Topic: LIVERPOOL TRANSFER THREAD

[Crosby Nick]

Is Keita going to get less injury prone? The three who having contracts running down can be replaced by two players at most and I don't think we need to spend £100m+ to do it

Matip seems to have done to be fair.

Apologies in advance for the jinx!

[lollysportswasher]

I feel like we are going to sign a midfielder in a similar fashion to what we did with Jota. 

[MonsLibpool]

He's working on a relatively small budget compared to others. If he had unlimited money like Pep you think he'd take risks like this?

Money is not the issue at this point. We even enquired about Mbappé. The fact that we are loaded doesn't mean we are unwise with our spending.

[BarryCrocker]

I feel like we are going to sign a midfielder in a similar fashion to what we did with Jota.

Rúben Neves.

[Sharado]

Where is the evidence the budget is there though? The money was there for Tchouameni before we signed Nunez. Based on how we’ve operated in the past it makes far more sense to assume we simply can’t spend the huge money we’d need for a big midfielder at this time. Our wage bill is massive and hasn’t really decreased this summer and we simply don’t spend way more than we get back. It is not a criticism but I don’t believe it is entirely accurate to say Klopp is simply waiting. There probably is an element of that but it is likely because the money we could spend isn’t enough to get somebody who changes the picture and therefore it makes sense to put it towards one when we can.

it's a concern for me, that, mind. I'm happy with Nunez and think he's going to absolutely bang them in for us. But if our first priority was a bit of midfield 'legs' [which for me we've needed since last summer], then why when our first target got away didn't we attempt to resolve that issue first off? Was it Tchouameni or Nunez? Because they're totally different player profiles. If we got Tchouameni do we then not replace Sadio up top? Or do we 'replace' Sadio with Diaz/Carvalho?

It seems we know the issue is there and we're happy for it to remain there. Presumably this is because we're waiting for someone, and presumably this someone is Bellingham. But by next summer how much does he cost? Who else is interested? And who else do we need to replace in midfield.

It's part of why I think we really need to move for someone now regardless of Bellingham coming next year or not. It's not just one midfielder we need, imo.

[clinical]

it's a concern for me, that, mind. I'm happy with Nunez and think he's going to absolutely bang them in for us. But if our first priority was a bit of midfield 'legs' [which for me we've needed since last summer], then why when our first target got away didn't we attempt to resolve that issue first off? Was it Tchouameni or Nunez? Because they're totally different player profiles. If we got Tchouameni do we then not replace Sadio up top? Or do we 'replace' Sadio with Diaz/Carvalho?

It seems we know the issue is there and we're happy for it to remain there. Presumably this is because we're waiting for someone, and presumably this someone is Bellingham. But by next summer how much does he cost? Who else is interested? And who else do we need to replace in midfield.

It's part of why I think we really need to move for someone now regardless of Bellingham coming next year or not. It's not just one midfielder we need, imo.

If we didn't sign Nunez and Mane decided to stay I can't see us only making Carvalho and Ramsay our only summer signings for less than £10m. We probably diverted the money we had for a midfielder to Nunez.

[Sharado]

If we didn't sign Nunez and Mane decided to stay I can't see us only making Carvalho and Ramsay our only summer signings for less than £10m. We probably diverted the money we had for a midfielder to Nunez.

I don't think there was any way Mane was deciding to stay, his interviews etc. pre CL final were about as clear as he could be that he was off. I guess we could have forced his arm as he had a year left.

[MonsLibpool]

I don't think there was any way Mane was deciding to stay, his interviews etc. pre CL final were about as clear as he could be that he was off. I guess we could have forced his arm as he had a year left.

Yeah. We would have signed Darwin regardless. Klopp's interview afterwards about Jude not being on the market indicates that we were willing to spend if he was available.

[DonkeyWan]

If we didn't sign Nunez and Mane decided to stay I can't see us only making Carvalho and Ramsay our only summer signings for less than £10m. We probably diverted the money we had for a midfielder to Nunez.

