Preseason Thread

[bossy]

Doak has been the best player by a mile. Not that it means so much.

[Smell The Glove]

15 minutes ago, 3 Stacks said:

Yeah, but as part of a 5 forward rotation of sorts, you have to be clinical to reach that tally. Or you play well enough to make yourself a certain starter. The problem has been he takes too many things off the table to play all the time, with and without the ball, and then on top of that, he hasn't been clinical. Realistically, he needs a season like his last at Benfica where everything flies in.

And how realistic is that?

[YorkshireRed]

2 minutes ago, Lee909 said:

I'm surprised we seem open to selling him. There's definitely been some heavy assessments on the kids by Edwards and Hughes as they seem open to dumping a few of them. Can only assume with Doak they are just not seeing the improvement in him. 

I hope that, when/if they say declare their assessment of him, someone reminds them that he’s only eighteen, and his progress last season was a little curtailed by injury. 
 

There’s no way anyone could say definitively that he won’t make it here yet. He might not, but it’s way too early to make that call. 

[stringvest]

Ben Doak is a typical tricky lower league player, with all the skills and magic in his boots, but chronically bad decision making.  It's not all about the feet this game.

[Lee909]

Assume van den Berg is definitely going as he's stayed on the bench here. 

[Lee909]

Real shame Danns got injured and could get some mins in preseason

[Harry's Lad]

2 minutes ago, No2 said:

If she was on the back of the wagon then you would need to be concerned about the driver. Why is Margot Robbie turning up at my door, in the nip? Is the the driver her pimp, will he rob the place in the 25 seconds I'm preoccupied? Would that even matter? 

25 seconds? With Margot Robbie? As if.

[YNWAViking]

Snooze fest this. Huge difference vs the earlier game. 

[TD_LFC]

Wonder how the clubs media and sales teams feel when they get to this point of the season come in the following morning and see thousands of unsubscribes from LFCTV Go.

[TD_LFC]

2 minutes ago, Lee909 said:

Real shame Danns got injured and could get some mins in preseason

 

With so many forwards out of contention early on in preseason I'm suprised Figueroa didn't get a chance.

[Carvalho Diablo]

Well thank fuck that's over, a performance as flat as the atmosphere.

 

Tyler Morton? I just don't see anything in this lad, Doak and Endo both frustrating.

 

Darwin being Darwin.

 

Get the chequebook out Henry yer arl twat.

[No2]

5 minutes ago, Harry's Lad said:

25 seconds? With Margot Robbie? As if.

I'm not as quick as used to be getting the pants down.

[Red Phoenix]

6 minutes ago, YNWAViking said:

Snooze fest this. Huge difference vs the earlier game. 

 

I started feeling tired after around 40 mins. Fell asleep a bit into the 2nd half and woke up a bit ago.

 

I like Doak too but not sure about his finishing/passing. If he could do that as well as he runs and dribbles he'd be amazing though, don't want him sold either.

[Harry's Lad]

10 minutes ago, No2 said:

I'm not as quick as used to be getting the pants down.

I'd have shot before my belt was undone.

[TheHowieLama]

9 minutes ago, Red Phoenix said:

 

I started feeling tired after around 40 mins. Fell asleep a bit

Thought we were still on Margot Robbie here...

[Strontium]

40 minutes ago, No2 said:

North American pervs are watching this and analysing the possible interior xg projection for Ben Doak.

 

@3 Stacks are you going to let him talk about you like that?

[3 Stacks]

16 minutes ago, Strontium said:

 

@3 Stacks are you going to let him talk about you like that?

There's no need for a Ben Doak xG projection. It will be 0.

[lebron]

We have a really solid squad with some great options.

 

While I'm not completely sold on the current version of Salah, we will still trouble Premier League defences with him, Jota and one of Gakpo/Diaz up top. It will never be (not will anything else if I'm honest) peak Mane-Firmino-Salah, but if we can make the midfield triangle work with Szobo making runs consistently behind the opposition defence, we should score plenty of goals. I fancy us to be a bit more defensively solid under Slot, but I doubt we will be exhillerating (as we were at our best under Klopp).

