The Official Liverpool FC Thread [Vol 20]

[type-r]

ferrisbueller said:

We've almost become accustomed to having a belief that almost any game was winnable and we could be competitive and we've enjoyed a lot of success

Ferris, I agree a lot of what you've said but in particular the above. Before, in fact probably between 1990 to 2016, we never knew which Liverpool would turn up to certain games. Sometimes we'd look like world beaters and the next we'd easily lose to a relegation side. We were a model of inconsistency. And so what Klopp brought was feeling of calm when any game approached. We knew we'd almost certainly win and it would be a surprise (and an annoyance) when we did drop points. Consistency became a constant. Sofas could be left in place. That feeling was priceless - I remember thinking that it's so easy to take this for period for granted - which inevitably I did - our attack and pressing was pretty much too much for nearly all teams.

I'm not sure Klopp wanted more money from FSG - or at least that was what he said publicly. I guess we'll find out when he publishes his autobiography. I think Klopp always liked to work with the players he had. I think he felt he could always improve what he had and having a tight-knit group who knew each other, knew his methods - that was more important to him than just buying 1 or 2 additional new players every window. He expected players be flexible and play in more than one position to cover injuries. He spoke about it a lot. That thinking was probably Klopp's achilles heel in some respects - it may be FSG hamstringing possibly - I've spoken before about Klopp not being ruthless enough and at times perhaps too stubborn - but that is his nature. He believes in the players he has and it may have cost us a few extra titles but ultimately Klopp was more than just 1 or 2 extra trophies.

[TownIdiot]

Klopp's record looks different with the two extra titles we missed out on by a point, both of those were extraordinary seasons, as does Pep's with a city.

Fine margins in a fantastic roller coaster ride.

[Flip Martian]

ferrisbueller said:

SWoll said:

Adam. said:

Chat GPT says (though ederson now out)

Argentina:
Emiliano Martínez (Aston Villa)
Enzo Fernández (Chelsea)
Julián Álvarez (Manchester City)

Brazil:
Alisson Becker (Liverpool)
Ederson (Manchester City)

Colombia:
Luis Díaz (Liverpool)
Davinson Sánchez (Tottenham Hotspur)

Ecuador:
Moisés Caicedo (Chelsea)
Pervis Estupiñán (Brighton & Hove Albion)

Mexico:
Edson Álvarez (West Ham United)
Raúl Jiménez (Fulham)

Uruguay:
Darwin Núñez (Liverpool)
Rodrigo Bentancur (Tottenham Hotspur)

Paraguay:
Miguel Almirón (Newcastle United)

Missing Mac Allister for Argentina + Garbriel & Martinelli (ARS), Paqueta (WHU), Gumareas (NU) and Richarlison (TH) for Brazil.

Adam. said:

Euros:

England
Goalkeepers: Jordan Pickford (Everton), Aaron Ramsdale (Arsenal), Nick Pope (Newcastle United).
Defenders: Kyle Walker (Manchester City), John Stones (Manchester City), Harry Maguire (Manchester United), Luke Shaw (Manchester United), Kieran Trippier (Newcastle United), Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool), Joe Gomez (Liverpool).
Midfielders: Declan Rice (Arsenal), Jude Bellingham (Real Madrid), Jordan Henderson (Ajax), James Maddison (Tottenham Hotspur), Conor Gallagher (Chelsea).
Forwards: Harry Kane (Bayern Munich), Bukayo Saka (Arsenal), Phil Foden (Manchester City), Marcus Rashford (Manchester United), Jack Grealish (Manchester City), Ollie Watkins (Aston Villa)

Other nations

Belgium: Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City), Romelu Lukaku (Chelsea).
France: William Saliba (Arsenal), Raphael Varane (Manchester United), Ibrahima Konaté (Liverpool).
Portugal: Bruno Fernandes (Manchester United), João Palhinha (Fulham), Rúben Dias (Manchester City).
Spain: Rodri (Manchester City), David Raya (Arsenal).
Netherlands: Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool), Nathan Aké (Manchester City).
Denmark: Christian Eriksen (Manchester United), Pierre-Emile Højbjerg (Tottenham Hotspur).

