Liverpool FC Forum

[woof woof !]

Far from panicking here BUT !

Is anyone concerned about our start to the season ?

Let's face it most of us would have expected 6 or at the very least a minimum of 4 points from those opening fixtures.

Once again we're going into a new season with the squad riddled with injuries. Are we again just unlucky or is our pre-season planning/training/fitness management at fault ?

I'm seeing a very disjointed "team" performance atm. The "new" front 3 admittedly need time to bed in but so far I've expected more from players of their calibre. Will check myself here and give a big salute to Diaz , his brilliant goal was exactly the kind of stuff I'm hoping for from our strikers.
Nunez for me is still a worry, not bothered about his temperament but  his goal to opportunity ratio isn't the best and if Salah continues to play out any wider he may as well just get a bucket of whitewash and spend the game painting  the sidelines
The midfield are a revolving pick and mix of mixed quality and the defence have definitely not been at their best.

Unless we get into gear, on the early form we've shown no way do I see us challenging for the title.
Massive must win game against the scum tomorrow. Just hoping the team's performance will tell me to shut the f*ck up .

Moan over

[ycsatbjywtbiastkamb]

As Shanks said the race to the title is a marathon not a sprint and other teams will have their hiccups like Chelsea did today so as you say no need to panic but there is deffo a bit of a changing of the guard type dynamic going on particularly with our front 3 so there is some trepidation there. Only Mo remains A) at the club and B) a regular starter so in that sense it is a bit of a new dawn.
We relied so heavily on Sadio, Bobby and Mo and it’s yet to be seen wether Mo, Nunez and Diaz can fill the massive hole they leave.
I do think Mo, Nunez, Diaz (and Jota) will be a terrific strike force but Mo,Sadio and Bobby were arguably the best in Europe in their prime. Those are some big shoes to fill.

[woof woof !]

As Shanks said the race to the title is a marathon not a sprint and other teams will have their hiccups like Chelsea did today so as you say no need to panic but there is deffo a bit of a changing of the guard type dynamic going on particularly with our front 3 so there is some trepidation there. Only Mo remains A) at the club and B) a regular starter so in that sense it is a bit of a new dawn.
We relied so heavily on Sadio, Bobby and Mo and it’s yet to be seen wether Mo, Nunez and Diaz can fill the massive hole they leave.
I do think Mo, Nunez, Diaz (and Jota) will be a terrific strike force but Mo,Sadio and Bobby were arguably the best in Europe in their prime. Those are some big shoes to fill.

Fair comment Yakka.  My concern is how long will it take for the "new" front three to gel together. It's not just about a new front line but with Nunez in there it's a new tactic.
There's been times when instead of "cute" football we've resorted to just lobbing the ball into the box hoping Nunez might get onto it.

Also I'm still not impressed with our "Pick and Mix" midfield. Hate to say it, but right now, all other competitions aside a top four finish in the prem is the best I can see us achieving.

[Reg]

Yes, I'm worried Woof. This season doesn't feel right. Massive game on Monday v United, if we don't get 3 points I fear it's a sign something isn't right. Titties crossed.

[kazza]

I think this year may be a closer affair with more teams taking points of each other, there maybe no need to get 90 points. I do think that the WC will throw up some drama for someone and I think once European football starts then that will change the dynamic also, especially Europa playing teams like Arsenal as we know playing Thursday Sunday makes it difficult to win the league.

We drew with Palace and Fulham but those two teams seem to have started well, so they are not terrible teams and we didn’t play well and were riddled with injuries, so we should do better and climb up the table. I think the only thing we should be worried about is conceding first, which seems to be a serial thing now. We need to get back to clean sheets and in 90 minutes we have more than enough to score a goal, we need those clean sheets though.

[UvS xR4GEx]

I'm concerned.. it was obvious that City won the league because their midfield was far more dominant than ours. We attempted to buy Tchouameni but obviously he ended up choosing Madrid. We approached Jude, but Dortmund won't sell this summer after already losing Haaland.

With Injuries and age being against us I just can't see how we close that gap. And it's frustrating, because I saw holes in City's team.. but Pep went straight out and bought Sergio Gomez to fix it.

I've not watched Klopps interview before the United game.. but apparently he speaks about how he's not in charge of transfers and has no control over them.

I get this underwhelming feeling like I did a few years ago when Virgil got injured and we didn't react to buy a CB. All our defenders ended up getting injured and the season just blew up to the point of Alisson having to score a goal to save the season.

If we don't buy a CM this transfer window I'll guarantee we don't challange for the league.

[kazza]

Really strange we didn’t go after Nunes, he fit the profile, wanted to come and looks like a decent player. He joined Wolves and two days later played a full 90 minutes for them, clearly coachable and ready. He was even the player chosen to interview after the match, and he spoke English well. He looked better than Jones, Ox, Milner and Keita, how we could not have added him to an aging midfield I’m not sure, him Thiago and Fabinho could have been great. Only thing I can think of of is something with his personality like he parties too much because we don’t have any of those in the team. My bet will be he will stay at Wolves for a couple of years and get sold for big money.

[Pig Catcher]

Really strange we didn’t go after Nunes, he fit the profile, wanted to come and looks like a decent player. He joined Wolves and two days later played a full 90 minutes for them, clearly coachable and ready. He was even the player chosen to interview after the match, and he spoke English well. He looked better than Jones, Ox, Milner and Keita, how we could not have added him to an aging midfield I’m not sure, him Thiago and Fabinho could have been great. Only thing I can think of of is something with his personality like he parties too much because we don’t have any of those in the team. My bet will be he will stay at Wolves for a couple of years and get sold for big money.

Maybe he just isn't that good and maybe that's also why he ended up at mid table Wolves despite being openly available all summer.

