PL 2020/21 Season.
 

Not long to wait for the defence to begin.

:rock:

Ditch the League cup, please. Or just award it directly to City, I don’t care.

Interesting, I wonder when fans will be allowed back in the ground?

Be good to sit back throughout August and watch some of our rivals slog their guts out while our lads are being drilled and fine tuned at Melwood. Kinda glad we're out of the CL. Kinda. :D

Would have been fine if we were in it, but not the worst one to sit out. I fancy us to go far in the CL next season.

PL is set up nicely. How much have Chelsea and Man U actually improved. They both talk a good game that is for sure.

:handshake:

Chelsea have improved quite a bit, but they still have Fat Tony in charge. City have Pep but he's seemingly going into 4th season senility. As long as they don't spend on any defenders they will not have improved.

The only thing that worries me is Salah finding his form for a whole season again. Not just 15-20 games. Our players need another break just to put 'last' season behind us and focus on a new one where we've won fuck all yet. This is probably where not being in the CL certainly helps draw that clear line.

How next season's schedule could look. Carnage.
Notice the early Carabao Cup rounds aren't even included here.

I'll say it again. In the grander scheme of things, Adrian actually did us a massive favour against Atletico.

will need a big squad..........FSG hopefully will relax the strings

We don't have to worry about UCL qualifers!!!

But we will have a community shield v Chelsea to start things off!!! Fat Franks tantrum has possibly given the likes of Sky Sports some material to try to create a bit of tension in the pre-game build up!!!

After winning #6 and #19 in the last 2 seasons, I think - and hope - that our focus will be on the big 2 competitions and sack off the two cups. Not sure i'd even risk Neco, Harvey and Curtis in them this season. Obviously it will depend on who is available at the time but when we saw the likes of Mane and Salah come off the bench against the likes of Shrewsbury, then it was crazy stuff in hindsight.

Also, the super cup and world club cup were great - but they could have easily cost us.

I'm just hoping that our players get some really good rest now - a full 4 weeks - and then when we come back, we go again.

Arse or Chelsea? no

I reckon it will be chelsea....... arsenal will probably have a parade for just getting there

Hmmm I’d say the cups will be perfect for the likes of Neco, Harvey and Curtis- hope we’re not relying on them too much in the league or champions league, so the cups will be perfect for getting them some experience.

:D

The FA have confirmed the Community Shield match between Premier League champions Liverpool and the winners of the FA Cup final, either Arsenal or Chelsea, will be played on Saturday August 28th.

That is two weeks in advance of the first Premier League weekend.

2 weeks after pre season starts?

I was expecting that to be honest, it disproportionately benefits the clubs with big squads, given you need 14 clubs to back such a proposal I couldn't see where it would get enough support.

I think the only way it may have made sense/been fair is if the two additional subs had to be under a certain age and have come through the youth team, or something like that. Still not sure if that would be any fairer mind you :D

I like the idea of additional youngster subs to encourage development etc. But it needs to be controlled in some way to stop it being abused by clubs buying young players for this purpose. I think that even if you could name 8 or 9 subs (rather than 7) as long as the additional subs are under say 20 and have been in your youth system for a few years that would be a step forward. Even if you are only able to use 3 subs it gives the youngsters the chance to be involved even if they only got brought on for the last 10 mins when you are 3 or 4 goals up :D

I'd be more worried about City bringing on Messi and Lewandowski as 4th and 5th subs and taking PL to court if challenged.

Thats actually a great idea. 2 additional subs for 18 and younger, wouldnt offer too much of an advantage. Benefits of developing youngsters more quickly for everyone.

There are always going to be advantages of wonderkids at big clubs, but this gives every club a bit more scope to develop their own.

FFS! Bloody crap times for those of us down under!

Be like having two new signings.

Henderson makes a massive difference to the team.

:handshake: In general I think he is still vastly under rated.

It's difficult to explain exactly what he does but when he isn't there the team is lacking something, it was noticeable in the community shield yesterday.

He’s always available for the ball. His passing is vastly underrated, plus he ‘conducts’ all other elements of the ‘machine’. As a DM he is just as effective as Fabinho he is certainly more mobile. He is probably our best presser and tackler. All you could accuse him off is not scoring enough goals.

As well as imposing his own game on performances I think he makes every other player perform their own job to a higher level. Putting it simply, nobody understand the overall function of every position in the team as well as Hendo.

He understands exactly why the sum of the parts is greater than the individual. And he is easily our most vocal onfield presence.

Do you think that is one of the main reasons in going for Thiago? To have two 'conductors' on the pitch at the same time?

I also think his physicality brings a needed dimension to the midfield he's a big fella who has improved a lot in the air or in the 50/50s from when he joined.

Looking at the signings of Chelsea and the likely signings of Man Utd, the league is going to be a lot tougher this year. I think that us, Man City, Man Utd, Chelsea and possibly Arsenal could be involved in the title race.

It's rather frustrating to see other teams making big strides forward while we are more or less standing still. We have a very good first 11 but we need other players to step up when called upon and challenge the established first 11. I think that almost everyone who isn't in our starting 11 really has something to prove: In midfield Naby and Ox need to show that they are capable of performing consistently, Shaqiri needs to show that he has put injuries behind him, Jones needs to push on and develop. Grujic (if he stays) needs to show that he is an LFC player. In attack Minamino, Origi and Brewster all need to figure out their roles and how they fit into the side, Origi has to get used to the idea that he isn't necessarily the first port of call when one of the front three get a knock or need a rest. In defence there is an opportunity for one of the youngsters to make a name for themselves and initially establish themselves as that 4th choice CB. Hopefully at least some of these guys can push on an challenge the first 11 or we could find ourselves moving a few of them on in a year or so.

Our players are more experienced and crucially now know what it takes and how it feels to win the League. This is massive. But this season will be very intense due to fixture list and bigger squads will benefit. The loss of home fans kills us too. Our back-up players are weaker than City's, and potentially even weaker than Chelsea's given all their signings. So I expect it to be much closer this year. Luck will play a role. If Ali, Virge or Mane get injured, we struggle I think.

Over the last two seasons Klopp has had us playing slightly different each time. Both times we've been incredibly successful. I'm quietly excited by what tweaks Klopp has in place for this season. We definitely won't see his like ever again.

:handshake: think we'll regret not building on our success.

Still over a month left in the transfer window. Let's not panic yet.

I'm sure we have a plan [emoji1992]

I would be shocked if those 3 Rookie managers were involved in the title race. Do you think we will drop off this year? or do you think they will be hovering aroud the 100 points?

They are definitely improving their squads so the top 4 or 5 will be a lot closer, they might not necessarily be involved until the end of the season but I could imagine it being a 4 horse race until about Feb/March.

Based on our post lockdown form I think we will struggle to get close to last season's points total, obviously City dropped off over much of the season. I suspect that it might be a more 'normal' points total won with something in the high 80's

I agree. I dont think we (or City) will be reaching late 90s points totals this season. Teams 3-6 will be stronger, while the mid table teams such as the Ev are also buying well, on paper at least.

City will likely struggle similar to last season because their system makes them clearly vulnerable to counter attacks at pace, regardless of who they buy at CB.

I worry slightly about us around our motivation and how long some of this squad has been together without real competition for places. I also worry about the impact of having no crowds to push us on.

So I reckon 87-90 will win the title this year

Having said all the above though, I really like the idea of us playing 4-2-3-1 more often this season, especially against teams that will park the bus. This will make us a lot more unpredictable through the middle and help us to make the best use of our existing resources, though will likely make us more vulnerable to the counter-attack, similar to City.

Bring it on.

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