YugoB

Joao Neves is a great midfielder

Lucky a***

Arsenal have only completed 44 passes so far

Fat Sam would be proud of ArtetaBall

and the ref was right there, in sight. How many more fouls before Timber gets booked?

Not even a VAR suggestion for the ref to check, Criminal

Thats a clear bloody pen wtf In what world is that not a foul?

Arsenal fans are paying tribute to the Highbury atmosphere

Their lot booing timewasting is ironic

Fantastic build up PSG's ability to dominate possession and move the ball, is very Barca and City of old esque

What a goal

Extremely Bless their man them bumbaclat hearts

Whoever we sign as the 9 needs to be able to do more than our current options next year, especially when Mo is away for Afcon.

https://www.theplayerstribune.com/alisson-becker-premier-league-soccer-liverpool-brazil

He as in Gakpo?

NEW: In the coming weeks, Liverpool and Lucho Díaz will sit down to discuss the Colombian's contract renewal and find out where they stand in the negotiations. Liverpool has among its objectives to RENEW Lucho Díaz's contract. [@PSierraR]

Gimenez is crap, he's been struggling in Milan.

Andy@Allerton must the most known name on the internet, no matter what forum I'm on his name pops up

In a Formby mansion on Victoria Road, 13 miles from Anfield, two chief architects of Liverpool’s re-emergence as a superpower are mapping out the course towards the club’s 20th league title. For Jürgen Klopp and Michael Edwards it is a moment of hope and high risk. The exiting managerial legend and the newly appointed Fenway Sports Group football chief executive have reunited for a daunting challenge: how to ensure Klopp’s last dance avoids the missteps at Manchester United after Sir Alex Ferguson quit in 2013, and Arsenal in the immediate aftermath of Arsène Wenger’s exit. Those close to the duo consider this Liverpool Football Club’s equivalent of John Lennon and Paul McCartney tuning up for a final rooftop performance. Recognising the magnitude of the task, Klopp welcomed Edwards into his home in March 2024 to mull over the past, consider the immediate possibilities of the present, and commit his final few weeks in charge to facilitate a golden future. Edwards already had an idea who Klopp’s successor would be, although the deal was yet to be done. “Arne Slot? Cool decision,” said Klopp when he was told who Liverpool wanted the next manager to be. So began the smoothest Kop transition since Bill Shankly handed the reins to his assistant Bob Paisley in the summer of 1974. Within Anfield, it has been colourfully christened “the immaculate handover”. As he takes his place in the pantheon with legendary title winners, Slot should be lauded as the author of this title season. He will acknowledge the Pulitzer-Prize standard of the prologue written by others. It consisted of more than Klopp conducting the Kop to sing Slot’s name on the final day of last season, the outgoing manager serving briefly as the next incumbent’s chief scout as much as cheerleader. 'ARNE SLOT! LA LA, LA LA LA!' It was Jurgen Klopp's moment. He used it to give Liverpool fans a new song for their incoming manager. One of the biggest clips on the Optus Sport social media pages in 2024, and there's no wonder why! pic.twitter.com/G5AXybpYuU — Optus Sport (@OptusSport) December 26, 2024 And it absorbs a restructure of football operations which means Liverpool no longer impose so much responsibility into a single, charismatic leader. Slot, whose title “head coach” was a deliberate specification, gratefully embraced Klopp’s input. The pair had many long phone conversations as their reigns overlapped – Klopp’s assistant Pep Lijnders was similarly proactive in sharing information – Slot intent on blending the recipes of his predecessor with his own speculaaskruiden. “Similar, but different” became the recurring theme of his triumphant debut campaign. Once Klopp and Edwards ended their chat on that spring day, the manager still believed he could win “No 20”. His side ran out of gas in the final weeks of the title race, but he was reassured he was leaving at the right time to the perfect coach. “I can’t wait to see you make the next steps,” he told the team in his final address. Klopp’s journey to this serenity was long, winding and exhausting. A triumph five years in the making Rewind 14 months and Klopp cut a more downbeat figure, and to understand fully how Liverpool became champions again in 2025 demands appreciation of how the club withstood an energy crisis and loss of central figures following their previous title. The triumph of 2020 was a story of reconstruction; the 2025 success is one of reinvigoration. When the 30-year wait to be English champions ended, it seemed a new Anfield dynasty beckoned under Klopp. Instead, the immediate aftermath