HBenn

Not saying he is moving to us, but based on Fernandez's comments of "just focusing on the game on Friday" think he will be off from Benfica soon.

It is a bit ironic when there is such a lack of depth in midfield but the window hasn't opened yet and we are close to completing a deal for one of the standout players at the WC. Judging by Klopp's comments on Friday you feel that there may well be a bit more to come and if we can bring in 1 or 2 midfielders we could well be looking really good come the end of the window.

I am taking it as a positive that we have spent that much on a position that arguably was not our main priority. Maybe it was but for most midfield just cannot be ignored so hopefully that is a sign we have got a healthy budget to address both areas. Ideally a deal is pretty advanced for the midfield too, giving Klopp the confidence to ok the completion of this deal.

Read that the club see him being able to play across all 3 forward roles. Looking at some of his highlights from the WC he seemed quite effective on the right. If he can play on either wing that would be pretty good.

See Bascombe saying that they think he can play all 3 front positions. Didn't pay much attention to him during the WC but if the likes of Van Dijk think he is quality what is not to like? Great job by the club and the owners if we get this one over the line. On to midfield next.

Or there is more money available than the club are letting on. I am not sure the club feel the need for an attacker outweighs the need for a midfielder so hopefully we will still be bringing in at least one more midfielder in Jan. Saw some speculation yesterday in twitter that the club were confident if bringing him or the lad in from Ajax but I thought Gakpo would be far more expensive than this.

Apparently Virgil was raving about him to the club. If he is good enough for Virgil to rate him, that ticks enough boxes for me...

Moved for Gakpo according to Joyce.

Yeah, agree with that. His finishing today was infuriating, as well as his ability to stay onside but when that comes he is going to muller teams. His pace, physicality and work rate alone will scare the living daylights out of most teams - especially away.

Oh, sorry, it wasn't a dig. I completely agree with you. I just didn't want to sound like I was having a go at the lad himself as he is doing his best. It was more reflective of the situation. Not just one appearance but 8 and when you see the options Jurgen has available to him today to come on, however promising some of them may be, it says a lot about how important Jan is to us. This was the bench available before our marathon run of games.

It's the same stuff we have known all season. A player with pace, presence and athleticism would make a huge difference, almost irrespective of their footballing ability. Our midfield just cannot cope with midfield runners.

About where I am at. We know where our deficiencies lie, take wins any way we can.

Add a bit more composure to his game and Nunez will score a lot of goals. Thiago wasn't at the races today with midfield runners causing us so many more problems than they should. Big win though. Add more quality in midfield and we will push hard in the league at least for CL. Good to see Mo look more like his old self and thought the Ox played pretty well too.

Think someone on here said that if Bajcetic plays in the first team something would have gone badly wrong. Think that is now 8 appearances. Nice goal today though. With the threat we have going forwards if we get midfield sorted we will shoot right up the league.

If we had £200m to spend on midfield I would buy Bellingham and 1 to 2 more. Van Dijk was just one player but felt transformative and the impact it had on us and our competitors was massive. Every player and pundit is raving about him. That includes those like Keane and Foden who aren't prone to hyperbole. The message it sends out to opposition fans, our own dressing room and opposition players would be huge. Clearly if the option had to be him or two players you would probably have to go with the 2 due to the mess we are in but if we can afford him and someone else and he wants in then do it. Funny how we don't hear the "there is always money for a generational player" line because this would well be the time. If we weren't really after him and we spend £50m-100m on midfield this summer it would beg the question why we wasted last summer not doing that.

The vast majority of this team was created by 2018 (with the step change being the Coutinho money) and got us to 3 CL in 5 years. Even with the riches that has bought we now have one of, if not, the oldest teams in the league. Yes, there has been the pandemic, but the model no longer works - arguably it hasnt for quite some time - and had the owners got confidence it would they probably wouldn't be looking to sell the club and definetly wouldn't be looking for a minority investor. The difference now is non investment surely impacts the asset value and so surely the owners will authorise to mitigate the risk. At best the investment is already in place.

They do and it's always released on the night before the game. A bit like Chinese whispers that went to being that it should have been released on Friday night at 10:30pm but that the club were holding back until 10:30pm on Christmas Day. That grew into a big announcement was coming from the club on Christmas Day.

