David Hodgson

Klopp talked about Chamberlsin being an option in midfield and attack and his first appearances for us were out wide . But regardless , I tend to agree he’s definitely now a midfielder and no more a front 3 option than Lallana is . Brewster won’t be fit til around Xmas and he’s only 18 , so promising though he may be, I’m not banking on him for anything this season . Solanke has shown so little so far. I can’t count him as a serious deputy in the event of an injury to one of the front 3. Sturridge is the one with the real world class level quality to add to our options , but the odds on keeping him fit are slim.

No he hasn’t .

We started last season with Salah, Mane, Firmino, Coutinho and Chamberlain as our main front 3 options . We start this season with Salah, Mane, Firmino and Shaqiri. That isn’t as strong as what we had, unless you think Shaqiri alone compensates for Coutinho and Chamberlain You could say that about any position . You could argue that Becker improves the attack. If you improve the team you improve the attack . But, none of that changes the fact that our choices for the front 3 places are more restricted. You can say that the net gain across the team compensates for that, but that’s a different debate.

This is absolutely correct. We are now far stronger in defence and midfield , but we simply are not as strong now in terms of our front 3 as we were then. Although tbf , we didn’t know how strong we were then. We didn’t expect : Mane 20 goals Firmino 27 goals Salah 44 goals Coutinho 12 goals (in half a season) I think we’d have happily taken 55-60 goals for those 4, whereas we actually got 103 goals.

The hanging in there for the best man tactic has a sell by date though. We can’t say we need a number 10 and keep failing to get him, because no ones ever quite good enough. Coutinho’s replacement should’ve been signed in January. Waiting beyond then was a calculated risk . I backed that, but I’d have trouble accepting failure now.

I agree. We desperately need more high quality front 3 cover as a minimum . FailIng to replace Coutinho in January wasn’t great , but I could accept there might be reasons , but 7 months on, there are no excuses. And I don’t doubt the club don’t know that . And I think Fekir will get done.

What happened to good news Keita ? He was saying Fekir is done wasn’t he ?

And about a week ago they were all going with the line that Shaqiri wasn’t a Fekir alternative and that recruiting another attacking player was the big priority .

I quite like him, on a good day. He’s pacey and enthusiastic. That works for me.

Yeah, very true. We’ve got the very good Andy Robertson and back up options in Moreno, Milner and Clyne. What’s to fret about ?

Our league cup team: Alisson Clyne Gomez Matip Moreno Henderson Milner Wijnaldum Lallana Shaqiri Sturridge

Moreno was having a fantastic season until his injury. Fully rehabilitated.

Well, this is all rather fantastic isn’t it. Think we can now safely say that things are very very different at the club. Liverpool are the insurgency. Only City and United will be contemplating outspending us.

Wasn’t me. I’m away.

I’m struggling to see any evidence that he’s ever got anything right. He plays it cool, like he’d never bulls..t about anything , but where has he stuck his neck out before ?

Who ?

Yes, but implicit in that number is a re-signing on fee. So, Courtois at 200k a week over 5 years is a £50m deal, whereas Allison, purchased for £65m, at £200k a week, is a deal that costs £115m in total. Night and day.

The key is what the player wants , not who offers Roma the most. It sounds like we’re in the box seat, but Chelsea are desperate and could offer him silly money.

People thought Karius was a bit gorgeous . Now, we can’t even look at him.

This is exciting. Can you expand ? Like give us the name, address, and phone number of the person who told you this. Maybe a sworn affidavit ? Thanks in advance.

Chelsea are the interesting one to watch. They’ve got 4 stars who would all probably take moves tomorrow . Willian and Kante to Barcelona, Hazard and Courtois to Real Madrid. But all of those deals are huge and difficult to pull off . But if two of them do happen, then Chelsea need to start spending quickly .

I think that’s a fair summary. He arguably arrives with a bigger pedigree than all 3 of them, at the time of their signings.

Karius is finished. A broomstick with fake googly eyes on it will do better for us than Karius.

Yes, very deliberately so. Name me a solid one. I’ll give it 2 minutes before someone rocks up to tell you’re choice is shi.t.

Every reporter on the LFC patch reports that Shaqiri is a squad signing, and not the Fekir replacement. If we get Fekir, it looks like this : The keepers (whoever they end up being) RB - Trent/ Clyne/ Gomez / Fabinho LB - Robertson / Clyne / Moreno / Milner CBs - VVD / Lovren / Gomez / Matip No 6s - Henderson, Fabinho, Wijnaldum, Milner No 8s - Keita, Fekir, Lallana, Chamberlain, Milner Front 3 - Mane, Salah, Firmino, Shaqiri, Fekir, Brewster First team : Keeper Trent VVD Lovren Robertson Fabinho Keita Fekir Mane Firmino Salah Subs: Shaqiri Chamberlain Lallana Henderson Milner Gomez