26 Feb 2018 09:54:39
The premier league is full of players who can play well for a few games but over a season they just aren't good enough to challenge for trophies. They don't have the right mentality or enough ability.

Last season Mignolet was our best player in the last few games and a major reason we made the top 4. As a result Klopp gave him another chance but he hadn't suddenly become a top keeper by having a few good games.

Karius the same this season, a decision should have already been made regardless of whether he plays well until the end of the season. They watch him every day in training, he is either good enough or as I suspect he isn't top level.

Can - over a season not good enough.

Gini and Milner see above.

1.) 26 Feb 2018
26 Feb 2018 10:36:46
There are a lot of midfielders at top clubs who can become passengers at times.

Wijnaldum, Milner, Can, Dier, Sissoko, Wanyama, Herrera, Pogba, Fellaini, Bakayoko, Fabregas, Drinkwater, Xhaka, Elneny, Wilshere, Ramsey and Delph, all go missing at times either through lack of effort in some cases or lack of ability in most cases.

The only midfielders at the top of the Premier League who regularly emerge from games with credibility are Henderson, Lallana, Alli, Dembele, Kante, Matic, De Druyne, Silva, Fernandinho and Gundogan.

Not hard to see why City are 1st and Arsenal are 6th. You've got City there who have 4 top class CM's and Arsenal with 4 passengers in CM. The sides in-between in 2nd-5th are scrapping about with only 1 top midfielder each, in my opinion.

Modern football games are won in midfield and as you have rightly said, a lot of teams are harbouring player who can't turn it on every game over a season. Look down the league and there are a few players who could potentially step up though and deserve to be at a top club more than the likes of Wilshere and Bakayoko. Just to name a few; Ndidi, Obiang, Doucoure, Cork, Lemina and Krychowiak. Especially Doucoure in my opinion though as he is a monster. I'm yet to see him play badly but then again i don't watch Watford every week! Cork is probably second only to Doucoure outside of the top 6 though. He has transformed Burnley this season. He has industry and quality.

It seems to be a genuine modern football problem though. I don't see many midfield players wanting to get involved as much nowadays; both in and out of possession. There are far too many passengers and that is why City are running away with it.

I can't wait to sign Keita though because he is a proper midfielder who rarely goes missing. Even on a bad day he let's everyone know he is there still. We miss that kind of fight.

2.) 26 Feb 2018
26 Feb 2018 10:49:01
Agreed MK. The only thing I do not agree on is Lallana. I think Lallana often let's the game pass him by, especially if they are games against lower quality opposition. In some games last season I don't even see him coming deep looking for the ball!

3.) 26 Feb 2018
26 Feb 2018 11:35:03
Not sure what Gundogan’s name is doing in there but never mind.
With respect to Karius, it will probably depend on who is available and whether we can offload one of our current keepers.
If we can’t get a top class keeper then we have little option but to stick with LK. I don’t really buy the Navas has more experience argument as his experience is not with premier league football. In terms of goalkeeping it is a unique environment and no experience elsewhere properly prepares you for it.

4.) 26 Feb 2018
26 Feb 2018 11:37:00
Alli has been missing for plenty of games this season, Matic as well . Plenty of utd fans not happy with his performances. Get the point there are very few that are consistent over a season. We have some there aren’t. Every team does. As for Karius he’s a young keeper so with the normally comes inconsistency.

5.) 26 Feb 2018
26 Feb 2018 11:37:25
I think when Lallana is fully fit, he rarely goes missing. However when is he ever fully fit? He seems to always be returning from injury and that is when he struggles and can let games pass him by. So i definitely see your point COR.

I think last season he got over his lack of performance against the lesser teams, but he was just always fighting for fitness. Prior to last season though, you are right. He never showed up for the so called smaller games. I did originally have Lallana and Alli in the list of midfielders who can go missing hence why later in the post there was a continuity error where i said 2nd-5th place only had 1 top midfielder each. I felt as though i was being harsh on Lallana who struggled for fitness and Alli who is still very young so i switched them into the second list, but forgot to correct the continuity error. In hindsight, i probably should have stuck to my guns and left them both in the "passenger" list as neither are truly top midfielders right now.

6.) 26 Feb 2018
26 Feb 2018 12:03:44
I agree Keita looks a top player, I hope we make the right decisions about the other 2 midfielders we buy. We at least seem to be targeting the right caliber of players.

Henderson and Lallana might be our best midfielders but as they hardly play it just shows how much work we have to do to recruit an entire midfield. The 3 new midfielders we sign we probably we in our starting 11.

7.) 26 Feb 2018
26 Feb 2018 12:07:59
Adam lallana let's the game pass him by! Are you serious! He is recovering from a serious injury, it is taking time but man, you have a short memory. He is exactly the opposite to "let's game pass him by" along with coutinio, last season, lallana is the guy who wants the ball, he makes things happen and he grabs the game by the scruff of the neck. Next season lallana is going to be massive for us as we win the league, hopefully he can reach full fitness by the 1/ 4 finals 1/ 2 finals. He is probably our best as tacking mid. My only criticism is with his finishing. He is a small guy, but gets stuck in more than big Emre, and can't kick the ball as hard as some, I think he goes for power over finesse. If he can join Firmino and start adding goals to his game he will be one of the best Players in this league.

