The Liverpool FC Thread XIV

It will be interesting to see what Klopp's game plan becomes for next season. Firmino hasn't really thrived behind the striker or playing as a second striker? Seems to go missing in games even if he's at the right place to get goals. Some of his stats are padded out by when he played as the lone striker.

Gotze has a decent goal scoring record though so maybe he can be the player in the middle who we get goals from? Crazy to think he's been at Bayern Munich for 3 seasons already.

We do need to work out a plan to get the best of Coutinho and Firmino because at the moment I'm not entirely convinced we do see the best of them..

Second paragraph is a bit of a stretch - we hardly lose all the time. We win more than we lose (and have done over the past 5 seasons in the league as a sample) unless you were to rephrase to "used to not winning" since draws obviously account for closer to 30% of our results.

Third paragraph also makes it sound like we ground our way to the final rather than some dramatic and emotional football to get there.

Describing Sturridge's goal you don't even mention Moreno's run which pulls the CB wider to give Sturridge the gap to score.

Don't mention that Lovren's goal was ruled offside because Sturridge interfered in play.

On attracting players - you ignore the pull of Liverpool as a club and the high wages we can still offer even without European football.

Not your best effort. 5/10.

I know, the hope is just that if we somehow convinced him to come, Götze would be the spark we need in midfield. The more people focus on him, the less attention that Coutinho/Firmjno/Sturridge have, and we all know how dangerous they can be when they get space.

I think we have a really good chance of silverware next season. Klopp already got us to 2 trophies without any squad additions - if we're able to bring in players and have no Europa League distractions, I don't think that's unrealistic.

Don't get me wrong, I'm just trying to be positive out of the ruins of two cup final defeats, but we might as well be as optimistic as we can right now.

Quite a few players with a lot of games under their belt this season..

Ok

Liverpool played 63 games this season
38 of which were in the Premier League
15 of which were in the Europa League
6 of which were in the League Cup
4 of which were in the FA Cup

Quite a few players with a lot of games under their belt this season..

Don't be like that.

You post your reviews on this thread so we can read them and I've our opinions, good or bad. After losing the Europa League final, this is always going to be a hard one to write so I wouldn't take it to heart.

Zerf gave his honest opinion without malice or disdain. The best thing you can do is discuss things with him because that's the whole point of why we all post in this thread.

All I said was ok. Stop making a big deal, I accept that it was crap, I already warned people it would be, just gave my opinions.
In all honesty writing's not exactly my thing I just do it because I like it, so if i'm crap who cares.

You struggle to see where a lot of them will get game time next campaign, though. Obviously, Skrtel is surplus to requirements, as is Bogdan. Kolo Toure is unlikely to be playing next season for us, by all accounts, but I've heard rumblings that the club may be offering him a non-playing deal.

Aside from that, where do the likes of Chirivella, Stewart, Brannagan, Randall, even Lucas, Flanagan, Smith, get game time? I think we'll see Ojo quite a lot in cameo roles, to be honest. He's had an impact when introduced from the bench - and he's the type of player I can see Klopp deploying, capable of creating a chance, and that's what we'll likely need when it's 0-0 with West Brom at Anfield with 20 minutes left on a midweek night.

As Mackay states above, next season will very much harm our youth prospects. I don't think we have any other choice though - I'm confident of a serious top 4 challenge and a cup run, but with a squad as large as ours, that means we're going to have little room for too many youngsters.

I would loan the most promising ones out and sell the individuals who are too old/poor quality to make it. I'd rather us keep players like Allen and Lallana on the bench rather than offloading them and having Brannagan and Teixeira there instead.

He's that highly rated? I've never heard of him before but he sounds like a great option considering Moreno has regular defensive lapses. I really hope we get him, apparently he has rejected a new contract offer from Leicester.
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I am overselling him tbh, but throughout the years, he has seemed like a great prospect with a lot of potential so I would be annoyed. He been wanted by Arsenal from last summer, so I would think he is quite highly rated, considering I don't think he has played a premier league game as yet. I think he rejected a £18,000 new deal, but I think Leicester will come in with a 25-30k deal.

Na he plays on the right of a 4-3-3.
Kagawa Castro and Gundogan play in the centre for Dortmund in central midfield, which is probably the most suited position for Gotze in the Dortmund team. I'm inclined to think he'd get in the team over Kagawa.

Milner - 6.5 (solid, lots of games, gave us experience but another workhorse rather than a superstar. While he's regularly been a starter and done well in terms of goals and assists, you'd imagine his position is under threat next season)

Where would Gotze fit in at Arsenal when they already have Ozil? There is RW but Mahrez would be a better signing for them at RW.

Nope, Weigl plays deepest with one of Castro, Sahin and Gundogan next to him. And then there's a broad kind of hybrid position at RCM, where the RCM (usually Castro but sometimes Durm or Gundogan I think) plays as a CM, but move out wide when Mkhi picks up the ball. When Shinji plays it's a more normal 4-2-3-1 with him pulling the strings as the 10. Gotze would never get in ahead of Auba, Reus or Mkhi, and both Dembele and Pulisic will get big minutes next season. I don't know much about Passlack but he too is in the frame.

Shinji already does very well as their regular rotation option, there's no need to sign Gotze to rotate with Shinji in what is already a rotation space and an alternate formation. Kicker have already reported that a move to Dortmund is not an option and that Dortmund don't want him, and I believe another reliable source has said that Dortmund would only be interested if it was on a free next season. And that's without considering the opposition of their fans.

So there's neither the space in the squad nor the desire from any level of their club to have Gotze right now.

Whilst nobody can underestimate Wenger's ability of buying lightweight attacking midfielders that clearly aren't what they need, Gotze doesn't fit in there at all. Which makes it weird why you mentioned them as a potential target. Anyway they'll probably secure Xhaka soon and two outfield signings in a window will give Wenger a nosebleed.

I've said it before, the only alternatives Gotze has to LFC are Juve and staying at Bayern. Both of which would be career suicide.