Summer 2021 transfer thread.

[Dr Nowt]

Far less worried Mane’s loss of form may be terminal than Bobby’s. Mane had hardly any time off summer after summer, last season felt like the time that finally caught up. Good break this year, so be a much better gauge of where he’s at if he’s not looking refreshed and back to his best in the coming weeks.

[Mil-ing Around]

34 minutes ago, Carvalho Diablo said:

I don't know what you've been watching in preseason but Mane has looked lightning.

The pace and effort is still there but beating his man and close control still looked some way off. Especially from what it has been when he was at his peak. It's a confidence/mental thing with him at the moment. I love him and want him to recover his form but he still looks pretty far off that to me right now. 

[Carvalho Diablo]

35 minutes ago, Mil-ing Around said:

The pace and effort is still there but beating his man and close control still looked some way off. Especially from what it has been when he was at his peak. It's a confidence/mental thing with him at the moment. I love him and want him to recover his form but he still looks pretty far off that to me right now. 

He definitely looked jaded last season but I think him and Mo both have looked rejuvenated and razor sharp this preseason.

Let's hope I'm right!

[Dave D]

3 hours ago, Scott_M said:

Senile old fuck. What relevance has this got to do with supporters or anything?

 

Awaiting for the replies from some of our highly esteemed posters saying FSG are taking a % of the fee or some other bollocks.

 

What a strange guy.

 

His next tweet something along the lines-

 

If B+Q say they sell fabulous plants could they reveal why their trolleys are made of metal?  

[Bobby Hundreds]

What has football without fans got to do with a players private contract deal. What's his connection he's a fucking god awful journalist, if this is how he connects dots. If Paddington bear likes marmalade sandwiches so much then why doesn't he respect them by fixing inter tubes.

[JagSquared]

6 hours ago, TD_LFC said:

Last season was an exceptional case though, go through the history of the premier league and how many times has any team lost there top 3 players in a given position. 

 

It's managed to convince people we need to carry three players for each position and every signing is judged on their potential to get injured.

 

 

It may have been exceptional but it was hardly unforeseen, many on here myself included were nervous going into the season with Matip and Gomez propensity to get injuries. The key was hoping VVD who had never really missed many games for us continuing in the same vein and making whoever his partner was look better. It was a clear gamble that backfired. 

 

similarly this season coming we are looking at our midfield options and can see hendo, Thiago, Ox and keita also having fitness issues and while there may be more bodies to cover the 3 spots, a big chunk of the quality of our midfield is in that group. Curtis Jones and Harvey Elliot are also young lads, Milner is getting on.
 

I’d be happy if Hendo and Thiago were fully fit but the former has missed a lot of games and the latter has been playing with a muscle injury for a while apparently.

 

personally I’d have got rid of one of ox / keita and bring in someone. But maybe the options aren’t there in the market.

[m0e]

I am worried about Mane because everytime I've witnessed a drop in form like he had, they never seem to recover.

[Harry Squatter]

55 minutes ago, Dave D said:

What a strange guy.

 

His next tweet something along the lines-

 

If B+Q say they sell fabulous plants could they reveal why their trolleys are made of metal?  

I can remember him saying on that Sunday Supplement that the only way England would win the World Cup in 2006 was for David James to be the first choice keeper. 

[Anubis]

2 hours ago, Scott_M said:

I hope he scores the winner for Spurs on Sunday.

 

City adopting aggressive monitoring. Copycats.

[Josef Svejk]

4 hours ago, TD_LFC said:

Unless it's related to the deferred payment of the transfer fee and his beef is with Fulham for trying to circumvent rules. 

That was my guess... 

[Bruce Spanner]

Just flicking through the sports channels and Flamengo are playing.

 

Never realised Gabriel Barbosa was a real player, i always suspected Daniel Levy invented him to keep Spurs fans in a weird fever dream about their ability to sign exotic, fancy dan cunts and not the Dyers of this world.

 

Interesting.

[manwiththestick]

2 hours ago, Dave D said:

What a strange guy.