in the grip of Covid was debilitating, and attempts to delegitimise the success by rivals who had wanted the season to be null and void were dispiriting. Liverpool’s title defence was a slog. A crippling injury list did not prevent brutal criticism as Liverpool were forced to play central midfielders or rookies at centre-back in a soulless, deserted Anfield. By the end of the gruelling 2020-21 campaign, Klopp ranked finishing third as “one of the biggest achievements ever”. “I know how that sounds, but it’s the truth,” he said. “If you want to write a book about a season and you want to be depressed afterwards, then you’d probably take this season.” Klopp insisted he was not fatigued – he would later surprise many within the club by signing a four-year deal and quoting the Beatles – “I feel fine”. Others were more inclined to shout “help!” The responsibility of guaranteeing Liverpool challenge every year in an increasingly competitive environment took a toll. Liverpool would have had four titles since 2014 but for three last-day heartbreaks against a club under investigation for breaching spending limits. They would have three Champions League title wins since 2018 but for two final losses against the most decorated club in Europe, Real Madrid. Taking on these behemoths with what is described internally as a “moral and responsible” transfer policy limits the scope for expensive mistakes. Edwards and his chief lieutenants, Julian Ward and influential head of data Ian Graham, had been at Liverpool since 2011. Fenway Sports Group president Michael Gordon – who could be seen as the Brian Epstein of the operation and was dubbed the “man who never sleeps” by Edwards – understood the foundations were about to be put to their stiffest test. They would need reinforcing. “There were many people at the club who had dedicated their life to Liverpool for 10 years and they were starting to feel the impact of individual burnout,” reflected one senior Anfield source. After the title defence, Edwards and Graham decided the next season was their last. They almost left on the ultimate high, Liverpool two wins from a historic quadruple in May 2022 as they showed fitness, not a lack of foresight, quality or signings, had been the main problem 12 months earlier. Ward, Edwards’s deputy, assumed the sporting director’s role. Within months he admitted that he also needed a break. So long as Klopp was front of house, it seemed business as usual. The manager believed the team would go again in 2022-23. Instead, the next six months would be his most exhausting as he and others began to experience the same symptoms that had prompted Edwards to quit. At the top of FSG, Gordon confided to Klopp that he too needed to step back from day-to-day duties for personal reasons. At the time, Liverpool downplayed the importance of so much reconfiguration. Today, there are admissions that, pieced together, it amounted to seismic activity. The next tremor was in November 2022, when FSG tested the market by dispatching what was described pithily as a “sale, but not for sale” document, ambiguous enough to invite potential buyers to bid for the club, while allowing the owners to reiterate with great force that they were looking for investment rather than a strategic exit. The process added to the broader precariousness as the team’s form unravelled. By the mid-season break for the Qatar World Cup in December 2022, Klopp looked like he was standing solo at Liverpool’s winter training camp in Dubai, too much responsibility in one figurehead to find the answers. The three pillars critical to Liverpool’s success circa 2015-20 were Gordon, Klopp and Edwards. One was gone and the other two were contemplating their roles in the club’s future. The engine room that drove Klopp’s greatest triumphs – captain Jordan Henderson, Fabinho and James Milner (Georginio Wijnaldum left 18 months earlier) – were on the final bar of their battery life. The previous summer’s signings, Darwin Núñez and Fabio Carvalho, were not a good fit. At the top of FSG, Gordon confided to Klopp that he too needed to step back from day-to-day duties for personal reasons. At the time, Liverpool downplayed the importance of so much reconfiguration. Today, there are admissions that, pieced together, it amounted to seismic activity. The next tremor was in November 2022, when FSG tested the market by dispatching what was described pithily as a “sale, but not for sale” document, ambiguous enough to invite potential buyers to bid for the club, while allowing the owners to reiterate with great force that they were looking for investment rather than a strategic exit. The process added to the broader precariousness as the team’s form unravelled. By the mid-season break for the Qatar World Cup in December 2022, Klopp looked