JoeBuck01

Surely it's Raiola's insistence on putting a buy out clause in there for another rainy day which is the problem. In which case you negotiate, tell them that it doesn't come into effect for 4 years but Raiola gets his 20% when it does. Of course, Haaland is a megolmanic child who could upset any well established team morale.

we've got 265 points over the past 3 seasons, the same as City. Jurgen is right to go again with the same players.... we've just added Thiago, Jota, Konate , decent left back cover and Harvey Elliott to our championship winning side. To counter this though, Lallana is a big loss.

when he was scouting Minamino, maybe he should have noticed the big Norwegian lad next to him. I think a Sporting Director should be judged on the gems they find. This summer, we needed him to find the next Bissouma at £15-20m, not the established one at £50m. Likewise, surely there's a better £15-20m back up striker out there than Divock. It also seems we have continuously priced players from being sold, which if you need that money for purchases, is a bit of a stupid strategy, as you end up with no one.

Brilliant. I remember turning up in a pair of wellies on the Kop for the 4th Fa cup tie against Spurs in 85- was helping someone clear some snow beforehand and unintentionally went straight to match. Fortunately, was wearing the 84-85 winter uniform of blue and red Kappa coat and baggy green Burmos , which went well with the wellies. of course that year, Chelsea turned up at Anfield with probably the finest away following we’ve ever seen.

Some of the editors on Liverpoolrumours, who are actually agents and tend to be spot on, say Jurgen is keen and Barca are desperate to get rid , even if it’s a loan for the year. I think they still owe us about £40m so this would get that off their books, along with at least half his £400k wages.

Looks like we might resign Coutinho… I get this from Jurgen….someone he knows who the players love and can bring something different to the squad. Phil was a dickhead when he left but we never replaced him like for like and we could save his career for the second time.

Yes exactly.. we have been too narrow when breaking down teams. Use the whole width of the pitch and have a player who with a burst of pace and skill can disrupt a well set defence. If you can’t get through, get behind. when we won the League in ‘90, in a different way we needed Ronnie Rosenthal as our disruptor as teams knew how to set up against us.

Traore would be a great signing….our problem has been unlocking 10 man defences at home, so buy the most disruptive player for the opposition. He’s a Plan B….rather than the inverted wingers, sign an exceptionally quick, strong, skilful dribbler who can get to behind defences to the byline. This is how City have beaten Burnley 5-0 for the past 4 seasons whilst we struggle to score against them. City pull the ball back to someone running on in the box like we used to in the 70s and 80s. Nicking the ball off the opposition and “ transitioning quickly” doesn’t work against teams who play it long and have men behind the ball. Jurgen learnt this from last season. Traore is the modern day Franz Carr or Tony Daley. That’s a compliment BTW, flair and disruption, although a lot of modern day fans prefer their stats and percentages. A country grown up on Charles Hughes and cliche Shearer soundbits.

After the pre season and the reemergence of Keita and Ox and the versatility of Elliott's brilliance, am surprised Jurgen needs to sign another midfielder. He clearly doesn't trust the fitness or form of the above. Sanches makes sense in terms of replacing Gini's industry and drive from midfield, but with more creativity. Left footed with a wicked shot on him too.

Yes, he looks immense. Virgil mark 2. Looked to bring the ball out of defence Jockey style too.

I actually thought Divock did well and looked more up for it than last season. He held the ball up well, always on the move trying to get on the end of things but had poor crossing service in the 2nd half. he definitely gives us something different…a proper number 9 which we will need against parked defences. no harm having him as bench option if he’s fine with that. and Woodburn….forgot about him and he looked really talented when in midfield. with Keita and Ox looking the players we signed and Elliott as a classy number 8, not sure we need another midfielder. Bowen would give us something different again up front but we have that 2018-20 look about us, sharp, playing in unison at a high tempo, which will roll most teams over. except this time with a deeper squad for the Cups.

That’s the 3rd game in a row Elliott has started in a midfield 3 and he looked pretty good there last night. He’s ahead of Ox and Jones in that advanced role. As is Naby, who has looked a player pre season. think the first month will have a Konate - Matip partnership as both VVD and Joe naturally looked rusty. no sign of Origi , even though about 4 kids came on. terrible 3rd goal from Nat, who got caught under the ball. In many ways, be great for him to leave this summer with the cult hero status fresh in our memories. Don’t do a Divock. Probably most interesting is Mo and Sadio playing like old fashioned outside rights and lefts, rather than inverted wingers. Think they’re playing a little more inside than previously. This means a Minamino could back up Bobby but still think we need a proper number 9 as plan B. Personally, I would go for Danny Ings despite his age….34 league goals in past two seasons to Mo’s and Kane’s 41.

