I don’t know how to make a covid vaccine, but I know that one was needed.
I don’t know how good any of the free agents are, but if one of them isn’t somewhere between the level of Williams and the seniors I’d be surprised.
Garay?
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Garay would have been utterly demolished trying to play where Williams did last night. He is so slow.
I think last night is completly warping the problem, Utd are probably the best counter attacking team in the league, Rashford is rapid. Williams won’t face that level much more again this season.
Citing the Athletic that we made contact with him.
Yeah, but this reminds me of that time when it was reported that Edwards had called up wherever it was to tell them that we weren’t interested in one of their players. I can’t remember who it was but there was quite a lot of media ‘noise’ about our interest and implying we had approached the player (illegally). It amused me at the time, just thinking of Edwards calling up another club just to tell them that we think their player’s not good enough and we’re not interested…haha
Hi, is that Sokratis?
Yes…
This is Michael Edwards from Liverpool
Yes? Hi! [high pitched, excited…]
You’re shit.
Oh.
Bye.
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YOU don’t know there is anyone else available. I’m not the one basing my position on a massive conjecture. I keep being told the club can spend money and FSG are just being tight arses, and there are loads of deals out there like they are growing on a fucking centre back tree. There is zero evidence for that, and everything points towards the opposite.
I think it’s actually getting quite insulting to all concerned that we’re expected to believe that the club could get someone in, financially and practically, and won’t for some reason - like they are lazy cunts or something.
Put bluntly, if there was a deal to be done we’d have done it. Klopp wants it to happen and nobody at the club is a fucking idiot. That we haven’t brought in a centre back screams that there is no-one available, or it would have been prohibitively expensive.
I suspect the issue is that when Klopp says he would like a centre back, he isn’t talking about a loan signing from a Budesliga 2 club. He is on about a top drawer centre back that will cost £50m +.
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Meanwhile, Subotic has just cancelled his contract in Turkey.
Would you? I would.
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Yes I would. And Sokratis on a 6 month deal (assuming he would even consider such a short term option) would surely be better than Williams. Would I take him if Williams or Phillips had more pace and a bit more experience…probably not. Granted it’s harsh on the kid but the system we play simply pulls down his pants and exposes his weaknesses for all to see.
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Not sure, if he is still worth a punt with his lack of pace , but not a bad shout
No. Trust me.
The very fact we are contacting free agents tells you it’s no a want of effort.
Another documented fact, yet to see a single one to the contrary.
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To be honest, I am so desperate now for us to sign a CB, that I am willing to bite a bullet.
Can we get Lovren on a short loan ?? The Russian league should be on break till end of March. Hopefully, we will have Gomez back by then. Even Lovren won’t be worse than watching young kids confidence being totally destroyed, as we did last night.
The squad needs a lift and Jurgen himself has said,that adding a CB will help provide more stability. I don’t think anyone of us know who is the right player. Plus , the homegrown issue is another concern, we need to move on someone to secure a european player.
If we could sign one player from the league right now, it would be Vestergaard from Saints. He offers immediate improvement, but again, the money is an issue and will saints part at this time in Jan remains the question.
If we spoke to Sokratis, then this kind of proves that the club sees a CB recruitment necessary , but is absolutely skint in terms of finances .
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If you want to play that analogy through. The issue is not knowing we need a vaccine. Everyone knows we need a vaccine.
The issue is going on and on that we need a vaccine, paying no particular attention to how possible it is to have a vaccine, and assuming that the lack of a vaccine is due to incompetence/arrogance/fecklessness rather than developing a vaccine is really hard.
I don’t know why you’re arguing against what we know. You’re illogicallt trying to argue no CB can be brought in, if that was the case that’s what Klopp would have said. We are facing a situation where Bundesliga clubs are letting their starting strikers go on loans to buy even though they’ve scored 10 in 17 that’s a lot more unlikely than some one letting a CB go. Most clubs have 3 or 4 CBs. Not many have 10 in 17 strikers. You seem hell bent on proving that this isn’t simply 100% about there being no money in the face of all evidence. If we are approaching limited free agents the football people know how desperate it is we bring a CB in, any senior CB, but have been provided no funds to do so. I don’t understand why you’re still trying to argue something unlikely, illogical and against the available evidence.
