Text Size Adjuster: 18px 06 Apr 2026 12:39:01 In order to view all of today's banter, you may have to visit our Liverpool banter 2 to Liverpool banter 10 pages linked at the bottom of this page.
06 Apr 2026 11:14:50
Sent to early, then Villa n Brentford. Only one im positive over is Brentford n thats because its at home n last game of the season.
0
06 Apr 2026 11:38:23
I think we win all our 4 remaining home games, but can see us losing all 3 away. That would give us 61 pts, which is pathetic. However, it could still be enough to get us 5th. We're obviously winning the CL, so not a bad season, all in all.
I think I ate too much chocolate.
2
{Ed025's Note - stranger things have happened Rome..
0
06 Apr 2026 11:47:04
Rome, you know it's not real chocolate nowadays, all them additives, n palm oil might be affecting your thinking mate.
3
06 Apr 2026 12:03:45
That and Guinness, Strom.
0
06 Apr 2026 12:33:19 I'll be honest, Rome, I see 3 draws and 4 defeats. I've never seen a Liverpool team with so little fight.
06 Apr 2026 11:13:30
Just been looking at the upcoming fixtures for the rest of the season, can only see us getting 9 pts maximum and I'm being generous, Fulham always a hard game, then the blue noses, Palace who have outplayed us all season, manc n Chelsea.
06 Apr 2026 10:59:21
I don't know about the rest of you, but I always find that the twelfth emergency meeting is the one that truly makes the difference. I have no doubt that we will see a change in fortune and compete on remaining fronts. Then again, the twelfth emergency meeting happened in January, so what do I know.
4
06 Apr 2026 11:29:17
Probably arranging the group dance when they head off on hols, Ala Gerrard, etc., after the Stoke hammering.
0
06 Apr 2026 11:45:28
Can't wait until the next midweek break to see the leaked video of Slot leading the Kolo Toure in Dubai.
0
06 Apr 2026 11:45:48
The squad meeting still doesn't understand why they haven't sacked him.
Have been thinking about Utopia where one trick pony Gakpo leaves at the end of the season and needs replacing. Obvious names like Barcola come to mind, but seems unlikely.
Was looking internally at PL and keen to hear thoughts around Kevin Schade?
Seems raw and pacey, would be good to have him rotate with Rio?
Keen to hear thoughts.
0
06 Apr 2026 10:34:45
Kev is not at Yan's level. I like Mitoma, but he seems made of crisps.
1
06 Apr 2026 10:42:04
Kevin Schade is terrible imo, seriously overrated, I would rather keep the Crappy Gakpo tbh.
0
06 Apr 2026 10:51:45
Anthony Gordon.
1
06 Apr 2026 10:52:17
Schade is as much of a one trick pony as Gakpo. Not sure how that's an improvement. As for Mitoma, he's 28, that should be enough.
1
06 Apr 2026 10:52:29
Barcola must be good because everyone raves about him, but the 3 or 4 times iv seen him play, he hasn't done anything where id say he's a top player.
0
06 Apr 2026 10:59:15
If not Schade, Barcola or Mitoma, then who?
0
06 Apr 2026 11:10:11
Malick Fofana.
0
06 Apr 2026 11:46:16
There are only a handful of good wingers in the Premier League on this season's form. Semenyo, Mbeumo, Bowen, Ndiaye and Saka are probably your lot. Bowen is probably the only one there who is a realistic option, though he turns 30 this year; I'd still take him at Liverpool on a 3-year contract if West Ham got relegated. Everton won't sell Ndiaye to us, and the other 3 are all at teams likely to finish in the top 3 this season who will have no reason to sell to us, nor would the players be willing to take a step down to what will probably be a lower tier of European football.
I think there are a few who could be good in the near future and will be attainable to us.
Minteh, Outtara, M.Mane, Kudus and Gordon all come to mind. I am keen for us to add raw pace to the side, so I'd be very interested in us signing one or two of them. Minteh and Mane, I think, have the highest ceiling of the young wingers in the Prem, but I fully expect us to go after Gordon as he's probably the closest to being ready to play for us week in, week out.
