Our midfield

[KevieG]

We have 6 expensive, decent forwards for 3 spots. 

 

We have around 8 midfielders, and I'd be hard pushed to say we have one up to standard. Kids who don't look like they'll ever be good enough, and older players who are spent. 

 

It's been gross negligence to let the squad evolve in this way. 

 

 

[Scott_M]

Klopp & Ljinders have consistently talked about us being less predictable. I do get that.

 

Hendo, Gini & Milner were (/ are) solid, unspectacular & reliable players. 
 

Those words shouldn’t be taken as a negative because they absolutely aren’t. For the side we had and the we way we played, they fitted perfectly into the plan.

 

I feel that being “less predictable”, the key way is midfield being “less predictable”. Add Bellingham or someone better on the ball and we are “ less predictable”.

 

The issue is we’re waiting and waiting for “less predictable” first choice midfielders, it’s hurting us now. 
 

It might work out long term, there feels there is a lot of pain to come. 

[Strontium]

Henderson, Milner and Fabinho are finished, Elliott has barely begun, Thiago is a luxury we can't afford, Keita is working his notice, Arthur is the 99p toy you buy to shut up the kids that breaks after 5 minutes, and Ox is Ox.

[TD_LFC]

29 minutes ago, Scott_M said:

Thought as much. 

Percy and Wallace seem to think we might though so who knows, maybe we have some secret Mendes deal with Wolves that we've decide to enact.

 

He's played for Sporting and Wolves this season though so wouldn't be eligible to play for us until the summer according to FIFA.

[Babb'sBurstNad]

5 minutes ago, TD_LFC said:

Percy and Wallace seem to think we might though so who knows, maybe we have some secret Mendes deal with Wolves that we've decide to enact.

 

He's played for Sporting and Wolves this season though so wouldn't be eligible to play for us until the summer according to FIFA.

 

I thought you could play for three clubs (max), but not more than two under the same FA?

[TD_LFC]

2 minutes ago, Babb'sBurstNad said:

 

I thought you could play for three clubs (max), but not more than two under the same FA?

I think the rule is you can register with three but only play for two, the caveat is that you can only play for a third where the seasons overlap. So if you go to a team in a summer league to a team in a winter league for example.

 

There was a temporary change to the rule for COVID.

 

There's a FIFA doc with the rules in it somewhere I'll try and find it.

[Freddo]

36 minutes ago, Scott_M said:

Klopp & Ljinders have consistently talked about us being less predictable. I do get that.

 

Hendo, Gini & Milner were (/ are) solid, unspectacular & reliable players. 
 

Those words shouldn’t be taken as a negative because they absolutely aren’t. For the side we had and the we way we played, they fitted perfectly into the plan.

 

I feel that being “less predictable”, the key way is midfield being “less predictable”. Add Bellingham or someone better on the ball and we are “ less predictable”.

 

The issue is we’re waiting and waiting for “less predictable” first choice midfielders, it’s hurting us now. 
 

It might work out long term, there feels there is a lot of pain to come. 

The less predictable player was Thiago. Ljinders even spoke about evolving the side with him. 

[Freddo]

49 minutes ago, TD_LFC said:

We haven't, I doubt we will.

John Percy says we’re revisiting this deal as he was close to us last summer. Sam Wallace also says this. The equivalent of Paul Joyce those two.

[TD_LFC]

7 minutes ago, Babb'sBurstNad said:

 

I thought you could play for three clubs (max), but not more than two under the same FA?

 

Here's the latest handbook (July 2022)

 

https://digitalhub.fifa.com/m/cb37201b05fe8f7/original/Regulations-on-the-Status-and-Transfer-of-Players-July-2022-edition.pdf

 

Page 14, Section 5 paragraph 4

 

Quote

4.
Players may be registered with a maximum of three clubs during one season.
During this period, the player is only eligible to play official matches for
two clubs. As an exception to this rule, a player moving between two clubs
belonging to associations with overlapping seasons (i.e. start of the season in
summer/autumn as opposed to winter/spring) may be eligible to play in official
matches for a third club during the relevant season, provided he has fully
complied with his contractual obligations towards his previous clubs. Equally,
the provisions relating to the registration periods (article 6) as well as to the
minimum length of a contract (article 18 paragraph 2) must be respected.

 

[stringvest]

Whether or not we sign a player in Jan, surely it is clear to everyone by now that we cannot play the high press with the personnel we have?  Elliot is not a midfielder, and won't ever be strong enough for the role.  He may play Salah's role, and there is a strong argument for playing him there now, and moving Salah into the middle.

We've got to play the midfield 15m deeper, and the CBs and especially fullbacks deeper.  We have to learn to control games by keeping possession again.  

[Captain Howdy]

6 minutes ago, stringvest said:

Whether or not we sign a player in Jan, surely it is clear to everyone by now that we cannot play the high press with the personnel we have?  Elliot is not a midfielder, and won't ever be strong enough for the role.  He may play Salah's role, and there is a strong argument for playing him there now, and moving Salah into the middle.

We've got to play the midfield 15m deeper, and the CBs and especially fullbacks deeper.  We have to learn to control games by keeping possession again.  

