Topic: Adam Lallana

[ToneLa]

Only if you ignore Salah, Solanke, Ejaria, Woodburn...

Some of you love being miserable

[jepovic]

Its not meant to be a positive, its a reality check. The way some people are going on you would think we had kids on the bench and that's it. We aren't as bad off as some of the doom merchants would like to think.

We're thinner than before the summer, with Lucas gone, and we're facing a season with up to a dozen more games than last year. That worries me. Quality will drop and injuries will come if we have to field the same midfield 2x 90 min per week.

[Passmaster Molby]

We're thinner than before the summer, with Lucas gone, and we're facing a season with up to a dozen more games than last year. That worries me. Quality will drop and injuries will come if we have to field the same midfield 2x 90 min per week.

I would disagree with that.

We have lost Lucas but brought in Robertson and Salah, plus we have Gomez and Ings fit and Flanagan back. Add to that Solanke and the emergence of the young talent then we look a lot stronger than last season. Milner should not be discounted as a midfield option either if we are short, and until we move Moreno on he can be a good cover option there long term given we now have 2 genuine left backs plus Milner.

[clinical]

in what sense?

We're pretty much a Coutinho injury away from having zero creativity in midfield.

[Gnurglan]

Shame he's out injured. He's a core player and he will play lots of games for us.

That said, I think we are at a point now where Lallana doesn't make the first eleven when everyone is fit. Which also tells me our group of midfielders is strong.

[PoetryInMotion]

Seri would certainly be an interesting option and would be a piss easy deal to get over the line in a few days if we really wanted it as he has a release clause of 36m I believe.

More of a metronome type player from the little I've seen of him. Plays a lot of passes and keeps things ticking over. He would certainly be a great option to have, and is exactly the level of player a team with title ambitions should be able to call on.

But Seri seems to me as a better fit as an Alonso type player with switching play, controlling the tempo than a player joining attacks. He'd be more of a competition to Henderson and Can that to cover for Lallana's injury. Although he could a job. But if we go for him, it sends out a message that we won't be in for Keita next year.

[Gerry Attrick]

I would disagree with that.

We have lost Lucas but brought in Robertson and Salah, plus we have Gomez and Ings fit and Flanagan back. Add to that Solanke and the emergence of the young talent then we look a lot stronger than last season. Milner should not be discounted as a midfield option either if we are short, and until we move Moreno on he can be a good cover option there long term given we now have 2 genuine left backs plus Milner.

Ings won't be seeing first team action for months, if at all. Flanagan is not good enough and Milner in midfield is just not a good idea in my opinion.

[Tony19:6]

Gutted for the lad. Up there with Coutinho and Mane as our best player for me.

Always puts in a shift, even under Rogers when his end product wasn't quite there. With Klopp in charge however he's been immense.

Huge miss.

[Eeyore]

We're pretty much a Coutinho injury away from having zero creativity in midfield.

This is the question no one seems to be willing to address.

[Tony19:6]

This is the question no one seems to be willing to address.

You mean Klopp?

[plura]

We're pretty much a Coutinho injury away from having zero creativity in midfield.

Yep, don't want to cry about this. But without him we are really stagnating and struggling. I love Lallana, but he's not the/only key for our creativity in the midfield. As haven't Gini, Can, etc proved to be. Would love for some more creativity in the midfield, and not just simple passing back and forth.

[sms1986]

This is the question no one seems to be willing to address.

Klopp was trying to address it this summer, not his fault that Leipzig wouldn't sell. Hopefully he's been looking at alternatives.

[Kop307]

We're pretty much a Coutinho injury away from having zero creativity in midfield.

Yes and No. Yes if we're playing the 433 from last season, no one in the middle 3 will be particularly creative, but if we went 2 up front in a more traditional 442, you woulnd't need creativity from your central midfield as it'd come from the wings. Or, in a diamond we'd have Firmino at the tip with 2 forwards ahead of him, with a solid base behind.

I agree we need to sign more players but tinkering with the system would help with the options we have. Anyone mentioning Woodburn or Ejaria as options are frankly fucking unwell.

[jillcwhomever]

This is the question no one seems to be willing to address.

There is still four weeks to go to get someone else in.

[redmark]

Wonder who gets one of the Mane/Salah spots when they need a rest. Very few obvious candidates apart from Kent.

Coutinho, Firmino, Origi, Sturridge, Kent. Or a change of formation. Or if Klopp really wants to cause havoc on RAWK, James Milner.

[El Lobo]

This is the question no one seems to be willing to address.

Really not sure what answer you're after Al.

We rely on two of our first team midfielders, and struggle when both of them are out. Duh. Barcelona struggle for creativity without Messi and Iniesta. Duh. Real struggle for creativity without Kroos and Modric. Duh.

