Re: 2019/2020 Premier League Discussion: Chapter II

by Nishankly Mon Dec 09, 2019 9:06 pm

Trying to feel sorry for Arsenal but god we've seen so much worse.

by Unique Mon Dec 09, 2019 9:16 pm

Liverpool are 27 points infront of arsenal. 27 points would put you 5th in the table and 2 points away from a champions League spot.

by Nishankly Mon Dec 09, 2019 9:28 pm

Told you ffs, Arsenal still got it :bow:

by Hapless_Hans Mon Dec 09, 2019 9:52 pm

Finally, a win. A deserved one too.

FREDDIE

by RealGunner Mon Dec 09, 2019 9:54 pm

Martinelli is our best player ffs

by Hapless_Hans Mon Dec 09, 2019 10:01 pm

Freddie of course has the advantage of being superior looking to everyone else so the players will respect him somewhat for that alone

by Firenze Mon Dec 09, 2019 10:06 pm

Freddie IN

by Thimmy Mon Dec 09, 2019 10:13 pm

Can’t blame Villas Boas for cashing in on the manager hype, considering how impulsive, whimsical and undevoted the average football fan is in their judgement of a manager’s ability. Freddie is back! cheers

by Myesyats Mon Dec 09, 2019 10:16 pm

That handsome devil, I knew he'd turn it around

by Hapless_Hans Mon Dec 09, 2019 10:18 pm

Not sure whether Rafa is auditioning for the Arsenal, or the West Ham job

by Nishankly Mon Dec 09, 2019 10:28 pm

Just in time for Arsenal to play City next :bow:

by Nishankly Thu Dec 12, 2019 10:42 am

Since his Premier League debut in December 2013, Crystal Palace winger Wilfried Zaha has been fouled 503 times, with only Eden Hazard winning more fouls in that time (521).

by Unique Thu Dec 12, 2019 11:48 am

Nishankly wrote:Since his Premier League debut in December 2013, Crystal Palace winger Wilfried Zaha has been useless 503 times, with only paul pogba being more useless in that time (521).

by Unique Fri Dec 13, 2019 11:46 am

https://www.liverpoolfc.com/news/first-team/377870-liverpool-fc-statement-jurgen-klopp-extends-contract-to-2024

Klopp extended his contract cheers

by Hapless_Hans Fri Dec 13, 2019 12:21 pm

told you he isn't going anywhere

also told you from the beginning it would be a dream hiring for Pool

when will you start trusting me ffs

by Unique Fri Dec 13, 2019 1:24 pm

Hapless_Hans wrote:told you he isn't going anywhere

also told you from the beginning it would be a dream hiring for Pool

when will you start trusting me ffs

unless Leicester win the title then he can fuck right off Very Happy

by Thimmy Fri Dec 13, 2019 4:08 pm

Hapless_Hans wrote:told you he isn't going anywhere

also told you from the beginning it would be a dream hiring for Pool

when will you start trusting me ffs

Getting 1/10 predictions right and the other 9 horribly wrong, doesn’t make you trustworthy, in my humble opinion hmm

Also, you seem to deem every German manager a dream hiring Laughing

Whether it’s down to the GL approved - Klopp’s eye for talent or «man management», or the club’s ability to get rid of deadweight and assemble the right talent, Liverpool have hardly put a foot wrong in their transition from the leaky, largely flawed team they had under Brendan Rodgers.

Pretty much every flaw they had has been covered, and they have players with high work rate that seem to get injured relatively rarely. Whatever the club has been doing over the past 5 years, it’s likely more than simply hiring the right manager. The recruitment of players has been nothing short of amazing. Van Dijk and Salah aside, I’m genuinely puzzled as to why more top clubs didn’t pursue Allison’s signature.

by Hapless_Hans Fri Dec 13, 2019 4:17 pm

Thimmy wrote: I’m genuinely puzzled as to why more top clubs didn’t pursue Allison’s signature.

