What about Gakpo then?
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Did Pep heavily influence the transfers of Nunez, Diaz, and Gakpo? I think one of Klopp’s mistakes was giving Pep too much power towards the end.
Hopefully we’ll do our recruitment better this time.
I honestly dont get the bagging on Diaz. Like Mane before him, you cannot judge his value just in goals and assists, but also the absolute terror he puts defenses under. Last night he ran himself into the ground yet again, often taking on, and beating, 2 or more defenders and giving them absolute hell. With Mo increasingly becoming a moments player who doesnt seem able anymore to do the same ting on the other side, the outlet to just give Diaz the ball and let him get mazey is even more valuable than when he first joined. I thought last night he was by some distance our most effective forward and one of our better players overall.
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Seen links to Schlotterbeck from Dortmund. That does make sense to me as having a quick scout around and there does seem to be a dearth of up-and-coming left footed CBs. Age profile is right to develop alongside Konate.
Apparently Dortmund have ear-marked him as a future captain so it may be tough to get him though.
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He shouldn’t be judged by his goals and assists like Mane, but the latter had almost doubled Diaz’s goal tally at this stage of his Liverpool career.
It’s not that I think that he should be sold because he isn’t good enough. He is a hell of a dribbler, works really hard and when he’s on song, he’s a sight to behold. I still expect more output from his position though, and I’ve grown tired of seeing him running in circles, often killing momentum. If some foreign club places a good offer, I think we should take it. Someone younger and more direct could probably replicate Diaz’s production.
What about him? He’s young and he is a stud. What else is there to say?
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Yeah but you didn’t mention Gakpo, who’s also someone who’s “not named Gapko”…
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Diaz also puts in a massive shift in defensively where Mo gets mostly a bit of a free pass in that aspect.
I also think this is the reason why our hierarchy may not be prepared to pay what Mo wants and why he may leave as they see there is a lot of pressure on RB, Szob and Grav to cover an oppositions overlapping full back.
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But Mane had Bobby alongside him to link with and that is massive compared to Jota and Darwin as our focal point down the middle.
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It’s called balance, many teams have those protective mechanisms for certain individuals. It’s partly how we got incredible numbers from Salah for 8 years straight. In Ancelotti’s first era at Real, he found perfect balance for Ronaldo at the time; using Marcelo, Di Maria as the energetic LCM #8, Benzema’s blossom as a link up false #9, etc.
That balance is helping us to be on course of a highly successful season.
Overrated
Never seen him play (or if I did I didn’t notice him) but I meant more in terms of his profile - left-footed, left-sided CB who is similar age to Konate.
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True, but he also wasn’t as one-dimensional as Diaz.
I think Diaz is a better dribbler but Mane was more explosive and also excellent in the air but passing was also a weakness of Sadio, not that Diaz is much better.
But I think we all would take prime Mane over Diaz, but Bobby was the glue in our front 3 in many ways
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Mane was better and more complete. He had a period off the right, his peak on the left, even did a job centrally (as did Diaz at times this season). Could go both ways. Athletically fantastic, very solid in duels, could finish with variety. Diaz has a bit more skills. Yesterday we saw a situation where Diaz took it inside the box on his left side, but didn’t trust trying with his left.
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I do think if we are going for that striker then Jonathan David is a good a shout as any.
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Am I right in thinking he is out of contract in the summer?
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Such a shit forward line up which has scored over 100 goals this season so far which includes 69 in league which is top scores.
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If we get David on a free, it might enable us to go big on another forward, probably a winger, assuming we change two of the group up top. Might be a clever way to do it.
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Diaz is one dimensional?
He primarily likes getting it to his feet and running at the defender, but when he does he can go past them on either side and with variety in how he does it. But he is also dangerous going long and chasing balls. He’s become increasing adept at coming inside and attacking the box. Last night about the closest we came to scoring (a legitimate goal) was a header of his from a corner.
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Compared to Mane, yes.
No one said that it’s a shit forward line.