Liverpool banter 9

03 Nov 2025 20:53:19
I know I was being a tad facetious about LUCK, but also can't help but think that you really need a healthy dose of it to fall your way and it's actually ok to acknowledge that.

When you have a string of bad results / performances, it can feel like nothing falls your way. Gakpo striking the post 2/ 3 times vs manU, bouncing ball off Gomez straight to Sarr, referees somehow miss foul on Gakpo, VVD foul ended up being centimeters on the line etc there will be more like this

And then the ball finally breaks our way vs Villa and we have Rogers hit the post, Villa don't capitalize on a couple counters when they break our press, then we strike thanks to their keeper assist.

In amongst all the noise about system, players in and out of form, which are all valid points btw - we do need a healthy dose of luck and I am totally here for it!

03 Nov 2025 21:06:41
Thing is @ Faith - all the things that you mention as ‘luck’ could equally argue that they were less than good / poor play. All the players could a should have done better in the individual situations. You could argue that citing good, and especially bad, luck is just deflecting.

03 Nov 2025 23:35:50
There is definitely some degree of lucked involved but I stand by my previous assertions that winners make their own luck. Like for our first goal, it was the pressing of Gakpo that caused Martinez to misplace the pass to Salah. There was some degree of luck involved but it would not have been made possible if not for the hardworking of our players.

We challenged for every second ball and gave the AV players no space. That forced the errors for us. Similarly, in our previous games, we didn't work hard enough so it seemed like luck was against us.

04 Nov 2025 00:19:57
Klopp would say that hehas benefitted from a lot of luck each time they are successful. Actually not that he would say that, he did say that in his recent appearance on Diary of a CEO.

I think it's totally ok to acknowledge the grey area that is filled by luck :)

04 Nov 2025 09:29:47
100% drac, not to mention it was superb technique and concentration from mo to slot it away first time, who knows what would have happened if he tried to take another touch. We created multiple chances from our press, Dom was clear through on goal and should have scored prior to that, that was a higher percentage chance than Mo's in my opinion.

As for luck and klopp, the first thing that comes to mind is kompany's volley flying into the top bin against Leicester in 2019, 99% of the time that is going high and wide.

04 Nov 2025 10:02:40
PB, anyone that thinks that was an easy finish from Mo with his right (weaker) foot needs to go what the goal again and this time, from behind Mo himself.

As for luck for the most part, work harder and the luck will come esp. since some define luck as "When preparation meets opportunity". If you are always fully prepared then, the lucy situations will be recognised quicker for you to take advantage when they come. Cos you are that prepared. For the most part, I emphasize. Just my opinion.

03 Nov 2025 17:55:03
Ed001, how you feeling about tomorrow vs Real? Confident or a bit nervy?

I’m honestly not sure how to feel about this one. Real Madrid are in good form. They were good vs Barcelona and exploited their high line pretty well.

It’s a strange time to be a Liverpool fan right now. The Aston Villa win helped a bit, but IMO Villa were poor, and we didn’t exactly dominate. Long balls and throws have been haunting us this season, but fortunately Villa aren’t a side that could exploit that weakness. In fact, them playing out from the back basically played into our hands.

There were flashes, but I don’t know if that game showed a resurgence or just papered over some cracks (like Frankfurt away) .

One big worry is how we handle the press. Every time a team has gone man-for-man or pressed high this season, we’ve looked shaky. Under Alonso, Real have been pressing and counter-pressing really well. If they do that again at Anfield, I fear we might struggle to play out or keep shape.

I expect Slot to stick with the same XI as vs Villa, maybe Kirkez in for Robbo (fitness) . He’s clearly taking no risks with rotation. Given how reluctant he was to use subs (bar Wirtz) even when we were 2–0 up vs Villa, I can’t see many changes.

As pumped as I was during and after the Villa game, now that the dust’s settled, I think it might be a tough night. Even if we don’t win, I just want to see fight, control, and a proper performance. Don’t want Villa to be a one-off and us back to looking lost again.

Big night tomorrow, but confidence feels low. Hopefully we can shake off the ghosts and continue what might be a real resurgence.

YNWA!

{Ed001's Note - I am never confident mate. Fingers crossed though.}

03 Nov 2025 19:20:40
I thought our confidence showed second half, we were show boating on the ball and looked very comfortable.

03 Nov 2025 20:27:24
TRK, totally get you, mate.

Honestly, even I was baffled by Slot not making any subs. When we're losing, he throws in Cheisa, Rio, Gomez, everything but the kitchen sink

And now we're winning comfortably and he won’t even sub Gakpo (who was poor) or anyone for that matter, even in injury time, just to run down the clock. Strange!

Maybe, like you said, he didn’t want to take any risk whatsoever

Anyway, looking forward to tomorrow.

03 Nov 2025 20:33:14
I personally think that we are happier against teams like Real than we are against the likes of Brentford. I think it will be a good game and maybe end in a draw.

