Jürgen Klopp

[vlahka]

Whoever we bought in january would of gotten broken anyway. Better to save up and bring in 5-6 players so that when 3/4 of them are broken we still have some extras.

[frank the tank]

I'm not as positive, I don't think Spurs need many players, they have a young squad. Maybe one or two additions for them. United have gotten stronger and stronger, if DDG leaves they'll get Oblak, they'll target proven quality, that is what Jose is good at. Arsenal on the other hand might face some difficulties. I do think that next season is a season where the gap between the top teams and the rest will be more accentuated.

Don't get me wrong, Spurs look like they have brilliant potential. The point I was trying to make is that their first 11 is very strong but that they will struggle to attract players that will be good enough for their bench, and be happy on the bench. So last summer they signed Sissoko and Janssen for over £50m for the pair - and they made two thirds of **** all difference to them. So their team looks great, but they will struggle to improve their squad.

United will throw big money at it. If they don't get into next seasons CL (I think they will via Europa) then they will be favourites for title in my opinion - purely because of no CL football, i think Mourinho will prioritise the league. But if they do get CL, then I think they will struggle to juggle.

[Lecter]

I am gonna defend Klopp here

The squad is wafer thin and thats before injuries

We bought terribly under Rodgers, all players of a similar ilk

So not only is the squad thin its grossly lacking in positions and qualities that matter

Did the changes actually have any impact yesterday, for me its much of a muchness you arent changing anything or offerring anything that different

Its just replacing player A with player B who is essentially exactly the same as player A

The only thing I might have done differently yesterday was throw Gruijic (sp) on a tad earlier and gone long

[PTP]

There has been some good progress and at times some unbelievable performances/results. Our results against the top 6 have been great and the fact we are close to making top 4 with such a small squad is brilliant - however we should really have had it more or less wrapped up by now.

the question marks for me are down to not addressing the obvious issues we have and we all see and not seeming to have any way of changing it/trying something different

We all knew back in October, that without Mane we have no pace in attack and we look blunt against teams that park the bus (and for us this means 14 teams in the league parking the bus) and we still haven't figured out a way or system to change it

However, I do agree, we/klopp aren't helped by such a small squad and having key players consistently injured.

It's a massive summer for the club (again) - we really need to kick on/get the right players in, to give Klopp the best chance of competing next season. Doesn't matter who the manager is - if you don't have a good enough squad you are going to be found wanting

I think Klopp is great but yesterday frustrated the hell out of me. Like I said in another thread, it's like he bottled it/took the safe option. - At home to Southampton, big chance to really nail top four and he picked a side that's really struggling to create/score with those three in midfield......Where was the heavy metal football. Where was the gamble, where was the try and win/smash them away

As soon as I saw the starting XI I sighed. I was hoping it would be Lallana and Sturridge in for lucas/divock - but even if he'd gone say two up top with both Sturridge and origi, or I don't know, played TAA wide right to give us some width and pace or something else/different - something that said we are going out to win this game. He didn't, we were poor and we drew leaving us under more pressure.

[The_weatherman]

I am gonna defend Klopp here

The squad is wafer thin and thats before injuries

We bought terribly under Rodgers, all players of a similar ilk

So not only is the squad thin its grossly lacking in positions and qualities that matter

Did the changes actually have any impact yesterday, for me its much of a muchness you arent changing anything or offerring anything that different

Its just replacing player A with player B who is essentially exactly the same as player A

The only thing I might have done differently yesterday was throw Gruijic (sp) on a tad earlier and gone long

Yeah, I think you are right. The squad is thin and we have been terribly unfortunate with injuries, Henderson, Lallana, Coutinho, Matip, Mane, Sturridge, Lovren, Can, Ings, Grujic have all had difficult injuries over 4 weeks or more plus the AFCON with the Matip fiasco and Mane absence.

If Mane had stayed fit, we'd be in the CL already and we'd be talking about that the gamble paid off, i.e. not spending in January.

