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1 hour ago, Lee909 said:

Fully expect Pearce, Jones etc to start with. 

 

Without Champions league football Liverpool will not be in the market for high priced players. Some squad players will be shipped off(arnt we so clever). The return of van Dijk, Gomez, Matip and Hendo will be like new signings and Thiago after a year to acclimatise will replace Gini as always intended. Add to that the return of Harvey Elliot. 

 

The club feel given the reduced schedule of no European football(or that youngsters and fringe players can hold their own in the Europa League group stages) that a fully fit smaller squad can carry the burden of domestic football. 

 

A year on with Champions League football and full stadiums the club will then look to sign Haaland, Mbappe when the coffers are full again

The coffers full again? When has that ever happened,other than selling a star player to fill those coffers?

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6 minutes ago, No2 said:

Its like Klopp neutered him, I was expected a mad little cunt that had to be dragged out of fights. 15 fewer yellow cards for us in more games and with shitter referees.

The stats give the impression that Naby benefits from the higher tempo game that we saw when Klopp first arrived, rather than the more controlled possession game that we're trying to play.

 

These stats obviously can't quantify the effects of the injuries that Naby has had whilst with us. He only missed 3 games with Leipzig due to injury. 3 games in 2 seasons! (He missed double the number of games due to suspension in those 2 seasons - 3 for a straight red, with 1 for a sending off for 2 bookable offenses, and 2 due to an accumulation of yellow cards).

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Guest Alex_K
15 minutes ago, No2 said:

Its like Klopp neutered him, I was expected a mad little cunt that had to be dragged out of fights. 15 fewer yellow cards for us in more games and with shitter referees.

Yeah Keita is the oddest transformation of a player I've possibly ever seen at the club. As you say, expected an all-action midfielder bombing around the pitch like a pint-sized Viera or some such. Instead he's meek as a church mouse, grinning inanely as he lurches from injury to mediocrity and back again. Pure bad luck or huge-contract syndrome? Don't know - but very disappointing.

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11 minutes ago, Alex_K said:

Yeah Keita is the oddest transformation of a player I've possibly ever seen at the club. As you say, expected an all-action midfielder bombing around the pitch like a pint-sized Viera or some such. Instead he's meek as a church mouse, grinning inanely as he lurches from injury to mediocrity and back again. Pure bad luck or huge-contract syndrome? Don't know - but very disappointing.

I get the feeling that Naby needs a Hendo or Milner playing alongside him for us. He needs the onfield guidance as he's not the main player as he was when at Leipzig, where they relied very heavily on Naby breaking the lines from midfield with and without the ball.

 

For us, it's our fullbacks that are the main outlet, so without Hendo or Milner telling Naby when and where to go, he seemingly just looks lost. He'll pull off a little dribble or two and make a couple of nice give-and-go passing moves without direction, when the team is playing well and with tempo. When we're struggling and have no tempo, he has little to no impact.

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1 minute ago, Dynamite said:

I get the feeling that Naby needs a Hendo or Milner playing alongside him for us. He needs the onfield guidance as he's not the main player as he was when at Leipzig, where they relied very heavily on Naby breaking the lines from midfield with and without the ball.

 

For us, it's our fullbacks that are the main outlet, so without Hendo or Milner telling Naby when and where to go, he seemingly just looks lost. He'll pull off a little dribble or two and make a couple of nice give-and-go passing moves without direction, when the team is playing well and with tempo. When we're struggling and have no tempo, he has little to no impact.

Agreed. It’s a real shame. Just hasn’t gone right at all. I do think it set a bad precedent when he arrived without knowing a lick of English given he knew he was coming for over a year. That said, the likes of Tevez played at a very high level consistently without knowing the language so perhaps that’s prejudicial.

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3 minutes ago, Alex_K said:

Agreed. It’s a real shame. Just hasn’t gone right at all. I do think it set a bad precedent when he arrived without knowing a lick of English given he knew he was coming for over a year. That said, the likes of Tevez played at a very high level consistently without knowing the language so perhaps that’s prejudicial.

It's likely to have been a minor factor as far as being around the football club is concerned, I would have thought.  We've had a good number of French and German speaking players & staff at the club since Naby arrived. I assume his German is of a sufficient level following his time in Austria & Germany.

 

However, if you look beyond the football club and more into the person settling into a new country/culture, then it would definitely have a bigger impact. Especially given that Naby is supposedly a quiet and shy person, by all accounts. 

 

But yes, it's a pity that his career with us to date has panned out as it has. Always want to see every player who pulls on a Liverpool shirt do well.

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30 minutes ago, Alex_K said:

Yeah Keita is the oddest transformation of a player I've possibly ever seen at the club. As you say, expected an all-action midfielder bombing around the pitch like a pint-sized Viera or some such. Instead he's meek as a church mouse, grinning inanely as he lurches from injury to mediocrity and back again. Pure bad luck or huge-contract syndrome? Don't know - but very disappointing.


I listened to a podcast the other week. Might have been the Anfield Wrap or the Athletic. Either way, they were interviewing some German Bundesliga journalist about the Konate signing and this fella did make a throwaway line comparing Konate’s humbleness to Keita who is apparently really flash by comparison and owns loads of cars and rolexes. Does make you wonder whether he’s eased off since he got the big contract at Liverpool. Certainly looks a shadow of the player we thought we were getting. 

