Football: Final thread of the season. Start delayed.

[Consigliere]

24 minutes ago, ljkeane said:

Bloody winter world cup is ruining my days off after Christmas now? Ffs, what am I supposed to do actually talk to family members while sober?

It's only the one matchday that's played on the 28th and 29th that is being postponed. There will still be matches on boxing day, new year's eve and 2nd January.

 

 

4 hours ago, The Sunland Lord said:

Lukaku accepts his wages to be cut in half, but Chelsea asks for a 20-25€ loan fee. It's unlikely that it's going to happen.

There are reports now that Chelsea are prepared to compromise on the loan fee. Apparently they would be prepared to accept €12m instead of €20-25m.

Edited June 15, 2022 by Consigliere

[A Horse Named Stranger]

If Chelsea had just given me 100m Pounds instaad of buying Lukaku they'd have gotten better deal. 

Just sayin'

[The Sunland Lord]

41 minutes ago, Consigliere said:

There are reports now that Chelsea are prepared to compromise on the loan fee. Apparently they would be prepared to accept €12m instead of €20-25m.

Yeah I looked it up in the meantime. The figure I read was 10m, but Inter are willing to pay only 5. 

In any case Chelsea seem desperate to get rid of Lukaku even for a year to cut some of the losses.

[A Horse Named Stranger]

3 minutes ago, The Sunland Lord said:

Yeah I looked it up in the meantime. The figure I read was 10m, but Inter are willing to pay only 5. 

 

10m might have been in Pound which is roughly 12m €.

[The Sunland Lord]

5 minutes ago, A Horse Named Stranger said:

10m might have been in Pound which is roughly 12m €.

Consigliere said €. 

You probably meant the figure I read instead. 

Edited June 15, 2022 by The Sunland Lord

[A Horse Named Stranger]

6 minutes ago, The Sunland Lord said:

Consigliere said €. 

You probably meant the figure I read instead. 

Yes, that's where the difference between your 10m and his 12m might come from.

Altho, I don't think that deal would fall through over 2m in pounds or euros. But it's freaking hillarious (if you are not supporting Chelsea that is).

Chelsea paid Inter 80m+ to have Lukaku play for them for one season. Now Inter pay Chelsea 5-12m to have Lukaku back on loan, with Chelsea still covering a big part of his salary, which means Chelsea will be paying Inter to have Lukaku playing for them again.

Like I said, had they given me 100m for nothing last year, that would've been a better piece of business for them than signing Lukaku. 

[The Sunland Lord]

17 minutes ago, A Horse Named Stranger said:

Like I said, had they given me 100m for nothing last year, that would've been a better piece of business for them than signing Lukaku. 

I'd be happy with a 1% of that tbh.

[Consigliere]

 

[Soylent Brown]

Yeah, that is absolutely going to bite us on the arse this season. As dumb as going into 20/21 with 3 centre backs.

[Consigliere]

At least your lot have made some signings. Our morons haven't even gotten one deal over the line.

[A Horse Named Stranger]

Hum, like stated upthread, I think Liverpool's MF has sufficient numbers. Only real position of concern to me would be the #6 if Fabinho picked up an injury that kept him out for a while. Otherwise that squad looks fine to me.

Edit: Ramsay signing makes much more sense, as it provides cover for Arnold, which has been provided by Gomez (whom I thought was actually a CB, and not RB). 

Edited June 16, 2022 by A Horse Named Stranger

[A Horse Named Stranger]

Also UEFA contemplating another pointless competition for the calendar, before the start of the season.

CL winner, and 3 other strong teams from that competition play a mini-tournament preferably in the US. 

That's not replacing the European super cup which nobody really gives a damn about. That one will still be played, Just that it would be between EL and Conference League winner. 

I really hope the clubs tell the UEFA to drop dead.

 

Edit: inserted a not, which I apparently omitted (or ran stole for his next wheel of fortune run, who knows?). Anyway, the tournament is not a replacement for the silly super cup, it's just extra

Edited June 16, 2022 by A Horse Named Stranger

[The Sunland Lord]

Uefa will render the Superleague a better alternative sooner or later

[Soylent Brown]

2 hours ago, A Horse Named Stranger said:

Hum, like stated upthread, I think Liverpool's MF has sufficient numbers. Only real position of concern to me would be the #6 if Fabinho picked up an injury that kept him out for a while. Otherwise that squad looks fine to me.

Edit: Ramsay signing makes much more sense, as it provides cover for Arnold, which has been provided by Gomez (whom I thought was actually a CB, and not RB). 

Henderson can play 6 perfectly well, so that's not the issue per se. The problem is our opponents consistently dominated our midfield whenever fewer than two of our main three played. We can get away with using one of Keita/Jones/Elliott, but using two doesn't work out very well.

It's good to get a proper RB backup in, but I do wonder if that's going to negatively affect Gomez, with his new contract on the table waiting to be signed.

[Iskaral Pust]

I wonder if Liverpool might switch to 4-2-3-1 for some of the season ahead.  We feel light in MF to play 4-3-3 all year.

Even if Milner has been offered another 1yr extension he cannot play many minutes at full pace, Ox is expected to depart, and Jones and Elliott weren’t trusted much in the last few months.  Fabinho, Thiago, Henderson and Keita may be the primary MF rotation but that seems too little for three spots and still doesn’t offer enough attacking threat.  So possibly we’ll try a pair of MFs and then Firmino, Elliott and Carvalho can compete for a #10 role.

[Mexal]

No idea who Fabio Viera is but... cool. I'll take any midfield depth we can get at this point as long as we bring in a striker.

[A Horse Named Stranger]

2 hours ago, Soylent Brown said:

Henderson can play 6 perfectly well, so that's not the issue per se. The problem is our opponents consistently dominated our midfield whenever fewer than two of our main three played. We can get away with using one of Keita/Jones/Elliott, but using two doesn't work out very well.

It's good to get a proper RB backup in, but I do wonder if that's going to negatively affect Gomez, with his new contract on the table waiting to be signed.

Gomez should've pushed for move (loan or transfer) last year already. He needs playing time. He is clearly number four in the CB pecking order right now - he was close to Matip a few seasons ago, and him playing more looked like a reasonable guess after the string of injuries Matip picked up while playing at Liverpool. With the arrival of Konate and with Matip managing not to pick up an injury, he has simply fallen off. IMHO he is too good for that 4th CB role. He would get more playing time elsewhere. However, all of that is assuming that Ramsay is good enough to compete and won't be send out on loan elsewhere.  But yeah, for his career he should hold off signing a new contract and see whether he sees more first team football at Liverpool or he should be looking for a move. 

[Raja]

2 hours ago, Mexal said:

No idea who Fabio Viera is but... cool. I'll take any midfield depth we can get at this point as long as we bring in a striker.

The best part is that he already has a song. And yes, I have no idea who he is either. Feel like the links to him have come out of nowhere.

What position does he play? I thought he plays on the wing?

Edited June 16, 2022 by Raja

[Spockydog]

From this it looks like he operates more from the centre.

 

[Mexal]

1 hour ago, Raja said:

The best part is that he already has a song. And yes, I have no idea who he is either. Feel like the links to him have come out of nowhere.

What position does he play? I thought he plays on the wing?

Operated mostly as a RCM in a 4-3-3. He's best as an attacking CM. Basically the same as Odegaard.

Edited June 16, 2022 by Mexal