Everyone is kinda presuming that, but if you needed a new keeper and the club went and bought a striker, I think most people would still be 'what about the keeper'? For some reason midfielders don't evoke that kind of reaction, eventhough htey are arguably the most important position on the pitch, the only players than can go literally everywhere on the pitch.

More to the point, the cost of Nunez was offset by sales, so were the club planning on a zero net spend this summer? What of all the talk of £200m war chests 'and this would be the summer of spend' that was bandied about after the accounts turned out to be so good?

[Sharado]

What of all the talk of £200m war chests 'and this would be the summer of spend' that was bandied about after the accounts turned out to be so good?

I mean you have to take that with a pinch of salt at this point. It's often bandied about by Liverpool friendly journos but by and large it's complete shite isn't it.

If the money is there, and we are always told it is, then we should be buying someone in the next month. Our net spend is somewhere around 15-20m I believe, given how frugal we've been in the past a 30m -50 m midfielder should be well within our capability.

[clinical]

Everyone is kinda presuming that, but if you needed a new keeper and the club went and bought a striker, I think most people would still be 'what about the keeper'? For some reason midfielders don't evoke that kind of reaction, eventhough htey are arguably the most important position on the pitch, the only players than can go literally everywhere on the pitch.

More to the point, the cost of Nunez was offset by sales, so were the club planning on a zero net spend this summer? What of all the talk of £200m war chests 'and this would be the summer of spend' that was bandied about after the accounts turned out to be so good?

There's still a lot of costs we have to pay back each year. As well as the covid losses. I don't think we would have signed Tchouameni and Nunez. If we sign a midfielder now like I think we should (and it won't be at Tchouameni like prices) I reckon that pretty much ends the chances of Bellingham next summer. People always say we have plenty of money. Where's the evidence? We don't spend big unless we sell.

[RedSamba]

What of all the talk of £200m war chests 'and this would be the summer of spend' that was bandied about after the accounts turned out to be so good?

Its the same thing every year - next summer we will spend big

[Knight]

On the basis of last season, a Keita, Fabinho, Thiago midfield is significantly better than any other midfield selection and we should be trying to get all 3 of them on the pitch as often as possible.

[Knight]

There's still a lot of costs we have to pay back each year. As well as the covid losses. I don't think we would have signed Tchouameni and Nunez. If we sign a midfielder now like I think we should (and it won't be at Tchouameni like prices) I reckon that pretty much ends the chances of Bellingham next summer. People always say we have plenty of money. Where's the evidence? We don't spend big unless we sell.

This, 'it was Tchou, Tchou or Nunez' narrative doesn't make sense to me. Nunez was clearly a Mane replacement in a summer we also lost Origi and Minamino. We clearly needed another forward and we also clearly wanted (and need) another midfielder. We've made good money from sales so it's not like money is especially tight.

[LovelyCushionedHeader]

Rúben Neves.

"How do we make our midfield slower?"

[killer-heels]

Everyone is kinda presuming that, but if you needed a new keeper and the club went and bought a striker, I think most people would still be 'what about the keeper'? For some reason midfielders don't evoke that kind of reaction, eventhough htey are arguably the most important position on the pitch, the only players than can go literally everywhere on the pitch.

More to the point, the cost of Nunez was offset by sales, so were the club planning on a zero net spend this summer? What of all the talk of £200m war chests 'and this would be the summer of spend' that was bandied about after the accounts turned out to be so good?

Maybe this was the summer we spent because we all know how we work, its really well. We could have bought that midfielder from Monaco and Nunez so it would have been a high spend summer.

[clinical]

Maybe this was the summer we spent because we all know how we work, its really well. We could have bought that midfielder from Monaco and Nunez so it would have been a high spend summer.

That would have been a huge outlay. When have we done that before without Coutinho going?