Our midfield has changed so much over the years, as the game has changed. We used to rely on midfield to create everything, whereas nowadays they protect the back four and are there only to quickly turn the ball over to the 3 front men.

Not long ago we had only 1 forward and Gerrard just behind. Players like Hendo and gini are perfect for our game. They can break up play and keep the ball under pressure. They are a lso capable of finding the front three with a clever ball.

The game has changed and especially liverpool. I think Keita is going to be perfect for us. If Emre leaves (I hope he stays) we need a real physical presence although I think we are phasing that sort of thing out of our game at lfc.

Milner takes a lot of stick here. For some reason English players have to do more to be appreciated than foreign players. It could be we are still sore about Iceland. Milner has been f#*#*#g brilliant recently. He has been a premier league player for well over 15 years. That is amazing. He has constantly been at the top level and in the big games the guy is class.

I'll finish with a positive. Aoc looks like he could become one of the best and most exciting midfielders in the league. I was dubious when he signed as a cm but he has been class. Not consistent yet but that will come. He didn't bomb. His performance against the hammers was simply outstanding. If it was coutinio we would all be saying how "world class" he was. If Al can Play like that every week we are going to finish second.

8.) 26 Feb 2018
26 Feb 2018 12:14:36
Karius played after coming back from a broken hand last season, in a new much more demanding league, he made 2-3 mistakes and was benched, Mignolet has never been our best player anytime of any season and just because over a period of 7-8 games last season he made no costly mistakes, he was just doing the least expected of a Goalkeeper of a team fighting for top 4, his job.

If Keylor Navas is to be our new number 1 i would rather have Karius, and i'm not slating him i just think Karius's ceiling is much higher and i would rather stick with him instead of signing Keylor Navas only for him to be dropped 2-3 months later after finding out he's average at best, we would only make Karius want to leave as well or ruin his confidence which is a huge part in football.

You come back and say we shouldn't sign Keylor Navas but someone like Alisson or Oblak, Klopp apparently wants Navas, Alisson will cost a lot especially after Roma feel they sold us Salah for peanuts, and will have options from PSG and Real Madrid,
and Oblak will also cost a lot and be an option for teams who can pay him higher wages. I wish it was as simple as people make it out to be.

9.) 26 Feb 2018
26 Feb 2018 12:21:26
The first post about Karius is very odd.

You don't learn if players can step up by watching them in training, you learn it by giving them game time.

Karius has never really had a long run in the team. He was pulled out after making a couple of mistakes before and then publically replaced as number 1 by the much inferior Mignolet.

Karius needs the rest of this season to see how he does. I would say it'll be good for him to make a couple of mistakes between now and then because we'll be able to see whether he's able to bounce back from mistakes like all the top keepers do.

I agree that there should be a plan B if he doesn't impress until the end of the season but right now he's doing quite well and I wouldn't advocate ruining his confidence at such an important point of the season by making it clear that he is going to be replaced in the summer whatever he does.

10.) 26 Feb 2018
26 Feb 2018 12:38:02
Just a simple point supersalah, You say if Lallana can copy Firmino and add goals to his game, Firmino is just 26, you'd expect him to come into him peak now, Lallana is 30 in 2 months time, his peak was last season, and he won't get back to that form without regular football. I feel although he works his socks off and has fantastic ball control / technique he slows the game too much at times and is very ineffective. I certainly don't see him at Liverpool beyond next season, maybe even before. He is not the type of player who will be happy sitting on the bench collecting wages and with us targeting another CM on top of Keita and a wide player as well i see his game time being limited.

11.) 26 Feb 2018
26 Feb 2018 12:38:39
You should look at the games we won 1-0 in the run in last season and watch the saves he made and how even he dealt with crosses. I think he is a really poor keeper but he had a very good spell at the end of last season and hense why I wrote the opening piece.

12.) 26 Feb 2018
26 Feb 2018 12:40:54
Alli has been missing all season although he was recently found at the swimming baths.

13.) 26 Feb 2018
26 Feb 2018 12:42:35
Those 6 midfielders who play for teams lower down the league, I don’t disagree with, however when they play in a team who will regularly have a lot more possession and be faced with a lot more defenders, they may not look so great and may become “passengers” too.

I know the only way to find out is for them to play for a bigger team who has more of the ball, but let’s not forget some of our ‘passenger’ midfielders looked like world beaters and monsters against city and arsenal at home, because they didn’t have much possession, could feed off the the opposition mistakes and didn’t have a low block defence to break down.

{Ed001's Note - Krychowiak was found wanting badly at a bigger club with more possession. He has not looked all that special where he is for that matter, just not as dross as the dross around him.}

14.) 26 Feb 2018
26 Feb 2018 12:57:43
My point exactly ed. Some may look good now, but may not be able to cope at a bigger club with more possession, higher expectations and playing against low block teams. But then they have to the chance to show that they can do it too I suppose.

