Topic: LIVERPOOL TRANSFER THREAD - 2023 (FSG posts = get muted) - No Mbappé

[jepovic]

I know everyone knows we need a DM, but do people here think we’re actually going to sign one this summer?

It might not be a player that is a DM right now. Gakpo was not a false 9 at PSV.
Players tend to move into more defensive positions with age.

[PatriotScouser]

I added another midfield project and obv a back up keeper but no one cares who
We’re not losing many minutes in those ten outside Henderson and Fabinho

For homegrown purposes although Cherki is incredibly talented for me there is an equally talented homegrown player with a similar profile. Olise.

[Clint Eastwood]

Yeah that 3rd from Southampton, he was quite shocking. In no man's land- not sure what to do, then reacting too slowly and the rest, as they say...
Our midfield in general, was absent.
I can understand that he was the sole midfielder at the time, but he should've at least made the tackle. The effort is typical of a guy who just had a short sprint and is gassed.
Poor lad. He's been a great servant, but his legs look gone, and his energy levels aren't what they used to be.

I suppose the question Klopp might ask is why that space is there to begin with. Fabinho's never been fast, but it's rare that he's been left with so much space to cover in previous years. He's technically playing LDM there, and the RDM has just lost the ball on the edge of the opposition penalty area. Who is responsible for covering that area? Fabinho has a lot of ground to cover, and the only mistake he makes is not fully committing to the tackle.

I think that clip shows us that we have a lot of work to do with this system. Between the RCB, RDM/RB, CDM, RCM it's an absolute mess in transitions.

[clinical]

I know everyone knows we need a DM, but do people here think we’re actually going to sign one this summer?

Can't see us making top 4 without one. Position we need the most. We have to.

[RedG13]

Yeah that 3rd from Southampton, he was quite shocking. In no man's land- not sure what to do, then reacting too slowly and the rest, as they say...
Our midfield in general, was absent.
I can understand that he was the sole midfielder at the time, but he should've at least made the tackle. The effort is typical of a guy who just had a short sprint and is gassed.
Poor lad. He's been a great servant, but his legs look gone, and his energy levels aren't what they used to be.

Honestly wtf are trent and Gomez doing there. He took a bad angle and got outpaced but trent vacated the MF space that now fabinho has to cover and does a terrible job of pressing it. Gomez is pulling a sktrel running away the ball. Also like 3% chance of scoring that goal too lol.

[lamonti]

‘I’d take Ward Prowse if they’re letting him go for a decent price. Good replacement for Milner in the squad.

No brainer for me.

[RedG13]

He’s predominantly played on the left though. I think we’ve earmarked him for LCM and have someone else in mind for the right side.

He can play both, probably better on the left regardless need two players for each role.
Jones and Elliott are one for each currently for past the 2023/2024 season

[clinical]

No brainer for me.

If he was the 4th midfield signing then fine. If he's in the main 3 that would be terrible.

[lamonti]

I can't help but think we're going to be pretty crap in a new and different way next season. Robertson, Van Dijk, Fabinho, Henderson, Matip, Gomez all on the slide big time, three CMs leaving (after contributing next to nothing this season). Loads of good attackers who don't all quite fit together. Squad's in a bad place IMHO.

[RyanBabel19]

I know everyone knows we need a DM, but do people here think we’re actually going to sign one this summer?

I reckon we wont bother signing one. Dont think the club sees it as a priority at all. Will be MacAllister and one other CM, a defender and that's pretty much it. Loads of links, talks, monitoring etc etc will lead to the usual thrifty approach of not spending enough and reason 17483934847 we cant spend will gloriously emerge, if it wasn't for that meddling lack CL football

Reports of no CL football scuppering our plans will come out and all the 'saving for a big summer' stuff will slowly back into a hedge in a fashion Homer Simpson would be proud of.

[clinical]

I reckon we wont bother signing one. Dont think the club sees it as a priority at all. Will be MacAllister and one other CM, a defender and that's pretty much it. Loads of links, talks, monitoring etc etc will lead to the usual thrifty approach of not spending enough and reason 17483934847 we cant spend will gloriously emerge, if it wasn't for that meddling lack CL football

Reports of no CL football scuppering our plans will come out and all the 'saving for a big summer' stuff will slowly back into a hedge in a fashion Homer Simpson would be proud of.

It's almost like we've seen it before.

[the_red_pill]

I suppose the question Klopp might ask is why that space is there to begin with. Fabinho's never been fast, but it's rare that he's been left with so much space to cover in previous years. He's technically playing LDM there, and the RDM has just lost the ball on the edge of the opposition penalty area. Who is responsible for covering that area? Fabinho has a lot of ground to cover, and the only mistake he makes is not fully committing to the tackle.

I think that clip shows us that we have a lot of work to do with this system. Between the RCB, RDM/RB, CDM, RCM it's an absolute mess in transitions.

