Liverpool Banter 3

11 Aug 2026 22:54:18
Feels like this site is becoming more about the ITK's than Liverpool Football Club. Tit for tat. Quite embarrassing at times.
Maybe something could be looked at by the Eds to get this site back to how it was, more enjoyable.
I wonder if others here feel the same and what and how they would like to see this site moving forward.

12 Aug 2026 06:37:39
Agree, mate, it seems to be a sword fight here lately, like who's got the biggest d##k. Posters desperate for recognition for being an ITK, sad really. I just scroll past all tht tripe now, and just check for posts from the old reliables like Carra, Macca, Robbo, Ned Flanders and The Fields.

12 Aug 2026 07:11:16
I get what you mean, but it's a rumours site, so hard to censor rumours.

I personally don't think anyone here is truly ITK (other than Macca), so just spend most of the time on the banter page. It'll quieten down when the window closes, I imagine.

12 Aug 2026 07:27:52
Anything that I'm not interested in or don't like I just scroll past it. Works for me.

12 Aug 2026 07:58:07
Agree with Zippy & Digger.

Half the time now I'm scrolling past posts - every transfer rumour doing the rounds is just regurgitated with sarky comments sprinkled in!
Mind you, I'm still spending far too much time on here !!

12 Aug 2026 08:58:11
I'm with Digger. I don't get into the transfers/ITK schstick cos it is not worth my time, and since I'm not an ITK, I have nothing to offer.

I scroll and move on.

12 Aug 2026 10:16:11
Yeah, I'll give you that, OliRed.
You never comment on transfers, do you?

Keep scrolling and moving on, mate.

12 Aug 2026 10:34:08
Someone raised this point a few weeks ago and I take the point that the page is starting to reveal more of a twitter page these days lol

But for me, I've always looked at all info for what it is - info. Even ed2's info I never took as gold. Ed2 would say himself that he wouldn't make predictions. So it is what it is.

Always scratch my head at others who take it really seriously, but each to their own.

12 Aug 2026 11:00:05
Should that have been written in italics, Rigsby?! Hope you're well, mate.

12 Aug 2026 12:32:58
It should, Rome, yes. 😂

I am well, mate. We're enjoying the sun sat at the side of the outdoor pool. Had a glorious day at the beach yesterday too.
In Wales, but we could easily be in Spain.

Hope you and the family are well too.

12 Aug 2026 13:42:42
That sounds absolutely idyllic, Rigsby. Soak it up my friend.

All good, here, thank you. I'm about to go and represent a migrant worker in a disciplinary. I say this not seeking any plaudits, because I know I won't get any, but to show I'm not a total arse of a human being for supporting Amazon.

12 Aug 2026 15:16:27
Thank you & good luck, Rome. 👍

12 Aug 2026 00:37:42
Romano reporting Torres didn't show to training at the request of PSG, deal almost done, apparently.

There was some speculation that PSG may have returned to Ajax with an improved bid late last week as Godts was benched for their opening game against Zwolle at the weekend.

The player denied it was related. It's expected PSG will return with an improved bid this week.

I would imagine that we may see movement on Barcola as soon as one of these gets over the line. Hopefully we don't have to wait for both.

11 Aug 2026 22:29:06
In other news, we have a great bunch of lads in this squad and they seem really happy being back and have taken to our new manager who also seems very excited to be here and for the new season. Really excited to see the new signings and the young lads come on. If Barcola signs, great; if he doesn't, we just carry on.

12 Aug 2026 12:19:31
3 players are still incoming, the houses and apartments booked aren't to keep empty, the fans need to be patient and let the info shared to work out.

11 Aug 2026 22:28:18
The Barcola situation has been done to death on here.

It is evidently not done. Not sure why anyone has suggested it is. Patience is something many have very little of. Last season the Isak saga ran until the very last day of the window near enough. We are talking about hugely complex negotiations with loads of moving parts and quite literally hundreds of millions involved - it is not simple.

I think it could run very late into the window. This week I wouldn’t expect much if any movement; they play in the Super Cup final tomorrow.

As many have suggested, once they’ve finalised their own incomings, I think it will become far clearer. Godts, Torres, Akliouche will be arriving, which will allow for a departure of perhaps Barcola and Mbaye.

Let’s wait and see. I would be amazed if Liverpool don’t add two forwards before the window ends. Barcola and a quality RW option would be the dream.

Not sure I’m sold on Mbaye for the RW.

12 Aug 2026 04:22:53
Him or Rayan, I guess. I don't think we get both.

12 Aug 2026 08:48:55
I mean, considering what we really need is a proper DM, then I find it hard to get overly excited about adding multiple forwards...

11 Aug 2026 21:15:28
Hi all, I want to welcome Ronald Araujo and genuinely wish him well.
Not wishing to sound pessimistic but can anyone remember when we had a "successful" loan player at the club? Nicolas Anelka springs to mind which was some time ago and he of course wasn't signed on a permanent basis. It seems loan players don't work out at LFC.

