11 May 2018 02:37:36
So as a rough guess at our ins n outs for next season im getting super excited at the squad we are building. plenty players moved on if a buyer can be found for the players. Mignolet, Ward, Clyne, Emre, Grujic, Lallana, Markovic. then a decision has to be made on the striker options. i personally don't think we need to bring 1 in, i would be happy with 2 of Origi, Sturridge and Ings as backup for Firmino. as i think Solanke needs a good loan to Championship or lower Premier League club. so with the roughly 9 or so players moving on plus maybe more youth players like Wilson, Ojo, Kent etc. we are looking at RB, Winger, CAM, CDM and backup GK. Keita we know is coming in already. something like Fekir (CAM), Malcolm (Winger), Diawara (CDM), Periera (RB) and Reina (GK) . that would be incredible.! Although i have just picked Malcolm out randomly and i think interest in Periera is gone but as i said its just a rough guess by me. i really hope it ends up something along those lines that turns our squad into a real strenth in depth team that can rotate without really weakening us and be able to challenge on all fronts. exciting stuff. hope all is well eds n reds.

{Ed0333's Note - you’d have Sturridge in the squad next season? I’d rather have Albert Steptoe he would move quicker and get injured less.

1.) 11 May 2018
11 May 2018 05:07:16
We have no interest in Diawara and that is it! He is a stopper and as long as Klopp is here we won’t play with one either. We are looking at Deep lying playmakers in the mold of Jorginho.
Malcolm is exciting but I would prefer Bailey from leverkusen. Again not happening.
I would be happy with Fekir and Jorginho!

2.) 11 May 2018
11 May 2018 05:58:56
I’d perhaps be happy with any of Origi, Solanke or Ings as a third but we need a new forward that’s able to compete with Mane, Salah, Firmino as none of the first three are capable of having a meaningful impact off the bench.

Please not Sturridge, sorry but he’s not what he used to be and doesn’t play the way Klopp needs the team to play.

3.) 11 May 2018
11 May 2018 06:17:32
The only reason to keep Sturridge is to keep the medical staff from getting bored and that’s not worth his massive weekly wage.

Personally I think (actually Ed’s, is this possible? ) can’t we just release him? I don’t profess to know how this works in football but I’m pretty sure if I was being paid a huge salary to be amazing at my job, but was never there doing it, I would have been let go pretty quick! There must be some contract back stop to say if you can’t play for more than ‘x’ games or longer than a certain period the player isn’t fulfilling their side of the contract and it can be terminated?

Don’t get me wrong, he is supposed to be good to have around but tell you what, pay me half what you pay him a week, I will play the same number of games for LFC and I will be just as nice to have about. 🤣.

{Ed001's Note - we would have to pay up his contract in full, unless he agrees a deal for less in order to free himself up for another move.}

4.) 11 May 2018
11 May 2018 06:35:14
Ings, Sturridge, Origi, Solanke takes you to the same point and ask you the same question. Why on earth do you need CF when you don’t play with one in the first eleven! How about finding the next false 9 rather than a CF? Or give me two exciting wingers who could play either side of Bobby!

{Ed001's Note - maybe so there is a plan B when A is not working?}

5.) 11 May 2018
11 May 2018 10:29:04
I honestly believe Fekir could play false 9 if need be, while also playing as an attacking midfielder and winger depending on the circumstances. He looks like a better version of Coutinho with less shooting from 40 yards at every opportunity. A great dribbler, really likes to run at the defence just like Ox. Has scored a shed load of goals, good attitude (unlike some of the alternatives), a great set piece taker (which is what we are sorely lacking), coming into the prime of his career and, most importantly, gives us the ability to break down teams that sit deep and can score goals out of nothing. For me, Fekir isn’t just a preferable signing, its an absolute must.

6.) 11 May 2018
11 May 2018 10:34:55
A fit Sturridge starts in our team in my opinion. I don't know how or where, but a fit Sturridge could easily score 25 goals a season and you don't leave out top class players.

The problem is a fit Sturridge is about as likely as Michael Jackson and Freddie Mercury doing a duet at Glastonbury later this year.

I hope he gets a good move elsewhere but the club shouldn't force him out when he only has a year left anyway. We gave him the contract and if he'd stayed fit the last few years, I'm sure we'd all expect him to be professional. Loyalty goes both ways. If you expect players to honour their contracts even If they improve vastly, you should expect the club to honour contracts even if injury plagues someones career. Talk of terminating his contract does not sit well with me. Integrity in football used to mean something.

7.) 11 May 2018
11 May 2018 09:28:22
I thought Klavan was plan B ed? Lol.

{Ed001's Note - he is plan F.}

8.) 11 May 2018
11 May 2018 14:04:19
Can someone please explain what this fable 'false 9' is? Sounds like its either an 8 or a 10. That's as close to 9 as you can get without being one. I heard Rodgers use it once and that's exactly the type of nonsense he'd come up with to use as a sound bite rather than having any substance.

It seems to me that a 9 is anyone who plays up top without tracking back much. Someone who just stays up top and waits for the ball. That is, if we're counting slightly deeper players who get more involved with build up play as false 9's.

