Threads containing Ed001's recent posts.
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27 Aug 2026
27 Aug 2026 07:25:41
Can't believe Watkins is going to Al Hilal, he should still be in the top-flight.
{Ed001's Note - he usually has the lowest chance conversion rate in the top 5 leagues that is why he is going there.
27 Aug 2026
27 Aug 2026 05:18:18
I agree with something Ed001 said the other day - There's no way they'd have demanded seats on the board if they had no interest in running the club. The club is in much better hands if Gordon is running it day to day than the likes of Hughes, but my problem with FSG has always been that if they'd shown more interest and oversight in making our operations effective rather than just growing revenue, the likes of Hughes wouldn't be a factor and we'd win a lot more than we do.
Liverpool have the money and prestige to hire pretty much the best there is, so why don't we?
27 Aug 2026 00:34:05
Ed1, going away from Liverpool and the transfer mess we're having right now, do you think there's something fishy going on between Chelsea and Villa?
Chelsea bought Rogers for an insane amount of money, £117m, and now Villa are basically paying that back by taking Garnacho and Nico Jackson. I remember them doing something similar when Villa bought Maatsen and Chelsea bought a youngster from them a couple years back.
All these deals feel like, "I'm helping you cook the books, and you do the same for me" type of deals.
{Ed001's Note - Villa had issues and needed to bring in cash, which is why they sold Rogers. Since then, they have lost a lot more players and are about to lose Watkins, which has cleared their UEFA-related issues and left them able to spend money, hence the signing of Jackson. Garnacho was probably though a dodgy deal related to them paying such a large amount for Rogers.}
27 Aug 2026 07:25:41
Can't believe Watkins is going to Al Hilal, he should still be in the top-flight.
{Ed001's Note - he usually has the lowest chance conversion rate in the top 5 leagues that is why he is going there.
27 Aug 2026 07:51:03
Villa's issues have always been their wage budget. From their time in the Championship up to today, it's been huge. This window should massively help them out, and they have purchased some quality players.
27 Aug 2026 08:52:14
Remember you saying that when Watkins was mentioned on here, his stats were as bad or worse than Nunez but didn't get the same stick as he was English.
27 Aug 2026 09:27:08
It's about Watkins level alright.
26 Aug 2026
26 Aug 2026 21:33:48
Very very interesting Ed. Thanks for this. I know we're not linked but I'll enjoy researching him so appreciate the name.
{Ed001's Note - I will actually be genuinely gutted when he leaves as he is such a good player to watch but he does deserve a step up in level I think.}
26 Aug 2026
26 Aug 2026 20:55:03
What is Bala's full name Ed. Not a name I heard before.
{Ed001's Note - Guilherme Bala - plays for Shabab Al Ahli so I get to see him every week here. He was the best player in the AFC Champions League Elite by a mile last season. Hard to be sure how well that will convert to European footie, but he has looked good against Saudi and Qatari teams with much bigger budgets and some excellent players. I am astonished he is still there to be honest, I thought someone would come in last summer and it is even more astonishing this summer no one has gone for him when there is such a paucity of wingers out there. His workrate, especially when you consider the heat he is playing in, is top class.}
26 Aug 2026
26 Aug 2026 20:23:46
Cheers ed1 mate. Much appreciated. Who knows maybe he'll pull something out of the fire .deep sigh
{Ed001's Note - that worries me a lot. It will probably end up being a world record move for Mathias Tel or some other dog muck donkey. Still, least we haven't sunk low enough to have to loan Jack Girlish to rescue our season.....yet.}
26 Aug 2026 19:01:21
Evening ed001,
Would love to hear your opinion on the whole Richard Hughes debacle
I understand the club couldn't just replace the above with immediate effect, but some have mentioned Julian Ward should have stepped in? I'm not so sure mate
Cheers
Drogie
{Ed001's Note - I think some two should have stepped in, maybe even 3 - Gordon and maybe Hogan to do the negotiating and someone from within the recruitment set up (whether Woodfine or someone else) to produce the targets for them to get. Ward would have been much better than Hughes as well.}
26 Aug 2026 19:01:21
Evening ed001,
Would love to hear your opinion on the whole Richard Hughes debacle
I understand the club couldn't just replace the above with immediate effect, but some have mentioned Julian Ward should have stepped in? I'm not so sure mate
Cheers
Drogie
{Ed001's Note - I think some two should have stepped in, maybe even 3 - Gordon and maybe Hogan to do the negotiating and someone from within the recruitment set up (whether Woodfine or someone else) to produce the targets for them to get. Ward would have been much better than Hughes as well.}
26 Aug 2026 18:17:54
On the off chance the club is monitoring this site today- ed1. If you were richard hughes- who exactly would you go for at this late hour when addressing our issues. Asking for a stc
{Ed001's Note - I think it might be a bit late to go for what I would suggest, Hughes can't even get a deal done in a full window! But ok:
Sadiki/Lamine Camara - we desperately need someone to put a foot in somewhere in that midfield.