England are shit. Always have been, always will be. Italy will see them off comfortably on Sunday and panic over. Whenever they have faced a top class side in a tournament knock out round, they fail. Sunday will be the first time….Denmark are like Palace, a decent Prem team who are hard to beat but who are ultimately toothless.

In the days before the internet/ mobile phones, I remember going out early on the Friday in the summer of 95 with my Blue Nose mate who thought they signed Collymore, claiming it was a turning point in them being more attractive than us. It was great waking him early the next morning on a bill comedown to a picture of Collymore in a red shirt! It all went downhill from there

Grabara was often described as “over confident” and he would say he was ready for the first team. Don’t think this arrogance works with Jurgen, and like with Grujic and Wilson who believed they were ready and didn’t put in the yard yards in training, he was sent out to learn. Watching him berate the Huddersfield defence every time they conceded a goal, I’m not sure he did. maybe he will do a Galusci and come good eventually but football is littered with talent who thought they made it long before they did. Harvey Elliott worries me in this regard, he’s probably not ready so should stop his interviews saying he is. always use Steve Nicol spending 3 years in the reserves as the perfect example of developing into a proper Liverpool player.

" you're close Jenkins" Nothing better than Bullet going on a tirade about the new nampy pampy geography teacher, Scruffy McGuffy.

Just come back from London and a good night out with the Jocks. Funnily enough, non of the usual Ingerland cockney or Home Counties wankers were out tonight, maybe it was the rain. Or more likely 50 years of shitting themselves whenever a few guys in skirts turn up. Strange how those famous cockney Firms from the 80s would never travel to Hampden, but were always out in force in Luxembourg. Shithouses.

I think Howe's got 4% of their vote....of course we're talking about the same lads greeting Mike Walker at Bolton as the ultimate messiah. Muller refusing to leave Manchester Airport, Limpar, Amo, Samways, Heitenger etc was the funniest fucking up trying to be a big club, until now.

I’d be a worried if Eddie Howe takes over. Any Manager that can take a Club from the bottom of the football league to the Prem in 5 years and keeps them there for 5 years on crowds of 10,000, all the time playing attractive attacking football, is a little bit special. he gets the most of nearly every player he works with which is why he had a core of 7/8 players from League 2 still in his Prem side, he has an eye for young talent ( we were linked with the likes of Lewis Cook, Danjama, Brooks, Lerma, Lloyd Kelly etc), and he’ll be around for the long term so can build something. after 11 years, he eventually got burnt out as most Managers do, but he would be a smart gamble.

Let’s never forget Carra is a fucking legend and we started singing “ we all dream of a team of Carraghers” in Taskin Square as the antidote to Stevie’s lack of loyalty. Carra telling Mourinho to fuck off being a case in point....we’re a historic big Club you cheap little upstart versus Stevie’s falling for the fake riches. Carra’s a sound lad, always has been and always will be, and the vendetta against him on here is sadly misplaced. Remember his old fella kicking off with the “ring of fire” song after Fulham away in 04.

I’ve been trying to think who Nat Phillips reminds of in terms of maxing out all his qualities and them being vital for games at a massive stage of our season.....and it’s Joey Jones. Like Joey, Nat will never be the most accomplished player but his all round commitment and attitude earns him “ Oh Joey Joey” cult hero acclaim. These players are priceless and I can see him coming back in the Cup with someone like Bristol City one day and getting a huge ovation, a bit like Joey did in that infamous 4-3 match against Chelsea in 85.

Looking forward to tuning in at 8.30am for live updates, a Question of Sport Special, to hear from the wives, and then live on the team coach as they leave their Hertfordshire Hotel. when I went to my first Final in 86, I really missed the build up - instead we were sharing a coach with a load of Blue Noses talking about a new era.

Bomb him out of the Club unless he apologises first thing....we’ve just had our best result at OT for 7 years and a vital result to potentially save our season and all he thinks about is his ego. Jota proved tonight that he is now our best left sided forward so unless Sadio bucks up his ideas and changes his egocentric attitude , thanks for everything but we’ll take £40-50m for him. personally, I think he should be reinvented as a number 9 with Bobby as our number 10, but he can’t show this petulance. best thing about tonight was Mo’s celebration...shows his love for the Club and maybe Sadio has always been the problem between them.

Not really, I think they’re all pinching themselves still..” this is not my beautiful wife, this is not my beautiful home , well...how did I get here”. good luck to them and congratulations.

It’s a funny one with City - in many ways I quite like them. The massive underdog against “them” and definitely the good mancs who we have a lot in common - see the atmosphere of the 2016 Final versus the venom of 2003. of course we’ve had our mighty kick offs with them - the carnage after the 88 quarter final, all the windscreens cowardly being put through during the 84 reply, and of course when they cheekily came on The Kop a week before Paris ( and got away with it because 28000 were there that night). still, Pep is sound and if one Club deserved the £1 billion Lottery ticket, it is them.