[DonkeyWan]

There's still a lot of costs we have to pay back each year. As well as the covid losses. I don't think we would have signed Tchouameni and Nunez. If we sign a midfielder now like I think we should (and it won't be at Tchouameni like prices) I reckon that pretty much ends the chances of Bellingham next summer. People always say we have plenty of money. Where's the evidence? We don't spend big unless we sell.

Again, to quote Swiss Ramble (I know, I know) the Covid hit has largely been dealt with and he is anticipating a record £540-60m revenue for the season just finished. Which the club must know, so there is room for another player.

God, I remember the same arguments being made this time last summer, Liverpool can't afford shiney new toys etc. come Christmas, just as the wheels are in danger of coming off, in comes Diaz and boom, his impact is immediate. Here we are again, and people will say 'no need to buy, youngster x,y and z will fill the gap.' Then when they do buy a midfielder at Xmas, people will be 'yeah, we badly needed a midfielder, didn't we?' 

[Henry Gale]

Its the same thing every year - next summer we will spend big

fast forward to Summer 2057 - Why can't we spend X amount? Well there was a pandemic 50 years ago and we are still coming out of that 

[clinical]

Again, to quote Swiss Ramble (I know, I know) the Covid hit has largely been dealt with and he is anticipating a record £540-60m revenue for the season just finished. Which the club must know, so there is room for another player.

God, I remember the same arguments being made this time last summer, Liverpool can't afford shiney new toys etc. come Christmas, just as the wheels are in danger of coming off, in comes Diaz and boom, his impact is immediate. Here we are again, and people will say 'no need to buy, youngster x,y and z will fill the gap.' Then when they do buy a midfielder at Xmas, people will be 'yeah, we badly needed a midfielder, didn't we?'

I agree with you. We do need a midfielder. But imo it's mostly money related and not just Klopp not wanting to upset the likes of Ox for the reason we won't. The money we have will only be for top tagets such as Bellingham next year.

[Sharado]

come Christmas, just as the wheels are in danger of coming off, in comes Diaz and boom, his impact is immediate.

It's key for me this. People talk shite about 'shiny new toys' or 'being run like an oil club' but most people just want to see investment in the right areas at the right time. We went from a bumpy period over xmas and new year, to signining diaz, him giving the whole front 3 a boost and being a villa collapse and a - I don't even fucking know what really against madrid - away from doing something never done before in history.

That's the difference a new signing can make.

[lionel_messias]

I don't think it is money related, more like Klopp and Ward related, they have a plan for next summer and that's that.

Klopp would rather use Milner, Cavalho, Elliot, an other than buy a £30 million stop gap this season.

The Ox is sadly not the issue, as he played precisely 0 minutes end of last season.


Happy to be proven wrong if and when we decide the senior players we have in the midfield squad might not cover us this season and represent a risk to our title challenge. 2-3 months OUT for Thiago is one such factor there.

[Agent99]

This, 'it was Tchou, Tchou or Nunez' narrative doesn't make sense to me. Nunez was clearly a Mane replacement in a summer we also lost Origi and Minamino. We clearly needed another forward and we also clearly wanted (and need) another midfielder. We've made good money from sales so it's not like money is especially tight.

It's like when we were only able to pay the fee Roma wanted for Alisson because we pulled out of the Fekir deal.

[clinical]

It's like when we were only able to pay the fee Roma wanted for Alisson because we pulled out of the Fekir deal.

Exactly.

[Samie]

Roma didn't get what they wanted for Ali though. They initially wanted over 75 million.

[lollysportswasher]

We started the season with the aim of singing a midfielder until Mane news which caught us off guard so we signed Nunez to replace him. So technically we haven't addressed yet our main issue which is the midfield.

[ScouserAtHeart]

There's zero chance we weren't aware Sadio wanted to leave before the season ended

[CowboyKangaroo]

We started the season with the aim of singing a midfielder until Mane news which caught us off guard so we signed Nunez to replace him. So technically we haven't addressed yet our main issue which is the midfield.

