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15 Jun 2026 10:18:03
So given the choice who would Eds and posters choose
West Hams Fernandes who its being reported United are offering 80m. Very good young defensive midfielder and proven in the Premier League.
Or
Ayyoub Bouaddi, who it seems is being valued at 60m, who put in an excellent display on his WC debut against Brazil Has played 34 games with Lille this season and seems to be a defense first midfielder with exceptional vision and composed distribution in the center of the pitch.

15 Jun 2026 10:41:16
Think I would choose the guy who hasn't been in 2 relegation teams in a very short period. Fernandes seems to have a terrible attitude by all accounts, as well. Don't need that noise.

15 Jun 2026 08:53:33
With the new rules - Time wasting - injured players must leave the pitch to be treated, A player gets fouled by a bad tackle, then must leave the pitch, and cannot return for a set period of time while he gets treated, thus leaving his team with 10 men for a while.

Is this not a case of double jeopardy, being punished twice for what is not the player/team's fault?

15 Jun 2026 09:14:37
Yes, but 8 out of 10 times the players are just milking the challenge to waste time or to get the opponent carded, I have already noticed this World Cup players getting up much quicker and almost none of them have had to get treatment on the sidelines, which shows how ripe playacting is in the game!

15 Jun 2026 09:24:08
5 changes exist for a reason. If the staff see it is taking too long, then they can make the change. If the player is milking it, then he knows he could be substituted for taking too long, so I don't think players will be, you know, milking it.

15 Jun 2026 09:44:38
Players can't return to the pitch whilst they're being treated anyway. There will always be a period of time whilst a player is injured that you'll be down to 10 men.

This just stops it holding up the game and stops players feigning injury to hold up the game.

I'm all for it.

15 Jun 2026 10:19:20
Maybe they should remove the player who made the tackle as well... He can only return when the injured player returns, or is subbed?

15 Jun 2026 10:21:54
If it's a bad tackle and the opposing player gets booked, then I think the fouled player can come straight back on rather than waiting for an extra minute.

15 Jun 2026 10:33:59
This rule was already in place. They have just upped the time that you need to be off the pitch from 30 seconds to 1 minute, presumably because too many teams were still happy to play act to waste time or stop the momentum of the game. If you are injured enough to require treatment, it would likely take over 1 minute to treat, so the time required to be off the pitch should be moot unless you are faking an injury.

15 Jun 2026 08:23:22
Question: So Iraola wants high energy, non-stop running.

Isak and Ekitike, are they this type of player?

For me, they are both very talented individuals but they don’t seem to have that in them and that’s a £200,000,000.

15 Jun 2026 08:46:45
They can run.
They should have enough energy.
They are professional footballers.

There's a difference between 'not being able to', 'not wanting to' and 'not being expected to'.

Iraola will instruct them on how they will play and they will have enough energy.

15 Jun 2026 08:52:51
I'm pretty sure you wouldn't have said that many of the players at Bournemouth when Iraola came in were suited to high octane pressing football. You probably also wouldn't have imagined that the likes of Ryan Christie or Lewis Cook could play as one of Iraola's 6s and do an outstanding job. You wouldn't have thought that James Hill could take Zabarnyi's place, or that Truffert would make a good, albeit very different, replacement for Kerkez. Iraola does brilliant things working with the players he has and tweaking his system to match the players, to get something out of them that we would never have expected before he worked with them.

True, he has core principles and his way of playing is still in the process of evolving, the amount of learning that the players will have to take onboard is enormous and the intelligence they have to exhibit is huge (like it was under Klopp, who gave the players a lot of freedom to interpret what they have to do at any moment). It's a matter of how much and how quickly Isak and Ekitike can learn to play Iraola's football.

15 Jun 2026 09:06:30
I didn't watch the Sweden game last night, but, by all accounts, Isak and Gyokeres tore apart a defence that didn't concede a single goal in World Cup qualifying with their constant movement and runs.

15 Jun 2026 09:07:51
Off the ball, there is no type of player. The manager sets the team up to do it how he wants it done.

Yes, Ekitike and Isak can do it just as well as anyone else.

15 Jun 2026 09:18:37
Tunisia were very very lucky with their qualification group though, they are not very good, they conceded 4 to Nigeria in AFCON, they just shipped 5 vs Belgium before the World Cup, so even though I'm very happy for Isak, much tougher tests are on the horizon.

15 Jun 2026 09:29:50
You don't have to run around like a madman to be a good presser - pressing is much more about intelligence than sheer mobility. You just need high fitness to ensure you can do it throughout and have less dropoff.
Isak's body type/frame simply won't enable him to contend with the stop/start motion of a constant press, but as long as he knows when to press versus when not to, he will have no issues.

