16 Jul 2020 13:00:43
I am disappointed like the next man, especially losing to a poor side like Arsenal, however Its understandable since winning league why our form has dropped. Only worry for me is this form carrying over into next season, which I am sure Klopp won't allow.

First observation from this game is The Ox. He has been off the boil for a while now and looks to be short of confidence. Hopefully a break and good "preseason" will do him the world of good. Second observation is Keita, who remains the enigma. Actually improved our game and offered something different with his running with ball, just feel that's only scratching the surface of what he can truly do.

Third observation is Taki who looked promising and feel he will blossom next season, much in the veins as Fabinho and Robertson after a settling in period. Fourth observation and this comes with sentiments swept aside is Origi. I will forever be grateful for the important goals he has scored but those are far a few in between. A move this summer would be best for both parties but then we are left with the conundrum of who would be back up forward, do we hold onto Brewster or is he best served having another season at Swansea.

For our remaining fixtures I wouldn't mind missing things up a little and seeing Williams at right back and Trent just ahead of him, with Fabinho holding and Gini alongside him as the left centre mid. Things need a little freshening up as you were so wouldn't do any harm.

1.) 16 Jul 2020
16 Jul 2020 13:30:54
To me it looks like we’ve got an eye on next season already. These games are coming thick and fast and we’ve already got the job done. The team will be almost straight into preseason once this season is finished so if we go all out now we risk burnout in the second half of next season.
Playing with the intensity we play at is not easy and the lads have earned the right to take their foot off the gas and protect themselves and their bodies.
My own opinion is that Klopp wants to win these games which is why he puts a strong team out but he’s also telling the players to not bust a gut and save something for next season’s title defence.
I think it’s absolutely the right call given the circumstances.

2.) 16 Jul 2020
16 Jul 2020 13:35:57
Next season will be the third season this team will be on the road with no additions, apart from Taki, it will be interesting to see if Jurgen can keep them up at the level they were at.

3.) 16 Jul 2020
16 Jul 2020 13:53:04
I totally agree with what you’re saying, I just think as champions you should want to show your dominance and break records for legacy every time you can and we’ve basically fell at the last hurdle each time apart from winning the league with 7 games to go. Given the anti climatic end to the season, it’s hard not to worry about next season given that it’s now right around the corner. We’re essentially being told that we’re about to have another summer of very little to no transfer activity and it’s hard to expect the exact same set of players to go a third long hard gruelling season of football without having some form of drop off. Maybe it’s my natural pessimism, but I just don’t see us being able to maintain the level we showed before, by keeping the exact same squad, I think we need to freshen it up a bit by bringing in at least 3-4 players and getting rid of the likes of Lallana, origi, shaqiri, lovren etc and maybe even the likes of gini and Milner who may want to move on. It’s clear we need a first/ second choice CB to challenge vvd and Gomez, someone better than lovren and Matip. It’s clear we need a creative midfielder since Keita hasn’t exactly set the world alight and only shown good signs on a inconsistent basis, and it’s clear we need adequate cover for the front 3 or someone that would challenge Firmino for that central birth since his return hasn’t been impressive at all this season. I understand he does other things such as make space for mane and salah, pressure from the front, and link up play, but as the striker, we need him to score goals and it’s his worst return since arriving at the club. So for me, to stop things from going stale, certain players need extra motivation and some deadwood players need moving on, which would be, like you said, best for all parties involved. If I was to stretch it out even more, I’d say Robertson needs back up, so that’s 3-4 players at least with quite a few leaving. But apparently we have no money, which, given the current circumstances is understandable but as champions of England and current champions of Europe and the world, you’d think otherwise.

I just feel disappointed that we let certain records slip to the likes of United, Watford and arsenal who are all average teams at the time of playing them, obviously this will all change when I see us lift the trophy, it’s just been a very awful end to the season and I think the poor showings started just before the break even happened. I hope we get things right for the start of next season.

4.) 16 Jul 2020
16 Jul 2020 14:00:41
@beckerspecker Think there is some truth in what you’re saying. The players might have it in the back of the head regarding going straight into preseason then straight into next season. I don’t think Klopp would put it in their heads though, as he actually looks as frustrated as most of us during the Burnley and Arsenal game.

@Irishman That will be the challenge but if anyone can Klopp can.

5.) 16 Jul 2020
16 Jul 2020 14:37:32
For me, the season is done so no point pointing the finger at this or that player needing to stay or be let go. Our boys have done the job and have gone as far as they can mentally and physically go based on the high levels of intensity they have put in for the past near 3 seasons now.

IMO, let the players finish the season and give their best and whether it is good enuff or not, I stopped caring after last night where it was clear to see at least for me, that the spirit may be willing but the body is weak. Bravo, to the team and Klopp and his staff! Bravo to all the fans who stood by this team thru out these 3 years. On to next season.

6.) 16 Jul 2020
16 Jul 2020 14:38:33
I really hope that’s not the case Becker, as the players had about 3 months off during this whole C.V., preseasons are usually a month and a half or so long so that will be somewhat similar to the time they’ve had to prepare for next season. This is them needing to get back into rhythm and full fitness given the long break, and it’s looked far from promising. Maybe there is some alter narrative behind the poor performances, but if it’s what you say then I’d be disappointed and feel like next season will slap us in the face if we don’t start to get ready for it now. In modern football, because it’s so fast for teams to evolve to how certain teams play, it’s natural to expect that we’ve been ‘found out’ to and extent. It’s hard to stop and most teams won’t be able to but enough teams might next season that we won’t be able to defend our title or even put a challenge in. Obviously this is worst case scenario but, we seem to be doing no business so maybe we should all be prepared for a drop off given that the standards have been set so high the last two seasons.