 

His next tweet something along the lines-

 

If B+Q say they sell fabulous plants could they reveal why their trolleys are made of metal?  

Wasn't he the prick that hated Rafa and was dead snide about him?

[Rotpeter]

2 minutes ago, manwiththestick said:

Wasn't he the prick that hated Rafa and was dead snide about him?

That was probably Henry Winter.

[manwiththestick]

18 minutes ago, Rotpeter said:

That was probably Henry Winter.

Nah, pretty sure it was Barclay on that Sunday Supplement show, you could see it on his face, he definitely didn't like Benitez.

[Kevin D]

24 minutes ago, manwiththestick said:

Wasn't he the prick that hated Rafa and was dead snide about him?

 

You'll have to be more specific.

[3 Stacks]

Little vintage French football 3 Stacks take, here; we should sign Amine Adli of Toulouse. Was the best player in Ligue 2 last season. Technically gifted, versatile forward, 21 years old. Would cost around 10m as he has 1 year left on his deal and Toulouse failed to go up. I think if we aren't going big on a forward and going the younger, more unproven route, someone like him is a far smarter, cheaper alternative to someone like Doku. Bayern are interested apparently and they usually know what they're doing.

[El Dangerous]

5 minutes ago, 3 Stacks said:

Little vintage French football 3 Stacks take, here; we should sign Amine Adli of Toulouse. Was the best player in Ligue 2 last season. Technically gifted, versatile forward, 21 years old. Would cost around 10m as he has 1 year left on his deal and Toulouse failed to go up. I think if we aren't going big on a forward, someone like him is a far smarter, cheaper alternative to someone like Doku. Bayern are interested apparently and they usually know what they're doing.

Read about him on Twitter weeks ago. You’re out of touch.

[3 Stacks]

Just now, El Dangerous said:

Read about him on Twitter weeks ago. You’re out of touch.

I was too busy dreaming of Jarrod Bowen at that time, mate. Now that that's likely a pipe dream, he's my new alternative.

[Jarvinja Ilnow]

4 hours ago, VERBAL DIARRHEA said:

He was a very good Starship Captain.

Until he met the Rashid Dominion and got totally fucked.

[Bobby Hundreds]

Im all on on tchouameni now because someone said he was good. Plus we will never sign him so I can bitch about it.

[Chocoholic]

I can't wait to hear the excuse trotted out as to why Sir Harold of Kaneshire will not be lining out against City this weekend. Perhaps failing to turn up for work will have had a detrimental effect on his fitness and he develops a 'niggle' bad enough not to be risked.

 

Cynicism inbound.

[3 Stacks]

Tchouameni is class. He should be a top midfield target next year. Camavinga as well but the rumours are that he prefers Spain.

[Remmie]

27 minutes ago, 3 Stacks said:

Little vintage French football 3 Stacks take, here; we should sign Amine Adli of Toulouse. Was the best player in Ligue 2 last season. Technically gifted, versatile forward, 21 years old. Would cost around 10m as he has 1 year left on his deal and Toulouse failed to go up. I think if we aren't going big on a forward and going the younger, more unproven route, someone like him is a far smarter, cheaper alternative to someone like Doku. Bayern are interested apparently and they usually know what they're doing.

More importantly where does he feature on the young studs list? 

[3 Stacks]

3 minutes ago, Remmie said:

More importantly where does he feature on the young studs list? 

In a French-centric list, he would feature in the top 10. But I'm not a Toulouse aficionado so would need outside sources to construct his profile.

[Stickman]

Barclay has always been a cunt of the highest order, He has a major beef with us because we saw through his mate Hodgson within  minutes of him signing the dotted line to become our (shudders) manager

 

Calls for a messiah are not worthy of Anfield

 

Patrick Barclay Chief Football Commentator

 

None of the 42,529 present will ever forget it: the night in early May 2005 when the irresistible force that Liverpool can be at Anfield took on the immovable object that was José Mourinho’s Chelsea and the immovable object moved.

