Liverpool banter 2

20 May 2024 13:15:47
Ed001, do you think Harvey can be a permanent in our first 11, or an excellent squad guy? I think next year is important with Ed002 mentioning the club are worried about Mac Allister leaving in 2025.

{Ed001's Note - I expect Harvey to step up and become a first team fixture. Not sure why Macca leaving would be a worry when Trent can do what he does but better.}

20 May 2024 16:46:44
Macca has been player of the season for me. I’d hate for him to leave.

20 May 2024 15:45:52
Thanks Ed. Who would your preferred midfield be moving forward? I just pray Trent is finally moved in there. I think that would take us to the next level.

{Ed001's Note - Trent and Endo/Bajcetic if it is the way Slot played at Feyenoord with a double pivot. Macca ahead of them.}

20 May 2024 16:32:54
Completely disagree with eds post. Macallister is a massive player for us and trent is nowhere near what mac is as a midfielder.

{Ed001's Note - Macca had a good few weeks but was god awful for large parts of the season, so not sure how he can be 'massive' compared to Trent. You have no idea what Trent is like as a midfielder to suggest he is nowhere near Macca.}

20 May 2024 17:13:57
I love Macca I think he’s a world class midfielder.

Trent’s a great wing back.

20 May 2024 17:25:43
Hate to say it because he tries hard but Harvey shouldn’t be near the first 11 if we want to win league/ champs. He’s a squad player at best - as much as he develops he will never have the speed or physicality to be truly world class. He also doesn’t have the skill etc of someone like Silva to make up for it.

Macca is our best midfielder - was only bad when played as a 6. Irreplaceable imo but 100% would give Trent the 8 role and buy a destroyer to compete with Baj. Midfield then sorted just need a CB, RW and CF to challenge on all fronts.

20 May 2024 17:36:56
That's the point. He's not a midfielder so to suggest he'd be better at macca in a position he's completely unfamiliar with is nuts (respectfully ed) . It's been over complicated with trent. We have a terrific attacking right back, it's quite simple. Let him flourish and get him to keep improving especially defensively and we'll have an all time great right back. Move him to midfield and when the opposition have the ball it'll be like having 1 less midfielder. Trents flaws would be badly exposed in midfield. Macallister was brilliant when he hit form. Sobosli has been far worse for a lot longer. There was a lot of matches this season where a lot of players were poor but we got the result. It'll be interesting under slot how we play and hopefully improve.

20 May 2024 18:20:42
As long as Trent doesn’t play at right back anymore unless we are playing 3 CB’s with wingbacks, I’ll be happy. That has to be the first priority. Second priority is not playing Macca as a 6. I can live with pretty much everything else, even no signings if those 2 things leave with Klopp.

20 May 2024 18:41:36
Elliott is 21 years old and finished the season with 4 goals and 11 assists. Incredibly harsh to suggest he is only ever going to be a squad player. I think he had arguably just made himself first choice, so the end of the season has come at the worst time for him. It felt like every time he went on the pitch the last 6-8 weeks he’d either score or create a goal.

20 May 2024 18:23:47
I would say that Harvey and Trent are the most creative players we have and both should be playing week in week out.

20 May 2024 18:34:52
Normally agree with you Ed01 but you are being pretty unfair on MacAllister.

{Ed001's Note - why? I like him but he was extremely poor in the first half of the season. He has not yet made himself massive for the club, though he has earnt a starting spot.}

20 May 2024 18:55:40
My thoughts. Elliot looks like a number 10 to me playing out of position. Until he’s used there we will never try Ely know how good he is

Trent is a generational talent with an amazing passing range who at any minute can down tools on the entire season and walk around without a care in the world.

20 May 2024 19:11:48
Elliott will be pivotal for Slot in my opinion as Slot’s teams seem to use quick 1-2’s to break through the lines and Elliott is a very technical player.

I think he’s going to start a lot of games.

20 May 2024 19:14:21
Agree with NicolBecker. Elliott and Trent have exceptional delivery into the box. Macca can thread an eye of the needle pass or dink a cheeky one over the top, but Trent and Elliott have that whipped pass/ cross in the locker that puts defenders under the kind of pressure they hate. All 3 should start in my opinion. Don’t care where or how, that’s for Slot to figure out. The more playmakers the better.

Have to mention Salah and Nunez though by the way. They just seem to create a multitude of goals without even looking creative, and sometimes actually seeming greedy. But they rack up the numbers in the assist column so they’re doing something right. Salah’s outside of the boot pass/ cross is lethal and Nunez just seems to pick people out somehow!

