Midfield

[Norbs]

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[Irishnev]

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[Exiled_red]

Midfield is woeful again, Fabinho's form has dropped off a cliff, Henderson is on the wane, Milner doesn't have the legs. Keita and Ox are injured/on their way back from injury/ about to get injured again. These are the senior guys in our midfield.

The team is playing ****e much of the time and for me the majority of that is down to the midfield being carved open week in week out, yes there have been defensive mistakes which if anything have taken the spotlight off how awful the midfield is.

I mentioned in another thread that ideally what should be happening age wise is that the majority of the midfield minutes should be going to the guys who should be at/approaching their peak: Thiago, Keita, Fabinho and Ox, with Henderson being the experienced head coming in when needed, seeing out games but certainly not playing more than once a week, with Elliott and Jones being brought through. We are miles from that situation, we are relying on the old guys who are on the wane and the youngsters who aren't ready. It's a complete **** show.

For me Elliott isn't ready, I said in the summer that there is a difference between playing a few games here and there and being a regular in the side, for me he's fine doing the former, but isn't ready for the latter role yet. Jones has been getting alot of stick too, which is IMO unfair, he's just back from injury and comes into a disfunctional midfield. The senior players are the ones who should be taking the blame, these guys are coming in and doing what they can, but need guidance from the senior guys, but at the moment those senior guys don't seem able to sort their own game out.

What is the solution? Short term (before WC we need Fabinho to rediscover his form, we need to go back to a 3 man midfield with him, Henderson and Thiago.

Midterm (Jan window and rest of season) we need to hope we can bring in someone of the appropriate quality who can be a long term option who will have an immediate impact, if someone comes in manage minutes of them plus the 3 above to make a solid unit which can get us into top 4. January is a difficult window to operate in, particularly if you are desperate, and I do worry about another panic signing who has no impact (Ben Davies and likely Arthur Melo), or someone who we over pay for, isn't good enough and is difficult to get rid of.

Long term (by next season) we need to overhaul the midfield, we need at the very least 2 guys to come in who will be first team quality. We need to ship out the guys we can't rely on - Ox and Keita probably are decent players but if we can't rely on them we need to get rid, IMO we should have got rid before now so we could potentially have got a fee (although that is questionable given factors such as wages, and covid alongside their injury record), but the fact is they need to be moved on. I know people on her would want to ship out mor players but if we went into next season with: Thiago, Fabinho, Henderson and 2 new guys as the main core of midfield, plus Elliott, Jones and possibly Morton as youngsters to be developed that would IMO be a big improvement on what we have at the moment. Big question is do we have the money? I'm sure everyone would love to bring Bellingham in but I'm not sure that is realistic so we probably need to look elsewhere. But FFS no more injury prone guys we hope will get over their problems

[calvoboy]

I think I've hinted elsewhere that I agree with all of that. On the money, I think it's almost reaching the point now where it's more a question of "can we afford not to"? If Champions League football is worth an extra £60-70m a season minimum, then surely it's time we put up the cash for a Rice (or similar) in January to fix the obvious glaring weakness in the squad instead of trying to do it on the cheap and risk missing out altogether?

[Slinky Skills]

Midfield is woeful again, Fabinho's form has dropped off a cliff, Henderson is on the wane, Milner doesn't have the legs. Keita and Ox are injured/on their way back from injury/ about to get injured again. These are the senior guys in our midfield.

The team is playing ****e much of the time and for me the majority of that is down to the midfield being carved open week in week out, yes there have been defensive mistakes which if anything have taken the spotlight off how awful the midfield is.

I mentioned in another thread that ideally what should be happening age wise is that the majority of the midfield minutes should be going to the guys who should be at/approaching their peak: Thiago, Keita, Fabinho and Ox, with Henderson being the experienced head coming in when needed, seeing out games but certainly not playing more than once a week, with Elliott and Jones being brought through. We are miles from that situation, we are relying on the old guys who are on the wane and the youngsters who aren't ready. It's a complete **** show.

For me Elliott isn't ready, I said in the summer that there is a difference between playing a few games here and there and being a regular in the side, for me he's fine doing the former, but isn't ready for the latter role yet. Jones has been getting alot of stick too, which is IMO unfair, he's just back from injury and comes into a disfunctional midfield. The senior players are the ones who should be taking the blame, these guys are coming in and doing what they can, but need guidance from the senior guys, but at the moment those senior guys don't seem able to sort their own game out.

What is the solution? Short term (before WC we need Fabinho to rediscover his form, we need to go back to a 3 man midfield with him, Henderson and Thiago.

