I meant Signing another player. Tchouameni is never coming to us but it seems that we persisted with it for far too long instead of finding another player that is slightly lesser than Tchouameni but better and younger than the bunch we currently have ( bar for Thiago) earlier, allowing that player to have a suitably long pre-season.
LFC is obviously looking for an addition to the midfield, we knew way before 11th June( possibly on the 3 days before Milner signs an extension) that Tchoumeni ain’t coming. The first match of this season started on 6th August. Surely, we got time to do one deal early enough!
FSG out.
Lets see if Qatar have any money left post World Cup.
Then we can sign Bellingham, Mbappe, Neymar and Haaland and win everything for the rest of eternity.
I am not talking about Tchouameni going to Real, what I am talking is who’s next after Tchouameni. Everyone knew Dortmund is never gonna let Bellingham go in the same summer as Haaland.
Between 4th July to 6th August, we have a lot of time to get in someone during the pre-season,leaving us a lot of time to deal with out-goings when the season starts. Why not find someone that is more defensively oriented, has the stamina to run and cover for TAA aka Hendo/Milner’s or even Fabinho’s replacement at the starting lineup?Or why not find someone who is more of a Thiago mould and made of stronger muscle fibres?
I am startled to find out that we don’t have a proper plan B when signing Plan A fails and we do not refresh the roster of players.
I get that we should give chances to youngsters. That is true provided they are at the stage when they can hold their own against bottom half PL teams and there are players in their peak age and ability to hold the fort. At the moment, our young ones are unable to hold their own and the players in the peak age are either crocked or simply not good enough after being crocked continously.
This is a very good article about a huge disconnect (for the first time really) between elements of the off-field staff, especially with regards to the medical team.
It explains that since we’ve won the league the medical team has been an ever revolving door, so not as people have eluded to above that staff were culled in a cost cutting exercise, staff have left due to internal conflicts and it appears we’ve struggled to replace with similar quality.
For example Schlumberger is named as someone we got rid of, when in reality he wanted to return home and we’ve re-appointed him May of this year. So disproves the “cost cutting” notion 100%.
I do feel the summer gone is the first real collective failure by Klopp, Gordon (FSG) and Ward. From not actively pushing for a midfielder after Tchouameni went to Real with the Mbappe money, to a condensed pre-season intensity which pushed an already fatigued squad to breaking point, to over-reliance on players who were showing signs of decline last season or were to be frank too injury prone.
It feels for the first time in Klopps tenure here we don’t appear to be a cohesive and aligned structure off the pitch, and when you are competing with the likes of City you the margins of error are so small even a small disconnect can be felt, but this is beyond a small problem, we are approaching crisis point… 19 players injured so far this season… Thats catastrophic when its proven less injuries = more points gained.
Regaining our structure and taking some risks financially in Jan is the first thing that needs to change.
You missunderstand, we had Tchouameni lined up until Mbappe re-signed at PSG and Real basically threw a load of Money at Tchouameni, if Mbappe had moved to Real they couldn’t afford both. As reported by several reporters.
I genuinely don’t understand the obsession over signing a new midfielder when we don’t even have the squad space to register everyone.
Nor do I understand why no one seems to think that the medical team might just have a more complex understanding of a player’s medical history and fitness conditioning that a lazy “injury-prone” label.
Jürgen himself thought we were just fine with our squad until we lost our 3rd (or 4th?) starting midfielder for a longer period of time. Then we brought in another midfielder on-loan, who could well have found his way back on the promising trajectory he was on before Barcelona imploded and sold him to balance the books, with an option to buy a 27 year old potential regular starter for less than what Thiago was brought in for. On paper we are more than well-stocked, we just had rotten injury luck to start the season with.
It is genuinely frustrating how so many don’t seem to understand that just a little bit of bad luck can compound itself into a situation where we find ourselves fighting fires instead of being able to take the next step of improvement as a team.
Searching for a scapegoat is just a lazy answer to the deeper problem.
Thing is we are not just thread bare in midfield we are getting that way in attack and defence and so the issue at this moment isn’t that we didn’t buy enough in midfield (though one may have helped rotate without the effects it does) but that our injuries are absolutely dire. We’ve replaced our long term ones with starters for those who most have written off.
The fact it often feels like get through this game and there are a few coming back and then 2 games later it’s the same again.
Hopefully the run until the World Cup doesn’t see anymore but I think the Thiago thing just hit me yesterday, these injuries are just odd now.
That’s the thing, our depth isn’t worse than City’s. Our injury list is. We have 2 centre-backs out, one left back returning from injury, one right back returning from injury, and 2 forwards out to long-term injuries.
It has far less to do with our planning, and far more to do with the second-last paragraph.
FSG have grown a very good reputation as generally getting decisions right and employing top notch professionals to be world class in all aspects of running the club.
As it stands, there are two question marks.
Medical - we have far too many injuries. We need top class medical people to manage this much better. Obviously it overlaps with training and other departments at the club, but this area needs to improve.
Recruitment - we have boxed clever and recruited well, for the most part. However, the state of the midfield puts a question mark over that, as it has been allowed to carry too many players who can’t get fit, or stay fit (see above paragraph) and there’s a sense that the succession planning has been off too.
FSG have earned a good reputation, but as in all businesses, you have to continue to make good decisions. The medical department and recruitment department both need some work.
