02 Jun 2019 23:53:05
Do we really need to add a creative midfielder to the team?

Ox and Keita have that role. Sure Keita hasn't been that great this year but I'd like to give him another year. See if his attitude and approach changes now that the first trophy is won (surprising how many bad attitudes change when some success comes along ) and dammit OX deserves his place in midfield until we see some evidence he doesn't deserve it.

Same goes for a striker Brewster and origi can be backup for Firmino until they show they don't have the talent or don't want to stay.

I do think we should add some cover for Salah and mane (maybe someone from youth teams? ) And cover for full backs but otherwise we are fine. well in my opinion. Feel free to thumbs down if you disagree.

1.) 03 Jun 2019
03 Jun 2019 00:09:59
I half agree I really do think we need a player to cover the front 3 we have been lucky with injuries up top but I wouldn't like to think we only had origin and Brewster if Salah or mane get injured or dread to think may be both could I guess ox could play there and for now we have shaquiri but might not at the start of the season I would definitely buy a cover player there.

{Ed0333's Note - Brandt would have been an ideal solution for that scenario. It can only mean Mr No 6 has something up his sleeve?

2.) 03 Jun 2019
03 Jun 2019 01:51:31
Yeah I think midfield is not a worry. Keita offered hardly any influence this season and OX nothing either. It's clear to see keita is a talent, I'm expecting him to show his quality next year and OX hopefully can get back to his pre injury form. That right there is like at least 1 new player if not 2 inc. keita . A versatile pacey young front man to strengthen depth in wide options be my priority.

Other than possibly replacing and improving the outgoing surplus squad members we don't have to change much. I'd like to see Lewis take morenos role, robbo hardly missed minutes since he's broke through 18 months ago, Milner always can cover if needed too. I'd only sign a CB if any of lovren or matip wanted to leave, I doubt they would though. An experienced back up keeper if migs leaves and maybe some competition for Trent at RB if the right kind of player was available. I really don't think we need to change much, just strengthen the depth of quality an add more competition for places.

3.) 03 Jun 2019
03 Jun 2019 06:57:05
Keita is more of a number 8 its a number 10 we need and. We do need a players to come in to fight with the front 3 for a starting place so they can be rotation up there without a great drop in quality.

4.) 03 Jun 2019
03 Jun 2019 07:28:17
Both Brewster an ox coming back from long term injuries, I love ox but worry about his injury record, if he could stay fit all season or most of it will be great, Brewster is raw could b great or could be another Jordan Ibe so a bit of a gamble, man city's squad is stronger than ours in key areas they have quality backup I hope we can rectify that with cover for left an right back, a fekir or bruno Fernandes type midfielder - attacker, an cover up top, let's take into account studge, lallana leaving also Moreno, Clyne its imperative we replace wid solid quality .

5.) 03 Jun 2019
03 Jun 2019 08:05:18
Yeah grino but we've never really used a "10" in a 3 man midfield under klopp. Coutinho on 1 or 2 occasions maybe but we lose midfield balance. Start of season he tried shaq there against Southampton. He made 2 goals and we led 3-0 at HT. He subbed him at the break and bought on Milner i thinkto regain shape. And said after the game he made a tactical error. In the last 2 or 3 months, fabinho has been left to anchor alone with two 8"s ahead of him. This has been a successful change in shape. Hendo in that time, scored 1 assisted 5, gini scored 3 or 4, keita scored 3 and assisted another 1 or 2 I think. Fabinho has shown he doesn't need someone sitting deep along side him anymore. I think klopp prefers this type of running aggressive type midfield as opposed to the playmaker options. We won 14 of our last 15 games after tweaks in midfield. I'm not sure if we need to be changing what is a working effective midfield. Ox suits that perfect too.

6.) 03 Jun 2019
03 Jun 2019 09:07:14
If you want to include Gomez in that as well he's been out since Christmas so 4 nearly new players back Gomez, Ox, Brewester, and Keita who has had a stop start season since he came here. I think we are pretty stacked in midfield so I would make too many changes for the foreseeable future been watching our boys since the 70s and have seen some brilliant time and some not so good but I think we have a really special manager who everybody want to play for and is now building a dynasty here in our beloved club. I'm here to enjoy the ride klopp is about to bring us on, so in klopp we trust.