I think there was a lot of interest in him, but with goalkeepers there's always an issue of timing and at which top club a spot is free... Also, let's not forget Liverpool paid monumentally much money for him (world record fee until the Kepa transfer surpassed it?), and I think at that moment there was one main competitor - Real Madrid.
The deciding factor IMO was that Uncle Flo just does not, or did not, seem willing to accept that Galactico money would also be spent on goalkeepers, that's why Real preferred a Courtois in his last year of contract for less money, and that's why I suspect Real were also not ready to pay big for De Gea first, and then match Man United's wage offer to De Gea two seasons later, even though you really should have just signed De Gea.
Perez just didn't seem to regard a GK purchase of that size worthwile?

by Thimmy Fri Dec 13, 2019 4:44 pm

Yeah, that makes sense. Perez wasn’t really spending on anything but unproven youngsters at the time, anyway. Pep had found his preferred type of goalkeeper in Ederson, and Arsenal.. too expensive for them, I assume. Still, it baffles me when players with such obvious quality are overlooked by top clubs.

I know you’ve said that you think Son is a «Tottenham-level player», but regardless of whether or not that’s true, his talent was undeniable before Tottenham picked him up for spare change. I only watched sporadic matches from Hamburg and Leverkusen, but he was always a threat. Fast, technically adept, and even two-footed. He was a bargain deal that should’ve been obvious if more relevant clubs had been bothered to scout him. For 10Mill euros, surely any club would benefit from the more established and recognized player he is today.

From what I can tell, having the right talent scouts, or a manager with a keen eye for talent and the club’s permission to act on it, has never been as important for success as it is nowadays, where the spending powers of the top clubs are restricted by an unprecedentedly inflated market. In that sense, it looks like Flo knows what he’s been doing. At the same time, you can’t help but be frustrated with his reluctance to sign established players who are far more likely to have a more immediate impact, considering the luxury Real Madrid fans have been accustomed to in that regard.

by Hapless_Hans Fri Dec 13, 2019 5:50 pm

Thimmy wrote:
I know you’ve said that you think Son is a «Tottenham-level player», but regardless of whether or not that’s true, his talent was undeniable before Tottenham picked him up for spare change. I only watched sporadic matches from Hamburg and Leverkusen, but he was always a threat. Fast, technically adept, and even two-footed. He was a bargain deal that should’ve been obvious if more relevant clubs had been bothered to scout him. For 10Mill euros, surely any club would benefit from the more established and recognized player he is today.

By calling him a Spurs leve player, that's not necessarily meant as an insult. Spurs are a very high level team in football, and he's one of their very best players, no doubt.

But would he be a great addition to the teams above Spurs? There aren't many. There's Barca, Real, Bayern, Juventus, City, now Liverpool, PSG. Atletico.
I certainly would not have been euphoric had we bought him from Leverkusen as Ribery replacement (Obviously, we haven't really settled on anyone else yet, but that's beside the point - I don't think Coman is good enough to be a long term starter for us either). Would you envisage him as Ronaldo replacement?
While he's an amazing player, I don't think he's good enough to be starting for one of the select elite teams.
So honestly it sounds about right that teams of Spurs caliber, with the slightly lower budget and wage bill, and expectations, than the biggest teams, would pick up a player like him. I'm sure the more 'relevant' clubs, as you call them, did scout him and decided exactly what I described above.

by Winter is Coming Fri Dec 13, 2019 6:13 pm

Unique wrote:https://www.liverpoolfc.com/news/first-team/377870-liverpool-fc-statement-jurgen-klopp-extends-contract-to-2024

Klopp extended his contract

He'll leave before then. They have max one more year for this cycle to end. He'll try rebuilding and then leave once it doesnt work.

by Unique Fri Dec 13, 2019 7:02 pm

Winter is Coming wrote:
Unique wrote:https://www.liverpoolfc.com/news/first-team/377870-liverpool-fc-statement-jurgen-klopp-extends-contract-to-2024

