Man City can create from multiple positions. If we stay stuck with creativity purely coming from the fullbacks then teams can zone in on it. I understand this.
Will be interesting to see what kind of midfielders we replace ox and Keita with.
Also I don’t think Neco was good enough for us defensively and is a bit on the smaller side so we had to sell him given he wanted more football
I’m guessing from the phrasing it’s a current player where you’d expect those numbers to be better or it’s someone people talk about wanting or being linked with.
On that basis alone I’d guess Thiago or Nunes. Maybe Tielemans…
I think Firmino is worth a shot in the middle before we start hurting other areas of the team.
Well done!
Agreed, what’s happened to his engine though? Is it the deliberate lack of conditioning that the whole team seems to be fighting through or a more long term steady decline?
Re Firmino, I breezed through this article, but this stood out for me:
Firmino actually managed to complete 44 of his 52 passes at Old Trafford, despite accepting a whole host of receptions under pressure with his back to goal, and connecting with all 10 of his teammates in different areas of the field. His performance was as subtle and positive as ever, it was the team’s execution of the plan that was the issue.
He was my MotM thought he as one of the few did a good job.
Yeah he might be really useful with say Salah ahead and Carvalho out wide or flipped.
That speaks to how weird our spacing was the the players who had the most touches in the middle third were a CB, a striker and a FB, with the CMs no where to be seen.
This is nonsense. Completing non-threatening passes 60 yards away from the opposition goal does not make a good performance. There are no special subtle details that we’re missing here
The one time he was in a positon to make a telling through ball he tried some weird scoop pass instead of just giving it to feet.
He needed to offer an outlet, and didn’t.
The more I think about it, the more I think Klopp is the stubborn one. There is no arguement you can make that would explain if Klopp had wanted Nunes we wouldn’t have signed him. Similar several midfielders which have been linked and then subsequently gone elsewhere.
It’s a very fine double edged sword Klopp’s management style, ultra loyalty… Did he bank a season too far on some of his older players?
That’s the edge though, without that loyalty, he doesn’t get players to run through walls for him every day, we wouldn’t have achieved what we did… The problem seems to be the walls haven’t gone… And the players are tired…
Up to now we mostly got good money from selling players, we done have much left to sell so we give the older players new contracts to fill the squad. Klopp could do with a big transfer budget and bring in at least two new midfielders. 
Wise words coming back to bite us in the arse.
Can we agree that Klopp has a brilliant footballing mind which is far better than any of ours? Almost a quad as proof? If so, he sees a massive problem in midfield because there is one. I’m always of the opinion that what goes on behind closed doors at a club is far more complex than anybody outside the business would understand. The whole management of players and injuries, family problems, illness, general life is hard enough to organise in a small business, let alone one of the biggest football clubs in the world.
I think it’s far more likely that either there’s a very good squad reason why we can’t (or shouldn’t) have another mid or FSG have said not till we clear out some of the doorstops. The statement that if Klopp wants a player we’ll sign him is only valid if you can prove it.
Klopp was behind giving Henderson and Milner contract renewals, he was also behind bringing in Thiago (which was against FSG’s policy)… Whilst Thiago is a worldclass midfielder, he is injury prone, in hindsight would we have done better with a lesser but younger more robust player? We will never know.
Yes, but we can also question him as despite the success he’s brought us. He is only human, he will have faults, he will make mistakes.
Look at the game v’s Utd, say what you want about all our problems we were tactically set up wrongly, and even worse we took forever to try and rectify it. That’s on Klopp and the coaches.
Another example is the center back crisis year, only when did he swallow his pride, drop the team deeper (to stop our makeshift center backs being horribly exposed) did we go on a winning run and get top 4… The original stubborness of sticking to his principles caused us problems.
I think this is where this forum gets a bit silly, you simply can’t have a middle ground opinion, which mine is overall Klopp is an absolute worldclass manager and the biggest key to our recent successes, but he can also from time to time make mistakes, but I 110% trust him to put it right quickly. Doesn’t mean we can’t discuss it though in a balanced way, nor does it mean I’m criticising him.
Now I’d be questioning a bit more why we aren’t having a look at this guy…
I’d guess it’s as per joyce’s information Klopp wants an 8 who can play as 6…
The big question is if he let Milner go was he getting money for a replacement or do FSG expect him to continue performing miracles
This line of questioning is a bit bizzare.
Do you think it’s down to FSG we’ve basically had our midfield gutted with injuries?
Do you think it’s down to Klopp we probably had zero offers for Keita/Oxlade so couldn’t make “space” in the squad?
I highly doubt either FSG nor Klopp expected Milner to be starting 2 out of our 3 games when they gave him a new contract… You also miss the most important bit which is FSG went against their transfer policy to bring in Thiago for Klopp, but I guess that’s their fault also?