Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool: Slot Shame

[Batman]

They'll be better than they were last season and I think Klopp learned some things but they're not going to be back to where they were competing with City at 90+ points anytime soon. Losing Firmino will be a bigger deal than people think IMO. Salah is not exactly young. Diaz has to show he can stay fit. Nunez strikes me as the kind of guy that will always have the clown gene. One injury to Fabinho (who has gotten old quickly) and they have no proper holding midfielder and it remains to be seen whether Szoboszlai can adapt quickly to the PL level. They have a ton of question marks around them and that's before even speaking about how awful Van Disney looked all season when his form is critical to their fortunes.

 

[CaseUteinberger]

Agree, but I think blaming everything on the midfield last season was a convenient Kop out (if you pardon the pun) for the scousers/scouse sports/the north west media.

For example going from Mane-Firmino-Salah to Diaz-Gakpo-Salah is a big downgrade.

Agree, plus VVD seemed to have a significant dip in form plus TAA was exploited mercilessly at times.

I for one hope you are right and it is a larger rebuild / rejig than one might think at first glance.

 

[Dutch D]

VVD definitely getting away with his terrible form, also dreadful for the national team for a while now. Their defense is quite bad as his partners haven't been entirely convincing either and TAA is an obvious defensive weakness that Fabinho couldn't cover (unlike Partey covering Zinchencko for us).

I also think replacing Firmino with Gakpo is a huge drop in quality. Diaz looked really good at the start, but Mané was incredible for them. Think long term he is a very good replacement, though, if he can keep fit.

Mac Allister and Caicedo (Fabinho suddenly looks like a geriatric) will definitely improve their midfield and Caicedo will hugely complement TAA. Lavia could do the same as Caicedo, but is a bit less advanced in development and has some injury worries.

Diaz - Jota - Salah
Mac Allister - Szoboslai
Caicedo
Robertson - Konate - vDijk - TAA
Alisson

Looks good to be honest. Not title contenders in a year, and could do with a better CB, but strong team.

 

[MikelHadADream]

VVD definitely getting away with his terrible form, also dreadful for the national team for a while now. Their defense is quite bad as his partners haven't been entirely convincing either and TAA is an obvious defensive weakness that Fabinho couldn't cover (unlike Partey covering Zinchencko for us).

I also think replacing Firmino with Gakpo is a huge drop in quality. Diaz looked really good at the start, but Mané was incredible for them. Think long term he is a very good replacement, though, if he can keep fit.

Mac Allister and Caicedo (Fabinho suddenly looks like a geriatric) will definitely improve their midfield and Caicedo will hugely complement TAA. Lavia could do the same as Caicedo, but is a bit less advanced in development and has some injury worries.

Diaz - Jota - Salah
Mac Allister - Szoboslai
Caicedo
Robertson - Konate - vDijk - TAA
Alisson

Looks good to be honest. Not title contenders in a year, and could do with a better CB, but strong team.

No chance they get Caicedo, too expensive for them.

Also think the dynamics of their team are well off. They got away with guys like Robertson and especially trent being so attacking because they had a proper solid midfield 3 that covered them, would MacAllister and Szoboslai be prepared to do that? (Also questions around Szoboslais adaptation).

Defensively they were a shambles last season and I don’t think they’ve done much to address that. They’ll probably blow a load of teams away though, especially at Anfield.

 

[Dutch D]

No chance they get Caicedo, too expensive for them.

He's probably not going to them, but he would've been a more important signing that Szoboszlai, in my opinion. Lavia could be a very good alternative for them with an aging Fabinho.

Also think the dynamics of their team are well off. They got away with guys like Robertson and especially trent being so attacking because they had a proper solid midfield 3 that covered them, would MacAllister and Szoboslai be prepared to do that? (Also questions around Szoboslais adaptation).

Defensively they were a shambles last season and I don’t think they’ve done much to address that. They’ll probably blow a load of teams away though, especially at Anfield.

I agree about them being shambles defensively, which is why a better functioning DM and ideally a top CB should be very important to them. I think Mac Allister suits them well, he's a tenacious CM who does give them more creativity going forward as well. I really don't rate their midfield, so I understand they wanted a more attacking CM as well, but it wouldn't have been my top priority as their front three still has a lot of fire power.

Will definitely take time to gel the new squad, which is why I don't see them as title contenders as it stands.

 

[sergio_giorgini]

Torres is a ****ing unit these days.

Roid rage. That explains it then.

 

[avenellroad]

Their fanbase seems to be absolutely up in arms that we’ve spent as much as we have on Rice. Really weird fanbase and shouldn’t be lost how much they spent to challenge City. £70 million+ on Van Dijk is equivalent to £100million now.

Rice will get us consistently pushing to challenge for the league. I look forward to seeing whether football fans opinions change then whether he was still a waste of money.

 

[Regista21]

No chance they get Caicedo, too expensive for them.

If they sell Fabinho for 40 mi, then it would be only a 30-40 mi net investment to get Caicedo.

I think they will not sign him, but not because he's too expensive. They will not sign him because Chelsea has it locked at this point, probably.

Being south american myself, I know how England's weather and culture can be challenging for people from here. In this sense, London is a more friendly scenario for south american footballers than traditional british cities in the North, like Liverpool, Manchester and Newcastle.

