Jump to content

Football: A League United


polishgenius

Recommended Posts

10 hours ago, AncalagonTheBlack said:

Fucking hell, Milner, Kieta and Henderson in midfield today. :bang:

At this point I think Klopp is just proving a point to the owners so they’ll have to buy MF players.  Fabinho was still running through a tar-pit when he came on as a sub.  Three of the four defenders looked slow and timid — it’s not just a problem in defense.  Good to see Jota back from injury but he has resumed blasting his shots straight down the middle rather than any attempt to place it — I think GKs are wise to this.

It’s not as if we didn’t all say it was a mistake to give big contract renewals to aging players with so many years of high intensity play behind them.  Only Alisson is having a good season.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

36 minutes ago, Iskaral Pust said:

At this point I think Klopp is just proving a point to the owners so they’ll have to buy MF players.

 

The funds have been there though. Liverpool have bought a player for at least €40mil in each of the last four transfer windows, it's just been three forwards and Konate. The last time you bought any midfielder at all was in summer 2020, when you got an already-aging Thiago but also spent twice as much on Jota. Sure, you have a smaller budget than City or us, but that kind of aim is on Klopp as well. 

 

The Gakpo signing is absolutely inexplicable to me. You've spent €40 on a winger to play him out of position, in a role he's barely ever played and doesn't look suited to. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, polishgenius said:

The funds have been there though. Liverpool have bought a player for at least €40mil in each of the last four transfer windows, it's just been three forwards and Konate. The last time you bought any midfielder at all was in summer 2020, when you got an already-aging Thiago but also spent twice as much on Jota. Sure, you have a smaller budget than City or us, but that kind of aim is on Klopp as well.

I think you're overstating how obvious the problem was going into this season. We were one of the best two or three teams in the world last year with that midfield. I think it was obvious there was going to be a bit of a diminishing returns situation with the age profile and they'd need to get some new midfielders in relatively soon but I don't recall many people, you included, saying the midfield was going to be an absolute disaster this season.

I think they were viewing this season as a bit of a transition year and they've focused on rebuilding the forward line first. Which didn't seem unreasonable at the time. I think you could have reasonably predicted it might be a struggle to win the league this season with Liverpool's aging midfield, I don't think anyone thought they weren't going to be able to get by at a level that'd get them comfortably into the Champions League places though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Have to agree Gakpo looks like someone that was signed, because he was on the market. I get it to some extent.

Liverpool wanted another forward to address injuries (Diaz and Jota). But long term, I don't think Gakpo makes sense. That one had panic buy written all over it. While Guardiola seems to like to hoard CM, Klopp has apparently taken a liking to store forwards (preferably wide ones).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 minutes ago, A Horse Named Stranger said:

Have to agree Gakpo looks like someone that was signed, because he was on the market. I get it to some extent.

Liverpool wanted another forward to address injuries (Diaz and Jota). But long term, I don't think Gakpo makes sense. That one had panic buy written all over it. While Guardiola seems to like to hoard CM, Klopp has apparently taken a liking to store forwards (preferably wide ones).

I mean they've signed Gakpo to be their 4th/5th choice forward going into the next few seasons (I think that's why they want him to be able to play across the front line too). That's fine, £40 million is about the going rate for that nowadays.

I suspect it was a player they quite liked just being available signing rather than a 'this is going to solve all our problems' signing. Buying players you think are going to be good when they're available isn't necessarily a bad plan but, you know, if there was a £40 million midfielder who could have slotted straight into the team available and they chose to sign Gakpo over him then, yeah, it was a bad choice.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, ljkeane said:

I mean they've signed Gakpo to be their 4th/5th choice forward going into the next few seasons (I think that's why they want him to be able to play across the front line too). That's fine, £40 million is about the going rate for that nowadays.

 

I mean, players do go for that, but Arsenal signed Trossard for 27mil for the exact same role and with an actually proven ability to play across the front. Dango Ouattara is less tested, but Bournemouth got him for 20mil and he also has a proven ability to play in multiple positions. 
Liverpool are using Gakpo as if Klopp confused him with Xavi Simons. 

 

2 hours ago, ljkeane said:

you know, if there was a £40 million midfielder who could have slotted straight into the team available and they chose to sign Gakpo over him then, yeah, it was a bad choice.

 

I mean, Jorginho cost Arsenal 17. We got Sabitzer on loan, but since Bayern clearly don't see him in their team you'd have thought a good offer for a permanent deal would have tempted them. Neither are young, no, but you're in emergency straits right now. 