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3 minutes ago, Crazy Dave said:


I listened to a podcast the other week. Might have been the Anfield Wrap or the Athletic. Either way, they were interviewing some German Bundesliga journalist about the Konate signing and this fella did make a throwaway line comparing Konate’s humbleness to Keita who is apparently really flash by comparison and owns loads of cars and rolexes. Does make you wonder whether he’s eased off since he got the big contract at Liverpool. Certainly looks a shadow of the player we thought we were getting. 

Really? I'd not have thought that after having listened to Sadio talk about Naby. I guess the personal side of the player is something you don't really get to know unless it's being thrown in your face via the media or social media platforms.

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58 minutes ago, No2 said:

Its like Klopp neutered him, I was expected a mad little cunt that had to be dragged out of fights. 15 fewer yellow cards for us in more games and with shitter referees.

Our midfielders have to play pretty defensive and it's clearly not suited him. As said above, when we were throwing bodies forward like crazy in 16, 17, 18, it would have been more for him. That being said, he's just been shit. No need to really explain it. He's either injured or not performing.  

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Guest Alex_K
12 minutes ago, Crazy Dave said:


I listened to a podcast the other week. Might have been the Anfield Wrap or the Athletic. Either way, they were interviewing some German Bundesliga journalist about the Konate signing and this fella did make a throwaway line comparing Konate’s humbleness to Keita who is apparently really flash by comparison and owns loads of cars and rolexes. Does make you wonder whether he’s eased off since he got the big contract at Liverpool. Certainly looks a shadow of the player we thought we were getting. 

I didn't see that, but its interesting. Conjecture on my part, but I did get the sense he is a bit flashy (huge red Hummer, for example). There are some super flashy players who have produced the goods consistently elsewhere (likes of Sherringham & Ferdinand come to mind at Mancs; Ashley Cole at Chelsea) so its a tough barometer to measure against, but yeah, as we see commonly huge contracts can ruin players motivations. Often I don't blame them - its a highly competitive profession after all, and when youre given a 20 million £ contract in your early 20s there will be a lot of players who need to dig deep to find the same motivation they had even a couple of years previous and even a marginal decline in performance can reflect massively against other similarly talented professionals on the pitch. Real Type A personality types needed (think Virgil).

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7 hours ago, Lee909 said:

The return of van Dijk, Gomez, Matip and Hendo will be like new signings and Thiago after a year to acclimatise will replace Gini as always intended. 

Gomez and Matip? Seriously? We have absolutely NO idea how VVD will be on his return. He might be OK. He'd better be because - short of a miracle - that pair of constantly crocked clowns certainly won't. 

 

Anyway fuck that. Keita is a big bag of shite who has been stealing a wage whilst lying on a sick bed - a sick bed that has considerably more ability and value to the club in one of its rusty wheels. I have never hated one of our players as much as I hate this cunt. 

 

 

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9 hours ago, rb14 said:

Gomez and Matip? Seriously? We have absolutely NO idea how VVD will be on his return. He might be OK. He'd better be because - short of a miracle - that pair of constantly crocked clowns certainly won't. 

 

Anyway fuck that. Keita is a big bag of shite who has been stealing a wage whilst lying on a sick bed - a sick bed that has considerably more ability and value to the club in one of its rusty wheels. I have never hated one of our players as much as I hate this cunt.

Feel like a lot of people are sleeping on this.

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11 hours ago, Dynamite said:

I get the feeling that Naby needs a Hendo or Milner playing alongside him for us. He needs the onfield guidance as he's not the main player as he was when at Leipzig, where they relied very heavily on Naby breaking the lines from midfield with and without the ball.

 

For us, it's our fullbacks that are the main outlet, so without Hendo or Milner telling Naby when and where to go, he seemingly just looks lost. He'll pull off a little dribble or two and make a couple of nice give-and-go passing moves without direction, when the team is playing well and with tempo. When we're struggling and have no tempo, he has little to no impact.

Yeah, I agree with this. Keita has probably been unlucky in terms of his delayed move - when we agreed the deal we were a different team, for whom he'd have been perfect: all quick breaks, counters, charging with the ball and runners without it. Oxlade-Chamberlain is similar - a player who suits the pre-Kiev Liverpool much better than the current version.

 

Since Kiev we've transitioned into a different side - as you say, more possession-based and with the fullbacks as the players who move the ball from defence into attack more so than the midfield, which has become much more utilitarian, and why Wijnaldum, Henderson and Fabinho have become the dominant group. Keita and Oxlade-Chamberlain can do a job in that kind of role, but they aren't as good at it and their main skills are wasted in it.

 

The other night was weird. He just looked - as he often does - half asleep: second to everything, getting caught in possession, needing an extra moment to work out what to do.

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39 minutes ago, Bjornebye said:

Anyone reckon he will start on Saturday? 

I mentioned it in an earlier reply in this thread. If it were my decision, I would start him against Villa to see what kind of reaction he gives - if any. If there's no reaction to being substituted in the first half of the Madrid game, then he might as well pack his bags now.

 

However, I don't think Klopp will start him against Villa, and quite possibly not for the remainder of the season unless injuries or suspension dictate that he'll need to start.

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58 minutes ago, A Red said:

He needs to play in order to be in the shop window or not even in the squad so he cant get injured. Whatever happens, the decision is whatever best enables the twat to get sold.

If we want to sell, which I'm obviously hoping we do, it probably would be best that potential suitors don't actually watch him play.

 

I vote we cryogenically freeze him.

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