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Summer 2019 Preseason

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I trust Klopp and his judgment on our youngsters. If he thinks they're good enough then my spend money? We'll spend it when a player who improves us instantly becomes available.
 
Whilst i'm annoyed at what feels like a missed opportunity to really test our back ups - i do completely trust Klopp and think people getting to him in such a big way is nuts. I think a portion of our fan base started to think we could afford to buy 50-70m players each window after watching the likes of VVD, Salah, Alisson, Keita come in without properly realising that so much of this was due to selling to buy. Klopp clearly believes in the squad, but it does feel that - just maybe - he is being too picky on a front player and praying that we can start >35 games of the season with Mane, Bobby & Mo.
The club went out of their way to say that the big purchases were not "selling to buy". And last season saw us with our highest ever income. Even if payments were staggered from those purchases I doubt we'd have got out of our depth banking on a high PL finish or CL trophy win. Even the increase in salaries doesn't amount to that much, say 25% average across the board for 15 top players only equates to maybe £20m (ave. £100,000 per week x 52 x 15 x 0.25). That's nothing for a Top 6 team.

However we definitely need cover for the front three and Ancelotti inadvertently highlighted our lack of attacking personnel after the match :

“To win helps to win,” said the Napoli boss. “Liverpool won last year, they have the quality to continue to win, to be competitive.
“For sure, Liverpool will be competitive with the squad that they have in Champions League and also in the Premier League. To win? I don't know.

“You have more difficulty to solve when you lose than when you win. Every season has its own history, I don't know what will happen this year.
“Liverpool haven't changed their squad a lot, but they don't have their three most important players so you can't judge their team at this moment.
 
In reality I'm only bothered about the lack of left back cover, and not adding additional support for the front three. Our midfield is more than good enough, centre backs are better than people give it credit for (Matip was immense in Gomez's absence), even for the two I mentioned at the beginning, we have Milner, Origi and Brewster. I guess a lot of this depends on how much faith you wanna place in Brewster to push the front three (Origi is a known quantity).

I suppose the question comes down to this, would you be happy if we lined up like this away against Norwich in January?

----------------Allison----------------
TAA------Matip---VVD-----Milner
-----------Gini----Hendo------------
-----------------Ox--------------------
Salah------Brewster-------Mane

Because likely thats the level of rotation we'll see, Gomez, Robbo, Keita, Fabinho, Firmino all not playing due to injury or fatigue, a random, but representative slice of our team out, and with them gone, do I still think that team could and should beat Norwich? 100%.

I get the missed opportunity shouts I do, but we are still in really good shape as a squad.
What I've no trouble with your premise re. the rest of the team or the team you posted for Norwich, with respect it's not about one match. Imagine if Mane was out for 4-6 months, or Mo, or Firmino, or if two were out (even if just because we desperately needed to rest them after 13 months of football). We simply don't have enough cover. We need at least one more capable of playing either wing. I'm happy enough with Brewster / Origi covering Firmino for short periods.
 
In reality I'm only bothered about the lack of left back cover, and not adding additional support for the front three. Our midfield is more than good enough, centre backs are better than people give it credit for (Matip was immense in Gomez's absence), even for the two I mentioned at the beginning, we have Milner, Origi and Brewster. I guess a lot of this depends on how much faith you wanna place in Brewster to push the front three (Origi is a known quantity).

I suppose the question comes down to this, would you be happy if we lined up like this away against Norwich in January?

----------------Allison----------------
TAA------Matip---VVD-----Milner
-----------Gini----Hendo------------
-----------------Ox--------------------
Salah------Brewster-------Mane

Because likely thats the level of rotation we'll see, Gomez, Robbo, Keita, Fabinho, Firmino all not playing due to injury or fatigue, a random, but representative slice of our team out, and with them gone, do I still think that team could and should beat Norwich? 100%.

I get the missed opportunity shouts I do, but we are still in really good shape as a squad.

Harsh to drop Fabinho mate.
 
I'll be happy when this pre-season is done. It's been awful; no signings, loads of players missing and poor displays.

Get the Shield out of the way next. They seem to take it very seriously, so they can have that.
 
Hahaha what the fuck? He always seemed to look after himself at Chelsea, then he gets his dream move to Real and starts taking the piss like this? Something doesn't add up.
Nah, he was pretty infamous at Chelsea for not giving a fuck about fitness. His body to fat percentage has always been high for a pro footballer, its obviously just got worse. Madrid shouldn't be completely surprised if they actually bothered with their research.
 
Woodburn is clearly dead and buried - couldn't hold a place for a good Sheffield United side so was only ever going to go back to the Championship at best. There is still a chance for him somewhere if he applies himself, but not with us.

I think he's class, but he was never likely to be one who burst onto the scene because his attributes need to be complemented (technique, passing, creativity, intelligence) by experience.

He's good enough that we shouldn't just write him off.
 
