Also plausible. It turned out to not be so good in the end, but at that point, it wasn’t a bad decision.
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they say hindsight is 20/20 and all that.
here’s to hoping that Jones figures his shit out and “turns it on” this season. because with Ox and Keita being dead weight we’re going to need ALL the bodies available to right this ship.
There’s a lot of truth to the notion that it’s better to say goodbye to players a year early rather than a year late. The best managers with the longest track records of success learned that lesson well. Klopp seemingly learned the same with guys like Gini. But the reality is that the kind of squad revamp that this club is currently undergoing does not happen in a single transfer window. It takes a couple years of difficult decisions, and in the interim, you risk relying on players with diminishing returns as they age and continue to tax their bodies.
The club is in the midst of that transition.
Gone are Gini and Sadio.
Ox, Keita, Firmino, and Milly are likely leaving.
Konate, Ramsay, and Tsimikas are purchased to provide quality depth behind players with a lot of miles on them (especially Virg and Robbo).
The next couple windows will likely see a new first choice midfield and another forward brought in. That, coupled with the development of younger talent like Elliott, Carvalho, Nunez, and possibly Gordon or Jones, and you could be seeing a much different starting XI in 2023-24 and beyond.
It takes time, though. The club knows this. They’ve been planning for it. But it won’t be easy.
Time to go 3 at the back
Please, no, No and NO.
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I like how Klopp is blooding in Elliott, but cannot be on the pitch at the same time as Milner. It’s not an effective setup
I’m hoping that Thiago has a run of games until Christmas where he can perform like he did yesterday because that is EXACTLY what we need in that part of the pitch.
Henderson isn’t as good, but he’s competent still. I simply don’t even count Keita anymore, or Ox. they’re just a dip in the payroll to me now. Need Jones to spend some time learning that left side from Thiago before he moves on.
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For next season I’m hoping that Firmino will be ‚replaced’ by Carvalho (false #9) and Elliott (to play in attack but not as a #9)
For our midfield this would mean
Fabinho, Henderson, Thiago, Jones +
buy Bellingham
buy Arthur Melo or another midfielder
bring in another midfielder on a free transfer
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Both Jota and Nunez are suited to CF. Both I would say are also poorly suited to the wing (Jota less so). I’m not sure their purchases make sense if we play Fabio as a false 9, unless it’s something we’ll play only occasionally?
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I know.
My post was more about moving Fabio and Harvey to attack - both more or less versatile there - so that we can add external quantity and quality to our midfield.
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This is definitely the case, teams are pressing us at the beginning of games and causing us to concede as without Thiago most of our other midfielders aren’t press resistant and that is why atm I don’t think Fab is our ideal 6. Reason being is that he can be pressured too easily and is not trusted to dictate play and be our metronome form the 6 position and you can see that our defenders don’t trust given him the ball when we are pressed.
Teams are tiring and we do take control after 20 - 30 mins, however they have normally got a goal or 2 advantage and then sit deep hoping to hold on. We need to become press resistant to get backmto where we were and we don’t currently have the tools ‘available’ partly due to injuries.
I was looking forward to this season thinking that with 5 subs and strength in depth in midfield that we would be able press teams and keep them under pressure for most of the game by bringing onfresh legs on in midfield.
However, our injury curse has killed this and the guys currently playing in midfield are being flogged and aren’t playing well enough. With the way we play our midfield needs rotation to keep the legs refreshed.
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I think we may have seen Hendo and Fabinho swap a fair bit without injuries.
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Well, any of the names floated around in the last days of the summer transfer market could have done a better job than Milner.
As for Ox, at worst, the club could have terminated his contract.
I definitely don’t want to become that club. The injury is not his fault.
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Please go and offer your non support to another club!!!
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He was mostly not injured last year. Yet, regarding his performance last year, I would say that he had failed his KPIs (if there are any).
I just want to say that the way the club and especially the squad is run should be more…professionalized.
Isn’t honouring contracts professionalism?
Well, he should and will get fair compensation, which will not amount that much as he only has 1 year left in his contract.
What about pay up the remainder of his contract? Then it’s settled, he can move on, and we can get him off our books
A summary of the state of the midfield:
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Thiago: nothing to complain about except for his age combined with his injury problems. He is 31 now, which means that injury recovery will be harder and longer.
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Henderson: his form seems to decline compared to last year. He is also injured more frequently, and with his age injury recovery will be harder and longer.
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Fabinho: still very good, but without mobile and strong No.8 midfielders in front of him, his lack of pace is increasingly exposed.
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Elliott: very good offensively, good vision, but his defensive ability is dubious. Also, too young to play 40 matches.
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Milner: too old and slow, clearly on his last legs.
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Jones: average or above average. Pretty good ball control and high pass completion rate, good shooting skills that cannot be exploited under Klopp midfield setup. Howevee, his passing creativity and football intelligence are weak. Defensively still better than Elliott. His future will be a £50k-per-week substitute squad player.
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Arthur: too soon to judge.
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Ox & Keita: enough said.
There is a total lack of reliable midfielders in the 21-27 age range.