Topic: The PL run-in

[bornandbRED]

I just don't see how we don't get another CB in during January. We're one Fabinho injury away from playing Williams and Phillips at CB who have a combined Premier League appearances of about 4. There's no way in hell we win the title if that happens. Matip will be back but it's only a question of when and not if he gets injured again. It'd be madness not to sign someone.

Would also love us to but 1) the club rarely dip into the market substantially in January and 2) the absolute lack of noise or rumour is likely telling.

[Ghost Town]

No idea if we'll sign a CB or not. I'm always happy for new players to arrive so hope we do.

But really, IMO, these frustrating lost points against lower table teams are less a defensive issue and more an issue of how we play. We seem to approach those teams with a singular lack of intensity or drive, or tempo. As if we feel it'll be an easy win and so don't need to work hard.

I'm not a coach and so there may be issues about conserving energy etc but what I see is a lack of intensity in games against such sides, compared to when we play the bigger teams. The one time this season that we have shown some tempo and intensity against a lesser side - Palace away - showed what we can achieve if we want to, against low block and defensive sides.

Ah well, it's frustrating, but we just have to accept this is not going to be a steamroller season; more a second-hand car boot sale Flymo with a dodgy power cable.
 

[JackWard33]

Would also love us to but 1) the club rarely dip into the market substantially in January and 2) the absolute lack of noise or rumour is likely telling.

We’ve bought quite a lot in january ... including two of our better signings of all time...  though really that’s not relevant we’ve never faced an such an obvious void in a position with a title being so obviously compromised before

As for the rumors .. most major football media outlets still don’t have Thiago as an active target for us

[Nick110581]

You would assume a deal is already wrapped up for a CB.

[farawayred]

You would assume a deal is already wrapped up for a CB.

Not sure. Should have been announced a la VVD.

[Shankly998]

Think this could be a real heartbreak of a season (not thinking this just based on today but ever since the Everton game really) where we look back and think we'd have walked this season if not for injuries. City are only 3 points behind us if they win their game in hand and haven't had Aguero all season who looks like he's nearly there now. I think if we do win it'll be very close we really needed to build up more than a buffer in points while Aguero was out.

We definitely need another CB as Matip is just too injury prone Klopp would be crazy not to buy anyone in January with the injury issues we've had in that position.
I think that and another forward to replace Origi/Shaq and we'll be there or there abouts and definitely the favourites for next season when we're fully healthy.

[kasperoff]

CB situation has been on a razors edge since Gomez got injured. We’ve done extremely well to get away with it up to now. Fabinho gets injured and it’s a catastrophe. Championships are very hard to come by and this one is here for the taking. We don’t want to be getting to May and missing out by a few points, saying what if we’d have signed a CB. We need one anyway, it’s not a panic buy.

[Studgotelli]

City all of a sudden breathing down our necks hopefully Ev and Chelsea can beat/draw with them.

[red whine]

Injuries are part and parcel of a season. Yes we've been very unlucky this season with serious injuries but city lost Laporte and sane for much of last season. Don't think the league would have been such a walk in the park if those two had been fit all last season.

[Nick110581]

City all of a sudden breathing down our necks hopefully Ev and Chelsea can beat/draw with them.

Six points behind us.

[farawayred]

CB situation has been on a razors edge since Gomez got injured. We’ve done extremely well to get away with it up to now. Fabinho gets injured and it’s a catastrophe. Championships are very hard to come by and this one is here for the taking. We don’t want to be getting to May and missing out by a few points, saying what if we’d have signed a CB. We need one anyway, it’s not a panic buy.

100%. Panic buy? We started with three senior CBs and we are now left with none. Our only fit senior player at CB is a DM. Potential senior options are Hendo and Gini, also midfielders. Of course, we have kids - Rhys and Nat. Crazy!...

[bornandbRED]

We’ve bought quite a lot in january ... including two of our better signings of all time...  though really that’s not relevant we’ve never faced an such an obvious void in a position with a title being so obviously compromised before

As for the rumors .. most major football media outlets still don’t have Thiago as an active target for us

Van Dijk, Minamino and Caulker on loan under Klopp. I’d say it’s relevant because as a club we don’t make big outlays in general unless we have a sale planned.

Think every man and their dog were speaking about Thiago well before last season finished. The only noise seems to revolve around Origi - perhaps if we can offload him we’ll do something.

[Anfield Kopite]

Think this could be a real heartbreak of a season (not thinking this just based on today but ever since the Everton game really) where we look back and think we'd have walked this season if not for injuries. City are only 3 points behind us if they win their game in hand and haven't had Aguero all season who looks like he's nearly there now. I think if we do win it'll be very close we really needed to build up more than a buffer in points while Aguero was out.

We definitely need another CB as Matip is just too injury prone Klopp would be crazy not to buy anyone in January with the injury issues we've had in that position.
I think that and another forward to replace Origi/Shaq and we'll be there or there abouts and definitely the favourites for next season when we're fully healthy.

