Winter Window

Mignolet's been great, though, and Bogdan's done well when played. We have no need for a keeper.

If we buy him, let him be at Köln. We need a CM

I guess we can agree to disagree about Mignolet. He has still been shaky as hell. Yes, he can make some nice reflex saves but he is not a great keeper.

I had my doubts about Mignolet and he has never been a one who will be a too class GK. But he is not the main issue right now and he is doing more than enough to be at Liverpool for while.

Art Morte wrote:Mignolet's been great, though, and Bogdan's done well when played. We have no need for a keeper.

Agreed.

I think we will not get any quality/first-team player in January. If we are looking for back-ups, only the wing-back positions need strengthening.

Mignolet has been good enough to last until summer.

What we have to remember is that January is a strange market and is truly only useful for spot-fixes and prospect buys. In other words, if you need to get one player to keep you up or win you the title, you can pour your resources into the search/signing and achieve it in January. Likewise, you can go out and find players to be long-term projects, either loaning them back to their current squad or slowly bedding them into the side. What you DO NOT want to do is revamp multiple, key positions through January additions.

We're not really in a position to make one signing to "save our season". Most of the signings we would make would either be future-sighted or part of more wholesale changes to the squad. Therefore, I can't really see us bringing in a goalkeeper AND immediately starting him over Mignolet; nor do I see us bringing in a midfielder AND starting him over Can, Henderson, or Lucas.

Personally, I would expect us to look at a CB and a winger (wide attacking midfielder) that could immediately slot into the side. Anything else would be with next season in mind.

I think whatever signings Klopp may make in January, will be made under certain considerations.

If we look at our CB situation, Toure would most probably be leaving at the end of the season. Neither of Skrtel and Lovren is possibly deemed as a long-term prospect by Klopp. So a quality acquisition is plausible. But I don't think such player will be available in January.

As for the wing-back position, Clyne seem to be a lock. But Moreno is far from being a certainty. Though he will continue to be the first-choice, that will be more due to lack of any credible alternatives than the quality of the player himself.

What I really think is that Klopp will not sign any player in January. He will make some major signings in the summer, after fully assessing his squad options and players available in the market.

If I were Klopp these would be my attempted acquisitions in the winter window:

Benedikt Howedes/Neven Subotic - Realistically we need a CB, and we need one of quality. Both of these guys are proven quality and would love to work with Klopp.

Ruben Neves - Someone to deputize for Lucas and even start when necessary. Rossiter and Allen currently do this job but Neves is supposedly a class above.

Ricardo Rodriguez/Jonas Hector - We need a class left back to be starting. I like Moreno because he seems like a nice guy that gets on well with the team, but he can't defend to save his life.

Timo Horn (or someone) - Again, Mignolet to me is a big part of our problem. He's a decent shot stopper but that's about all he can do. His distribution, organization and ability to deal with set-pieces or air balls is really just not good enough.

I don't expect much this window anyway, but I think ideally our team lines up like this:


The ??? are areas we NEED to improve to be serious contenders. Obviously health/rotation is an issue so Ibe, Milner, Can, Lallana, Ings and Origi will need to fill in as necessary but I think that base is strong enough to work towards winning the league and competing in the UCL if the questions are answered.

Curtinho wrote:If I were Klopp these would be my attempted acquisitions in the winter window:

Benedikt Howedes/Neven Subotic - Realistically we need a CB, and we need one of quality. Both of these guys are proven quality and would love to work with Klopp.

Ruben Neves - Someone to deputize for Lucas and even start when necessary. Rossiter and Allen currently do this job but Neves is supposedly a class above.

Ricardo Rodriguez/Jonas Hector - We need a class left back to be starting. I like Moreno because he seems like a nice guy that gets on well with the team, but he can't defend to save his life.

Timo Horn (or someone) - Again, Mignolet to me is a big part of our problem. He's a decent shot stopper but that's about all he can do. His distribution, organization and ability to deal with set-pieces or air balls is really just not good enough.

I don't expect much this window anyway, but I think ideally our team lines up like this:

???
Clyne - ??? - Sakho - ???
Henderson - Lucas
Sturridge - Firmino - Coutinho
Benteke

The ??? are areas we NEED to improve to be serious contenders. Obviously health/rotation is an issue so Ibe, Milner, Can, Lallana, Ings and Origi will need to fill in as necessary but I think that base is strong enough to work towards winning the league and competing in the UCL if the questions are answered.

Agree with the ???s at CB and Moreno. I feel the same, not convinced by Moreno at all.

I really don't think Klopp will do anything fundamental in winter though, for example changing GKs.
Maybe he'll also wait until Gomez and Flanagan are back before making a decision how much investment is really needed?
It's not THAT easy to buy real upgrades either, Rodriguez would likely be one but I could imagine him having a lot of options once he leaves VW.

I still also feel to be 'serious contenders' more quality in midfield is needed just as much.

I think as far as 2 midfielders for 4-2-3-1 Henderson and Lucas are right up there in terms of quality. Firmino and Coutinho are also up there for attacking midfielders. Maybe we need better wide players and more reliable strikers though.

One thing on Neves, I think you'll have stiff competition from us to get him, it seems we're very interested in him too.

Jan Kirchhoff is available.

I hope to god Subotic isn't someone we'd ever consider. There's a reason he's benched hardcore at Dortmund.