Rayan though he might be impossible so maybe we need to take a punt on someone like Bala. Best player I have seen in Asian football by a margin, since Son. Fast, strong, good technique and skill, though his tendency to throw himself down looking for fouls is annoying. He works extremely hard and is very well versed in a pressing system after working under Paulo Sousa. The options are very sparse, so I think that we need to take a chance on someone like him. He can play all over the front line as well and wouldn't cost the earth I would expect.}
26 Aug 2026 20:17:25
Doubt Richard Hughes is online tbf, he's still trying to figure out his abacus.
26 Aug 2026 20:23:46
Cheers ed1 mate. Much appreciated. Who knows maybe he'll pull something out of the fire .deep sigh
{Ed001's Note - that worries me a lot. It will probably end up being a world record move for Mathias Tel or some other dog muck donkey. Still, least we haven't sunk low enough to have to loan Jack Girlish to rescue our season.....yet.}
26 Aug 2026 20:55:03
What is Bala's full name Ed. Not a name I heard before.
{Ed001's Note - Guilherme Bala - plays for Shabab Al Ahli so I get to see him every week here. He was the best player in the AFC Champions League Elite by a mile last season. Hard to be sure how well that will convert to European footie, but he has looked good against Saudi and Qatari teams with much bigger budgets and some excellent players. I am astonished he is still there to be honest, I thought someone would come in last summer and it is even more astonishing this summer no one has gone for him when there is such a paucity of wingers out there. His workrate, especially when you consider the heat he is playing in, is top class.}
26 Aug 2026 21:33:48
Very very interesting Ed. Thanks for this. I know we're not linked but I'll enjoy researching him so appreciate the name.
{Ed001's Note - I will actually be genuinely gutted when he leaves as he is such a good player to watch but he does deserve a step up in level I think.}
26 Aug 2026 21:50:01
That worries me too, taking another punt and overpaying. Hopefully someone at the club says "nahh dickie lad, see you later". Off you pop.
26 Aug 2026 13:59:38
Ed1, can you try and explain our transfer strategy? Because I genuinely don't get it.
We look so unprofessional and scatterbrained, seemingly jumping from winger to winger with no coherent plan. How is it possible that a club of our level has come to this when we knew Salah was leaving nearly a year ago?
£50 million for a 28/29-year-old Sarr as our winger option? Why didn't we just pay that, or slightly more, for Mbaye and actually stick to that target? Unfortunately, prices are above market value this summer, so if you identify a player as your genuine target, then within reason, just pay the price and get the deal done.
The club seems very strange at the moment. The priorities are all over the shop and the planning seems non-existent. We, and seemingly everyone else, can see that we need a defensive midfielder, but the club can't? It's like being on the brink of losing your home, suddenly coming into money and, instead of making sure you have a roof over your head, deciding to spend it on a luxury holiday and a new car.
As for Barcola and the other wingers, yes, we need them. But at this point, the delays over Barcola, whether they're down to the club or whoever else, have made the potential signing almost anticlimactic. Hughes couldn't be any more incompetent if he tried. Barcola should have been done and dusted within the first few weeks of the window.
We scrimp and scrape over deals with seemingly no consideration for getting players in for pre-season, integrating them with the team and giving them time to understand the manager's philosophy. The icing on the cake of this chaotic window was bidding twice for an injured Minteh who can't play for another two months at a minimum.
For those saying they're worried about Bezos and co., I'll say this, I'm not. They cannot be worse than what we're seeing right now. Bhatia's first job should be to appoint a competent sporting director.
One final thing I'll add. Why would you keep an outgoing sporting director in Hughes to complete the transfers for a new manager? If he's already leaving and has performed this poorly, I see absolutely no upside in doing so.
This has been one of the worst transfer windows I've seen from us in recent times, unless we somehow pull off a crazy end to the remainder of the window.
{Ed001's Note - I wish I could explain but it just seems Hughes is even more inept then I realised.