What exactly are you expecting us to do? Go and spend megabucks just in case two of our first teamers are out at the same time? We want to sign another CM, that's why we wanted Keita. If we don't get one, we'll cope. But really not sure what else you're expecting Al? We rely on our first teamers. If you don't think we can rely on those first teamers, then we should be looking at ones we can rely on right?

[Eeyore]

You mean Klopp?

No I mean the posters who keep saying we are fine and have plenty of cover.

[redmark]

No I mean the posters who keep saying we are fine and have plenty of cover.

Has literally anyone said "we're fine"? A fair few have been arguing that we're not necessarily fucked, which has been the prevailing wailing.

But it's very difficult to discuss options when every squad option is written off as too young and unproven and therefore not even worthy of consideration.

Yes, it would be nice to have another attacking/creative midfielder. We also know the club agree, because we offered £66m for one. The question you think "no one seems willing to address" is laughable, because it's all RAWK seems to have discussed for several weeks - before Lallana got injured. Does his injury make it somewhat more important? Yes - because one of the key starting options will be unavailable for some time - and we've got advance warning and time to address it.

But we're still allowed to think we're not suddenly relegation candidates without him, and we're still allowed to point out that we do have some other players who may - or may not - step up.

[clinical]

Got to hand it to people on this forum would put a positive spin on getting ebola.

[Pistolero]

Got to hand it to people on this forum would put a positive spin on getting ebola.

no chance...he's just signed a contract extension...

[jillcwhomever]

Got to hand it to people on this forum would put a positive spin on getting ebola.

You're point is?

[El Lobo]

No I mean the posters who keep saying we are fine and have plenty of cover.

Al, I'll be honest mate. Pretty much everyone can see what this line of debate of yours is leading towards.

We've wanted a CM all summer, we've tried to destroy our transfer record to sign a new one. So clearly it is being addressed, it has been addressed. We all know its been addressed. Lallana being injured hasn't changed what we were trying to do. At this point its completely down to the manager whether he risks it again, and goes with what we have, or we go for someone else. We'll see. Personally, I think he might stick with it. But regardless, it has been completely addressed. All summer actually.

[Eeyore]

Really not sure what answer you're after Al.

We rely on two of our first team midfielders, and struggle when both of them are out. Duh. Barcelona struggle for creativity without Messi and Iniesta. Duh. Real struggle for creativity without Kroos and Modric. Duh.

What exactly are you expecting us to do? Go and spend megabucks just in case two of our first teamers are out at the same time? We want to sign another CM, that's why we wanted Keita. If we don't get one, we'll cope. But really not sure what else you're expecting Al? We rely on our first teamers. If you don't think we can rely on those first teamers, then we should be looking at ones we can rely on right?

We were clearly short of at least one  CM  before Lallana got injured. Now we have a huge qualifying game coming up for the Champions League and we are basically relient on Coutinho not picking up a knock. Hoffenheim had the 2nd best defensive record in the bundesliga last season. Yet you are willing to take another gamble on the squad despite the way we fell apart last season when we had to play two games a week.

The crazy thing is that gambling is actually supposed to come with a potential pay off. Last season you were telling us by not spending in January we would be able to have this transformative summer. That hasn't happened has it yet you want to gamble again. Do you really want to go into this season and Gamble on the likes of Coutinho and Firmino coming off the bench against Stoke again.

We are one of the richest clubs in the world yet seem more intent on stockpiling resources and gambling on a squad that simply wasn't fit for purpose last season and which has more demands required of it this season. Klopp has made it clear that he wants to kick on and fight for the title so ffs give him a chance of doing that.

[clinical]

Al, I'll be honest mate. Pretty much everyone can see what this line of debate of yours is leading towards.

We've wanted a CM all summer, we've tried to destroy our transfer record to sign a new one. So clearly it is being addressed, it has been addressed. We all know its been addressed. Lallana being injured hasn't changed what we were trying to do. At this point its completely down to the manager whether he risks it again, and goes with what we have, or we go for someone else. We'll see. Personally, I think he might stick with it. But regardless, it has been completely addressed. All summer actually.

What has been addressed exactly?

[redmark]

We are one of the richest clubs in the world yet seem more intent on stockpiling resources and gambling on a squad that simply wasn't fit for purpose last season and which has more demands required of it this season. Klopp has made it clear that he wants to kick on and fight for the title so ffs give him a chance of doing that.

Do you believe that the manager identified Keita as his midfield target?

Do you believe that we did actually bid £66m for him - and (by all accounts) were prepared to offer £72m-£75m, but didn't because RBL indicated they'd still reject it?