[RedReet]

Don't get me wrong, Spurs look like they have brilliant potential. The point I was trying to make is that their first 11 is very strong but that they will struggle to attract players that will be good enough for their bench, and be happy on the bench. So last summer they signed Sissoko and Janssen for over £50m for the pair - and they made two thirds of **** all difference to them. So their team looks great, but they will struggle to improve their squad.

United will throw big money at it. If they don't get into next seasons CL (I think they will via Europa) then they will be favourites for title in my opinion - purely because of no CL football, i think Mourinho will prioritise the league. But if they do get CL, then I think they will struggle to juggle.

But they will be in EL, which is an even bigger ball ache to manage.

[frank the tank]

But they will be in EL, which is an even bigger ball ache to manage.

if they get into the EL next season, then Mourinho will play the kids. He will go for the league next year.

[Lecter]

Don't get me wrong, Spurs look like they have brilliant potential. The point I was trying to make is that their first 11 is very strong but that they will struggle to attract players that will be good enough for their bench, and be happy on the bench. So last summer they signed Sissoko and Janssen for over £50m for the pair - and they made two thirds of **** all difference to them. So their team looks great, but they will struggle to improve their squad.

United will throw big money at it. If they don't get into next seasons CL (I think they will via Europa) then they will be favourites for title in my opinion - purely because of no CL football, i think Mourinho will prioritise the league. But if they do get CL, then I think they will struggle to juggle.

Mourinho has got to turn a lot of them draws into wins to challenge for the league

Thought it was really interesting yesterday to see the pundits starting to have a go at Jose tactically

[RedReet]

if they get into the EL next season, then Mourinho will play the kids. He will go for the league next year.

That makes precious little difference. First team players plus staff still have to travel, it disrupts training etc and they always have crappy KO times.

The extra 90 minutes of football midweek isn't that big a deal for a professional football, it's all the rest of the **** that comes with European football.

[Big-Red-Ed]

Even if we get 4th I'll still be disappointed. I'm amazed I seem to be in the minority. Chelsea excellent with the same team as last year. Spurs have improved. Leicester abject. Man city a disgrace given Pep and their ongoing spend. Ditto man Utd. Arsenal almost joke status. Then there's us. No European distraction. Yet we were quickly out of the cups and we are making an ordeal out of top 4 and have been unable to beat many of the lower teams. We are so predictable and easy to defend against. We didn't strengthen when the dogs in the streets could see we needed to. Klopp seems fixated on playing certain players despite obvious loss of form. Our substitutions during games are too slow and sometimes baffling.
However our record against top 6 rivals shows real promise. Our first 11 seems really string and with major investment and continuity I am still hopeful but the honeymoon is now over.

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

[frank the tank]

Even if we get 4th I'll still be disappointed. I'm amazed I seem to be in the minority. Chelsea excellent with the same team as last year. Spurs have improved. Leicester abject. Man city a disgrace given Pep and their ongoing spend. Ditto man Utd. Arsenal almost joke status. Then there's us. No European distraction. Yet we were quickly out of the cups and we are making an ordeal out of top 4 and have been unable to beat many of the lower teams. We are so predictable and easy to defend against. We didn't strengthen when the dogs in the streets could see we needed to. Klopp seems fixated on playing certain players despite obvious loss of form. Our substitutions during games are too slow and sometimes baffling.
However our record against top 6 rivals shows real promise. Our first 11 seems really string and with major investment and continuity I am still hopeful but the honeymoon is now over.

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

Actually..........what he said

[RedReet]

Even if we get 4th I'll still be disappointed. I'm amazed I seem to be in the minority. Chelsea excellent with the same team as last year. Spurs have improved. Leicester abject. Man city a disgrace given Pep and their ongoing spend. Ditto man Utd. Arsenal almost joke status. Then there's us. No European distraction. Yet we were quickly out of the cups and we are making an ordeal out of top 4 and have been unable to beat many of the lower teams. We are so predictable and easy to defend against. We didn't strengthen when the dogs in the streets could see we needed to. Klopp seems fixated on playing certain players despite obvious loss of form. Our substitutions during games are too slow and sometimes baffling.
However our record against top 6 rivals shows real promise. Our first 11 seems really string and with major investment and continuity I am still hopeful but the honeymoon is now over.