Honestly wtf are trent and Gomez doing there. He took a bad angle and got outpaced but trent vacated the MF space that now fabinho has to cover and does a terrible job of pressing it. Gomez is pulling a sktrel running away the ball. Also like 3% chance of scoring that goal too lol.

It really is shocking to look at. That massive hole on the right there- filled with Southampton players salivating for the ball, as well as the other holes in midfield.. then players legging it back, while the defense is in disarray and Gomez backing off into eternity. One pass and we were destroyed.
It's a messed up soup of blinders upon errors.

[Egyptian36]

He was back in the Argentina squad in January 2022. He was good in the 2nd half of last season. We could have approached him it would have saved alot of money. He started this season very well & signed new deal end of october. If we showed interest he would not have signed a new deal. Seems the WC was when we got interested in him. Just not very clever.

There is no way clubs didn't approach his agent to try to get him for free even us normal fans here we were talking about how stupid this move is when he extended his contract . The way I see it he made up his mind he will leave but wanted Brighton to get a fee instead of nothing which explains the agreement they had. That's why I don't believe the rumored fee , I bet it is way way lower.

[killer-heels]

Why couldn't Macallister play Fabinho's role anyway?
We see all the time how Klopp buys players for a different role than they currently have.

Because he is short, not very strong and slow.

[Fiasco]

Because he is short, not very strong and slow.

Well, I would have put it nicer than that. But you're probably right.

[koptommy93]

Because he is short, not very strong and slow.

he sounds great...

[Legs]

I’d happily have Lavia as a no.6 he’s got some good engine. Seems a player we will regret not signing him and being patient.

Problem we have is we need CM for now and he isnt good enough for us plus his fee is going to be at least £30m at a guess.

Its a mess we created ourselves and looking at prices bang average players are moving for makes me a touch nervous.

[clinical]

Because he is short, not very strong and slow.

Damn that's our biggest buy this summer. What a way to describe him 

[killer-heels]

Damn that's our biggest buy this summer. What a way to describe him 

He can do other roles in midfield but asking him to do the Fabinho role would be madness.

[killer-heels]

I reckon we wont bother signing one. Dont think the club sees it as a priority at all. Will be MacAllister and one other CM, a defender and that's pretty much it. Loads of links, talks, monitoring etc etc will lead to the usual thrifty approach of not spending enough and reason 17483934847 we cant spend will gloriously emerge, if it wasn't for that meddling lack CL football

Reports of no CL football scuppering our plans will come out and all the 'saving for a big summer' stuff will slowly back into a hedge in a fashion Homer Simpson would be proud of.

Why the fuck are we rushing through a sporting director for just three signings? I am a bit concerned of how the summer will go but 3 signings only would be madness and contradicts the actions of the club and what Klopp has said. The guy signed 5 players each summer window for three summers straight.

Also if we are short of money then we need to get ruthless. Sell the likes of Kellaher, Gomez, Carvalho, Tsimikas, Matip, Fabinho etc. There is absolutely no excuses not to move some of our players on.

[Avens]

It's almost like we've seen it before.

I really don't think we have. It's obvious now that Fabinho needed replacing/an understudy/support this time last summer but it was hardly the same situation as the one we're in now. We'd just played every single game possible, got 92 points, got to the Champions League final, won a domestic double. There was definitely a fair argument that we didn't need to sign midfielders.

[Andy82lfc]

Yeah that 3rd from Southampton, he was quite shocking. In no man's land- not sure what to do, then reacting too slowly and the rest, as they say...
Our midfield in general, was absent.
I can understand that he was the sole midfielder at the time, but he should've at least made the tackle. The effort is typical of a guy who just had a short sprint and is gassed.
Poor lad. He's been a great servant, but his legs look gone, and his energy levels aren't what they used to be.

I know it's Fab bashing season on here by the looks of it but he (and others) has a choice to lunge in and take a yellow there or not. Gomez on the other hand would have ran into the car park if the stand wasn't there, absolutely comical, you'd be forgiven to think the guy had a gun.

[Legs]

I think the smartest thing to do is buy a RB and slot Trent in midfield.

I really dont like this new system as it leaves you even more exposed if you dont have workhorses to cover ground in midfield.

Gomez wasnt good on that goal but he has hardly played all seadon, Fabinho on the other hand pretty much plays when fit and he is a real concern for next season.

Fabinho been a good player for us but if we got an offer we have to consider it and freshen the squad up.

[disgraced cake]

I really don't think we have. It's obvious now that Fabinho needed replacing/an understudy/support this time last summer but it was hardly the same situation as the one we're in now. We'd just played every single game possible, got 92 points, got to the Champions League final, won a domestic double. There was definitely a fair argument that we didn't need to sign midfielders.

