Liverpool FC Forum

I don't know if only Bellingham would fix the issue. We need a couple of CM of good quality. Given his price tag I doubt we will sign anyone else if we go for him.

Instead of splashing 80-100M would we be better off get 2-3 CM players for 30-40 mill?

If we don't qualify for the UCL we won't sign Jude, and the valuation of the club will drop massively. FSG can't solve the mess we're in because it needs serious investment.. but they won't sell if their valuation isn't met, and no one will want to buy us at 4bn if we're in the europa league next year. We are in abit of a crisis here.

I’d say it’s the owners are in a crisis more than us and they need to spend a good 250 million or they could lose more, I’m sure they know this.

Since the 2019 summer window we have spent 0 on goalkeepers, 56m on defenders, 23m on midfielders and 200m on attackers. Now we are short on midfielders. We really needed a WC midfielder this summer.

Doing the player manager bit here again 

Don't have a problem with the inherent ability of our strikers

BUT given our apparent preferred plan of play , i.e. constantly pushing up with a high line and Trent and Robbo foraging forward  at every opportunity, gimme a midfield of two athletic brick walls who can anticipate and snuff out counter attacks .

The more I think about it ????????

The more I'm beginning to think ???

Would we be more successful as a containing and counter attacking team ?

Player manager Woof, over and out   

woof woof ! » Fri Jan 06, 2023 6:37 pm wrote:Doing the player manager bit here again 

Don't have a problem with the inherent ability of our strikers

BUT given our apparent preferred plan of play , i.e. constantly pushing up with a high line and Trent and Robbo foraging forward  at every opportunity, gimme a midfield of two athletic brick walls who can anticipate and snuff out counter attacks .

The more I think about it ????????

The more I'm beginning to think ???

Would we be more successful as a containing and counter attacking team ?

Player manager Woof, over and out   :D

Well we have the breakaway speed up top to do it, we have big solid defenders to do it and we have midfielders that although don’t have the legs they did can certainly hit a pass to do it. So it would probably be more successful a method than getting over run in midfield while we play a high line

https://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/1719083/liverpool-news-transfer-options-midfield-premier-league-gossip

Could be a reason for not buying as we want as we don’t have enough home grown players and it will only get worse when ox and Milner leave.

And Hendo in 12 months...

We may forget about Bellingham now and get any notion of him coming here out of our heads as it ain't going to happen. A lot of talk surfacing now about fees and wages and they are out of our range.

If the homegrown rule stops us from signing players then that is bad management on our behalf. Leads me to believe we will be stuck with Gomez, Phillips, Jones and I wouldn't put it past them to try and tie Milner and Ox down for another year just to balance it out.

If we miss out on top 4 as well then that is going to have major consequences to the budget and therefore affect the quality of player we go after.

That saidred, I suspect that Bellingham realises he's missed the market by 12 months and that the global economic situation is pretty dire and will have to be realistic. There are very few clubs that can afford him or need him (City don't). Don't give up yet.

Well he is so young that he could stay here for 5 years and still move on in his prime, it could happen but not sure is going to solve all our problems. No one really talking about all the back room staff that left the club seemingly suddenly. There must be some dysfunctional dynamic at the club, and these things generally have a knock on effect.

Reg wrote:That saidred, I suspect that Bellingham realises he's missed the market by 12 months and that the global economic situation is pretty dire and will have to be realistic. There are very few clubs that can afford him or need him (City don't). Don't give up yet.

The money keeps growing in football though Reg. Next year all that extra revenue coming from the CL and down the line is the Club WC and that is set to bring in record revenues. There will be new TV deals as well.
Some clubs owners might be affected by the global downturn but the game itself is still going strong.

Bellingham is one of the hottest prospects around ATM and will attract all the top clubs so the price is going to be 100 mil plus on top of minimum 300k a week.  Madrid, City and Chelsea are in there for sure, Maybe Manure as well.  Unless the lad insists the only place he is going is here then I can't see it happening.  I don't even think we are such a good prospect for him either as we need a rebuild and klopp will be gone by the time he is half way through his contract.

kazza wrote:Well he is so young that he could stay here for 5 years and still move on in his prime, it could happen but not sure is going to solve all our problems. No one really talking about all the back room staff that left the club seemingly suddenly. There must be some dysfunctional dynamic at the club, and these things generally have a knock on effect.

Yeah there is a lot of stuff going on in the background that is bound to be affecting the team. With the club being up for sale and people like Gordon moving on its bound to create a level of uncertainty behind the scenes. I guess the reason we are looking for a sale or investment is because FSG won't put their money in so what does that mean for the rebuild. Will they just invest the minimum to keep it ticking over till they sell or will they spend to shore up the team for another 5 years. Keeping it ticking over imo would be reduced to challenging for top 4. Lose that revenue for a season or 2 and we are in really big trouble.

It's not just about signing expensive players either but signing players for the right reasons. Stuff like fitness and being able to fit the system naturally have to go ahead of cheap fixes and loan deals.  The battle for top 4 is only going to get harder.

TACTICS ?   

Nobody seems to question them   

We continue to play a system with players that are not fit for its purpose.

Do I blame the players ?   

Do I question the manner in which they are asked to perform ?         

Jurgen likes heavy metal football BUT the band isn't what it used to be , maybe it's time we changed the tune  ?

(not suggesting Jurgen should go, just maybe he has a hard re-think about the deployment of the resources at his disposal  )

I noticed in the last game Trent lost a tackle and stay on the ground for an extra 1-2 seconds rather than just bounce up like he used to and found myself thinking even he's slowing down.

Seen these stats the other day on our lads in midfield. It was some lfc stat page on twitter so not sure how accurate they are. It's on tackles and interceptions per 90 minutes. Funny enough Elliot isn't listed but would think its anywhere even near Henderson.

Thiago, 4.4, Rank 51
Fabinho, 3.6, Rank 104
Milner, 3.3, Rank 151
Henderson, 2.2, Rank 262.

They need to be stamping their authority in games a lot more than we are currently seeing.

Tactically teams have us sussed and have done for a while now. 4.3.3 or 4.2.3.1 makes little difference to our game because of how predictable and slow our build up play is. They allow every player to get back into position making it harder to break them down. The constant recycling of the ball in front of the 18 yd box is so fecking annoying. Always ends up leaving us exposed to the counter. We just keep doing it game after game to our own detriment.

If it were up to me I would go 4.4.2 . Nunez and Salah up top, midfield of Fab, Keita, Gakpo and Thiago. Keita and Fab anchoring while Gakpo and Thiago release the runners. Trent and Robbo still effective on the overlap but the focus would be to get at teams much quicker. We also need to shoot more and especially from the edge of the box. We could score from that or the keeper could spill it into someone's path. He could touch it wide or over for a corner either. Even if we ballooned it over or wide it's still better than playing into the oppositions hands. That rinse and repeat sideways stuff is mostly just useless possession with no end product. Each attack should consist of only a few passes before someone has a go.

Klopp has to push for a midfield signing this window if he insists on sticking with the heavy metal stuff.