Liverpool FC Forum

[kazza]

This season is make or break for Thiago, if he can't play 30+ games he must go. We need reliable quality, not just quality. Ox has to go for the same reason, simply too brittle.

Thiago played in 39 games for us last year (25 in the PL, 10 in CL, 4 in the FA CUP). 30 the season before (24 in the PL, 4 in the CL, 2 in the FA CUP).

Ox's current injury is his first since he returned to fitness in November 2020. He'll leave when his contract expires simply because the team has evolved past him.

Ox hasn’t been injured that much lately because he hasn’t been playing much lately. When he does play, his injury record is poor…. Just like when he was at Arsenal. I think we should let Ox go and replace him with quality. Matheus Nunes from Sporting would be a good shout. He missed one game last year due to Corona. He’s 1.83 and would be a good replacement for Ox.

As for Thiago we played 63 matches so that is a little under half he missed and even if you exclude the smaller cup matches, he’s around 60%, not stellar by any stretch. A quick stat search says he missed 23 games last year and 24 the year before through injury. Regardless of the stats, even in reading his interviews he seems to suffer from a lot of injuries. I read he said he couldn’t feel his feet the CL final, probably explains his average performance in that match.

You have to admit Eagle, we are light in midfield when it comes to durable players. As someone else posted, we never replaced Gini’s reliability. Some players are durable like Salah, Gini, Robertson, Fabinho to an extent and some aren’t (like most our midfield). We can’t put all our hope on Bellingham next year, if we never made CL he would probably turn us down. Focus on this year and worry about next year next year.

[Eagle]

I’m not saying Thiago is Mr reliable like Gini, but he’s been available plenty. Here’s his summary from last season.

• Left out of the opening game of the season after going away with Spain to the Euros
• Had a calf injury in Sep/Oct which meant he missed 5 league games and 2 CL games
• In early December left out of the squad for final CL group game which was a dead rubber
• In mid/late December picked up Covid which meant he had to isolate so missed 2 league games 
• Had a hip injury in January which meant he missed 3 league games
• Minor thigh injury in March meant he missed 1 league game
• Unused sub against Southampton in the penultimate game of the season when Klopp used mass rotation

So in the league Thiago missed 9 out of 38 games through injury, and in the CL it was 2 out of 13. Not exactly disastrous.

Ox joined Arsenal as a 17-year-old talent rather than an experienced pro ready for the first team. And despite never really nailing down a position in the first 11 (he played in the wide areas, number 10, CM, and RWB), he managed 198 appearances over the 7 seasons he was there. Not too bad for someone joining as a youngster. And he featured in 29 games for us last season so there was plenty of opportunity to pick up an injury outside of training. Again, I’m not saying he’s made out of steel, but he’s been available plenty. Truth is this side has just evolved beyond him and that’s the reason he’s seen so little football over the last 2 years. If he had actually had a better offer than being a squad player at one of the best clubs in the world whilst earning 100 odd thousand a week, I’m guessing he’d be gone by now and we wouldn’t have stopped him.

We have 8 midfielders for 3 starting positions. All players who Klopp has trusted in key PL games during a title race, and in important CL games. So it’s very different to when we went into the season with 3 CBs for 2 starting position. We actually have more cover in midfield than any other area of the pitch. So I don’t really have major concerns going into the season but what we do need to focus on is transition as some of our midfielders enter the final phase of their career. Tchouameni was available this summer and we tried to bring him in for big money and my guess is that we may not have renewed Milner's contract had we got him. So it’s clearly something Klopp has in mind but as we’ve seen time and time again he casts his net fairly narrow when it comes to transfers and will wait until he can get the right player. I've never seen Matheus Nunes play myself and have no idea if Klopp likes him.

[ycsatbjywtbiastkamb]

We may have 8 midfielders mate but how many of them are A) good enough to win the title with, and B) in their prime?
I’d argue that at this stage probably only Fab and Thiago and even Thiago is getting on a bit but he’s got so much quality he’s somewhat able to hold off the effects of Father Time.
I think you could possibly make a case for Hendo to included on that list but being honest I think at 32 his powers are starting to wane.
Numbers don’t really mean anything if the players aren’t good enough or they are too young or too old, when you are trying to compete for trophies it’s all about quality, what let us down last year was our inability to beat the top sides and yes we may have 8 CM’s but would you be happy to see us go to the likes of the Etihad or Stamford Bridge or White Hart Lane for a season defining clash with a midfield 3 of say Milner, Jones and Elliot? Take Fab and Thiago out of our squad and our midfield looks very ordinary.

[UvS xR4GEx]

We tried hard to buy tchouameni to beef up the midfield in this window.. we also enquired about Gavi and Bellingham but neither are available this summer.

Klopp and his team know who they want, but players either want to stay at their club, go elsewhere, or the clubs unwilling to sell in this window.

We've seen in previous windows that we won't panic buy. If it's a player that's not on our radar we probably won't buy them.

I think it's too early for players like Harvey, Carvalho to play regularly at that high level and drag out the results we need. We got Naby aswell who bottles every big chance he gets, and also is quite injury prone.

Hendo is knocking on as previously said.. we can't just expect him to keep driving the team week in week out. Milly is now 36 I believe? He's starting to make basic errors now he's slowing down.

No point relying on the Ox as he's never fit.

Thiago and Fabinho is the 2 we can trust.. but Thiago is another one that picks up injuries. He was lucky and had a good run of games last season, he turned out to be a key player in the success we had.

Then we have Curtis. He has all the potential in the world..  he's good on the ball, his dribbling is top notch, but he just doesn't do the things to effect games. He's kind of just there in the midfield just plodding along.


We're not a club that gambles in the transfer market.. but if we want to challange for the title then we definitely need a quality CM that can win us games.

[red till i die!!]

By the end of October Hendo will struggle to complete 60 minutes every week and Milner will be burnt out.

I'd sooner see us go down the road of blooding in the likes of carvalho and Elliot ahead of lads we know just aren't good enough like Naby, Ox and Jones.

We just got unlucky here that Keita was such a flop. Thiago and him performing in that position would be ideal but it hasn't happened. Thiago is pushing on and Naby can't step up so imo replace Keita with an experienced 26 or 27 Yr old to bridge the gap between Elliot and Carvalho. If we go into the market then well and good but if not I'd rather see the young lads getting minutes.

[Eagle]

Back on the training field today. Hopefully make the bench for Napoli on Wednesday but if not he will be involved on the weekend.

[redshade]

Good news, can't wait to see the maestro back on the pitch.

[7_Kewell]

Injured until January now.

I wondering if we'll ever see him in a red shirt again.

[redshade]

His hardly ever fit and when he is it is for a short period. Ideally a good few months towards the business end of the season would help us a lot.

[kazza]

Thiago…. He’s always f.ucking injured!

Sung to tune of the Gibson Brothers hit “Cuba”

[bunglemark2]

Aquilani, Carroll, Keita, Ox....farkin' hell we've signed some crocks over the years. Thiago just the latest.

[redshade]

Aquilani, Carroll, Keita, Ox....farkin' hell we've signed some crocks over the years. Thiago just the latest.

Aquilani definitely was king of crocks for us, barely managed 20 appearances.

[kazza]

Apparently he suffered a muscle injury in his brief cameo and will be out for a while 

[Reg]

https://www.theguardian.com/football/20 ... -10-months

Complete w@nker.   

[7_Kewell]

Done his hamstring, apparently.

If so, that's probably his Lfc career done.