[So… Howard Philips]

But Seri seems to me as a better fit as an Alonso type player with switching play, controlling the tempo than a player joining attacks. He'd be more of a competition to Henderson and Can that to cover for Lallana's injury. Although he could a job. But if we go for him, it sends out a message that we won't be in for Keita next year.

But if a top quality CM is available, with a heavy season ahead, doesn't it make sense to sign one now, rather than next season? There's no guarantee Keita will come here then, is there?

A bird in the hand etc....

[Tony19:6]

No I mean the posters who keep saying we are fine and have plenty of cover.

There's no question without both Coutinho and Lallana we lose a lot in terms of creativity, but as has been said any team in the world would.

It could mean a change in formation, or maybe one of Salah, Firmino moving back as Klopp has said Coutinho may do.

I'm not a fan of (x) player can only play in one position, I'm sure we have players who can adapt to different situations outside of their preferred position.

Not sure Klopp will buy personally for 9/10 games (or whatever period Lallana is out? think he said in Jan that there was no point in buying in the Jan window for 1/2 a season...

I trust Klopp to resolve this - he is a top coach afterall.

[Passmaster Molby]

No I mean the posters who keep saying we are fine and have plenty of cover.

We do have cover though. Obviously if the chance to sign new players comes along that would be great, but we really aren't in as bad a shape as negative fans like you would make out.

Guess its just all about perspective though. You constantly bang the negative drum about everything it seems, and never seem to be positive about much at all whereas other posters don't look at things in such a negative light because we can see what we actually do have rather than focusing on what we haven't got.

[redmark]

I wonder if our Academy Coach has been keeping fit. That would cheer Al up.

[campioni]

There is still four weeks to go to get someone else in.

The season starts next Saturday and before the transfer window closes we have 5 important games that will have a big impact on our season. 5 games in 15 days and at the minute it looks like we're going into that with 4 midfielders for 3 positions.

As said above, we're gonna be hugely reliant on Coutinho to provide the creativity from midfield. Is he gonna play all 5 games in 15 days? That's a recipe for disaster.

[El Lobo]

The crazy thing is that gambling is actually supposed to come with a potential pay off. Last season you were telling us by not spending in January we would be able to have this transformative summer. That hasn't happened has it yet you want to gamble again. Do you really want to go into this season and Gamble on the likes of Coutinho and Firmino coming off the bench against Stoke again.

We are one of the richest clubs in the world yet seem more intent on stockpiling resources and gambling on a squad that simply wasn't fit for purpose last season and which has more demands required of it this season. Klopp has made it clear that he wants to kick on and fight for the title so ffs give him a chance of doing that.

Let the manager know then mate, seriously.

You're not happy with his approach, do something about it. Same with the owners, its been said before. You're not happy with who is in charge and his approach, then start some action.

[Eeyore]

Al, I'll be honest mate. Pretty much everyone can see what this line of debate of yours is leading towards.

We've wanted a CM all summer, we've tried to destroy our transfer record to sign a new one. So clearly it is being addressed, it has been addressed. We all know its been addressed. Lallana being injured hasn't changed what we were trying to do. At this point its completely down to the manager whether he risks it again, and goes with what we have, or we go for someone else. We'll see. Personally, I think he might stick with i

Has literally anyone said "we're fine"? A fair few have been arguing that we're not necessarily fucked, which has been the prevailing wailing.

But it's very difficult to discuss options when every squad option is written off as too young and unproven and therefore not even worthy of consideration.

Yes, it would be nice to have another attacking/creative midfielder. We also know the club agree, because we offered £66m for one. The question you think "no one seems willing to address" is laughable, because it's all RAWK seems to have discussed for several weeks - before Lallana got injured. Does his injury make it somewhat more important? Yes - because one of the key starting options will be unavailable for some time - and we've got advance warning and time to address it.

But we're still allowed to think we're not suddenly relegation candidates without him, and we're still allowed to point out that we do have some other players who may - or may not - step up.

Would we accept a keeper who let in soft goals, a centre back who kept getting ran ragged, a midfield player who couldn't pass water or a striker who missed chance after chance because they tried. No we wouldn't so why accept a recruitment team that has had 9 or 10 months to either get Keita across the line or realise that he isn't attainable and move on and bring in an alternative.

Players get injured it's a fact of life, we simply shouldn't continually put ourselves in a position in which we have a collosal drop off between the first 11 and the rest of the squad.

Maybe it's about time certain posters stopped making excuses like we don't have CL football, players don't move in January or the raft of excuses that come out in regards to our recruitment team.

You look at our middield options and Can is entering the last year of his deal and Coutinho is being courted by Barca so we have question marks over two of our midfield players. So let's not keep making excuses and let's start strengthening otherwise the promise of last season is going to be yet another false Dawn.

