Liverpool FC Forum

We have cover for all positions now and we are significantly stronger than last term. Moreno and Lovren will be used as cover mostly, so don't be too concerned about those.

However, I think we will go close in the title race, but whether we can win it outright is another story.

I personally look at City's, Spurs and Chelseas squads and they are just as strong as ours, and I think they will breathing down our necks all season long.

Random question, does anyone think we need to invest in another world class defender? 

VVD can't player every match and we look decidedly wobbly at the back when he's absent, which is made all the worse by the fact our second best defender (Matip) is injury prone. I (still) don't trust lovren. And Sepp van den Berg is too young and inexperienced. Time to splash the cash?

Potentially a CB - not sure what level though - someone like Koulbaily on a lot of money of a young up and coming one ?

I expect he was going to get one in the CB to replace Lovren

Klopp recently said (words to the effect) that buying another central defender didn't make sense as we still have Matip and Lovren to come back and that along with Gomez and Virgil plus a new signing would give us 5 first team players for 2 positions.

I understand the reasoning but don't necessarily agree with his conclusion.

Looking at the injury stats on Matip and Lovren from December 2017 to date(basically 2 seasons).
Matip has missed 41 games through injury. Given he wont be back until at least January and his latest injury occurred in October it's doubtful he'll be match fit and is likely to miss even more game, certainly some of those in early January.

Lovren  from Dec 2017 to date has missed only 15 games through injury, however given that there is no date yet predicted for his return he will definitely miss 3 more games this month and possibly up to 6 in January !

Out with a "stomach bug ?" for our last game and fitness still being assessed for Saturdays CWC final god forbid that Van Dyk picks up a knock or a niggle especially in the next 6 weeks that sidelines him for any of our games 


I appreciate that good defenders aren't ten a penny and Klopp is quite particular about who he buys, perhaps signing a quality center back (if available) isn't considered a priority BUT surely it certainly wouldn't harm our ambitions if we had that little extra insurance ?

The fact we had to play Henderson at CB against Monterey should have set some alarm bells ringing !

The problem is - you buy another CB and that does make 5 plus also Fabinho , what happens if they get injured , buy another


It’s a balancing act

I actually think Hoever is maturing well and also Williams can step up


So I wouldn’t go out and spend in January unless Lovren and Matip are out for a significant time

Lallana in Pyjamas » Thu Dec 19, 2019 3:44 pm wrote:The problem is - you buy another CB and that does make 5 plus also Fabinho , what happens if they get injured , buy another


It’s a balancing act

I actually think Hoever is maturing well and also Williams can step up


So I wouldn’t go out and spend in January unless Lovren and Matip are out for a significant time

Fabinho can play anywhere across the back four but his best and preferred position is DM,  Plus there's still no word on when he may be back and how long it will then take him to achieve match fitness.

Our injuries within the squad are significant and fatigue both physical and mental is mounting with other players.

You say "It's a balancing act" and then go on to further say "Hoever is maturing well and also Williams can step up " !.
Whilst i may agree with this sentiment, in a season where we can actually push on and win the title do I want to possibly have to rely on just Hoever or Williams stepping up and filling in as replacements for our first choice players ?    .

Christ sake ! I'd rather go out and throw some cash at one of those Monterey defenders we played the other night ! 

woof woof ! » Thu Dec 19, 2019 7:08 pm wrote:

Lallana in Pyjamas » Thu Dec 19, 2019 3:44 pm wrote:The problem is - you buy another CB and that does make 5 plus also Fabinho , what happens if they get injured , buy another


It’s a balancing act

I actually think Hoever is maturing well and also Williams can step up


So I wouldn’t go out and spend in January unless Lovren and Matip are out for a significant time

Fabinho can play anywhere across the back four but his best and preferred position is DM,  Plus there's still no word on when he may be back and how long it will then take him to achieve match fitness.

Our injuries within the squad are significant and fatigue both physical and mental is mounting with other players.

You say "It's a balancing act" and then go on to further say "Hoever is maturing well and also Williams can step up " !.
Whilst i may agree with this sentiment, in a season where we can actually push on and win the title do I want to possibly have to rely on just Hoever or Williams stepping up and filling in as replacements for our first choice players ?   :no .

Christ sake ! I'd rather go out and throw some cash at one of those Monterey defenders we played the other night ! 

So who should we go and buy ?

Lallana in Pyjamas » Thu Dec 19, 2019 8:08 pm wrote:

woof woof ! » Thu Dec 19, 2019 7:08 pm wrote:

Lallana in Pyjamas » Thu Dec 19, 2019 3:44 pm wrote:The problem is - you buy another CB and that does make 5 plus also Fabinho , what happens if they get injured , buy another


It’s a balancing act

I actually think Hoever is maturing well and also Williams can step up


So I wouldn’t go out and spend in January unless Lovren and Matip are out for a significant time

Fabinho can play anywhere across the back four but his best and preferred position is DM,  Plus there's still no word on when he may be back and how long it will then take him to achieve match fitness.

Our injuries within the squad are significant and fatigue both physical and mental is mounting with other players.

You say "It's a balancing act" and then go on to further say "Hoever is maturing well and also Williams can step up " !.
Whilst i may agree with this sentiment, in a season where we can actually push on and win the title do I want to possibly have to rely on just Hoever or Williams stepping up and filling in as replacements for our first choice players ?   :no .

Christ sake ! I'd rather go out and throw some cash at one of those Monterey defenders we played the other night ! 

So who should we go and buy ?

Like you, No f*cking idea   

Would a easier option be to loan a CB (from another team) that is half decent and will do the job for us in Jan, while we get Matip, Lovren and Fabinho back.

I have always thought the problem is that Lovren being a 3rd choice CB can't be relied on to stay fit.

If our 3rd choice CB was a consistent as VVD, we wouldn't be in the situation we are in right now or in the past.........

Yeah, loaning one works but we need to do something. 1 cb needs to come in as quickly as possible when the window opens.

We have the second worst defense in terms of goals against (15) in the premier league, only West Brom are worse (16), we really need to start stringing some clean sheets together.

kazza » Fri Nov 06, 2020 7:29 pm wrote:We have the second worst defense in terms of goals against (15) in the premier league, only West Brom are worse (16), we really need to start stringing some clean sheets together.

That's only down to the freak result against Villa. If you take out that 1 game week, we'd have the joint fewest goals against.

We do need to tighten up at the back though, we have conceded the first goal in four of our last five league games, we can’t keep staging come backs, we need to stop making things difficult for ourselves.

Cool Hand Luke » Fri Nov 06, 2020 7:01 pm wrote:

kazza » Fri Nov 06, 2020 7:29 pm wrote:We have the second worst defense in terms of goals against (15) in the premier league, only West Brom are worse (16), we really need to start stringing some clean sheets together.

That's only down to the freak result against Villa. If you take out that 1 game week, we'd have the joint fewest goals against.

One clean sheet in seven matches