 

Not sure what we should be doing with Nunez. Keep him one more year, hope that he has a hot streak whenever he gets his chance? Would be ueseful if he could be an adequate backup to Jota when he suffers his inevitable niggles. We really need better than him though, and/or someone more durable than Diogo.

 

I think we might see even more rotation this season than previous, and I think we are well equipped to deal with it too. My only real concern is that I think we will be found out a bit by Arsenal (and maybe City) in the h2hs, as they are a bit further along in their playing styles than us, and have slightly more impactful players in key forward positions.

 

"1st team":

-----------------------Allison--------------------------

--Trent-------Quansah--------Virgil---------Robertson--

----------Zubimendi-------Mac Allister-------------

--------------------Szoboslai-------------------------

--Salah---------------Jota------------------Gakpo---

 

"2nd team"

------------------------Kelleher----------------------------

----Bradley------Konate-------Gomez------Tsimikas----

--------------Gravenberch-------Bajcetic-------------------

------------------------Jones-----------------------------

--Elliot---------------Nunez------------------Diaz-------

 

Subs:

Jaros

van den Berg

McConnel

Nyoni

Gordon

Danns

 

Personally I'd be happy to see Phillips, Clark and Endo let go if we get some sort of fee for them, as neither of them seem especially suited to how we want to play.

 

With all these options I'd really only be concerned if Salah was out for an extended period, as only Kaide Gordon and Doak seem comfortable playing the inverted winger role. All other roles in the team have experienced cover, without considerable drop-off. Easy to see why Carvalho was let go, as all of Gakpo, Diaz and even Nunez are probably more suited to the LW role.

 

Contrary to the editor on this site, I will NOT be concerned if we sell some of the youngsters, as our squad is pretty bloated as it is, and there's no way all of these youngsters are pushing through at the same time. Keep the very best prospects, and loan them out. Only the FA cup and LC are sensible arenas for them to get game time here, and with all our senior players chances will be limited (unless we have the mother of all injury crisis). Loans might be sensible for the likes of Gordon, Danns or even one or both of Doak and Nyoni. As sweet as the LC win was, we can't expect many of them to oust experienced internationals. Tricky balance, especially if the PL/UEFA continue to tighten the rules concerning loans. 

 

 

[Colonel Bumcunt]

I think we end up selling Kelleher and promoting Jaros to 2. 

 

I'd build the team around Nunez.  Fuck today, it was a nonsense.  

 

I'm more concerned about midfield runners when we break.  Soboszlai has the legs, but Jones/Elliott/Macca can't do the same thing.  Nyoni is too young to rely on, I think we need another attacking 8 who can keep up with the forwards and take a chance.  

[stringvest]

Building a team around a forward who has not proved to be reliable in terms of his finishing or his decision making would be a foolish decision.  As would playing a one footed left back past his prime. We have to bolster the first team in this window.  If that means selling four or five of the kids that are not going to be good enough to hold down a place in the team, so be it. 

[Barrington Womble]

14 minutes ago, stringvest said:

Building a team around a forward who has not proved to be reliable in terms of his finishing or his decision making would be a foolish decision.  As would playing a one footed left back past his prime. We have to bolster the first team in this window.  If that means selling four or five of the kids that are not going to be good enough to hold down a place in the team, so be it. 

We have a one footed player in our team? 

[Reckoner]

Has Nunez settled in yet?

[Razoray]

5 hours ago, Trumo said:

What do we know about Las Palmas? They are from Gran Canaria, and Vinny Samways played for them for 6 years. Souness never managed them so it's not as though Samways joined for that reason, like so many average Premier League players moving abroad in the late 90s.

 

Speaking of, it still amazes me that Sampdoria signed Danny Dichio one time. This is a club that won things with Vialli and Mancini up top, and later had Montella and Chiesa as their strike pairing. Kinell, they had Klinsmann and Signori when they signed Dichio!

Danny Dichio scored Toronto FC's first goal after they joined the MLS in 2007. They sing his name on the 24th minute of every game, commemorating the minute he scored their first goal in the league. - He was also sent off in the same game. 

[Lee909]

[TheHowieLama]

28 minutes ago, Reckoner said:

Has Nunez settled in yet?

 

Give him a chance ffs.