03 Nov 2025 22:26:00
Waiting for young Mr Bradley to re-introduce himself to Mbappe 👍.

03 Nov 2025 22:53:34
I think we will give them a decent game, it will be tight but I think we will still lose 1-2 maybe.

03 Nov 2025 22:56:15
I can’t help feeling Madrid will have our number. We have been predictable all season, and although the win against Villa was a great result, it didn’t really feel like we had turned a corner.

03 Nov 2025 23:38:09
Madrid seemed to be much better coached under Alonso than they did under Ancellotti. So it will be a much tougher game this time around compared to last season. A win would be nice but a draw wouldn't be a bad result either.

A lot depends on Slot as well and how he sets the team up. If he's doing the horseshoe bs again, then it's show that he didn't learn anything from the past month or so.

04 Nov 2025 00:17:01
I’ll never bet against Liverpool, but I think we will play into there hands trying to slow it down and keep control. We’ve got to run them ragged, I’d have Robbo over kerkez experience needed here.

Maybe mix it up up top drop gakpo play Ekitike Wirtz and Mo let them 3 and szob run riot. I feel they will score, probably a couple got no confidence in the keeper.

04 Nov 2025 00:21:06
It's Madrid at anfield, we will turn up. I think wirtz and kerkez will probably start, I have a feeling slot was saving them for this game.

04 Nov 2025 00:24:19
I can see Slot sticking with the same starting XI for the next two matches heading into the international break.

Which kinda has me a little worried, cos I feel like with his personality, he would go completely the other way from tinkering and then just rely on 12-13 players again lol

But algoods, this is an important week and I think getting the machine back functioning is the priority.

04 Nov 2025 02:36:54
Last season Slot played the same 11 more or less for the first couple months of the season. Memory serves we didn't use a lot of subs either. I think he's going safe here and the same 11 from Saturday.

04 Nov 2025 07:10:13
2-1 liverpool
I came to this conclusion after work with a glass of Adelaide's finest red.
It could also be 3-1 so please go easy on me if its by 2 or 3
Can't wait as usual European night at Anfield always brilliant, so passionate so loud and a large part of why I love this club so much.
Enjoy all.

03 Nov 2025
New image uploaded to the
Liverpool Player Sightings page entitled, Not posted for a while but felt the timing was spot on

Click picture for larger image

03 Nov 2025 15:42:29
I really don't understand this intricate rating of players, when every player 'if he isn't a new Stevie g' then he's a load of rubbish*te nonsense. As shanks once said ""A football team is like a piano. You need eight men to carry it and three who can play the damn thing" every player doesn't need to be a ten out of ten, look at the 2005 chaos league team.

The pressure put on these young players, no wonder they sh*t themselves when they get the ball.

03 Nov 2025 16:34:17
It's the an issue of the two extremes, IMO. One mostly used to smear "insert player of the club I don't like/ one I wanted but went to my rival club here" du jour.

I get the banter but sometimes, it goes way OTT that the banter side is completely eroded.

04 Nov 2025 03:33:06
@Barry, the lads carrying the piano can still be rated on the job they are asked to do.

That said, the ratings just try and pigeon hole everything into the same box, which makes any ratings meaningless.

03 Nov 2025 15:24:30
Ahead of the Real game, a thought has occurred to me.

When Conor changed his number from #84, what prompted him ending up with #12?

Is this sort of thing thrust upon him? Can he choose? Frimpong and Ekitike chose specific numbers. Because if I'm right, Trent had been announced as #12 at Real before our new kit came out, and Conor could have had loads of different numbers. I'd like to think he specifically chose #12 as a housery statement. A bit of divilment.

Can anyone confirm? Eds?

03 Nov 2025 15:57:06
If he wants to really take the p**s he should change the name on the back to Conor rather than Bradley.

03 Nov 2025 16:57:29
He wears 12 for Northern Ireland as well so I would imagine it is something personal to him.

03 Nov 2025 20:00:19
Pretty certain it’s No2 for Northern Ireland mate.

03 Nov 2025 20:58:29
@Irish. Ahh quick Google and you're right mate. Apologies I was certain he wore 12 and Hume was 2.

OP I have no idea in that case.

03 Nov 2025 14:30:19
No coincidence our midfield looked drastically improved in terms of having some fight and actual solidity as soon as Wirtz was taken out of the team.

A lot of rose tints when he is spoken about on here, I understand everyone is desperate for him to show his BL form, but this rhetoric of just waiting for it to 'click' for him is ludicrous. How long do we wait? Do we just let every competition slip by as we wait for this mythical 'click? '

I've heard him being described as 'generational' on here which is absolutely laughable. He has never shown anything to be described as anything close to that. The two recent generational talents we have seen are Messi and Ronaldo and neither of them had this kind of transition period or were ever detrimental to their teams, which Wirtz is for us.

He's just not built for the PL. My opinion is he never will be, if we had spent the money on Cunha and Mbuemo, we would be absolutely running away with the league.

If we are going to have any success this season, he needs to be far away from the starting lineup. He should have been a part of the carabao team and I think this is where he will remain, cups and last 15 mins when we are comfortably winning.

