Carvalho seems more of a straight Bobby replacement to me.
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Do you not remember him being subbed at halftime against Atletico?
He generally seems to do well against lower league opposition or teams we should beat anyway (like a vulnerable Man U last year when we were in form). But thatās after heās worked himself back to sharpness, which takes time.
Iāve wanted him to do well so much. I really thought we had a player in our hands. Yet the moment he is about to fulfil that promise he gets injured. And again and again. And there is a long way back to recovery and playing back into form.
So, sadly Iāll have to say that on the balance heās been a failure with us, especially given his price tag and the expectation of what he was supposed to be.
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I seem to remember JĆ¼rgen saying it was a tactical decision?
I donāt deny that his injuries have wrecked his career with us thus far. But the bile and vitriol going at him is as though he deliberately injures himself.
And to make up for the upset whenever heās not available, some seem to have decided that he was never good to begin with, and is pretty much a middling player, just to console themselves that weāre not missing out much from his injury.
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It doesnāt, per se. However, it ignores the contributions he has on the pitch, as well as the underlying statistical metrics that usually show him as our best midfielder when he plays.
Thatās of course unfair. But we are in the results business. Itās no good saying āoh if we had all our 1st choice players fit and firing weād have won that titleā
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KDB has his share of injuries. But even when he is out or rested, City can win against majority of their opposition.
Are we at a state now that not having Thiago means our entire game plan falls apart?
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Which is why Iām glad we have the management team that we do. They seem to have their heads screwed on and do not let bullshit narratives affect their thinking, unlike a lot of people on here.
Look at the narrative surrounding Oxlade-Chamberlain. Easily one of our best players for his first two seasons, and still contributing pretty well in his third, but once his body started breaking down (and Iām frankly unsure if he can ever recover to have a career left), everyoneās piling on him. Same goes for KeĆÆta. Iām just wondering how long before the fancy new toy in Thiago gets the same treatment, or whether itās different because heās the player who deigned to come to Liverpool at the peak of his career.
If we really take a long hard look at each of them, Oxlade-Chamberlain has the least odds of success, since he doesnāt seem to be able to just stay fit enough to play anymore. But unless weāre putting blinkers on, Thiago and KeĆÆta arenāt too far apart.
The ridiculous underrating of Jones, a player who helped us to 3rd in the league when he was just 19/20 years old, and Elliott, who started all our games until he got injured last season, is another bugbear of mine.
No, but we also have an injury list almost as bad as 2020-21.
Thereās a reason why JĆ¼rgen keeps talking about a witch, itās just impossibly bad.
Which is also why Iām saying we should temper our expectations this season. Iād be happy with a top 4
It doesnāt ignore anything. I said heās had a handful of good games. Thatās what Iāve seen with my eyes from watching. The rest of the time heās been pretty average.
The only metric that matters is with him is how often heās available which isnāt nearly enough to be someone who can be relied upon to even give us a reasonably consistent output, let alone be our best at anything more often than on the odd fleeting occasion.
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Ah the classic, āIāve seen it with my own eyesā test.
Naby injured again, calls for Milner to never start another game for us.
Is the penny finally dropping as to why some posters have been suggesting the need for a new midfielder?
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Now itās way beyond āif the perfect player for our purpose isnāt available we will waitā
We canāt because additional stress on the few standing mids will lead to further injuries
Apparently Hendo and Fab played with knocks yesterday
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It is at this time that Kloppās medical, sports science team and the coaching team that needs to be examined! Is coaching teamās pre-season training sessions too intensive? Was there any instances that the medical and sports science team flag out that the training sessions are too intensive but the coaching team didnāt give a flying fuck?
Funnily enough my opinion of his performances have indeed come from my experience of watching him play football for us. I didnāt realise that was somehow a bad thing.
I take it from your mocking tone that I shouldnāt waste my time with that nonsense of actually watching games and should follow your lead of simply insisting my opinion is unquestionable fact.
It really should always be the first target.
Iām worried we canāt right it til we are playing major catchup, it sort of helps that others have had issues like Chelsea and to be fair Man Utd who arenāt that far ahead.
There is still the CL but that is also going be an issue sooner and more demanding than usual, hopefully the group isnāt the worse.
Ugh, what a mess. I know JK said bad luck but this looks a bit systemic. Plus the general lack of sharpness.
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If the cheque book donāt come out i think we are doomed, i say doomed.
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That or start sacrificing the kids. Bajetic plus who was the German lad who looked the business in preseason?
Yeah that pre season I thought was good but in hindsight going over to Asia and playing those teams there was a mistake.
Next season if we head to America or there lets play MLS or A League or J League sides.
We have to buy and if the club doesnāt have options for CM then they need sacking, I donāt think we are that unprofessional mind. Maybe itās good itās happened a week before the window closes than a week after.
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