Liverpool FC Forum

Early days I know, BUT ! ,  I find myself again asking the question, what have these multi million signings added to the team ?
Frimpong , not doubting the players ability but I've personally got more faith in Conner Bradley to supply whats needed down our right side.
Kerkerz ? IMO has lacked the maturity and game under standing to step up to expected levels of performance at LFC. How he gets picked ahead of Robbo is still a head scratcher for me.
Wirtz  ?    . Not gonna question this lads ability BUT ! let's face it , some nice touches here and there , apart from that
Maybe I'm being too hard on the new players , some might say they need time to "bed in" , my response would be for the money spent I expect more of an immediate contribution.
Perhaps I should be questioning Slotts' ability to utilise the new arrivals to maximise the best of their ability ??

Ekitike Has looked good, but the rest are struggling big time.

I can’t pick any others out for criticism because they’ve all been poor so far.

Yup Ekitike has started well apart from that brain fart last week.

Wirtz, I don't get it, bags of talent but just seems lightweight. His passing has also gone off last few.

Kerkez, overly trying to impress which makes him prone to errors.

Frimpong, rated him alot but his gone down hill currently.

Isak- just in, no pre-season yet but didnt see much against Galatasaray.

400M, early days in their career but all don't even look half of that.

Even our regulars looks sh1t, I just hope Slot figures this out quick, otherwise will be handing over title to Legohead.

I always remember Klopp getting stick in his first season for not signing loads of players and making lots of changes.

At the time, he would say you can’t sell 4 or 5 players and bring in a similar number without upsetting the squad balance.

Has Slot tried to do much and ruined the squad fluidity along the way?

To be honest the one stand out for me so far is young Rio and he cost us a senior contract!
Frimpong, Wirtz & Kerkez haven't really got going and Isak is still settling in.
Ekitike has shone and if that injury isn't too bad will start every game form now I reckon.

It's an odd one though, we're not playing well at all.

I’d just add that Gravenberch, MacAlister, Szoboszlai were certainly better on their second season than their first. Wirtz is a little light weight for the physicality of the PL but he’s an intelligent player and those will find a way, I don’t like him in a midfield three though. Kerkez looks the most lost to me and he is not as fast as he looked for Bournemouth.

I think in Trent we had a player that can spread the ball all over the pitch which kept teams off balance and opened up the field, I noticed Szoboszlai trying that as a RB but not to the same effect. We seem to be trying to move the ball through the middle now and we have been losing the midfield.

I said early on that I didn't like the fact that we were basically dismantling a title winning team. And spending loads of money on a single player often turns out to be more of a bad idea than a good one, especially if you don't exactly NEED those players that desperately. We needed two or three upgrades and not a complete overhaul.

As for the new players:

1. Florian Wirtz. I was more against than for signing this lad from the get go. Now to be honest I don't at all think that Wirtz has been that bad since coming here and you can see why we opted to pay so much for him. It will take time for him to bed in and he will definitely improve in the future. I don't have a problem with the lad's ability, but did we actually NEED a player such as him? Last season we scored 86 goals, 14 more than Man City who were second and we had the most chances created with 502, Man City behind us with 467. Clearly creating wasn't that big of an issue for us. I know we lost Trent and probably the idea was to replace his creativity with Wirtz but when you bring in a player like him you may gain creativity but sacrifice other aspects. Defensively Wirtz is not great and this is what is disturbing the balance of our team IMO. I will again mention the Coutinho situation, when Klopp tried everything to accomodate him, our best player, but after a while realized that it's IMPOSSIBLE to accomodate him and that probably the team as a whole is better off without him, which is why we never actually signed a replacement for him. Our midfield needs grafters, players that can get stuck in, that press hard and tackle, and this is not what Wirtz offers.

2. Alexander Isak. Fantastic player last season, seing Nunez fluff chance after chance we all wished we had Isak and we actually bought him. But again, after signing Ekitike and seing how good he is, did we really need to spend so much on Isak? Could have bought Semenyo for half of that and spend the rest elsewhere.

3. Hugo Ekitike. Now I won't pretend that I called this one, from the little I knew and saw of him he didn't seem like anything special and I thought we overpaid for him but now he looks like our best signing.

4. Jeremie Frimpong. He was my first choice RB and showed some promise in pre-season but since coming back from injury he's looked like he's half drunk or something.

5. Milos Kerkez. Also my first choice for LB but another one that has been very underwhelming. Looks nothing like the player he was at Bournemouth. Defensively he's very often out of position while his attacking game is almost non-existent and plays very negatively. Slot is doing no one a favor by playing him so much while he's clearly struggling.

So bottom line is, I think we spent too much on players we didn't desperately need and we made a complete overhaul of a title winnig side. Our current woes however are not just down to the new signings but also because of players that left, like Diaz for example, but I will get to that some other time as this post is long enough already.

1. Florian Wirtz. It's early days and assuming he's an intelligent player he'll adapt his role and play to suit the shape of the new team. The coaching staff must define his role and help him adjust but it'll take until Christmas.

2. Alexander Isak. If he's as good as folks say and the revenue / sponsors pay for him then let's go with the roll. I'm more likely to regret buying him if he doesn't score goals rather than how much we paid for him. Chelsea is full of duff players they paid a fortune for, if Isak performs, he's worth it.

3. Hugo Ekitike. Very satisfied, he's a breath of fresh air.

4. Jeremie Frimpong. Simply not good enough. Play Bradley. Prepare a Plan C for the end of the season.

5. Milos Kerkez.  The jury's still out and can't understand why Slot's not playing Robbo to ease him into the side. Also ***** off why a 21 year old lad is driving round in a £383,920 Rolls Royce Cullinan when he should be spending 23 hours a day improving his football skills.

I think we have to review again at Christmas, hoping everything will be running smoothly by then

Hindsight is a bitch    BUT ! even before the season kicked off I think every LFC fan and their dog knew that strengthening our options in the centre of our defence was vital.
How the f*ck we splashed out millions on full backs ( who have still yet to impress) but meanwhile failed to make an offer for Gheui that despite their managers protestations Palace simply could not refuse has me chewing my teeth 

Failure to "build from the back" is gonna cost us.