Ideally, we'll also go abroad and put in a serious offer for Yan Diomande. He's the one who can be a world class Premier League winger. Diomande and Gordon flanking Isak/Ekitike next season would be frightening for any defence.
2
06 Apr 2026 11:58:26
I reckon we are going to go three up top next season. Isak up top, Diomamde on the left, and I know we have been linked with Olise for the right (fingers crossed).
Looks great on paper at least. Then you have Ekitike, Rio and Frimpong as backups.
0
06 Apr 2026 12:19:07
Mikey, Diomande has 11 goals and 6 assists in 21 games this season as a RW. In 8 games as a LW, he has 0 goals and 2 assists. I don't think it makes sense to sign him and play him on the left. I think you're right about the 3 up top though. I hope that with 2 proper pacey wingers and a higher tempo, more direct approach to attacking, we'll finally see the best of Isak.
I really like Olise as a player, but in terms of what I think our team needs, Diomande is a better fit in my opinion.
Olise is a top player with more technical ability than Diomande, but he lacks raw pace and struggled with the intensity of the Premier League with a recurring hamstring injury, despite having a virtually free role at Palace where he didn't get asked to do any defending or pressing. I'd be pretty excited by either player though, to be honest. I'd rather an actual LW to play LW, though.
0
06 Apr 2026 12:35:04 Saka the man the Mith, don't rate him at all.
06 Apr 2026 09:47:32
Just read apparently the players have had another private meeting probably about stopping the rot or more than likely there holiday plans for the summer based on all the other players meetings they have had.
1
06 Apr 2026 10:26:19
I seen that, if they put as much into playing as they do meetings, we may not be having these conversations.
3
06 Apr 2026 10:31:30
They were probably modeling their new Tommy Hillfiger clothing, see who looks the best dressed for getting off the bus at the grounds. Or they could have been playing bingo at this meeting.
2
06 Apr 2026 10:41:52
The only meeting that should be taking place is one where Slot gets his P45.
1
06 Apr 2026 11:23:18
Who is leading these meetings?
Van Dijk standing at the front, waving his arms about?
Curtis walking round the room, putting chuddy in people's hair?
Macca lying on the chez lounge - piping up after the works done?
The type of player I was (limited but nailed in 100% effort), if any of our current crop of players stood up and told me what we should be doing, I'd have aimed a decent half volley at them and walked out.
06 Apr 2026 07:57:23
Have we got a world class player in the squad anymore? Wirtz show glimpses now and then and under a new manager mite unlock that like he does for Germany. Isak again looked no where near when he joined but totally unfit and very unlucky with a bad injury.
Salah is finished as is VVD, Alisson can’t stay fit and his kicking is not there anymore. We have a World Cup winner that is weaker than my Nan. I’d say no we haven’t yet.
1
{Ed078's Note - I understand your point. Alison's injury record is by no means the worst, but not great. That withstanding, I'm not saying he's the best in the world, but IMO he's in the top one :)
Agree re Salah. VVD is not exactly finished, but the focus on his errors are based upon years of being the best in the world, unfairly putting a spotlight on him that others don't have to bear.
From an LFC perspective, only time will tell with Isak.
Wirtz? Hmm. I wasn't worried about his adaption to the PL at the beginning of the season, I'm still not worried about his apparent lack of "stats". I think there are very few teams that he wouldn't walk in to. I think he is the most gifted and intelligent player we have.
Sboz. His recent scandal aside, he is a top midfielder. Energetic and committed, the sweetest strike around, a workhorse engine.
Grav. Last season, one of the top DM's around. What's changed? Tactics, motivation, who knows.
The phrase "world class" is often so unhelpful. Think about it, of all the thousands of really good pros plying their trade, only a handful could be described as "world class". How many of those can one team claim to have?
14
06 Apr 2026 08:34:01
Isak is probably the closest we have, but we haven’t seen him in a red shirt. The rest, no, other than Ali when fit.
What we do have added to that is about three or four who are often first choice internationals in their positions in strong international teams, in Wirtz, VVD, Grav, and Macca.
So we have six who should be top drawer, plus Szob and Kerkez.
They’re not necessarily world beaters, but there’s a strong core that shouldn’t be getting beaten by four several times a season.
