Don’t even include Trent with the *
I think we are fine though provided we get 1 or 2 more (including Lavia) DMs. We know that Thiago is going , get the second one in now so that we focus on the backline reinforcement the next season
Like the look of Clark getting some first team minutes in preseason. I think he’s quite okay to be a right sided #8 in league Cup games. And unless Elliot has bulked up a bit , has more strength and is hard to bully off of the ball.
I Disagree. Respectfully!
I think we will be fine with the above group I listed, and don’t need one or two more for this season, in addition to Lavia, assuming we sign him or equivalent.
Obviously I won’t complain if we do sign one or two more midfielders, but at that point it will look like stockpiling to me, as we would have too many options and that will hinder emerging players from getting minutes and growing in importance for us with that.
I listed seven midfielders, plus Trent. If you add one or two more, that is 8-9 midfielders, plus Trent. It is too many! Especially if, like last season, we aren’t carrying as many veterans or sicknotes.
Trent is a right back. His inverted role means he will step into the midfield a lot, and be a playmaker for us. I look forward to seeing him build on his role from last year with better players.
I’m going on the assumption we play a box midfield, similar to what we saw last season towards the end, and the starting position of 433 became 3223 in possession, the press was back, and we looked miles better. Hence the asterisk for Trent.
I think we will continue with that, only now with better players, hungrier, and more athletic too.
If we end up with 8-9 midfielders, plus Trent, it is too much.
Edit
Just reread, and you were saying 1-2 more including Lavia. So we aren’t so far apart!
Not too far apart. I just want the Thiago replacement as a good to have plus the (fab+hendo) replacement signed in this window.
Unlike other clubs, we don’t have the liberty to make friviolous purchases like Spurs with Sanchez or arsenal with Pepe. We can look at people not delivering instantly but we can’t afford for them to be damp squibs. None of our transfers are (even if you include Keita and Ox)
Trindade is a baller. I would be stoked if we got him.
I think we’ve got to be looking at two more this summer.
We’d obviously planned on going into the season with Henderson and Fabinho and were possibly even looking at adding another too if the right deal could be done.
With those guys now gone and Thiago and Bajcetic not involved properly with pre-season due to fitness issues then we’re relying on quite a small group early on. I also think it’s vital we manage the minutes of Thiago, Bajcetic and to some degree Elliott too. I think he’s been overplayed at times and still be starting games when it looked like he needed a break.
And if Lavia is one of those coming in that’s another very young player you don’t want to be running into the ground and causing him fitness issues.
Szoboszlai, Jones, Mac Allister as your main three.
Thiago as a luxury when fit and for the right type of games.
Elliott, Lavia as young players who’ll get plenty of game time but also not be overplayed.
Bajcetic as an option but really carefully managed with a view to him being more involved next season.
Think that leaves room for one more who’d be part of that first group or the Lavia/Elliott group who are your go to options most of the time. It’s possibly one more than is necessary but if we can bed them in this season and then let Thiago go next season without the need to replace him then I think that’s the ideal outcome.
Happened very quickly hasn’t it? Last season we were all over needing a midfield rework. It’s probably happening a full 12 months ahead of what was originally planned by Klopp and co.
While it feels very fresh I’ll be honest it also comes with some apprehension.
Don’t you think two more midfielders will be an overkill? True, we can’t expect too many mins from Thiago, Elliott, Bajcetic, and Lavia this season. But even then, they can combine for 7000 mins which is the contributions from two senior/regular players. What happens in the future (in two years time)!!! We will end up with eight senior midfielders vying for regular mins.
Not really. We bought Szobo and Mac long before talk of Fabinho or Henderson leaving came up and I can’t imagine either was pencilled in to be going this summer given those that had already moved on.
There was talk of possibly adding another midfielder when Fabinho and Henderson were still here. Loosing both of them and then only buying one more would be an odd decision in my eyes.
I’d be preparing for Thiago going next summer now. If that means we see a bit less of Bajcetic and Elliott for a season and Lavia (if he comes) being eased into the side rather than dropped in the deep end then im okay with that. There’ll still be plenty of game time to go round but we won’t be running young players into the ground. I think there’s also still the possibility of Thiago hopping aboard the money train to Saudi Arabia this summer.
In a years time we’d have 7 (not 8) vying for 3 spots without having to add to the group. It’d be a healthy balance of established options, emerging talent to challenge them and young options coming through. Depth, competition and not a walking injury magnet in sight.
The early summer tweets from Joyce and co I think implied that we wanted to bring in an additional midfielder with Mac and a defender, and then would still be open to a further midfield signing if the right deal was there.
We obviously don’t know the conversations being had at that time or how they expected to fund the deals, but with Hendo and Fabinho now having left it could mean we are more inclined to bring in two more midfielders if the money is there.
The most recent tweets by Melissa Reddy say we are looking at 2 more.
https://twitter.com/MelissaReddy_/status/1686630397948428289?s=20
Klopp’s words yesterday were sort of exactly what I felt while looking at options on transfermarkt. Couldn’t think of many “proven” names that would be realistic for us at this point this summer. So in a lack of such options, we’re obviously going for some high potential. Some players of similar age going up against each other. It’s simple, may the best win and play the most. I don’t care who it is. It doesn’t stop here of course (changes in midfield), but you hope in the short term that we can win a trophy and achieve CL football, that should be something like ‘normal’ expectaction for us. Going game by game, we will attack every game and see if we can do better than that.
“progressive destroyer”
Did she made that up … 
a “progressive destroyer”
basically, she’s saying we want to sign a monster who can go on a rampage.
But is also supportive of LGBT rights
are you implying King Kong was not an ally?
In fairness he destroyed Manhatten as a statement against capitalism so hes definitely a comrade
Of all the major players, we started this transfer window with the most ground to make up, squad strength-wise. We’ve less than two weeks until the big kick off. We’re still arguably weaker than the rest. Okay, we’re only in the mickey mouse European league, but we have to get back into the CL places.
Someone at the club needs a royal kick up the backside.
But Suarez has retired.
We are not.
Despite all the problems with fitness and availability last season our squad was still good enough to finish top four, particularly after Gakpo joined. I think we are in better shape than Newcastle, Utd and probably Arsenal.
I would also argue the loss early in the season of Jota and Diaz was probably a bigger blow than our midfield issues which were aggravated by tactical changes which didn’t work out either.