DecidedByPoll

He’s currently our version of Ronaldo going back to Utd. Of course he’ll get goals - he’s Mo Salah. But he’s making us a worse team and those long balls into the right back space are designed for the opposition to outnumber us quickly and get the second ball knowing Salah doesn’t track back. It pulls a midfielder over and creates space for the opposition elsewhere. Salah also used to be a brilliant presser, but he can’t do the volume of sprints at the right intensity anymore. He’s a hindrance as a winger at the moment, and we need to find a solution .

The Dalglish family WhatsApp group name is ‘Don’t tell Sir Ken’

He picked up his little brother from St. Mary’s in Crosby on the other day. Apparently really friendly and nice but his English isn’t great.

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It’s hard trying to work out why this is so upsetting. Rationally, this isn’t someone I’ve met, ever spent time with, knew in any capacity and I’ve never heard anything from anyone who might’ve known him at all. and yet this is devastating. There is, of course, the knowledge that parents have lost children and children have lost a parent. And a wife has lost a husband. That alone is just deeply, deeply sad. but it feels like this is more than just good human empathy. I’m feeling haunted by what seems to be a brutal and violent ending and those awful fleeting thoughts of what those poor boys must’ve been thinking. But that’s not all. Coming so soon after the glorious sun kissed joy we all felt at winning the league also feels out of step - a disjointed stumble in what was supposed to be a confident stride towards a promising new season. I wonder if those moments around winning the league that we shared with our friends and family, those embraces which were tighter and more profound because they’d come after so long and after so many near misses, those moments reminded us that this pastime of watching football is actually all about relationships. And maybe I forgot that we all unknowingly build relationships with the players on the pitch. We invest our emotions, time and thoughts in them. So, of course it hurts because we really f***ing care about them. The very sudden nature of Diogo’s death is one of those horrible reminders that we are all a little closer to death than we realise. For a while, a few years back, in a period of constant catastrophising, I couldn’t let go of this thought - of how just one mistake or trip or random act might lead to a death. And here we are. A tire blow out on a drive only taken because a footballer awkwardly fell on another footballer last year. Life’s cruel fragility is now something we have to stare in the face. I’ve read some of the players’ tributes and I’m particularly struck by Robbo and Kelleher’s words. They seemed to be genuine friends with Diogo in a world where it appears to me that while footballers like each other, the transient nature of a lot of careers means that they aren’t lasting deep friendships. They aren’t always best mates. But some are, and the loss and grief so palpable in some of the words I’ve read is heartbreaking. And of course, we see the kinship and love expressed by the players in these moments in our own close friendships. Maybe this grief we feel is also an expression of how much we love our own friends. Apologies for my ramble, it’s partly selfish - a way of making my own sense of it, but hopefully some of what I’ve written may strike a chord for someone else too. Look after yourselves folks, on here and in your physical lives.

It’s funny really. After putting together a league and champions league winning team (and one of the best teams we’ve ever seen in Red) between July 2021 and July 2023 Liverpool spent 300mill on Ibou, Diaz, Gakpo, Nunez, Dom Szobo, Macca and Grav. They’ve been doing what they’ve supposed to for a good while. just because you didn’t see it, doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.

Hang on. Everyone thinks FSG are good now and Richard Hughes isn’t s*** at his job? What happened to the forum that I knew and loved?

The best guarantee of goals and cover across our forward line this summer would be Ferran Torres.

I’m in the pub with my Dad and my son. And this is wonderful.

Even better now they’ve moved to a new site in the village.

I said I couldn’t be arsed with FSG s*** anymore and you couldn’t leave it.

Don’t be a dick Boca.

Genuinely can’t be arsed with this anymore.

The new champions league format will make it more difficult to buy players as the post league play offs aren’t until after the window has closed. It’s also really unlikely that we’ll buy another left back unless we offload one. And as ever, just buying anyone isn’t enough, we need lads who will be world class, and they are less likely to be sold in January.

I worry about his lack of legs in a Slot system, he’s just a little too easy to dribble past. Maybe Zubimendi was supposed to replace him rather than Grav?

Totally with you. He was a liability with the ball at his feet. Bradley is close to being in training so should be available next week at some stage.

He is carrying a knock/muscle issue and he needs a rest. But the full backs who were fundamental to all our success look pretty ropy at the moment. Stick the second team in the Milk Cup and give some of those boys a rest. One of the reasons they couldn’t up the tempo is that loads of them are knackered.

Let’s see what Slot’s got here. A change of midfield shape maybe. Going a bit more man to man and aggressive to Trossard and Havertz.

With our new set up there’s no way we sign someone unless there are a few seasons of data that they are happy with.

I think Sadio and Bobby were both 24. it’s not a great leap to sign a 26 year old, especially when there are fairly few top class strikers around. I was intrigued by the links to Jarrod Bowen when his output didn’t seem that great and then the following season he scored loads. Maybe someone has found some data points which indicate players on the cusp of becoming great.

I’ve been convinced he’s leaving since December 23.

I wondered about the age thing too, but Zubimendi is 26 and we clearly wanted him. I wonder if Edwards/Hughes will repeat the approach they did for Klopp of buying players in the 23-27 age bracket.

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Yeah. Very cagey I reckon. They could go with 3 defensive midfielders to protect their defence.