0
06 Apr 2026 08:44:38
If you're winning Bundesliga best player twice, you're on the cusp of world class.
2
06 Apr 2026 08:43:33
Virgil and Ibou need help. If we're going to push all the midfielders so far up the pitch, we need to press from the front aggressively and not retreat into this weird passive mid block that we have, everybody needs to engage the ball instead of hanging around and thinking we can defend purely through zones and numbers. Virgil isn't young anymore and he can't defend an entire half of the field on his own, expecting him to do anything close to that is just asking for trouble. I'm sure, or at least I'm hoping, that he has indicated to the coaching staff that he needs help and that he isn't getting any younger.
I can only assume that Slot thinks that this team can't press high and aggressively on a consistent basis, which is why he doesn't do it. We have shown that we can do it to devastating effect in certain games, but maybe the cost physically is so high that given our lack of rotation options, we immediately look knackered the next game/Slot drops the high press for something more conservative if we have two or three games a week.
The 4-4-2 with players spaced closer together and everybody knowing their jobs when it comes to squeezing the player in possession high up the field and forcing them into traps, with two forwards running the channels in behind and looking to receive balls early over the top or through the lines, the lines much closer together out of possession and the center halves jumping up to make up the numbers in midfield off the ball has given us our best performances this year, but because of injuries or lack of fitness we haven't been able to see it consistently for more than a game at a time.
I don't think it's a matter of whether we have world class players, but of the overall shape that masks each players deficiencies while accentuating their strengths. When the spacing is better Grav doesn't need to play passes that he can't execute, he can either turn and leave a defender in the dust if they are getting too close to him, or do a simple 6 yard pass to somebody else. Macca doesn't need to cover huge amounts of grass that he clearly can't cover. Wirtz has runners in behind, Ibou can play on the front foot engaging players (which is where he is best) and isn't marooned on an island in possession trying to figure out how to pass to, Mo can stay tucked in the half space and doesn't have to start out wide trying to beat two defenders, we can more effectively cluster around players pressing when we lose the ball.
When we've lined up like this, everybody's job is easier and everybody looks good, even Macca has looked back to his best in such situations because he isn't left exposed trying to do things that he can't do.
I personally think that the problems with this team aren't that the players are not as good as we think, I think they are as good or close to as good as they have been, it's that they haven't been playing in a structure that makes up for their deficiencies and puts them consistently in positions where they can make the most impact on or off the ball. A lot of that has to do with Slot, yes, and overall fitness has a lot to do with it as well (not all of that is the coaching team's fault either, Ekitike for example is still acclimating himself to the league physically and playing two games a week is clearly a stretch for him), but the stop start situation with injuries also doesn't help.
5
06 Apr 2026 08:58:26
At their peak VVD and Mo were undoubtedly world class. Their brilliance week in week out made them icons, and if you were picking a world 11 they'd be in it or around it.
Isak and Wirtz would be in the conversation, but we've not seen Isak, and Wirtz is far too inconsistent at the moment.
He probably needs another two or three years to reach his peak level and he simply needs to do more each week.
If we had a world class coach we'd be doing better.
0
06 Apr 2026 09:36:27
I think Wirtz, Ekitike, Kerkez, Leoni and Gravenberch all have the potential to be world class. No amount of potential is a guarantee though. They need to keep working at it. I think Szoboszlai already is world class and he's proven it time and time again in big games this season; he reminds me of David Beckham is his prime, as he is capable of winning a game with a moment of sheer magic and also does a deceptive amount of work out of possession. Isak and Alisson are world class when they're fit, which is unfortunately not that often this season. If both of them can get back on the pitch next season, though, that will be a huge boost.
Van Dijk and Salah were definitely world class, but not anymore. The really disappointing thing is Macca and Konate, I think, had the potential to be world class.
There is a reason why a team like Real Madrid was interested in the the both of them. Their drop off this season has been as sharp as the drop from Virgil and Salah, though, and they're still in their mid twenties so it makes absolutely no sense to me. Application in training, maybe?
All these players need is a manager who will get them fit and get them playing at a higher tempo. They've been asked all season to conserve energy and play at half pace for some stupid reason, and now we're reaping the seeds that were sown. We have a team miles off the pace of the football at this stage of the season who've lost all belief in the manager and his tactics.
