I think the right question would be: would you bet £50m+ we’re going to finish top4 with no new incomings?
3 Likes
What about City, 4 points behind and 2 games in hand, Spurs 4 points behind 1 game in hand and then there is United who is level with us and has a game in hand. If the bad run continuous we could find ourselves in 6th or 7th place before the month is over.
7 Likes
If we play like we did early December up to the Palace game we should finish top 4 if we play the way we have the last 3 games then no we won’t, that’s up to Klopp to sort out.
6 Likes
Late to this Rab. We pulled in Jota and Thiago when Covid looked to be lessening and vaccines being the fix, optimism was higher. Since then Covid has got a lot worse, new variant causing concern, more aggressive in youth all has happened in between windows and Christmas introducing that into teams halting games hasn’t helped. So the strategy has shifted. I’m really conflicted on this and see merit in both Redbj and your points, but then tend to agree with the other side on this too, playing it safe to me is the wiser approach, those clubs that are mortgaging their futures are crazy. At the end of this particular storm we might not have Everton and a few other clubs in the Premier League.
1 Like
Fully appreciate that and it’s the way I suspect the club will go. That is their choice though, it doesn’t mean we couldn’t do something if we chose to which was my original point.
I don’t think we’ll see Premier League clubs on the brink unless they’re forced to stop the league again for an extended period or to end the season prematurely. With vaccines coming out I suspect somehow top-level footballers will see their way to the front of the queue fairly soon, just like they did with testing back in the summer so that will be become less and less likely. And we can see how games will plough on even with serious outbreaks at clubs this very weekend, so again, I suspect we’ll not see the extended stoppage we previously had.
I could be massively wrong on that of course but it’s just how I see it going and if that is the case then there’s a season to be played out and a title on offer and the CL qualification to ensure we don’t see further reduced revenues next season.
2 Likes
What the fuck are you on about? For two days now you’ve repeatedly said I’ve said something different than what I have just so you can argue how stupid my point is. I never said we would turn in to Everton. I said Klopp is a great manager but wouldn’t be able to win the league with Everton. As in the actual Everton not us turning into them. It was to a point about not having faith in Klopp. Which is ridiculous because you can have faith in Klopp but acknowledge he isn’t going to win the league with us no matter what. As proven by the fact he hasn’t won the league with us every season. He needs the right players.
3 Likes
Wasn’t quite sure where to post this, but timely discussion so I’ll put it here. From The Boss’s PC yesterday. I’m not being purposefully glib, I’m having a hard time following The Boss here. It sounds like he says we do need a center half, but then later on I got the impression he doesn’t want to bring in someone new bc they might get injured also, and he would rather work with what we have. By the end of it, he seemed defensive, and I cannot blame him, he is likely tiring of being asked about it.
“In good times, everybody thinks that our owners are really generous, ‘my god, big signings’ or whatever; in bad times they think they are really tight, maybe from a different country or whatever,” the manager said. But they are not. They are absolutely concerned about the club and the success of the club. That’s an understanding of how we have it.
They see exactly the same things that I see about necessity of players and stuff like this. It’s not that I say ‘oh, by the way, a centre-half would be really nice’, and they say ‘wow, a centre-half, really? Why?’. It’s not like this, it’s all clear, all on the table.
We work on that, you can imagine, but then it’s the situation, and on top of that we have January.
It’s not the easiest transfer window, on top of that not having the money exactly like you want, it’s a window where other clubs say ‘no, we don’t have a lot of money but we don’t need it as well, we are clear, we have enough’.
So we don’t do anything because it will harm our targets.
My job is, in moments the transfer window is open, [to say] ‘is there something we could do to improve our situation?’.
Right now yes, but that’s clear, everybody knows that, so should I say that again and again and again? It’s like it is.”
Klopp continued to express his sympathy with the desires of supporters, but while stressing that the club “tries what they can” he pointed out that any new arrival is not guaranteed to succeed either way.
I’m a football supporter as well, but I’m not employed as a supporter, I’m employed as a manager. As a supporter I see ‘they need a centre-half and the other team has a good one, so bring him in’. I understand that,” he added.
But my job is not that, my job is really to make the players we have here as strong as possible to deal with it.
And again, would one centre-half help and sort all our problems? For a game or two, then he could be injured as well, we don’t know it! We have to work together, and we did that so far.