That seems very, very unlikely

[Hazell]

There's zero chance we weren't aware Sadio wanted to leave before the season ended

Mane told the club ages ago he wanted to leave and Klopp has said that they were aware for a while that was the case so we definitely knew.

I'll see if I can dig out the links. The Mane one was from an interview after winning African Player of the Year and the Klopp one was from pre-season.

[JasonF]

We started the season with the aim of singing a midfielder until Mane news which caught us off guard so we signed Nunez to replace him. So technically we haven't addressed yet our main issue which is the midfield.

Apparently Mané told us he wanted to leave 12 months ago. I think realistically Díaz was brought in as his replacement and Núñez was Origi's replacement.

It's clear we will need a couple of midfielders by next season though, it'd be nice if we could get one in now. I think we could manage without but it'd be putting a lot of faith in Keita, Jones, Elliott and Carvalho.

[El Lobo]

Again, to quote Swiss Ramble (I know, I know) the Covid hit has largely been dealt with and he is anticipating a record £540-60m revenue for the season just finished. Which the club must know, so there is room for another player.

God, I remember the same arguments being made this time last summer, Liverpool can't afford shiney new toys etc. come Christmas, just as the wheels are in danger of coming off, in comes Diaz and boom, his impact is immediate. Here we are again, and people will say 'no need to buy, youngster x,y and z will fill the gap.' Then when they do buy a midfielder at Xmas, people will be 'yeah, we badly needed a midfielder, didn't we?'

Well see again, there clearly is the money for a midfielder (unless you’re of the clinical opinion that Jurgen Klopp wanted a CM and when he couldn’t get the first one he wanted….he asked for a striker). So as unpalatable as it may be for you, it seems far more likely that the money IS there and that the manager and recruitment team have decided to wait to spend it.

But yes I also know superfan, Klopp shield, running away from cogent arguments from floods of posters etc

[Hazell]

But yes I also know superfan, Klopp shield, running away from cogent arguments from floods of posters etc

You missed out shiny new toys

[afc tukrish]

Simple fact is that this whole thing comes down to more than just Klopp's decision, no matter how many times you try to encourage people to consider that he doesn't want to sign a midfielder. It's much more complex than that, and involves people who we won't even know the names of

Our techno dorks are quite intimidating...

[Magix]

Still believe we'll get a midfielder in this window (setting myself up for disappointment, I know, heh). Not panic-buying, looking to the squad for solutions - these still hold true for Klopp and the coaching and recruitment team, but this time, I feel, is a bit different than before. The centreback injury crisis, the Diaz signing in Jan, were valuable lessons in some form (as to what exactly, I can't say, of course, but insights would have been drawn). We're in a transitionary phase, particularly in midfield, so that's a massive consideration. Plus, we're better off financially now that the pandemic is somewhat behind us.

If we don't get one, I'll be disappointed for sure, but wouldn't pin any blame on Klopp or FSG, since we don't know really what's going on behind the scenes, the metrics we're using to assess players, player availbiity etc.

[Sharado]

We started the season with the aim of singing a midfielder until Mane news which caught us off guard so we signed Nunez to replace him. So technically we haven't addressed yet our main issue which is the midfield.

There's simply no chance that that's how it happened I'm afraid, and there's nothing about the way Sadio spoke across the back end of last seasion that suggested he would be staying.

[Samie]

https://twitter.com/paddypower/status/1555554219591172097

Some of you should watch this. 

[Goalposts for Jumpers]

If this is aimed at me, I'd like to see where I've even closely said anything about the above (highlighted in bold).

Pull out my posts in the context of the discussion in the last few day were I've gone on about crippling the club financially or people wanting shiny new toys.

The above is a figment of your imagination (if aimed at me). You and DonkeyWan seem very prickly because I've asked the questions about why we haven't signed a midfielder or who (could be numerous people) s included in that decision making?