Gakpo and Grav are also in the Netherlands squad. Szobo is Hungary captain.

Edited by SWoll on Monday 20th May 15:58

https://www.theguardian.com/football/article/2024/may/10/brazil-ditch-casemiro-richarlison-and-gabriel-jesus-for-copa-america

So...don't bother with ChatGPT if you want an accurate answer.

[paulrockliffe]

type-r said:

It's official.

https://www.liverpoolfc.com/news/arne-slot-become-...

I think it was officiall yesterday when Klopp had the stadium singing Slot's name!

[epom]

Doesn’t sound like a man heading for the sands….

[Flip Martian]

Mo is a perfectionist, self driven to create and break records. Last thing he probably wants to do is leave without being "back on top" and being perceived to have failed.

But I am fascinated to see what impact Slot has on the squad - who will go, who will stay, who won't get as many games as they have been getting, who will get more... Interesting times.

[SWoll]

Flip Martian said:

So...don't bother with ChatGPT if you want an accurate answer.

Yep. All it's doing is a web search so as always, st in, st out.

epom said:

[Doesn’t sound like a man heading for the sands….

Talk is cheap as they say.

I'll be happy whatever he decides to do. I do fear he's on the downslope now and won't be putting up the kind of numbers he has over the years next season, at least not from the wing.

Flip Martian said:

But I am fascinated to see what impact Slot has on the squad - who will go, who will stay, who won't get as many games as they have been getting, who will get more... Interesting times.

With the new CL format there will be plenty of match time to go around. 50 games guarateed next season, and 60+ a possibility if we go further than the opening rounds in multiple competitions..

[Adam.]

Flip Martian said:

But I am fascinated to see what impact Slot has on the squad - who will go, who will stay, who won't get as many games as they have been getting, who will get more... Interesting times.

Indeed

I am realistic and a slight sways refresh and top 4 would be a good season for a new manager.

On the plus side a fresh set of eyes with no bias may help us make some tricky decisions

[Pommy]

Beyond another DM, a CM to allow Mac to be the number 10 we wanted and a solid CB to partner Virg we have a very good squad.

I hope for not much change.

[SWoll]

Pommy said:

Beyond another DM, a CM to allow Mac to be the number 10 we wanted and a solid CB to partner Virg we have a very good squad.

I hope for not much change.

For me we've already got Konate, Quansah and Gomez who can partner Virgil at the back, and our issues in the centre of defence are more about how we setup than personnel. Trent playing inverted RB leaves us way too open and regularly splits the CB pairing, and Endo at 6 isn't quick enough to offer the cover required. I also hope we scrap the zonal marking setup that has leaked so may poor goals from set pieces this season (1/4 of our total).

Assuming no-one up front leaves, I'd suggest we need to go big for a top class 6 and potentially give some thought to LB also as Robbo's contribution of 2 assists in 30 games this season is a pale imitation of what he used to offer despite him still getting into plenty of advanced positions. I'd sell Tsimi to help fund it

We're then left with the Trent quandary again as look a better side with Bradley at RB, he can't play at 6, and we've got multiple 8/10's already.

[Flip Martian]

With our new sporting director, his assistant AND Slot, I suspect "hanging on to players for perhaps a little too long" will be a thing of the past.

I guess how many leave will depend on how much money and salaries need to be freed up to bring anyone identified IN. It may be that with this being a difficult window anyway thanks to the tournaments, and all our decision makers coming in to the job afresh, perhaps this Summer won't see a lot happen.

[SWoll]

Flip Martian said:

With our new sporting director, his assistant AND Slot, I suspect "hanging on to players for perhaps a little too long" will be a thing of the past.

I guess how many leave will depend on how much money and salaries need to be freed up to bring anyone identified IN. It may be that with this being a difficult window anyway thanks to the tournaments, and all our decision makers coming in to the job afresh, perhaps this Summer won't see a lot happen.