I'd disagree, because I think the summer before we needed to bring one or two in then after losing Gini and knowing literally all of Henderson, Fabinho, Milner and especially Thiago/Keita were/are extremely prone to missing games. I thought it was mad in Summer 2021 that a midfielder wasn't incoming to replace Wijnaldum, I thought it was doubly mad that at least one didn't join in Summer 2022. We should have been more proactive in trying to offload Keita/Chamberlain and maybe even Milner ,and looked to bring in the players that would ultimately succeed Henderson and Thiago. I'd agree on Fabinho that the situation has changed perspective, if you'd told me a year ago we should be after someone better than him I'd have thought you mad, his drop off has been a massive surprise to me this season.

Thiago the only senior central midfielder we've signed since Keita. That's one in five (arguably six?) years. They've all performed well but that just feels like malaise to me.

I'm fearing the worst on this midfield rebuild truth be told. All the stuff about being out of the Champions League impacting us ... I mean, we'll wait and see but nothing would surprise me less than that being parroted all summer. We're getting rid of three good players who ultimately haven't been able to chip in this season, so if we can get three in who can offer something from the start imagine how much more productive we could be in midfield. It should be a really exciting thought but I'm convinced they're going to cheap out again, such is their history.

[JackWard33]

I really want Ugarte and Caicedo but I'm not convinced a midfield 3 in which 2 are Ugarte and Caicedo has enough ball progression. I'm also not sure it works with our new 8/10 hybrid roles for the midfielders. Perhaps Trent inverting offsets this and Ugarte turns out to be better on the ball than his numbers suggest so the ball progression isn't an issue. But Caicedo is not, and never will be, an 8/10 hybrid. That said, if we're going back to basically giving Trent a free role in possession to roam the right hand flank as he wants and asking our RCM to cover him Caicedo would be perfect. Might even get away with Fabinho as a 6 if we had Caicedo fighting fires

The thing is if we bought Ugarte and Caicedo you'd have a pretty complete unit .. Thiago, Trent, Jones, Elliot and Henderson are already excellent ball progressors and you can mix and match.. play your runners in tough away games, more creative players vs the dross etc
By the way you're under rating Caicedo's forward passing - it's already good and will only improve (makes significantly more progressive passes than Fabinho for example)

Obviously this isn't the business we're going to be doing so its all hypothetical.
I''m really skeptical the set up we played at the end of the season is going to work with some combination of fabinho/henderson at 6. City make it work with the best 6 in the world - despite our results improving in this stretch we've had a lot of soft opposition and it hasn't looked good when we've been put under any sort of pressure
I'm totally perplexed if we're really looking at this team and not thinking we need 2 athletes with defensive ability or at the absolute minimum an upgrade at 6
Sitting on our hands and watching Ugarte go to Chelsea would be bad

[B0151?]

I know it's Fab bashing season on here by the looks of it but he (and others) has a choice to lunge in and take a yellow there or not. Gomez on the other hand would have ran into the car park if the stand wasn't there, absolutely comical, you'd be forgiven to think the guy had a gun.

You're right I don't get that criticism there even Fab at his peak has no chance of getting back unless the defence actually tries to hold them up and not just sprint at them.

Thing is there's two sides of It Fabinhos level may have dropped but he's never been left as exposed as he has until this season. He was always the Hoover of the team, not the one man wrecking show.

[Gili Gulu]

I think the smartest thing to do is buy a RB and slot Trent in midfield.

I'm happy enough with Gomez as right-back, with the bonus of being able to switch to Gomez tucking in as 3rd CB and Trent going back to wing-back,

I think we're going to need all our money to re-fit the midfield, and possibly buy a centre-back and replacement No 2 goalkeeper as well.

People talking about Ward-Prowse, I just don't see how he's got the legs/speed to work in a 4-3-3. I don't see how he'd be that much of an improvement on how Jordan's been this season, though with the bonus of his dead-ball skills.

[MonsLibpool]

I'm happy enough with Gomez as right-back. I think we're going to need all our money to re-fit the midfield, and possibly buy a centre-back and replacement No 2 goalkeeper as well.

People talking about Ward-Prowse, I just don't see how he's got the legs/speed to work in a 4-3-3. I don't see how he'd be that much of an improvement on how Jordan's been this season, though with the bonus of his dead-ball skills.

Gomez isn't good enough mate. We can't be looking at winning the EL with backups like him. We can't keep on making the same mistake of holding on to players too long and letting them run down their contract.

He's not good enough and there's a market for him. Why keep him then?

[MonsLibpool]

You're right I don't get that criticism there even Fab at his peak has no chance of getting back unless the defence actually tries to hold them up and not just sprint at them.

Thing is there's two sides of It Fabinhos level may have dropped but he's never been left as exposed as he has until this season. He was always the Hoover of the team, not the one man wrecking show.

