Yes you’re right. Thanks for the reminder.
I wonder if those calling for Henry’s head are aware of that as well? I suspect not in many cases.
I think a squad refresher would have been nice, purely to shake things up a bit, add some new competition and perhaps allow us to make some tactical tweaks etc.
Worth noting that our struggles against Chelsea were far from the first time we seen us hampered in that way. Personally I dont think a new player sorts that but it might open an opportunity in that direction.
Gordon Cannonier Musialowski
The next fabled front three.
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Nobody between the ages of 21 and 26 then!
So, this summer can be resumed as:
- Konaté replacing the previously departed Lovren, who wasn’t replaced last summer.
- Jones replacing Gini in midfield as a serious first-team option.
- Elliot replacing Shaqiri as a new back-up option for the forward positions, but who is apparently versatile and good enough already to play against Burnley and Chelsea in a midfield slot, and still to look good.
- All major first team players bar Salah have their contracts renewed, with the Egyptian hopefully to sign his new contract soon too.
I think that this summer can be looked at as a good one. No qualms from me.
Three years is an eternity in football. The devil knows where we we will be when that time comes.
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Well, unless Klopp extends, we’ll have a new manager and we ought to be shaping our squad with a view towards that sort of time frame.
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Except that we don’t know who this manager will be and thus, we don’t know what that new man will want in order to shape his squad.
I’m obviously hoping for as much continuity as possible (ideally Klopp prolonging his stay with us).
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I would argue that’s not necessarily a bad thing. We would have players in their prime, reaching the point where they are tailing off, with players who have had years of experience but are still young enough to keep developing. It’s pretty much where we have Alexander-Arnold currently, but in midfield. I’m guessing Thiago would be off by then, with Henderson playing the Milner role. We may then have other players who aren’t currently on our (fans) radar. For example, Clarkson is only 19, turning 20 now, so he’d be ageing pretty well into where we would want him to be. He hasn’t shown anything magical thus far, but the lack of an option to buy might indicate that we might yet have interest in him.
Mane is being offered a new contract, there has been no news of one being offered to Firmino yet…of course, if Mane doesn’t sign the new contract it increases the odds of him leaving before it runs out.
Perfectly timed for the current front 3 to be aged out while the kids come in with years of experience as understudies.
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Always felt bringing in Thiago without letting a significant other player go last summer was a case of taking advantage of an opportunity and getting the Gini replacement a year early. Jones was the replacement for Lallana last summer.
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I’m with most on this - we missed the chance to bring someone in who ticks the box for us in terms of succession planning, and that’s disappointing, but also when looking at the squad we have, against the squads of the other teams, we are right in the mix.
However, I don’t see this as a FSG vs the Fans or Klopp. I see this as the club doing what they’ve always done - be patient, pick out the right players, and see them develop - and Klopp knew this was how it was - it’s half the reason we chose Liverpool - the underdogs fighting at the top table, and that’s what we’re doing.
In the last few years we’ve pretty much got every transfer right, particularly the big ones. We’ve cleared some players this summer (not enough granted), secured a lot of long term contracts, that are important - any footballer considering Liverpool going forward will want to play with the likes of Virgil, Trent, Robbo, Ali, Fab, Nat Phillips (hmmm).
I’m really hoping that it’s all being lined up incomings next Summer. Still confident we can compete this year.
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It’s not just me though, is it? You’ve had a string of people on this thread tell you that you are reading far too much into Klopp’s comments that you probably should.
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Ox and Keita have deals until 2023. As do the front 3. Thiago until I think 2024. I don’t see them all signing new deals with us (I don’t think we have heard of any new contracts being offered to Firmino, Ox or Keita yet have we?), so we should see some change here across the next year or two because of that.
Yes, pretty much this. It looked like Thiago was a target as a free transfer the following summer when Gini’s contract ran out, or as someone they could sign if Gini could be sold that window.
At some point a decision was made to spend the funds available to bring him in immediately instead of waiting until the summer.
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What a good decision it turned out to be in hindsight. We could have been left severely short in midfield if we didn’t make that move.
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Klopp wanted both of them though and that’s why we also offered Gini a new deal. As I say, I think Klopp would prefer to have another body in there.
It’s all very well saying that…apart from Gini we haven’t lost anyone who notably contributed to the first team but Shaqiri featured 14 times in the league last year (5 as a starter). He played more minutes than AOC, Minamino and Keita, and was our third most used substitute. Gini is, also, a fairly big loss, being the only player other than Robertson to feature in every game, 34 as a starter.
If we lost Robertson, would we not want to replace him or would we convince ourselves that Tsimikas, who played 6 minutes in the league last year, was his replacement and that would be fine?
Not really specifically directed at you @redfanman more shooting the breeze.
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Isn’t this also a function of how we were hit with our injuries last season? We had Fabinho and even Henderson deputising in defence, while losing Oxlade-Chamberlain for the first half of the season. While easing him back in, we started having our crisis, while Keïta had an injury. By the time Oxlade-Chamberlain might have been ready in a physical sense, it was the point of the season where we were prizing stability more than anything. I would hazard a guess that Wijnaldum might have seen his minutes reduced if the season didn’t turn out like it did. That is not to say that he wasn’t important and a big loss, but it’s not a loss that we would be unable to handle.
I think Keïta and Oxlade-Chamberlain are capable of playing his role, while Henderson would be back in the midfield position, and Elliott could take up the remaining minutes as well as whatever minutes Shaqiri would have gotten otherwise, and that’s not even factoring in Jones with more experience and development. It may simply be a case where our second-choice plan is the one we ended up with, but it’s not one that is significantly inferior to the first-choice, just different.
Also worth noting that at that point, they might not have thought that Elliott would make the steps that he has since.
Well, of course, if we don’t suffer any injuries we’re going to be fine both in midfield and attack. I was kind of thinking we may need better quality contingencies both to cover absences but also to provide high level rotation options to avoid placing too great a strain on players in the first place.
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Anytime you start spouting shit again im going to hit you with Jordan 