Fekir is an attacking midfielder who can play anywhere along the front line as well. Therefore, you could argue that he's just an all round forward. Same with Bobby and even Sadio, to a degree.

However, take Sadio out of the false 9 argument for a minute and put him back in his usual position. Also, assume we sign Fekir or another like for like player this summer, does that mean we will be playing with 2 false 9's or a false 9 and a false 10? Add Sadio and Mo into the equation and we'll be playing with a false 9, a false 10 and 2 wing 9's. Am I right?

My head hurts.

9.) 11 May 2018
11 May 2018 14:40:55
I would definitely go see that MK, 2 of the greatest for sure.

As for Sturridge, unfortunately for the lad I think his career is being forced and I don't ever see him getting back to full fitness. On his day he WAS one of the best strikers and as you say could put 25 away a season but even if he was fully fit, I think those days are gone.

10.) 11 May 2018
11 May 2018 15:15:02
Oh Ed01,when did you start following “plans” 😂😂😂. There is only one plan in Liverpool and that’s klopp’s Exciting, Excellent, fluent, interchangeable front 3! Take out one and deploy a CF and we are pants!

{Ed001's Note - I give up, goes over your head this, if you think a front 3 can only be played one way then it is a waste of everyone's time you joining in this discussion. I am sure Klopp must never have managed with an out and out striker before, such as Lewandowski, for example, in a front 3, right?}

11.) 11 May 2018
11 May 2018 15:35:43
You’re confusing yourself Bardzo mate - a false 9 is just a central attacker that tends to drop deeper into the playmaker role to get the ball, thereby drawing the CBs out and leaving space for the wingers to exploit in behind him. Firmino has played it to perfection this season, feeding Mane and Salah on many of their goals, but then he’s also capable of playing like a true 9 at times, getting into the box and scoring himself when the situation demands. That’s what makes him so good IMO.

Any ‘normal’ playmaker from midfield is simply a no.10 as they still have a striker ahead of them.

I agree with Ed though, and feel quite a few players in our side are capable of playing false 9, so it makes sense to have a more traditional striker somewhere in the team as a plan B when we’re struggling to break down teams sitting deep. Ings and Solanke are proper 9’s and I guess Klopp may have had Solanke in mind for this exact role, but both have struggled a bit this season. We need someone for those times when the opposition has 10 in the box for the last 20mins of a game and we have no other option but to bash the door down rather than keep trying to pick the lock.

Given how rarely we need that though, and how it’s so against our natural style of play, we’ll struggle to find a top striker willing to do that for us and sit on the bench most of the time (and god forbid we go back to the days of Benteke) which is why I don’t think Crouchy is a bad shout at all for a third or fourth choice striker, crazy as it may seem! His whole game is built around doing exactly that.

12.) 11 May 2018
11 May 2018 16:05:27
Wasnt suppose to turn into a Sturridge chat. Got hammered by you lot in this thread for something u all misread. u guys realise i did actually say "2 of Origi Sturridge and Ings as backup to Firmino" and not "i would love sturridge to be our number 1 striker" right.? Gee wizz. he's going to be hard to sell and was a good impact sub for us before he left on loan. much better then what we have had from Ings and Solanke this season. but again i will reiterate that yes i would be more then happy if he left and kept Ings and Origi. the whole point of that comment wasnt for u guys to only focus on Sturridge, but about not needing to spend on a striker and being excited about what our squad is potentially going to be. far out. tough crowd u lot are.

13.) 11 May 2018
11 May 2018 16:13:28
Lewandoswki wouldn’t get inot the current liverpool side Ed01.

{Ed001's Note - as a plan B though....}

14.) 11 May 2018
11 May 2018 16:36:58
Ha ha ha Ed01. I would rather Harry Wilson or an exciting winger as a back up! This system is built for wingers / wide forwards whose biggest weapon is PACE!
At no point during a match I would bring on a striker into the team! We have scored over 100 goals without a striker. We don’t need one!

{Ed001's Note - what happens if Firmino is out?}

15.) 11 May 2018
11 May 2018 17:58:15
Play Salah or Mane centrally absolutely introduce the winger on the flanks! Simple.

16.) 11 May 2018
11 May 2018 19:25:47
SGred, my post probably wasn't tongue in cheek enough. I know what a false 9 is supposed to be but to me that's just a support striker, or what a number 10 used to be. It's just another expression (which is meant to sound fancy but just sounds like jargon) to describe the evolution of a modern forward. Firmino plays as a 'false 9' but actually plays as a number 9 because we have no target man, so to speak. What I mean is the modern game at the top level is evolving so that it is a prerequisite of nearly all forwards to play that role, therefore leaving a false 9 as null and void, thus becoming a number 9, forward or striker once again.

We actually play with our wingers often the furthest forward and one in particular as an outside striker or wing 9. It's a fallacy, however. Salah is a winger. Firmino is a striker. Fekir would be an attacking mid (in the main) . I'm just having a dig at the phrase 'false 9' really. It only came about because Spain decided to play without a striker for a few games and the commentators and pundits didn't know what to do.