14 Jan 2022 08:33:50
Morning reds and Eds
Was there last night and was a very poor performance and disappointing not to take a lead back to their place but let's not over react to this result. The tie is still there to be won, on our day with our best 11 out we can still compete for trophies this season and I think most realistic fans already accepted the league was going to be a stretch with us steady a few behind city with afcon as well.

Having said that I do hope that it opens FSG's eyes and anyone else around the club who still thought this team didn't need work. I have said since the end of last season and throughout this that we no longer have players that suit the kind of football we have been playing over previous seasons. Henderson looks to have lost a yard, Milner at his age is no longer really suited to a fast aggressive high press, fabinho is having to cover the whole midfield so is losing his position constantly. I like jones and Elliot and Henderson is still great in certain games but isn't suited to the highest energy games in my opinion and I think we need to let Thiago (for injuries), keita and ox go and bring in two good energetic midfield players, one younger to rotate with fabinho but can play further forward and one ready to play in front week one week out. I also think Milner will leave or play a lot less but I think Morton and Dixon bonner could fill in with good players around them, can't see them having much less impact than ox and keita in terms of regular output.

This should have been addressed over the last season or two thoufg as the issue is can we really evolve an entire team before klopp ia planning on leaving now? It would take a huge summer if change given the fact that the likes of Phillips, nico Williams, origi, minamino and one of firminio and mane also probably needing to move on.

1.) 14 Jan 2022
14 Jan 2022 08:44:58
We have far too many aging and average players that we will need to replace either in one go in the summer for go into the same old “transition” for two or more years.

2.) 14 Jan 2022
14 Jan 2022 08:55:55
I have noticed this season Henderson is overlapping Trent on the outside and then he is the one on the wing but crosses don't often come in from Hendo. It seems to nullify Trent as he wanders into the middle. This seems to happen a lot when we are facing teams that sit back. I thought Neco was excellent when he came on last night gave loads of energy. But its only half time so let's go again C'mon.

3.) 14 Jan 2022
14 Jan 2022 08:59:47
One of the problems seems to be that the owners are satisfied with what they have at the moment and are not prepared to spend a great deal of money to improve. Let's face it - if they we to sell the club tomorrow they would make a massive profit. The club has a certain value and spending or receiving money is not likely to change that valuation. The personal interest that they had in the club seems to have vanished (perhaps partly because of C.V.) but we don't hear as much from lovely Linda as we did at the start. I personally think that it won't be long before the owners are looking to sell as their interests lie elsewhere. To see this great club of ours held back by those in a position to keep it at the top is massive disappointment to me and frustrating when we see that players like Henderson and Milner can no longer cut the mustard and have regular starting positions in the team. They were both dismal against Chelsea and even worse against Arsenal.

4.) 14 Jan 2022
14 Jan 2022 08:59:57
Alex YNWA, I agree with most of what you have said however, I don't think anyone has said that the team does not need work/ refreshment or improvement. I mean, it logically does not make any sense at all to think that way. What I think many of us are saying is that can we or do we have the financial muscle to actually get the players we want, at the time we want and most importantly, at the price we can afford cos as we all know, we are not flush with cash esp. since the CV? Saying we should have done this or that is pretty hindsight stuff esp. since finances have been crippled since the summer of 2020. Just facts, man.

What has hindered us and Ed02 has repeatedly said this since the summer of 2020, is the CV that crippled our ability to spend esp. since we didn't spend in the summer of 2019 on the first team. We have been behind the 8 ball ever since and the club has had to take in more debt to fund the transfers that HAVE happened, per ED02. That is of course unsustainable under the FSG model. We have to be more creative in the TW, even more than we have been in the past. We shall see.

As for letting all those players you mentioned in your last paragraph go, that ain't going to happen in one window, mate. Ox has been fully ft and has contributed solidly this season, IMO. Hendo is having a bad spell BUT was very good overall, prior to this. As for the attack last night, I thought Jones was very good and could be an option BUT what killed us was the lack of pace of our forwards to get behind the packed Arsenal defence. It's going to be tough until Salah n Mane come back so we have to just keep going.