7.) 16 Jul 2020
16 Jul 2020 15:26:37
I think there will inevitably be a drop off Kman but purely because the pace we set this season before the enforced break was ridiculous and has never been done before! To expect any team to maintain that season after season is just ridiculous.
I’m sure the players didn’t have 3 months off as they had to maintain their fitness during that time as we didn’t know when or if we were coming back. That means that nobody could switch off and all players had to adhere to strict rules with regards to fitness and social distancing whilst keeping themselves mentally strong in the face of a possible null and void season after all that hard work. Doesn’t sound much like a break to me.
I think they are almost treating this as a preseason now where it’s nice to win but not the end of the world if you don’t but just don’t over exert yourself when it’s not a competitive, meaningful fixture.
As for the ‘found out’ comment that’s just nonsense. Even without our normal intensity we battered Burnley and Arsenal and neither had any answer. We gifted the results by not finishing our chances and switching off at the back. They didn’t find us out in any way, shape or form.
Without the break the players could’ve kept going to the end knowing that they would get a holiday with their families and time to rest at the end of the season. Because of the break and the CV situation they won’t get anything like that so it makes sense to not push them too hard when the title is already won.
I’m disappointed, especially as we should’ve comfortably won the last 2 games in first gear but we didn’t.
When you look at it in the grand scheme of things I’d rather defend the title successfully next year though than go all out for records now and be completely shot with what’s going to be a gruelling, heavy schedule next season with virtually no break in between.

8.) 16 Jul 2020
16 Jul 2020 17:14:43
That’s assuming that we could just turn it on and break records. Maybe we can’t, maybe that dip has come. It’s just pure guesswork to say that this drop off is just a case of the players taking it easy and treating it like a preseason, were we doing that before the break when we had a run of disappointing performances and results? I don’t think so. I think there’s a handful of absolutely outstanding performances this season and much of it has been us being an extremely solid team just winning games narrowly and a lot of the time it was at the death. It was very impressive but let’s not make out that we can just switch it on whenever we like, how long have we heard the whole ‘wait till we get out of second gear’ and we never truly do on a consistent basis. I don’t care as long as we won the league, I’d take 1-0 or last minute 2-1 all day but eventually the narrowness of our performances won’t end in Liverpool victories. I just don’t think it was one or the other as you suggest, where we go easy now and give ourself a better chance at defending next season, this is a relatively young team still and call it what you want but that was a break. That was 3 months of little to no rigorous activity in a footballing sense, that’s absolutely a break for an elite athlete. Mentally it’s a different story and that’s where I think the whole keeping things fresh narrative comes in. Sometimes players mentality change despite how good they are. All this means nothing until next season but ultimately I am slightly worried for next season in that I don’t see us defending the title and winning it. I’d be impressed if we were to mount a challenge.

9.) 16 Jul 2020
16 Jul 2020 14:09:11
@Kman92 I share your concerns. Trust me I wanted the points record along with Salah finishing top goal scorer and Becker with the golden gloves but looks like all three might not happen, well ones gone already.

If our team can perform at the same standards that they have over the last two years then we will be there or thereabouts but a few faces need to go. Like you said Shaq, Origi, Lallana, Wilson, Grujic and Lovren, however I would keep Gini and Milner. If we can sell those then maybe we might have enough to bring in a decent player but any hopes of the likes of Havertz etc we need to put away.

10.) 16 Jul 2020
16 Jul 2020 17:51:11
Kman that is just the problem with fans today. Rather than enjoying the fact that we won 25 out of the first 26 this season after finishing with 97pts last season and now we are champions you choose to focus on a couple of performances when we weren’t fully concentrated after we’d won the league to back up your negativity.
Rather than look at us over the last 2 and a half years and how brilliantly consistent we’ve been you’d rather say the last couple of weeks after the job is done is the norm from now on?
It beggars believe it really does.
This team and manager have given us no reason to believe that come the start of next season they won’t be ready.
Don’t start writing us off already before we’ve even picked up the trophy!

11.) 16 Jul 2020
16 Jul 2020 19:34:36
I didn't even read any of kmans posts, pointless really. Moaning and more moaning. don't hear from him all season then comes here and moans about the lads. I give up.

12.) 16 Jul 2020
16 Jul 2020 21:34:41
Maneenough, moaners moan. It's what they do.

13.) 17 Jul 2020
17 Jul 2020 04:48:03
Maneenough - you're right. haven't seen some posters on here for a while. this really is face-palm time.

It just goes to show that there are a section of Liverpool fans that are miserable no matter how good the club do. Now, even with the title sewn up, the criticism and anxiety reads the same as what we usually see on these forums pre-2019.

14.) 17 Jul 2020
17 Jul 2020 06:13:37
No one is even mentioning that from the players mindsight who were feeding off the excitement and growing anticipation from the fans as the season progressed then suddenly were back to football and got the job done within 2 matchweeks and now playing every 3 or 4 days in empty stadiums and no win at all cost mentality is human nature.

Imagine if we were playing each game infront of our fans who would spend every minute singing and celebrating the title without any anxiety or nerves.

Think of how the players are dampened by this in contrast to the celebration and party mood and they know they are missing out on the love the fans would be pouring towards them.

Suddenly to be in the complete opposite atmosphere it's only realism to accept a drop in the confidence. With full stadiums I feel we would be in a far higher gear despite the league wrapped up.

15.) 17 Jul 2020
17 Jul 2020 08:53:25
Brilliantly posted, Har_red92.

16.) 17 Jul 2020
17 Jul 2020 12:22:18
So two things confirmed - that the Anfield (and the Reds away fans) really are the twelfth man in tight games - and that the moaners always moan; they did it in the 70s and 80s when we were battering almost everyone on a weekly basis. Some things just never change.