I'll take the hit this year. You can blame me if they win the league again.
RAWK goes into Meltdown 20/21 Edition
- Thread starter The Don
- Start date
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) and Imran (@Annihilate Now!) are here to discuss three 1-1 draws.
The first got us knocked out of the FA Cup, the next puts us in a good position in our Round of 16 Europa League game, and the latest was an actual decent performance against Arsenal at Old Trafford.
All hopes for the season now rest on the Europa League - does Amorim have the squad to win it?
Kind of sucks that it's more about hoping Liverpool doesn't win than about United mounting an actual challenge these days.
I have a sneaky suspicion that this year's thread could be a good one. Keeping last year's level going is going to be a challenge and if the wheels start to fall off, it could be glorious.
You really do notice something new in this gif every time you watch it.
I've only just spotted the headless guy in red and white, to the right of the guy at the top with his elbows together.
Clearly, after seeing the equaliser his head's gone.
It’s brilliantly mesmerising - I love watching this gif when when it comes up.
@The Don post the boom & bust cycle, it's not he same without the boom & bust cycle.
I like the cut of your jib.
Well, van Dijk said they'd improve, which is virtually impossible. City will definitely improve - and they have much better squad depth to deal with the monstrous fixture list. I'm not really expecting Chelsea to bed in all these signings from the get go, but the second tier clubs behind the top two will all improve I'd assume. There is no way they'll reach the same points tally as in the previous two seasons. And they've been incredibly fortunate with injuries.
Last season, none of the big teams took points of Liverpool. Arsenal, City, Chelsea all go smashed by the scousers before they won the league. We managed to give them a game at OT but away was again poor.
I do expect a more pragmatic approach to games against Liverpool which means alot of sitting deep and playing on the counter. Arsenal have shown it works and if you attack that Liverpool defence, it is shaky.
They created so many goals from opponent errors last season, hopefully teams are wiser and are not forced into mistakes.
I do expect a more pragmatic approach to games against Liverpool which means alot of sitting deep and playing on the counter. Arsenal have shown it works and if you attack that Liverpool defence, it is shaky.
They created so many goals from opponent errors last season, hopefully teams are wiser and are not forced into mistakes.
Are they always though? Must be something in the water.
It's a classic though, brings a smile to my face every time I see it.
I’m in the minority here but I feel it just gets posted way too much.. it was fun the first 100 thousand times.. now, not so much.
These f#%kers are where we used to be when we only needed a tweak here and there but they were miles off and we were saying oh they won’t be dangerous next season but if they could only get x,y or z it might click for them. With Klopp you feel like they are set up to challenge until he leaves whenever that is. Their recruitment has improved no end and they’ll eventually make a big profit to reinvest when they sell any of their important forwards. Obviously they’ve always had a good youth setup and Thiago possibly coming in for peanuts. They are being well run these days. No doubt about it. Yuck.
the one question I have is will they eventually pull a Spurs and not sell ageing or peaked players at the optimum time to reinvest and Is their recruitment hot streak a fluke or can they keep it up
the one question I have is will they eventually pull a Spurs and not sell ageing or peaked players at the optimum time to reinvest and Is their recruitment hot streak a fluke or can they keep it up
Let's not forget that the last time Klopper won the league, his team went into complete meltdown the following season. It may sound unlikely, but a Dortmund Meltdown 2.0 would be absolutely beautiful.
The boom didn't bust 
You see this so much, it becomes like the back of your hand.I'll take the hit this year. You can blame me if they win the league again.
They’ve been so lucky with injuries too, they’re a different side without the 3 forwards, none of which have been injured for 2-3 seasons (properly injured I mean), that’s bound to catch up with them sooner or later.
Liverpool is in a situation where it’s an enjoy it while it lasts scenario. Theyve done brilliant last couple of years. But I don’t see how they can remain at the top when money super powers like Chelsea, City and Utd will keep spending till they return to the top.
How will Liverpool ward off those 3 cash machines? Liverpool’s time is now but I don’t see how it will continue. Their front 3 have already shown how they are statistically poorer than they have been the seasons before it. They are all knocking on the age of 30 soon.
Liverpool would have to be incredibly brilliant in the transfer market and constantly churn “ok” players into world beaters. I just don’t see how that will continue especially once Klopp has left.
Doesn't really hurt that much at the moment. As a United fan starting supporting the club in the mid 80s i feel incredibly lucky to have had the 20 years of watching United incredible success! 93-13
If Liverpool go on to dominate for a couple of decades then yes I will be thoroughly pissed off but in the 80s if you'd said they'd go 30 years without it then I'd have never believed it.
The old I get I feel more magnanimous about it.
I have a good feeling about spending a lot of time in this thread next season quoting their meltdowns.
Looking forward to it.
Looking forward to it.
I have a good feeling about spending a lot of time in this thread next season quoting their meltdowns.
Looking forward to it.
