terry symes

At half time they show a different angle and you could tell he was, so I don’t know why they didn’t just give us that one at the time.

Glad you referenced this. Why at a cup final can they not have showed the correct camera angle in the first instance? Instead we had to listen to how tight it was and Liverpool potentially getting away with one. Then they showed the actual image, in line with the play, and he was well off.. as the lino called! Fucking does my head in. 

Also agree with you re the Endo offside. It's traffic warden shit, and if VAR wasn't around then no one would bat an eyelid. But the fact is he was offside when the free kick was taken. So you can make a point he interfered with the play, by then blocking Colwill. If it's implemented all the time then fine - Arsenal won't score another set piece all season.. but the problem is we all know it won't.

And i totally agree re Harvey. I love him. His work rate, desire and he's got loads of talent. But i always have this nagging thought at the back of my mind that he's just not dynamic to be a midfielder for Liverpool. It's so disheartening seeing him scamper around while the opposition just pass it round him, totally bypassing the press.

Arsenal’s spirit was broken by it and the place went completely flat. They must have been thinking ‘here we go again’ and the way the second half started I felt confident that we’d go on and win.

This is the thing.. I know we were bad, but if that mistake between Virg and Ali doesn't happen i genuinely think we either nick it or the game peters out to a 1-1. The goal before half time had completely killed them and they were no threat at all that second half before they were gifted the goal.

why would Philip Billing have 'Peter' written on the back of his shirt?!?  Haha

Will Darwin ever fix it or is this who he is? Obviously he has age on his side, but is he the archetypal 'scorer of great goals' rather than 'great goal scorer'? 

One thing that still hasn't been mentioned was the volley of abuse Young gave to the 4th official as he was walking down the tunnel. Will he get an additional one match ban, or has that been forgotten about now Virg was made an example of? Or maybe the abuse wasn't as heinous as his "fucking joke" comment.

We’ve done alright of course and hopefully the three lads we brought in for those multi purpose midfield roles will do well enough that we aren’t always looking at Bellingham with regrets about not going all out for him. There’ll probably always be a piece of me that resents how we went about all that, but I’m hoping Szoboslai can make me forget about it.

I asked a question about this on your pod - would you still rather have got Bellingham plus one other cheaper midfielder (say Macallister or Gravenberch) or have the players we did bring in?

I don’t think there’s any conspiracy as to why we always get lumbered with these games, I just think it’s because BT love showing us because the ratings are great. 

I agree, but i also reckon they love getting under our skin and that there'll always be a big chance of an upset. So much is always made of it so they'll love the publicity. I'm just glad we won it and got the monkey off our back. Hopefully we do the same in the derby next month and they can fuck off picking us for that slot.

some big beanpole called Kalajdzic. Never seen him before but apparently he’s been there over a year. Must be shite if he’s a striker in a team that can’t score but he never gets picked.

poor sod did his cruciate first game of last season i think, so missed the entire season

Yep, spot on. I'm worried about this season got to be honest. Pre season in terms of recruitment, planning and application has been a shambles. On the pitch hasn't been much better either. A system that's still in its infancy and looks like it's gonna leave us even more exposed, players that don't necessarily suit it, no number 6 (until a 19 year who can't be first choice anyway come in) and no real natural leaders. 

36 minutes ago, stringvest said:

 

 

the master of the tackle

Love him to bits but you can't go into a season relying on Thiago. Plus he's not an out and out dog of war destroyer.

I find it interesting you mock the midfield of Rice, Havertz and Odegaard for being lightweight but then be excited about Thiago partnering Trent at the base of our midfield. Likewise talking up the virtues of Jones playing in the 6. At least Rice is an actual holding midfielder. That starting lineup you predict for Chelsea looks great technically, but to me that is absolutely weak as piss. I really don't want us to turn into Arsenal of the last 10 years and be bullied, but i can honestly see it happening.

I'm not particularly arsed about losing Fabinho (as i think his legs might be gone), but in my opinion we still need a like for like replacement. Let's be honest, every top team still needs a destroyer. Someone who breaks up play, makes a lot of tactical fouls and is happy to take a yellow card if need be. Someone who actually loves the defensive side, wins the ball and passes it 5 yards to someone else to create something. We don't have one single midfielder of that ilk, one that can properly smell danger and provide a safety net like Fab did.

Maybe Lavia ticks the boxes. I've not seen enough of him to have an opinion. But, my concern is that it was clearly the plan for Fabinho to still be our first choice '6' this season. And i reckon if he wasn't available, or rested, then Henderson would have played that role. Now neither of them are here and our main target is a 19 year old from relegated Southampton - and he's not even here a week before the start of the season. Whatever happens, we definitely need some bite and protection in that midfield.

