Florian Wirtz - Welcome to LFC

[memzey]

Stop gaps don't make sense. They rarely if ever work out. We shouldn't buy someone in January if we wouldn't buy them in the summer and don't envisage them as being part of our plan beyond the end of the season.

[frank the tank]

It's all well and good waiting for our 1st choice targets, but when we are down to the 2nd choice tea lady as a bench option we really need to be a bit less fussy.
We are an injury away from having to draft in an unknown under 21 centre back, piss poor for the champions.

Fully get what you are saying, but if anything Slot is less of a rotator than amy manager we have had since Houllier. If we signed a stop gap defender today, it is quite possible that the guy doesn't play at all and just keeps the likes of Endo company on the bench. Also, new signings have taken a long time to get used to playing under Slot. So it's not likely that they will integrate straight away.

The player that will possibly come in this window is Harvey Elliott. Maybe on transfer deadline day Villa will crack, pay a big percentage of what they were committed to paying and he will come back to us. He knows what it is like to play under Slot and will probably will play as many minutes for us as he would have at Villa.

[Exiled_red]

Fully get what you are saying, but if anything Slot is less of a rotator than amy manager we have had since Houllier. If we signed a stop gap defender today, it is quite possible that the guy doesn't play at all and just keeps the likes of Endo company on the bench. Also, new signings have taken a long time to get used to playing under Slot. So it's not likely that they will integrate straight away.

The player that will possibly come in this window is Harvey Elliott. Maybe on transfer deadline day Villa will crack, pay a big percentage of what they were committed to paying and he will come back to us. He knows what it is like to play under Slot and will probably will play as many minutes for us as he would have at Villa.

On the first point I wonder if the rotation or lack of is because the lack of trusted players, if we had a bigger squad we might have more rotation.

With Elliott I think that he would be suited to the current squad, if we have players who can only play 60-70mins having someone who can come on and be effective in the last 20-30mins is something that would be hugely beneficial because we don't have players who can do that at the moment.

[Corndog]

Perhaps there is an element of that we spent big on 3 players a wide player as well would have been likely a minimum of another £50m and we believed we were going to be spending £35m on Guehi.

On the other hand if we were going to a proper goalscoring forward if we'd only signed one of Isak or Ekitike who covers for them when they don't play you have to move to a completely different system, the back up options would be Danns or Wright who would be huge steps down in experience at the very least from either. I don't see only signing one 9 as a sensible approach. But not replacing Diaz was also stupid, and in saying Ekitike and Isak cover what we lost in Jota and Nunez I don't think we appreciated that those two could also play in the wide areas, Isak and Ekitike less so. IMO we bought 3 forward players when we probably needed 4 but all 3 play centrally, if we were going to limit ourselves and only buy 3 then one needed to be a wide player. I think this is our opportunistic recruitment approach, we saw the the opportunity to get 3 really good players and we took it without considering how to use them or how they work within the system. That's not a criticism of any of the players that we signed, I think they are all really good players, but I do find myself questioning the process.

The unfortunate passing of Diogo left an unforeseen gap but Diaz had played centrally at times and the squad won the title. A more like for life replacement for Diaz would have made more sense to me

[SB]

Flo was the conductor again tonight. I’d give him a solid 7.5 which could have been a 9 if he’d taken one of the chances that came his way.

[danperkins]

Imo he was poor tonight and just couldn't get on the level of the other lads (Mo aside who did nothing)

[baitman]

Imo he was poor tonight and just couldn't get on the level of the other lads (Mo aside who did nothing)

A bit wasteful, half hearted, too slow to dive in and kick the ball when under pressure.

[SB]

Imo he was poor tonight and just couldn't get on the level of the other lads (Mo aside who did nothing)

Nah mate not having that. His link up play, playing through the press, finding space is brilliant but his shooting & decision making regarding when to hit it first time was definitely not at his best. He & Dom are on a different level when they are together.

[BootRoom]

Nah mate not having that. His link up play, playing through the press, finding space is brilliant but his shooting & decision making regarding when to hit it first time was definitely not at his best. He & Dom are on a different level when they are together.

I wouldn't label his performance as poor, either. He gives it away a bit too much on easy balls, and is sometimes a bit too casual in thinking he's got more time than he actually has, but his little moves and passes when they come off are great to watch. I'd put that performance in the more-good-than-bad category.

[Norbs]

Nah mate not having that. His link up play, playing through the press, finding space is brilliant but his shooting & decision making regarding when to hit it first time was definitely not at his best. He & Dom are on a different level when they are together.

[Doc_Piptorious]

Nah mate not having that. His link up play, playing through the press, finding space is brilliant but his shooting & decision making regarding when to hit it first time was definitely not at his best. He & Dom are on a different level when they are together.

He was also unlucky not to have a couple of assists to his name.

He is creating as well as linking play, not on him that others are not doing more with the chances.


Think what has become very noticeable over the past 2 to 4 weeks that our new players are starting to look very effective and often are amongst our best perfromers game in game out.

Ekitike, Kerkez, Wirtz and Frimpong are playing with a lot more confidence. Makes the long term injuries to Leoni and Isak even bigger shames as those two might well be coming good about now too.

[danperkins]

Nah mate not having that. His link up play, playing through the press, finding space is brilliant but his shooting & decision making regarding when to hit it first time was definitely not at his best. He & Dom are on a different level when they are together.

Each to their own, imo Salah apart, he was our weakest performer & although he has been clicking into gear in recent games which is fantastic.. I thought he struggled to effect the game & looked half a yard off in and out of possession.

[Kenneth]

Del

[Slinky Skills]

I disagree. I think last night he was really good and linked play well and good movement. Shooting is questionable though and he needs to work on it, he looks almost too relaxed at times which makes his shooting and movement look quite lazy.

[peterbread]

People get too focused on goals and assists for Wirtz. His game is about linking the attack and midfield and helping bring the ball forward and keeping it high up the pitch. He’s always available for a pass and plays little one touch passes to quicken the tempo and help open up more space. His best worked doesn’t have to be in and around the penalty.

And I think he worked well with Szoboszlai in the middle of the pitch without the ball last night.