Plus, people forget that Isak is in the team for his lethal quality in front of goal - he is, first and foremost, a high-caliber player there to win matches.

15 Jun 2026 09:32:30
Statto, this is simple. Such players (even tho Eki and Isak pressed at their former clubs) will need to get their houses and get fitter and stronger to handle whatever it is that is coming their way.

When Klopp arrived, that is exactly what happened and players had to do as said above. There is nothing to be worried about. As Ron said eloquently, "There's a difference between 'not being able to', 'not wanting to' and 'not being expected to'.

When Slot was here we didn't press at all and when we did, only one player pressed and the rest just stood there watching. That won't be a thing next season."

Now, we will press high and imo, we got the players like Eki, Isak, Wirtz (all pressed at their former clubs), Szobo, Jones, Elliott, Gakpo (if the last 3 are still here and all 4 played under Klopp) who can press high and do the hard yards cos they've done it before.

I ain't sweating it, personally.

15 Jun 2026 09:34:16
An @Arne is right re: Tunisia. They are useless and how they even made it to the finals from that cliff-hanger of a qualifying phase in Africa is still a mystery to me.

15 Jun 2026 10:37:00
Just look at the running stats of Isak (last season at Newcastle), Darwin (last season at Liverpool, Ekitike last season, Diego (any season) Diaz and Mo) and their running stats are all quite similar.

Darwin is the only one supposedly deemed as a world class presser, so either the rest were super fast walkers or Isak & Ekitike are capable.

15 Jun 2026 04:47:08
I'm gonna take a wild guess that not a lot of you got up and watched Sweden - Tunisia, but Isak is showing encouriging signs. Highly involved in all 3 of Sweden's goals and probby could've scored more if it wasn't for Gyokeres being unable to run/control a ball without staring at it.

Hopefully WC does Isak good!

15 Jun 2026 05:01:09
Yup, I stayed up until 2pm to have it on at my desk. :)
Isak looked good in patches, thought he looked totally gassed just before he set-up Gyokeres goal. lol
In any case, good to see him get about the pitch.

15 Jun 2026 07:15:50
He's looked much more mobile, almost a different player.

Meanwhile, the Dutch were like watching us last season. Slow and porous.

15 Jun 2026 08:06:39
Honestly, he looked like he was struggling to catch his breath a lot of the time in the second half, had his hands on his knees after breaking a sprint a few times and looked like he was about to pass out from the heat, but a few times when he got on the ball, he was very lively driving at the defense from the left. Generally, he didn't look near the explosive Isak we have seen in seasons prior, but I guess he is slowly getting there? His movement was still good, had some languid runs on the ball, and the timing of his runs still very good, but that little burst to get that inch of separation and get a shot or pass off in a crowded area wasn't quite there.

Somehow managed to come out with 3 goal involvements, the goal he scored was a decent one, but owed a lot to bad goalkeeping, the first assist came from a high press, uncharacteristically (not sure what on earth the Tunisian defender was doing), the second was either a genius bit of improvisation or good fortune, should have scored at least one if not two more in the game. Sweden's counter attack was fun to watch in the second half, every time they broke forward in transition they looked like they were going to score.

15 Jun 2026 09:37:41
OverkillOverkill, I thought I was the only one who saw that re: the Dutch team. It was Slot/Ten-Hag (and at this point, Dutch) ball vs Japan. It looked so deja-vu it was frightening. It must be a Dutch thing, I tell ya.

As for Isak, didn't watch the game.

Saw the highlights and he took his goal well, helped massively by a blatant goalkeeping error. But you know what they say, "Can't win the lottery if you don't buy a ticket". Hats off to him and hopefully he keeps improving cos he needs the minutes.

15 Jun 2026 10:03:21
PB - Isak's "high press" to win the ball looked like he was about to faint seconds before it, hahaha, then amazingly the Tunisian turned right into him and lost the ball.

I saw what you saw, his conditioning isn't quite there, but it is getting better.

15 Jun 2026 10:38:02
Faith, what time do you normally go to bed then? If 2pm is staying up.

15 Jun 2026 02:39:50
A lot to like about Yan Diomande at 19 and I would prefer him to Barcola.

Are LFC really going to pay the big asking price for someone undoubtedly has world class potential? More a facilitator than a goal getting inside forward at the moment. I’d want more from a £100m+ starter!

15 Jun 2026 04:45:49
Is it going to be upwards of 100m pound? That would seem over-priced for sure. But then again, it's a crazy market!

