The Liverpool FC Thread XIV

He's not surviving the euros. Emile Heskey will probably injure him.

Reply 7361

mr tim

18

Origi, Henderson, Ings could make a comeback v West Brom. Ings isn't in the EL squad so he won't feature in the final.

Reply 7362

Controlla

Original post by Zerforax

I guess some other clubs will argue that they can give more opportunities to win trophies but after his experience at Bayern of being on the bench he might just want to go somewhere that he can be the star player.

My only issue with Gotze is fitting him into our squad. No doubt he's an improvement and for £20mil he would be a steal imo but then we have Coutinho, Firmino, Lallana, Milner without looking at someone like Markovic and any other wingers we buy. Do you have to sell one of them to make space for Gotze? Before I would've said Lallana but he's actually thrived under Klopp so far this season.

If we win the EL this year, who in this country could say they have a better short or medium term chance of winning trophies, other than City under Pep? He's already won 5 German leagues (lol) and the World Cup, committing career suicide in the search for trophies in Italy or France shouldn't be an option for him.

None of them have to be sold. Milner and Lallana can become rotation.

Reply 7363

OP

Original post by bammy jastard 27

He's not surviving the euros. Emile Heskey will probably injure him.

Well he will get Woy'ed so probably not much hope..

Original post by mr tim

Origi, Henderson, Ings could make a comeback v West Brom. Ings isn't in the EL squad so he won't feature in the final.

Would be good to see them get some minutes. I guess we treat Ings like a new signing this summer effectively.

Wonder if Origi and Henderson would be 100% fit? You look at Can who walked straight back into the side and the lay-off didn't seem to affect him. Probably too close for them to start but maybe they can make the bench?

Not even sure where Ings fits into the squad now.. he probably could've made a real case under Klopp but now he's probably behind in the pecking order.

Reply 7364

OP

Original post by Controlla

If we win the EL this year, who in this country could say they have a better short or medium term chance of winning trophies, other than City under Pep? He's already won 5 German leagues (lol) and the World Cup, committing career suicide in the search for trophies in Italy or France shouldn't be an option for him.

None of them have to be sold. Milner and Lallana can become rotation.

Well all of Man Utd, Man City, Chelsea and Arsenal make more money than us. Of course only 2 out of 4 will have CL football next season but I guess the other 2 would just throw more money around as a solution.

Probably need to throw in Spurs since they will have CL football, finished 2nd (or 3rd) in the league and their manager has signed a new contract.

I agree that if we win the EL we shouldn't be an unattractive option by comparison since we'll have CL and a quality manager. We'd still be able to offer decent high wages too.

Hoping the Klopp factor can sway it for us..

Would Milner be willing to become a rotation option? The whole reason he left Man City was because he didn't want to be. Agree about Lallana although maybe we sell someone so we can buy some actual wingers..

Reply 7365

Genuinely only found out about this potential West Ham play-off today. **** that.

A lot of things have to go wrong for it to come to that, of course. But imagine getting it played in mid-July, which looks the most likely scenario. Ridiculous.

Reply 7366

mr tim

18

Henderson back in training, no sign of Origi

Reply 7367

Original post by Mackay

Genuinely only found out about this potential West Ham play-off today. **** that.

A lot of things have to go wrong for it to come to that, of course. But imagine getting it played in mid-July, which looks the most likely scenario. Ridiculous.

What do you mean?

Reply 7368

Controlla

Original post by Zerforax

Well all of Man Utd, Man City, Chelsea and Arsenal make more money than us. Of course only 2 out of 4 will have CL football next season but I guess the other 2 would just throw more money around as a solution.

Probably need to throw in Spurs since they will have CL football, finished 2nd (or 3rd) in the league and their manager has signed a new contract.

I agree that if we win the EL we shouldn't be an unattractive option by comparison since we'll have CL and a quality manager. We'd still be able to offer decent high wages too.

Hoping the Klopp factor can sway it for us..

Would Milner be willing to become a rotation option? The whole reason he left Man City was because he didn't want to be. Agree about Lallana although maybe we sell someone so we can buy some actual wingers..

This season is evidence that money is actually becoming a leveller for the PL. With everyone having obscene amounts of money and being able to buy a level of players from Europe that was previously not possible, the difference between a 30m player (what West Ham can buy) and a 60m player (what City or United can buy) isn't all that anymore. As a result, teams are more bunched together, and managerial brilliance/player ups and downs/all kinds of fine margins have all come into play more. Will it continue? I reckon so. There's great infrastructure and finances at many clubs in the top half of the table and that's not going away any time soon, and Europe isn't catching up nearly as quickly. United can buy Martial but West Ham can bid 30m on Batshuayi, Liverpool and United can buy 20m+ Firmino and Depay but West Ham can buy Payet, Spurs can buy Son, etc.