I’ve been saying this for ages, the high line has to go

[an tha]

Our best midfield when we won the european cup in 2019 was Fabinho, Henderson and Wijnaldum.

 

Our best midfield in Jan 2023 is Fabinho, Henderson and Thiago so two of the same 3 almost 4 years later plus one who only plays around half our minutes over a season and who is about 4 years older than Wijnaldum was in 2019.....and even more to the point is the alternatives to them are a mix of the injured, 37 year old James Milner and kids.

 

It is neglect...plain and simple.

[Joey8FrogsLegs]

20 minutes ago, stringvest said:

Whether or not we sign a player in Jan, surely it is clear to everyone by now that we cannot play the high press with the personnel we have?  Elliot is not a midfielder, and won't ever be strong enough for the role.  He may play Salah's role, and there is a strong argument for playing him there now, and moving Salah into the middle.

We've got to play the midfield 15m deeper, and the CBs and especially fullbacks deeper.  We have to learn to control games by keeping possession again.  

Not very hard to agree with this. Not so sure about playing Elliott at LW, but the rest seems pretty obvious. 

[Jairzinho]

11 minutes ago, Captain Howdy said:

I’ve been saying this for ages, the high line has to go

 

It's shit defensively and offensively with this personnel. We have a midfield that can't run and two forwards who are really good on the break. Give the midfield less space to defend, and the forwards more space to attack.

 

Could have played exactly the personnel today but just had it in a 4-2-3-1 with Fabinho and Thiago sitting deep, Chamberlain ahead of them doing the running. Elliott on the right, Salah through the middle, and Nunez on the left. It isn't great by any means, but would suit the players far better than whatever it was we were trying to do this evening.

[johnsusername]

35 minutes ago, Freddo said:

The less predictable player was Thiago. Ljinders even spoke about evolving the side with him. 

 

We've evolved alright. Evolved to shit! 

[Section_31]

Worst collection of midfielders I can actually remember at the club. Even at the depths there would be one or two players that stood out, but these are all shite to a man.

[3 Stacks]

The fact we almost did it all last season becomes more remarkable and unexplainable by the day. 

[Megadrive Man]

Keita and Ox are at the age where they should have established themselves as first choice here now, but sadly neither have lived up to expectations and still find themselves behind older, slower players and seemingly on their way out of the club.

[Freddo]

12 minutes ago, johnsusername said:

 

We've evolved alright. Evolved to shit! 

Did well enough last season didn't we. This season we're a shadow of our previous selves. This lot have become too comfortable and are almost too blasé. Working hard is beneath them. 

[an tha]

4 minutes ago, MegadriveMan said:

Keita and Ox are at the age where they should have established themselves as first choice here now, but sadly neither have lived up to expectations and still find themselves behind older, slower players and seemingly on their way out of the club.

Keita is even behind a kid who isn't a natural midfielder.

[Freddo]

5 minutes ago, 3 Stacks said:

The fact we almost did it all last season becomes more remarkable and unexplainable by the day. 

One of the worlds greatest mysteries. Baffled doesn't even cut it. Nearly won the lot. Now this. Have we been worked out? Have we got too old? I don't think so. Was only a few months ago we nearly won it all. Players sick of the same message? Lack of recruitment and quality additions? Can't be hangover from last season surely. Players past their peak, I'd say so and we aren't ruthless enough to move them on. Teams lost its identity for sure and moved away from what made us great. 

[No2]

Elliott is no smaller or slower than Gundogan, Bernardo Silva or David Silva. He's not the problem, there is definitely a future in this team for him. The issue is he isn't the solution for what we need right now, take him out of the firing line for a few weeks as we have done with Carvalho. 

 

When the team is functioning again he will be fine, until that point rest him up.

 

With Gakpo available now I reckon we go back to 2 number 6s, we need to until we get numbers 8s can cover the ground. Every other team in the league seems to have some. 

 

Separate issue but why does the academy never produce big athletic types? We churn out skinny midfielders and fullbacks, we can get them anywhere. 

[3 Stacks]

6 minutes ago, Freddo said:

One of the worlds greatest mysteries. Baffled doesn't even cut it. Nearly won the lot. Now this. Have we been worked out? Have we got too old? I don't think so. Was only a few months ago we nearly won it all. Players sick of the same message? Lack of recruitment and quality additions? Can't be hangover from last season surely. Players past their peak, I'd say so and we aren't ruthless enough to move them on. Teams lost its identity for sure and moved away from what made us great. 

The last part is not it. What we were doing last season is tactically not much different than what we're doing this season. We're just doing it infinitely worse and with only one real change in the squad, being Nunez for Mane. 

 

 

[LFC 6 Times]

We should sign De Jong and Bellingham. But you know we’ll try be “clever”.

[3 Stacks]

1 minute ago, LFC 6 Times said:

We should sign De Jong and Bellingham. But you know we’ll try be “clever”.

Signing two players for a combined 200m, plus ridiculous wages ain't clever either. We could of course instead find midfielders who represent actual value in the market, but we won't do that either.