Chewie

Maybe they just want to get shut

He's gonna need more than a little patience if he wants to come back for good

seen enough of Frimpong to think... ??

So this is the Camara referenced a gizillion pages ago.. I thought it was just a daft joke about bringing back the mighty Titi given how poor we are up front.. I'm suddenly aware of the jokes to be made here... continue

As in, being snarky cos we're not or being itk about something happening.. Or just applying logic that we will/have to sign a midfielder without the years of experience here on the forum to know better

If at this stage you mean Gary I'm willing to consider it... ...meanwhile back in Hughes HQ... tick tock, tick tock... not long now to get things ready for the removal van (he'll prob not bother to pack the fax)

..... my cover is blown...

Our defensive options, for better or worse, (and it's probably worse) won't change this week. Araujo and Gomez are RB cover till we get Bradley back. Munoz is industrious, quick and showed flashes, but looked to me like he plays very direct with his head down and whilst providing cover, will probably be quite limited. He looked like a slightly more experienced version of Ben Doak. Rio cannot be one of the 4 in a 4-4-2. He's just not ready and it's not fair to ask him to be ready. Unless he is absolute worldie of an attacking talent (i don't believe he is) the reality is he's not going to become that player playing for us. He's 18. He needs games. If he was to play in the Bundesliga for 2-3 seasons and get 60-90 appearances under his belt he'd be the summer windows of 28 or 29 big money signing. He needs to be 5th-6th choice for us and accept learning on the job, or go somewhere else to be 1-3rd choice. He shouldn't be that here. I reckon Iraola might have to do what Rafa did with Stevie for a season. 4-2-3-1 but play Dom as the right sided player in the 3. He can play Wirtz in the middle and rotate Barcola / Gakpo / Isak on the left and up front. Play Nyoni or Macca with Grav in the 2 and try and build a base from there. The likes of Munoz can come on for Dom and he can become whatever we need him to be - drop back into the two, replace Wirtz. We need as many strong, physical adults on the pitch as we can get right now. We look so insipid.

Virgil was imperious but then he was playing behind some combination of Henderson / Milner / gini / Thiago alongside either a fit and in form Gomez or Matip and flanked by Robbo and Trent. He's 3-6 years older than those years and every single replacement for the aforementioned players is worse. This Virgil is not as good as the Virgil in those teams, and this team is not half as good as those teams. He's going to look bad even if he's not as bad as we're making him look.

Bald men! Can't edit the post anymore it seems

This could end up like two blind men fighting over a comb... They've both disappointed - enormously. Personal view, Wirtz is not powerful or imposing enough for this league, but at least had a spell in a series of games last year when he contributed. It's a low low bar relative to expectation. Second personal view, Isak has proved it in this league but imho has shown nothing for us They've both been rank rotten

Read the rest of the post. Isak, for us, is not quality. He's been an absolute dud

Probs should have just posted this here... Or not at all..

Wirtz is disappointing but you can see a possible way through if he has quality to play with. Ekitike and him had a connection. There is no connection with Isak because Isak, for Liverpool, is an absolute dud. No energy, press, dribbling, shooting, heading, playing on the last shoulder,splitting centre halves, pulling defenders out of position. Darwin genuinely offered us more and that's not hyperbole or being facetious about Darwin. He carries no threat for us at all. Neither has covered themselves in a lot of glory but Isak is far too close to a category of number 9 signings that includes ricky Lambert and Sean Dundee, and in terms of return on investment he may be worse. Desperately hoping he makes this observation seem like the rantings of a lunatic. Never wanted a player to prove me wrong as much as this lad.

Re Gakpo, in the valley of the blind the one eyed man is king. Selling the least poor of our very poor forward options is madness. He should be the floor and hes two levels above our ceiling

Don't worry all.. In pre season we were so much stronger after 60 minutes

Gakpo Kerkez overlap What happened there!

Watching this Brentford side and there's plenty of good, and robust, players in this league suited to this league.. And the 3 Bs teams along with Palace have been great at bringing them through. Minteh falls into that category and could be a very able support and foil for Wirtz and Isak who we signed, and believe, to be elite. Not only that, but the standard across a lot of football has become more homogeneous at a higher level with fewer absolute standout players. If minteh signs I reckon there's a good chance he will do well

https://x.com/itvfootball/status/2091176996600451255 This works... What a beauty

There was a coach named Adoni Iraola Who wanted to sign Bradley barcola But when Jones went to Inter We put in for minteh And now the structure makes no sense whatsoever

The Edwards and Hughes era hasn't worked and owners unimpressed. Ones gone and the other going and squad building / regeneration hasn't been good. Barcola and mbaye are likely with Cody leaving and no CM on the radar.. Nyoni is next man up. (really hope the CM plan changes)

I've a clear memory of Arsene Wenger on tv just as France 98 was starting. He was asked who will win and said 'France, they have the strongest midfield'. I think only Ferguson's last 2 title winning teams have bucked that trend. I'd love at least one more but apparently they're not doing it.

Let me play devil's advocate even if to try and talk myself into believing we're OK.. Ali is great and marma is a solid backup With good coaching Bradley, Frimpong and Kerkez should be very good full backs. Frimpong won with BL, Bradley is captain for his country. Kerkez is playing under the manager who made him look like one of the best left backs in the league when we signed him. Virgil has one more year, Jacquet looks great and Aruaja captained Barcelona. Leoni was very promising when we bought him. Grav was - with Bellingham and touchemeni - considered one of the best midfielders in europe. He's still got a lot of ability. Dom is Hungarian captain. Macca is a world cup winner with something to prove. Nyoni is very highly thought of. Endo can do minutes as a very experienced international. Klopp says Wirtz is a phenomenal talent and we just need to get him on the ball as much as we can. Isak looked like one of the best players in the league when we signed him. Barcola, munoz and mbaye are all flying machines (Rio is no slouch and Frimpong is also rapid). We've sped up as a team. Hugo, if he gets back to full fitness, can impact the second half of the season. Bit by bit there is a fair amount to advocate for a lot of players. Maybe Iraola can put an the pieces together and 12 months from now we'll be thinking about how fantastic our largely youthful and rapid squad looks..

Think it's gonna be 3 goalies Bradley, Frimpong, Jacquet, Aruaja, Leoni, Virgil, Joe, Kerkez, tsimikas Grav, Dom, Macca, nyoni, endo Munoz, mbaye, Wirtz, Barcola, Rio Isak, (Ekitike) (Chiesa) 9 defenders for 4 places 11 midfielders and forwards plus Hugo and maybe chiesa for 6 places Jones, Gakpo and Elliott gone from today's squad

I reckon it's clear that things have changed. Moving on a player like Jones in his prime in this kind of lightning deal suggests we won't be droning on about owners not delivering for too much longer.