2
06 Apr 2026 09:47:56
If we were to name a current world 11 starting line up, only Allison makes it. If we include subs, maybe Isak, Witz or Szoboszlai, at a push.
1
06 Apr 2026 10:13:46
No.8, that's only your definition of "world class" though. It is a largely subjective term in a football context. World class means something different to every football fan. If you asked every football fan on the planet to name all of the world class players in the world, I reckon you'd get well over 10 million different combinations/lists.
I've always considered it to be the top 10 in the world in your position. That's just my own criteria though based loosely on the Cambridge Dictionary definition of world-class which is "Someone or something world-class is one of the best that there are of that type in the world". According to that definition you do not have to be the best, you simply have to be among the best of that type. You have to break it down by position, because how do you compare a GK to a striker? I also don't think you can limit it to one player per position by saying they have to make a World XI, because doing that would mean that Salah was never world class (as he was behind Messi for virtually his whole career) but someone like Ashley Cole was world class because he was the best LB in an era of quite poor left backs in general.
Was Ashley Cole a better footballer than prime Salah?
I think the criteria for what is world class in football has been warped in recent years anyway. It's been overused at times because the younger generations love hyperbolics (legend, hero etc) but also due the emergence of Messi and Ronaldo who were simply in their own league way above world class, what world class actually is has become even more subjective and muddled. Are Messi and Ronaldo actually the only world class players in the last 30 years? Nobody else even comes close to their sheer levels of output and dominance in the Ballon d'Or conversations.
2
06 Apr 2026 10:25:55
I'd take a high functioning team over world class players.
2
06 Apr 2026 10:28:34
I don't agree with it, but I don't think the average football fan would have Ali as No. 1.
I still think he's the best. Dom, Isak and Wirtz are knocking on the door. Vvd and Salah have dropped out of the discussion in the past year or so.
1
06 Apr 2026 10:33:36
Not having a dig at your opinions, MK, but not a cat in hells chance is Szob world class. Given he has stood out in probably the worst performing Liverpool team in a decade, also some fans calling for him to be captain, not a chance he's a poor man's Gini for me.
1
06 Apr 2026 10:38:40
This season no one has been world class. Last season, Alisson, Vvd, Grav n esp Salah was playing at world class level. We got a few who potentially could be, Wirtz, Isak, Slob maybe Grav if he played in his natural position, but I think whats more important for the team is work horses like Hendo, Milly, Fab, thats what we really need.
1
06 Apr 2026 10:41:05
Consistency makes a player world class, and at the moment Szob is the only player who comes into that bracket. At times this season, Wirtz, Ekitike, Isak and Grav have shown their potential world class ability, they have just lacked the consistency and the continuity to keep them all fit together.
If we can add a Diomande to the attack for sheer pace, and shore up the defence with a fit Allison, with at least 4 players who can tackle and stay in a position to defend, we should be okay. Let's hope next season we can move on players and coaches who need moving on.
0
06 Apr 2026 10:42:33
I would love to see an in-depth investigation on how we have got to where we are in such a short period of time. In all honesty, we are playing like a team fighting relegation, and the players look like they believe we're finished.
There has to be a reason behind this, yes we can blame everyman and his dog, but there has to be something wrong within the football club, and it needs to be given the resources and time to find out what it is. YNWA.
0
06 Apr 2026 11:33:50
Different spin.
Forget world class players, world class team.
Hendo (ex Sunderland), Robbo (ex Hull), Gini (ex Newcastle), Millie (not wanted by Citeh), Fab (ex Monaco), Mane (ex Southampton), Bobby (ex Hoffenheim).
None classed as Worldies when they joined, but look what they became.
There seemed to be a plan then on how we wanted to play, the role of each position, and we went and got players we needed.
No "kids in the candy shop" approach, but identification of who we needed.
06 Apr 2026 08:10:22
A well written piece. Ultimately, if the players have down tooled, then it is up to the manager to fire them back up. If he has lost the dressing room to the extent that his words have no effect, then it's time for change.
If we look at the Amorim/Carrick similarities, you could see the players did not buy into what Amorim was trying to do, so they brought in a previous player, one I'm sure they wouldn't have looked at if he wasn't.