The whole press embargo thing seemed to be twitter at its best/worst. One guy says he thinks there will be a lot more to come in the embargoed section based on Klopp's openess in the other bit of the press conference and says that bit will be available on 10:30pm.Christmas Day (usual procedure). This then morphs into the club have held back the embargo until Christmas Day to make a big announcement and have no pinned tweet on their twitter site. Arguably Klopp speaking so openly about his admiration for another teams player - who the club is interested in - is noteworthy. He has never done it before without a deal being advanced - Carvalho used as an example by Paul Gorst to illustrate the point previously. Maybe not the case here but it is out of character for Jürgen to do it.

Recently it feels like it's been a case of the club recklessly not splashing out instead of not splashing out recklessly. These guys have taken massive risks to avoid spending. Hopefully now with the size of investment/sale value likely impacted by CL or lack of it they will spend to mitigate the risk. Anything else (unless the deal is already done) would feel really reckless.

Who knows how much we will have available to spend on the midfield. We could spend £50m under the current situation. I don't see why they would be looking for investment/selling if the plan is for the budget to stay the same. One of the prime objectives for the club is continual CL qualification (based on the club and holding company accounts). You would also expect them to be keen to protect the asset value by getting in the CL. I don't see a situation where they don't invest a good amount now (unless the club is virtually sold) and who knows if that isn't close (we have no idea how long talks have been going on).

I am hoping that the ownership stuff is closer to finalisation than we are being told and that it has been in the works much longer than we knew. Hopefully the tendency to "make do and mend" over the last few Windows and not really address the issues and the farcical situation with Arthur at the end of the last window has been driven by the owners wanting to get out. We need a window or two of real purpose. People can moan about fans should be more grateful/patient etc - especially those on twitter - but the reality is that is the world we operate in and if the club arent careful they will erode all of that positivity that has surrounded them for the last 5-6 years. I am pretty fed up of seeing obvious issues just not being addressed and I don't want to see legends of the club become more and more criticised as they age. Adding to that is not just Utd, City and Chelsea spending but Arsenal, bloody no money Arsenal, spending. Tired of the rhetoric of how clever our recruitment team are to see us now worrying about the fitness of a 36 yr old, whether Gomez can find some form and whether two teenagers can put in performances to help us compete with City. It's a real shame because the team built in 2018 was probably our best ever, with it's best ever manager. In my eyes better than City and with more investment we can still surpass them. I just want to see us look like we have a real desire to be number 1. We are the most successful team in England and yet recently this image has built around us, imo, that we are "plucky underdogs" that are outperforming ourselves (I don't think the owners have minded that at all, arguably they have even created it). It's absolute crap and we need to get back to showing we are here to actually reassert ourselves.

One of the most frustrating aspects at the moment is that if we could just put out a midfield regularly with a bit more pace and presence we would actually be able to give City and Arsenal a good run for the league. City, while not playing a complete first 11 last night, had enough first choice players out there to show that they arent that clever at the back. Similarly away at Arsenal, for all the talk about how good they are, I didn't think they looked all that at the back.

Think we are regenerating a 21 yr old Gerrard. Recall one game against Leeds where he started at right back and yet seemed to be able to do all that as well.

Agree. Hopefully the doctor's appointment will have a quiet and positive impact on the medical side. On the footballing side it feels like we need an injection of positive energy - a bit like Diaz last season. It would be nice to see the club make a positive statement of intent in the market. Coupled with a quietening down of uthe injury situation would hopefully allow us to build real momentum in the 2nd half of the season.

There is so much like that going on at the club at the moment and a lot of it is difficult to fathom. Gomez didn't look great before his extension and generally looked worse since. Naby can barely stay fit and yet still we seem to want to extend. Jurgen is a guy of marginal gains so I cannot imagine for 1 second he doesn't see all this and so it's puzzingly as to why it continues on. Worst case he is steadfastly loyal and doesn't see it. Best case is that all this takeover stuff has been going on for far longer than we know and it's been a case of mend and make do (generally) until new owners are in place. I am not sure how Jürgen stands it otherwise.