06 Jul 2023 08:21:36
This is purely my personal opinion but I do not believe Thiago or Henderson will leave this summer and nor should they be allowed to. They are extremely proud individuals and both will fully believe they have a part to play going forward despite being 32 and 33 years old respectively. I also don't think Fabinho will leave although I'm less concerned if he does. He is still only 29 though, he's only had 1 bad season, and he and his wife love Liverpool deeply.

As much as the midfield needed rebuilding you can't strip all of the experience and leadership out of the dressing room in one fell swoop. It was a huge impact off the field when Lallana left, and Milner going will be a similar story. It makes little to no sense to rush Hendo and Thiago out of the club at the same time as Milner. Thiago was our best midfielder last season in my opinion and Hendo is our captain. Both are continually credited with helping new/ young players settle, and also driving up the standards.

I don't think it's a given they all stay, but I just don't believe any of them will leave in the end. Midfield is sorted as far as I'm concerned, especially with Trent's new role. Mac, Jones and Dom give us the ability to press properly again, and from the hybrid role Trent has added that additional recovery pace which the midfield lacked, as evidenced by his exceptional ball recovery at the back end of last season (ranked 1st in the league.

I personally would sell Fabinho and sign a new DM so please don't hound me about us needing to do so because I agree. I just don't think it will happen because i can't see Fab wanting to leave. My main point is Thiago and Hendo are key components in the leadership group though and i would not be rushing them out the door for a Saudi pay day.

1.) 06 Jul 2023
06 Jul 2023 09:24:18
Wholeheartedly agree MK, I swear some people think it’s fifa where team understanding, chemistry and mood are unaffected by replacing most of your starting 11 in one go.

We’ve done great business so far and already looking much stronger for it. We know have bajetic, szob and mac who aren’t going to be constantly injured like their predecessors. This means we can manage Hendo, Thiago and Fabs time on the pitch and not overuse them.

2.) 06 Jul 2023
06 Jul 2023 09:25:16
I’d love nothing more than Thiago to have a swan song season with us and remain injury free.

I think putting younger fresher legs and better ball players in with him as well as being able to rotate him we could hopefully see the elite version of him next season.

Obviously what People want and what people get are two different things.

3.) 06 Jul 2023
06 Jul 2023 09:32:39
Agree. We can't do a Souness and just get rid of everyone.

4.) 06 Jul 2023
06 Jul 2023 09:46:35
Great (30,000 feet) analysis, MKS. We sometimes don't see the forest from the trees.

5.) 06 Jul 2023
06 Jul 2023 09:59:55
Lallana’s departure had a huge impact off the field? Hmmm. I missed that bit. Did Milly and Hendo cry?

6.) 06 Jul 2023
06 Jul 2023 10:41:30
All I can go off is Thiagos history with Liverpool and I feel he has had a lot of injuries. Our midfield is the engine room and needs rotation to keep players fresh. Once players needed to do more to cover for other injury prone players, Keita/ Thiago then it created extra stress on the others causing further injuries.

He is clearly a wonderful player but if we had to lose another midfielder to get a lavia type player in, I think it would be a no brainer.

As for Hendo, I don't want him to be a starter but I think his leadership and experience could be massive for the club in a similar manner Kompany was for city. Good footballers can be replaced but good leaders are hard to find.

I may be in the minority here but I think Fab could have a good season, the legs had gone across the midfield and, in my opinion wasn't given enough protection. Klopp called him the hoover for a reason and I hope a freshened up midfield can get him back to his best.

7.) 06 Jul 2023
06 Jul 2023 11:02:04
I normally agree with you Adam, and on Hendo I certainly do. Like I said a couple of days ago, I would be more than happy to allow him to see out his contract with us and either sign a new one or move wherever he wishes to on a free. He deserves that and more for the (currently) 12+ years of service he has given us.

I'm not so sure on Thiago. Is he part of our leadership group? I may have missed that. He is a silky midfielder, but can he operate in our current system and can he stay fit?

Of the 3, I would rather Thiago move on to make wage space for others, personally. I especially think that free transfers should be reserved for those who have given the service to the club over a period of time, like Hendo, Milly, Trent (in time to come - easy to forget he is closing in on 200 appearances for us already and he's still only 24) etc.