It's like night and day, and dare I say it, they are actually playing some good stuff since his appointment. Hopefully this is a one season blip and we find some balance through the transfer market and a new managerial/head coach appointment. We need someone who understands what this football club means to so many. I personally think, and this is just a hunch, that if we get embarrassed against PSG, then Stevie G comes in as interim.
2
06 Apr 2026 08:11:22
Comparisons to Bruno are also unfair. Bruno Fernandes is stroppy and juvenile at times, but he gives everything every time he plays. VVD's main focus is to look cool.
2
06 Apr 2026 09:11:21
I'm not sure it's as simple as you say with Amorim and Carrick. With Amorim, sometimes the players haven't looked like they knew what they were supposed to be doing. With Carrick, he has massively simplified things and done what any sensible manager would have done- emphasize the speed of your forwards in behind, scrap the three at the back system that limits creativity in possession and get Bruno on the ball as much as possible. It's just a matter of getting the best out of what is at your disposal.
I think the players have let the club down, and I agree to a degree that it's not Slot's fault that we can create serviceable chances time and again and the players consistently fail to put them away, that we can do decent things in build up and get in and around the box before completely messing up the final ball/choose to shoot rather than pass or the other way around, or that they lose concentration on the other side of the ball and concede stupid goals through poor judgment. The players clearly have more quality than what they have shown. Also injuries, fitness and general availability have affected us badly.
I do however feel that Slot has us stuck in a no man's land of being too meek to impose ourselves in games for fear of getting done on the counter or risking injury through an overly aggressive pressing game. It's like he's traumatised by the horrible spell that we had and has been making little adjustments to stem the bleeding, while hoping that we have enough quality at the other end to edge games.
I think this entire season has been damage limitation because our Plan A didn't work out, and that has been absolutely awful for us to watch as fans, because we don't know what our club is anymore, and we have no discernible plan to win games.
I think it's probably unfair to say that what we're seeing on the pitch, the passivity and the lethargy and the slow tempo, is really Slot's vision of football, I think it's more his attempt to take the sting out of games and make it physically manageable for a squad hit with injuries/filled with players he doesn't trust to rotate for his core favorites. Also there's the fact that the one shape that does seem to work for us, a 4-2-2-2 with a high press, is disrupted by injury or can't be consistently played at the same intensity because of fitness.
Still one has to ask why Slot hasn't made better use of the squad even if he isn't in love with the options available, surely if Endo, Nyoni and Jones had been better used, or Chiesa, then we wouldn't have run into so many bottlenecks with fitness and fatigue and injuries, I'm not saying we should have started them consistently, but with the games piling up you have to give them time. This season has just felt like Slot fighting fires throughout the season, and every time we have started fires of our own, we can't stoke the flames for long enough and collapse at the earliest opportunity.
Ultimately it just feels like this season has shown Slot requires too many conditions to be in place for him to deliver his vision of football, and that's where the comparison to Amorim is probably appropriate. Loads of things have gone against us this year, and those higher up are just as responsible as he is, but it's hard to justify him keeping his job when every game we play feels like we're in a coin toss hoping the margins go our way, and the coach looks frightened and praying that we make it out of the game alive.
3
06 Apr 2026 09:57:37
Maybe a bit of a generalisation, I agree, but there are parallels. Whereas last season one of Slot's strengths was adapting to the opposition, normally using the first half to assess and the second half to adapt, this season has mostly been lethargic followed by panic stations when things don't go to plan.
Other teams have found what works against us, and there has been, for the most part, very little answer.
In any context, when a team no longer buys into a manager's vision, results aren't going to go well.
0
06 Apr 2026 10:48:52
Man United play one game a week. They can rest and train between matches. Carrick has been lucky that he was afforded this and has been given time to sort them out, but come three games a week you would see the difference.
They have no pressure on them at all.
Carrick is a championship manager, and he was not great at that level, so comparing Man U to us is wrong. Man U are a park the bus team and catch you on the break, that is all they have.
1
06 Apr 2026 11:52:07
Carrick will be found out when they play 3 games in six days like Slot as.