Thinking about the current candidates to take the armband has me worried, not gonna lie. Agreed, don't want Virg - who often needs to be on the end of a rocket rather than delivering one. Mo and Alisson are just too nice, simple as that. Trent probably gets my vote but I wouldn't be overly enamoured. There is not one stand out.

I'm absolutely gutted we've lost our 2 standard setters to be honest (reasons aside). Wouldn't have achieved what we have without them 2 running the dressing room. The squad now reminds of old Arsenal ones. Loads of talent, but no balls, no leaders. I guess we'll see. Here's hoping some step up.

Couple of things from the game.. I didn't watch it live, but going off the highlights I thought it was strange Gomez playes as the left sided CB. I'd have thought he would have been better equipped to play the Konate role, and cover Trent when's out of position. Considering he's played at Right back himself, and has decent pace, it seemed a weird one to play Matip there.

Also, on Trent himself, he looked poor for 2 of the goals. First one where he's massively behind the offside line playing Ward Prowse on and then making a half hearted effort to stop the shot. Then also on the 3rd, where he bottled the tackle on the edge of their box. Granted, there was still the entire fucking length of the pitch left to stop the goal but still, it was weak as piss. I'm actually now in the camp of buying a quality right back and playing Trent right of the 3 midfielders. The dual role is a lot to ask of him and literally none of the midfielders we're being linked with are doing it for me (maybe Mcallister, but not for the price) so i'd rather see Trent in there.

Just massively underwhelmed and i've got no faith in the recruitment this summer. We'll end up spending decent money on 3 or 4 average players. The numbers being touted for Macallister and Mount seem insane to me. Don't want to keep harping on about Bellingham, but he and another cheaper one (i'd even prefer Ward Prowse over Mount) makes so much more sense. Guess we'll never know what went on but it's infuriating.

On 16/04/2023 at 11:25, dave u said:

 

Yes I'd take that. Get the generational talent in and go from there. Add the other pieces in the next couple of windows, while hoping some of the young players develop quickly (like Bajcetic did) and give us extra options.

 

If they thought Bellingham was so special that they've neglected the midfield for two years to get him, it's negligence to now walk away, especially if we sign people like Nunes or Gallagher who were actually available last summer when we did fuck all.

 

I was willing to overlook this shitshow of a season on the basis that there was a plan in place, but now I see there isn't. We're winging it.

Yeah 100% agree. Rotating the 3 starters out of Bellingham, Henderson, Fabinho, Thiago, Batjetic, Elliott and Jones would be sound in my book. Especially without any European football. Only problem would be the fitness of Thiago and Jones i suppose, so if you could do Bellingham, plus another cheaper option like a Gravenberch, that would be the ideal scenario. I just can't see how that can be out of our reach but there we go.

Can't understand the Gallagher link at all personally. I like him as a player and he'd have the energy required for a Klopp team. But what would you have to pay?? And would he be enough of an upgrade on an Elliott or Jones? Not for me.

6 hours ago, Creator Supreme said:

It all smells a bit of the Rafa - Keane situation. Didn't want him (admittedly probably not the situation here), isn't sure how to use him, and ergo regularly subs him off whether he's playing well or not!

 

It may destroy the lads confidence completely.

Think that's spot on

It's utterly baffling the treatment of him. He was clearly bought to be our number 9. It was clear he wasn't gonna be a Bobby replacement, and was never gonna be a false 9. We had clearly made the decision to alter the way we were going to play, whether that was in the same 4-3-3 as previous or in a new 4-3-2-1 system. He was bought in to be an orthodox number 9, an out and out goalscorer, who would take the chances and be the difference maker that we sometimes missed last season (in the 3 cup finals for example). Yet we've barely seen him in that role.

Why is that? Does Klopp not trust him to play through the middle? I must admit i have my doubts about Nunez's ability. I'm not a big fan to be quite honest. I think he lacks game intelligence. Too often chooses the wrong option and i personally don't like the blind alleys runs or shots from distance - even if it is something different to what our other attackers are providing. But would he score goals as a number 9 in this team? Yeah, I absolutely think he would. And surely the coaching staff thought the same because they sanctioned the big money transfer. Have they had second thoughts based on what they've seen? Maybe they've decided he can't play there for whatever reason, so have reverted back to a false 9 in Gakpo / Jota. If that's the case then we may as well cut our losses, as it's not fair to the lad.

The constant changes, scrabbling around to see if something works is really worrying. Highlighted by Jones' sudden recall to the team. We used to wax lyrical about how clear our thinking and planning was (in every department). It's all just a mess now. 