Midterm (Jan window and rest of season) we need to hope we can bring in someone of the appropriate quality who can be a long term option who will have an immediate impact, if someone comes in manage minutes of them plus the 3 above to make a solid unit which can get us into top 4. January is a difficult window to operate in, particularly if you are desperate, and I do worry about another panic signing who has no impact (Ben Davies and likely Arthur Melo), or someone who we over pay for, isn't good enough and is difficult to get rid of.

Long term (by next season) we need to overhaul the midfield, we need at the very least 2 guys to come in who will be first team quality. We need to ship out the guys we can't rely on - Ox and Keita probably are decent players but if we can't rely on them we need to get rid, IMO we should have got rid before now so we could potentially have got a fee (although that is questionable given factors such as wages, and covid alongside their injury record), but the fact is they need to be moved on. I know people on her would want to ship out mor players but if we went into next season with: Thiago, Fabinho, Henderson and 2 new guys as the main core of midfield, plus Elliott, Jones and possibly Morton as youngsters to be developed that would IMO be a big improvement on what we have at the moment. Big question is do we have the money? I'm sure everyone would love to bring Bellingham in but I'm not sure that is realistic so we probably need to look elsewhere. But FFS no more injury prone guys we hope will get over their problems

Good post mate.

I don't know why Morton hasn't been recalled tbh, that Bajitecvic lad also needs some minutes as well.

We'll get someone in during the next window, we have to. We can't go from January to August with what we have, Klopp knows that as well.

I'd really like to see us go For Maddison at Leicester, he's a good player and he'd be a decent signing as well, or possibly Ward-Prowse, I think either are gettable in January.

[Le Chef]

Good post mate.

I don't know why Morton hasn't been recalled tbh, that Bajitecvic lad also needs some minutes as well.

We'll get someone in during the next window, we have to. We can't go from January to August with what we have, Klopp knows that as well.

I'd really like to see us go For Maddison at Leicester, he's a good player and he'd be a decent signing as well, or possibly Ward-Prowse, I think either are gettable in January.

I'll be gobsmacked if FSG sanction £100m plus in January, FFS, after last season with all the cash, we more or less sold to buy Nunez. We aint spending silly amounts, Klopp indicated at the end of August when he mentioned risk.

FSG wants, Suarez, Countinho types, ones that are young and can be sold on for a premium, that generates cash for new players. Suppose the big hope is Nunez suddenly becomes a 30-40 a year goalscorer that can be flogged to Spain for £150m. Can't think of anyone in our team at the moment that can be sold for £30m + ?

[BootRoom]

I'll be gobsmacked if FSG sanction £100m plus in January, FFS, after last season with all the cash, we more or less sold to buy Nunez. We aint spending silly amounts, Klopp indicated at the end of August when he mentioned risk.

FSG wants, Suarez, Countinho types, ones that are young and can be sold on for a premium, that generates cash for new players. Suppose the big hope is Nunez suddenly becomes a 30-40 a year goalscorer that can be flogged to Spain for £150m. Can't think of anyone in our team at the moment that can be sold for £30m + ?

Both Suarez and Coutinho forced their way out.

[Le Chef]

Both Suarez and Coutinho forced their way out.

Yep, both at a premium price tho, no way Alison, VVD would have arrived unless they had been sold ?

[BootRoom]

Yep, both at a premium price tho, no way Alison, VVD would have arrived unless they had been sold ?

The point is it wasn't by design; both players wanted out and FSG made sure with that being the case we got ****ing good deals. You're implying it's FSG's deliberate policy to operate that way.

[red g]

Yeh to be fair on FSG, We had some of the best players in the world when we were good and didn't sell any of them.

VVD, Fabinho, Alison, Robbo, TAA, Salah, MAne, all at the height of there powers we could hvae cashed in for major money.

[BootRoom]

Yeh to be fair on FSG, We had some of the best players in the world when we were good and didn't sell any of them.

VVD, Fabinho, Alison, Robbo, TAA, Salah, MAne, all at the height of there powers we could hvae cashed in for major money.

Correctamundo. A major criticism we've got now is an aging team - not an indication of shipping players out when they are in their prime and replacing with young up-and-comers.

[Buzzo]

Apparently we have only signed one first choice midfielder since we signed Keita in 2018.

Thiago.

[RichC]

Yup, think that is right.

It's the area of the pitch that clearly needs some serious investment

[Buzzo]

£20 million investment in this area of the team over 4 years. Not mega difficult to see why we may be having issues!

[danperkins]

£20 million investment in this area of the team over 4 years. Not mega difficult to see why we may be having issues!