11 Aug 2026 21:38:37
Wasn't Mascherano a loan, then we bought him the following window?

11 Aug 2026 21:49:28
Jari Litmanen wasn't bad!

11 Aug 2026 22:01:32
Yeah Mascherano was on loan.

11 Aug 2026 22:06:55
Litmanen was a purchase, wasn't he, 2Shoes? Free transfer IIRC.

Mascherano was the last successful 'technical' loan, but was a bit of a farce given the situation with co-ownership.

The last properly successful one was Anelka, but stupidly we didn't buy him!

11 Aug 2026 22:14:58
Steven Calker? He was a great striker for that one game.

11 Aug 2026 22:20:10
Oh, was he? Can't remember now, but he wasn't there long so thought it was a loan. 🤷‍♂️

11 Aug 2026 22:26:36
What does it matter? He's a football player and an actual person. The type of contract he has or the type of contract anyone before him had is totally irrelevant.

11 Aug 2026 22:28:36
Litamanen was a free transfer. What a player. Loved him, wish he'd stayed longer, but he fell out of favour with Houllier, I believe, so left.

Still can't believe we didn't sign Anelka in the end.

Nuri Sahin could have been a good loan if Rogers had known how to use him.

11 Aug 2026 22:49:14
I think most of our loans in recent years have been pretty last minute emergency types.
Can't remember ever loaning someone who has captained a proper major European team though, so one's a bit different. There's a serious player there.
The guy's definitely an upgrade on Konate anyway.

11 Aug 2026 23:25:19
Why would you play Sahin when you've got the Welsh Xavi tearing it up?

11 Aug 2026 23:56:47
Agreed, Rio. If their heart is in it, it should not matter one iota.

12 Aug 2026 00:03:32
Victor Moses was...okay. But I'm excited for Araujo.

12 Aug 2026 01:15:18
TJ was going to say the same.
Should have won a Premier League medal that season.

12 Aug 2026 02:18:40
If he can rekindle his form from a few seasons ago, he will be a shrewd signing. If he performs the way he has the past few seasons, he will be a liability. Time will tell.

12 Aug 2026 07:11:44
I'm just glad we've got Iraola there for him. If Slot was still here, he'd probably be stuck on the bench while Szob or Jones cover!

Hopefully Iraola can bring the best out of him.

12 Aug 2026 08:36:47
Get didn't like Jari because he attacked too much. 🤷‍♂️

12 Aug 2026 09:00:17
Baz, seems he didn't like Anelka either cos he used to ask questions too much.

11 Aug 2026 20:54:44
At this stage of my career, I prefer to see myself on the training pitch with my players every day - Arne Slot (when asked about the Netherlands job).

This made me laugh when I read it.

So glad we got Iraola.
Might take a bit of time to get where we want to be, but I’m looking forward to the journey.

11 Aug 2026 21:14:59
Slot was misquoted.

Like to see myself on the tanning and pitchers he meant.

Talking about his Ibiza holidays.

11 Aug 2026 21:21:43
It will be renamed the NEVER-lands if Slot is appointed. Jeff Stelling has just written LFC off, good oh?

Arsenal, Chelsea, cheats, old toilet, Spuds, LFC sixth place is his order for PL season 26-27.

Cites dodgy defence, corners, throw-ins etc.

If LFC last season had conceded one more PL goal, it would have been double of winners Arsenal, 27 to 53 PL goals.

"In football, the greatest satisfaction is winning when they say you can't" = Sir Bill Shankly.

11 Aug 2026 21:31:53
Are we the only ones that go crawling back to Slot for an ego boost?

11 Aug 2026 21:35:54
It's good that we have been written off before the season starts.

Because last year "if you sign Isak we may as well give you the league now" was all over the slop.

Go for it, Adoni, Gambatte mate.

11 Aug 2026 21:38:51
"In football, the greatest satisfaction is winning when they say you can't" = Sir Bill Shankly. Best comment today, 007. Brilliant.

11 Aug 2026 21:58:02
I thought of this place when I saw Arne say that. 😂

11 Aug 2026 22:27:18
We were written off 2 years ago and we all know how that went.

12 Aug 2026 09:01:32
Faith, I guess so.

11 Aug 2026 20:40:48
Looking like another week passing and we still chasing Barcola, leaving zero time to go after anyone else. It's clearly not done!

11 Aug 2026 21:12:13
Call me crazy, but I'm quite excited for this season. Munoz and Araujo seem like the kind of scrappy warriors we lacked. Jacquet and Leoni should hopefully feel their way into the team as the season goes on as well. I think Iraola will get Macca, Grav, and Dom working in the midfield. Most importantly, though, I think he will finally get Wirtz and Isak playing like the world-class talents we paid all that money for.