Well hopefully we start to see a more ruthless streak then after the way this season has panned out. Something has to change as you simply can't run a club like that. That's why i'm sympathetic towards FSG. They come in for the most criticism but you can't have it both ways. You can't have a manager wanting to honour everyone's contracts and also spending fortunes every season on new players. When a player enters the last year of his contract, a serious conversation has to be had. In the case of Bobby, Milner etc then yeah - thanks very much for your service, you've contributed enormously and therefore have the right to choose what you want to do. In the case of Ox and Keita then it's a case of if you're not signing a new deal then you're off. Simple as that. 

Agree, it will be a sad day saying goodbye to Bobby but it's the right time to go.

Just galls me that 3 players are all leaving on a free this summer. What could we have got for all 3 of them last year you reckon? Upwards of £60m you'd imagine. Or at least keep Bobby and sell the other 2. Crazy.

I thought it was a clear foul for Darwin's goal to be honest. Jota clearly kicks Kilman's leg, making him fall over about 2 yards away from the ball that he'd have been able to clear before Darwin got to it. Agree Tierney is a tit, but that was never going to stand.

On 28/02/2023 at 06:09, Reckoner said:

Letting players stay that aren’t up to the job is completely negligent. They should be forced out and he simply hasn’t been doing what he’s been paid to do. 
There’s probably more to it than just being mindlessly loyal though, otherwise I’d fear for his judgment. Maybe he’s gone a bit Ged on pills.

Probably a bit more severe, but i was going to post something similar to be honest.

"we can’t just go and sign four or five players and then worry about who leaves afterwards, because if no-one wants to leave then we have too many players."

"they’re all under contract and we know how Klopp operates. If anyone decides they want to leave then that’s different, but there’s not going to be some huge turnover of players."

You simply can't run a football club like this. Players need to be moved on and funds brought in to replace them. Otherwise it will ultimately catch up with you, i.e. now. It's stagnated. We've got an abundance of players now who are either not good enough or simply cannot be relied upon. Remember when we were getting great fees for players? Solanke, Ibe, Jones, Brewster, Wilson. What the hell has happened since then? It can't simply be that no one has wanted to leave so we've been unable to get rid.

Hoping Southampton go down and we could pinch Ward Prowse to be honest. Getting on a bit, but he never ever misses a game, has great energy and the set pieces would be worth the fee alone.  Possibly Adams at Leeds too if they went. I'd happily take both of them and one other big midfield signing. 

22 minutes ago, johnsusername said:

Another match, another set of terrible substitutions which makes us worse. 

Agreed - i meant to say that too. What was with that double substitution on 60 minutes when we were 4-2 down? I could have lived with one, but bringing on 2 rusty players to come into the front 3 was weird. More pre planned bollocks?

I think not replacing players at the opportune time is really going to make this summer transfer window tricky. We need at least 2 midfielders, but that will only be replacing 2 that will be leaving (for free, ffs).

So we'll have Henderson, Fabinho, Bacjetic, Thiago, Milner, Elliott, Jones.

It should work well for Henderson, because we shouldn't be relying on him starting every game anyway. He's done his job - been here 10 years and won everything.

Thiago - cannot be relied upon whatsoever. Yes he's great when he's available, but that's never enough.

Fabinho - time to move him on? or do we trust him to find his best form again?

Bacjetic - obviously been an unbelievable find, but cannot and should not be playing the amount of games he's being asked to play. 

Milner - should obviously keep him but cannot be seen as a viable starter next season.

Jones - what to do with him? Is he ever going to fulfill his potential here? Tough decision due 

Elliott - i'm a big fan of him, but what is he? is he dynamic enough for a starting role in the midfield 3? because he doesn't have the pace to play in a front 3 either.

Basically what i'm trying to say is, there's currently not one midfielder in the squad that you can hang your hat on to be a starter week in, week out next season for Liverpool. And that's a big problem. Keita, Ox and possibly one or 2 others should have been moved on way before now. Bring in a fee for them, however minimal, and replace them with improvements. Instead we totally stood still. You could say the same for other areas of the squad too (Gomez, Bobby to name a couple). Now we're almost relying on righting all these wrongs in one window, and banking on the 2 or 3 midfielders we hopefully bring in to be instant stars.

I actually felt sorry for Fabinho after that tackle. He knew what he'd done and look devastated. Not the fact that he may have hurt the lad. More the realisation that he's now a yard too slow on everything. Almost like it had dawned upon him in that moment that he was finished here.

Totally agree on the Rashford goal scandal. I wrote this in a group chat when I watched it..

Just seen it. Absolute disgrace. Pass is clearly intended for him, he runs towards the ball, defender does his job in playing him offside. If the VAR official don’t think he’s interfering with play he should never have a job in football again and if it’s the rules then these suits who don’t understand the game need to stop changing them. Worse than the Salah goal last week.

Turned out VAR didn’t get involved - any idea why not?