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

The majority of people said pre-season that they would be happy with a CL placing. You are using hindsight to look at other teams failings and emphasise that we should have did better. If we are being honest though, never in a million years would we have been able to compete with Chelsea this year (nor Spurs probably), so realistically all we had to play for was a CL placing.

People keep pointing out that we exited the cups early, but we got to two finals last year and it got us nowhere, so if we aren't going to win the thing we may was well exit early (or in the semi's ).

Yes, there have been a lot of disappointments this year, but there have been a lot of positives too. We are hopefully hobbling over the finish line now, but not because we are ****, but because we put ourselves in a strong position to do so. We always said since the fixtures were released that if we can make it through the first half of the season unscathed, we should have the chance to have a decent season. In an ideal world, that would have been fighting for the title, but as things have panned out, the fruits or our (Aug-Dec) labour have allowed us to play poorly, dropping points, but still be in pole position for a top 4 finish. Providing we do it, this will have been a good season for me.

[Big-Red-Ed]

The problem is most fans have accepted our place and we are no longer at the top table. Us oldies still remember a different time and would quite like to get back to that. Blackburn, Leeds, Leicester, Man city and even Chelsea have all won it since us. I can accept Man utd and even arsenal winning it because consider them historical power houses. Possibly arsenal less so. But it is a disgrace we have had to wait so long. Ffs someone at the club needs to come up with the right formula and quickly.

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[Irishnev]

Even if we get 4th I'll still be disappointed. I'm amazed I seem to be in the minority. Chelsea excellent with the same team as last year. Spurs have improved. Leicester abject. Man city a disgrace given Pep and their ongoing spend. Ditto man Utd. Arsenal almost joke status. Then there's us. No European distraction. Yet we were quickly out of the cups and we are making an ordeal out of top 4 and have been unable to beat many of the lower teams. We are so predictable and easy to defend against. We didn't strengthen when the dogs in the streets could see we needed to. Klopp seems fixated on playing certain players despite obvious loss of form. Our substitutions during games are too slow and sometimes baffling.
However our record against top 6 rivals shows real promise. Our first 11 seems really string and with major investment and continuity I am still hopeful but the honeymoon is now over.

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

Look at what most people predicted for us and I'd say 5th or 6th was the average finishing spot. Chelsea were **** last year but they won the league the previous season and added Alonso, Luiz, Kante + more so not like they were a team of mugs.

Our players are not good enough and that is the simple truth and now they have run out of steam + injuries to key players. We have run more, sprinted more and rotated the least of any team in the EPL this season so no wonder our remaining fit players look flogged.

We need a bigger squad and Jurgen needs to learn how to rotate and deal with defensive sides. Has he made mistakes - 100% yes. Would I swap him for any other manager - 100% no!

I just hope he learns like Rafa who built a durable team who could mix it and had a plan B in Crouch.

[Fierce]

The problem is most fans have accepted our place and we are no longer at the top table. Us oldies still remember a different time and would quite like to get back to that. Blackburn, Leeds, Leicester, Man city and even Chelsea have all won it since us. I can accept Man utd and even arsenal winning it because consider them historical power houses. Possibly arsenal less so. But it is a disgrace we have had to wait so long. Ffs someone at the club needs to come up with the right formula and quickly.

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I am an oldie, relatively speaking anyway. I remember us being the best team in the world.

You are deluded if you think that believing we should still be the best team in the world means that we will be

We were on top, and we let the game grow quicker than we did. We fell behind, not far enough to breed Leeds esque defeatism, but close

We are not and have never been capable of competing with those teams financially more powerful than we are. Perhaps the CL win and subsequent years and players convinced us that we should still be top of the tree, but we've probably overachieved given those around us

Our choices:

Outspend everyone, win the league with money
Build a squad, give Klopp time to craft his team

Id prefer the latter