2022/23 Season

[Pablo]

Just after reading Klopp's interview where he acknowledged we're rebuilding the squad I had a look at the past 2 seasons ins/outs:

Outs
Shaqiri - Was a decent squad player when fit
Wilson - Good transfer for us at £14m
Awoniyi - Made £8m off him
Wijnaldum - Sorely missed
Neco Williams - We got a good fee for him
Origi - Been crap for Milan
Grujic - Made about £8m
Minamino - Decent squad player but we also got a decent fee
Mane - Sorely missed

Ins
Konate - A success so far with some injury prone worries?
Diaz - A success but a very different type of player to Mane.
Elliot - Great signing but overplayed recently.
Melo - Pathetic last minute signing.
Ramsay - Good talent, if he is ever fit
Carvalho - Decent start to his LFC career so far.
Nunez - An enigma. Could still be mega, could still be a flop.
Gakpo - Lukewarm start at best.

My Summary
- Wijnaldum has not been replaced and is a massive loss.
- Mane I guess we had no choice but we are throwing faeces at the wall trying to replace him and seeing what sticks.
- Where the hell are the midfield reinforcements? Truly baffling!
- A lot of the players we’ve signed don’t seem ideally suited to our style? They are not like for like replacements at all. As a result we are losing our identity?

Honestly it feels like we’ve lost the magic touch in terms of signings. It was ridiculous for a few years with every single one being a success. That is no longer the case (I think the run ended around Jota/Konate), which makes this a shaky rebuild so far IMO.

[Doc_Piptorious]

Just after reading Klopp's interview where he acknowledged we're rebuilding the squad I had a look at the past 2 seasons ins/outs:

Outs
Shaqiri - Was a decent squad player when fit
Wilson - Good transfer for us at £14m
Awoniyi - Made £8m off him
Wijnaldum - Sorely missed
Neco Williams - We got a good fee for him
Origi - Been crap for Milan
Grujic - Made about £8m
Minamino - Decent squad player but we also got a decent fee
Mane - Sorely missed

Ins
Konate - A success so far with some injury prone worries?
Diaz - A success but a very different type of player to Mane.
Elliot - Great signing but overplayed recently.
Melo - Pathetic last minute signing.
Ramsay - Good talent, if he is ever fit
Carvalho - Decent start to his LFC career so far.
Nunez - An enigma. Could still be mega, could still be a flop.
Gakpo - Lukewarm start at best.

My Summary
- Wijnaldum has not been replaced and is a massive loss.
- Mane I guess we had no choice but we are throwing faeces at the wall trying to replace him and seeing what sticks.
- Where the hell are the midfield reinforcements? Truly baffling!
- A lot of the players we’ve signed don’t seem ideally suited to our style? They are not like for like replacements at all. As a result we are losing our identity?

Honestly it feels like we’ve lost the magic touch in terms of signings. It was ridiculous for a few years with every single one being a success. That is no longer the case (I think the run ended around Jota/Konate), which makes this a shaky rebuild so far IMO.

With regards to Wijnaldum and Mane, I assume you mean we miss them as they were in their prime and not how they are since leaving Liverpool with the former pretty much seeing his form fall off of a cliff since he left and Mane only getting months into his Bayern career before needing requiring surgery and he still does not even have an estimated return date. Easy for me to say that with the advantage of hindsight of course.


Mane we replaced with Diaz and Wijnaldum we replaced with Thiago imo. Where we went wrong was simply trying to replace players who left and not added extra quality on top as we went along.


For me the issue, or at least one of the issues, was replacing players as they leave or are just about to leave and not being more proactive in bringing in the replacements for the ones that most people thought would moving from being starters to being squad cover by now.

We can go back 12 to 24 months on here and see plenty of posts from folk who thought that the likes of Henderson, Fabinho and a few others who be starting to become squad players within a season or two. Here we are that season or two later and the guys a lot of us thought would be transitioning to becoming the new Milners are still starters and Milner is still being the old Milner.


Am hoping this summer kick starts a lot of change as a number of players will be off of our books so extra slots for registering players and extra wages freed up. Though I would prefer if we got at least one midfielder in now and another one or two in the summer.