20 May 2024 19:16:40
MIZER I get what your saying, and there are lots that agree with you but I'm with Ed on this one. If Trent is that bad at defending, then surely he shouldn't be in defensive line. Id be all for him being in the double pivot and pushing forward in possession and dropping back when defending. Doubt it will happen though as unfortunately Slot likes his inverted fullbacks apparently, which I think is a real shame and massive mistake to continue with that system. Really hope it doesn't happen.

20 May 2024 19:42:04
Trent isn't bad at defending as that is a myth. What he has issues with is being aggressive in moments which makes it look like he cannot defending. Whenever he has had to defend and is switched on fully, he is very good and besides, Klopp did not ask Trent to be a stalwart defensively cos well, that has never been his game cos he is a no. 8/ 10, fro heaven's sake. Why we talk about him like actual defensive FB's is beyond me but whatever.

As for the Macca and Trent debate, we all know DM was not Macca's role so I disagree with Ed01 here. We all saw what the guy was abojut after Hendo got up to speed and he clearly got better. Is he massive? Nope, he is not. At leaset, not yet. I agree with Ed01 there.

For me whether Trent can play in midfield, we will STILL have to see the evidence on the pitch. The proof will be in the pudding at that point.

20 May 2024 19:13:40
Ed 001, where do you see Szobo fitting in?

{Ed001's Note - if Slot is playing the system he used at Feyenoord, I expect him to play as one of the two behind the main forward. That is a position he has played frequently in the past, for club and country.}

20 May 2024 19:59:33
Ed01 - I just disagree that he was poor, he had some poor games but not a poor half of the season.

{Ed001's Note - until Endo nailed down the place, he was awful in the deeper role. I think you are forgetting just how bad he was.}

20 May 2024 20:10:33
I thought Mac had a very good season at a new club and he was asked to be played out of position for a large part of it which he did with no fuss.

Over the course of this season he recorded twice the most tackles by a LFC player In a premier league game with 8 v Chelsea and 9 v Bournemouth over the last 3 seasons.

He also finished the season with 7 goals and 7 assists which is pretty impressive as he played half the season as Dm.

I’m not sure how many of our midfielders over the years have hit those kind of numbers.

20 May 2024 21:29:14
I think that is where we will get the best out of Szobo, also means we don't need to buy a replacement if any of the front 3 were to leave.

20 May 2024 22:32:40
I think Macca got better as the season wore on although the odd worldie here and there eased the closer inspection of some of his shall we say quieter games.

As I said mid-season he got better when Endo stepped up.

No doubt that he is a very good player but he’s not world class at least not yet) .

If we do play a 4 - 2 - 3 - 1 then I’d have him in the middle of the 3 with Diaz on the left and Mo on the right. I’d also have TAA as one of the 2 with either the new DM we are going to sign (or so they say), Baj (if he fulfil the potential he has) or Endo.

20 May 2024 22:47:54
Judging from slots tactics Trent will be staying at rb inverting, I think if we sign pacho he will be left back and play like gvardoil ake at city making a back 3 while Trent sits in midfield not sure where that leaves Robertson.

20 May 2024 23:52:07
It doesn’t make any odds to me. New manager new tactics new favoured players for systems/ positions. As for the Macca debate I think the team wouldn’t miss him provided everyone else was fit.

21 May 2024 05:47:41
ed1 - Trent as part of a double pivot would be perfect. I think the key would be partnering with an Endo, or basically just a natural 6.
I think that could really unlock Trent as it'd give him the time to pick out a pass, play deep and as much as people say he can't defend, it would put him in a position where he can defend fro ma position of strength as oppossed to starting in a position which exposes his weaknesses as a defender. Specifically, he can track back, chase, press, use his passion as an all action midfielder to defend. Whereas as a RB and 1 on 1 defending puts him on the backfoot. Time for him to play the position that will bring the best out of his strengths and then we will see an improvement in his supposed weakensses.

Regards Trent vs Macca, we've not really seen Trent as an 8/ 10 so hard to say who'd be better. I'd give it to Macca cos he has been fantastic playing as a CM as oppossed to CDM.

21 May 2024 05:28:19
In fairness Macca played the first 14 games at Dm and we were 2nd just 2 points off Arsenal at the top.

If it hadn’t have been for the Spurs decision then we could very well have been top.

21 May 2024 07:10:15
My 11 year old daughter can even see Macca is poor at times. Doesn't check the space behind him, awareness is poor at times, too many touches and gets caught in possession too may times. There's a lot better out there and I believe with the right coach, Trent has better attributes to play there.

