The Liverpool FC Thread XIV

Wow, in the last 2 games in 120 minutes Henderson didn't complete a single tackle. A midfield 2 of Wij and Can were more controlling than a 3 of Hendo, Lallana and Wijnaldum.

And Klopp's comments on Sunday: "Until now we play 4-3-3 because that was okay for the boys that are here, but that's not our system for the whole year." suggest we're going 4-2-3-1 this season. Hopefully it's goodbye Henderson.

Also I'd put money on Klavan-Matip being our first choice CB partnership by November.

That's pretty embarrassing tbh.

The thing is, right now he's our captain but I can't see him being good enough for the first team.
We'd get a good sum if we sold him and I reckon a lot of mid-table sides would want him too.

It's clear that 4-2-3-1 is our preferred formation because it gives the ability to play both wingers and CAMs when necessary. The three behind the striker can be as fluid and interchangeable as they like since they know there's a pair protecting the defence behind them.

All in all, I'm not too bothered about pre-season unless we play a game with our best possible side.

Without Karius/Matip/Sakho/Can in our side and with players like Coutinho needing a rest, it isn't a true representation of the quality that our side has.

So is anyone on here going to Wembley on Saturday to watch us play Barcelona?

Yep.

Same

We should get top 4 mate, as managers at man utd man city and chelsea should be settling in and wont win every game. As we've had Klopp for longer then their managers. We should get top 4. We can beat arsenal and tottenham in matches but maybe a chelsea man city or man utd are the only teams that may beat us.

Saw this on Reddit - apparently Lucas Leiva has the highest number of tackles in Premier League history...

Milner retires from international football. Only 30 so he should be good for a few more years yet..

If only he wasn't such a mediocre player...

I really hope Liverpool do well this year. I really like Klopp, and wish he can emulate his success at Dortmund in Liverpool. But I just don't see him having the squad. He also didn't make the signings they need I think.

The signings Klopp has made for the most part are exactly what we need:

Mane- pacey, can play on the wings also AM and up front if needs be. In the past two seasons at Soton in the league he has 11 goals and 4 assists and 11 goals and 9 assists. Mane will certainly rectify our lack of pace in the team (especially during counter attacks) and he has an eye for the goal too. In the goal scoring sense he's an upgrade on the likes of Lallana, Milner and Henderson which is what we are crying out for.

Karius- young keeper who is very confident, hopefully our number one this year and provides good competition for Mignolet. Karius was voted the 2nd best keeper in the Bundesliga by the players and only behind Neuer, not bad for a 22 year old keeper. We've seen how Mignolet can go through periods where he seems ok but always has a clanger in him. For a team wanting at least top 4 he is nowhere near good enough. I'm happy with Mignolet as second choice.

Matip- solid CB with loads of experience, he's tall and is strong at heading the ball (exactly what we need when defending set pieces). He was also the number one defender for blocking the most shots in the bundesliga last season. Not to mention he also scored 3 goals and had 3 assists.

Klavan- experienced and bought as defensive cover for CB and even LB, he had the second most blocked shots last season in the bundesliga.

Wijnaldum- I'm not quite sure where he'll play for us, some say CM (like he did in his PSV days), but the great thing is he can play in a number of positions- CM, AM, on the wings and even in deeper positions. Again he has an eye for goal, he scored 11 goals and made 6 assists. Which considering he played for a crap Newcastle who were relegated is not bad at all. I know there are concerns that he's not consistent and his work ethic has been questioned but I trust Klopp to bring out the best in him.

Grujic- he's very young (20), but what I've seen of him in preseason has been good. He's not shy taking shots and looks to make things happen, he already scored two goals during preseason. He's a big lad- 6ft 3" so he adds a lot of height and strength in CM which is what we really need. Definitely one for the future.

The signings Klopp have made all aim to rectify problems in the squad- lack of pace, lack of midfield goal scorers, competition for Mignolet. Sure these signings aren't getting the fans super excited but Klopp is right in signing players who actually want to play for us. I know the fans were dying for Gotze to join (myself included) but if he didn't want to play for us due to a lack of CL and has no desire to fight at the club to bring home trophies and regular CL football then we don't need guys like that. Most important thing is that the Klopp signed the players early on in the window so they've had time to train with the squad and understand his tactics. I'm certainly really hopeful of this upcoming season, I expect no less than top 4.

The one thing Klopp will be criticised for is if he doesn't sign a new LB to compete with Moreno. If we enter the season with only Moreno, and Joe Gomez and Milner as defensive cover then we are just asking for trouble. Attacking wise Moreno is good due to his pace but defensively he isn't up to scratch at all. There's still time left so I do hope Klopp is looking to sign a defensively solid LB.

Oh no, I don't deny he targeted players for roles that need improvement.

I am just saying while spending £100 on a single star might be outrageous, you do need special players. Why did they almost win the league? Well Suarez and how good he was and how he made others around him look great. Why did Pep win so many CL titles with Barca but failed with Bayern. At Bayern he didn't have the best player in the world or the likes of Xavi/Iniesta (Robben and Ribery always injured). Even Leicester - one of their players was voted player of the year! They had the top goalscorer and the other top guy had a team that was so close to contending til the very end when they fumbled and even Arsenal caught them.

I don't see anyone of these players being that special. He says he doesn't want to spend that big, thinks it's not what football is about. Ok, true. But look back at his 2 Bundesliga titles. He didn't spend big, but he scouted big. Kagawa then was another player, Götze was in much better form, he had Lewandowski and Reus, and Gündogan wasn't always injured then. In the back he had Hummels, Piszcek was amazing, that CL semifinal he shut down Ronaldo completely.