Leo No.8

Nunez walks into training with a tray of steaming cups and a teapot…I said ‘practice penalties’ not ‘herbal teas’ Darwin you idiot (Klopp picks up and throws practice cones at him, and the tray of teas and teapot fly up in the air, crashing down on top of Nunez).

Just got this image of Nunez being like Manuel off Fawlty Towers, calling Jurgen ‘Mr Klopp’ whilst getting all his instructions wrong to hilarious effect.

That would be quite the power move.

But living on a canal boat sounded pretty cool to you Hoofy, so I’m not surprised you have that outlook!

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I took a girl who worked for me in sales (she was great at selling but no common sense / worldly interest) to a conference in Aberdeen once. It was a propellor plane, and she asked me if it went straight up…

I thought he looked sharp at the start of the season, but he hasn’t been the same after the rib injury.

He’s just fragile and injury prone. I think he’s a good footballer (smart, great finisher) but players who get injured as often as him are always struggling for rhythm and form. No reason to see that changing. In the last 2.5 seasons he’s had 7 different injuries missing 323 days. That is wild but then you also have to consider all the games in between where he’s trying to find form.

Trent was bossing that game when he went off, was a huge moment as we were well on top, they had backed right up and I think we’d have scored before ET. He’s a special player and when he gets into that groove there really isn’t anyone else like him. He was pushing into midfield a lot and they were struggling to deal with him. I think it’ll be a shame if he goes because Madrid won’t appreciate him, and think in Slots team he could go on to have the best years of his career. Still hope he stays.

Surely Haaland and Isak if picking only 2? Some other very useful players on there though.

I bet he smashes them in from everywhere in training. There are layers to any elite sport, and to get into that top fraction (which being at Liverpool is) you need both special ability and special mentality. Nunez’s technique fails when he’s under pressure, at a lower level he’ll score tons of goals because physically he’s superb. Without that pressure he’s a force. Keepers and strikers have the most mental pressure on them because they are the most involved in the goals bit, which obviously is the most high profile element. He doesn’t have the mental strength to play for us which is a shame for him and us. But it needs to be brought to an end not just for us, but to enable him to restart his career.

I think Wharton is the fit - a progressive, passing CM who could play 6 or further forward. Add him to the existing three and I think we have great quality and versatility.

He is incredible, insane work rate (love that he was fuming about coming off even after that shift for 105 minutes). The midfield 3 are the building blocks for this team long term, and I think along with Salah and VVD will be the main reason we win the title.

He’s been amazing this season but part of that has been because we are set up to work it wide to him in space. Not expecting him to beat the full back too often at 32 but he has been brilliant by being direct, backing up / turning the FB and either shooting or crossing (his final ball has been off the charts good this season). His final ball and shooting were off against PSG but he has been unreal this season and the failures of Jota and Nunez just heap the responsibility onto him. Nunez will go but I’d be fine with Jota being replaced as well.

He doesn’t have the sharpness of movement or speed at the top level to be skipping past people in midfield. His technique is really good so if he could just learn to release it quicker and play it simpler he’d be great. But I don’t think he is going to at this stage, I don’t think he wants to. Ideally I’d like another CM in to make him 5th choice, and I really rate Wharton. Vitinha was brilliant against us, he gives the perfect example of a great technicsl player running the show by keeping things simple. He’s a similar age to Jones but his maturity is on a different planet.

I think he’s done a great job with the squad he has, there is a core of about 14-15 top players but not enough beyond that so he’s played it on that basis. I think it’s clear when you watch the latter stages of last night there isn’t really the depth to be winning the league and CL (and a domestic cup). He has overachieved.

He isn’t as good as he thinks he is. Didn’t want him on a pen but that’s just one of those things. More importantly got caught in possession numerous times in bad places chewing the ball too long and could have cost us. Klopp said he is over confident numerous times so this isn’t just coming from me. He doesn’t release it. I’d like another option in CM.

I can’t lie, I’ll go out when he leaves. Wish him all the best, just hate watching him play football for Liverpool. My heart absolutely sank when he stepped up to take that pen.

We really dropped off without his energy.

He’s been terrible 3 games running but the bigger picture is who steps up when he’s off? We have missed Gakpo badly. Jota and Nunez should be upgraded.

It showed up our lack of depth. And also highlighted a few that aren’t good enough. If we come out of this season with the league (and league cup) then it will be an incredible achievement. Then we need to make a significant investment in the squad to compete in every competition next year because the core is here.

We dominated the second half, but then got progressively worse after every sub. Trent was a real loss as he was running the show in the second half, that was unfortunate (although Quansah did great). It also left us with a weak group of penalty takers. That game shows that the squad needs more investment if we want to compete on all fronts. It hasn’t had near enough.

He’s just mentally weak and his technique goes when he’s under pressure. I think the experienced lads who’d won the CL like Robbo and VVD should have been stepping up. Also Gakpo as arguably our best finisher. Odd that 2 and 3 were Nunez and Jones, didn’t fancy either of them.

It’s really sad to see Robbo now, absolute shadow of the player he was and he’s not that old.