Sometimes it’s not only their willingness, but their abilities and playing in a way that brings the best out of them.
We are very specific about what we do, we have evolved, but the principles remained the same, especially off the ball.
Our game, or Klopp… is for me still Liverpool’s main player, don’t know how to put it better. And then we have a few key individuals that are carrying the rest of this team. Salah is the star, we can put it that way.
But anyway, we’ll need more concrete/reliable rumours to go more in depth about this idea.
I can’t see us signing Haaland and retaining all of Salah, Mane, Jota and Firmino. If we signed Haaland I think one of those four would go, and it wouldn’t just be, say, Origi out and Haaland in.
Playing styles can all be adapted and worked. The team is the highest ideal in the way that we play, so I’m confident we could incorporate Haaland, in a footballing sense, no problem.
The biggest obstacle would be wages, and closely related to that, dealing with his agent, and the various fees to all and sundry. That why I can’t really see it happening.
My view is if we get Haaland its because Mo is leaving.
Klopp basically designed a system where Mo has become the best player in the world by him attacking the space left by what you’d call the traditional no.9.
You’d be asking Haaland or Salah to give up one of their greatest assets i.e. scoring goals as it’s highly unlikely they both get to operate in the space needed.
There’s different ways to create space. Yes a false 9 can create space but so can a true handful of a CF that requires 2 or 3 defenders to deal with. It’s not like Salah gets to in and around the penalty spot, very rarely. He attacks the spaces between the LCB and LB more. Which would be even more open if both CBs are dealing with someone like Haaland.
I don’t know why exactly, but he always remembers me about Horst Hrubesch, a German striker who used to be a serial striker for Hamburg during the late seventies / early eighties. When he scored, he looked a bit like a butcher, satisfied after having just cut a deer in parts.
Despite still being half a kid, Haaland has that same kind of ferocity on his face when celebrating a goal (and generally the same kind of physical attributes).
I don’t see Haaland in the 9 being dramatically different than Jota in the 9. He’s a big kid but he can link up play, press and everything else we could need.
Can’t see us after a central forward. Firmino isn’t going anywhere, Jota is perhaps now already ahead of Firmino in the pecking order for that role. Certainly his goal return is better than any season we’ve seen from Bobby. Last season they got the same number of league goals but Jota did it in half the minutes, this season he’s one behind what Bobby averages per season for us in the league and it’s only December.
For me the issue is if we sign Mo to a new deal, can we do Mane too? Is he biding his time waiting to see what Mo gets or are the club prioritising getting Mo signed up first? Either way, I think if we add someone up top this summer it’ll be someone who can play off the left where Mane does but can cover over on the left in a pinch if needs be. Who that is will depend on whether Mane is still here or not.
If Haaland is doing the job of occupying 2 defenders (the Bobby role), he isn’t primarily in a position to shoot/score. That space / opening is being given to Salah.
My point is clear would Haaland sacrifice scoring goals for the team. It’s a big big sell considering at pretty much every other team would be making him the focal point of their attack.
On the flip side would Salah be open to being more creator than finisher, maybe that’s why he wants a bigger basic as his goals are to be halved next year playing with Haaland
I haven’t seen enough of Jota centrally for me to believe that’s the way forward for us long term. I’m still more of the thought that his best role will be Mane’s on the (half) left. Haaland is a totally different player to Jota, there is no comparison there. Jota goes more in behind than Bobby par example, but is also active between the lines, drops and appears a little bit everywhere. All those questions are valid. Anyway, I’ve listened to Fjortoft at Romano last night for 17 minutes speaking about potential destinations for Haaland and there was not even a mention of Liverpool. We’ll see how serious this is.
I think he’s showing he’s very good centrally, perhaps better than he is off the left. We’ve often wondered how we replace Bobby when the time comes and I think Jota has shown he can do that whilst also not compromising the game of Mo or Mane. If Mo is staying then I’d keep using Jota centrally for the most part as we’re getting the best out of both of them. Doesn’t mean we don’t have the flexibility to put him wide if we want.
Also, we aren’t getting Haaland, doubly so if Mo is still here, so the talk of how he and Mo would play together is moot in my opinion. I’d fully expect us to be buying a Raphina, Danjuma, Sarr, Bowen type player (I know some of those play more on the right than left but they’re just names off the top of my head that we’ve been linked with) rather than an out and out centre forward if we do go into the market this summer.
Maybe it would be someone who is even more of a development prospect if Mane stays and we feel we have additional cover in Jota. Perhaps a Doku or even Fábio Carvalho from Fulham type.
Yes, and I don’t think he’ll have half as much time and space in the Premiership. Not saying he won’t be effective he will but I doubt there is space where you need it in the box for 2 players.
Haaland has the game intelligence and still possesses the rawness to become even better under Klopps tutelage.
I imagine one of the four has to leave to accommodate his presence though.
I hope Salah signs a new deal soon, to end all the speculation, so we can concentrate on what we want, not what we already have.
I doubt it. It simply gives us more options. They wouldn’t all be able to play every single second of the season, but they would have plenty of opportunities and game time.
