Yes I would choose him because he won the fight.
Iād love to see an actual Klopp-lite manager, specifically Nagelsmann, to come and reconstruct the old system with some adjustments.
1 Like
Personally i would like Luis Enrique here but it aint going to happenā¦
Character wise Nagelsmann is closer to a weirdo like Tuchel than Klopp. Difficult to deal with at times. And the football is also different imo.
Nagelsmann wonāt make a decision on his future before the end of the World Cup and with or without Slot I think we will know our head coach for next season in the next three weeks.
6 Likes
A bulk of our buying strategy, and potentially a part of our playing philosophy, recently seems to be around coachability of the player. Grav, Gakpo, Gini, Robo, Mac (to an extent), Henderson and a bunch more. The exceptions seem generally to be on the left, Mane and Diaz. To an extent you have to be coachable but I sometimes wonder if it comes at the expense of fostering predictability and a lack of game intelligence.
Beyond maybe Jones (homegrown), and possibly Isak, I think we are pretty pretty one dimensional.
1 Like
Buy: Wharton, Baleba, Diomande, Hall
Sell: Macca, Grav, Kerkez (possibly Dom)
Baleba can cover for Frimpong/Conor defensively
Hall is solid enough on his own plus far better on the ball than Kerkez. We have width on both flanks from the fullbacks now.
Out of possession, this team can also press with high energy. Including just after losing possession.
And this works with the other players we have.
Might have to sell Dom as well as he wouldnāt be starting in this lineup. Probably will need to given how expensive this is going to be.
2 Likes
Camavinga missed out on the French squad. A little bit of context for those who continue to advocate for him. I wont rule out him becoming a top player but at this point anyone interested in him is still having to buy potential, potential that has failed to flourish after 5 seasons in Madrid where he received plenty of opportunities
4 Likes
Well, that approach overall worked out much better than last summer when we decided to do differently. All of our āartistsā (Wirtz, Ekitike (in big matches), Isak) we bought last summer failed to a certain extent.
1 Like
Iād like to replace Frimpong with a higher tier RB. The best options available are TAA if he decides to run away from Madrid and Livramento, because Timber, Hakimi, Kimmichā¦ are not for sale.
Bradley can always be a backup player.
Also, if Konate leaves Iād like to exercise Quansah buy-back clause.
1 Like
I saw we are being linked with Emi Martinez which would clearly require Alisson to leave.
In fairness though, Iāve just started putting together another stats breakdown (trying to work on my predictor model for next season) and Martinez has been excellent this year while Alisson has, for a second year in a row, actually been below average in terms of shot stopping and goals prevented - in both categories Alisson ranks as the 14th best GK in the league while Martinez ranks 2nd.
Surprisingly first place for goals prevented is Robert Sanchez but he does it on a significantly lower save% so that feels a little random - he probably just made some penalty saves or something which boosted his numbers.
But yeah anyway Iām sure Alisson ranking low on two key stats for two years straight now is concerning for our hierarchy and might help explain why we hear rumours of going to Juventus.
3 Likes
Iād say Ekitike is close to Gakpo than Isak and Isak is quite far from Wirtz in terms of being formulaic. Buy formulaic, I mean easily measured aspects of a profile, low hanging fruit, things like height, weight, speed, pass completion, duels won, injury records, and so on. What it it likely misses are players that play between the stats and players who know where to be and what to do to affect a game (but maybe Iām wrong).
Having a team of players that can run āroutesā for ever is fine if there is a clear philosophy. Klopp had such a philosophy and it made for good/great football viewing. What we might be trying to move towards is more PSG, RM, Barca style of football, where all positions are more fluid and it is less about routes - which requires a different profile of players. Personally I think the price for eating at that table is too rich and we need something a bit more grounded.
p.s. were Isak and Wirtz mistakes? No. They are wonderful players and the fact they have struggled is more down to our confusion than their worth - Iād much rather watch them be rubbish than a team of Gakpos and Ekitikes being great
Canāt fucking stand him.
Outgoings
Alisson, Konate, Robertson, MacAllister, Endo, Chiesa, Elliott, Salah
Not unrealistic if Slot stays, right?
Yeah heās a prick. Pretty good at stopping shots though.
2 Likes
Even better at doing own PR.
Add me to that list GR.
3 Likes
Come on, remember what Shanks said, ā We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrenderā
6 Likes
They are quite realistic to leave even if he doesnāt stay.
2 Likes
Incoming
new Goalkeeper, another new CB (Senesi?), new CM, left sided wide attacker, right sided wide attacker
Sounds realistic, right?
Mind, weāre already talking about āwe have to sell to be able to buyā
1 Like
Yeah, this sounds about right. Iām not sure about Senesiās quality - I also think heās Tottenham-bound - but I agree about the positions the club needs to strengthen, regardless of who the coach is.
That said, I hope Konate stays and helps ease in Jacquet and Leoni, so that the new centre back purchase could be either postponed for the summer of 2027 (or maybe that highly rated youngster from Austria proves to be the real deal by then, who knows).
1 Like