It's not his fault but the issue is that he's too slow to make a tactical foul which is the bread and butter of defensive midfielder then he jogs back. That's just not good enough.

[Legs]

I'm happy enough with Gomez as right-back, with the bonus of being able to switch to Gomez tucking in as 3rd CB and Trent going back to wing-back,

I think we're going to need all our money to re-fit the midfield, and possibly buy a centre-back and replacement No 2 goalkeeper as well.

People talking about Ward-Prowse, I just don't see how he's got the legs/speed to work in a 4-3-3. I don't see how he'd be that much of an improvement on how Jordan's been this season, though with the bonus of his dead-ball skills.

Gomez is a good RB the worry is his fitness but yeah you'd guess money will be tight.

JWP is a good player, he isnt quick but covers ground well, works hard and is never injured he would imo be a good squad player.

I mean we've gone from Bellingham to thinking JWP is ok but that is reality with how we are in the market.

[JackWard33]

You can't play Gomez at right back in this system

Why is everyone talking about playing Trent in midfield when we've spent the last 10 games playing a very specific system where this doesnt happen?!

[plura]

He did a Skrtel impression there. Needs to be moved on.

Haha very true. In a more functional midfield and defence we can allow for Joe to be less optimal, right now it's not a luxury we can't carry.

Edit: can -> can't

[Avens]

I'd disagree, because I think the summer before we needed to bring one or two in then after losing Gini and knowing literally all of Henderson, Fabinho, Milner and especially Thiago/Keita were/are extremely prone to missing games. I thought it was mad in Summer 2021 that a midfielder wasn't incoming to replace Wijnaldum, I thought it was doubly mad that at least one didn't join in Summer 2022. We should have been more proactive in trying to offload Keita/Chamberlain and maybe even Milner ,and looked to bring in the players that would ultimately succeed Henderson and Thiago. I'd agree on Fabinho that the situation has changed perspective, if you'd told me a year ago we should be after someone better than him I'd have thought you mad, his drop off has been a massive surprise to me this season.

Thiago the only senior central midfielder we've signed since Keita. That's one in five (arguably six?) years. They've all performed well but that just feels like malaise to me.

I'm fearing the worst on this midfield rebuild truth be told. All the stuff about being out of the Champions League impacting us ... I mean, we'll wait and see but nothing would surprise me less than that being parroted all summer. We're getting rid of three good players who ultimately haven't been able to chip in this season, so if we can get three in who can offer something from the start imagine how much more productive we could be in midfield. It should be a really exciting thought but I'm convinced they're going to cheap out again, such is their history.

You certainly wouldn't have been alone in thinking that we needed a midfielder at that point, and my argument isn't that nobody saw this coming, it's that everybody knows without a doubt now that we need midfielders. Not everyone did last year, I know I got it wrong and thought we were in good shape.

It's why I'm finding it frustrating to see people saying, "this is going to be the same as last year", I really don't think so, because last year we were coming off another amazing season. This year we're not. The landscape is different and there is no escaping the fact (rather than opinion) that we need new midfielders.

[MonsLibpool]

Haha very true. In a more functional midfield and defence we can allow for Joe to be less optimal, right now it's not a luxury we can carry.

We shouldn't be making do with and "carrying" players that are clearly not good enough if we want to win trophies and it's not as if he hasn't had enough opportunities. He came in after during Virg's one-month lay-off and we went on our worst run of form losing 3-0 to Wolves and 5-2 to Madrid.

[rafathegaffa83]

I know everyone knows we need a DM, but do people here think we’re actually going to sign one this summer?

I hope so. For me, it's our most important need this summer

[jepovic]

You can't play Gomez at right back in this system

Why is everyone talking about playing Trent in midfield when we've spent the last 10 games playing a very specific system where this doesnt happen?!

Because the system isnt working defensively, at all. The first few games we got some surprise bonus, but recently we've been punished time after time.

[plura]

We shouldn't be making do with and "carrying" players that are clearly not good enough if we want to win trophies and it's not as if he hasn't had enough opportunities. He came in after during Virg's one-month lay-off and we went on our worst run of form.

Sorry meant to say can't of course...

[MonsLibpool]

Sorry meant to say can't of course...

👍

[jillcwhomever]

Haha very true. In a more functional midfield and defence we can allow for Joe to be less optimal, right now it's not a luxury we can carry.

I have been a big fan of Joe Gomez but to be honest he would be better of leaving this club and going somewhere else, as he is never going to be accepted by the majority of fans here. I took one look at that backline and defence yesterday and knew all those were players were on a hiding to nothing. But of course, none of that gets taken into account as fans continue to slag players off. I have to wonder what the manager was doing yesterday with the team he picked. But I think a career away from Liverpool would be the best thing for Joe now. I still think he has the chance to be a very good player but not here and he's taken enough shite from people.

[Hazell]

Sorry meant to say can't of course...

Well there's no need for that.