Liverpool FC Forum

[woof woof !]

Here's a load of waffle from me ..   

The fallacy in football is the belief that new players are so much better (worth millions more) than the current players. Good example for us is that Glen Johnson was better than Steve Finnan. We bought Johnson after buying Arbeloa and Phillip Degen, so Johnson was 3 steps from Finnan and arguably never as good as Finnan who was still in his prime with Espanyōl. Millions and millions had changed hands out of the club over less than 3 years trying to find someone MUCH BETTER than Finnan.

There are too many fallacies, delusions and vanities in football for it to be in anyway logical or sustainable.
Klopp has decided to push his current crop to greatness, which he did. Now we’re getting regression to the mean unfortunately.

But just because we're looking for replacement players, it doesn't mean they'll be better that what we've got.
Case in point, United spending 135 million on Wan Bassaka and now Antony at right back. Any fool can spend money, it's how you spend it that counts.

Understand what you're saying Reg,  BUT ! there are times when no matter how good they have been a players availability has to be taken into account.

We've been talking about a problem in midfield. Are you suggesting we can't improve on what what we've got by just waiting for Klopp to "push his current crop to greatness" ?

Looking forward I've got serious concerns about, Thiago and Henderson in particular.

A fully fit Thiago would be one of the first names on the teamsheet but in his time with us how many times has he been fully fit ? Hendo also increasingly injury prone .

We have an increasingly ageing midfield that as I've said elsewhere is a "pick and mix" of who ever is available. I'm not suggesting that whoever we bring in would be better that a fully fit Thiago or Hendo , I'm just hoping it would be someone who is a seasoned player who could maybe play up to their level and perhaps more importantly actually be available to play

[red till i die!!]

Here's a load of waffle from me ..   

The fallacy in football is the belief that new players are so much better (worth millions more) than the current players. Good example for us is that Glen Johnson was better than Steve Finnan. We bought Johnson after buying Arbeloa and Phillip Degen, so Johnson was 3 steps from Finnan and arguably never as good as Finnan who was still in his prime with Espanyōl. Millions and millions had changed hands out of the club over less than 3 years trying to find someone MUCH BETTER than Finnan.

There are too many fallacies, delusions and vanities in football for it to be in anyway logical or sustainable.
Klopp has decided to push his current crop to greatness, which he did. Now we’re getting regression to the mean unfortunately.

But just because we're looking for replacement players, it doesn't mean they'll be better that what we've got.
Case in point, United spending 135 million on Wan Bassaka and now Antony at right back. Any fool can spend money, it's how you spend it that counts.

You cant sit still as a club. Players age Reg and ability deteriorates with it so you have to keep on top of it which we haven't been doing. 

It is a gamble with the fees but imo it evens itself out. Some players you pay big money for turn put to be duds and others who cost very little get sold for profit. Are we really giving ourselves the best chance to improve every season and the answer is no. The hunt now for a mid is reactionary after what everyone knew would happen did. The RB situation is another joke as in letting a competent player leave for profit. Trent has bad days and we needed back up but somehow ended up with 10mil profit and some lad bought for pennies who will not feature for us this season in anything meaningful. He will be like a new player next year though!!

I genuinely think a lot of our fans get more of a buzz from our accounts ahead of winning trophies. I don't care what we spend on players because we earn enough money. One of the biggest Clubs in the world we are and one of the biggest earners from it as well. At least with other clubs you can see the money being spent but in our case we need it just to breakeven.
I am not saying we should go and bankrupt the club by signing players for ridiculous money either but the focus should always be to improve the team which we don't. We spend as little as we can every year and knowing this we still expect to win everything other than the net spend league. 

After 12 years of ownership and given how much the club has grown during that time do you not think what we are spending now is scabby and disappointing!!

[UvS xR4GEx]

Looks like we've run Henderson into the ground and it looks like he's pulled his hamstring. Tonight could have saved our season if we make big decisions investing into the team tomorrow. How many signs do we need..

[7_Kewell]

Looks like we've run Henderson into the ground and it looks like he's pulled his hamstring. Tonight could have saved our season if we make big decisions investing into the team tomorrow. How many signs do we need..

Hopefully he gets the time he gets the time he needs to rest and recover.

Hendo has been awful so far this season. And we need to sign a long term replacement.

[woof woof !]

After today's game and our lacklustre start to the season I think we have to accept that the team is in a period of transition.

Early days I know but any chance of a prem title is already out the window.

I guess we're just gonna have to be patient this season whilst we rebuild.

In all honesty I'm not expecting us to pick up any silverware this season.

In fact I'm concerned that if our form doesn't quickly improve we might find ourselves struggling to make top four !

Some might talk about stats and how much possession we've had in game after game and how unlucky we've been .

BUT , as some one said !

