JoeBuck01

I would put him up there with Ruddock, Dicks, Ince, Konchesky as one of those detestable characters who the Club should never have signed. His strutting, half-arsed arrogance whenever he comes on confirms this.

Over the past 10 seasons, the average is 71 points.

Totally agree, 69 points never gets you a CL place and the players we’ve had fit in the squad have not been good enough. Souness and Keane called it right when they described our players as “weak”. Ali, Trent, Robbo, Gini, Mo, Sadio , Bobby should be utterly embarrassed about this season. this is not on United to do us a favour,.

Great player and great man. Probably the worst thing about that horrible night in Athens was Chris having his taken stolen from his hand on the concourse - ex player or not, that should never happen to such a lovely fella. after Stevie Nicol ( and maybe Robbo now), probably our greatest ever full back.

All the great Liverpool teams have achieved ONE great result at Old Trafford ....Boxing Day 78 is a personal favourite - the day we shot up the Scoreboard End with a shotgun on our knee. April 82, March 90 and of course the nearly great teams of March 09 and 14. we can no longer trust this team though - which will never make them great until they regain this trust - but I can see us getting a decent result because of the two semi legs. Chelsea could easily draw to Fulham and lose away to a City side looking to win the League at the Eithad which would mean we could be 4th if we win our next two games. chance for this team to take their rightful place amongst the greats of the past with a big win on Sunday.

Defo..my favourite journo and good red, Jonathan Northcroft, wrote a great piece on Bamford a month back questioning why he wasn’t challenging Kane for the England team and what a great bloke Bamford is. ...softly spoken Public School kid who has some fine socialist views. Kenny came when he was 27, Aldo likewise... the role he plays we could get easily 4-5 years out of him, plus he’s super fit as he needs to be as Bielsa’s pressing number 9.

I would love Bamford....Biesla saw something in him to link his game plan together..imagine what he would do with better players. His contract is also up in 2022 and he’s only 27, the perfect age for that role.

Plays number 9 for Italy in a Christian Vieri role....target man who can turn a defender with strength and score, as well as an innate instinct in the penalty area...he’s the perfect foil for Salah & Mane / Jota. we don’t need a Mane / Jota type mobile forward like Malen or Daka....we need a proper number 9 version of Bobby, but someone who could actually score. The best strikers who could do this are Belotti, Andre Silva and err, Patrick Bamford.

Surely Andrea Belotti. He looked like he be the best striker in the world 5 years ago but a couple of bad injuries meant he stagnated but now, at 27, looks the same player as 5 years back but with more savvy. he’s the proper number 9 we need, great link up, furious left foot, the physicality of a Shearer with the deft touch of Bobby, plus loyal one Club man whose contract is up in 2022. Torres with balls.

we have looked burnt out for a while now and the 2nd half today and against Leeds was a team that looked shot. Gini best represents this and if we replace him with Bissuoma in the summer, we will see a different energy and control in midfield next season. it reminds me of the Chelsea team that ran away with the League in 2015 with 87 points , only to finish on 50 points in 10th the season after. The more or less same team under Conte , albeit with Kante, won the League the following season. as with them, just hope that we miss out on the Europa League to make this happen.

The genius of Michael Edwards - the man who watches Salzburg for months, and chooses Minamino over Haaland because he’s a better fit.

Always enjoyed our version of the Ryan Giggs song in the 90s....although the sort of song which is best sung on the way home after a Friday night out rather than at the match... Ryan Giggs, Ryan Giggs cherished by the scum, Ryan Giggs, Ryan Giggs, Ferguson’s his mum, sponsored by Reebok, looks like Mr Spock, Ryan Giggs

I would love the " big six" to fuck off the Premier League and announce we are joining the Football League. Imagine the TV contract we could get for the 72 Clubs and beyond, get Celtic and Rangers in there and leave the 14 smart arse PL Clubs without a pot to piss in. We're all laughing at Everton ......

