Liverpool FC Forum

[Reg]

I've berated the club for failing to move on the deadwood for 18 months now and last nights performance against Leicester demonstrated how toothless the tiger has become. Our famous high energy press is gone, the Ox looks older than me, Hendo has slowed and whilst still a great leader is not the engine room he once was. Elliot needs more time, leaving Thiago to hold the fort, which in fairness he has done in the last 2 games. At the same time Fabinho appears to be slowing and our super fullbacks aren't the kids they used to be.

Rather than rant, I'll hand over to this lad on twitter who makes some very good points.

https://twitter.com/joel_archie/status/ ... acMNsJ30DQ

Hopefully there's still time to have a happy new year!

[woof woof !]

Think you're preaching to the choir there Reg. Everybody apart from Jurgen and staff seems to recognise the our midfield is living on life support.  Maybe Jurgen and co know something we don't ?

Either way despite 4 wins on the bounce (one a post xmas gift from Leicester) performance wise I'm starting to lose the belief that we will make the top four this term. Unless there's a dramatic change in players form and some heart surgery in midfield I'm thinking we can say goodbye to CL footy next season.

All the positive talk about Bellingham being an almost nailed on certainty to join us has gone off the boil as other clubs throw their hats into the ring. No doubt he would be a great signing but even if he somehow joins us , which I'm now doubting, it's going to take more than one skilled but still young player to give us a dominant midfield. IMO we need a couple of enforcers with legs and a brain to bolster our midfield.

Sadly I don't know where we'll find them but maybe players like Morocco's Arabat and Wolves' Nunes could add some much needed grit, stamina and skill to the squad ?

[Reg]

Surprise surprise I agree with everything you say Woof.

Ox, Milner and Naby are finished, Hendo has 12 months, Curtis Jones is still half cooked and Elliot and Carvalho aren't ready. There's a real skills gap between what we need and what we have so we need a minimum of 2 players to play with Thiago. We've arrived at the point of having to throw the bank at Bellingham to keep the ball rolling. He's not available until summer so what are we going to do this January window? Who's available NOW?

[kazza]

You say we need two players to play with Thiago but Thiago is injured 50% of the time so we actually need another Thiago that is young and durable. In other words it is worse than that!

[ycsatbjywtbiastkamb]

I wonder if pushing Trent up into MF would help.

[woof woof !]

I wonder if pushing Trent up into MF would help.

It's an idea Yakka, but one that would require a rethink on our tactics ? That might be a good thing   

e.g. securing the defence with a deeper lying back four, with Trent allowed freedom to push forward and throw in even more bombs , maybe giving  Salah the invitation to change up his game and get a bit more central ?
F*ck I'm playing Football Manager again    

Nevertheless, it's a good question Yakka,  i wonder what the rest of the gang think.

[kazza]

I wonder if pushing Trent up into MF would help.

It's an idea Yakka, but one that would require a rethink on our tactics ? That might be a good thing   :)

e.g. securing the defence with a deeper lying back four, with Trent allowed freedom to push forward and throw in even more bombs , maybe giving  Salah the invitation to change up his game and get a bit more central ?
F*ck I'm playing Football Manager again   :blush: 

Nevertheless, it's a good question Yakka,  i wonder what the rest of the gang think.

I think if you get a good defensive right back it could work, I think about whether he is disciplined enough to play in our midfield. He has the long passes but does he have the vision and slickness to play the little  Thiago-esque passes?

In a nutshell I think stick to what you excel in, in that case we would neither have a great RB or a great RM, better to have at least one.

[7_Kewell]

Was hoping we'd bring in a central midfielder in January, but that's looking unlikely.

Bellingham would be a start. But he'll cost a fortune and we need at least one more as our CMs are washed up.

[UvS xR4GEx]

There's rumours as of next year there's something in Bellinghams contract that allows him to leave for £60m. If that's the case then it's a no brainer to give him a good contract and get him in. I'm confident we're his and his family's no1 choice.. it kinda works out aswell with Keita and Ox off of the wage bill come the summer.

We need legs in as of now though, we get outrun in midfield every single game. We were linked with Amrabat before the WC and his stock has definitely risen after that.. he looks a real engine and someone Klopp could definitely get the best out of. I do like Caicedo but Brighton want £70m and I'm sure there's unhidden gems elsewhere we could get for half that price.

[UvS xR4GEx]

If we don't fix it in the transfer window we are not going to get top 4. It was exactly like when Virgil got injured that season and we didn't react untill it was nearly too late. It needed a Alisson last minute goal to save a absolute mess that could have been avoided.

If we don't sign a midfielder we don't reach top 4, it's that simple.

I'm not gonna lie I'm a whinger, but it's because I can see what's going to happen before the club itself. I don't want to hear anymore FSG supporters untill we fix the absolute mess the clubs in.

[redshade]

"Liverpool have conceded 51 big chances this season, according to Opta. That is more than twice as many as the five teams above them in the Premier League table. Massive issue."

Klopps first two seasons in first 17/18 games we conceded 20+ goals.

2016/17 - 20
2017/18 - 20
2018/19 - 7
2019/20 - 14
2020/21 - 16
2021/22 - 13
2022/23 - 22

This season we are beating all the stats.

No protection in the middle, we are letting teams slice through us with ease.

[kazza]

Unless we buy a couple of first class midfielders this transfer window (highly unlikely) we have no chance of beating RM and somehow winning the CL this year for instant qualification, we would have been better off not making it out of the group stages and trying our luck in Europa.

Our only hope for CL football next year is getting a top four finish, and if they play like they are it is only a fraction of a chance better than beating Madrid. Klopp has it all to do.

[Reg]

The Klopp era is over, it was fabulous whilst it lasted but the whole club has a feel about it that is one of exhaustion, they’ve been run into the ground mentally and physically. Even the World Cup break want sufficient to allow recovery. Carvalho and Elliott aren't ready, Naby, Ox, Arthur and Hendo aren't good enough and Fabinho and Bobby are over the hill. VVD is at the cross roads. Complete lack of planning.

The other side of the coin is that it's increasingly difficult to continually keep up with these state owned financial juggernauts. During the last 6 years Liverpool over achieved, doing what no other similarly positioned club could manage. Not only did we compete, we won every major trophy available and came devilishly close to winning even a few more. To do that took phenomenal effort and now they're knackered. Unfortunately planning takes money and / or some luck to get hold of the right players. Klopp's charisma helped attract some great players initially but even he looks burned out now as well.  Even Chelsea look poor now versus Man City and Newcastle (who are only just arriving).

FSG have taken it as far as they can with the financial resources they have - and lets face it, compared to when they took over they have done a great job and have probably made a couple of billion based on todays valuation versus what they paid for it. The European Super League would have been self financing and hopefully allowed normal clubs to compete with City and Newcastle but with that not getting off the ground the clubs have lost their only source of Super Revenue. Hence FSG need as a minimum a major partner/shareholder to pump money in.

What I'm saying is it's not surprising to be in this position but Liverpool's lack of planning and sqad rotation is bl**dy annoying.

[redshade]

We all had the "end of an era" feeling early on in the season. Lack of movement in the market has resulted in our downfall. We've only signed one reputable midfielder in the last 4 years.  Being Thiago. We need hungry, energetic young bulls in the middle. Hendo, Milner, Wijnaldum were all blood hounds.

Like many said, we should've continued to strengthen and build this side when we were on top of the world.

We looked disjointed, lacking hunger/desire with no fluidity.

I hope we fix our problems.

[Reg]

So we spend all the money on Bellingham and he plays with who in Midfield? We've cut our own throats here.