The Sunland Lord Posted January 18, 2021 Share Posted January 18, 2021 7 hours ago, Consigliere said: Big win for Inter against Juve. They completely dominated the game. Barella was the best player on the pitch and together with Brozovic, they bossed the midfield while Bastoni was superb at the back once again. 2-0 is a very flattering to Juve; they were shambolic. We battered them. If we win the title we should share it somehow with you guys. Youngy, Darmian, Sanchez, Lukaku... Hopefully we'll be able to pay our players' wages soon - concerning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Horse Named Stranger Posted January 18, 2021 Share Posted January 18, 2021 10 hours ago, AncalagonTheBlack said: How long will he persist with Firmino? He's clearly been terrible this season. We really needed Jota during this time period especially. He has been the key plank in your game plan since Klopp came in. And usually, even when he is not playing well, he is still able to create space for Mane and Salah by drawing defenders away. So Firmino playing really bad = Liverpool not clicking offensively has been sorta theme for a while. The problem is, that Mane and Salah also look flat atm. Kinda understandable given that Klopp's football relies on intensity, and with Firmino usually covering quite a bit distance over the course of a game. You can see how they end up running on empty this year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baxus Posted January 18, 2021 Share Posted January 18, 2021 16 hours ago, Iskaral Pust said: Liverpool’s forwards have been misfiring badly for several weeks. It’s costing us a lot of points against all these parked buses. Last year we managed to find a way and keep going, now it all just looks tired and anemic. I haven't seen the match against Newcastle, but I have seen ones against WBA, Southampton and Man Utd and WBA were the only ones who parked the bus. Ironically, Liverpool scored only against them but didn't manage to keep a clean sheet and win. Southampton has scored an early goal and tried to maintain the lead, played a bit more cautiously and all that but they didn't park the bus and Utd definitely didn't park the bus yesterday despite playing rather defensively, especially in the first half. On the topic of Liverpool looking tired and anemic, that's right on point. The team looks like they've run out of steam a bit which is to be somewhat expected after winning almost 100 point twice and playing a Champions League final twice in the last three seasons while being rather lucky when it came to long-term injuries of their main players. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Consigliere Posted January 18, 2021 Share Posted January 18, 2021 I think it was @ljkeane who pretty much hit the nail on the head. It's the drop off in pressing intensity due to the nature of the season that has had the biggest impact on Liverpool's attacking play. Previously, Liverpool were able to ramp up their pressing intensity when in search of a goal and simply pin back and overwhelm the opposition - they've managed to do that in certain games this season (I distinctly recall the Chelsea, Arsenal and Leicester games earlier in the season where Liverpool had those sides so hemmed in that they were struggling to get out of their own half). Switching gears has become more difficult as the season has worn on and it has become easier for the opposition to play through Liverpool's press. We created the clearer cut opportunities yesterday and even Spurs, who only had a little over 20% possession, still created four clear-cut chances but only managed to convert one of them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wilbur Posted January 18, 2021 Share Posted January 18, 2021 My impression is that the absence of Virgil also hurts The Tricky Reds' pressing efficiency at the front. With midfielders playing as center-halves, the fullbacks don't necessarily press in the same locations on the pitch. The midfielders actually playing midfield are dropping differently as well, so often the press will have a gap or a hole that the opposition can pass out of. Finally, all three attackers are often caught on one side of the field now, either the right or the left, in the press, so the cross-field attacker is less often Mane or Salah when it it time to switch the field after a successful press. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigFatCoward Posted January 18, 2021 Share Posted January 18, 2021 Neil Lennon is really a prize prick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Antony Posted January 18, 2021 Share Posted January 18, 2021 Ibra like a fine wine Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Consigliere Posted January 19, 2021 Share Posted January 19, 2021 AC Milan have reached an agreement with Chelsea for Tomori on loan with an option to buy for €25-30m. They've also signed Mandzukic on a free transfer - 6 month contract with an option to extend for a further year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Horse Named Stranger Posted January 19, 2021 Share Posted January 19, 2021 Also Alaba to Real next season seems to be getting closer to a done deal by the minute. They denied having signed a contract, but the tendency is there. Other clubs who have talked to his agent and made offers are: PSG, ManU and Chelsea. City has not had tentative talks with Zahavi, but they haven't talked numbers yet. Barca is also still in the running, assuming Laporta wins his election (early March). But like I said, Real are right now the frontrunners. