The Liverpool FC Thread XVII

I wouldn’t say it’s difficult you’re just not the club like you used to be no more. Van Dijk was over the place. Salah was a no show and wasteful. You spent £250,000,000 on two players who are yet to hit the ground running don’t forget one is premier league proven. I think that you massively must have regrets selling Luis Diaz.

VVD is clearly way past his peak. But he's probably still the best defender in a dysfunctional Liverpool defense.
Liverpool 3/1 for the title. Arsenal 10/11. Bookies clearly backing the side grinding this **** out. Utd/City away for Liverpool next. Wonder how many goals Liverpool will give away here?

Arsenal: Fulham, Crystal Palace, Burnley, Sunderland, Tottenham, Chelsea
Liverpool: Manchester United, Brentford, Aston Villa, Manchester City, Nottingham Forest, West Ham
Right how do I assess this as unbiased as I’ll be and as fair the next 6 for both Fulham should never go underestimated yet I think that Arsenal will take 12 out of 18 from this dropping points at Crystal Palace, Chelsea and Tottenham. I’m saying these 3 well Palace and Tottenham purely because of how they have been playing, how dangerous they are and how capable they are and also I think Chelsea have the capability to get the result against Arsenal.
As for Liverpool my assessment against us I honestly don’t know because in some instances in big games we turn up and fingers crossed we do so in this instance I will leave it as a I don’t know I expect you to beat Brentford and Especially Aston Villa their league form been woeful. I think Manchester City will beat you in form Halaand just bracing goals at the moment. I reckon you’ll easily beat Forest and West Ham. So again 12* but that could all change.

The key games for Liverpool are United and City over the next 6. I hope we can secure 6 from those two games but only United is a realistic shot, City would be hard to get a point.
Arsenal should be favourites to win the Prem based on the performance over the past few seasons. We need to see the run up to Christmas. If Arsenal is top of the tree by Christmas, the league should be done by then.

Yeah of course. But you don’t know what to expect from ourselves. So I just hope they are all geared and and ready to go and do everything to land the win and 3 points and long continue you know. I just can’t see you beat City like even then I think a Halaand goal will separate it. At this point yeah and if they do, do it it’ll be embarrassing on us too after losing Sir Alex how we haven’t been able to win our first since. And they have post Wenger. Yeah the saying or the stat anyways whoever first by Christmas goes onto win the league.

Oh yeah he’s past his peak and for people to say he’s better than Nemanja Vidic and Rio Ferdinand is diabolical. I think there was a reason why they wanted Guehi. Probably to replace Van Dijk Legs. I think that it’s Arsenal what Arsenal need to do now is maximise these good run of games picking up maximum points, when they play Liverpool at the Emirates beat them opens up a 4 point lead and just hope teams like Chelsea, Tottenham and Manchester City can beat Liverpool and do a favour for them even the Crystal Palace’s, Bournemouths.

VVD is clearly way past his peak. But he's probably still the best defender in a dysfunctional Liverpool defense.
Liverpool 3/1 for the title. Arsenal 10/11. Bookies clearly backing the side grinding this **** out. Utd/City away for Liverpool next. Wonder how many goals Liverpool will give away here?

Yesterday was 15 years since FSG acquired us. Crazy how time flies.

It is impressive that they have transformed the club. I read some articles about pre-FSG times and it seemed the club was really different.

yes Liverpool have kicked on massively. In my childhood Liverpool were very much a fallen giant in the league. Capable of cup runs and big nights but over a season, not up to it. In the transfer market, going for very much the 2nd tier of players in general. Your Anelka after Real had case him aside or shopping around the top 10 for the likes of Crouch, Heskey, Steve Finnan.
Completely different now. Liverpool compete for the very best players and can mix it up over a season now. Always loads of Liverpool fans knocking about even in London but couldnt quite put the pieces together. I think some money was all that was needed to get the motor started again and you didnt miss many steps. Klopp was just a great manager and should have won a lot more.
Liverpool and Man Utd are probably as big as clubs as each other now. Excited to see some duels when Utd come back to full power, sooner or later. Arsenal and Liverpool is a tame rivalry. Personally I couldnt give a toss if you won 10 CLs on the bounce in all honesty...But I do think Arsenal will win the league this season by a fair number of points!