For the 15 minutes he was on against Villa, aside from losing the ball 5 times, Villa instantly looked more dangerous as soon as he came on.

03 Nov 2025 14:42:40
Bob le Pong - writing a world class player off after a few game is pure Wool behaviour lad.
Wirtz will find his place in the team, hopefully as the new Bobby F.

03 Nov 2025 14:57:12
Could have sworn we just lost a game where Wirtz didn't start either. Complete joke to write off a player after 7 weeks, actually beyond a joke!

03 Nov 2025 15:09:25
Bob - you clearly don't remember Ronaldo being castigated by his own team mates for showboating when he first came into the team at Utd.

03 Nov 2025 15:12:32
Just on that Johnny. Could they try him in Bobby role? With salah and Palindrome either side?
Wirtz loading the bullets for the 2 boys?

03 Nov 2025 15:15:57
Cunha and Mbuemo are completely different types of players compared to Wirtz though. Mbuemo is a winger and Cunha is more of a cf. Wirtz is an attacking midfielder. Besides, having either of those two would not stop us playing with a gaping hole in midfield the past couple of games. So I doubt we'd "running away with the the league" if we had bought those two instead of Wirtz, unless they can somehow transform to be a solid DM and plug the hole in our midfield by themselves.

The only reason we won against AV was because Slot reverted back to what worked for us last season. I'd wager that if Wirtz had played instead of Macca and Szob had played next to Grav, we'd look even better. If you're given a diamond but no tools to work with it, do you chuck the diamond or find the proper tools? Wirtz is a diamond so we should set the team up to make the best use of him.

And also, you've been attacking Wirtz since before he even kicked a ball for us. So while you are entitled to your opinion and I completely respect that, it doesn't mean that your opinion isn't biased and one-sided.

03 Nov 2025 15:16:48
Grow up Bob. Wirtz is not and never was the problem. He is a generational talent and the team should be built around him rather than trying him in 5 different positions. Even if he takes 12 months to properly find his feet like Gravenberch did it will be well worth it.

03 Nov 2025 15:25:28
At this point, might as well try him at LW because I don't see where else he functions. The centre of the pitch is too congested for him, and he gets easily knocked off the ball, or panics and simply passes it to the safest option. Maybe out on the wing, where he has more space to operate, he'll be able to work on and develop his game.

Got to be honest, been really disappointed in him since he arrived. His physical limitations are staggering, I've never seen such an expensive signing look so ill suited to the physical battles that are common place in the Prem. Not only is he weak, but he also shies away from contact, no doubt for fear of injury. He has technical ability, no doubt about that, but the German league provided him space, which is a far departure from the Prem, where teams sit and physically look to outmatch you, in absence of technical ability.

He'll still get time, the price tag warrants that, but more should be expected on a signing that cost us 100+ million.

03 Nov 2025 15:26:50
Zola and Silva are on the small side, so imagine it’s getting up to speed for him (Wirtz) in the PL.

Have faith, imo.

03 Nov 2025 15:39:40
Bob le Ponge i think it is way too early to write him off. It will take him a bit of time to adapt but to be fair to the lad Slot changed a lot, so it is not like he has arrived to an inform team playing a recognised system.
There are countless examples of players not looking up to PL standard and then proving to be brilliant….

Fabinho and Robertson are both great examples of that (and Firmino come to think of it) . I think Wirtz will be brilliant once settled, but we do need to play to his strengths.

03 Nov 2025 15:41:33
He also didn't start the Chelsea or Manchester United games but don't let facts get in the way of your agenda.

03 Nov 2025 15:43:30
You are a really tiresome troll, how many posts are you going to start trashing wirtz?

03 Nov 2025 15:44:14
On a human level alone there’s a million potential reasons for a bumpy start to his new life. Moving abroad for the first time as a 22 year old can impact people very differently. Then you have to take into account the pressure of the price tag and the size of the club.

Plus he joins a team that’s clearly uncertain in their identity and having issues that goes well beyond him individually.

03 Nov 2025 15:45:23
Molby, don't forget place needs to be found for Isak. What a brilliant problem to have.

03 Nov 2025 16:37:31
The line "Correlation is not causation" comes to mind here. Another case of just smearing another player based on half-baked judgements and lazy narratives based on inconsistent facts, all agenda driven and blatant scapegoating. Absolutely bored with this crap at the minute.

03 Nov 2025 18:01:53
Many great players take a year to settle in. Look at Dom, he is getting better and better. Bobby too a while to warm up and was truly one of the greatest.
Slot needs to adjust the vision he had for him and allow him to bed in - he can lean a lot from how he's gone about the intro of Wirtz.

03 Nov 2025 18:17:39
Bob le ponge you must be a Man U fan?

03 Nov 2025 18:18:15
A question i have is . if a poster doesn't like a player/ manager or goes against the narrative. does that make him a troll . seen this a few times when posters don't seem to follow what most say.