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soylent Brown Posted January 19, 2021 Share Posted January 19, 2021 He'd be on awfully high wages for a third choice centre back, and don't Real already have Militao too? I wouldn't be too surprised if their interest was just posturing to get Ramos to sign a new deal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Consigliere Posted January 19, 2021 Share Posted January 19, 2021 Militao has been pretty wank for Real Madrid though outside of a handful of games. If Alaba does join Real then I expect him and Ramos would be the first choice CB pairing. Contract talks seem to have stalled with Ramos too - reports are that Ramos wants a 2 year contract with the same salary but thus far Perez has only been willing to offer a 1 year contract with a 10% wage cut. Pretty sure Ramos will end up renewing though. Not sure where the United links are coming from. Ducker and other United journos have said that while United are looking to sign another CB, no offer has been made for Alaba and United are not likely to get involved. I see that some journos (Falk) are trying very hard to involve Liverpool in this transfer as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soylent Brown Posted January 19, 2021 Share Posted January 19, 2021 Militao looked a great player before he signed, so not sure what's happened there. You think Alaba will bench Varane? There's no way we would be willing to pay anywhere near the wages being talked about, and we already have plenty of ~29 year olds in the squad, we don't need more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Consigliere Posted January 19, 2021 Share Posted January 19, 2021 Alaba is certainly good enough to start ahead of Varane. Right now Real only have 2 reliable CBs - Varane and a 34 year old Ramos. Militao has been poor and Nacho has never been more than average but is a useful squad player due to versatility since he can (and has) played all across the back four. So even if Alaba isn't a nailed on starter, there would still be enough game time to go around. I expect one of Militao or Nacho to be moved on if Alaba joins - various reports say that Real would be willing to listen to offers for Militao. eta. There's also been rumours that Marcelo might leave at the end of the season so Alaba would be an option at LB as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Horse Named Stranger Posted January 19, 2021 Share Posted January 19, 2021 3 hours ago, Consigliere said: Not sure where the United links are coming from. Ducker and other United journos have said that while United are looking to sign another CB, no offer has been made for Alaba and United are not likely to get involved. I see that some journos (Falk) are trying very hard to involve Liverpool in this transfer as well. Can only tell you what kicker online wrote.. They named United as having made a concrete bid. Anyway, Alaba is one of those versatile players, who can play quite a few positions competently. LB, CB, CDM, CM (he stated that as his prefered postion years ago and expressed his unhappyness not being played in a more central position). For Austria he's played even further up the pitch, I think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polishgenius Posted January 19, 2021 Author Share Posted January 19, 2021 4 hours ago, Soylent Brown said: I wouldn't be too surprised if their interest was just posturing to get Ramos to sign a new deal. It'd better be, coz there's been some chatter that we might get Ramos if he does leave, and that would make me genuinely livid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Consigliere Posted January 19, 2021 Share Posted January 19, 2021 I wouldn't be too concerned about Ramos not renewing with RM. I'm pretty sure an agreement will be reached. Even at 34, Ramos hasn't shown signs of decline and is absolutely vital to Real's defence. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daeron the Daring Posted January 19, 2021 Share Posted January 19, 2021 7 hours ago, A Horse Named Stranger said: Also Alaba to Real next season seems to be getting closer to a done deal by the minute Oh, boy it's all coming together and I can't wait for it. Real Madrid will go for it, I think, since they let Hakimi go. 26 minutes ago, Consigliere said: I wouldn't be too concerned about Ramos not renewing with RM. I'm pretty sure an agreement will be reached. Even at 34, Ramos hasn't shown signs of decline and is absolutely vital to Real's defence. Ramos likely still has 3 years in the starting XI, if not more. He's on top. And probably more with rotation and being sub. Still, not going too far with his contract is a responsible way to do things. He is fast for a CB, and even faster for a 34 year old CB. He wil likely play professional footbal until age 40. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daeron the Daring Posted January 19, 2021 Share Posted January 19, 2021 3 hours ago, polishgenius said: there's been some chatter that we might get Ramos if he does leave, and that would make me genuinely livid. I highly doubt he'll ever leave Madrid for any other club than Sevilla. But at this point, there is no actual way he's leaving. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hereward Posted January 19, 2021 Share Posted January 19, 2021 8 minutes ago, Daeron the Daring said: Oh, boy it's all coming together and I can't wait for it. Real Madrid will go for it, I think, since they let Hakimi go. Ramos likely still has 3 years in the starting XI, if not more. He's on top. And probably more with rotation and being sub. Still, not going too far with his contract is a responsible way to do things. He is fast for a CB, and even faster for a 34 year old CB. He wil likely play professional footbal until age 40. So true. The ability to be a cunt lasts long after the legs and lungs have gone! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hereward Posted January 19, 2021 Share Posted January 19, 2021 Fat Frank is getting sacked in the morning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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