Klopp extended his contract

He'll leave before then. They have max one more year for this cycle to end. He'll try rebuilding and then leave once it doesnt work.

the oldest player in the team is 27

by Hapless_Hans Fri Dec 13, 2019 7:16 pm

Unique wrote:
Winter is Coming wrote:
Unique wrote:https://www.liverpoolfc.com/news/first-team/377870-liverpool-fc-statement-jurgen-klopp-extends-contract-to-2024

Klopp extended his contract

He'll leave before then. They have max one more year for this cycle to end. He'll try rebuilding and then leave once it doesnt work.
the oldest player in the team is 27

Henderson, Wijnaldum 29, Firmino, van Dijk 28 hmm

by Winter is Coming Fri Dec 13, 2019 7:17 pm

Unique wrote:
Winter is Coming wrote:
Unique wrote:https://www.liverpoolfc.com/news/first-team/377870-liverpool-fc-statement-jurgen-klopp-extends-contract-to-2024

Klopp extended his contract

He'll leave before then. They have max one more year for this cycle to end. He'll try rebuilding and then leave once it doesnt work.
the oldest player in the team is 27

Van Dijk is 28. Nevertheless needing to rebuild doesnt always correlate to players age as some player form may drop and you could lose some players too. At Dortmund he went into rebuilding because he lost some players, some got injured and others aged.

by Thimmy Fri Dec 13, 2019 7:52 pm

Hapless_Hans wrote:

I certainly would not have been euphoric had we bought him from Leverkusen as Ribery replacement (Obviously, we haven't really settled on anyone else yet, but that's beside the point - I don't think Coman is good enough to be a long term starter for us either).

I don’t know why you wouldn’t be ecstatic about that. He was much younger than Ribery was, at the time, and he certainly would’ve benefitted you now. Bayern aren’t big spenders, he would’ve been a bargain buy who already knows the league and seems to master the language far better than he masters English. He’s both a proficient provider and a goalscorer. I don’t follow Bayern much these days, but I would imagine he’d slot right in, and this is only speculation, but I think it would be easier for him to thrive at Bayern, as compared to this version of Tottenham.

Would you envisage him as Ronaldo replacement?
While he's an amazing player, I don't think he's good enough to be starting for one of the select elite teams.

Well, I can only speak for myself, but I’d love to have him at Real Madrid if we didn’t already have Hazard. Of course, he wouldn’t be a Ronaldo replacement. Hazard isn’t, and I can’t think of anyone else who would be able to quite replace Ronaldo. Even if we had Messi, he’s just not the same type of player. In the Champions League, I can’t confidently think of anyone else I’d replace prime Ronaldo with. I don’t see any reason why Son wouldn’t start at Man United, Arsenal, Juventus, Atletico. I think most people would argue that he wouldn’t start at Man City. I honestly can’t tell whether or not that is true, though. Liverpool don’t need starting forwards.

So honestly it sounds about right that teams of Spurs caliber, with the slightly lower budget and wage bill, and expectations, than the biggest teams, would pick up a player like him. I'm sure the more 'relevant' clubs, as you call them, did scout him and decided exactly what I described above.

By relevant clubs, I refer to the clubs who have the budget to realistically expect to be able to sign him, or compete with the likes of Tottenham for his signature. I get what you’re saying, but I still can’t imagine those clubs scouted him and somehow didn’t recognize that he was, at the very least, good enough to be a quality squad player. In that role, I don’t believe there’s a single club that wouldn’t benefit from having him - especially, considering his humble price tag at the time.

by Zagadka Fri Dec 13, 2019 8:22 pm

Winter is Coming wrote:
Unique wrote:https://www.liverpoolfc.com/news/first-team/377870-liverpool-fc-statement-jurgen-klopp-extends-contract-to-2024

Klopp extended his contract

He'll leave before then. They have max one more year for this cycle to end. He'll try rebuilding and then leave once it doesnt work.

Nervous Barca fans Very Happy

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