Schlotterrightcenterbeck doesnt have the same ring
I like the look of Elliot Anderson, only seen him in England games and the opposition hasnāt been much to shout about, but he looks good both on and off the ball. moving the ball quickly when in possession, Also, Mobile and wins the ball back effectively.
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At long, fucking last, a central defender.
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That lad Maguire looks useful 
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Donāt get me wrong. I love Macca. But heās never been the most physically robust or pacy midfielder by current premier league standards.
And he is even less effective when heās playing with knocks. Not going to improve as Argentina seems heavily dependent on him.
Might not be a bad idea to get one of the Brighton lads like Baleba to replace him
He may not the quick, but I see him as a tough cookie, especially when heās fit and in form. He receives some, but can also be nasty (Thiago was the same or even more so, gotta be careful not to be overaggressive).
I donāt see Argentina being so dependant on him, they have other quality midfielders and some up and coming ones, very talented. Heās been used in different roles.
I donāt like the idea of trying to replace him, heās very important to us and basically the only midfielder we have of that type.
Since we are much more double-pivot under Slot than under Klopp, itās very important to have the right partnerships at the base.
We cannot just throw players randomly with each other, we need the right blend of skills.
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Baleba is a good player but probably not what we need. Weāve already got a deep lying midfielder in Gravenberch who canāt pass the ball to save his life, we donāt need more mediocrity in the build up phase. The defensive side of it would be improved but we need more quality with the ball.
A proper footballer like Elliot Anderson and/or Adam Wharton would be nice.
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Iād be all over Semenyo in January if the rumours of him having a reasonable release clause are true, would be a significant upgrade on Gakpo on the left side.
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Yeah both those are very good players, very surprised at how good Anderson has looked for England, very efficient footballer, does everything well
Mac Allister is a smashing player and when he gets back to his best he will really help us. With that said, if Wirtz is going to be a mainstay as the attacking midfielder, I could see an argument for a more athletic midfielder than Mac Allister. At that point for me I like the look of Wharton. As a leftie he also beings another ingredient to the midfield pot, as the majority of midfielders are right footed.
I could see a scenario where Macca ends up going to Spain and we sign Wharton. But thatās not me wishing Macca out the door. Heās a smashing player and I will be delighted if he stays for years to come.
Pity Caicedo turned us down as he would be a monster for us
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Fuck him
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Thought that was saved for Szob 
Thatās what I felt and loved he had an iffy start, but he is very very good at what he does.
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WTF?
Just for starters:
https://youtube.com/shorts/cWqVT0TEnq8?si=B-cnftbK-Mzwy5JM
Retract your comment before you look like an even bigger muppet
If we are talking of signing players, then we want 2 CBs, a deep lying midfielder/someone who can take workload off Grav, a RB unless Conor or Frimpong cement the roll this season, and someone to take Moās place; in that order. Mo has probably already been replaced and without doubt we need to bring in cover at CB. Iād like to see Guehi plus another unless Ibou stays as I donāt think we can rely on having 4 when 1 is notoriously unreliable (JoGo); 1 has had a season ending injury before playing 20 career games; and 1 will turn 35 before next season.
Iād buy 5 players again, worked so well this season.
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While I do agree with the sentiment, I was having a chat with my mates during the match last night and we all agreed that interest in Caicedo wasnāt a consequence of vanity or desire to make a statement - he is the player this midfield needed at the time and probably the kind of midfielder it needs now to provide a shield to defence and ball-carrying ability between defence and attack.
While I think that @ILLOKās assessment of Gravenberchās passing ability is harsh (in terms of short passing), he has that ball-carrying ability our midfield needs but it will count for nothing if Slot allows our teamās build-up to depend on whether opponents crowd him out. That image of empty circle around the middle of the park, where our midfield is supposed to be, is haunting. Prime Busquets and Xavi wouldnāt be able to resolve that, let alone Wharton or Anderson (though I rate them both highly).
It really bothers me that even after all the player turnover in the summer, the team will still have to buy a centre back, a central midfielder and a right winger next winter/summer. That said, Slot has to make the most out of what he has at his disposal at this moment and form a functioning unit first, starting with midfield. Mac Allisterās form has fallen off a cliff, as has Salahās, so the two of them should be benched for the moment.
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Gravenberch can pass a ball, that is not the question here.
The thing is, not every time one of our deep midfielders gets the ball needs to lead to a pass that breaks lines (and yes, we need a bit more of that) or a dribble through the middle. Most of the time, these things are not on. And when there are not on, we absolutely donāt want it to become chaos. Itās dangerous going the other way if weāre not compact and start forcing it too early. Weāve actually seen it many times with different Liverpool teams.
Slot himself said near the end of last season, while praising Gravenberchās overall season, that he can improve his passing game. You cannot do those trick first touches when he beats a man all the time. To be one of the double pivots under Slot or even the single one (so far I think weāre more suited to play double pivots), youāre gonna need to be a quality passer. And that doesnāt mean being able to pass accurately from A to B, but what type of passing.
Sometimes you need what can be the āunpopularā decision, play a bit shorter but with quality and intelligence, play the extra pass among themselves, attract pressure. Things cannot go always 200mph vertically. Even under Klopp, when our style was more direct, itās just not possible (no matter how good your counter-pressing is). And even then we tried to evolve in possession all the time. Need to take care of the ball well and then accelerate, switch, penetrate. When the ball zips around, thatās when youāre the fastest in a quality way.
Mac is the closest thing to our controlling midfielder (followed by Jones, especially on a good day, consistency is where heās lacking a bit). Even Macās not really amazing at it (heās more of a Gundogan type whoās got a nous for appearing forward, rather than just being a specialist passer from deep), but when heās at his best, thatās when we had the most control in midfield under Slot. And Slot near the end of last season said he wanted to add more control and more domination. Though right now, weāre not in a position to talk about this, since we have to sort out our balance first.
In terms of building from deep, I wasnāt impressed with Kerkez when he tucked in alongside Virgil to be our LCB in that first phase of the game. We were always on the verge of a mistake, passes going backwards, triggers for the opponents to happily press. The ball didnāt flow well forward from that zone. It looked worse than with Robbo doing it last season. What Kerkez has over Robbo right now is pure physicality (the Robboās ex-ability to swerve a croissant of a cross from a bit far), nothing else. So that is also linked to how we build from behind, weāve added some very unusual choices at FB.
The defensive part of our midfield will I think improve when the defensive part of the attack improves. And we become more compact from top to bottom. Thatās not to say there can be poor individual displays defensively. Itās a team game, but you also have to try and win your battles, when they are there to be fought.
Thinking more long-term, obviously we had other priorities this summer (one which we failed to get over the line) and itās just not possible to get all things done in one window. Endo will probably be gone at the end of this season, so maybe we will keep an eye for a new quality midfielder from deep (so we have, say, 4 quality options who we fully trust that we can rotate and pick the right partnerships). Still a long way to go until then, first we have to see how the likes of Wirtz and Szoboszlai will settle in this team.
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Iām a bit surprised thereās been pushback on that, I didnāt think anyone was still under the impression Gravenberch is a good passer of the ball. Heās so limited itās just kinda obvious he isnāt. If he canāt spin his man heās a bit clueless what to do with it.
He has some good qualities, passing isnāt one of them. Trent did that for him.
We need better from the deep positions, that much is clear.
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