I’m talking specifically about the MF.
Tchoumeni was our main target. We did not get him, and crucially, we chose to stay action.
That IS the difference…
Its a significant difference. You just have to look at the differing levels of MF rebuild that is going on in both clubs.
Real just added the last piece; we are having now to do a complete makeover.
As for playing the same MF, that’s besides the point. Players take time to bed in; we already know that. The key thing is that the transition is already advanced, with both Camavinga and Tchoumeni (to a lesser degree) well in already…
Pray which two midfielders did we bring in last summer?
And please, please do not mention Arthur…
Suppose it’s him and Carvalho.
Nobody is saying that; not me at the very least.
I’m just pointing out that in the summer of last year, on the specific issue of MF recruitment, we CHOSE to stay action after our main target fell through…
It’s precisely the point though, because unless we want to give them an Everton transfer window trophy, you cannot credit them for a transition that hasnt actually happened on the pitch.
There is an interesting conversation to be had, but lots of the arguments are just totally incongruent. Just as one example, Valverde is counted as part of their successful midfield transition that we have not done. Yet he’s been part of their first team for 5 years. He came in to the first team (promoted from their B team after a loan) the same window as we signed Fabs, Keita and Shaq, and has played a lot, maybe most, of his football for them as a forward.
How is he counted as part of a successful transition when players who are his temporal contemporaries are treated as players we need to transition from?
Oh, because it doesnt matter if the player doesnt work out, what matters is they did the work to bring them in? Well, why dont Naby and Shaq count then?
If success already acheived isnt important for Tchouameni and Camvinga, two players are yet to properly establish themselves, why can we not point to the potential of Jones, Elliott and Baj?
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He’d put Henderson up there, and so would I.
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The point has never been that the ‘transition is complete’. Not sure where you get that from.
My point is in how much better they have handled it vs LFC.
With the addition of Bellingham, the various pieces of the MF rebuild are now in place.
In our case we are having to add potentially 3 MFs…
Bellingham who they have only just signed? (not actually signed yet)
We’re more than likely to add at least one if not two midfielders after Mac Allister. If it’s two, our rebuild will be finished at the same time.
So still not sure of your point.
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The point is that they’ve had two season headstart on the MF rebuild…
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Hendo has been amazing but there’s no way he gets in that comparision.
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Not sure how in we were for the first guy, Touchemani we could never compete as he wanted to go there.
Bellingham is a case of just not having funds.
Not true. It’s our rigidness on
- not shipping off Ox,Keita even on subsidized loans
- wanting the “right target”
Should have acted sooner than going in for Arthur as a panic loan deal where we got rinsed.
All those and more contribute to ward no longer working with Liverpool. There has to be a plan A then a plan B or a C.
The problem with not having a B or a C is that you are likely to get fucked over when a club like real decides on the same targets
Your only real point seems to be that we should have bought a midfielder last year, which you will find very few people would disagree with. I myself was adamant once Ox got injured that we needed to bring someone in.
We had a bit of bad luck that Arthur got injured.
I still don’t think that’s reflective of us needing to learn anything from Real. We identified the same targets, were unable to get them so used those opportunities to rebuild the front line and are potentially one or two imminent midfield signings away from having a really exciting team.
Other than not moving for a midfielder last summer (althought we did try for Tchouameni) I don’t see that we’ve done much wrong. It seems like it Klopp’s call not to bring in a MF until too many injuries forced his hand.
Should we have had a plan B, maybe, but it seems Bellingham was still very much part of the plan A until a couple of months ago. Once that was clearly not an option, we’ve moved decisively to sign Mac Allister and have’reportedly’ agreed terms with other targets, which I think is exactly you’re complaining that club should be doing.
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Should HAVE done…
You learn every day bro. We have a top management team- one of the best in the business.
But they dropped the ball last season. Not sure why folks are being rather defensive about this…
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It’s no being defensive, it’s not understanding your point.
If you’d simply said, we should have signed a midfielder last summer then everyone would be agreeing
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I don’t think that there are that many available who would immediately and genuinely reinforce our way of playing. Also, the wave of injuries we had in the midfield positions and elsewhere couldn’t have been foreseen to be fair, not even by the most pessimistic ones.
Last season, we didn’t HAVE a way of playing. We were mostly reacting to the way the opposition played, which didn’t work a lot of the time. Whilst we had a strong midfield in previous years under Klopp, we dictated games and our forwards picked off the other team almost at will it seemed.
If you control midfield, you both protect your defence and service your attack. Last season we were overun in midfield too many times. That’s why reinforcing and re-energising our midfield is so important this summer.
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But its obviously more than just a failure to sign a MF last summer. That was the culmination…Its also about the timing of the transition and letting a few players stay on longer than they should…
…and Klopp took a calculated risk to stick with what he had. It didn’t pay off. This has been done to death.
I still don’t see how any of this supports your initial point. We knew what we had to do, tried to do it and it didn’t work. Rather than buy players we didn’t want, we’ve held off at the expense of one very disappointing season, to potentially end up with a really, really good midfield at really good prices, ready for the next one.
It’s been very clear that sticking with the old guard has been a direction that stems from Klopp. His loyalty is a blessing and a curse. But I wouldn’t change him.