Not even joking about Kirchhoff.
Klopp will know him as a youth player, even though he only broke into the Mainz team and immediately became a mainstay under Tuchel.

Was a highly rated young CB, his arrival coincided with Pep's while his signing predated Pep's, he was loaned out and injured.
He has no future with us with Benatia there and Badstuber returning, contract runs out in summer so any fee would be minimal.

Good, composed player, also a capable DM.

Hapless_Hans wrote:Not even joking about Kirchhoff.
Klopp will know him as a youth player, even though he only broke into the Mainz team and immediately became a mainstay under Tuchel.

Was a highly rated young CB, his arrival coincided with Pep's while his signing predated Pep's, he was loaned out and injured.
He has no future with us with Benatia there and Badstuber returning, contract runs out in summer so any fee would be minimal.

Good, composed player, also a capable DM.

He hasn't played much in last few seasons.

A wide player we should be interested in is Quincy Promes. Fantastic dribbler, scores goals, nice crosser of the ball, he's two footed with good pace as well. Bit eccentric but lovely to watch. He can also play striker which is a big plus considering the health of our current strikers and on top of it he's not cup tied so he'd be a perfect winter window pick-up (and he's expressed desire to play in the PL before).

Still quite young also.

We don't really play wingers so far under Klopp so I don't know if I want us buying any wingers. Ibe and Markovic are enough imo.

More interested in improving CM positions. Allen is shit. Milner has been very disappointingly average since his move here. Can is very inexperienced and needs another few seasons before he can be outright starter. Need a creative agile technician CM.

Don't call me James wrote:We don't really play wingers so far under Klopp so I don't know if I want us buying any wingers. Ibe and Markovic are enough imo.

I don't think that Markovic is going to stick and Ibe is still quite raw plus not really a natural scorer. Promes can play narrow also, and on top of it can offer back-up at the striker position without actually having to go out and buy another striker (Sturridge, Benteke, Origi, Ings with Firmino and Promes to cover). He brings goals and directness which Klopp likes, and then can also offer a slightly different approach for when we're not playing so narrow since our current 'wingers' are not so great playing really wide.

Plus...he's Dutch.

More interested in improving CM positions. Allen is shit. Milner has been very disappointingly average since his move here. Can is very inexperienced and needs another few seasons before he can be outright starter. Need a creative agile technician CM.

Allen isn't shit, and I'd like to see how the team performs with Henderson healthy first, but I would definitely like to have a midfielder that is good enough to displace one of Lucas/Can/Milner in the starting XI if there is one available. Pjanic still would have been perfect to play alongside Henderson and Lucas but I guess that was all smoke. I'm not convinced that we can't play Teixeira in midfield though. Fits the bill, though inexperienced.

I still think the most important positions to fill are GK, fullback and then a winger since we have Henderson, Lucas, Milner, Allen, Can, Teixeira and Rossiter (and I don't think Allen is bad). I would re-evaluate the midfield in the summer.

I'm 99% sure Markovic is gonna stay with us for a long time.

Klopp is not gonna let that sort of talent slip by.

Need a new CM.

Milner, Can, Allen and possibly Lucas are all not good enough to play for a Klopp system.

But i maintain the Henderson>Lucas>Allen>Milner>Can order now as well.

Milner's few legit roles in the squad will be taken up directly by Henderson.

Milner right now is still probably our next best crosser of the ball after Henderson and has played in an advanced position a lot in his career (on the wing). If we don't buy a winger in the winter (Promes plz) then he'll still be useful in providing width and helping with rotation for Henderson.

I agree with your assessment of our midfielders in their current state though. I would say though that Can still has a lot of potential if he can find some consistency. I haven't been happy with him this season for the most part but I feel like if he plays consistently (preferably against weaker opposition and cup games) he will find a way to iron out his game and bring on his strengths.

I disagree about Lucas not being good enough though. I was wrong to think he was done before, and when he's on form and healthy he's a fantastic DM that helps our entire defence look a little more organized/confident. Ideally moving forward if we're playing with 3 midfielders we'd have something like Henderson - Lucas - ??? ( for our starting XI and then Milner, Can and Allen can act as bench/cup/rotation players.

Marc Stendera is an interesting player...not cup tied, very hyped.

Anyway, my 'dream' winter probably looks something like this:

Timo Horn, *Fullback*, Marc Stendera and Quincy Promes.

Obviously that's a big greedy for a winter window, but we'll see.

By possibly Lucas i meant, Maybe someone more box to box or someone who's more efficient in the initial half of the field ie Mascherano if not box to box.

But i do agree, Lucas and Henderson are the way to go forward with the current crop of midfielders in the team. Emre Can as well if he can develop properly.

We also may want to look at getting another striker for the Academy, with upside.

This guy is an option.

Curtinho wrote:We also may want to look at getting another striker for the Academy, with upside.

This guy is an option.

LMAO.

IMO you can't really be wrong going for Bayern youth player.
You might want to take a look at these three

http://www.transfermarkt.com/steeven-ribery/profil/spieler/299381
http://www.transfermarkt.com/felix-gotze/profil/spieler/330635
http://www.transfermarkt.com/jonas-hummels/profil/spieler/39729

Well in reality I'd like to see Liverpool swing for the fences and get Johannes Eggestein and Levin Oztunali but I doubt it happens.

I don't know who these are.