Flight

I think there's two separate things contributing to the turgid state of the team. The state of the squad and the ability of the coaching staff. I suspect a lot of responsibility for the state of the squad is down to Jürgen. He got what he wanted to stay an extra few years - all of the say on signings and contracts. Edwards was out and the FSG big shots left Liverpool and moved back to the States. I'm not critical of Jürgen because he was burned out, but he left a series of contracts running down and the senior players largely edging towards the end of their careers. That means Edwards and Hughes came in to a team that needed largely rebuilding top to bottom. We're only half way through that process. I don't want to hear Hughes talk about that because it would imply criticism of Jürgen. The other issue, regardless of the above, is Slots tactical nouse and the coaching staffs ability to get our players implementing it. We have a very talented first 11 looking like the Keystone Cops. Consequently : 1) It's far too early to judge Edwards or Hughes and I don't want to hear them publicly airing the clubs shortcomings. 2) Either Slot or his coaches - or both - aren't up to the job and need replacing. I don't see that happening mid season.

To be fair mate the poor tactics, play and subs didn't start this term. We've been turgid since we got the Prem in the bag and Slot took the entire squad on the piss in Spain in the middle of last season.

No red shirt within 10 yards of him. Abysmal.

Our best chance of scoring is keep launching it into the box and hope for an OG.

For all last night was poor, I thought we had a good 30 minutes in the first half. Curtis, Wirtz and Ekitike were starting to click on the left and Frimpong was causing them problems from the right. Then for some stupid reason Slot switched Wirtz to the middle so he hardly saw the ball and then subbed him off for Gakpo in the second half. Slots in game management is like a reverse Midas touch at the moment.

Slot managed well last season by not rotating. and there's a big question over how much that has contributed to our injuries. I can't remember if his subs worked out last term but they've been dreadful this term. As has his in game management.

To be fair to Slot he wanted to bring his fella from Feyenoord but he was refused a work permit.

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This would be the best possible signing we could make. I said I'd like to see us go for Anderson only because I thought Camavinga was a pipe dream. He's the only player in Europe putting in significantly better numbers across the board than Caicedo in terms of protecting the back four. We absolutely suck at defending and tackling in the defensive third. Here's a graphic I put together last week : edit : stats from FBREF and cover the last year. Percentiles numbers are compared to every player in the same position in Europe. His numbers across the board are impressive. https://fbref.com/en/players/7b9c2d84/scout/365_m1/Eduardo-Camavinga-Scouting-Report#all_scout_full

Dire second half, built on another goal conceded to Konate crumbling.

Reckon we'll bang a few past these. Come ed Chiesa lad.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2025/dec/23/liverpool-arne-slot-accuses-van-de-ven-reckless-tackle-alexander-isak-fractured-leg Go ed Arne lad. "Arne Slot has criticised Tottenham defender Micky van de Ven for the “reckless” challenge that left Alexander Isak with a fractured leg. Liverpool will be without their record £125m signing “for a couple of months”, Slot confirmed on Tuesday, after he was injured while scoring in the team’s 2-1 win at Tottenham on Saturday. Isak had surgery on Monday to repair an ankle injury that includes a fractured fibula. The operation went well but Slot remains angry over the Van de Ven challenge that trapped Isak’s left leg and caused the fracture. There is also bewilderment at Liverpool that the tackle went unpunished by the referee, John Brooks, and the video assistant referee, Stuart Attwell, in a game in which Spurs had Xavi Simons and Cristian Romero sent off. “It was a reckless challenge,” said the Liverpool head coach. “I’ve said a lot about the tackle of Xavi Simons, which for me was completely unintentional. I don’t think you will ever get an injury out of a tackle like that. But the tackle of Van de Ven, if you make a tackle like that 10 times, 10 times there is a serious chance the player gets a serious injury.” Slot expects Isak to feature before the end of the season but admits the injury is a major setback for a player who has endured a difficult start to his Liverpool career. The 26-year-old’s opener against Spurs was only his third goal for the club and his impact has been hindered by fitness problems. Slot said: “I am confident he can play a part in the season. It has been a really challenging and difficult period for him. He joined a new club, he was very excited and you want to show immediately all the qualities that you have. But that was simply impossible. “Maybe no one understands but if you have not trained for three or four months on a serious level with the team and you are playing in this league you need to be on top of your game to impact a game. That took, as we all knew, months before we could bring him there because there was no pre-season, just games, games, games and no time to train. We always knew it would take him time and that is why he is so unlucky that he is now injured because we all saw with his goal at West Ham, with this goal [against Spurs], that he got closer and closer to the player he was last season at Newcastle.” Conor Bradley was also injured in the win at Spurs and is rated “50-50” by Slot to return against Wolves on Saturday. Cody Gakpo may be involved against the Premier League’s bottom club, having missed the past three games with a muscle problem, but Joe Gomez and Wataru Endo remain on the sidelines."