And come on, it is the trickiest situation you can imagine, we have three senior centre-halves and they are all injured, that doesn’t happen a lot.
But it happened, and now we have to deal with it, we cannot sort it now in the transfer market.
The club, believe me, tries what they can, but in the end, if they can’t, then we have to do what we did so far, get stronger as a group, stick even more together and fight against the world, if you want.
Fight against the circumstances, strike back with all you have, and make the most special season ever of it when everybody thought ‘so now they have no chance’,” he continued.
We played without three centre-halves and nobody said to us ‘you’ve got a good excuse for not winning football games’ – no, nobody said that.
But it changed everything for us, we played with different centre-halves constantly, we’ve got to change everything, you change the protection, the whole setup is different.
Nobody is interested in that. No pundits, no journalists, nobody says that.
And it’s OK, we are Liverpool, we have to win football games, we know that, that’s what we try all the time. But we deal with the situation as good as we can.”
2 Likes
The current run of poor results is down to the attack rather than the defence though. Since Van Dijk and Gomez went down we’ve been generally solid even with Williams and Phillips getting minutes.
As has been stated countless times, the club is definitely looking for the right option but it won’t buy some random player just for the sake of it. If Edwards pulls out his ace and gets a CB in, so much for the better. If not, which looks the most likely scenario, we’ll still be fine provided that we can get back to the pre Christmas performances.
Either way, Klopp and Edwards will see us through.
2 Likes
You don’t lose if you don’t concede though and therein lies part of the issue when the attack isn’t firing. We’re also not able to play as high a line, we don’t attack with the same directness from the back and the fullbacks can’t gallop on in full confidence that the guys behind them will handle any counters.
Defenders don’t just stop goals going in, they dictate where we set our line on the pitch and that impacts our ability to press and spring counter-attacks by condensing and stretching the pitch on our terms.
I’m not suggesting we buy a random. I’m saying if we can, I’d like to see us buy one of those options Edwards has identified a window earlier than we probably initially planned to.
5 Likes
You are 100% right, Melissa Reddy did an article on it today;
"While Liverpool’s issues at the back have not harmed them in a solidity sense without the ball, it has degraded their offensive powers.
The loss of Van Dijk’s passing range to exploit space and bypass the opposition’s press or Matip and Gomez’s ability to step out with the ball has harmed their build-up play.
While Henderson and Fabinho are both accomplished midfielders with their absence felt in the centre of the park, neither have replicated these crucial elements to start attacks.
Liverpool’s inability to use possession as effectively as they used to has given them more work to do without it."
What we demand from a defender is a pretty dam specific skillset.
4 Likes
Me too. But the idea that their clubs are unwilling to sanction a mid season sale needs to be considered as well.
1 Like
This is what I said. Uncertainty at the back hampers risk and build up. Kolo Toure type signing needed if we do have some cash.
5 Likes
Would pay for him to do this a few times tbh…
19 Likes
I don’t really care about other clubs, so if you want to read their forums then you knock yourself out.
What concerns me is the bias against Liverpool, nothing else.
8 Likes
Dickford are shit 
For me it’s pretty simple.
VVD and Gomez are out all season
Matip will play 2 and then be out for 3-5 games
Fabinho has to stay fit.
We have to sign another CB in the next 3 weeks.
If we do and it’s a good signing then we win the league and have a good go at the champions league and FA Cup.
If we don’t we’ll need to score at least 2 goals but probably 3 each game (on recent form) to do anything.
In short, for me, no CB brought in - no trophies.
8 Likes
You wouldn’t be Connor Dunn by any chance?
7 Likes
The obvious solution is a loan but could we get anyone good? Who has too many CBs out there that would be prepared to loan one out to us?
1 Like
I think it’s important to bear in mind that we haven’t got a fucking clue what’s going on, and buying a new centre back is not easy undertaking.
There are a hundred things that can prevent us getting the right signing over the line, and they should be considered before anyone gets dragged over the coals.
4 Likes
Agreed we don’t know where the club is, we weren’t going sign Thiago let alone Jota at one point in the summer if you listened to the talking heads.
Dunn probably wrote that article in the summer and just edited it.
My personal view is we need to get someone who has top flight experience and fits the back line but let’s see.
4 Likes