You’ve listed some names, but just as you accused me of before, you’ve provided no context.
What about Agger, who at that stage of his career was hopped up on painkillers just to get through matches, was injured for most of that season and only made 21 appearances in all comps?
Or Aurelio who, true to form, was out for half that season with an achilles injury?
Or Johnson, who was lambasted throughout his LFC career for his lack of defensive nous?
Or Meireles, who lasted all of one season because he just wasn’t that good?
Or Torres, who was a shadow of his former self due to injuries, managed 9 goals and quit us in January to fall almost completely off the radar at Chelsea?
I can go through that list and make similar cases, whether it’s age, injury issues or simply not being much good.
Again, we have a number of issues in the squad and in my estimation are a good 5-6 signings off being able to properly compete next season. The key point, however, is that we’re at the very start of the summer and players will arrive. If we’re lucky it’ll be most of what we need, but we’ll have to be a bit patient and see who comes in before claiming this is the worst Liverpool squad in 50 years.
People were seriously talking about the prospect of relegation in that 2010/11 season for goodness sake.
You are thinking about that team on paper, and putting it against the one you’ve just seen struggle. That’s team we’re full of players who at that point were past it or never as good as fans thought (Agger is imo the most overrated Liverpool player of my lifetime and it’s amazing what tattooing YNWA on your knuckles can do to your standing here). It’s very much a team that Gerrard carried.
Nah, this squad isn’t worse than that one. There’s also been a few other squads to enter the discussion. You can also look at it in different ways. There’s also been changes in that ex-Rafa to Roy/Kenny. Some players left, some players’ levels dropped, etc.
This squad has high quality individuals, but in my opinion it’s not assembled well. A lack of balance and clarity. I had no idea what we were trying to build when I looked at everything on September 1st. Questions that are also awaiting on Iraola’s (and Hughes’!) desk, they haven’t gone away.
But still, it’s not that bad. If it was, we would’ve probably ended up where we did in a number of those seasons.
I think with our players and going back to a pressing system I can see us going back to a 433 which allows the midfield to press higher and eliminates the need for a 10.
This is what I think a minimal summer for us looks like (not a prediction nedcessarily but what we need to do at the very least). I see a new winger, coming in for the right hand side, a new CB and two midfielders. Squad rotation will be important so two players per role will I think go back to being the norm.
God help us then. He was one of the most overrated and frustrating players in my 60 odd years watching Liverpool. I thought he was an awful full back but I guess time dulls the memory.
A player who constantly got criticized for being more interested in attacking than getting back to defend, but who actually typically did the hard work to cover back into position when we lost the ball but then did absolutely fuck all once he got back into his correct defensive position.
And cost I think 18m pounds in a time when that was a large fee and we rarely had that kind of money to spend on players further up the pitch that could have made a difference.
I think that’s too large, probably won’t be that much (and yes, I know as things stand we’re likely to start the season without Bradley and especially Ekitike).
I love LOVE LOVE Conor. But he can’t do anything while in a cast. And I fear he will never get over these injuries. I’d love to see the Bradley that thundered through Mbappe back but when will that happen?
Frimpong is FAST but too small and timid as a fullback.
Joe. Class player both as a CB and RB. But can’t even last whole matches let alone a whole season.
I am not sure where that comes from? He’s got a bad knee injury, it’s worse than was initially thought (according to a random twitter user, although the Northern irish coach said he is making good progress) but I’ve not seen any speculation that it’s career threatening?
But as I said above I think this is the minimum amount of work needed, not the ideal amount of work.
Wirtz can play left wing no problem. He’ll drift all over the place and make himself a pain in the arse.
I dont think anyone knows, but it is a totally viable option for us (think how we typically lined up with Coutinho on the left of a 3) and so where a lot of people speculated he would play when we first signed him - he WAS the Diaz replacement.
Not in any detail, but I remember Balde being talked about for a while as a very promising, speedy LB, and Roony (lol) Bardghji was meant to be a really good attacking prospect when he went to Barca.
Balde is a surprise as he seemed to lock down the LB position. He’s young and athletic and you’d imagine still very teachable about defending. If he moves I’d imagine it would be to a team expecting to compete. I wonder if there is a new contract coming up they just dont want to pay for?
Casado makes more sense for them because they are absolutely loaded in CM talent. He is the sort of player that if he was already here you could definitely see us making some use out of - a combative DM who protects the ball very well. But I dont think he’s shown enough to justify a move to a club of this size and likely will need to make an intermediate step to somewhere he can really establish himself before that sort of move is available to him.
I may be haunted by the ghost of Rob Jones, but the latest reports weren’t optimistic. At any rate he won’t be available at the start of the season and, given the churn at RB last season, I’d think some stability there would be a priority, especially as there’ll be a new right sided centre back coming in. Maybe Iraola will find a way to use Frimpong effectively or make JoGo injury resistant, but I wouldn’t bet on it.
I think Frimpong could become really good if used correctly. One of the benefits of going to a 433 instead of a 4231 would be the extra cover that midfield can give to those wide areas - just let Kerkez and Frimpong run up and down all day long.
The squad needs to be fitter and it needs similarly talented players to come off the bench or rotate in across the course of the season. I think that has to be the priority.
We can’t keep sending coaches into seasons with limited numbers, or at least limited numbers that they are willing to use.
