Liverpool FC Forum

kazza » Sun Jan 25, 2026 11:37 am wrote:

red till i die!! » Sat Jan 24, 2026 6:34 pm wrote:

kazza » Sat Jan 24, 2026 7:29 pm wrote:Our best defender in the world has started making Sunday league errors and at the other end our best attacker in the world can’t find the net or make a proper pass, it’s been that way all season.

Whoever says those 2 are the best in the world arent worth listening to mate and they dont watch football.

I didn’t mean to suggest they are now but were and what they have become

That's what age does to pro athlete's, you wait around long enough and age will turn players who were once footballing Gods like Diego Maradona and Johann Cruyff into liabilities even at ale house level. Eventually there comes a point when you need a stairlift to negotiate a small flight of steps.
Gerrard dropped more clangers in his final few months with us than he had the previous 15 years. Virgil and Mo are both clearly on that slippery slope now, its no longer a question of whether they are deteriorating, the only question now is how quickly that deteriation is taking place, how quickly their games are going backwards.
It's a universal theme and a sad fact of life, the playwright Tennessee Williams used an ageing movie actress and an ageing gigolo to explore the topic in his play Sweet Bird Of Youth, he should have used characters who were fading sports stars, it would have made his play far more tragic and far sadder imo. As Ian St.John said footballers and boxers are always the last to know, they are last to realise they are finished.

I was always in favour of keeping Virg and still am. Hes a good captain and voice around the squad which isnt easy to replace. I wasnt in favour of bending over for Trent as he wanted to go and wasnt in favour of extending Salahs contract either. He got so many concessions last year and you could see the decline setting in. A year later he looks washed up and past it. Players age and decline and thats the way it has always been. No different with these 2.

Our problem was only signing one CH in the summer and a 19yr old at that. Loads saying we miss him which is a joke tbh as hes young and untested. He could turn out to be no better than anything in the U21's but because we signed him he is automatically a top player. Leaving Konate to wind his contract out and relying on Gomez are all board decisions and imo thats what really is costing us. We also spent a few seasons looking for a 6, lavia, Caiceido and Zubimendi but got neither and seemed to abandon that whole idea because the square peg held up.last season. Another big mistake by the board. I dont blame managers for these decisions because its not down to them. If the board can get away with slapping a bit of duct tape on something they will and wont do anything about it until it disentegrates.

If we dont sign a centre half this window given whats transpired in the first half of the season then i think we as fans have got to start manning the fv.ck up and accepting the fact that the entire hierarchy of our club are doing hard drugs.

Of course Virg isn't the best CB in the world anymore as he once was but he's still among the best CBs in the league. Virg has cost us twice so far this season but some of you are making it as if he's a liability in every game. He's still been a top defender apart from a couple of games.

Salah on the other hand is a different story. No wonder we've back to losing with him and Gakpo in the side.

Anyway, both Chelsea and United have gone above us, and they've played against stronger teams than us too.

I'm surprised by United new manager bounce, 2 matches against top 2 sides and they beat them. Chelsea also looking good. If we don't get our act together we could forget about UCL footy next season. At this rate we prolly will be in the Euro conference league.

The way this season has been going had we some consistency we would've also been in the title race. Exc the Arsenal game had we got max points from our recent results we could've been 5 points off top.

damjan193 » Sun Jan 25, 2026 6:42 pm wrote:Of course Virg isn't the best CB in the world anymore as he once was but he's still among the best CBs in the league. Virg has cost us twice so far this season but some of you are making it as if he's a liability in every game. He's still been a top defender apart from a couple of games.

Salah on the other hand is a different story. No wonder we've back to losing with him and Gakpo in the side.

Anyway, both Chelsea and United have gone above us, and they've played against stronger teams than us too.

Virgil's inability to cope with players running in behind him has cost us a lot more than 2 goals this season, fv.ck knows how many players he's played onside as well.
We were shipping goals like they were going out of fashion at one point no way can he do a Pontius Pilate and wash his hands of that, VVD like Steven Gerrard is not just a genuine Liverpool great he's a genuine great of the game full stop but this player we see now is a pale shadow of the colossus who walked through the door a decade ago.
Virgil has had the type of career here which would give him a shot at managing us if he wants to go down that road, if Gerrard would have stayed on our backroom staff he probably would have taken over after Jurgen imo, Virgil is in the same bracket, thats how good Virgil has been he's in the same bracket as Stevie G but like Gerrard  he makes more mistakes now in 90 minutes than he made in 90 games when he was in his prime.
We need a new CB partnership, we wont win sh.1t with this defence.

He does make a few mistakes Yakka but also does a lot of other good things. The amount of duels he wins is still up there with the best, interceptions, headers etc. Also our best threat from set pieces. He will make mistakes but just needs better players around him to cover for it.  His leadership would be the biggest loss both on and off the field. I dont see anyone else in the side capable of picking up that.