{Ed001's Note - I was just pointing out that you make a good point, as Krychowiak has shown.}

15.) 26 Feb 2018
26 Feb 2018 13:25:12
Attackers thrive on confidence, our boys are brimming with it atm But so do goal keepers. Karius didn't settle straight away but he now looks really comfortable and confident. He was top draw on Saturday. Could have been a very different game had loris not got his fingers to that chip. Amazing save. The whole back line look SO SO SO much safer with Vvd. Everyone around him has raised their game too.

16.) 26 Feb 2018
26 Feb 2018 14:24:48
Red Dawn it seems obvious to me. Karius is not vocal enough and can't catch a ball he punches everything. I think VVD has helped the whole defence but for me a keeper needs to be commanding and very self confident. I don't know how he is in the dressing room or how he stands out in training. The same people have obviously concluded that Ward is not at the required level and Karius must be showing more than Ward.

I am sure if I was the one making the long term decision I would have enough info by now to make the correct decision and the next few games wouldn't change my opinion.

17.) 26 Feb 2018
26 Feb 2018 14:15:32
I slightly disagree Ed0021, I think it depends on Krychowiak's role, how well he plays in a top team.

I liked him at Sevilla who i consider a top club, when he had a bit more license to drive forward. When he is allowed to do that, he does things instinctively and is very good in possession.

At PSG he was playing a more reserved role and when he has time to think about his pass, he isn't great. I don't think he is a true holding midfielder to be honest as he lacks composure. I think he's better playing box to box. He's a good player though and he proved at Sevilla that he can play in the right system at the highest level.

I wasn't advocating Krychowiak for Liverpool though to be clear, just stating that he is a good player who could potentially play at a higher level. I'd rank that 6 in order as 1. Doucoure 2. Cork 3. Ndidi 4. Lemina 5. Obiang 6. Krychowiak.

{Ed001's Note - I never rated him at Sevilla, who I don't consider a top club as they have shown a tendency over the years to just fold against the top clubs. Winning the Europa League even stopped the moment it became a worthwhile competition.}

18.) 26 Feb 2018
26 Feb 2018 15:05:19
Fair play Ed. I suppose i best change my opinion now or I'll disappoint the trolls who think i agree with you on everything 😂

In all seriousness though, i really rated him at Sevilla. I thought he bullied us in our Europa League final especially, but i see your point on the Europa league losing value. Too many teams actually want to get knocked out of it nowadays. Krychowiak is far too good for West Brom though, in my opinion. I think he can mix it with the best if used correctly. Appreciate your views though.

{Ed001's Note - I don't think the Europa League has lost value, had lost value but this season and last season it mattered because of the prize at the end. Sevilla show in the Spanish league what level they are at, constantly folding against the top 3 clubs and making no attempt to give them a real game.}

19.) 26 Feb 2018
26 Feb 2018 17:18:03
Wijnaldum is replaced by Kieta. And if Klopp gets Jorginho then that is your midfiled. Jorginho - Keita - Coutinho replacement.

20.) 26 Feb 2018
26 Feb 2018 17:20:39
Lallana should be in former list.

He is better than Can but by not much and not to be included in next level.


Cheers.

21.) 26 Feb 2018
26 Feb 2018 18:00:41
A good point well argued nostradamus. I think people are down on lallana as he is not yet fully match fit and we are not sering his best.

You are right about ads peak but Gerrard had his best seasons at 29 30 31. I'm not expecting lallana to score 25 goals but he should be making double figures.

He gets injured a lot coz he is a little guy battling with big lumps.

Sometimes you need to slow the game down dude. Haven't you noticed, Southampton and West ham, we completely dominated, we sxlowed it down when we need to.

We should 100% keep lallana. To sign a player of his quality is going to cost over 50 mil. Why do that when we have ads? Also, we need players in their 30s. this isn't fifa, you need experienced, intelligent players like ads to win things.

The team is class now. Don't change it. Okay, Keita in and Emre out. I was in a band for years and sound men will never stop tinkering with the dials. They get it bang on and then keep tweaking until you get feedback. We shouldn't tinker too much. I hope milner stays. His versatility, his tenacity and his experience are vital for a title winning team. He has a premier league medal.

22.) 26 Feb 2018
26 Feb 2018 19:13:46
I agree with what you say Supersalah, but these are human beings with needs and ambitions of their own mate, i would love to keep Lallana and Milner around the place but i just think with new players arriving those two in particular will want to move on to play regular football.

23.) 26 Feb 2018
26 Feb 2018 19:45:07
Fair play nostradamus. Good bloke. I think milner has shown he still has something to offer. His versatility is a real asset too. Lb, rb, cm, dcm acm and rm, rw, lm, lw.

I wouldn't be surprised if milner left but I expect lallana to be around for a few more years.

One thing that slightly annoys me. It is funny how milner rise in form coincides with the run up to the world cup. Makes me think he hasn't tried as much as he could have. Does that make sense? Do you get me?

24.) 27 Feb 2018
26 Feb 2018 23:57:05
Milner has retired, nothing to do with the WC.

25.) 27 Feb 2018
27 Feb 2018 01:28:00
Has he? I stand corrected. Top player atm. I think since couts has gone milner has taken the role of supplying the forwards.