Our squad isn't good enough. Most of Klopp's mentality monsters have moved on or past their best. Allison, Joe, Virgil, Robbo and Mo are the only players that remain, and none of them are the force they were. I would only play 2 of them if they were fit.
I have written before, in Klopp's last season we were going for 4 trophies with 11 prem games to go. We won the League Cup with mostly kids. We lost at home to Atlanta 3-0. We lost in extra time against a piss poor Utd team. We were top of the league in March. Then we conceded 18 goals in our last 11 games, keeping 1 clean sheet in our last game against Wolves when the pressure was off.
We won 5 home games and lost 2 and drew 4 away from home.
We have made 4 defensive signings since those days. 1 doesn't officially play for us till next season. 1 who has played just once and got an ACL and 2 attacking full backs.
So even though our squad Defence and Midfield was shown up as not being good enough defensively in Klopp's last season, Mr Edward, Mr Hughes and Slott have failed to do anything about it.
Klopp would have replaced Konate and bought in a Fabinho replacement he didn't get the season before.
0
06 Apr 2026 12:14:04
Yeah, but does Carrick give his players days off in between these once a week games?
Carrick's track record is irrelevant right now.
His main objectives would have been to get the best of the players and push for CL qualification.
That's 2 out of 2 in my book.
He's come in and done a job that he was tasked to do... End of story.
06 Apr 2026 04:59:30
You know what, I get what Dom was asking for. I don't agree with it, but I get it. Team was down and he hoped that fans would just applause even if that was a ridiculously bad performance. He expected it from fans cuz he is not getting anything from the club, there is no support from within the club, no reviews, no discussion and players also don't look totally behind each other.
So he hoped fans were still behind him.
I think it boils down to maturity and realising as a man you are always alone when the odds are stacked against you.
He should bloody well know at LFC YNWA, but no, you won't get applauded for bad performances.
2
06 Apr 2026 08:05:19
You obviously don't know LFC YNWA of old mate.
I remember many occasions at Anfield where the crowd would roar with support when we went a goal down. I'd even seen the crowd applaud the opposition for a great performance.
I'm sure Szob probably regrets his actions that would have been in the moment when he was probably feeling very frustrated/embarrassed etc.
2
06 Apr 2026 08:05:26
Dom is one of the few players that have been praised this season. Also, the fans he was making faces at and gesturing to were those fans that stayed and supported to the end.
He deserves criticism for it. Fair play to Chiesa (I think) for trying to stop him.
5
06 Apr 2026 08:15:19
I think we Liverpool fans are among the most supportive around, and have been particularly supportive all season. There is a point though where feelings are let known, and that point is now. Surely, he doesn't expect us to applaud heinously bad performances week in week out. He's made a poor judgment call in having a go at the hand that feeds him, when his frustration should have been aimed towards his fellow underperforming players, and at Slot and the board.
He's gone down in my estimation as a player and should know his place. It's not the fans' fault we are getting spanked week in week out.
5
06 Apr 2026 09:03:10
I still don't really get why what Dom did was so bad.
To me, there is a lot of emotion on all sides.
The idea that Dom should just sink his head and walk off the pitch is as stupid as is the idea that the fans should send the players off the field with a standing ovation after watching that tepid performance.
Obviously, the reality is somewhere in the middle, but the fallout since has been way over the top to me.
1
06 Apr 2026 09:09:19
I thought yet again Chiesa shows his class by trying to calm Szob down and take him away. Where was the captain?
7
06 Apr 2026 10:49:41
Faith, I don't think he needs to hang his head, but making faces at the fans like a naughty toddler is also not necessary.
1
06 Apr 2026 12:18:39
Here's my honest thoughts - so what.
It is so highly charged and emotional. Are we really going to go and attack Dom? After this one act, he's gone from our standout player to a show pony, thinks he's better than he is, a show pony.
What else have I read on here? Some feminine name, that I'm guessing is UK slang, suggesting he is more into his looks than being good at football?
Whilst I understand the emotion, I think this is really low.
{Ed025's Note - stranger things have happened Rome..
{Ed078's Note - I understand your point. Alison's injury record is by no means the worst, but not great. That withstanding, I'm not saying he's the best in the world, but IMO he's in the top one :) 