5.) 14 Jan 2022
14 Jan 2022 09:06:30
I have the same questions as previous games…

- why do we persist with this new midfield system which is forcing the best fullbacks in the world to go infield and make us narrow and easy to defend? And why can’t Klopp and his senior pros see it in games?

- why is Milner starting big games? He’s played in almost every big game this season.

- where is Divock when you need him?

- what has happened to our set pieces? Corners and free kicks are the worst I’ve ever seen.

- why is Virgil looking so sloppy?

6.) 14 Jan 2022
14 Jan 2022 09:21:42
CV19 might have been a global C.V. but in Premier League finance terms it seems to have only been a Liverpool FC C.V..
In hindsight we should have furloughed more staff 🙄.

7.) 14 Jan 2022
14 Jan 2022 09:34:05
Flypelican I’m a little concerned about Vvd. I love the guy and he oozes class but has he been thrown into the deep end here and basically been told to sink or swim.

And what i mean by that is he’s just come back from a very serious injury and we were all told there would be parts of this season where he would be rested. At the moment players like Konate and Gomez are crying out for minutes and he’s being picked against Shrewsbury.

Vvd has always made things look easy but the last couple of games it’s looked a little like he’s half hearted. Not sure if it’s because he’s half hearted or burnt out.

To suggest a pro footballer is burnt out half way through a season probably sounds mental. But he’s half way through a season after not playing for almost a year.

8.) 14 Jan 2022
14 Jan 2022 09:43:21
@Oli
The C.V. might stay forever. We can’t let this CV excuses to run forever. As we speak Aston villa are splashing money like water. What exactly would change in the next 5 months that you are confident about the increase revenue.

9.) 14 Jan 2022
14 Jan 2022 10:20:19
I understand C.V. has severely damaged our finances but also we haven’t helped ourselves.
Was the money spent on Thiago and the wages spent on Thiago necessary? The system we play didn’t really require a player like him and I posted similar at the time and given his injury record we added another injury prone player.

We have also heavily overpriced certain players, I know sometimes that works in your favour like Brewster but across the board we could have got money in for Phillips, karius, Adrian, neco Williams, origi, keita, AOC, minamino, Ben Williams, van der berg, mane the list goes on.
Yes these players would need replacing but for me, the amount they play like keita, AOC, neco, Phillips, minamino, Williams, van der berg all could be replaced with the likes of Morton, Dixon bonner, Gordon, Elliot and Jones all being used more. It wouldn’t just bring in some money but some wages are very high and wouldn’t hugely weaken the squad.

Everyone had C.V. issues we can’t claim we are the only club effected and there is nothing we can do.

10.) 14 Jan 2022
14 Jan 2022 10:22:39
TT, it is not an excuse neither am I confident of anything. Hopeful? Yes. As for other teams, I don't care what they do nor who they sign cos I don't know their finances nor do I care so making such comparisons is a red herring for me. Aston Villa ain't trying to win the league so the comparison is false either way hence, not bothered.

What I described is reality for LFC and this is based on the the "hand to mouth" model (ED02's description) we have. IMO, The solution here is to find other creative means to generate funding outside of the model OR change the model itself to get up to speed to with the times cos I agree with you, CV is here to stay.

Until either or both happens, we will be where we are financially and taking in more debt to finance transfers just to please me or whoever, is NOT sustainable either, IMO. I take the world as it is and NOT as I would like it to be until reality and the facts change.

11.) 14 Jan 2022
14 Jan 2022 10:23:02
Owners are happy with Top 4. A trophy is a bonus.

{Ed001's Note - did they tell you that or did you make that lie up in your head? Why do ignorant people pretend to know things they simply have no idea about?}

12.) 14 Jan 2022
14 Jan 2022 10:20:19
I understand C.V. has severely damaged our finances but also we haven’t helped ourselves.
Was the money spent on Thiago and the wages spent on Thiago necessary? The system we play didn’t really require a player like him and I posted similar at the time and given his injury record we added another injury prone player.