26 Aug 2026 16:25:57
Liverpool have been poor operators in the transfer market for a long, long time - pretty much since the 1980s. Aside from 2018 (which, even then, we didn't get everything we wanted), we never have entirely successful transfer windows. Whether taking too long to complete deals, not going after players we should, overpaying, pricing out players from moves, or not even having a plan to get the players we need, Liverpool are just so bad when it comes to transfer dealings.
At a £5bn valuation, Liverpool should be targeting the best people possible for sourcing players, yet we have Richard Hughes, who, at least from my perspective, seems to be buying the highest priced players he can almost as a CV polisher (signed 900m worth of players in 2 years etc).
26 Aug 2026 16:08:10
Why do so many give the club credit, they were inept for many years under Klopp and for some reason we always have to grift for deals. There's been three or four big surprises over the years which nobody anticipated, but on the whole we're always shoddy when it comes to deals.
We draw things out and we've rarely gone into a new season fully prepared. Hughes is a buffoon but so are the people who employ him. There's too many do gooders who give the club credit.
26 Aug 2026 16:28:49
It's not just Hughes though. It is the people above him too. If they cannot see that there is a headless chicken throwing their money around with little thought or planning, then I am at a loss for words.
No board can be that blinkered. Surely?
26 Aug 2026 16:29:06
Im so dissappointed, it would be better to bid 100m for rayan than 50, 60, 70 for others from my pov, at least we know he works with ais system
26 Aug 2026
26 Aug 2026 11:29:38
Good to see you back Ed0666. Hopefully with you helping out now Ed001 can go back to the bajillion articles he has on his list ;)
And I totally agree with you about Klopp. The only reason why Edwards, and by extension Hughes, came back was because Klopp left. If he was still around, our recruitment wouldn't be so bad.
{Ed0666's Note - thanks Nate I appreciate your kind words.
26 Aug 2026
26 Aug 2026 12:39:07
Ed001 I couldn't agree more, for me it's not as straightforward as it seems because just getting a number 6 in to play alongside Szoboszlai am still not sold on him in the 8 role.
I think he has everything he needs to be one of if not the best number 8 in world football but he just seems all over the place in there and no matter who plays with him Szoboszlai will empty that midfield.
As for Gravenberch Ed the two goals we conceded at the weekend loads could have been done after he gives the ball away but both times they are simple passes first one he dissects two of our players and leaves us open to the counter when the pass was a simple one second he has a simple pass and tries some stupid back heal.
For me them two can't work because I don't see the time to teach both while playing if it was one or the other they would have time to learn but they both can't learn together it's going to be far to costly.
We have far too many attack minded players in our team I think Carragher speaks a load of crap 95% of the time but he was right about saying the only players in our team that think defensively is the two central defenders.
We won the league under Slot with Klopp's team then for me the three Stooges have gone mad and signed far too many attackers when we need a Henderson and a Fabinho to let our attacking players do magical things.
26 Aug 2026 11:42:50
After your opinion ed 1 if you don't mind (sorry it's a bit of a long one before I get to my point ?). I'm not as doom and gloom as a lot seem to be. I think Iraola will turn us into an excellent team given a bit of time to implement his style.
It's irritating me the so called experts like Carragher et al spouting the same garbage around all our midfield issues being on Wirz. He is not our problem. My concern is more around our midfield 2 of Dom and Grav. For me it's simple to fix using basic communication. It's something I always coached that if one of the pair advanced, the other would sit and cover the gaps in front of the back four, with the centre backs making sure to tell them as they'd have a good view of the field.
However, I just don't see it being coached into them. For me I think we need to replace Grav quickly, for as good as he is at turning in tight spaces, it doesn't make up for his complete lack of awareness positionally and tactically, and his constantly turning the ball over in dangerous positions or when he's too far forward.
Do you think that Iraola has seen this and will start to phase Grav out? Either with a new signing (which doesn't look likely under hughes) or by bringing in someone like Nyoni in the short term to do the job?
{Ed001's Note - I think he will see it, but he will want to try and work with him first, as he is a very valuable asset to just dump onto the bench. His wages are too high to be a back up unless there is no option. I do agree with you though, those two are far more of a problem than Wirtz.}
26 Aug 2026 12:32:41
If we brought in a defensive mid and put Sob out on the right as an inside forward type, rather than hugging the touchline, until we can get Minteh fit or bring in another rw, use Frimpong for overlapping.