21 May 2024 09:13:27
Fact of the matter is that we haven’t adequately replaced Fabinho and until we do we won’t be winning the league anytime soon. The answer to this does not lie within the existing squad unfortunately, Endo is a useful fill in, Bajcetic is inexperienced and just coming back from a horrific long term injury, Mac isn’t and never will be a number 6 and neither is TAA.

{Ed001's Note - exceot Slot doesn't play that way, so it is irrelevant.}

21 May 2024 12:28:10
not a bad shout there, @Simply reddd.

21 May 2024 10:02:15
Macca had some really great games to the point where he looked undroppable but he was awful for the last part of the season. At fault for 3 goals against Villa for example.

There’s potential there and I hope we keep him but to say he’s massive for us is a huge stretch.

20 May 2024
New image uploaded to the
Liverpool Player Sightings page entitled,

Click picture for larger image

20 May 2024 15:17:04
I believe the kids call that "getting rekt".

20 May 2024 15:39:30
23 % definitely united city n Everton fans.

20 May 2024 19:43:35
There is nothing really offensive about this, if you are a City fan. I mean, you ain't THAT club and the nos. show that. It is what it is. Read it and weep.

20 May 2024 22:33:59
Money vs Passion. At heart, Passion always wins with genuine football fans.

20 May 2024 13:21:46
I would not be surprised to see us use natural CB's at full back next season under Slot. Arsenal do with White/ Timber and City do with Gvardiol/ Ake/ Akanji. Even Walker is very happy to sit back and actually played in a back 3 for England for several years due to his unadventurous style. I've often said on here that it is the key difference why it works for them and not us.

When a defender steps out to give you the numerical advantage in the midfield it leaves you short/ narrow at the back and City and Arsenal both get around this lack of defensive width by having more defensively solid (or just less adventurous) players in at least one of the full back positions, allowing them to seamlessly morph into a back 3 at times but also let especially Gvadriol or White push on as well in the right moments.

I'd not be at all surprised to see players like Konate, Quansah, Sepp VdB if he returns, Gomez if he stays, Pacho if he signs etc starting at right/ left back. I just don't think you can have Trent moving into midfield AND Robertson bombing on past Diaz every time. It left Virgil and Matip/ Konate far too much to do as they were having to try and get across to cover right back whilst also hoping Robbo could track back quicker than their winger could break forward (which he's been struggling with more and more as he ages) .

The year we won the league with Trent and Robbo both bombing on we had Virgil and Gomez both pre-knee-injury and they were absolute speed demons who could cover the whole width of the pitch very well even if Trent and Robbo were slow to track back. At times you could even leave them 2 vs 3 and Virgil was good enough to make it work. However Trent also going high and wide pushed back their wingers on both sides so Gomez and Virgil had more protection as long as Robbo and Trent followed their wingers back. Trent going into midfield doesn't drag the winger back with him, so poor Konate/ Matip have been having to stand up left wingers on the regular and try and the defend the middle of the pitch also.

I think using CB's at full back more often is the next step in the evolution of our team if Slot wants to bring his inverted full back style over with him. Time may totally prove me wrong, but it's where I personally see the gap in the system as we have deployed it.

20 May 2024 14:12:25
Whilst I don;t completely disagree I do think that it far more complicated than that.

At our peak, Trent and Robbo pretty much played as wingers leaving our 2 CB as the only defenders and we had a fantastic defensive record. This wasn't just down to their pace, there were several other factors:

1. We kept the ball far better. We didn't give up possession easily like we do now with slow play and sloppy passes.
2. When we did give the ball away we had the best front 3 in the world at winning back possession with the high press. Very often when we lost possession we immediately won it back without the opposition having the chance to attack.
3. All of our midfielders were ball winning midfielders. If they got past the front 3 the midfield would often win back the ball. Our current midfield lack this in abundance.
4. We had peak Fabinho who could offer unrivalled protection to our defence or drop into defence to make a back 3.

I would love to see a return to this kind of football so for me I would love to see a world class DM brought in (if there are any out there? ) and see Trent and Robbo go back to being full on wing backs. I also think it would see Nunez thrive with balls crossed into the box rather than trying to play intricate passes through 2 narrow banks of 4 that the opposition have put on the edge of their box.

20 May 2024 14:12:57
Sounds like something we were trying to implement anyway given we were linked to Colwill, Inacio, Theate or Hincapie - all LCBs adept at playing LB - last summer.

We even had Robbo shuffling inside at the start of the season to make a back three which seems to be working ok until his injury. Then Tsimikas and Gomez were playing that way while Robbo was out.