I'm going to leave it there though. My aim was to be provocative and raise the level of debate beyond the same circle of discussions that's been going on for weeks. That doesn't seem possible so I'll leave it there. My position is relatively clear. We should buy a midfielder in my opinion but happy to trust the clubs judgement given our previous success at squad building, recruitment and succession planning.

It's annoying when posters attribute stuff to people that hasn't actually been said and try to force other posters into a divisive argument (when you actually, broadly agree) isn't it?

... So having to play two of Ox, Jones, Elliot, Milner and possibly even Keita in any combination in midfield could be extremely problematic depending on the opponent.

It also may not matter as any absences may just line up perfectly and we win the title on the trot, who knows? But if there's something you want to pick a hole in for why we may come up short then this is exactly it and why people keep saying we need someone else.

...There's obviously going to be times when injuries and unavailability mean we can't go with our main 3 midfielders. That wouldn't be great in certain games, namely City home and away, Chelsea home and away, Spurs home and away and probably United, West Ham and Arsenal away.

However, looking back at the games where we dropped points last season, it wasn't the games when we necessarily had 2 or more players from the 5th to 8th choices playing where we dropped points. In all but 2 of the games we always had 2 out Fabinho, Henderson and Thiago starting. The exceptions were Brighton at home where Keita and Henderson both started but I think Keita did go off injured.  The other exception was Spurs away when we started Morton, Keita and Milner due to Covid-19. It was a ragged performance but those were exceptional circumstances that affected team selection  that probably won't be replicated this season unless there is a massive injury crisis.
...

You say this and then you basically agreed with what I said in that there were a couple of games where a non-ideal midfield probably cost us the title.

...
But when a club and manager as smart as Liverpool and Klopp aren’t making a move for a new midfielder you’ve got to ask yourself ‘Why?’. ...The impression I get from some is that they think not buying a midfielder is a dereliction of duty or is highly likely to scupper our season. Something that Klopp is blind to or the club are parenting him from doing (& he’s said absolutely nothing publicly about it).

...If Klopp absolutely wanted another midfielder, we would have signed a midfielder. But as we have done in the past, if the right target isn't available, we wait - and rightly so. It would just be silly to sign a midfielder now just for the sake of it, not only because they might not be of the required standard, but because it would take funds away from any potential Bellingham deal next season.

...In my opinion you are coming across as someone who thinks we are desperate for midfield re-enforcements...

So we lost the Champions League final and only got 92 points because we didn't sign enough players? That's a daft attitude and I think deep down you know it. Klopp actually wants it this way, he wants us to sign the right player, not just fill gaps (not that we really have many) with anyone we can.

Net spend in last 2 season is: 130M euros
...
Without getting into specific (like we should have bought player X), over the last few seasons what would you have expected in terms of investment? How would you have financed this given the Covid-19 related losses...
Like I said I'm not trying to defend the club but genuinely interested in what you think is the appropriate level of investment and how you'd have financed that in the current operating model at Liverpool.

...
The thing is, I think people know this. But don't have the balls want to openly criticise Klopp around the recruitment policy he's a huge part of.

If you think not having a midfielder brought in this summer is an absolute key factor in us not winning this season, have the bravery to put you neck out and blame Klopp (and others).
...
DonkeyWan and Dave McCoy are 2 people who are hiding behind this a bit. If you think midfield is such an issue and something we have neglected over the last few years and has contributed to us not winning trophies then say who you blame for that.

So people can't suggest on a forum that they'd like another midfielder without having to blame someone for it costing us trophies?

I would like us to buy another mf with better defensive attributes than Jones, someone who is robust, agile and fast.

And for the record, if we lose the league by one point and it can be largely attributed to the unavailability of Fabinho or Thiago and Milner or Jones putting in a less than perfect performance then, yeah, I guess the blame would lie with the club hierarchy, including the manager, and their difference of opinion to me. Does that mean I don't appreciate them? Hell no. I'm just intelligent enough to have my own opinion. Sorry Jookie.

Lol

'Largely attrbuted" lol.