8.) 06 Jul 2023
06 Jul 2023 11:06:57
Gvardiol, i agree mate. Easy to forget that 15 months ago we were going for the quadruple with Thiago, Fabinho and Hendo. Now though none of them are good enough for the squad. I don't get that attitude. They were probably knackered last season and for me the problem was that Ox, Arthur and Keita offered absolutely zero rotation. The emergence of Baj couplef with Mac and Dom changes the landscape. Fab, Thiago and Hendo finally have legitimate cover/ competition which will hopefully help them find some form and give them time to recover. Jones's resurgence is also a big boost.

JK23 i'm hoping for the same. Thiago with legs around him can still offer us sonething.

Spot on thomas194. Evolution, not revolution.

Thanks Delvecs. It's hard to take a step back after the season we just had but a couple new additions and a change of tactics should put us back on the map.

FPF, the players said as much in interviews. Of course it impacts you when a long standing close friend departs. And also the summer Lallana and Lovren left (2 big personalities) was preceded by one of our worst seasons under Klopp. CB crisis didn't help but you can't underestimate the importance of characters in the dressing room. We have lost Carvalho, Ramsay, Milner, Arthur, Ox, Keita and Bobby already. Phillips and Williams will likely follow putting our departure list up to 9 first team players. We shouldn't be over doing it in my opinion. Looking at who has left we need to focus now on finding a solution for centre back competition and a reserve right back. Maybe it can be done internally with Quansah and Bradley, or maybe we need to dip into the market for a player like Pavard, Timber or Geertruida who can cover RB and CB.

Either way I'm not overly keen on forcing out too many more players. At a push I'd look to replacing Gomez and Fabinho if we can find good offers for them and good replacements. The big characters like Matip, Thiago and Hendo shouldn't be thrown out the same summer we lost Bobby and Milner though. Just my opinion mate.

{Ed001's Note - knackered or just not fit enough due to a very poorly planned pre-season? Klopp admitted he got it all wrong.}

9.) 06 Jul 2023
06 Jul 2023 11:08:03
We bought the metronome Thiago and tried to use him like a prime Kante. No surprise his body keeps breaking down.

That is on the coaches, not the player.

10.) 06 Jul 2023
06 Jul 2023 11:27:23
Nice post MK. Personally I'd let Thiago go, love the guy as a player but the injuries have just been too much, I do take your point about more cover helping though and would love to see him have a great season with us. As per Ed 01, its good to hear Klopp realizes the mistake. Hopefully we get back to high intensity.
Personally I'm really excited and optimistic for the season coming up. Hoping the squad feel they have something to prove after last season.

11.) 06 Jul 2023
06 Jul 2023 13:05:10
Great point Ed001, and another reason not to hastily write off 3 players who were our best midfield 12 months ago.

12.) 06 Jul 2023
06 Jul 2023 13:22:48
Zeddicus, certainly a few players have mentioned Thiago as a huge influence. Nunez and Bajcetic in particular. Thiago has been translating all the tactics for Nunez.

13.) 06 Jul 2023
06 Jul 2023 13:23:57
Out pre-season was our killer last season.

We were still playing pre-season games after our first PL game against Fulham dammit.

At the time, I even ridiculed City for only playing 2 pre-season games, and unless I'm mistaken, 1 of them was the community shield. and we know how they ended the season

Pre-season goes a long way to determine the type of season a team will have. If Klopp has admitted he got it wrong, then the 1st step to improvement is admitting fault, so well done sir. Let's learn from this.

14.) 06 Jul 2023
06 Jul 2023 13:27:18
Indeed. Easy to talk about players performance on the pitch. A bit harder to talk about coaches performance on the training ground and white board.

(Although a lot of people on this site have got it in for Pep. and not Klopp) .

15.) 06 Jul 2023
06 Jul 2023 15:14:34
The problem we have is we don’t have the finances to keep up with Man City, Chelsea and so on. So surely it’s better to cash in on older players if we can upgrade on them rather than lose them for free. I’d definitely let Thiago go, no doubting he’s a great footballer but with injuries and such it hasn’t worked out for him at Liverpool and I can’t see his injuries getting better. Fabinho form dropped so drastically I’m not sure he’ll rediscover it. Henderson’s legs have gone, everyone can see that. I’d be happy to keep him on if he’s prepared to play a bit part however if a Saudi club made a reasonable offer for him surely we’d have to consider it? Jones needs to kick on next season, hopefully a few good games at the end of last season and a good run in the u21’s should do him some good. I’m still not convinced thou at the minute, hopefully he proves me wrong.

16.) 06 Jul 2023
06 Jul 2023 18:31:20
Our pre season seemed ok when we beat City in the Charity shield.

A week later when it went t##s up against Fulham and Utd it looked like a lack of desire than lack of fitness.