Don’t worry @Iftikhar , the finances we have right now, we can’t spend 10% of the value we bought Carroll for . And for worse, that 10% of the fee is not a big mistake , even if it turns out to be one.
The mistake currently will be to continue to constantly chop and change back 4, continue to play kids who are not ready yet, destroy their confidence and continue to hope that we will weather this storm, compromising our midfield and somewhat the way we attack for the rest of the season.
I am more worried by the fact that alot of people are hoping for Jota to come and start firing on all cylinders after near 3 months lay off and be some kind of savior. This sort of stuff will put extra pressure on him , which may lead to another injury or hit poor form .
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FSG are Businessmen through and through, that is what will be at the epicentre of decision making at this specific time.!
Even if there was a Virgil MK2 out there at £50million right now, would it make sense for FSG to fork out these sums of money when the future for fans returning looks so bleak.
Would it guarantee we would win the league if he was signed and dovetailed into the defence straight away… Who Knows.?
Are the financial rewards for winning the league on par with forking out the £50million… Who Knows?
Would it guarantee we would win the Champions League this season… Who Knows?
Is the patched up squad capable of finishing top 4… Who Knows?
Is this same patched up squad capable of going far in the Champions League… Who Knows?
Is the financial rewards from winning the CL, £50million greater than finishing runners-up, or semi-finalists… Who Knows.?
Not sure this hierarchy would risk such large sums of money when there is no definitive guarantee of financial benefit… Not sure this hierarchy would risk such a large sum of money when the alternative goals for this season are within grasp and will bring financial gains without too much risk.!
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My take is that the club probably could finance a CB transfer fee if they were so inclined (cost, value, feasibility, suitability, etc. all still limiting factors), but the wages might be the less flexible financial constraint.
Bear in mind that we were only able to shift Grujic (on loan) this summer. Not only does this mean we weren’t able to raise cash from the sales of Origi or Shaqiri (the players whom I think would have been sold if the market wasn’t depressed), but it means we are also still paying their wages. Furthermore we have Keïta and Oxlade-Chamberlain (at minimum) being paid to do essentially nothing. With revenues severely impacted due to Covid, I would expect that bloating our wage bill further might be a serious concern.
And anecdotally, the last emergency CB loan player we got in under Klopp played more for us as a center forward.
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I think it was Nicolas Pepe.
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I haven’t said no centre back can be brought in. I don’t think one can be brought in who can do the job we need at a price that we can afford.
I’ve sure if we had £60m we could persuade a team to sell one of Klopp and Edward’s top targets. I don’t even think we have £15m to bring in an average lad.
I tend to think if we’re shopping lower than this, or trying to find loans, then there are invariably going to be problems with those players.
It feels to me like the whole market is in a state of paralysis. Nobody is selling. Nobody is buying. You keep going on about the lad who Palace brought in, like it’s some kind of smoking gun for the clubs inertia. The fact that you keep bringing it up, like single palm tree in a comparative desert of transfers, is telling in itself.
Klopp’s comments to me felt like he wanted to try and bring forward a summer target and was told no. I don’t think he was remotely saying ‘Just get me any cunt with two legs and a pair of boots’. When Klopp says I wanted a centre back I think he was wanting FSG to cough up some serious money.
I can only say again, if there was a player available who would improve us, at a price we can afford/feels acceptable in the current state of things, then it would have been done. Of course it would.
We know the clubs scouting operation is second to none. We know Klopp wants a centre back. If you want to put two and two together and get four rather than 63, then the obvious conclusion is that we are struggling to find some suitable or finance the deal for someone who is.
If you think other than that - that there is someone available and we do have the money, I don’t know what is going on in your mind. Maybe you think the staff at the club are shit and don’t know what they are doing? Maybe you think nobody can be arsed? Maybe Edwards computer is down at PC World for a tune up? Who knows what you think.
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Yep and we have half our 1st team coming up to 2 years left on their contracts… The agent fees alone on those are going to be huge.
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