are negligible compared to Liverpool’s. I genuinely think it has something to do with Klopp’s and Guardiola’s playing styles - but mostly because this season is an aberration, no real time for physical and mental preparation, fixture list is congested, additional subs are not allowed in PL, so their basic principles are essentially thrown out the window.

I don’t expect it, quite the opposite. I’m mainly downbeat because of these injured lads suffering physically and mentally (I’ll take a seven goal loss over a player doing his ACL any day) and because I really, really want Klopp to win some more trophies with Liverpool because I think he deserves them. Retaining the title with Liverpool would be his biggest career achievement, in my opinion, and club looked well placed to do two months ago. I can imagine English media taking their turn to kick him if he doesn’t win the title again.

For years?! I’ve been like this forever! Honestly, I wanted last season’s title for everyone connected to Liverpool, mainly fans, but I want this one for Klopp and his lads. I just can’t come to terms with these injuries, it’s like someone placed a curse on them after that long awaited title. There hasn’t been a squad in football history that could have successfully negotiated this amount of them, both in terms of numbers and the quality of players who have been hit.

This is what I’m hoping for, I guess, and I might be able to live with Van Dijk and Gomez being out for the season but having Henderson, Alexander-Arnold and Robertson injured at the same time scares the life out of me as a fan. I really don’t think Klopp deserved this, no matter how good a manager he is, there’s no way he can cope with more than half of his starting XI being injured or ill. This is not Bayern, PSG or Juventus who walk their respective leagues year after year after all…

That said, I hope Fabinho and Alcantara will be fully fit soon, I think Oxlade-Chamberlain also posted a picture of himself on social media while in training, hopefully Tsimikas will be back to full fitness soon as well, having played for Greece.

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Are Robbo and Hendo really injured?

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I’m still not sure where I sit in that new centre back debate, I’m convinced that last summer it essentially boiled down to “Wijnaldum or a new centre back”. In hindsight, whichever Klopp picked would have resulted in him having squad issues because of injuries. I’m just a bit puzzled as to why they kept their faith in Matip after years of him being prone to injuries. Then again, I also advocated for him getting a new contract, so it just shows how conflicted I am. :joy:

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My attitude is ‘what will be will be’. There is no point stressing about something completely out of our hands. I expect us to be up there competing for the title. I’ve no plans to kick off if not.

The last injury crisis like this I can remember was in Rafa’s last season, when we had something like 13 first team players out.

This one is definitely not of our making. Several elite managers, and Solskjaer, have been complaining about the effect of a diminished pre-season and a condensed league programme, and the madness of international friendlies. It’s not like the authorities haven’t been warned.

It isn’t a fair situation, but I promise you this. From December, when the rest of the league falls into a regular two games a week pattern, it’s going to be carnage. A lot of teams with smaller squad who are less used to the intensity of going twice a week are going to be playing the under 18s by the end of the season. I wonder if any of their fans will enjoy the ‘banter’ then?

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:rofl: haha

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Its reported both have tight hamstrings.

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Is he? That would be great news for us!

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Well… that went well for us eh? Our current squad is much better, but still… (gulps in anguish… :cold_sweat:)

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Whoever made this, has too much times on their hands. :see_no_evil: :hear_no_evil: :speak_no_evil: :smiley:

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