7.) 03 Jun 2019
03 Jun 2019 09:15:48
Anybody who thinks we don't need a creative option simply has to look to those draws we accumulated last (or is it still this) season. Particularly Man U, Everton, Leicester and West Ham. We can’t have ridiculously expensive subs, but equally, playing 50 games a season means there is room for someone to come in and spread the load around and in particular, give us an option when we need a spark from somewhere.

8.) 03 Jun 2019
03 Jun 2019 11:10:55
hailstones I think are midfielders are great but they are all very similar. and we did get a few lucky goals late in games everton, spurs games come straight to mind. A player like fekir would give us a new dimension, all so give us the option to rotate with Bobby. Brewester coming up all so gives us a new type of forward. and if we could get a wide player who we could trust to play as many games as salah and mane we could attack on all fronts rather than just going for 2 cups makes life hard. If we won't to keep growing we need to keep adding silverware every season. There is still a few bits of deadwood in are squad that are not add much compared to the wages they get. for me a fekir type player a wide player and a right back to cover Trent and a new keeper if mings leaves would be great window and move us forward again.

{Ed001's Note - they are similar for a reason, they allow us to play the way we do. They can press high and win the ball back in dangerous places where they don't need to be as creative. Winning it high up while the opposition are looking to attack means there are wide open spaces to play a ball through.}

9.) 03 Jun 2019
03 Jun 2019 11:18:53
Keita showed glimpses of his class. Once totally settled as n not niggled with injury i think he will go on to be one of the best cms in the league.

10.) 03 Jun 2019
03 Jun 2019 13:19:11
Agreed ed01. The midfield is a, hard to get through. B, hard to bully, and c, are all good on the ball under pressure. They are the perfect midfield to give our amazing front 3 the platform to play off. All intelligent midfielders too.

{Ed001's Note - we bought two players in last summer who are more creative in Fabinho and Keita, in different ways. There is also Shaqiri who is creative. Not sure why people think it is such a weakness in the side now.}

11.) 03 Jun 2019
03 Jun 2019 14:09:00
Yeah we don't need to change midfield at all. I don't see an out and out AM as any use. Our midfield gets a raw deal. Someone just blamed 4 draws on our midfield? That's such a clueless idea. Trent was missing this period, Milner and Henderson had to cover RB, fabinho played a couple of times CB. Firmino missed 2 of those games. Sturridge slows us down and crowds spaces that bobby creates. Keita was being forced to play even though he was very off form, . We were very disjointed all over the park. This was a period where our full backs weren't getting any assists, salah sturridge and origi were invisible. It's funny we never had to rely on this midfield for goals or assists, full backs and front 3 always the main threat but the minute we hit a blip, the likes of Henderson were blamed. This team plays to its strengths due to our current midfield. Our absolute main strength attacking is through wide areas. So many goals come from their. Firmino thrives on dropping into those pockets between mid and attack leaving central areas for salah and mane to run. A #10 would leave us more bare in midfield and stifle our fullbacks freedom. Firmino would no longer be able to play his false 9 role.

When we played 4-5-1 with firmino behind salah we struggled with fluidity. Firmino and salah getting in each other's spaces constantly and it wasn't working at all. I don't see any reason to change from a working successful system back to one which we used when we played our worst attacking football this season.

12.) 03 Jun 2019
03 Jun 2019 14:50:14
ed001 I did not see us winning the ball back so high up as much last season teams new they could not play at the back like that against us even city changed against us. And if salah was out for a good bit of time not sure I would want Shaqiri in there all the time. when you look at city and Sane is on the bench that's a real game changer.

{Ed001's Note - Sane doesn't want to be on the bench and wants to go, so that is not an issue. As for last season, you obviously did not watch us much as we were scoring goals that way a lot. It is not always about actually getting the ball high up, you can win the ball by pressing in high areas and forcing them to kick the ball aimlessly up field. It still leaves the same gaps where they have full-backs advanced and midfield looking forward etc.

If Salah is out for a while there is Ox, Shaqiri, Brewster and Origi, even if we buy no one.}

13.) 03 Jun 2019
03 Jun 2019 15:03:41
Again, fully agree ed01. Its not like milly, hendo and gini cannot create goals either.

{Ed001's Note - exactly mate. Hell even Matip can get assists now....}