For al the reasons Alex K brilliantly outlined on the previous page, I was looking forward to UEFA being sidelined for all their corruption and greed over the years. Having a closed shop was no way to do it though. Why not have the same format ( why was good) of two leagues of 10, but do it on merit ie top 4 from England, top 3 from Spain and Italy, top 2 from Germany & France, and then 6 other national champions through qualifying rounds. Set up a separate body etc and allocate the funds between the Clubs involved with a 25% grassroots tax. The only upside of the last few days is exposing FSG for the greedy mercenaries they are - no real difference to Hicks & Gillett...just better PR which our more gullible fans have fallen for over the years, assisted by FSG's complicit mouthpiece, The Echo.

Like in November 2014, we were shown up for what we are by a good but not great Real team. Jurgen had his Gareth Barry/ Pep moment ( trying to be a smart arse with his Keita selection) and lost all the confidence from the team from that Arsenal performance by leaving out the playmaker who is on a par with Modric and Kroos....he thought his industrial philosophy would overcome proper football. Keita has shown nothing in 3 years to justify Jurgen's brain fuck tonight. Timi was his usual out of depth self and Jota is no Firmino 2018...unfortunately Sadio and Mo are not 2018 versions of themselves either and the one positive out of tonight is that neither of the Spanish giants will see them as upgrades on what they have. That team, with those honest but limited centre backs, is good enough to put a run together in the league to finish 4th, but we are a long way off Europe's best at the moment.

This is a great thread with every post quality. This season feels like 80-81 and 04-05. Terrible in the league with a seeming inability to turn it round , only then to win Big Ears. Of course Paris was the last hurrah of our greatest ever team which had been around for 3-4 seasons since the 3 Scots arrived in 77-78 to become the spine of two of our great sides. The next season evolved with Brucie in for Clem, Lawro for Thommo, Sammy for Jimmy, Ronnie for Ray, Rushie for Johnno etc. We probably don't need 5 changes but need a number 9 (Ings or Bamford would both do well and only have a year left on their contracts) , probably a number 10 ( although try out Bobby/ Shaq) and some natural width to stretch teams like City do (a Sarr or a Traore). Probably most importantly though is a Plan B for a possession game which can penetrate tight defences, which would suit a 4-2-3-1. A counter pressing 4-3-3 assumes we have the energy (which we've lost) and teams play out from the back (which they don't always against us).

Would love to see Bobby in a role where he hasn't got two players up his arse at all times. He's combined the roles of a number 9 &10 over the past 3 years, being the fulcrum of all our success . Him being crowded out / sussed out every game is a microcosm of what's happened to us . I think he would be a perfect number 10, basically his original role at Hoffenheim. As for Mo, for each of the past 4 years, he's only behind Ronaldo, Messi and Lew in terms of shots on goal..let's just play him as our main man.

I agree that we should play the two Championship level 24-25 year old centre halves who can at least handle their physicality . Play deeper than normal so we're not caught out on speed, which you can do if you play a 4-2-3-1 as you can have Bobby ( or Shaq) as the number 10 linking the midfield to the attack. Play Fab and Thiago as holding players to protect the defence, allowing the full backs to push on, and setting the tempo. Play Mo up front off the shoulder off the last defender and Sadio on the right so he can get to the byline and around the tight defence. This is how City beat 10 man defences. In other words, we need to try something different for games when teams will pack their defences. Still play the high line counter pressing 4-3-3 in Europe against the better teams as we remain the best at this , but this has been found out in the ultra defensive Premier League .

I'm old enough to remember the great 78-80 and 87-90 teams. The latter were in the bottom 6 in October 88 as teams sussed them out. That's where we are now. City lost 9 games last season and this season learnt how to beat 10 men defences this season and stop teams hurting them on the counter. If this team wants to be a " great" Liverpool team, it needs to do the same. Play Bobby as a number 10, play Mo up front, Mane on the right to get behind defences inside of running into trouble, and Jota/ Jones on the left. Playing a 4-2-3-1 would also bring out the Bayern Thiago.

Seriously don't think there's been much wrong our performances, apart from needing a decent number 9....at least 3 times the ball went across the 6 yard box and Bobby, as always, was nowhere. A Kane or even a Bamford would get 20 goals in this team. And please Jurgen, just play Philips from now on. He's never done anything wrong and looked like Hyppia compared to the hapless Kabak. Play him and Davies for the rest of the season with the powerful full strength midfield, first choice front 3, and see if it can win the European Cup.