We have also heavily overpriced certain players, I know sometimes that works in your favour like Brewster but across the board we could have got money in for Phillips, karius, Adrian, neco Williams, origi, keita, AOC, minamino, Ben Williams, van der berg, mane the list goes on.
Yes these players would need replacing but for me, the amount they play like keita, AOC, neco, Phillips, minamino, Williams, van der berg all could be replaced with the likes of Morton, Dixon bonner, Gordon, Elliot and Jones all being used more. It wouldn’t just bring in some money but some wages are very high and wouldn’t hugely weaken the squad.

Everyone had C.V. issues we can’t claim we are the only club effected and there is nothing we can do.

13.) 14 Jan 2022
14 Jan 2022 10:31:12
The C. V of the last 2 seasons and now are completely different. This season we are playing in front of crowds for example, so its pretty much back to normal. I would expect the balance sheet to be quite healthy this season with a good CL run needed.

Saying that I would still borrow money if necessary against future profits. What we can't have is not getting a CL spot for instance. That would be counter productive and decrease future profit and sponsorship. We need to invest regardless this season.

14.) 14 Jan 2022
14 Jan 2022 10:41:42
I think it's disrespectful, perhaps even stupid, to say that FSG are just happy with mediocre and that they don't want to improve. It's the most asinine perspective to have that also just completely missed how the club has been built since Klopp has been here.

15.) 14 Jan 2022
14 Jan 2022 10:45:50
Oli I know you say you don’t like to compare us to other sides but those other sides are our competition in the league we are competing in. 18 of them are either trying to catch us or overtake us. And City are trying to extend the gap from us. If we don’t compete with them off the pitch then it’s always going to be a struggle on the pitch.

Yes we have a better side and squad than (I’d say 17 of them) currently. But as we move forward over the next 1-3 years. Will that still be the case?

I know it’s a question that can’t really be answered as it’s in the future but looking from the outside to In it is a little concerning.

16.) 14 Jan 2022
14 Jan 2022 11:08:45
Spot on the money there @JK. Why shouldn’t we bother about other clubs when we are all hit with the so called same CV and while others are spending or able to afford money and we couldn’t?

17.) 14 Jan 2022
14 Jan 2022 11:45:26
Everything FlyPelicanFly said. I love Milner so not slating him at all. But the poor guys legs have gone. Yet Klopp will continue with a midfield trio of Milner, Hendo and Fab when we have attacking options on the bench. Although we may not be blessed with a lot or even quality attacking players to bring off the bench at the moment but at least with have some players who can offer something different. I mean where does the creativity come from with Milner, Hendo and Fab?

As soon as I see that trio starting I know we are in for a long day. Add to that we are missing Salah so is anyone surprised by last nights result. Also our subs are frustrating beyond belief. They’re a man down and the obvious sub to make at half time was Milner off for an attacking player, which in my opinion was Jones. Also Taki struggled last night so I would have bought on pace and took him off also at half time for Gordon, yet we dither and let them back into the game then make some subs, which by then the game had petered out to a boring goalless draw. Unless we do a complete 360 similar results will follow.

18.) 14 Jan 2022
14 Jan 2022 12:25:14
It is as much a coaching/ tactical issue as a personnel issue.

I understand that Klopp and the coaches made a tweak to our midfield with the view of making us more potent in front of goal with these wide overloads. And in many games this season it has clearly worked in terms of goals.

But.

This new system seems to entirely depend on the availability of Thiago - and to a lesser extent, Harvey Elliott.

It has also made us less effective against a low block, impacted the form and effectiveness of Trent and Hendo in particular whilst also exposing Fabinho, Virgil and Matip to counter attacks. We just become more and more narrow as the games go on.

What frustrates me more than the result is that senior players do not see it in the game and continue to repeat it. Which means that we're either not allowing players to think for themselves or they're utterly clueless.

I suspect it won't be the last time we see this kind of performance.

19.) 14 Jan 2022
14 Jan 2022 12:28:51
Ah the old CV excuse, that and FFP are my favourites.