Takumi Minamino

[Mathewbet1]

38 minutes ago, VladimirIlyich said:

I imagine Taki is a bit of a legend back in Japan for even signing for us but is so polite that he pays the club to play rather than vice versa.

He even unloads the dishwasher for his wife, then says sorry.

[Code]

7 hours ago, Bob Spunkmouse said:

I remember years ago reading something with Vlad - might even have been in the fanzine - where he admitted he struggled at Liverpool in part because he never believed he was good enough to play for us. The football equivalent of imposter syndrome when you get a new job or promotion.

 

I get that feeling with Taki. 
 

 Delighted he’s been able to contribute what he has to us, in part because we probably wouldn’t have won the things we’ve own without his contribution but also so that it validates his place in our successes.

Smicer?

 

He was too good for us, that was his problem. 

[TD_LFC]

Keep him for the cups/rotation.

[Anubis]

Good luck at Monaco, and thanks for your contribution, especially in the cups.

[VladimirIlyich]

If he has gone we've lost three squad players already and only added Nunez who will be a regular. I'm not sure the young Scottish lad will feature much so we must be adding another one or two to the squad? 

[Remmie]

11 minutes ago, VladimirIlyich said:

If he has gone we've lost three squad players already and only added Nunez who will be a regular. I'm not sure the young Scottish lad will feature much so we must be adding another one or two to the squad? 

If anything we ae more likely to sell the likes of Williams and Oxlade-Chamberlain

[VladimirIlyich]

57 minutes ago, Remmie said:

If anything we ae more likely to sell the likes of Williams and Oxlade-Chamberlain

Yes please.

[Carra_is_legend]

He was the key reason for our success in domestic cups. Good luck to him, I thought he will be awesome when we signed him but pretty soon it was clear he was not going to cut it - says a lot about my football knowledge!

 

We will definitely miss him and big Div in cups. 

[Barrington Womble]

1 hour ago, VladimirIlyich said:

If he has gone we've lost three squad players already and only added Nunez who will be a regular. I'm not sure the young Scottish lad will feature much so we must be adding another one or two to the squad? 

Or we go back to concentrating on the big 2 and getting knocked out of the domestic cups early. 

[joe_fishfish]

6 minutes ago, Barrington Womble said:

Or we go back to concentrating on the big 2 and getting knocked out of the domestic cups early. 

Tyler Morton won't let that happen mate.

[coachpotato]

Just now, Barrington Womble said:

Or we go back to concentrating on the big 2 and getting knocked out of the domestic cups early. 

This is the most likely scenario I think. We had a go at everything last season but even though we had a decent season regarding lack of injuries, we were obviously running on fumes at the end.

I accept the World Cup will allow some to have a mid-season “rest” and 5 subs will help, but there will be more focus on the Big 2 given the concentration of games at times and I expect we’ll play the domestic cups as we have done previously, using the squad players and giving younger players game time.

It could still mean we might go far in them, especially the League cup (given it’s about four games to get to the final) but we need to get off to a flier in the League and maintain that pressure, as we’ve seen.

[Carra_is_legend]

10 minutes ago, Barrington Womble said:

Or we go back to concentrating on the big 2 and getting knocked out of the domestic cups early. 

If we are still in the cups come December I think we will have a great chance again this year due to the mid season rest for some players.

[Barrington Womble]

29 minutes ago, Carra_is_legend said:

If we are still in the cups come December I think we will have a great chance again this year due to the mid season rest for some players.

The 4th round of the league cup is just a couple of days after the WC final. I suppose we could use it like a pre-season friendly if we get through the 3rd round.  But getting to the final means between the WC and the league cup finals at the end of Feb (about 9 weeks) we'd need to play:

 

5 league cup games

2 fa cup game

8 league games

1 CL game

And we'd have a league match postponed. I don't see us wanting that work load. 

 

[Carra_is_legend]

23 minutes ago, Barrington Womble said:

The 4th round of the league cup is just a couple of days after the WC final. I suppose we could use it like a pre-season friendly if we get through the 3rd round.  But getting to the final means between the WC and the league cup finals at the end of Feb (about 9 weeks) we'd need to play:

 

5 league cup games

2 fa cup game

8 league games

1 CL game

And we'd have a league match postponed. I don't see us wanting that work load. 

 

It does sound like a lot but it also depends on the opposition. Hopefully we will get kind draws. Obviously the big 2 will take priority for sure, especially after what happened this season, but it would be great to atleast win 1 cup. 

 

They should really fuck the home and away thing in league cup.

[Mathewbet1]

Sayonara Takumi

[Barrington Womble]

8 minutes ago, Carra_is_legend said:

It does sound like a lot but it also depends on the opposition. Hopefully we will get kind draws. Obviously the big 2 will take priority for sure, especially after what happened this season, but it would be great to atleast win 1 cup. 

 

They should really fuck the home and away thing in league cup.

Don't get me wrong, I loved winning the cups last season. In fact what a fucking downer it would have been if we hadn't won them. But there's a reality our focus is on keeping the wage bill down and if we need to go back to the cup games being kids and not players like taki and origi, I feel sure we'll find the exit quicker. The draw does matter, but if we're not going to really try to win the domestic cups, I'd sooner go out early. Obviously, I'd prefer we maintain the squad, but if we don't, focus is best on the big 2. 

