Like everyone else, I feel the only place we won’t cope with injuries is at CB. Squad looks great right now.
My big concern is that next summer could see even more outgoings than we are expecting. Why Chiesa now who all the experts say has been effective on the left but ineffective on the right since his injury? Is Diaz lined up to leave next summer??
I’m certainly not looking forward to next summer. So I’ll try to cherish any positives this season.
I tend to pay attention to which clubs are interested in our (young) players. I admit that I got carried away with Carvalho and Van Den Berg because the clubs like Leipzig and PSV had been interested in signing them. Now, it’s Leipzig and Leverkusen who are/were interested in Morton, so maybe the lad is a better player than I give him credit. I’d like to see how he’d compare with Endo in that deep-lying role but he hasn’t been anywhere near the match squad so far.
Same here. In his first few matches, he glided across the pitch, shimmied past players at will, used his body so intelligently to give himself every advantage over his markers. We’re seeing a more disciplined version of him but the technical ability and that early self-confidence seem to have returned. Bigger tests await, though.
Slot has made the argument in a couple of his interviews that there is little to nothing we need to do better, we just need to do it the way we’re capable of more often. That is a sentiment you could have convinced yourself was being said about Gravenberch specifically over the past 2-3 years. The only thing he is showing in these games that we haven’t seen from him before the is the consistency of his involvement - dominating a game instead of showing flashes of quality while otherwise letting the game pass him by. Regardless of whether that is something Slot has unlocked in him, him just figuring out a key part of growing up as a player, or even just the benefit of it being the first time since he was 19 he came into a preseason with a team having a clear idea of what they need from him, the impact has been immense
Actually the 4th…2004, 2007, 2013, & 2018.
The “first test” I guess (the second looks far worse)…
Sat 14th September — 15:00, Liverpool vs. Forest
Tue 17th September — 20:00, Milan vs. Liverpool
Sat 21st September — 15:00, Liverpool vs. Bournemouth
Wed 25th September — 20:00, Liverpool vs. West Ham (CC)
Sat 28th September — 17:30, Wolves vs. Liverpool
Wed 2nd October — 20:00, Liverpool vs. Bologna
Sat 5th October — 12:30, Palace vs. Liverpool
Thankfully we have a fully fit squad and hopefully a “quiet” international break.
Can we just call it the League Cup? Trying to figure out what “CC” was took way too long.
Crap Cup.
Better ask the club to remove it from the Wall Of Champions, seeing it has no value.
Wasn’t too crap when we won it with Klopp’s Kindergarten™
Celebrated Cup.
See, it works both ways round, one if we win it, one if we don’t 
I think this has worked out quite nicely for us. The Forest and Milan games need managing, but after that Tuesday, we’re into a fairly decent rhythm. Strong for the league game against Bournemouth, loads of changes for the League Cup, then strong for Wolves, changes for Bologna, strong team for Palace.
The schedule at the end of October to early November and end of November to early December are the hard parts.
Probably a consequence of a relatively easy start.
Regarding the contracts:
Salah - He’s 32, but is a machine. Can easily see him playing at a high level until he’s 35. I hope we give him a three year contract. He doesn’t have to start every game, especially if Chiesa works out as we hope. Gives a chance for a young player (Doak? Gordon?) to develop.
Virgil - He’s 33, but could also play until he’s 35. His intelligence and tactical awareness won’t diminish with age. He may lose a little pace, but he is quick to begin with, so will still be as quick as most PL CBs.
Give him 2 years maybe and manage his decline. We will need to find his successor though.
Trent - A different story. At 25 this is the biggest contract of his career and you can see why he might be looking for something lucrative. If he stays, which I hope he will, he should be captain next season. A five year deal takes him to 30 at which point he can still have a European adventure if he wants. Seeing him pumped up on Sunday made me realise how much both he and us would be losing if he left us now.
I really hope FSG get all three done asap.
I wouldn’t take the armband off Virgil, and his behaviour the other week, sulking about being subbed off, to me suggests he has a little bit of maturing still to do before leading the club.
This season more than before, with extra CL matches, we can utilise the well stocked forward line in domestic cup matches but we should use our starting three midfielders extremely sparingly, if at all. Same goes with Konate, Virgil, and Ali. Conor and Tsimi nailed on starters in domestic cup matches please. The push for the League cup win eventually told last season when we again went after the FA cup and just lost all energy and vigour at a crucial time in the season.
That southampton one is a potential trap game - coming in over confident on the back of 6 successive wins and getting caught cold so only beating them by 1 goal.
To reframe, that’s gonna be a cracking couple of months as a fan. Big games every few days 
Agreed, this is daunting and exciting at the same time. It will certainly be interesting to see how Slot and co. can cope with that.
Eight 2-0 wins, followed by a 3-0 against a Manchester club.
Again.
