Liverpool Football Club Thread

[Mike]

New four your deal for Trent, puts him on big money. 

[squirtle]

I keep looking. Have we bought anyone yet? 

[Mike]

Fabinho signs a new 5 year deal! 

[Oh Danny Boy]

On 30/07/2021 at 21:53, squirtle said:

I keep looking. Have we bought anyone yet? 

Other than the new CB? Nope. Looks like the club is concentrating on renewing contracts atm, but you never know, they are excellent at keeping their dealing under wraps until the last moment. 

[Commander Jameson]

11 hours ago, Mike said:

Fabinho signs a new 5 year deal! 

 

Fab news!

[Keiths_Dad]

Alisson has signed a 6 year contract as well. Lovely stuff.

[Azrael]

And we won both our friendlies today. Yay. 

[SweatyTravolta]

Nasty knock for Robertson just before half time in the friendly. The injuries are starting early this season. Hope it isn't as bad as it looked. 

[disperse and recoagulate]

It didn't look great did it.

 

Salah looks hungry for goals. I'm liking his [relatively] clean-shaven look too.

[gospvg]

 

Good to see Anfield packed.

[ryodi]

2 hours ago, SweatyTravolta said:

Nasty knock for Robertson just before half time in the friendly. The injuries are starting early this season. Hope it isn't as bad as it looked. 

 

Tsmikas was signed as cover and has had a year on the bench. Hopefully he'll be able to step up if Robertson is out for a while, I really don't want to see Milner at left back again. 

[Azrael]

I'm sure Tsmikas would ge getting picked ahead of Milner, yeah? He's looked decent in the few cameos he's had. 

[bradigor]

Owen Beck will stake his claim

[Chewylegs]

Just seen it. Looks horrendous. He blocks a ball which knocks his ankle/foot around mid air then comes down on it as it's still in that position. 😱

Looks like it should be broken but then the hard as nails Scot walks off with a limp🤷🏻‍♂️.

 

Why did it have to be one of our best, irreplaceable players.

[Gabe]

How is our first game only 5 days away, crazy. 

 

What are people feeling about the season? What expectations/hopes do you have? Are you even looking forward to the PL starting again? 

 

I don't really have any expectations for this season because I don't know how much more Klopp can coax out of the same players, but I don't realistically expect a title challenge. I'm okay with that really because I've accepted that the owners have an almost late-stage Arsenal philosophy which isn't really about winning things, but getting CL football each season and selling-on developed players for a profit.

 

I've said at the time and many more times since (and still firmly believe) that the time to build the squad was after the CL win but that never really happened and I no longer expect it to - so good news, thread - I'm not going to go on about that any more 

 

What about you guys? 

 

[Gabe]

11 minutes ago, Pockets said:

In previous seasons I’ve moaned about this and people say we’re just not Man City or Man Utd but I don’t really get why given recent success. Whatever, I guess I just don’t understand.

In City's case it's because they are still viewed very much as an oil state plaything, so outlay isn't really a factor. For United, the owners are happy to load more debt on the club and continue to suck money out and they have the cash flow to buy big in the comfort they'll earn it back without breaking much of a sweat. 

 

Fenway Group view it much more as a business to make money from by trying to live within its means, so any outlay has to be viewed as an investment first and foremost, with any sporting success is a bonus (that also helps increase that ROI.)

 

And you were right - we did struggle massively to get 4th. I had said before the start of the season that Man Utd were closer than most people in here were giving them credit for and I was right in that, too (we can argue all day about whether that was due to them playing well or other teams not, but the table at the end of the season doesn't care.)

 

I think they will push Man City harder, as will Chelsea - with somebody who can actually score goals for them, I think they'll be a real threat.

[Keiths_Dad]

We started and ended last season very strongly, but we just fell to pieces in between when the injuries started to mount up and overwhelmed the squad. We did well to get Konate early on, and whilst I'd still like us to sign another forward, I can see the logic in prioritising contract extensions for our current squad and starting the rebuild in earnest next season, particularly with the pandemic limiting our finances. If we can tie Van Dijk and 2 of our front 3 down to long term deals, I'll be happy enough with our transfer window.

 

As for predictions for this season, I think a lot depends on how much we can squeeze from Oxlade-Chamberlain and Keita, both of whom can be great but have so far been inconsistent, and whether Harvey Elliott is ready to step up and be able to provide relief to our forwards. I can't see our back line imploding like it did last year - although Robertson is testing this theory already - and our first XI is as good as anyone's, so it will come down to managing our squad players effectively.

 

If the stars align, there's no reason we can't make a charge to the title again, but it will require a lot of luck with injuries and ultimately I think we'll fall short of City, and we'll be competing with Chelsea and United for second. 

[bradigor]

Telling you now. Owen Beck will be a star. 

 

It's all about new blood this season. Beck to show promise, Elliot to shine and Jones to become an ever present. 

 

We'll challenge but fade at some point and we'll beat City on the way to winning the European Cup again in Henderson's last appearance in a Liverpool shirt.

 

Fourth round of the FA Cup and quarters of the league cup.