If we can't get Keita then bring in players who are ready to make a contribution in the here and now. If we can get Keita next summer then let the new recruits compete with the existing players and offload the weakest next summer. It's what the teams with the best recruitment team do.

[jillcwhomever]

The season starts next Saturday and before the transfer window closes we have 5 important games that will have a big impact on our season. 5 games in 15 days and at the minute it looks like we're going into that with 4 midfielders for 3 positions.

As said above, we're gonna be hugely reliant on Coutinho to provide the creativity from midfield. Is he gonna play all 5 games in 15 days? That's a recipe for disaster.

We can change formation, it's not like we only have to play one way. Another point is you can't always guarantee when signings happen. If we have to wait until the end of the transfer season that's tough, we still have enough quality in the meantime though.

[redmark]

The season starts next Saturday and before the transfer window closes we have 5 important games that will have a big impact on our season. 5 games in 15 days and at the minute it looks like we're going into that with 4 midfielders for 3 positions.

As said above, we're gonna be hugely reliant on Coutinho to provide the creativity from midfield. Is he gonna play all 5 games in 15 days? That's a recipe for disaster.

We have 7/8/9 options for three midfield positions. No, not all of those options will be able to be relied upon for an entire season; but that doesn't mean they don't exist and can't figure in the permutations for a couple of weeks until we know if we're able to bring in new player(s).

[Eeyore]

We can change formation, it's not like we only have to play one way. Another point is you can't always guarantee when signings happen. If we have to wait until the end of the transfer season that's tough, we still have enough quality though.

If the loss of a player or two necessitates a change of formation then the squad simply isn't good enough.

[jillcwhomever]

If the loss of a player or two necessitates a change of formation then the squad simply isn't good enough.

Let's see how he set's the team up, he might go for a more flexible approach considering he's got players that will fit both systems.

There are another four weeks to go until the end of the transfer season. We still have time to get players in.  Maybe this conversation is better for later on.

[redmark]

If the loss of a player or two necessitates a change of formation then the squad simply isn't good enough.

The loss of Lallana doesn't necessitate a change in formation. The loss of Lallana and specifically Coutinho might. It might not, if we're allowed to consider that Wijnaldum can play the more attacking midfielder role, or to drop Firmino deeper to provide that function, or to allow even the idea of Grujic or Woodburn in our 'depth' for the role, but apparently we're not. How many senior players of such ilk should we be carrying in our squad to be sufficient? Three? Four? Five? What if the next one/two/three gets injured?

We want another midfielder. I don't think anyone has denied that. We offered ~£70m for one.

[Eeyore]

The loss of Lallana doesn't necessitate a change in formation. The loss of Lallana and specifically Coutinho might. It might not, if we're allowed to consider that Wijnaldum can play the more attacking midfielder role, or to drop Firmino deeper to provide that function, or to allow even the idea of Grujic or Woodburn in our 'depth' for the role, but apparently we're not. How many senior players of such ilk should we be carrying in our squad to be sufficient? Three? Four? Five? What if the next one/two/three gets injured?

We want another midfielder. I don't think anyone has denied that. We offered ~£70m for one.

Henderson is returning from a long term injury, Can is still weeks away from full fitness after playing in the Confederations cup, Milner is carrying a knock so given the number of games we have at the start of the season then we were already short in midfield before Lallanas injury.

As for Gini he has always struggled when asked to dictate play for me. Woodburn had to be hooked against Stoke and Grujic is very raw and prone to rash challenges so I don't think we would want to go into a crucial Cl qualifier relying on the kids.

The brutal reality is that Klopp fully expected to be going into this season with Keita, Lallana and Coutinho as choices for the pivotal AM role in our setup and he is a Coutinho knock away from having none of them.

[BobPaisley3]

Coutinho, Firmino, Origi, Sturridge, Kent. Or a change of formation. Or if Klopp really wants to cause havoc on RAWK, James Milner.

Square pegs in round holes really apart from Kent.

[redmark]

How many senior midfielders should we be carrying then, Al? Ten? Fifteen?

The medical staff know whether Henderson's long term injury has long term repercussions or not. The Confederations Cup has been in the diary for a while; 'weeks' from full fitness may be overblowing it. Players are carrying knocks all the time, we can't go out and buy a replacement every time someone stubs their toe. Wijnaldum won't provide the exact same qualities that Coutinho or Lallana do, but offers others. Grujic was a regular on the bench at the start of last season so has the manager's confidence if not yours. How long will we be using Woodburn's performance against Stoke as a reason for his unreadiness? Until he's 25? Or until he plays and doesn't get hooked?

RB Leipzig wouldn't sell Keita. Lallana got injured. Shit happens. We have 25 days and 10 hours to do something about it; if the manager chooses to do so.