This year is this thread's year!
Pretty sure I read something that said on of their fitness or physio or doctor guys was leaving. I reckon that if that's the case they're in for a rude awakening next season.
The cut of your jib is also quite likeable.I have a good feeling about spending a lot of time in this thread next season quoting their meltdowns.
Looking forward to it.
Had to google word jib:
A jib is a triangular sail that sets ahead of the foremast of a sailing vessel.
I hope there is some other meaning, some fraze or something...or I will cry.
It will definitely be interesting to see how Liverpool cope with the front three and VVD all basically aging out of their primes together over the next couple seasons. My guess is that they will try to sell either Mane or Salah next summer, but its not clear whether the usual suspects for making that kind of bad purchase - Barca, Real, Juventus, etc - will be in a mood to buy. Juve is broke and the Spanish giants are already burdened with expensive post-prime attackers that were bad buys in retrospect (Griezmann, Hazard,) and more likely to prefer younger stars like Sancho (if available), Lautaro, or Mbappe.
Beyond the front three, however, Liverpool isn't actually that old. The starting defense is 29 (VVD), 23 (Gomez), 26 (Robertson), and 21 (TAA). That's slightly younger on average than United's starting defense. A couple midfielders like Henderson and Wijnaldum are post-prime, but they've still got Fabinho (26), Keita (25), and Ox (27) in their prime years, again not too much different than a club like United who seems likely to play Bruno (26 in a couple days), Pogba (27), and Fred (27) as a starting midfield.
IMO, they have work to do to turn over the attack eventually but they are pretty well positioned to rebuild without their level dropping too far and also led by smart people who likely have a good strategy for approaching the problem.
Yeah, I do not buy the idea that the Dipper's are too old. The attack is aging, which is an issue but a lot of their important squad players are ok age wise. VVD for instance plays CB so he can probably go on for at least another 5-7 years as CB's age later. Their midfield is also fine. Henderson doesn't really rely on pace so I give him until 33 before he faces the cliff edge. Alisson is another that has a long time left, actually with him your probably looking at about 10 years.
All in all, it is just their attack that is a real issue in the next two-three years.
The main problem I forsee for Liverpool though is the fact they will need to repeatedly sell big in order to add players.
They’ve got to multiple european cup finals or latter stages recently. Won one of them. They’ve won the league and finished second before that. With all that success they are struggling to put together a package to buy a 29 year old for £30m. Having to sell Wijnaldum to effectively fund it and make space on the wage book.
If they want big money for Salah or Mane, they would have to sell by the latest next summer. After that they’ll be hitting 30. Even if they sell big, they would not be in the market for the likes of Sancho, Havertz because it would blow their transfer strategy and wage structure.
So ultimately they are constantly having to produce amazing talent from hidden talents. It’s a hard ask to keep getting it right. Especially once Klopp leaves.
If Utd have aging players or players getting to the end of their best, Utd just dispose of them at any cost and invest heavy on new players. City and Chelsea do the same. None of them are normally required to sell big in order to reinvest.
This is not a typical Liverpool bashing post. I absolutely admire what Klopp has done and the sucess they have achieved. They completely deserve the success. But it's an incredibly difficult model which is heavily reliant on Klopps coaching ability in order to stay at the top above the big spenders below them at the moment.
I don’t know what to make of Liverpool’s finances and the claims that they couldn’t afford Werner, have to sell to buy Thiago, etc.
Their turnover has increased a ton over the last few seasons, mostly due to CL revenue but also big rises on the commercial side. They’re only like 100m euro behind United in commercial revenue at this point. Rises in the wage bill have been modest in comparison to rising revenues. So I don’t really understand claims that they are so broke. They don’t have the resources of City or United but I think they can probably compete for any player except the really really expensive ones and are probably just choosing to keep their powder dry until next summer.
@marukomu please rescue the thread!
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I like the cut of your Jib
a far classier version of "i like your style", originally used by pirates in the 17th century the expression refers to the forward sail on most ships. The course and speed of a ship is determined by the cut of the ships jib so saying that you like the cut of someones jib is a way of saying, i like the way you're heading.
Original 17th Century Pirate context:
A - I think we should mutiny, Yarr!
B - I like the cut of your jib (jim lad optional)!!!
21st Century context:
A - lets go for a beer and some readily available cannabis
B - alright, i like the cut of your jibSuppose I should put an actual RAWK post in this thread. I'll start us off with this belter, on the possibility of Messi joining City:
Always needs to be on the front page.
That's an incredible post. City signing the 11 best players in their position and he still fancies Liverpool to win the league? Amazing.
I have somehow never known of the existence of this masterpiece. Where did you dig it from? And are there more pages of this?
Always needs to be on the front page.
edit : Also, read 19
PG Wodehouse and Stephen Fry would be proud.
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If this season goes well for this thread, I undertake to produce a sequel. Serialized, of course.