Lol

Why do you need to polarise the debate? Some people would prefer we bought a midfielder, some don't. Some people think we have enough money to do that. Others prefer it saved until Bellingham, or whoever becomes available, some don't. No ones been over critical of the owners or Klopp. It's a forum. Let people say their opinion without being pushed into "blaming" the manager for not winning everything

Net spend? Taking risks with the squad? Would have won loads more if FSG weren't skinflints? By jove...it must be August!

You can't beat these people. They have an opinion that we don't spend enough money, and then anything that goes wrong at the club can just be used to support that narrative. And something will always go wrong because that's sport.

Got an injury? Should have spent more money.
Lose a match? Should have spent more money.
Only won two trophies whilst getting 92 league points and in the final of the Champions League? Should have spent more money.

Ha ha yes, this. Well said.

People are barmy; completley round the loop and off their fruit. That's the only answer. Or they don't realise this is a sport they're talking about

To be fair, it's hard to beat people that don't exist.

It appears to me that we're all saying variations on the same thing, some are getting wound up by others not doing their homework, or conflating people wanting a new, more robust and defensively astute midfielder with being perpetually angry with the club for a "lack of investment". But hey, I'm chilled, so I'll leave it there.

Mate I'm annoyed because coming off the back of a season where we won 2 trophies, got to a CL final and got 92 points there is people complaining about lack of investment being the reason for not being even more successful. ...

Eh? I said if there's any place you can nitpick about the squad it's in midfield so it's understandable to see people nitpick about it.  With that said if anybody here is posting as if they already know getting a midfielder would make the difference for the 22/23 season between winning the title or not then they are full of shit and should get some time off from posting.

It is kind of weird that there are those who constantly think that we haven’t spent enough money....

...
I think people like that need to take a step back and look at our squad which is legitimately one of the best in the world. If we've managed to get there without a net spend like City or Utd then surely that's something to be celebrated? I just don't understand this criticism of the club for doing excellent business. It seems certain people want us to be run unsustainably for some reason.

I reckon another midfielder would be ace too but to use last season's performance as a stick to beat the recruitment team, including Klopp, with is just a bit silly. The decisions they've made in the past few years are why we are as good a team as we are. Maybe trust that they know what they're doing eh?

...Do you realise they may have been, and may yet be, right? How do you know not buying a midfielder, either last summer or this, wouldn't win us a title?

Can we not celebrate it whilst at the same time thinking it could be slightly better? By the way, I'm not even saying it would definitely be better (other players may get frustrated at lack of game time, other variables, etc, etc.) But I, along with other posters are entitled to their opinion, no?

You say criticism, I say difference of opinion. I am in absolute awe of how the club is run - we are the best run club on the planet, but I don't agree with every decision made.

...Do you think buying one midfielder (either this window or last summer) would push us into being "unsustainable". ...

... literally on the previous page DonkeyWan is criticising the choices made by the recruitment team last season on the basis that we didn't win the league and the champions league. On the one before that they're critical of the fact that we look like breaking even on transfers...

Not last season, previous seasons. And the fact is that Liverpool didn't win the league last season and didn't win the CL last season. There are reasons for that, possibly one of them is not having more options in the middle. I am not criticising the management team, I am merely pointing out that LFC have been low spending traditionally under FSG, they currently have excellent finances and were interested in buying a midfielder at the start of the summer, so why not get one now, rather than have it potentially cost us.

I am not saying last season was bad, it was excellent, I want to think about how you can make a great team even greater. Midfield was the area LFC struggled in last season, it's a natural area to consider for improvement. That is called critical reflection. The problem with far too many posters is that criticism, any criticism, is treated as treachery, rather than an attempt to make good things even better. This Pavlovian reaction to saying 'LFC might have gone one better with one better midfielder last year' is insane.
...