[danperkins]

When it comes to midfield this season, our interceptions stats are done, our sprint stats are down, our press stats are down, our tackle stats are down, our duel stats are down, our completed passes stats are down and so on.

Well except for Thiago. His tackle, pressing, duel and sprint stats have remained at a high level.


It is showing up on Opta, Fbref and on sites like whoscored.

I do not think there is much arguement that can be made against needing more mobility, pace and strength in the centre tbh regardless of a change of system up front.

Yes we have been unlucky in the final third, not so much with Mane leaving imo but with how we got long term injuries to two regulars and one back up. Throw in injuries and a suspension to our one high injury new attacking player and it adds to the disjointed nature of our attack.

Plus another part of the stats in the final third dropping would be down to midfield players who are not mobile enough being played in attacking roles.


Another way to look at it is that if the final third was a big part of why both the midfield and backline were underperforming is why have we persisted in trying to do the same things over and over and over if it was a case of just needing to tighten up in the final third (something that was suggested on Sky this week too).

Mane was already dipping, and we signed 3 new left sided forwards this season, in addition to Jota and Diaz.

The problem is the midfield does not have the legs. There is no point in the forwards pressing high if the midfield leaves a gap to play through.

[Mark79]

I love Mane, but I think it’s our injured forwards who we’re really missing.

I’m not convinced there’d be so much chat about Mane if Jota and Diaz in particular hadn’t suffered long term injuries .

[rudedog]

I love Mane, but I think it’s our injured forwards who we’re really missing.

I’m not convinced there’d be so much chat about Mane if Jota and Diaz in particular hadn’t suffered long term injuries .

Missing 3 of our front 3 is having a massive ripple effect through the team and how Klopp sets us up to play

[Exiled_red]

Disagree with this completely. IMO, the reason why we so effective as a 'pressing monster' was because our forwards made it so difficult for opposition to play out to their own midfield - we made them hurry passes and forced mistakes.

This made our midfielders jobs a lot easier as the opposition rarely got time and space to pick passes that could hurt us.

The pressing game only really works if you do it as a team in a co-ordinated manner, if you press from the front by definition you need the forwards to lead that. But you also need the midfielders to back that press up, if you don't do it as a whole then it doesn't work (IIRC MOTD or Sky were illustrating this point with Solskjaer's Man Utd team). If our midfielders aren't able to support the forwards in the press because (to use the argument alot on here are using) they don't have the legs then it won't work.

[rudedog]

The pressing game only really works if you do it as a team in a co-ordinated manner, if you press from the front by definition you need the forwards to lead that. But you also need the midfielders to back that press up, if you don't do it as a whole then it doesn't work (IIRC MOTD or Sky were illustrating this point with Solskjaer's Man Utd team). If our midfielders aren't able to support the forwards in the press because (to use the argument alot on here are using) they don't have the legs then it won't work.

I'm not suggest that the midfield hasn't struggled, I just think it's a lazy conclusion to suggest the issue is all down to midfield.

The front three being out is having a massive knock on effect right through the team, not just in terms of the press but also in terms of goal threat. Teams don't fear us anymore as we are blunted in attack and have been too easy to play through

[Mark79]

Not really the right thread, but since it's something that will put yet more strain on the domestic calendar and the players...

FFS, just **** off with this stuff

[ame]https://twitter.com/RobHarris/status/1618283226090594311[/ame]

[ChesterDave]

UEFA, like FIFA, are parasites on the game.

[danperkins]

My god, nobody gives a flying **** about the Nation's league. **** right off.

[Harv]

Clubs need to start kicking up about this ****. They're the ones that pay players wages.

[Exiled_red]

My god, nobody gives a flying **** about the Nation's league. **** right off.

Clubs need to start kicking up about this ****. They're the ones that pay players wages.

[Norbs]

My god, nobody gives a flying **** about the Nation's league. **** right off.

Even when England nearly won it no one gave a ****. And they've lied as there are still friendlies

[spud_gun]

My god, nobody gives a flying **** about the Nation's league. **** right off.

Speak for yourself. I'm fairly sure Scotland are Nations League World Champions or something similar

[S-RED]

Clubs need to start kicking up about this ****. They're the ones that pay players wages.

cough #superleague# cough