I like him, physically mature, had Hincapie on ice and could take him any way he wanted to.

I'm not as worried about output at this stage, to be honest, as that will come with age and development. But right now, he absolutely looks ready for the prem.

15 Jun 2026 05:53:09
In terms of output, he would have had a couple of assists at least with better players around him v Ecuador. If it was the likes of Isak/Witz/Szobo on the end of his dangerous passes, we'd be in business. Hincapie ended up scared of him, you could see how far he was backing off after a bit, for fear Diomade would skin him again. He looked good on both sides too, which is really useful.

Another thing I like about him is he doesn't lose the ball and give up. He's good at putting players under pressure and winning it back. His defensive numbers in Germany are really good, so the proof is there that he does it consistently. Around 100 million is eye watering, but he looks like he's going to be a star.

15 Jun 2026 06:08:48
It's not either/or.

15 Jun 2026 06:43:13
Didn't PSG come out and say Barcolas not for sale anyway and they see him being a big part of their plans?

15 Jun 2026 08:17:29
Diomande utterly destroyed Hincapie for much of the game, left him dead for pace once or twice and dribbled past him inside/outside a few times, didn't do anything fancy either, just a feint to get a defender off balance and then power through into the space, very strong absorbing contact from Hincapie and holding him off at speed too, made a few ball recoveries on the other side of the ball, looked great.

15 Jun 2026 09:12:05
Pretty certain they want €100M, not £100M. Obviously, it's a lot of money for a player still developing, but it is a drop in the ocean if he can be a key part of our front 3 for the next decade.

15 Jun 2026 09:37:20
Not the first time Hincapie has had his pants pulled down in a game.

15 Jun 2026 09:43:06
I agree, Faith. As the last great ex rodeo clown used to say, "Forget the finances." And he said that when fees weren't as crazy as they are now. I reckon he would be saying the same thing, had he still been with us.

I quote him cos at the end of the day, this is the market we are in and it will not change cos there is a ton of money in football right now due to TV rights and CL/EL money right now, so if you want Diomande for ex., the market dictates 100m euros/pounds.

And if you want him that badly then, pay the fee or go do your shopping in the Championship, Ligue 2 in France or here in the Belgian league cos even West Ham won't be selling Jarred Bowen for a pittance either, I can promise you that.

15 Jun 2026 10:30:26
Oli, Yup the amount of revenue specifically for Premier League clubs is insane. The mid-table clubs can afford more, so the bottom of the market for prem clubs has risen. There are still opportunities to be had - e.g., Guehi and Semenyo for around 100m combined (crying emoji), but a lot needs to go your way to be able to secure those deals.

I still hope we are able to squeeze out that value in the market, cos personally, I hate the idea that we're splashing 100m on one player every time!

15 Jun 2026 02:36:52
Liverpool should just sign Matvey Kislyak as replacement for Curtis or Maca whosoever leaves. What a player. PSG already monitoring him.

15 Jun 2026 01:29:30
Diomonde playing great against Ecuador. Before anyone says it's the World Cup he is smoking Hincapie (Arsenal). Ecuador's backline includes Pacho (PSG) and Ordonez (Brugge). Not just flash, smart...draws in defenders and has a whip of a pass and cross. Yep I am sold.

15 Jun 2026 04:02:52
Did you hear Rebecca Lowe say to Thiago Alcantara on the broadcast that "Diomamde
was coming to your old team, Liverpool?"

15 Jun 2026 05:55:54
Scenes when we discover Rebecca Lowe is actually Carra.

15 Jun 2026 09:43:50
Cookie, that's gonna be insane, man.

15 Jun 2026 01:20:13
I'm very anxious to see what a coach like Iraola can do with some of these young guys. Some of it was due to necessity, but he has shown he's willing to rely on youth. I'm excited to see what he can do with a roster that includes Ekitike, Kerkez, Jacquet, Leoni, Diomande, Rio, Grav, Ndukwe and others.

Throw in Szobo, VVD, Gakpo, and Isak, and this could be a very good, young team with experienced leadership.

15 Jun 2026 09:44:36
You can add Elliott and MacConnel to that crowd.

15 Jun 2026 01:03:43
The Ivory Coast are fun to watch! Full athleticism, pace, trickery and muscle!

Dare I say attributes that LFC were lacking last season?!

Wilfried Singo to replace Ibou Konate at LFC? Yes please! He is a beast! Can play Centre Back or Right Back! No information or links! I am just trying to manifest!

15 Jun 2026 09:45:02
And they are rife with defensive errors, as well.

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