My guess is, if Fabinho leaves, they will go for Florentino Luis (Benfica) or Tchouameni (If Real Madrid negotiate him this window).

 

[LookingForEric]

Liverpools midfield will at least be better than last season. But will take a very long time for that to gel.

 

[Macho]

well too expensive £50m

We paid that for Ben White and that's a CB. I'd say 50 mil is the asking price for one good season in the prem on the "right" side of 25 years old.

40 mil would be fair enough in my opinion. 50mil could be justified if your team has nothing there which isn't the case for us.

 

[Paperino]

Liverpools midfield will at least be better than last season. But will take a very long time for that to gel.

How do you know that it will take "a very long time"?

 

[LookingForEric]

How do you know that it will take "a very long time"?

3 new midfielders under a different manager all different styles to what Liverpool have had previously. It could click straight away, but in all likelihood it make take half a season for that to gel.

 

[ArsenalInMyHeart]

We paid that for Ben White and that's a CB. I'd say 50 mil is the asking price for one good season in the prem on the "right" side of 25 years old.

40 mil would be fair enough in my opinion. 50mil could be justified if your team has nothing there which isn't the case for us.

£50m isn't problem with us but White comes here to be our starter. We won't spend £50m for a backup when Partey, Jorgi, and Rice are still here.

 

[Mickey Rooney]

I really rate Lavia and think 50M will likely turn out to be a bargain for him.

Liverpool doing some very good midfield signings. Mac, Szo and likely Lavia. That’s better business than we have done in midfield this window.

 

[Regista21]

Szoboszlai and MacAllister are good signings for them. Lavia will show up that he still needs time to develop. He's a good 2 or 3 seasons to be great. If Liverpool had any plans to compete at the top, having a inexperienced player as the cornerstone of their game might show during crucial moments of the season. It will probably also kill any chance Bajcetic had of being a world class player for Liverpool.

That's before saying their defense is an absolute mess.

I would not be surprised if Liverpool falls short of a Champions League spot again next season, especially because how more solid City, Arsenal and Man United are looking. Also, worth saying Brighton and Newcastle will probably make quite a good run next season as well, and that's before we know if they will be able to land Kvara.

Newcastle has one of the most solid defenses in the league. If they can replicate the Kvara-Osinhem relationship with Isak, those draws will become wins and they will start to target the top.

From all the top 7 teams right now, I feel like Liverpool is the most unbalanced side (Great attack, good midfield, mess defense). It will be a rough ride for them, hopefully.

 

[Henry boi]

Szoboszlai and MacAllister are good signings for them. Lavia will show up that he still needs time to develop. He's a good 2 or 3 seasons to be great. If Liverpool had any plans to compete at the top, having a inexperienced player as the cornerstone of their game might show during crucial moments of the season. It will probably also kill any chance Bajcetic had of being a world class player for Liverpool.

That's before saying their defense is an absolute mess.

I would not be surprised if Liverpool falls short of a Champions League spot again next season, especially because how more solid City, Arsenal and Man United are looking. Also, worth saying Brighton and Newcastle will probably make quite a good run next season as well, and that's before we know if they will be able to land Kvara.

Newcastle has one of the most solid defenses in the league. If they can replicate the Kvara-Osinhem relationship with Isak, those draws will become wins and they will start to target the top.

From all the top 7 teams right now, I feel like Liverpool is the most unbalanced side (Great attack, good midfield, mess defense). It will be a rough ride for them, hopefully.

United winning a pre season game against us means nothing, Liverpool are better with thier signings and I expect them to finish above them

 

[Yousif Arsenal]

Liverpool should focus on spending money on center backs Van Dijk is declining Matip and Gomez are very poor only Konate quality.

 

[Regista21]

United winning a pre season game against us means nothing, Liverpool are better with thier signings and I expect them to finish above them

Certainly a pre-season match against us doesn't mean much, but United has a pretty solid project. With Onana and Mount in a more 8-ish role, as long as Casemiro stays fit and playing well to cover for him and Bruno, United has a pretty decent shot at creating many goal opportunities.
It's also a matter of how they will make their forwards work. They badly need a CF. If they can get the guy from Atalanta that I can't spell the name, they have a shot at doing a proportionally better season.
Now, Liverpool has a very solid offense - and this saves them a lot - and now a pretty good midfield duo upfront. But the deeper you go in the field, more problems are found.
Of couse, Klopp might find a way to solve these defensive issues during the season. But I have to say will be a pretty difficult job. Especially because they seem to be really focused in turning Alexander-Arnold into a deep-lying playmaker. These new arrange force a back-3 that I'm not sure their team is able to play well.
This was a little less evident last season because they would play with some people in midfield, like Henderson, Jones and Elliott, who did some big defensive work to cover spaces open wide.
I'm not sure if Szoboszlai and MacAllister will bring the same rhytm of static defense these other guys had.
In the top 7, I find Liverpool the biggest question mark in the season, alongside Tottenham. They really seem to be in a 50-50 situation right now, where they can have both a great season and a terrible season.

 

[Heskey]

 

[Yousif Arsenal]

Bit Balanced midfield only remain is klopp to make it work similar with us with Havertz and Rice.