This thread is going to be indistinguishable from Twitter now

It's not that at all. All the "established posters" want a new midfielder as well, but some of us accept that our wishes aren't the driving factor here, and that whinging on and on an on about it won't change anything, and also that the club isn't deliberately not buying a player 'just because'. They have their reasons

But most of all it's because incessant fucking moaning about something we (you and I) can't change is tedious beyond belief.

Why not contribute with something positive and constructive about who we should sign and shape the debate then … or you know… stop clicking on the *checks notes* liverpool transfer thread

Are you saying you want relentless, reactive, twittery moaning? Cos that's the only kind of post I've spoken out against...

...What’s abhorrent is certain posters jumping on ‘I told you so’ before the game even finished...

...I haven't seen 'I told you so' posts from the people being admonished above - maybe they've been deleted, or maybe there just aren't any?...

You came on here immediately after the match and posted it would be like Twitter based on what I don’t know?! - there hadn’t been any other posts and I’ve never seen it remotely like Twitter in here

For me, this is a bit of a kneejerk reaction to dropping two points and Thiago getting injured today

But I will ask the question - Which top midfielder can we buy before the window closes? And don't say, Bellingham. He won't be going anywhere till next summer.

Christ, played one game and we're finished. Have a word some of you.

Dont think anyone is saying that to be fair...

We still overcame these problems and nearly won the whole lot with the squad we had.

I get yesterday's result was frustrating but the club doesn't act in a kneejerk manner. It'll know who it wants and unless the injury to Thiago is long term we won't change our plans.

Even if we sign them a year apart? We can't sign anyone until next summer, and then all our money will go on Bellingham? If that's true we're going to be in trouble, because we'll need several players next summer, including 2 or 3 midfielders.

Not got much faith in Harvey or Curtis or Carvalho or Bajcetic have you?

I see this a lot. For all our feigned interest and approval of youth development, only expensive purchases really count. Right?

...If you are unhappy with the quality with the current 5 midfielders then your gripe is with Klopp...

He's working on a relatively small budget compared to others. If he had unlimited money like Pep you think he'd take risks like this?

"What's that? Are you losing an argument? Are you struggling to see off hordes of rational posters asking pointed questions about your footballing nous? Well, fear no more, just pull on your big boy superfan pants and DEPLOY THE KLOPP SHIELD (tm)! This multi purpose tool will bring all debate to a screeching halt as you, the superfan, smugly hides behind your morality banner, happily interpreting every pronounciation from the manager as if written on stone and brought down from Mount Sinai. The KLOPP SHIELD (tm) can be used to bash your opponents into submission, as you repeatedly chant 'unbeliever', smiting those that would deign to ask questions like 'why haven't we replaced midfielders we have sold?' or 'can we really depend on a  36 year old to win the league?' The online equivalent of farting in a packed lift, the KLOPP SHIELD (tm) comes at the very reasonable price of your sanity, and the sanity of those who would engage with you in discussion... in an online forum... on a thread dedicated to transfers..."

Ha ha. Touched a nerve have I?

All I've done is asked the question  to those very irritated about a lack of midfield signing to ask themselves why we have bought a midfielder yet and who is making that decision?

No-one has really answered that but continued to shout about the madness of not signing midfielder.

I'll leave it at that though. You, in particularly, clearly don't have the capacity to take wider view or have a debate....

You seem a little touchy about that

You're literally arguing with people who also would like us to sign a midfielder. The question about who the more vociferous critics should aim their rage at is a pretty fair one, whether you like it or not. Myself, I'm in that boring old position of 'I trust the manager and the recruitment team implicitly so whatever they decide to do I'm fine with'.

I'll let you decide who is who from my hypothetical discourse...

[El Lobo]

What a thoroughly odd post

[Samie]

Get a life you sad bastards.

And before anyone comes for me I know I am as well. 

[Hazell]

Get a life you sad bastards.

And before anyone comes for me I know I am as well. 

Give him credit for spending ages composing that post. I'd respond in kind but like you say, I have a life so am too busy deciding which movie to pick first in the draft.