Only 2+ days left, wh 
ere is the new midfielder Jurgen …
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Don’t think it’s happening. Feels like it was a move to buy time from the external pressures.
Jones is back in training so assuming he will be at least on the bench for the barcodes.
Newcastle will be without St. Maximin, Trippier, Guimares, Wilson. So basically their best 4 players. So that also makes it easier for us. On paper.
Yes we do need midfielders so Jürgen wasn’t “lying” but it can easily be interpreted as a mid to long term need as opposed to “this window”
Considering next summer we are likely to be losing Milner,Chamberlain and Kieta as well as having Thiago and Henderson age and injuries start to catch up with them i’m surprised we haven’t been more active in looking to replace at least one of those this summer.
Maybe we see Carvalho as a player who is going to fill one of those roles,perhaps Elliott for another spot with Bellingham in next summer to fill the final one.With the experience of Thiago,Fabinho and Henderson here to help them that wouldn’t be a bad idea,except both Hendo and Thiago are getting a good number of missed games through one injury or another and this is likely to increase.Where do we see Jones in this mix.Is he going to play more centrally or are we going to continue to see him left of middle.This leave a lot of players who generally play left midfield/forward.
Chamberlain,Kieta,Thiago and to a lesser extent Henderson going forward look like they could potentially miss too many games which puts more of a strain on the squad to play more games than anticipated and in positions we wouldn’t normally expect to see them in.We can of course still move those players around but that would leave us still weaker,particularly on the right,position we would have expected to see Kieta/Chamberlain occupy.
Diaz/Jota-------------------------Nunez/Firmino----------------------------Salah
. Jones/Carvalho--------------Fabinho-----------------Elliott
Robbo/Tsimikis------VVD/Gomez/Konate/Matip/Phillips------TAA/Ramsy
This year our net spend hasn’t been high even with a large sum being spent on Nunez.Next year we could be looking to spend even more on Bellingham with very little coming back in from selling players on,so why not replace 1 of that trio this summer even if it means they are still on the books till next year.
Is the wage bill our reason for not looking for another midfielder this season.Should that hold us back when we will still need to buy next season,or do we feel with who we have we only need 1 more midfielder to come in next season.
In terms of signals for the future, I thought was was really interesting was our set up against Bournemouth.
Fabinho and Hendo were almost a double pivot, Jordan was playing much deeper than he does as an eight. He still got forward, but he was noticeably deeper.
This left Elliot as a single eight, with Bobby dropping in to help him out.
The set up seemed much more akin to a 4213 than a 433. Or you could even argue it’s a 424.
In this case, I can see how that two could be split between Fab, Hendo, Bellingham, Jones and Bajcetic. Playing a single eight, with two midfielders behind opens up that role to much less defensively minded players like Carvalho (who excelled there on Sat) or Firmino. I think Keita would also do well there. Jones as well could be great.
I can see us using that 424 (we get hung up a bit on written formations in a way that I doubt Klopp does, but I just mean an extra attacker) in a lot of games this season.
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We buy a midfielder yet? 
Your namesake, remember?
Championship!
We could always recall Balagizi from his loan. Always thought he was a good prospect and was surprised he was loaned out to a league 2 club. I assume the thinking was that he would play every week and consequently get more experience of "mens " football.
Think @Sweeting made a mention of this, that we’re particular about which clubs we send our players out on loan to, so I presume there’s a good reason for that.
Yes, Crawley’s manager, Kevin Betsy, is Balagizi’s coach for the England national team. As we can see so far, for a guy taking his first steps into the professional game Balagizi has been given total trust by his manager and already is one of the best players in the division.
May not have happened that way if it was a coach that didn’t know him.
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Morton would be a better option to recall anyhow.
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fuck this shit!! u have a manager who has brought so much ROI to the club by utilising a limited squad and being outspent by rivals and they still wont fuckin back him…the shits!!
I don’t really think it’s about not backing him with regards to the midfield.
We have a lot of midfielders, it’s a bloated squad. Yeah, a lot of them are injury prone, but they are still paid a wage and they still get registered. And last year we did pretty well with that bunch, so we’re probably hoping to ‘get away’ with it again.
Ox and Milner (maybe) will be gone next year. Keita looks like he’ll be on his way. Space will open up for new players.
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19 games in 75 days. Only games out of those where we could use youth players would be the second last which is the League Cup against Derby County.
Same goes probably for most new signing who are available and could come in so late.
Will be tight but we should be able to make it until November.
I think because of the break during the world club we will be more open to make business in January.
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I guess you are right. We are gambling that over the season we don’t have to many injuries at one time and be able to field a decent midfield. They will say that the right midfieder was not available but that will probably because Klopp said we don’t need one until a week ago.
Don’t be surprised if this will bite us in the ass.
The 5 subs rule will help with the busy schedule.
It would be as much a gamble panic buying too.
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You don’t need to sign another central midfielder if you drop your starting requirements from 3 to 2…
Without calling it too early, it looks like this season might be similar the one prior to last in terms of injuries, and I don’t see it as a coincidence that we haven’t really had major injury problems in years prior to 2020 but now have it happening every second year. Players are older. This is what the future looks like if we keep this midfield.
Like you I see far too many midfielders on the books right now. I personally want to see at least 3 gone and 2 to come in who will fight for first team football. Its the area of the pitch we are desperate for a complete revamp in.
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