"It's not about how much possession you have of the ball, it's what you do with it ! "

Our once blistering pace and quick passing on the attack seems to have disappeared. Perhaps our tactics need a reboot ? We now rarely get the space for our "speed merchants" to run into.

Oppo  teams of inferior quality now increasingly sit deep with 9 or 10 players behind the ball as we aimlessly pass the ball from side to side looking for a way through, while they patiently wait for a mistake from us to allow a quick counter.

f*ck it ! I'm tired, guess I'll go back to playing football manager tonight where I know we'll win something   

[kazza]

I think you are right about having to look at this year as a rebuilding year, it was inevitable really. I do think we are still a good side as the stats suggest. We controls games but we are not able to find that magic with the finish. Salah is not his normal self and that is why we are struggling. I never though I’d say it but we really miss Mane, he made Salah better. I do think we will start scoring hopefully with the competition of Jota.

[Penguins]

I said during the summer we should have sold Salah. On the wrong side of 30 and wanting an insane salary. What do you do if he continues being *****?
You will basically not get anything for him cause of his insane wage packet...

[redshade]

Odd how you get an end of an era feeling. Feels like we've peaked and are on decline now. However, like many we are in a transitional phase, you can say Klopp is aiming to create another side. All depends now how well the young lads gel in and how the rest do. This is going to be a difficult season for us. Let's just hope we at least get a UCL spot.

[UvS xR4GEx]

Ox and Naby have been left out of the UCL squad. Obviously Ox has a long term injury.. but I feel there's been something going on abit deeper with Naby, some kind of falling out and that's why he's been excluded.

[Pig Catcher]

Ox and Naby have been left out of the UCL squad. Obviously Ox has a long term injury.. but I feel there's been something going on abit deeper with Naby, some kind of falling out and that's why he's been excluded.

Our final group game is 1st November. So I'm guessing neither of them will be up and running in the the next 6-8 weeks. We can register them for the knockout stages assuming we qualify. Signing of Arthur makes more sense now.

[woof woof !]

Ox and Naby have been left out of the UCL squad. Obviously Ox has a long term injury.. but I feel there's been something going on abit deeper with Naby, some kind of falling out and that's why he's been excluded.

In all honesty for me, "Naby" can just f*ck off ! Done f*ck all in his time at the club has never been any where near the hype that surrounded his signing.

When he's played have we ever gone "WoW"      I certainly haven't.

And when he hasn't played , have we missed him ? 

Just another player who looked good in a less competitive league but failed to step up to the Big Time 

[Reg]

Talk around Liverpool is that it’s an “entourage” problem - agents, sub agents , family and other hanger ons….he’s played more 90 minute games / ie games he started AND finished - for Guinea than LFC ….in the past two seasons. Should of sold him 18 months ago.

[kazza]

The elephant in the room….. losing Mane

As good as he was as an offensive player he was an even better defensive player for us and I think it is why our press has gone and we are a lot more vulnerable defensively. I don’t think Diaz is as strong as Mane even though he tries and not sure he defends as well. The amount of interceptions that Mane would make, both up high and defensively is not being repeated by Diaz and the difference is beginning to show. Diaz could probably replace his goal tally, and that is saying something but not sure he will give is the defensive industry that Mane did, and Klopp needs to find an alternative/ solution to that problem.

[UvS xR4GEx]

I think Diaz definitely tries, he probably tries too hard to be honest and with that finds himself out of position because of this.

The way we pressed was really clever, we would cut off angles for any outlets and we would force teams to either lose the ball in dangerous areas or we would force them to play aimless longballs.

Mane/Naby/Robbo worked really well as a three.. they set traps and all 3 worked really hard off of the ball to force errors. I think Thiago is a different type of player, more of a luxury player so your not gonna get that same press from him.. and Diaz isn't as aggressive as Mane aswell. Also Robbo and Diaz seem to have a communication barrier and don't seen to be forming as tight of relationship Mane and Robbo had.

Then on the other side we had Salah, Hendo, Trent. Now we know how successful they were aswell. Hendo and Salah worked their butt's of defensively, and also set the same kinds of traps to force errors from teams. With Harvey coming in, he's less physical, he's not got the same energy or commitment Hendo has to press so players are getting dragged out of position to cover gaps left. Harvey hasn't got the recovery pace to get back and help Trent when teams counter us.

We've lost our personalty and tried to copy what City have done with keeping possession and patiently waiting for teams to make mistakes.. and City are now playing like we used to with the high press, forcing errors, and catching teams on the counter attack.

[Reg]

Feeling pretty concerned seeing how Arsenal and Spurs have finally got their acts together after many years in the wilderness. I'll settle for top 4 right now whilst the club works out what's gone wrong and puts plans in place to rectify it. LFC needs chanpions league and it's now unavoidable that we have to rebuild the squad whilst also changing our style of football to become less predictable. Big job. Klopp's a big guy. If he wants to take his place amongst the greats he has to rebuild the team.