Philippe Coutinho

[Roboklopp]

aye, £150m + £30m addons seems reasonable in this market, however ludicrous that market is.

[marcus50bucks]

Absolutely bang on. This poster puts it across more eloquently than I could have.

Klopps is a great coach with great faith in his abilities and players and rightly so - but he can't forsee the future and theres a lot of 'faith' about what he does which is good and bad
Let's face it we don't know how decisions are made (imo he's not making the call on a 125 million pound decision but others disagree so lets park that for now) but if a player like this is sold in January he'll obviously at least have input

For now lets group Klopp and the club together and say the decision has been made collectively to sell him now because Barca have met the price which they didn't in the summer, the squad is a bit stronger as you've indicated and so on

The problem is there's only downside to that decision

Right now if you look at most underlying numbers we're the 2nd best team in the country. We may not finish second as the Mancs have points on the board but there's a great chance we will and most models see us finishing top 4
We also have a legitimate chance to win the CL. Not a great chance - but its not a ridiculous long shot. We have a favourable next round tie and once you're in the quarters its a knock out competition and we have an attack that can win any game

What they're doing is gambling with that position
It doesn't matter if you trust Klopp's judgement or anyone else at the club - its empirically, factually a gamble.
Removing Coutinho removes goals, assists and creativity and quality from the team (and depth if no one is coming in)
Top 4 is so tight in terms of points taking him out could absolutely be the difference.
And this isn't something Klopp can project or anyone else - he can only hope it works out.

So when people say 'I trust Klopp he knows what he's doing' thats totally fine and feeling that way as a fan is a good idea but its really not a matter of trust - if he leaves in Janaury we're weaker and top 4 remains incredibly tight.

The point is... there's no upside to it only downside.
You can get the same money (more?) in the summer, the same deal will be there (Its not like Phil and Barcelona suddenly won't want each other)
Financially there's literally no reason to do the deal now in fact there's incentives not to (CL qualification, a deal post world cup etc)
From a footballing point of view there's literally no reason to do the deal now
So why would you ever do the deal now?

[DeanoUK]

I don't want to be that guy, and I'm sure he's using other factors to help his argument. But we're fourth in the league so I can't see how he can say "if you look at most underlying numbers we're the 2nd best team in the country".

[gratziani]

Exactly wouldn't say there is much between the other four teams on their day.

We draw too many games even with our great attacking play.

[Paul12]

How did we get in this mess? I thought our strategy in the summer was to say "no" because we hadn't had the time to sort out a replacement but then to sort out a replacement for when Barca next came knocking. But I had thought we'd have made it clear that they should not come knocking until summer 2018.

I agree the squad is much better than 12 months ago, but losing Couts now WILL cost us points we can't afford to lose unless there is an attacking midfielder coming in this wiondow that will hit the ground running - which seems unlikely.

[Doc_Piptorious]

How did we get in this mess? I thought our strategy in the summer was to say "no" because we hadn't had the time to sort out a replacement but then to sort out a replacement for when Barca next came knocking. But I had thought we'd have made it clear that they should not come knocking until summer 2018.

I agree the squad is much better than 12 months ago, but losing Couts now WILL cost us points we can't afford to lose unless there is an attacking midfielder coming in this wiondow that will hit the ground running - which seems unlikely.

Would actually have a lot of confidence in Klopp on that front. When it comes to his big money attacking purchases, as in players bought to go straight into the first team, then his tend to start fast and settle quickly. Mane and Salah being the obvious examples.


Even at Dortmund his record for biggish money attacking starters was very good in terms of them settling quickly on the pitch.

Reus €17m
Mkhitaryan €25m
Aubameyang €13m


His one real flop in terms of bringing in a big money attacking starter would be Immobile and he cost €18m

[dom9]

Would actually have a lot of confidence in Klopp on that front. When it comes to his big money attacking purchases, as in players bought to go straight into the first team, then his tend to start fast and settle quickly. Mane and Salah being the obvious examples.


Even at Dortmund his record for biggish money attacking starters was very good in terms of them settling quickly on the pitch.

Reus €17m
Mkhitaryan €25m
Aubameyang €13m


His one real flop in terms of bringing in a big money attacking starter would be Immobile and he cost €18m

Who?

[Doc_Piptorious]

Who?

Italian striker who played for Dortmund, and Sevilla. Currently plays for Lazio. Was linked with us a few times towards the end of Rodgers' time as manager.

[dom9]

And his name is Immobile?

Fantastic name for a target man

[Alex]

Ha yeah, I think it doesnt have the impact if you hear rather than read it, as its pronounced 'Immo-be-lay'

[Doc_Piptorious]

And his name is Immobile?

Fantastic name for a target man

It is

All those jokes about his name are a few season old now though

[dom9]

Just call me Bender

[BillobShaisley]

1 step forward, 2 steps back always with this club and small time ownership. Silly me for thinking that bollocks about having £150m last summer might be true and the VVD signing showing it. If that bull**** was true we should have like £300m next summer with the additional CL funds. Who wants to bet we don't spend a 5th of that to improve the club?

Which goes to show why you should always show your working kids. You may at least salvage a few marks.

[danperkins]

Absolutely bang on. This poster puts it across more eloquently than I could have.

If he goes and there is no replacement it's going to have a massive negative impact on our season. Even if there is a replacement IMO it's still going to be negative. Plain fact of the matter is we are losing a world class footballer & whomever we replace him with simply won't be as good & we will probably pay a ridiculous fee for him.

The figures being quoted are far short or what we should be asking. Monaco are quoting 90 - 100m for Lemar ffs. As Shaggy said it's not much more than Pogba and Coutinho is twice the player he is and then some.

He is going to go that is for sure, whether it be in this window (which is plain ****ing stupid) or the summer but we should be rifling Barca on that transfer fee. Sick of us losing our best players, it's becoming a common trend we are never going to push on and truly be contenders if this keeps on happening every season.

[Buzzo]

Absolutely bang on. This poster puts it across more eloquently than I could have.

There are some good points, however there aren't 'literally' no reasons yodel, Coutinho now.

Though Phil has performed well thus far, what if, once he knows he is getting his move his performance levels fall away, or he decides to coast for the second half of the season. This attitude would be debilitating to the entire squad.

I'm not saying this will happen, and to be fair (other than the conveniently timed injuries) Coutnhos attitude has been good so far. I'd imagine weighing up what can be expected of Phil and where he is mentally will play a huge part.

Klopp has cleverly made him captain which is a ,assive show of respect, so let's hope Phil respects he club by giving us 6 more amazing months.