Honestly, I don't know what to think of it. Current Premier League coaches are obsessed with this press-baiting/ foot-on-ball tedium and I feel like attacking football is suffering as a result. We are fawning over defenders than can step into midfield and make progressive passes and whining about the output of our forwards. We are a team and fanbase that thrives on energy and momentum and this style of football dampens that.

20 May 2024 14:27:55
MK amazingly we had 3 Centre backs playing on quite a few occasions this season in Gomez at full back.

But more often than not he was the one chosen to invert rather than defend.

20 May 2024 14:33:19
Either that or we by a top class DM and ask him to provide better protection for our defense. Endo been a great stop gap but we need a better player in there if we are going to carrying on playing with attacking full backs.

20 May 2024 15:42:55
Don't see the problem with Endo. he done really well. even if we buy a top class DM . he can't play every game . n Endo is suited there more than any other player we've got.

20 May 2024 17:49:25
In my eyes when we played really well with klops 1st team, fabinio dropped in pretty much between our centre backs spreading the defensive load while Trent and robbo broke assist records.

20 May 2024 18:45:34
All good points in the replies. Either way seems like we all agree we found a balance between attack and defence in our old system and I think we can all agree we haven’t really had that same balance for a while and especially since Trent’s been inverting. Slot might decide to go a different way, but if he does stick to an inverted full back, how we rediscover that balance will be the key.

20 May 2024 19:25:03
Fully agree with your oh post MK. I don't like this inverted fullbacks system but if we are going with it we need to get rid of our traditional fullbacks and bring in adaptable multi positional players that fit the system like City i. e one out and out defender that is a rock (Dias) one CB that steps into midfield (Stones) and two adaptable defenders that can play fullback and CB on either side like Akanji and Ake. Much prefer that system to our inverted full back one and I actually think we already have the players to do it. VVD is the rock, Bajcetic could be the CB that steps into midfield as he has always been a CB at youth level and broke through as a DM. Gomez and Sepp VDB can play the wider roles then move Trent into a double midfield pivot. That's what I'd do anyway but hey what do I know. Excited to find out!
Sign me up when Slot gets sacked Henry!

20 May 2024 19:49:40
"Trent going into midfield doesn't drag the winger back with him, so poor Konate/ Matip have been having to stand up left wingers on the regular and try and the defend the middle of the pitch also. "


MKS, this was the first problem I saw with the inverted situation and that was when we played Spurs where Jota scored the winning goal. I could not believe the gaps we were leaving behind and I was asking myslef, "Is anyone else seeing these probs. or is it just me? ". Well, thankfully it wasn't cos many on here (including Ed01) have said the same thing (s) and do not like this system.

That being said, a guy like Sepp (or his profile) is the best guy here (as Ed01 proposed) cos he is capable of playing RB and RCB and wingback hence, he can defend out wide in space as a CB or RB. Now sill he start? I don't think so and frankly, I don't see him being kept BUT to me, that is the type of profile we should be looking at in the CB position cos Slot will invert, whether I like it or not.

20 May 2024 10:41:37
Question for Ed033 (probably) - is there a time limit or 'number of posts returned' limit on search results? I tried searching on 'Dijk' to find posts from before VVD joined us and the search results stopped at 2020.

{Ed033's Note - Using VVD as the search term, results in posts as far back as 07 Aug 2017.

The search function is very limited on number of results and only searches Eds Notes.

20 May 2024 14:38:40
Ah OK, thanks '33.

20 May 2024 10:13:38
Edd001 is Henderson on good terms with klopp? Found it strange he never sent him a nice farewell message or wasn't including in the farewell message that including stevie, players etc. He was klopps longest serving captain.

{Ed001's Note - he did post something, I saw it this morning. }

20 May 2024 10:09:46
You know i think virgs embrace summed it up for everyone especially the fan base. The tears into the hug. Virg grew up without a father and i feel like for 20 odd years there was such a disconnection between the fans and the manager / owners. We were never close to really winning a PL but when klopp came, we just knew we had someone very special who was going to deliver.
I heard Carra compare him with the great Liverpool managers including benetiz and that's when i thought what an insult. Klopp is our generations shankly. He's way above benetiz. There should be a statue for klopp.

20 May 2024 11:30:48
Carra went through a list of great managers that Klopp was up there with. You can't just pick one out that you aren't happy with.

Rafa won the Champions League with one of the greatest ever second half comebacks. If you look at the squad he had you can see how immense this achievement was. Look how hard Pep found it to win with his billions of pounds at City.

Klopp is a legend and yes there should be something at the ground to immortalise hm but that doesn't mean you should belittle the achievements of those who came before him.

