Monday Jul 29:
No diary last week as I was away for most of the week. Not too much happened, we still haven't bought anyone and some people are getting tetchy about it, but we did have a friendly game that we won. 1-0 against Betis, Dom got the only goal of the game and we played some decent stuff. The most impressive aspect was how solid we looked though. That's going to be a point of emphasis this season so hopefully we're up to speed with that by the time the season starts, as the rest of it we can figure out along the way and get by on individual talent.
Also worth mentioning the comments by Jones which were twisted by the Mail into "Jones blasts Klopp" headlines. I wasn't surprised, as soon as I saw him say it I was like "uh oh, that's not going to be good for him". It was clumsy more than anything else, he was enjoying himself talking about how much he likes the new style of play because it's more about getting on the ball and playing than running up and down and playing at a hundred miles an hour.
It was obvious what he meant, but his wording was poor and it came across as being critical of the style we played under Klopp. I didn't like what he said because that style of play gave me the most enjoyable football of my lifetime and we won everything playing that way. That's probably what he should have said really, and then added that the new style suits him better personally. But he's a young lad who seems to be getting put forward by the club for interviews and press conferences an awful lot these days so it's inevitable he's going to make the odd faux pas (pronounced 'forks pass' for anyone wondering). He usually speaks really well and this was just a bit clumsy. He was probably gutted when he saw how it was reported, but Kloppo and Lijnders won't give a fuck as they know how this stuff works.
In other news today, PSV have a bid turned down for Van den Berg. This is a tricky one because we've put a price on this head and if someone offers that we'll have to accept it as you can't really fuck a player about like that. The problem is, he's a really good player who will only get better and keeping him is the best solution for us here. I know what I've said about how we should fuck him off for being a mouthy, arrogant little sod, but that's not how Richard Hughes is going to operate and I doubt that Slot is upset about the comments either. I'm talking as a fan and if I take that hat off and put my logical hat on, I'd rather Van den Berg stayed.
If we sell him and buy someone, then sound. But I don't think it's that easy. How are we going to persuade a left sided centre back to come here when they know they won't play because Virgil is here? So maybe you sign a right sided centre back, but why would we do that when we have Quansah, Konate and Gomez already here? That would be fucking stupid.
So for example, look at the Italian lad who went to Arsenal. We supposedly liked him a lot, but if we did want him how could we persuade him to come here to be a back up? At Arsenal he'll probably mostly play left back, but here he wouldn't even have that chance when Robbo is available. Signing someone of the required level isn't going to be easy, so why not just tell Fanta pants he has to stay for another year and if he isn't happy with his playing time this time next year then he can go?
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