The biggest job for those guys this summer is sorting out Salah, Trent and Virgil's contracts. Having 3 top players with a combined value of £200m+ get to 12 months left is not great, especially when you have such a huge change occurring in leadership.

On transfers in ,Thiago, Matip and Adrian going has already freed up around £400k from the wage bill in the past week and with CL qualifying in the bag I'd expect we have a reasonable budget to play with?

Trent already on £180k a week so how much of that £400k would a new contract realistically eat up? An innrease to £250k a week would easily make him our second highest earner after Mo.

[type-r]

I know it's been mooted before on here but if Trent is potentially an overpriced "spare part" this coming season, if Slot does away with the inverted role, should we cash in now or could he successfully be converted to right midfield?

I'm just not sure he is able to improve the defensive side of his game; he looks an amateur at times with constant ball watching and then realising he has to run, when the oppo player is already in behind.

[CountyAFC]

With Slot we have the lost the "players want to play for Klopp" when buying someone.

We'll be back to using the clubs cache, as opposed to manager and club.

[SWoll]

type-r said:

I know it's been mooted before on here but if Trent is potentially an overpriced "spare part" this coming season, if Slot does away with the inverted role, should we cash in now or could he successfully be converted to right midfield?

I'm just not sure he is able to improve the defensive side of his game; he looks an amateur at times with constant ball watching and then realising he has to run, when the oppo player is already in behind.

It's a tough one isn't it? Been saying for quite a while that to get the best out of him and reduce the liability he needs to be playing in a far more advanced role. The square peg in a round hole stuff needs to stop as causes us more issues than it resolves.

I'm hoping the change in coaching and messaging will help him to develop further as he's a fantastic footballer and local lad, but his contributions over the past 2 seasons have been pretty average in all honesty and struggle to justify a potential £250k+ a week contract IMHO.

CountyAFC said:

With Slot we have the lost the "players want to play for Klopp" when buying someone.

We'll be back to using the clubs cache, as opposed to manager and club.

What Klopp has done is significantly raised the clubs cache, but we've still struggled if other big European sides have been in the running for players we are interested in during his tenure. Qualifying for the CL again and a recent history of making it to the final will play a bigger part for most I'd expect.

[TownIdiot]

I'd say the priority would have to be a high quality defensively minded midfielder.
For the money Endo has done well but he isn't top class

Ideally one with high levels of sthouse ability as we are lacking in that department.

If I was a player entering the last year of my contract now I'd be holding out to see how it goes, although the options for VvD and Salah in terms of moving to a top European team will be limited by age and they will still be a bit young (and good) for Saudi.

I'd certainly look at swapping out one of Nunez and Diaz as we definitely need something different up top.

[SWoll]

TownIdiot said:

I'd say the priority would have to be a high quality defensively minded midfielder.
For the money Endo has done well but he isn't top class

Ideally one with high levels of sthouse ability as we are lacking in that department.

Guimarães would be top of the list for me, but there will be plenty of competition and he'll cost £100m...

50 games, 7 goals, 10 assists, great defensive numbers and very rarely gets injured. And despite being one of the best sthouses in the prem, he's still got booked less often than Endo this season.

[type-r]

Quansah and Curtis expected to be named in Euro 2024 provisional squad. Excellent reward for both, even if they don't make the final cut.

Henderson expected to be dropped.

Right moves on all counts. Elliott very unlucky not be included.

[SWoll]

type-r said:

Quansah and Curtis expected to be named in Euro 2024 provisional squad. Excellent reward for both, even if they don't make the final cut.

Henderson expected to be dropped.

Right moves on all counts. Elliott very unlucky not be included.

Why you would pick Curtis over Harvey is beyond me, he's barely played since the end of Feb. Great news for Quansah though, what an amazing first season he's had.

Edited by SWoll on Tuesday 21st May 12:54

[Adam.]

Get down

https://x.com/Watch_LFC/status/1792413328842866726