Whatever happens in the last couple of weeks of the Summer window, I'm just excited to see us playing aggressive and exciting football again. If we sell Gakpo and sign Barcola, great. If not, I'll probably get over it pretty quickly!

11 Aug 2026 21:20:42
Didn't we just sign Araujo while the Barcola deal is ongoing? Why could we not sign anyone else until Barcola is (or isn't) concluded. That doesn't make any sense at all.

11 Aug 2026 21:25:03
Namco, we can have more than one deal going at a time. They're not all sitting in a room waiting for their phones to ring.... Or maybe they are. 🤷‍♂️

11 Aug 2026 21:33:50
With you MK, I really like Araujo - for the loan and the player that he is.

Ironically, I would say he is similar to Konate in that his key attributes are his speed, power in the duel, strong in the air. Will be helpful covering the channels on the right side.

Hopefully, he is way more consistent tho.

I said all last season that Macca needed to play at CAM as his legs were a liability at CM. So I hope Iraola sees this as well.

11 Aug 2026 21:58:59
Faith, it's so easy to forget how optimistic we all were last summer about these players.

One bad season after the death of their close friend and a tactical disaster class hasn't made all of those same players bad overnight.



Iraola will get them back to where they should be. I think we'll be top 3 and win a trophy next season. League title within 3 years. 🤞🏻

11 Aug 2026 22:03:18
Faith, no way Macca gets the cam slot ahead of Writz. If that's where he is going to play, it will be in rotation, nothing more. He just can't carry himself through the middle, so I'm not sure where he gets game time this season.

12 Aug 2026 00:00:11
I'm looking forward to seeing Iraola at the helm. He's going to be great for us. We won't win the big ones imo, but we'll be up there. I hope!!!!

12 Aug 2026 07:15:15
I'm with you, MK - I'm cautiously optimistic. I feel, if certain things fall in place and we get a bit more pace in this team, we could challenge. We have some gaps, but we also have a lot of quality which is being dismissed because of the poor season last season.

11 Aug 2026 20:16:45
Read somewhere today that Barcola was sick but still traveled with PSG every day pings a new story, I’ll keep following the itks on here until it’s sorted.

11 Aug 2026 18:45:18
For the record Bournemouth had 3 points and were 19th after Iraola's first 9 games in charge (3 draws, 6 losses). This is not a criticism of AI, I just think his system is so far removed from Slots that it will take a long time for our players to get it right and to get to the fitness levels required.

I am a little surprised that Ryan and/or Smith haven't been brought in as they might get us up to speed sooner.

11 Aug 2026 19:09:46
Completely agree, this will be similar to Klopp's 1st season, I think. Inconsistent as the team work their way to the demands of this style of play.

11 Aug 2026 19:19:32
I agree, but I have confidence that it won't take as long this time. The fitness will take a while, but we should start getting results sooner just because the pedigree of players is higher.

11 Aug 2026 19:22:29
I hope I'm right in saying, with the players we have, it won't be like Bournemouth's first 9 games under Iraola or Klopp's first season.
Neither of them had the top class players we have now.
We don't need to be fooled into thinking all our players had gone bad in one season, or some of the talent we signed last season were all bad players.


Slot's tactics and work ethic destroyed our season and we will be twice the team, if not more.

11 Aug 2026 19:27:24
Those first 9 games did not include a pre-season.
Not saying I disagree, but a pre-season makes a lot of difference.

11 Aug 2026 19:47:07
At the moment, I agree with the comments, this could be like Klopp's first season. Fabinho coming in was unbelievable for us, and we still need a DM capable of protecting the back four. Hopefully we score 3 a game and the opponents score less.

11 Aug 2026 20:12:17
I'm still clinging to the hope that the players who should've walked the league last season, if it weren't for Slot, will do just that this season. Simple.

11 Aug 2026 20:33:51
It doesn't matter who comes in or who goes at the end of the day. Against Newcastle there will be 11 starters and we will support them as ever no matter what their names are.

11 Aug 2026 20:39:28
One difference between the first 9 games of AI at Bournemouth and our first 9 ahead, besides the better pedigree of players and preseason, is the facilities for training. Not knocking Bournemouth, but our facilities are way better, from nutrition to recovery to improving fitness levels, etc. The team should be able to ramp up faster than Bournemouth did.

11 Aug 2026 20:59:37
Yes Rome, the league was there for the taking last season - poor management cost us.
We're weaker now without Salah and Robertson, but still strong enough first 11 I reckon. Squad depth needs urgent work though.

11 Aug 2026 21:18:17
Lord-nukem, Salah was finished last season, and Robertson was getting pelters the season before, so losing those 2 is no excuse whatsoever.

It wasn't just poor management that cost us, though that was undoubtedly poor.

It was also piss poor performances from players and also players who didn't come close to living up to their price tags. They all need to step up this season if we're to have a sniff of a chance.

12 Aug 2026 00:01:23
On the money, Rome.