Now now. Unfit? Sure. His injury record has always been questionable. But I don’t see how you can be in rhythm if you are constantly injured. Even our best players are not going to come into the side hitting the ground running after a long layoff. I find it an unfair criticism for a player - Keita and Ox are perfect examples - to be out for 6 weeks, to be subbed on in the 60th minute of a game and expect him to have 30 mins of his best football ever. I think that can be also extended to players that are not necessarily injured but are barely used such as Origi and Minamino.
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Completely agree with this.
Fabinho always seems to need a run in the side after being out to get up to speed. Difference is, he’s so important to the team he’ll get that run no matter how off the pace he looks initially. Think Gomez was the same after his last injury too.
But for Keita and Ox there’s never really the grace of a run in the side to get back into the rhythm of playing. Sometimes that’s down to their own fitness but often it’s because they aren’t afforded the chance to.
One of the podcasts made an interesting point (or I thought it was interesting) about Ox’s performance in the Norwich game. He got 60 minutes and did okay, nothing spectacular but didn’t stink the place out. He came off looking disappointed but as he knows he can do more but that’s the kind of game you’d get from Gini half the time and everyone has been lamenting his loss.
In an attacking sense, our center midfield are primarily there to facilitate the front three, to cover the full backs, circulate the ball in possession and chip in with the odd goal. In that sense his performance was fine. As have been Keita’s so far but because people know they can do more their performances are judged a bit more harshly when in actual fact, they did what they needed to.
Will be interesting to see the three he starts with against Chelsea.
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Klopp is never critical about ability, but he suffers no fools. Sakho probably most high profile criticism in public. Balotelli to a lesser extent.
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cant be bothered looking for any direct quotes, but youd have to assume Ballotelli wasnt even worth the effort for Klopp. as in…you wont find anything too damning because theres not much he really had to say…
was it Klopp that had him training with the youths or was that Rodgers…irrelevant really.
for all the shit he copped in his career i cant help but feel for Ballotelli…obviously theres some mental demons hanging around…
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Yeah with Balotelli Klopp was simply up front. He was clear with the press that he has told the player he must leave.
In Klopp autobiography (2016) he was quoted in regards to Balotelli antics (dart incident at City)
if one of his players pulled a stunt like that 'they would never wear this club’s shirt again. He wont get a second chance to make a mistake like that: ‘Look, you might be able to play, but I don’t want to see your face again. Not when we’ve got so many lads who are a joy to work with.’"
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Rodgers. Not sure Klopp would do something like that. Strikes me as too distracting to the youth.
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I think Raiola called Klopp a piece of shit for how he handled Balotelli, or something like that? 
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I think a last minute surge in the transfer market is probably dreaming more than reality. I think the owners are concentrating on the upgrade of Anfield. Probably the last two seasons have been tough financially and unlike Man U they don’t want to incur massive debt in uncertain times.
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Or because Klopp is happy with his squad, one of the best in the world…as has been said about 5000 times
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Yeah I doubt this one, he’s only just broke into the Reading team and he looks to be at around the right level at this time. Also saw a link saying we were offering him £75k a week which seems even more unlikely given that he was a part timer 13 months ago and is probably on less than £1k a week at Reading.
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It’s weird though, I just can’t wrap my head around the purpose of making that up. If you wanted to link us to a winger for hits then the Brazilian lads at Ajax for instance would be far more believable, logical and generate far more traffic.
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But every team does though don’t they. No club has infinite forward options and all are affected by injuries ie Aguero when he was at City or Kane at Spurs.
With limited squad number every club is in the same position. Think our depth is as good as anyone’s in the league.
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True, I wonder if it’s just because he scored in his first couple of games this season. Doesn’t seem a massive traffic driver but possibly someone thought a 20 year old scoring a couple of goals to start the season is worth making a rumour about.
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Our depth in some key positions is not a given. Outside of Mo, Mane, Jota, and Firmino, our forward depth is fairly questionable. Origi has seemingly faded and Minamino has yet to make a significant impact. In the midfield, I think we have some quality dependable players in Hendo, Fab, and Thiago. On the other hand, Keita and Ox have been injury prone, Jones and Elliot are talented but still very young, and Milner - while still solid - is on the last legs of his career. Behind Robbo and TAA are some younger, less experienced, inconsistent, and yet talented players in Neco and Kostas.
Having said those things, the truth is that these kinds of question marks are a normal part of having a rotation. Your backups are usually comprised of a mix of credible but more limited players and young, inexperienced talent that you hope to develop into long term stars.
I think watching clubs like City and Chelsea splash hundreds of millions on rotation players has skewed what’s considered reasonable in that regard. Could the club benefit from another quality forward? Absolutely. But the club is in very good shape, if they remain healthy.
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Unless it’s being driven by the selling club, if they’re looking to cash in, why not name check Liverpool and leak it to the media, and perhaps some other club will make a bid instead.
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I imagine it’s one with an element of truth. He may well be on our radar, doesn’t mean a signing is imminent.
Could be one to offer a buy and loan back deal though.
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Agreed. Or there really is interest because we have scouted him and see the potential?
I know nothing about him, which means its a real possibility!
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Wasn’t that just deflection on Raiola’s part though to protect his client’s marketability?
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Just one point, I dont think this can happen because Reading can’t loan or buy players currently. Maybe a deal agreed now that doesn’t take effect till next summer would have the same effect like we did with Keita? Not sure I see whqt would be our motivation, maybe if we are convinced he’ll absolutely explode on the scene this year and be worth loafs next summer as best attacker in the Championship but then you’d wonder what’s in it for Reading.
You could be on to something 
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