and the crowd goes wild
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Sometimes we do tend to get seemingly sentimental about players.
Look at Div. The time to move him on was summer 2019. He had his big moments in that season, contributed three goals in the latter stages of the CL run. We could have probably got Ā£25m for him, but instead he got a new contract and has barely played since.
The same could happen with Nat. There is interest in him from Premier league clubs and the opportunity to bring in around Ā£8m to add to the kitty. If we end up giving him another year, he probably wonāt play and that interest from decent clubs is going to move on to other targets. That isnāt the best thing for the club or for Nat himself, who off the back of last season, has the opportunity to carve out a career at the top level and set himself up for life.
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It might be beside the point but wasnāt his contract close to expiring then? I hazily remember comparing his situation to Ćanās and how a lot of folks on TIA, myself included, hoped he and Matip would extend so that club would be able to make a profit on them.
As for Phillips, he did his bit here and should be proud of it. If he wants to remain the fifth choice, thereās a future for him at Liverpool. If not, then the best time to sell him is now. I think that they will sell him if they are able to get 10+ millions for him, which seems far-fetched at the moment, though.
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If Klopp wants to keep him and Nat wants to stay, then I donāt have any problem with that.
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I have never known such a repetitive thread ā¦lots of people with too much time on their hands. 
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Friendsā¦ Lets get the thread to 2000 posts 
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Shit, I missed the 1000th post. Iāll be back for the 2000th. In about two weeks time.
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Fair weather fan!
Check back again in 2 days maybe.
Going to overtake the ARD thread soon! 
That long?
Ok letās kick this offā¦
So guys, do we think Nat Phillips is good enough to be in the squad next season?
Really interested to hear peopleās opinion, funny how little we talk about him.
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If he can beat up Burnley players heās good enough imo
If Nat reads this he will never go anywhere,1k + arguing the toss about him.
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Maybe.
/thread
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I think we as fans do get overly sentimental, but Iām not sure the management team itself does. For your Origi example, I think the decision was made on the back of (a) the expiring contract, and (b) what they saw in training regarding his ability and progress (despite what many people claim on here). Furthermore, it did pay off last season where despite playing most of his gametime off the bench, he did have a goal involvement per 90 minutes nearly on par with Salah. This season has been a disaster for him, but he added something to our team in the immediate aftermath of his contract extension. Everyone is expecting a world-beater, but for last season, he was just about good enough.
The same value calculation will, I suspect, play an important role here in whether Phillips stays or not. If he stays, he is likely to be no better than 5th or 6th choice as many have pointed out. At this point, he will be taking up valuable registration space that perhaps may be given to someone else who better fits our needs. However, he is also likely to be on relatively low wages, so it is a rather cheap option for at least half a season, until we can get the starters back into shape.
I do think he is a relatively decent player as a 5th or 6th choice, although there is definitely too much over-romanticisation of what heās done. Arguably the biggest difference for our season over the run-in is that our midfield starting performing better (especially as Thiago got better adapted to the team), and our forward line finding the back of the net again. He is probably in that bracket of players who arenāt indispensable, and for whom we will definitely listen to offers for, but will keep as a squad player depending on the offers we get, similarly to the likes of Origi and Shaqiri, except they may well have better chances of getting a starting position than he does.
Either way, not too fussed about whether he leaves or stays. He did his part in a really hard season, but he may not necessarily be part of our plans for progress.
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In a normal situation, no.
Maybe he stays as 5th choice until January or something, if we judge that itās needed, looking at our injured players coming back in next weeks and the first signs of Konateā¦
Thatās maybe a decision that hasnāt been taken yet by Klopp and the rest. They donāt have to do it yet. Weāll see.
I still believe the best for all would be that he finds himself a settled place somewhere, plays football and we get a decent little fee for that.
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So guys, do we think Nat Phillips is good enough to be in the squad next season?
Another way to look at the Nat situation is to try and second guess Jurgen, and anticipate how he can use him for purely game management reasonsā¦
Holding onto a 1-0 lead with 10mins to play, when the Burnleyās of this world decide to abandon their 11 man defence and start to bombard our penalty area with high crosses for the remainder of the gameā¦
Who better to have coiled up on the bench raring to go than a wide-eyed Nat Phillips who hasnāt shaved, brushed his hair, or most importantly, has not been fed any crosses in training for an entire weekā¦
Let the lad off the leash with Jurgen whispering in his earā¦
āDo Not Fail Me - They Shall Not Breach Our Backlineā
Our very own Super-sub for obviously differing reasons to the norm :0)
Psā¦ Only 922 more posts to goā¦!
Maybe if we try asking the same question with different emphasis things will be clearer?
Is Nat good enough to be in the squad?
Is Nat good enough to be in the squad?
Is Nat good enough to be in the squad?
Is Nat good enough to be in the squad?
Is Nat good enough to be in the squad?
Is Nat good enough to be in the squad?
Is Nat good enough to be in the squad?
Is Nat good enough to be in the squad?
Is Nat good enough to be in the squad?
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The answer is yes. But that doesnāt mean he will be.
Yes.
No.
No.
Maybe.
Yes.
Yes.
Perhaps.
No.
No.
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