like he was standing solo at Liverpool’s winter training camp in Dubai, too much responsibility in one figurehead to find the answers. The three pillars critical to Liverpool’s success circa 2015-20 were Gordon, Klopp and Edwards. One was gone and the other two were contemplating their roles in the club’s future. The engine room that drove Klopp’s greatest triumphs – captain Jordan Henderson, Fabinho and James Milner (Georginio Wijnaldum left 18 months earlier) – were on the final bar of their battery life. The previous summer’s signings, Darwin Núñez and Fabio Carvalho, were not a good fit. This was the epicentre in the journey between the two Premier League wins – the moment when Klopp knew the clock was ticking on his reign. Klopp’s finest and most selfless act Some close to Klopp believe that had previous levels been maintained in 2022-23, he would have gone sooner. Instead, he pledged he would not leave a mess. This, many at the club passionately argue, was one of his finest and most selfless managerial acts. “You will never see a greater example of a world-class manager putting ego aside to make sure everything was in place for his successor,” said a source close to the owners. “Jürgen had a profound effect on Liverpool’s history when he joined, and the gracious manner of his departure meant he did exactly the same when he left.” Klopp’s vision, as with his first triumph, was to put incremental building blocks back into the team. “To accomplish big things, do a lot of little things right and add them up,” he would always tell colleagues. Trust the process. Lay the foundations brick by brick. These are now Liverpool slogans as much as “pass and move” in the boot-room years. The flames of revival in the side Klopp would christen “Liverpool 2.0” ignited with the first key purchase of that time, PSV Eindhoven’s Cody Gakpo, in January 2023. Work then accelerated on a midfield refit, the business of summer 2023 crucial. Liverpool’s recruitment team had earlier produced a report naming three of the best young central midfielders in Europe; Monaco’s Aurélien Tchouaméni, Borussia Dortmund’s Jude Bellingham and Ajax’s Ryan Gravenberch. In 2022, Tchouaméni rejected Liverpool and joined Real Madrid for €100 million (£85 million), while Gravenberch chose Bayern Munich. Borussia Dortmund would not sell Bellingham in the same summer they lost Erling Haaland. Liverpool hoped they could tempt Bellingham in the summer of 2023. Once Real Madrid made their move for the England man, reality dawned he too would be going to the Bernabéu. News of Liverpool conceding defeat was confirmed in March 2023. It played badly with the fans, prompting one of Klopp’s most tempestuous media appearances when frustrations boiled over about the lack of understanding about what the club had achieved in going head-to-head with Manchester City. “I never understood why we constantly speak about things we theoretically cannot have,” Klopp said. “We are not children asking for a Ferrari at Christmas. There are moments when you step aside and do different stuff.” Three midfielders for the price of one Bellingham The “different stuff” consisted of three midfielders instead of one; Alexis Mac Allister, Dominik Szoboszlai and Gravenberch, who became the next archetypal FSG signing – a meticulously scouted young footballer struggling after his first high-profile move but who might only need a change of scene to unlock his talent to become an Anfield bargain. Thus, in true “moneyball” style, Liverpool created Bellingham “in the aggregate” with players whose combined fee of £130 million is marginally higher than the sum Dortmund received for the England midfielder, and whose salaries added together were less than it would have cost for one superstar.

smart man that, whoever he is

Ah yeah totally agree with that. Yeah not a fan of Sesko either, although their numbers aren't that too different

you back from your marathon?

You'll be hard pressed to find any striker available with a better record than 1 in 2. All leagues really are weaker in comparison to England, it's difficult to find a comparable league at the same level. Loads of people want Sesko and Ekitike but the Bundesliga isn't any better than the French league. France is also the league that English clubs seems to buy the most players from. Isak is one of the better strikers in the world at the moment, and Newcastle signed him on the back of a season where he scored 6 goals in 32 league games for Sociedad.

He's got 76 goals in 133 appearances for Napoli, that's not a bad return by any means. He joined them when he was what 21/22 on the back of a massive transfer fee, but he's gotten better in the last several years in terms of scoring. AFCON aside, his problem are injuries. He's worse than Isak

Freddie in the middle.