That bit about we needed to build a bigger buffer while Aguerro was out ?. Do you not think it was them that needed to build a lead while we had half our fucking squad out ?

[farawayred]

Van Dijk, Minamino and Caulker on loan under Klopp. I’d say it’s relevant because as a club we don’t make big outlays in general unless we have a sale planned.

Think every man and their dog were speaking about Thiago well before last season finished. The only noise seems to revolve around Origi - perhaps if we can offload him we’ll do something.

Suarez? Carroll? Torres and Coutinho were sold. We do business in January if the business is right. And a CB business would be damn right on the agenda.

[Studgotelli]

Six points behind us.

Will be 3 IMO once they’ve played their game in hand plus the mental boost of knowing we aren’t pulling away but hopefully they drop a few points.

[bornandbRED]

Suarez? Carroll? Torres and Coutinho were sold. We do business in January if the business is right. And a CB business would be damn right on the agenda.

Suarez and Carroll were ten years ago (jheeze) and we had the Torres money coming in. Ditto Coutinho/VVD.

I can’t see how we’re going to spend £40/50m on someone like Upamecano/Kounde or others in January.

[Nick110581]

Will be 3 IMO once they’ve played their game in hand plus the mental boost of knowing we aren’t pulling away but hopefully they drop a few points.

Let’s see what the table looks like end of Jan. It is still early days

[JackWard33]

Suarez and Carroll were ten years ago (jheeze) and we had the Torres money coming in. Ditto Coutinho/VVD.

I can’t see how we’re going to spend £40/50m on someone like Upamecano/Kounde or others in January.

Same owners though ....

And it’s an irrelevant debate - it’s an extraordinary situation in which the owners have to back the manager/team or we’re looking at a wasted season

[Stockholm Syndrome]

Same owners though ....

And it’s an irrelevant debate - it’s an extraordinary situation in which the owners have to back the manager or we’re looking at a wasted season

I'm pretty certain if Klopp and the scouting team have identified someone they will be bought, and if not, it's a collective decision.

They've always backed the manager. The question is if Klopp adopts an approach of using what we have or buying in.

[Reeves]

We definitely need to buy a centre back. It'll allow Fab to play back in MF which he needs to do for european games. However all the soundings are that we won't. Do you think we will/won't? It would frankly be negligent to be so close to retaining a prem and not to fill in a gaping hole which no one envisaged at the beginning of the season (ie not one but two season long knee injuries).

[Nick110581]

Surely we would sign a CB in the summer regardless of the injuries.

We just need to bring that forward otherwise we will really struggle to retain the title.

[Red_Rich]

I've heard it said a lot that the Van Dijk injury was the blow to our back line and our chances of the title but it's Gomez on the back of it that's the real clincher.

With Matip out we now have NO senior CBs.  If we don't sign one in January then we deserve all that's coming to us.

[buttersstotch]

We need a CB. Otherwise we will struggle to get over the line.

But for me the key really is Thiago. We have really struggled to create chances across the season on a consistent basis and not in patches. We rely on the same patterns. I think Thiago will help change that up as we will be a threat through the middle rather than using the full backs of the quick ball over the top.

[MonsLibpool]

We miss Virgil's ability in the air the most. Teams like West Brom are predictable. They try to stay in th game for 70 minutes then play hoofball.

Virgil nullifies them because he literally wins everything in the air. Also, his headers are usually well-directed and allow us to regain possession.

Fabinho has been awesome for us at CB but he is not great in the air and has been guilty of letting the ball bounce on quite a few occasions. That makes us vulnerable against those kind of teams not because they score from it but because it gives them confidence.

Let's sign at least two CB's and play him in his best position.

[farawayred]

Hey, we still have some Coutinho money. That can make a dent on the price.

[MonsLibpool]

We miss Virgil's ability in the air the most. Teams like West Brom are predictable. They try to stay in th game for 70 minutes then play hoofball.

Virgil nullifies them because he literally wins everything in the air. Also, his headers are usually well-directed and allow us to regain possession.

Fabinho has been awesome for us at CB but he is not great in the air and has been guilty of letting the ball bounce on quite a few occasions.When he does win it, we tend to lose possession. That makes us vulnerable against those kind of teams not because they score from it but because it gives them confidence.

Let's sign at least two CB's and play him in his best position.

[Illmatic]

Would be very surprised if we don't try to sign another CB by why all the doom and gloom? We are top of the league.

In hindsight it was probably a bad decision to let Dejan go but many on here were glad to see the back of him. We were linked to few CB over the summer but couldn't get it done. I'm confident we will get something done.   

[bornandbRED]

Same owners though ....

And it’s an irrelevant debate - it’s an extraordinary situation in which the owners have to back the manager/team or we’re looking at a wasted season

Same owners that have repeatedly spent only what they make. Precedent tells us they have consistent form for refusing to scrap their plans because on field conditions change. I hope I’m wrong, but I think it’ll be a stop gap at best.