In any case, Klopp won two titles on a net spend of zero. So even if spending power (loosely or strongly) correlates to league position in the medium term, Klopp's work is enough to outdo the 4 teams which are more powerful than us in the market, even though as the spending power of all clubs relative to the market has increased, it's the ability to attract players that becomes the limiting factor (and Klopp excels here too). Medium term prospects, only City are in a better position. Gotze will know that too.

Milner didn't want to be a winger at LFC either but he's only been a CM for Klopp when Henderson has been injured. I can't see him complaining. We could get to the stage where we have Coutinho and Gotze as our starters, then two more to choose from Sturridge, Origi, Firmino, Milner, Lallana, new winger. Milner will get games at CM too, so Lallana and Firmino are likely to be the unhappy ones. It is a 60 game season though and the top clubs do manage to keep them happy. Lallana and Firmino are good but they're not Ribery, Thiago, Coman.

Reply 7369

Original post by Lúcio

What do you mean?

West Ham and Liverpool could, theoretically, face a play-off. They will tie for sixth or seventh place (depending on Southampton’s result) if West Ham lose 1-0 at Stoke and Liverpool win 2-1 at West Brom, or if West Ham lose 2-1 and Liverpool win 3-2 etc. If a Europa League place is at stake, a play-off at a neutral venue will then be required if Liverpool lose to Sevilla.

Reply 7370

Original post by Mackay

West Ham and Liverpool could, theoretically, face a play-off. They will tie for sixth or seventh place (depending on Southampton’s result) if West Ham lose 1-0 at Stoke and Liverpool win 2-1 at West Brom, or if West Ham lose 2-1 and Liverpool win 3-2 etc. If a Europa League place is at stake, a play-off at a neutral venue will then be required if Liverpool lose to Sevilla.

Oh right, that's fair enough then.

Unlikely that'll happen anyway but it would be cool. Not sure I'd fancy our chances though - the lads would be gutted after losing a second final of the season so I doubt they'd be too up for it.

Reply 7371

ClockEnderAFC

Strange to see Jordan Rossiter being sold to Rangers. Thought he had a future at Liverpool tbh.

Reply 7372

Good luck to Rossiter. He's a local lad, so it's a shame. We'll be receiving £250,000 in compensation apparently.

Reply 7373

OP

Original post by ClockEnderAFC

Strange to see Jordan Rossiter being sold to Rangers. Thought he had a future at Liverpool tbh.

Not so much sold rather he ran down his contract and left on a free.

Reply 7374

Tomorrow will have a quintessential end-of-season feel about it. Reminiscent of our match against Portsmouth in 2006/07 when we had the CL final looming. I hope we see Randall, Brannagan, Ojo and Canos.

Reply 7375

Original post by Mackay

Tomorrow will have a quintessential end-of-season feel about it. Reminiscent of our match against Portsmouth in 2006/07 when we had the CL final looming. I hope we see Randall, Brannagan, Ojo and Canos.

I expect nothing. We can be forgiven for that. Finishing top 7 is out of our hands anyway, so if we lose and Soton/West Ham win, it won't bother me all too much.

I just want us to be ready for the final. Losing to a better team on the day would suck but losing because we had a terrible game is the worst thing imaginable.
We may have lost the League Cup final but we only did so on penalties and that's more about luck than anything else.

Reply 7376

Original post by Lúcio

I just want us to be ready for the final. Losing to a better team on the day would suck but losing because we had a terrible game is the worst thing imaginable.

I'm exactly the same. It helps we're playing a West Brom side who haven't had anything to play for for weeks now. Hopefully it'll be an exhibition game, and a decent way for everyone to impress/stretch their legs.

Reply 7377

Original post by Mackay

I'm exactly the same. It helps we're playing a West Brom side who haven't had anything to play for for weeks now. Hopefully it'll be an exhibition game, and a decent way for everyone to impress/stretch their legs.

I can't tell you how angry and disappointed I'll be if we have a bad game on Wednesday. Sevilla are an excellent team in this competition but we've beaten better sides this year - many among the favourites to lift the trophy.

Considering how much this will mean to the players, manager and fans? Klopp's first trophy, - hopefully the first of many - a route back in to the CL, players to take notice of Liverpool clawing their way back up there under an excellent manager.

I can't remember the last time this much rested on the result of a single Liverpool game.

Reply 7378

OP

Original post by Lúcio

I can't tell you how angry and disappointed I'll be if we have a bad game on Wednesday. Sevilla are an excellent team in this competition but we've beaten better sides this year - many among the favourites to lift the trophy.

Considering how much this will mean to the players, manager and fans? Klopp's first trophy, - hopefully the first of many - a route back in to the CL, players to take notice of Liverpool clawing their way back up there under an excellent manager.

I can't remember the last time this much rested on the result of a single Liverpool game.

Was a lot riding on the 2005 final too. I imagine Gerrard would've left that summer if we hadn't won the CL. Also kicked off us buying some quality players under Rafa too.

Well it seemed like our players buckled under the pressure in the League Cup final which doesn't bode too well. Klopp doesn't have a great record in finals either.

Reply 7379