26 Aug 2026 12:54:28
And we can thank Carra for even more heat, now he has labelled it the worst transfer window in history. Which is not even the worst in Liverpool history. Please remember the Suarez replacement nonsense or the Hodgson days. Yes, I know he's factoring in money before they leap to his defense.
Wirtz was considered the best upcoming 10 in world football. That talent doesn't disappear.
Right now, we have three players, all who want to be in that same space he operates. I'd drop Grav for Nyoni, with instructions to sit. Allow Dom to be B2B, with Wirtz operating behind that front three, and cause the damage we know he can cause. I think Grav is a good player, but I wouldn't be sacrificing him over Wirtz and something has to give.
26 Aug 2026 12:39:07
Ed001 I couldn't agree more, for me it's not as straightforward as it seems because just getting a number 6 in to play alongside Szoboszlai am still not sold on him in the 8 role.
I think he has everything he needs to be one of if not the best number 8 in world football but he just seems all over the place in there and no matter who plays with him Szoboszlai will empty that midfield.
As for Gravenberch Ed the two goals we conceded at the weekend loads could have been done after he gives the ball away but both times they are simple passes first one he dissects two of our players and leaves us open to the counter when the pass was a simple one second he has a simple pass and tries some stupid back heal.
For me them two can't work because I don't see the time to teach both while playing if it was one or the other they would have time to learn but they both can't learn together it's going to be far to costly.
We have far too many attack minded players in our team I think Carragher speaks a load of crap 95% of the time but he was right about saying the only players in our team that think defensively is the two central defenders.
We won the league under Slot with Klopp's team then for me the three Stooges have gone mad and signed far too many attackers when we need a Henderson and a Fabinho to let our attacking players do magical things.
26 Aug 2026 12:28:36
Thanks Ed. Let's hope Iraola can work his magic and that Grav actually listens and applies it what he's being told.
26 Aug 2026 12:41:15
The problem is essentially szobo gravy and macca are same kind of midfielders who were 10s in their younger days (ajax, salz and argentina ) so going forward is something that comes naturally to all of them and therefore they need to be restricted restrained as their natural game is to bomb forward. Neither are known ball winners or tough tacklers or can do the dirty work.
So no matter how hard they try there will be instances over 90min when they bomb forward on instincts alone and find themselves in no mans land after a cross is intercepted making us bunnies for counter.
It could be easily solved if our full backs had a defensive bone in them but unfortunately our fullbacks are in even more hopeless positions during such situations leaving everything on VVD, who would have dealt with it 3 years ago but now its too much of an ask from a 36 year old.
26 Aug 2026 09:31:11
Ed's Why does one of the biggest clubs in the world Liverpool Football Club seem to have trouble finishing business and carry out a PR soap opera with their operative writers in the press about it that other clubs do not? Does the board block deals? Cheers, YNWA
{Ed001's Note - because the SD is not getting the deals done.}
26 Aug 2026
26 Aug 2026 07:34:22
Great round up, ed1
{Ed001's Note - thank you so much mate.}
26 Aug 2026 07:39:01
{Ed's Note - Ed001 has posted a new article entitled, Matchday 1 - Quick Round Up
26 Aug 2026
26 Aug 2026 01:02:21
Was it Grujic, Ed? I recall Ed002 saying at that time that there were issues with his work permit and that we had to lie to get it or something to that effect.
{Ed001's Note - might have been, that sounds right.}
25 Aug 2026 22:58:02
{Ed's Note - Ed001 has posted a new article entitled, Matchday 1 - Quick Round Up
25 Aug 2026 23:51:57
A very welcome back to Matchday Round Up. ??
26 Aug 2026 07:34:22
Great round up, ed1
{Ed001's Note - thank you so much mate.}
25 Aug 2026
25 Aug 2026 22:19:35
Agree with that Ed001.
Keep your powder dry, let Iraola work his stuff with this squad. In the meantime get the right guy in and strategise for next summer.
25 Aug 2026
25 Aug 2026 22:16:47
"Barcola has shut the door on everyone else. Liverpool, Liverpool, Liverpool, that's the message."
I'm calling it. ?♂️
Players just don't act like that. Their agents advise them against it. He might say it to his agent, but a good agent won't let the clubs know that. Sorry, Jamie, it's BS.
{Ed001's Note - Isak did, as did Wirtz.}
25 Aug 2026
25 Aug 2026 21:53:24
Am I alone in thinking that Rio is not as good as Ben Doak? Just lots of stepovers, and no ability to pass or track back?
{Ed001's Note - no, at least Doak drove forward.}