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Original post by Mackay
It doesn't sound like Sakho will be available to start, though Kolo should be. Who will we partner him with? Maybe Lucas or Can, or look for Ilori in the hope that the game is played predominantly on the deck? Baptism of fire for him, though.

Origi out for a long while yet, but Henderson and Milner are back, and Clyne, A. Moreno, and Firmino will all return. So the outlook is much better than last Friday!


Ilori looked embarrassingly unfit vs a League 2 side so I definitely don't think he wants to be laying against a team as fluid and relentless as Arsenal. I'd much prefer Toure and Lucas simply due to their experience and defensive awareness.

Let's face it, we're gonna get destroyed either way.
Original post by Lúcio
Ilori looked embarrassingly unfit vs a League 2 side so I definitely don't think he wants to be laying against a team as fluid and relentless as Arsenal. I'd much prefer Toure and Lucas simply due to their experience and defensive awareness.

Let's face it, we're gonna get destroyed either way.


I think Ilori would do fine against the stuff on the deck. Main problem is that Giroud would eat him alive in the air.

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/jan/12/liverpool-steven-caulker-qpr-loan

Caulker on loan for the rest of the season?

Shame about Origi - he would've gotten more minutes once he was back.

West Ham in the cup is annoying. They would probably play a first team side too. It would also be played between Stoke in the LC and Leicester away in the league. I'd just play our kids for the next 2 rounds and see what they can do.
Echo also confirming Caulker news. May even be in time to face Arsenal and could train today.

EDIT: Telegraph confirms too.
(edited 8 years ago)
Original post by mr tim
Echo also confirming Caulker news. May even be in time to face Arsenal and could train today.

EDIT: Telegraph confirms too.


Looks like we'll have tons of CBs once everyone is fit (if that were to happen).

Not sure what kind of side we'll see against Arsenal. Do we have a fit XI?

Mignolet, Moreno, Clyne, Toure, Lucas, Can, Firmino and Lallana would seem to be fit and to play but not sure who fills the other 3 spots. Either Sakho/Caulker to fill in at CB (or Lucas drops back). Maybe Henderson can make the game or Allen comes in? Benteke up front? Or we go with Firmino and then Milner comes in?
Original post by mr tim
Echo also confirming Caulker news. May even be in time to face Arsenal and could train today.

EDIT: Telegraph confirms too.


Ngl, I'd take Caulker on loan the way things are.
He has experience and so does Toure so even though we might lack pace, we'd be disciplined in the centre.

He knows he's be way down the pecking order when all CBs are fit, but if he chooses to come here to play to odd game in the second half of the season, why the hell not?

Inb4 we buy him for 30m in the summer.
Original post by Lúcio
Ngl, I'd take Caulker on loan the way things are.
He has experience and so does Toure so even though we might lack pace, we'd be disciplined in the centre.

He knows he's be way down the pecking order when all CBs are fit, but if he chooses to come here to play to odd game in the second half of the season, why the hell not?

Inb4 we buy him for 30m in the summer.


At least it means we'll take our time and buy a new CB in the summer. Won't be easy to shift any of Skrtel, Lovren or Sakho though (for various reasons).
Caulker loan confirmed. In the squad v Arsenal.
Original post by mr tim
Caulker loan confirmed. In the squad v Arsenal.


Impressed with how quickly and quietly that was sorted.

You would imagine he's not good enough long term considering Spurs let him go and the next two clubs he played at were both relegated followed by very little game time at Southampton.

However he has premier league experience and more importantly is fit.

I'm a little surprised by the move since we could have all our 4 CBs fit again for the start of February (Lovren and Sakho back in the next week and Skrtel at start of Feb). We also recalled Ilori who must then fall down to 6th choice CB?

Maybe there is something else happening that we haven't heard about - for example Skrtel's injury being worse than originally predicted?
Original post by Zerforax
Impressed with how quickly and quietly that was sorted.

You would imagine he's not good enough long term considering Spurs let him go and the next two clubs he played at were both relegated followed by very little game time at Southampton.

However he has premier league experience and more importantly is fit.

I'm a little surprised by the move since we could have all our 4 CBs fit again for the start of February (Lovren and Sakho back in the next week and Skrtel at start of Feb). We also recalled Ilori who must then fall down to 6th choice CB?

Maybe there is something else happening that we haven't heard about - for example Skrtel's injury being worse than originally predicted?

How about Skrtel is utterly sh*t?

At least we have bought in a player on loan and haven't panicked. Although I would have liked to have signed Matip who we were heavily linked with before hand. Subotic has only played four Bundesliga games all season as well!
Original post by Adamski2409
How about Skrtel is utterly sh*t?

At least we have bought in a player on loan and haven't panicked. Although I would have liked to have signed Matip who we were heavily linked with before hand. Subotic has only played four Bundesliga games all season as well!


You think Caulker is going to be any better than Skrtel?

We can still sign Matip on a free in the summer. Considering our injury issues, we don't need Subotic currently who's just recovering from a serious injury.
Original post by Zerforax
Don't get me wrong, Gotze is faster/has better dribbling/is a better player than Milner but it's another attacking player who's versatile, intelligent, not huge in size/build (even if Milner is pretty bulky and strong these days), not searing pace etc

He'll be able to beat his man 1 vs 1 but we often have teams sitting deep against us which means less space to dribble and then he'd be better if we had other different players around him? Do you not think Coutinho suffers a similar problem currently?

I guess I'd expect us to sell someone similar (probably Lallana) if we were upgrading to Gotze.


Gotze is dribbler, runner, creater, scorer, everything. He wasn't called the German Messi by Beckenbauer and many others for no reason.