 

A much-disputed goal by Luis García did the trick. Liverpool proceeded to a Champions League final against AC Milan in Istanbul which they should have lost but won. When the clubs reconvened in Athens two years later, Liverpool should have won but lost.

 

And in the process a view emerged that Liverpool and Milan shared something in their DNA that entitled them perpetually to be contesting the game’s great prizes.

 

The trouble is that, in order even to take part in the Champions League, English and Italian clubs must finish at least fourth in their domestic leagues. And thus, while Milan prepare to meet Tottenham Hotspur in the round of 16 in February, Liverpool have only emptiness and aspiration; the sort of aspiration Newcastle United supporters encounter when an FA Cup draw takes place and their club is not in it.

 

How unrealistic is the Liverpool dream? I confess that, when Roy Hodgson was appointed manager in the summer, the notion of their finishing fourth and qualifying for next season’s Champions League seemed feasible. After all, a similar squad — crucially augmented by Xabi Alonso and Javier Mascherano, it must be conceded — had finished second little over a year earlier.

 

Events have made a nonsense of this and Wednesday night’s home defeat by Wolverhampton Wanderers left Hodgson’s Liverpool in the bottom half of the table, more concerned about the possibility of visiting Doncaster Rovers next season than jousting again with the likes of Milan.

 

Poor though the team were, however, nothing insulted the club’s traditions more than the chant aimed at their manager, whom the FA has considered as a potential successor to Fabio Capello. “Hodgson for England” yelled sections of a support once regarded as fundamental to the fortress-like character of Anfield. Today, when Bolton Wanderers come, the same people will belt out You’ll Never Walk Alone without a whit of irony.

 

Anfield will always be a great place to watch football. But it has been belittled in the eyes of the wider game. The neutrals privileged to be there in May 2005 will always remember the winter when Anfield went flaky, not only pointing Hodgson to the door but holding it open — let’s not forget this either — to Kenny Dalglish.

 

My impression is that, although disgruntled Liverpool fans have a huge variety of alternatives to Hodgson in mind, most want Dalglish in at least temporarycharge (the more delusional imagine that Pep Guardiola or some such luminary will beat a path to Anfield at the end of the season).

 

Some want Rafael Benítez — free after his dismissal by Inter Milan and still regarded by many as the club’s best manager since Dalglish reeled away, suffering terrible symptoms of stress, in 1991 — back straight away. But essentially there is a yearning for an icon.

 

Remind you of any other club? It would do if they yearned for Kevin Keegan rather than Dalglish. Sections of Liverpool’s support have come to resemble their Newcastle equivalents in times of disappointment: angry rather than sad, but still bereft. And now ready to welcome a messiah. Newcastle fans, weighing the respective merits of Keegan and Dalglish at St James’ Park, might even joke that they’ve picked the wrong one.

 

I am in no position to mock Anfield. Not after having counselled that the Hodgson effect, most recently noted in carrying Fulham to their highest ever league position and a Europa League final, would work on Liverpool by Christmas. But what is the point of making things worse by weakening your own manager? It can only eat into the players’ commitment.

 

Liverpool fans used to know that instinctively. When they sang it, they meant it. The spirit of Bill Shankly, whose idea it was to play You’ll Never Walk Alone before every home match, permeated Anfield.

 

It was there that night in May 2005. The team sent out to do battle with Frank Lampard, John Terry, Didier Drogba and Claude Makélelé featured Djimi Traoré and Igor Biscan and I do not recall anyone decrying them for having been promoted above their level (a common, and rather impudent, accusation made against Hodgson now) or chanting for alternatives.

 

Perhaps Wednesday was just part of the cycle of change and decay. The traditional supporter, seldom more knowledgeable than at Anfield (and those of the view that Hodgson should never have been appointed are more than entitled to claim vindication), is surrounded by the products of instant networking and facile punditry and sometimes the beautiful noise becomes a cacophony of disrespect.

 

Six months ago Hodgson was, by near-universal acclaim, an excellent manager, the toast of not only pundits but his peers. He is the same man. But the Liverpool he thought he was joining has changed.

 

 

 

There’s actually a thread devoted to the bald cunt