I do agree that our recruitment has become become poor though. Gakpo isn’t very good and not what we needed, Mount is hardly a pressing need either. Carvalho was a pointless signing. Elliot shouldn’t be playing so much. The less said about Kabak, Davies and Melo the better.
Many things have gone wrong.
I mean moving away from our tried and trusted transfer strategy. Thiago was pushing past his peak years and had a poor injury record. Certainly seemed a Klopp led signing v’s a normal FSG data driven one.
Since that point bar a few singings I can’t see any sort of joined up transfer strategy.
Shaqiri and Minamino fit that profile too, Thiago wasn’t the first.
Thiago was extemely good last year and our best midfielder by a mile, a key reason we were so good. He did not cost so much it made it impossible for the club to improve other areas.
He’s been our best midfielder this year apart from injuries, it just hasn’t worked because apart from young Stefan, the other midfielders been way below par
My take is we are caught between two stalls, in addition to allowing the midfield to get old together.
At our peak we knew what we were, and we went about our business in a certain way, and generally squashed all before us.
When we signed Thiago it looked like we were trying to evolve, as teams were starting to sit deeper and it was getting tougher to break them down.
I don’t think we fully developed the game that the likes of Thiago can bring, as we needed other additions (put me down for a free Gavi this summer, as we pick Barcelona’s pocket for him).
So the style of the midfield was betwixt and between; not what it was, and then not fully what it was supposed to become either.
I dare say injuries and age hampered all that too, and generally the midfield department has been mismanaged, so there’s lots of valid criticism to be offered all round, if we want to go there.
My hope is this summer we overhaul the engine room, with a clear plan about how we want them to play, and who will be suited to deliver it. Recruit them, and let them smash it. Along with the best of what remains, too.
We have some smashing young players to come through. We’ve seen good promising signs, but they just aren’t ready to carry it yet. Which is fine at this stage. And we may retain one or two older heads - we shouldn’t keep all of them - but the ones we retain can still offer something, but again, they won’t be placed to carry it at this stage of their careers.
Yeah, I think we should be sble to stray from our tried and trusted method every now and then when there’s a chance to sign a player like Thiago. It’s a no brainer really. Especially looking at what he cost.
[quote=“Draexnael, post:1809, topic:1810”]
I mean moving away from our tried and trusted transfer strategy. Thiago was pushing past his peak years and had a poor injury record. Certainly seemed a Klopp led signing v’s a normal FSG data driven one.
Nice save 
If others have been overly positive, you are being overly negative. Let’s wait and see Gakpo and Carvalho in a somewhat functioning team before declaring them as poor signings. Similarly, Mount may not be a pressing need but he might be part of a plan. Let’s see who else we bring in next to him, if we do end up buying him in the first place.
A lot of things have indeed gone wrong but with the right moves everything can change for the better.
Out of all the cups, 8th(?) in the league?
Overly negative indeed, it hasn’t been too bad.
Yeah this has been one of the worst seasons in living memory. Even Roy’s season had a silver lining cos we got rid which cheered me up.
When? I probably felt it would be OK early in the season, but I’ve not felt it’s all fine for some time now.
Isn’t Jude going to get jealous?
isn’t that Trent’s job? 
I’d give Gakpo, Carvalho and Elliott time given that they are still very young but, even though I like what I’ve seen from Gakpo, getting both him and Nunez, while Jota is still around, seems pretty strange - unless Nunez suddenly becomes the next Mane. I actually like Mount, he was ace for Chelsea for a while but where does that leave Jones and Carvalho?
Bloody hell, this club… Always from one extreme to the other - we could hardly get higher but we’re coming straight down at high speed and I’m not sure if we’ve hit the ground just yet.
I think Nunez will eventually play up front in the middle… If he plays there now with Salah in the side it takes away Salah’s option of cutting inside from the right and having his customary in-swinging shot to the top corner. At the moment with the players being assembled, I feel it is a case of we can add up the parts but we don’t have the sum. Evolution is slowly happening, but with the unexpected dire performances this season (for whatever reasons they may be), having the players already on the books is a good starting point for some final master plan to be unfurled.
On what do certain signings mean for our young players + Jones. It’s just business as a top club. Some of them will still remain, some will be loaned out because there’s not enough place for all if we bring a few midfielders. Other than that, it’s like for all players. Fight and earn game time.
I don’t think us potentially switcing to a double-pivot structure means the end for Fabinho. He can play in both structures. It will be more about what do we want to do, what does he want to do and if there’s enough interest from the market. Regardless of the formation.
On the attack, yeah, we have no clue what’s our best front 3, let’s say, to start next season. Right now, it’s basically Salah and 4 players competing for the other 2 positions. That will have to evolve one way or another over the next weeks and especially months.
Doubt Klopp will move away from the 4-3-3 but didn’t he try a 4-2-2-2 / 4-2-4 when Diaz came in and we had many attackers available.
Think those hybrid positions would be perfect for Harvey and Curtis, we could get Salah closer to goal and we wouldn’t be too reliant if 4 or even 5 players from midfield/attack are injured.
End of day Klopp will say the formation is not the most important thing anyway.
We did it a few times, but I felt more out of necessity due to players available at the time + the opponent. Either with a combining player with a proper striker or Salah and Nunez in a hybrid structure. Which I don’t think will be our go to stuff.
In the second team I don’t think it would look like that. With those 11, it would probably still be a 4-3-3. Don’t see Diaz playing a zone higher than Salah. Or potentially playing Mount in the inside right channel, allowing Salah to play up top with someone and then Diaz playing a zone deeper than Salah. Which Mane did and basically anyone (apart from bloody Origi) who was used on the left side of attack. We often had the structure when it was basically 4-3-3, but could be understood as 4-4-2 in terms of dynamics.
If Mount comes in, it will be interesting to see if they view him more as the RCM or LCM. Because he’d be the most offensive guy from that midfield, a bit Coutinhoesque.
There are pros and cons for each side. He’s a totally different player to both Henderson and Thiago. The fact that he can run a lot doesn’t make him a Henderson and the fact that he’s creative doesn’t make him a Thiago. Just different skills.
At RCM, you can make a case that we need a player who when we’re on the ball in the offensive phase, tries to create an overload on Salah’s side. So Salah can be the best version of himself (whether we can accomodate Nunez in a structure like that centrally, remains to be seen). But it’s also clear that with Salah and Trent on that side, we need someone who can protect defensively in between. This is where Klopp has toyed with different players more than at LCM. From Lallana to Chamberlain, Hendo, Thiago, Keita, Elliott. Very mixed success with the rest apart from that one season from Lallana and Hendo.
At LCM, Mount at least at this stage of his career, does not do what Thiago does (nor what Gini did). He’d be playing more offensive, more higher. Probably like Coutinho was used, when Klopp pulled him into high midfield (which was about half the time across the whole of 16/17 and final 6 months of 2017, not more). Then, the RCM would have to be more prudent, which then doesn’t help Salah. But then we might see some adjustments with Trent, if he sorts himself out.
Is there a possibility that Mount makes us change the structure and he plays the single #10/second striker? There is of course. But that might be only when Salah is gone, perhaps in 2024 or 2025 (I’m not gonna imagine this summer as long as there are no proper links that indicate we’d move him on now).
Wouldn’t Jude be the RCM? Good at everything and a beast in the offensive and defensive phase.
First, it depends if we even get him!
But with Jude, who is more of a proper midfielder than Mount, I don’t think he’s “tied” to one side. Could see him being able to play both, RCM and LCM. Which he has already for Dortmund I think.