He can beat his man 1 vs 1, play the cute pass to unlock the defence, or get on the end of it and square it/score it.

Coutinho's problem is feeling that he has unequivocal license to shoot whenever Benteke is on the pitch, rather than being crowded out.
Thing is though like Pimped was saying buying Gotze with Coutinho is fine, you may have loads of similar players like Arsenal did in 13/14 but I guess if you can buy extra players that fit the system in the future, then the money paid for Gotze is worth it. It's more the case if you try a Real Madrid and just buy the same type of player over and over again and try to stick them in the team when there's a glaring hole in a key position that's when there is an issue.

Again though don't think too many signings are needed as of yet if your team is fit, at ST you are fine, at AM you are fine, a world class CM/DM would be appreciated but Henderson is a good player and Can has a lot of potential to become a world class player, Lucas good enough to fill in when needed.

I feel like the issue of signings is exacerbated by the fact that almost every player in your entire team has been injured for lengthy periods this season, there is a clear lack of continuity and consistency, which then makes it harder to judge where the signings are needed as the team have not played together and there is a lack of cohesion in the squad, especially with a new manager coming in midseason. Would a striker be so important if Ings was fit the entire season? Would a midfielder be so important if Henderson had not got an injury? There's only so much quality you can get for cover anyway and the squad you have right now when fit can make top 4.
(edited 8 years ago)
I'll take Caulker. It surprises me some lads on Twitter etc are already wishing him to fail.

With Skrtel, Lovren and Sakho injured, Ilori lacking fitness, Gomez out for the rest of the season, and Kolo Toure ageing, we needed PL experience.

Of course, Caulker is one or two targets down the list. We tried for Matip and Subotic - neither of which could happen, according to reports. So, Caulker makes sense. Why does he make sense?

Because best solution doesn't automatically mean best footballer. He is a towering centre-half in the Shawcross mould, who won't be bullied and - when he heads the ball - it stays headed.

He's not the best centre-back on planet Earth, and he's probably not even the best centre-back at Southampton or Liverpool, but he gives us something we need in a time of crisis.
Original post by jam277
Thing is though like Pimped was saying buying Gotze with Coutinho is fine, you may have loads of similar players like Arsenal did in 13/14 but I guess if you can buy extra players that fit the system in the future, then the money paid for Gotze is worth it. It's more the case if you try a Real Madrid and just buy the same type of player over and over again and try to stick them in the team when there's a glaring hole in a key position that's when there is an issue.

Again though don't think too many signings are needed as of yet if your team is fit, at ST you are fine, at AM you are fine, a world class CM/DM would be appreciated but Henderson is a good player and Can has a lot of potential to become a world class player, Lucas good enough to fill in when needed.

I feel like the issue of signings is exacerbated by the fact that almost every player in your entire team has been injured for lengthy periods this season, there is a clear lack of continuity and consistency, which then makes it harder to judge where the signings are needed as the team have not played together and there is a lack of cohesion in the squad, especially with a new manager coming in midseason. Would a striker be so important if Ings was fit the entire season? Would a midfielder be so important if Henderson had not got an injury? There's only so much quality you can get for cover anyway and the squad you have right now when fit can make top 4.


There's a decent squad core but no excellent players (where I agree with PB's argument) but also some major flaws in the side.

GK - we need a new keeper who is actually good and potentially a new back-up GK too.
FB - Clyne/Moreno are okay, both have limitations and positives but we need back-ups which can compliment their limitations imo
CB - we could do with one top quality CB who can stay fit and we can build the others around.
CM - we could do with one top quality CM who can sit next to Henderson
Attacking players - we could do with a bit of pace on either/both flanks and maybe one star player to help the side be more creative/bit of magic
ST - we need to work out who will fit the side. On paper Benteke, Sturridge, Ings and Origi looks good but equally you can say - doesn't fit what Klopp wants, always injured, will he recover from such a serious injury, will he fulfill his potential?

All that if we want to challenge for the title. We can drop a couple/few if we're just aiming for top 4.
Expecting to see Mignolet, Clyne, Toure, Sakho, A. Moreno, Lucas, Can, Milner, Henderson, Lallana, Firmino tonight. The only question is whether he throws in Caulker in Sakho's stead, I guess. I can't imagine he'll opt for Benteke, given Arsenal's back line's ability to dominate in the air. We should be looking to play it on the deck whenever possible in the final third.
Few games coming up for me: Stoke and Exeter at Anfield in both cup competitions, and then West Ham if we advance past the latter.
Original post by Mackay
Expecting to see Mignolet, Clyne, Toure, Sakho, A. Moreno, Lucas, Can, Milner, Henderson, Lallana, Firmino tonight. The only question is whether he throws in Caulker in Sakho's stead, I guess. I can't imagine he'll opt for Benteke, given Arsenal's back line's ability to dominate in the air. We should be looking to play it on the deck whenever possible in the final third.


I'd think we could potentially win the game with that line-up.. I guess Caulker, Allen and Benteke would be the 3 subs who can come on.
Original post by Zerforax
I'd think we could potentially win the game with that line-up.. I guess Caulker, Allen and Benteke would be the 3 subs who can come on.


Not a big fan of changing the defence through a game, to be honest, but if Sakho starts he almost certainly won't last the full 90.
Original post by Mackay
Not a big fan of changing the defence through a game, to be honest, but if Sakho starts he almost certainly won't last the full 90.


No but if we get 45-60 minutes of Sakho, it might be better for us? At least he's familiar with our defence/team.

Or do we just save him to play 90 minutes against Man Utd?

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