We are also still in a pandemic.

[istvan kozma]

That bit about we needed to build a bigger buffer while Aguerro was out ?. Do you not think it was them that needed to build a lead while we had half our fucking squad out ?

Exactly, people are totally deluded if they thought the injuries we've suffered wouldn't result in us dropping points. All things considered, LFC are in a really good position. When Gomez got injured, I thought having 1 senior CB available all season would be to much to cope with, knowing the inevitable would happen with Matip.

[MonsLibpool]

Would be very surprised if we don't try to sign another CB by why all the doom and gloom? We are top of the league.

In hindsight it was probably a bad decision to let Dejan go but many on here were glad to see the back of him. We were linked to few CB over the summer but couldn't get it done. I'm confident we will get something done.

It's because we haven't taken advantage of key opportunities in the title race. It's a psychological battle. For example, we lost the title against Leicester in 2019 even though we were still top because of the boost it gave City.

A win today would have made many 'contenders' give up which would have given us even more momentum.

[farawayred]

Exactly, people are totally deluded if they thought the injuries we've suffered wouldn't result in us dropping points. All things considered, LFC are in a really good position. When Gomez got injured, I thought having 1 senior CB available all season would be to much to cope with, knowing the inevitable would happen with Matip.

VVD played in all but one league and CL games last season, his loss alone was massive. The other 3 CBs were competing for one spot when fit, and neither one was fit for a very long time. Gomez' injury added salt to the wound, there we lost both of our top CB pairing for most of the season. We knew we couldn't count on Matip staying fit. Fabinho fills in with great success, but he'd have been more useful in DM in some games. This is just an incredibly dire situation... I would understand not buying a CB if VVD was coming back in January, but I can't understand if we don't go for it now, I really can't.

[macmanamanaman]

Extreme (deluded?) optimistic view:
In a weird way, the goal we conceded today, and the fact that Matip went off injured,  may just win us the league.

The owners may just be convinced enough now to sanction an extraordinary purchase of a defender,  rather than depend on Nat/Rhys + Fab.
May well prove to worth 5-10 points extra over the rest of the season, if we get a top defender or two, albeit paying 30-40% over the odds.

[Illmatic]

It's because we haven't taken advantage of key opportunities in the title race. It's a psychological battle. For example, we lost the title against Leicester in 2019 even though we were still top because of the boost it gave City.

A win today would have made many 'contenders' give up which would have given us even more momentum.

We did not loose the title against Leicester in 2018/19 we were still in control of our own destiny after that draw. We lost control of the title race with the 0-0 draw against    Everton at Goodison, which was match day 28 we then won our remaining 9 fixtures to finish on 97 Pts City won there remaining 14 that year. If don't win the PL this season it wont be because of today. We are only on match day 14/15.

Without the injuries I think we would probably have an extra 6/7 points we are also not getting any breaks as well so all things considered I think we are doing okay.   

[Nobby Reserve]

I hate close title races. Loved last season when we were miles clear (notwithstanding the Covid bollocks)

[killer-heels]

I hate close title races. Loved last season when we were miles clear (notwithstanding the Covid bollocks)

Seriously? We have only had 4 proper title challenges in the past 30 years.

[bornandbRED]

I hate close title races. Loved last season when we were miles clear (notwithstanding the Covid bollocks)

It makes my skin crawl seeing Ole’s oafs so close in particular. Sooner we pull away from them, the better.

[Shankly998]

That bit about we needed to build a bigger buffer while Aguerro was out ?. Do you not think it was them that needed to build a lead while we had half our fucking squad out ?

I think we're going to have a depleted squad for the rest of the season pretty much to be honest. If Van Dijk/Gomez come back this season (big if) it'll only be for a handful of games at the end. Matip is Matip and Keita is Keita. Thiago has always been injury prone it wouldn't be a shock if when he returns he gets some more little injuries. There's likely to be some other big injury in our first 11 due to the number of games being played. We've done very well being where we are but 100% need a center back if we're going to win this. I'd love another forward to replace Shaq and Origi but think that may well be one for the summer.

[Shankly998]

I hate close title races. Loved last season when we were miles clear (notwithstanding the Covid bollocks)

Yep me too. It's very annoying as it shouldn't be close, as we're clearly better than everyone else but have been disproportionately suffering with injuries.

[Nobby Reserve]

Seriously? We have only had 4 proper title challenges in the past 30 years.

I hate this season, then. Hate it being close. From about Feb I could enjoy last season safe in the knowledge we'd win. This one, we have fucknugget twats like our bitter neighbours, fucking Tottenham and Leicester, not to mention those Manc c*nts, breathing down our necks, because we've thrown a shitload of points away.

[bornandbRED]

One draw, and the narrative has gone from drunken delirium after Palace to panic stations in the Jan window.