I'm only going on what I can see in online vids and stat sites (so my opinion may as well be playing Champ Man) but I'm not seeing it with Adam Wharton. Definitely potential but his numbers are mediocre across the board. His numbers last season : https://fbref.com/en/players/4b542852/scout/12524/Adam-Wharton-Scouting-Report Now Elliot Anderson would help shore up at the back and he suits us more. Andersons numbers last term (might have to click on 2024-25 Premier League) : https://fbref.com/en/players/de31038e/scout/12524/Elliot-Anderson-Scouting-Report Intereresting aside, Wirtzs numbers are nuts last year. Let's hope he comes good here. https://fbref.com/en/players/e7fcf289/scout/12552/Florian-Wirtz-Scouting-Report

Yeah that was the filthiest team I've seen in a long time. Isak injury was only two minutes after that other dirty bast went through him and studded his thigh. I don't follow them so I don't know if they are like that every game.

Most of them don't though. We've bought mostly youngsters.

STFU Redknapp. Gobs***e.

Virge and Konate playing the Keystone Cops.

I'd love us to bring in Guehi and Elliot Anderson in Jan. Then Upamecano on a free in the summer, if he doesn't sign for Madrid in Jan. Anderson would be perfect for us. His numbers are mad - potentially a Caicedo. The big boys will be in for him soon.

Last couple of days I've started trying to find and use the stat sites. So it's dead new to me and I could be way off. That said, it looks like so far he's been asked to play a totally different game than he did at Newcastle. At Newcastle his defensive stats were almost as low as Mo's. The club obviously want to add more to his game. With the defensive frailties up to now it's been especially necessary. In the following table I've compared his stats last year with Newcastle to his stats this year with us in three categories - Goal and Shot Creation, Defensive Actions and Possession. The first column is how many times he carried out the action per 90 minutes played and the right hand column compares him to all other players (in the Prem) playing in his position. He's gone from amongst the fewest defensive actions last year to among the highest this year. He's won more tackles than 94% of forwards this year whereas last year he was in the bottom 6%. He's gone from under 19% of tackles in the defensive 3rd to 90th. His possession and shot creation actions, for example, have nosedived. Now Mo is away we can without distraction play the formations that the summers purchases were brought in for and hopefully Frimpong will be back. He should get more time in the final third and be able to play his game more. TLDR - it looks like the club have been working on his defensive game which he's never done before. https://ibb.co/b59Jp3ZY Source of the data is FBREF by the way, Select Scouting report then year. https://fbref.com/en/players/8e92be30/Alexander-Isak edit : can we paste images into posts these days or what code do we need to use from a hosted image site ?

I expect things to pick up significantly in the next few weeks, including this lad getting on the scoresheet.

I met Dom Jones once. One of those underground do's at Le Bateauxs....

Not sure if this has been posted. Florian Wirtz has told national teammates at Bayern Munich, with whom he still maintains regular contact, that he is deeply satisfied with how things are currently developing, that his confidence is growing game by game, and that he is becoming increasingly accustomed to the physicality of the Premier League. In those conversations, one name keeps surfacing in a strangely consistent way, Curtis Jones. Florian has spoken openly about how much he values playing in front of him, and how the balance Jones provides behind the ball has had a direct impact on his own freedom higher up the pitch. He has rarely encountered a midfielder with such a refined technical level, and has been particularly struck by Jones’ progressive passing, his ability to break lines and move the ball forward with clarity and timing. He has described it as a genuine joy to play ahead of him, believing that Jones’ presence behind him offers the ideal platform to operate freely between the lines, giving him both security and momentum, and allowing him to consistently find and exploit the spaces where he is most decisive."

They all protect the back four. They all put their foot in. They're all capable of putting crunching tackles in. Things we don't do. You're right they're all top footballers - as well as destroyers - but they all have an edge to their game which Ryan and Curtis don't have.

Caicedo at Chelsea. City have turned to Nico Gonzalez this term. Camavinga at Real Madrid. Zubimendi to a slightly lesser degree, but a lot more than Gravenberch. No coincidence we've tried to sign two of those four. We need one. I'd say it's what we need most after CBs.

We played well. Most of them have played every game in that recent busy schedule so tired legs at the end.