Also given they sold their other two best players for 20 mil (for Ouattara) and the promise of 20mil (Moffi), I reckon before those two went Lorient might have been open to offers for Le Fee. 40 mil? In the context of selling both the others for that combined, I think they'd have bitten your hands off. 

 

3 hours ago, ljkeane said:

they'd need to get some new midfielders in relatively soon but I don't recall many people, you included, saying the midfield was going to be an absolute disaster this season.

 

I didn't think it would be this bad, but I did think it was a problem. I did also say that Salah played you lot a bit, I think you signed Nunez in anticipation of him leaving and then he renewed. But even that speaks to poor planning and communication tbh. As does the fact that there weren't rotational forwards already in the squad and you had to launch Gakpo straight in when Diaz and that were injured, coz you let Minamino and Shaqiri go and never replaced either. 

 

 

It's just been a bunch of what individually are little things that have come together to cause a huge mess for you.


 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

35 minutes ago, polishgenius said:

I mean, players do go for that, but Arsenal signed Trossard for 27mil for the exact same role and with an actually proven ability to play across the front. Dango Ouattara is less tested, but Bournemouth got him for 20mil and he also has a proven ability to play in multiple positions.

Trossard's 28 and has basically never had a good goal scoring season. Arsenal have signed him to do a job for them right now when they need a forward to keep them in a title race. Liverpool obviously wanted Gakpo to fill in for a bit while they were waiting for Jota, Diaz and Firmino but they presumably also see him as someone they can develop longterm too.

It's just not a signing to get too excited about either way for me. Liverpool have paid about the market rate for a player who's going to replace Firmino as a rotation option for the forward line. If they could have found a good option cheaper that would have been great but it's also not really breaking the bank for a Premier League team anymore.:dunno:

47 minutes ago, polishgenius said:

I mean, Jorginho cost Arsenal 17. We got Sabitzer on loan, but since Bayern clearly don't see him in their team you'd have thought a good offer for a permanent deal would have tempted them. Neither are young, no, but you're in emergency straits right now.

Neither of those options really strike me as good solutions to Liverpool's midfield issues.

48 minutes ago, polishgenius said:

 As does the fact that there weren't rotational forwards already in the squad and you had to launch Gakpo straight in when Diaz and that were injured, coz you let Minamino and Shaqiri go and never replaced either.

There were rotational options in the squad, it's just that two of them, Jota and Firmino, were also injured. They did replace Minamino and Shaqiri with Carvalho but don't seem to think he's quite ready to play significant minutes yet (not that Minamino or Shaqiri did either). Honestly I don't think it'd have made a massive difference just playing Nunez and Salah with one of the young players but Firmino's leaving in the summer if they think Gakpo's a good option to replace him why not sign him when they get the chance?

1 hour ago, polishgenius said:

It's just been a bunch of what individually are little things that have come together to cause a huge mess for you.

Well, yeah, clearly they've gotten it wrong on whether the midfield could go another year. Liverpool's squad building has gone really well for a number of years, it's not gone well this season. They're going to have to make some big decisions in the Summer so we'll have to see whether they can get it back on track.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You know things are going against you when Oliver Skipp is scoring worldies. 




 

27 minutes ago, ljkeane said:

If they could have found a good option cheaper that would have been great but it's also not really breaking the bank for a Premier League team anymore.:dunno:


No, in a vacuum I wouldn't think it a problem. It baffles me in combination because I don't think he can do the job that all of us think he's been bought to do, and because at the time he was bought, it was so clear a midfielder is needed. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

40-50 million for a 4th or 5th choice striker seems...odd to me.

I imagine Liverpool didn't go for a midfielder because they were waiting for Jude, but I think it was clear in the summer ( possibly earlier) that they needed one.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Potter is also the problem. Managers always have been and always will be held responsible for the results. The results have been horrendous and he's looking like a deer in the headlights out there. The only thing that might save him is that Chelsea might have to pay out £50m in compensation, unless they were smart enough to include a performance related break clause in his contract.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

30 minutes ago, Spockydog said:

Potter isn't the problem. That would be the owner. I mean, he sacked Tuchel because he refused to countenance CR7. There was probably more to it, too. 

My understanding is Tuchel didn't get along with the new ownership group and wouldn't communicate with them to their expectations (though to be fair, it sounded like they were asking him to teach them the ins and outs of the EPL). Sounds like a classic oil and water situation.

That said, it's pretty clear the team has been a lot worse under Potter. It's an almost unwatchable product at this point.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
×
×
  • Create New...