 

 

[Gabe]

I'd definitely like to see Elliot getting games, he's been playing in a midfield three in the warm-up games hasn't he? We could use creativity there so that could be good. 10/15 starts (plus some sub appearances) would be a great season for him. I expect Jones to get more games too as we rotate that third spot. 

[bradigor]

Elliot will spend time in both midfield and attack. He is ideally someone who could play between the lines. But that requires a change of system

[Azrael]

Minamino and Jota joint top goalscorers in the league (hopefully both for Liverpool), Tiago and Jones with the most assists. Allison to add a few more goals to his tally. Van Dijk to remain injury free. Simple. 

[ryodi]

Goodish news and considering how reliable he’s been the enforced rest wouldn’t do him any harm either.

[bear]

Considering just how bad it looked that's great news. 

[Azrael]

All that Irn Bru as a wee 'un, tough as girders. 

[gospvg]

Good news on the contract extensions for a few players. I wish they can agree a deal with Henderson soon.

 

I don't think we will sign any other players but hopefully see a few more youngsters mature this season into the first team.

 

I love the FA cup tournament and it needs to come back to Anfield. We should do well in the league/champions league if our core can stay injury free. I think we will finish 3rd (4 points behind City) and Chelsea will win it.

 

Looking forward to the weekend.

[Chewylegs]

My son's birthday is coming up and been thinking of getting him a Liverpool top.  I've not bought one since around the Torres years!

 

50 fucking quid for a kids jersey?  And what the fuck is a 'Home' match jersey at £85!?! 

Im disgusted at the price for a for a child's top.

[JamesTW]

The 'Cheap' one is a normal replica shirt and the Expensive one is the shirt the players wear on the pitch I believe, made of better material....PS4 version or PS5 version maybe 

[SMD]

On 09/08/2021 at 16:29, Keiths_Dad said:

We started and ended last season very strongly, but we just fell to pieces in between when the injuries started to mount up and overwhelmed the squad. We did well to get Konate early on, and whilst I'd still like us to sign another forward, I can see the logic in prioritising contract extensions for our current squad and starting the rebuild in earnest next season, particularly with the pandemic limiting our finances. If we can tie Van Dijk and 2 of our front 3 down to long term deals, I'll be happy enough with our transfer window.

 

As for predictions for this season, I think a lot depends on how much we can squeeze from Oxlade-Chamberlain and Keita, both of whom can be great but have so far been inconsistent, and whether Harvey Elliott is ready to step up and be able to provide relief to our forwards. I can't see our back line imploding like it did last year - although Robertson is testing this theory already - and our first XI is as good as anyone's, so it will come down to managing our squad players effectively.

 

If the stars align, there's no reason we can't make a charge to the title again, but it will require a lot of luck with injuries and ultimately I think we'll fall short of City, and we'll be competing with Chelsea and United for second. 

Why would you be happy to put off strengthening until we need a rebuild? Mane and Firmino shouldn't get extensions either based on their age and decline. I mean if anything we needed to have a Firmino replacement two years ago and he should've been sold this summer.

 

Its so weird how things that go for literally every other club don't seem to apply to us because of some abstract reasons. I dunno how we manage to keep rationalising contract extensions as this additional expense that eludes most other clubs, like we just can't manage to sign players and keep the ones we have.

I will say that I do get that we've hit the limit for non homegrown players but that still doesn't explain why we're not trying to sign good young English players. We're crying out for a replacement for Wijnaldum and Keita and AOC just can't be relied on to play a whole season.

We're never going to compete for Grealish with the numbers City are throwing around but when you've got the likes of Watkins and Barnes doing well and look ready for the step up, you should be looking to sign them and transition them over a year or two rather than wait for someone like Grealish to hit 25 and go for 100m.

 

It's super careless to see how a lack of reinforcements torpedoed our season and then start weaker with no Wijnaldum and Henderson not ready. Milner should be player/coach by now, if he gets more than 20 appearances this season we've done something wrong.

[Wallpaper]

Man City aren’t as showy in their superspending in the way that it’s been done before with the likes of Real Madrid Galaticos and current PSG  but they have hugely spent their way to the top and you guys made them look silly in the league when you won it and took second with a tally that would have won it any other year, not to mention having the kind of champions league success that must get so deep under their skin.  So while it’s probably a bit unambitious to be happy with just the one league title out of this current team it should be seen as a huge success and something to be massively proud of.

[SMD]

I'm not and never asked for City level spending - they can't sign and play every player in the market and we can't afford to pay an entire second XI to sit on the bench. It's painful seeing Sancho go for such a relatively small amount to a rival, particularly when he looks like a generational talent and we need to phase out one if not two of our forwards in the next year or two.

But we really shouldn't be in a position where we can't afford to buy talent up front and in the middle because we can only spend what we make. That's not ambition, that's trying to do things on the cheap. When you're getting out spent by Villa and Leicester you have to ask questions. Leicester signed Tielemans for 40m, which was a bargain. We couldn't compete or go in for Barnes? Last season we knew we were light at the back and still went all the way to the final day of the January transfer window before signing two centre backs.

It's embarrassing that every year we ask Klopp and Edwards to perform miracles while the owners are disinterested in anything except the next scheme to fleece the fans.