I’d love to see how managers would do on a level playing field. It’s not that i want us to spend more, i would just like to see City and Utd forced to spend less. If only there was something in place that made teams spend up to their income and no more. Personally on that basis i can’t see Pep or Ole being anywhere near us in that case but we’ll never know.
As this is the rumours thread i can’t see any of the ones mentioned being brought in now. I just pray we dont hit injuries as bad as last year. If so we can manage with what we have until Mbappe joins on a free next year
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Yes I always felt everything pre Virgil/Alisson moved us to top 4 level, they then took us to title level.
Matip was the first who finally got us breaking through midfield blocks from the back.
Matip if he had stayed fit is not that far away from Van Dijk. I remember periods he was the one carrying the defence even.
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They do when wages stay high. Overall, wages is a far better predictor of competitiveness than transfer fees.
Arsenal is often the poster child for the problem with stopping spending, but their issue was far more an issue of wages then transfer fees. They couldnt keep the players who had made them competitive because they paid their best players way under market value and wouldnt move on that. They ended up with absurd situations like Van Persie being offered only about 10k a week more than players like Eboue.
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Frankly, I think that was also around the time we started playing Karius instead of Mignolet. Despite the fact that his style isn’t exactly easy on the eye, he didn’t make that many more unenforced errors than Alisson has. I remember the Arsenal match around Christmas which ended 3-3 thanks to the usual Mignolet errors was pretty much the final straw.
Can’t believe how many people rate Mignolet above Karius or even Adrian though, he was absolutely abysmal at points, and average at best. He didn’t even save that many penalties for us despite his supposed reputation…
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I think Karius got 11 clean sheets in 19 games, something like that. He looked a very good goalie. Now, don’t get me wrong, Alisson is world class, fills the goal better, and is much the better keeper. We acted decisively, and rightly so.
But I have a slight lament on Karius, as since that bastard Ramos concussed him, and he had a shocker for the rest of the game, he has really lost his way.
Unfortunately it reveals something of a temperament issue, as the talent is there to be an upper mid Prem goalie, easily, but he hasn’t shown the mental fortitude to overcome the setback.
Right now we would sell for peanuts, but I can’t help but think there might yet be a half decent keeper in there who will start to look decent again, for someone.
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I think this basically sums it up for me. He’s not the most resilient of people mentally, and if had been luckier it wouldn’t have been that bad a drawback. However, not only did he get unfairly blamed for Kiev, his first return for us in friendlies wasn’t too good, and people started making jokes out of him. I think Jürgen’s first preference was for Mignolet to be sent out on loan rather than him, but he made that choice and pretty much sealed his fate. I’m guessing that if he didn’t go out on loan, he might have made a redemption story here, at least partially, and we would not have signed Adrian. He might well have played his part in us winning the league and the Champions League, so I guess he would go down as one of those what might have been stories for me.
Doesn’t mean that I would keep him this season however. If Adrian hadn’t renewed his contract I think Karius is on sufficiently low wages to be kept as third-choice, but as of right now, I think he’s probably the most likely to make his way out.
Spot on. We’ve gone from being one of the worst managed clubs in Europe to amongst the best. The sense of doom and hopelessness under the cowboys…
I’m really surprised at how many people have written us off already. I think a lot of people are going to be caught with their pants down in 2 months when they realise that flooding a squad with expensive purchases does not a team make. Frank Lampard went on a FM shopping spree and everyone was drooling but the old hands knew that it’s more about the team spirit and understanding and that takes time.
The doom mongering before the season has even begun is so tedious. We’re going to have a great season.
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I didn’t say it was entirely down to him, but I don’t think any other manager in the world would have done it, even with the support that you mention.
Btw I’m not one of those freaking out about our transfer business. I think what Jurgen and his team have built is outstanding and I’m excited to see Jones, Elliott etc fitting into it.
Was just pointing out that the City/Chelsea/PSGs have introduced another level of unfairness, and I worry what the game will look like in 10 years time
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Is that you Yoda?
I thought you had perished on Dagobah
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Think we have some in the pipeline, but are just waiting for this to start happening at some of the other clubs…
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Borussia Monchengladbach and Germany midfielder Florian Neuhaus, 24, remains a target for Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp, but the Reds will not be able to meet his price tag of around £34m. (Sport1 - in German)
Liverpool have joined Juventus and Arsenal in the race to sign Euro 2020-winning Italy midfielder Manuel Locatelli, 23, from Sassuolo . (Gazzetta dello Sport, via Mail)
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he was one of those pictured taking selfies with Rooney
While I understand the discussion around massive spends like Grealish and meger spends like Robbo. I still want to say this. Klopp is the difference between those two. Geralish is a 100 million mid level Aston Villa player. Is he any better than Thiago. Henderson. Ox or Keita. Don’t think so. The sport doesn’t always revolve around the price of a player.
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The only concern I have with the team as it’s currently constructed is that the key starters have tons of miles on them. Klopp’s intense style is physically demanding, especially when you’re playing in multiple competitions during a season. Klopp also does not heavily rotate them, largely because many of his bench options have been underwhelming in recent years.
The team is in need of a refresh, and it’s preferable that the seeds of that refresh are planted while your key players still have some life left in their legs.
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Thiago and Hendo- no. Ox and Keita- yes. But a different position to any of those. Grealish is a brilliant player. Always showing for the ball and trying to make things happen. We’d be buzzing if he was coming to us
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I’d be really underwhelmed, especially at that price. I’d also be worried about the press, Grealish isn’t working when the ball isn’t at his feet - our whole system would collapse.
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Mail reporting that Alisson, VVD, Robbo ,fab, Salah and mane will get new long deals….but not Bobby or Hendo.
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Sorry, should only have spoken for myself. I think he’d work for Klopp and bring another dimension