Yes, i think money is a key factor in competing at the highest levels. Look at the amount of accolades secured by Man City with the backing of an oil rich nation. I predict that we will see the rise of Newcastle too. They have already secured a trophy after many years.
I think clubs need a great manager who is properly backed. Amorim at United should have been the second coming of Fergie (imho) if United properly backed him and got rid of the deadweight. Now, we are hearing about Amorim getting the sack.
Someone said to me that it is difficult to have the top 4 to 5 clubs all be at the top of their games. Some of them need to be on the decline while the others flourish. I remember when Spurs dominated and nearly won the big one under Poch.
I agree with your sentiment about the Champs League. I (oddly) prefer winning multiple prem league titles than Champs League. Dominating the prem like City under Pep would be magical for Liverpool.
If Liverpool cant win it this year, I hope Arsenal does. It is their time and Arteta has done a lot for them.

yes Liverpool have kicked on massively. In my childhood Liverpool were very much a fallen giant in the league. Capable of cup runs and big nights but over a season, not up to it. In the transfer market, going for very much the 2nd tier of players in general. Your Anelka after Real had case him aside or shopping around the top 10 for the likes of Crouch, Heskey, Steve Finnan.

Completely different now. Liverpool compete for the very best players and can mix it up over a season now. Always loads of Liverpool fans knocking about even in London but couldnt quite put the pieces together. I think some money was all that was needed to get the motor started again and you didnt miss many steps. Klopp was just a great manager and should have won a lot more.

Liverpool and Man Utd are probably as big as clubs as each other now. Excited to see some duels when Utd come back to full power, sooner or later. Arsenal and Liverpool is a tame rivalry. Personally I couldnt give a toss if you won 10 CLs on the bounce in all honesty...But I do think Arsenal will win the league this season by a fair number of points!

I think this is a fair summary of the pre FSG Liverpool years. The reality is that whilst we had some good managers and some world class players, we were not a well run club under Hicks and Gillette, quite apart from the damage they did on the financial side of things and the empty promises to the fan base. You see it across sports that well run clubs consistently manage to stay competitive. You do need a good manager and good players, but it is the support structure around them that can often make the difference. It's the decision makers internally who decide who to hire (who hired both Klopp and Slot whilst passing on Amorim), the scouting department who recommend players (Klopp wanted to sign Julian Brandt, and he was overruled internally in favour of Salah), as well as the backroom staff and so on. If you don't have that internal structure you simply cannot remain competitive for sustained periods of time. Liverpool did not have that throughout the 90s and 00s. We do now, and the difference is massive.

Pretty much. Clubs need a deep infrastructure of management, from the chief of staff to the owner you need to be all in nowadays. Liverpool have had the best management structure in England, maybe Europe, over the last 10 or so years and it shows. Actually, the outlay on transfers sort of pays for itself with revenue coming in and that penny has dropped now. Even at Arsenal, who were basically just Wenger + his notebook of scouts with no budget at all (literally), for years have turned this around. Kronkes are all in now happily spending record breaking amounts whilst revenue grows. Clubs cant be successful without great management now. The decline of Chelsea for instance is obviously just because of the change in owner. It is arguably even more important than the manager.

Also, it sounds obvious but it really isnt. It's like saying to companies "just run yourself well moron". If it was so easy then there would be no bad corporates but there are loads. Same in football. Utd are the textbook case of a club that cant get it right. Too much internal problems to focus, owners who dont really care. Other objectives, in Utd's case just asset stripping and short termism. Etc. Liverpool are an example to many clubs.

Having said that Liverpool had all the ingredients to make a top top club again but just a lack of steering. Many clubs dont have that potential. Brighton for instance are arguably even better run but cant grow obviously. Spurs are a club with plenty of potential as well, could easily kick on with the right management but they have their own issues. But you also need a bit of luck. Aston Villa you would say have been very well run but have made some mistakes too. Liverpool didnt miss a step in truth and that's in part luck

Yesterday was 15 years since FSG acquired us. Crazy how time flies.

Sorry to ask you, but who or which is FSG? I am not familiar with these three letters.