[kazza]

Really strange we didn’t go after Nunes, he fit the profile, wanted to come and looks like a decent player. He joined Wolves and two days later played a full 90 minutes for them, clearly coachable and ready. He was even the player chosen to interview after the match, and he spoke English well. He looked better than Jones, Ox, Milner and Keita, how we could not have added him to an aging midfield I’m not sure, him Thiago and Fabinho could have been great. Only thing I can think of of is something with his personality like he parties too much because we don’t have any of those in the team. My bet will be he will stay at Wolves for a couple of years and get sold for big money.

Maybe he just isn't that good and maybe that's also why he ended up at mid table Wolves despite being openly available all summer.

I watched him and he looks better than some of our midfielders. He cost Wolves 20 million less than what we paid for Keita, we will watch him when we play wolves.

Looking at his stats from last year he was top in successful dribbles and his pass percentage was right up there with Gini’s. He missed one match last year because of Covid.

[UvS xR4GEx]

I think we like hard working midfielders that get back and defend.. I noticed a few times Nunes not tracking back doing the dirty work that Klopp demands from players.

Anyone not concerned with the current circumstances just have to look at the midfield tonight.. Hendo, Milner and Elliott. It doesn't scream world class, and it won't worry any team that plays against us.

We definitely need to invest.

[red till i die!!]

Hendo is finished as a regular at this level. Slows the game down too much with nothing passes and the belief that he needs to be involved in every play. Not able for 60 minutes anymore.

Milner, Honestly it's laughable that he is still here and starting games. No agility, falling over and is a liability with his late tackling.

Fabinho, the only solid player we have in there but we run him into the ground.

Thiago, makes a big difference and is a good player but not robust enough. Why have we placed so much faith in him staying injury free when it was never going to happen.

Jones, The decision to cut him should have been made 2 years ago. He hasn't progressed enough.

Keita, mentally that lad is fooked. Constantly ill or injured and after 5 years of this shyte we want to give him a new contract!!

Ox, one of the worst signings this club has ever made.

Elliot, clever player with a great pass but elevated to a role he isn't ready for.

Carvalho, this lad is a good player, way ahead of Elliot imo but gets 10 minutes in makeshift sides chasing the game.

Imo klopp has fook all to do with transfers. He sits on the committee alright but has no control over contracts or who comes in or out. Our transfers are all geared around spending as little as we can which is catching up. Stuff like selling Neco Williams who was more than good enough to deputise for Trent and even could replace him in a few games. But no we never let him near the first team and sold him for profit and spent less than a 3rd on a replacement who is injured and far less experienced. Diaz only came in January because Mane was off in the summer. We have spent just less than 5 million this window and won't do a lot more unless we sell first.

Klopp is a great manager and without him we would be plodding around the Europa league spots but he is one big yes man.

The budget controls everything at the club which is a pittance to begin with for a club of our size.

[kazza]

Well I suppose if the wheels start turning and we invest because of our poor results then it will be worth is long term, I just hope that happens. It’s not about buying to keep the fans happy, it’s about a glaring weakness in the team that needs sorting. Were we so fixated on Tchouaméni that we didn’t have a plan B?

[kazza]

Hendo is finished as a regular at this level. Slows the game down too much with nothing passes and the belief that he needs to be involved in every play. Not able for 60 minutes anymore.

Milner, Honestly it's laughable that he is still here and starting games. No agility, falling over and is a liability with his late tackling.

Fabinho, the only solid player we have in there but we run him into the ground.

Thiago, makes a big difference and is a good player but not robust enough. Why have we placed so much faith in him staying injury free when it was never going to happen.

Jones, The decision to cut him should have been made 2 years ago. He hasn't progressed enough.

Keita, mentally that lad is fooked. Constantly ill or injured and after 5 years of this shyte we want to give him a new contract!!

Ox, one of the worst signings this club has ever made.

Elliot, clever player with a great pass but elevated to a role he isn't ready for.

Carvalho, this lad is a good player, way ahead of Elliot imo but gets 10 minutes in makeshift sides chasing the game.

Imo klopp has fook all to do with transfers. He sits on the committee alright but has no control over contracts or who comes in or out. Our transfers are all geared around spending as little as we can which is catching up. Stuff like selling Neco Williams who was more than good enough to deputise for Trent and even could replace him in a few games. But no we never let him near the first team and sold him for profit and spent less than a 3rd on a replacement who is injured and far less experienced. Diaz only came in January because Mane was off in the summer. We have spent just less than 5 million this window and won't do a lot more unless we sell first.

Klopp is a great manager and without him we would be plodding around the Europa league spots but he is one big yes man.

The budget controls everything at the club which is a pittance to begin with for a club of our size.

Good post

[red till i die!!]

Here's what the epl injury table is saying about our injuries.

Thiago - Thigh injury - Potential return 18/09/22

Jota - Thigh injury - Potential return 03/09/22

Keita - Other!!??  - Potential return 27/08/22

Matip - Hip,Pelvic injury - Potential return 03/09/22

Jones - Calf,shin,heel injury - Potential return 27/08/22

No return dates listed for Ox, Konate or Ramsey.  Must be long term injuries so nowt we can do. We should tear up Oxs contract though and looking like no competition for trent either this season.

So for me Thiago, Matip and Jota need to get back and up to speed quickly. We have 13 games to go before the league wraps up for the WC. That's on the 12th November and won't resume until 26th December. Cup games and CL thrown in there as well so games are going to come thick and fast.

[7_Kewell]

Are people surprised by the injury list?

Most of our central midfielders are injury prone. Naby and Ox should have been moved on long ago.

And I'm starting to worry that Hendo's best years are behind him, too.