[Bjornebye]

幸運を祈りますセクシーな小さなファッカー

Kōun o inorimasu sekushīna chīsana fakkā

[Chip Butty]

Had a meal in Etsu on Saturday, outstanding food. Taki wasn’t there.

[gkmacca]

If he wanted to go then he deserved to be let go, but it's a pity he's gone. We're refreshing the squad well but, as Brendan said in one of his rare moments of non-vacuity, the process is like trying to refit a plane in mid-air. It goes against policy but we could do with a shrewd short term signing, because, although we do have good attacking talents coming through, and their pathway should not be blocked, IMHO most of them are about a year or so from being ready to figure regularly in the squad as serious game changers rather than just apprentices.

 

We've gone from eight to five in a month - that's just not the way to move on 'even stronger' from a long and gruelling battle with City. Yes, 'Carvalho can play there' - he's already being used multiple times to excuse any shortages in the squad - where next, reserve keeper?? For one thing, he's not the finished product, and for another, he can't plug ALL the gaps. He can only play in one place at a time! He deserves to be encouraged to develop fairly naturally without being used as some all-purpose hole bunger-upper. You do that to young players too often and they end up as Øyvind Leonhardsen.

 

Kaide Gordon looks like he might step up, but he's still got to do the basics and get stronger and smarter. There's also Bobby Clark and one or two others, but this is surely not their year. There's just a frustrating gap between the main strikers we have left and the young pretenders. Bringing in another experienced player on a short-tem deal wouldn't harm those youngsters, it would help them. They shouldn't have too much pressure too soon.

[Barrington Womble]

8 minutes ago, gkmacca said:

If he wanted to go then he deserved to be let go, but it's a pity he's gone. We're refreshing the squad well but, as Brendan said in one of his rare moments of non-vacuity, the process is like trying to refit a plane in mid-air. It goes against policy but we could do with a shrewd short term signing, because, although we do have good attacking talents coming through, and their pathway should not be blocked, IMHO most of them are about a year or so from being ready to figure regularly in the squad as serious game changers rather than just apprentices.

 

We've gone from eight to five in a month - that's just not the way to move on 'even stronger' from a long and gruelling battle with City. Yes, 'Carvalho can play there' - he's already being used multiple times to excuse any shortages in the squad - where next, reserve keeper?? For one thing, he's not the finished product, and for another, he can't plug ALL the gaps. He can only play in one place at a time! He deserves to be encouraged to develop fairly naturally without being used as some all-purpose hole bunger-upper. You do that to young players too often and they end up as Øyvind Leonhardsen.

 

Kaide Gordon looks like he might step up, but he's still got to do the basics and get stronger and smarter. There's also Bobby Clark and one or two others, but this is surely not their year. There's just a frustrating gap between the main strikers we have left and the young pretenders. Bringing in another experienced player on a short-tem deal wouldn't harm those youngsters, it would help them. They shouldn't have too much pressure too soon.

I broadly agree with what you're saying, but I think we'll see increased performance across the season with having 5 real options for the PL & CL instead of the 4 from the start of last season, especially with 5 subs. We could see the difference adding Diaz did last season - we didn't lose a league match from when he joined and dropped just 4 points. 

 

The other thing I think that helps immensely is klopp isn't Rodgers. While Rodgers is seeing it as refitting midair, I think klopp's "1 year contracts" with his players allows him to move some pieces around in the summer (even things like adding Elliot to midfield, who saw that coming this time last year?) and the likes of Gordon and carvalho, he will know much better than us just how close they are to contributing. For what it's worth the Fulham lads I know think carvalho is ready right now - and they say he's light years a better footballer than neco Williams, who we've used as a squad player in the past (and they like neco). So overall we maybe lose a little depth in the forward line compare to last year, but klopp has more players he actually wants to out on the pitch. I honestly can live without a taki replacement, I'm more concerned about midfield - but I don't think anything will change there unless we get someone out. 

[VERBAL DIARRHEA]

Good luck to him, shame he is going and Chamberlain stays but who would buy him.

[Aventus]

3 hours ago, coachpotato said:

This is the most likely scenario I think. We had a go at everything last season but even though we had a decent season regarding lack of injuries, we were obviously running on fumes at the end.

I accept the World Cup will allow some to have a mid-season “rest” and 5 subs will help, but there will be more focus on the Big 2 given the concentration of games at times and I expect we’ll play the domestic cups as we have done previously, using the squad players and giving younger players game time.

It could still mean we might go far in them, especially the League cup (given it’s about four games to get to the final) but we need to get off to a flier in the League and maintain that pressure, as we’ve seen.

With the league the damage was done early, most of our dropped points came directly after the early rounds of the domestic cup games so it came down to it being a distraction rather than tiredness late into the season.

 

Hopefully we can be clear at the top of the league next April so we can rest players ready for the Champions league final. 

[Barrington Womble]

48 minutes ago, Aventus said:

With the league the damage was done early, most of our dropped points came directly after the early rounds of the domestic cup games so it came down to it being a distraction rather than tiredness late into the season.

 

Hopefully we can be clear at the top of the league next April so we can rest players ready for the Champions league final. 

Clear at the top of the league.... right now I'd snatch your hands off to be top going into the final day and we just need to win like city have done to us. 

[magicrat]

 Not too happy about this tbh. 

[3 Stacks]

He's 27. If he was fine being a bit part player all his career we would have kept him, but he clearly didn’t. And good for him for wanting more out of his career. Monaco is a good club.