20 May 2024 11:38:58
Benitez wasnt as warm a character as Klopp but he definitely understood the club and the city.
Ultimately his time with us promised more than it delivered but there was a lot going on around the club and the emergence of Chelsea and strength of United made his task a difficult one.
There were however some great nights, a really good team that came together in 2008/ 09 and pretty much every European giant was humbled at one point or another.
Not quite Klopp levels but I have a lot of respect for Benitez and look back fondly on those years.

20 May 2024 11:49:24
I’d agree with that Mizer. Although we should forever be thankful to Rafa for Istanbul I didn’t particularly like him as a manager and was glad when he left.

Klopp could not be any further away from that. A true once in a lifetime manager that we were so very fortunate to have.

20 May 2024 12:46:05
I think Benitez got the club just as much as Klopp did and the main real difference is Klopp was given a far better foundation for success. Rafa had to try and manage under some absolute morons.

Rafa won a CL for us with a mid table team. Let's not rewrite history and pretend what Rafa did wasn't just as remarkable as what Klopp did in it's own way. Had FSG been in charge 6 years earlier, I genuinely believe Rafa would've won the league too. He came bloody close even with the mess behind the scenes he had to work with.

The guy still has a house in the area and comes back near on every year to pay his respects to the 97. He'll probably move back to Liverpool permanently when he retires. He embraced the people and the City just as much as Klopp did, he just simply didn't have the conditions required for success, yet he brought us some anyway. Put some respect on his name.

20 May 2024 12:59:57
Legit dying for Rafa to wake up one morning and say: "You know what? I think I will ring the FAI and ask to manage Ireland. I can still live in Liverpool if I do that. "

The man doesn't work for the paltry few pennies the FAI could pay him though.

20 May 2024 13:11:37
The fai would probably mess up the deal in the first meeting.

20 May 2024 13:58:20
Rafa was great for the club. he wasn't a character like Klopp but he got the club n fans . he used to go to bars with the fans etc but more importantly he wanted what was best for us . a winner end of.

20 May 2024 14:04:53
The managers we’ve had who have been champions of England or champions of Europe or both all deserve their legendary status.
To be compared to Rafa is being compared to a legend in my book.

20 May 2024 14:07:09
Rafa won us the champions league?! Lol. It was his fault we were trailing by 3 at half time. Benetiz was decent and became mediocre. He shouldn't be in the same convo as klopp.

20 May 2024 14:53:38
Aye Mizer, cos any other manager in the world would've dragged that lot into the CL final and easily won it.

20 May 2024 15:47:26
Yes Mizer Rafa won up the champions league. who do u think won it . the players on their own. he guided us through all the rounds . surely I don't have to name all the teams we beat on the way.

20 May 2024 17:15:55
Must have been someone else who made the tactical change at half time in Istanbul.

I always assumed it was the manager.

20 May 2024 18:55:26
What an absolutely awful and ungrateful take. Only 4 out of 20 permanent managers have won us the European cup in our 132 years of existence. Rafa is one of them. Paisley, Fagan, Rafa and Klopp are absolute legends for making us European royalty. This is possibly the worst opinion I have seen from any Liverpool fan, MIZER. Bordering on a disgrace that you felt you had to put down Rafa to praise Klopp. They’re both giants in our history. Rafa arguably gave us the greatest night in the clubs history. If anything ever tops Istanbul I’d be absolutely staggered. We had a bang average team and we came from 3 goals down to beat one of the best teams ever assembled being managed by arguably the greatest manager in Champions League History. I honestly don’t know what more to say. Your heads gone.

20 May 2024 19:35:15
Benitez won us the CL with quite possibly one of the worst squads LFC had save Roys awful tenure. FA cup the year after and at our best in those Benitez years we were one of the top 3 teams in Europe despite winning very little. Torres, Gerrard, Carra, Mascherano, Alonso, Skrtel, Kuyt, Benayoun, Maxi, Arbeloa, Agger. Great team that got undone in the league by freaks of the game like R7 at Utd. Top manager that loves the club and you want to knock him. Well done.

20 May 2024 23:56:17
I think klopps finished. Imo he's past his best. Unless he goes to Madrid full of superstars when IF he were to sign he'd do well. Anywherelse he's getting found out. He's been making terrible decisions these past 3 years and it's cost us. He's forgotten what made him successful as a manager and his style of play.
MIZER

From about 2 weeks ago. Enough said.

20 May 2024 08:56:47
Right then. Have we signed anyone yet? Arne Out.

20 May 2024 09:13:34
Nice one - I was thinking the same thing and am really pleased it has been done as a joke.

20 May 2024 11:17:48
I’m awaiting all the gambling puns the press will make if we are going through a rough spell.