What I've no trouble with your premise re. the rest of the team or the team you posted for Norwich, with respect it's not about one match. Imagine if Mane was out for 4-6 months, or Mo, or Firmino, or if two were out (even if just because we desperately needed to rest them after 13 months of football). We simply don't have enough cover. We need at least one more capable of playing either wing. I'm happy enough with Brewster / Origi covering Firmino for short periods.
Of course thats true mate, but what can we really do? Even City struggled when KDB was out for months, some players just can't be suitably covered.
 
I'll be happy when this pre-season is done. It's been awful; no signings, loads of players missing and poor displays.

Get the Shield out of the way next. They seem to take it very seriously, so they can have that.

seppvandenbergliverpool2706-15.jpg
 
They struggled to 98 points, the title, and both domestic cups.
No shit sherlock, but City's loses all came around the time De Bruyne was coming back from injuries and notably off the boil, and they weren't nealry as good without him. The fact they were a ruthless machine for the rest of the season doesn't alleviate that fact.
 
No shit sherlock, but City's loses all came around the time De Bruyne was coming back from injuries and notably off the boil, and they weren't nealry as good without him. The fact they were a ruthless machine for the rest of the season doesn't alleviate that fact.

So they lost their best player for long periods and he wasn't in top form, and yet still won the title, FA cup and League Cup.

Because they had the likes of Sane, Silva x2, Gundogan and Mahrez to come into the side. And they lost Fernandinho for a few games. Same story, same solution.
Better squad.
 
So they lost their best player for long periods and he wasn't in top form, and yet still won the title, FA cup and League Cup.

Because they had the likes of Sane, Silva x2, Gundogan and Mahrez to come into the side. And they lost Fernandinho for a few games. Same story, same solution.
Better squad.
You are trying to turn my point into a point you want to make, not the one I actually made, classic Brendan.

However, if thats not so, and you intend to sit there and pretend Manchester City didn't look worse and drop points without in form KDB, and Fernandinho (thanks for reminding me), then fair enough, you just look a bit silly.
 
I think he's class, but he was never likely to be one who burst onto the scene because his attributes need to be complemented (technique, passing, creativity, intelligence) by experience.

He's good enough that we shouldn't just write him off.

He's got a lot in common with Brannagan, who plays for Oxford. They were both very slight, and struggled to make an impression on the game despite both being technically excellent.

Hopefully he bulks up a bit and discovers his best position.
 
Maybe we'll go out and blitz city in the community shield and all will be well with the world again.

Ojo is doing well at Rangers - promising for the lad, I really think he'll tear up the SPL.
 
You are trying to turn my point into a point you want to make, not the one I actually made, classic Brendan.

However, if thats not so, and you intend to sit there and pretend Manchester City didn't look worse and drop points without in form KDB, and Fernandinho (thanks for reminding me), then fair enough, you just look a bit silly.

It's amazing they won the league twice on the bounce really
 
Dont think anyone is arguing they have a better squad. Its the most expencive assembled squad in the history of football funded by oil money.
If it wasnt the best squad they’d have done a horrendous job.

They can buy anyone and not even blink about the fee.
 
Dreamy, want to take over? Brendan's struggling to follow a simple conversation here.

Perhaps I'm not following. Can you clarify?

Is your point that City can be without their best players for long periods and still win the league, because they have a better squad?
 
Perhaps I'm not following. Can you clarify?

Is your point that City can be without their best players for long periods and still win the league, because they have a better squad?

My point was that if you lose your best players, you won't be as good regardless of your squad size, just like City weren't when they lost KDB and Fernandinho, despite having a massive squad.
 
My point was that if you lose your best players, you won't be as good regardless of your squad size, just like City weren't when they lost KDB and Fernandinho, despite having a massive squad.

Right, and that effect is ameliorated by having a massive, quality squad so that even any discernible dip in quality isn't going to be enough stop you winning the league again.

I agree, we should do that.
 
Right, and that effect is ameliorated by having a massive, quality squad so that even any discernible dip in quality isn't going to be enough stop you winning the league again.

I agree, we should do that.

That's lovely mate, but what the fuck has that got to do with the point I was making?
 
Jesus christ this is painful.

City struggled, yes... but still won during that period. They won dirty most of the time, but they lost Fern and brought in Gundogan, they lost KDB and brought in Sane/Bernardo. This won them the league.
 
He's got a lot in common with Brannagan, who plays for Oxford. They were both very slight, and struggled to make an impression on the game despite both being technically excellent.

Hopefully he bulks up a bit and discovers his best position.

Woodburn's not slight at all. He's well built and about 5'11"
 
Jesus christ this is painful.

City struggled, yes... but still won during that period. They won dirty most of the time, but they lost Fern and brought in Gundogan, they lost KDB and brought in Sane/Bernardo. This won them the league.

Probably, but then pretty much the only times we lost points all season were when we had big leads.

Maybe they just didn't bottle it like us.
 
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