I'm not 100% sure as yet. We were going to spend a lot regardless (see Keita, VVD and Salah deals, ca. £150m, before any inkling of a Coutinho bid). As Keita has signed for next Summer it could well be a similar deal for Coutinho to Barca.
Liverpool - 2017/18
- Thread starter Rafateria
- Start date
This is from the guy that first mentioned the Naby Keita deal on twitter :
So Keita to Liverpool. Great signing to replace Coutinho if he left this summer.
I think Lemar would be a better replacement for Coutinho. Keita is his own thing.
Coutinho won't leave this summer.
Suarez signs new deal with Liverpool starting in 2022?
that's the spirit.
Annoying. I hate when clubs who don't like doing anything significant make great signings out of nowhere. PSG the ultimate example this summer, they were becoming a bit pointless then boom, Neymar out of nowhere.
Do they then become crap players?
But has said he will allow medicals at their camp apparently
Get French Football @GFFN
Didier Deschamps says he'll make it possible for French national team players to undergo medicals at Clairefontaine for possible transfers.
2:07 PM - Aug 28, 2017
We were in the league cup semis last season that's not an early drop out
I don't really agree. Right now Matip and Henderson are your best back 6 players and they are fine but not special. I think Salah will end up improving you defensively since teams will have to sit back to deal with his and Mane's pace (and Firmino being a great facilitator for them) and that will hurt their ability to attack you.
But if Liverpool add a couple of quality players at LB, CB or keeper and get a career season from someone inconsistent but not without talent like Lovren or Robertson or Mignolet and get knocked out early in the CL, they could challenge for the title.
I think selling Coutinho will help you, if you spend the money reasonably. There have to be some defenders and keepers looking at Liverpool and desperate to move to you and play for a big club where there is a great chance to get playing time. It makes perfect sense that Van Dijk is desperate to play for you too.
Your front 3 are all 25, so over the next 4-5 years, if you can keep them all (my guess is Firmino will be easy to retain but productive wide players being so prized, might lose one of the wingers in a couple of years) you will be a terror in big games until then. Just a matter of building a back line and midfield to help them.
Any team can say these things though. Can is finally delivering on his potential.
How many times have you lot said this? He's slow as arseholes and nothing special technically, he's just in a good spell of form again.
Wijnaldum and Henderson have had a full premier league season in their new positions.
What new positions? Henderson has always been a centre mid. He isn't any better than he was last year. Be surprised if Wijnaldum is much different either.
Matip is adapted to the league now.
Matip did fine last season. How much do you expect him to improve?
Mignolet is less shit than he used to be.
Nah. Even your own manager doesn't seem to think so.
Firmino and Mane just keep getting better. Salah has added a new dimension to our attack. Sturridge looks like he might be fit this season.
Sturridge fit!
Klopp has had a full season of premier league football under his belt to suss teams out. We rolled over arsenal without needing Lallana or Coutinho. etc.
Alright yeah, looks like his tactics have changed so much eh?
No one ever accounts for the bad things that are bound to be critical along the way to all but one team in the end.
Your attack is better than last year, especially if you get Lemar instead of Coutinho but you've still the same old problems. Poor back 5 and a mental manager. Good window for you but you won't win the league without sorting out your defence and maybe getting a proper DM to replace Henderson / Can.
Trust me Coutinho is gone give it 24 hours and it will be done, its so obvious.
I wouldn't be too fussed if i was a liverpool fan other areas of the team are far more important then keeping coutinho.
If they get VVD and Lemar then Id expect them to challenge for the title. Moreso if they have a gentlemens agreement with Barca/Coutinho for next season.
We won the league with Carrick and Cleverley
He's gone but I'm not sure it will be this summer. Barca don't really know what they're doing with there money at the minute.
Point being, it's easy to list hopeful points. That said, I do think Can is going up a level and we did actually change our tactics to grind out wins in the final part of the season. If we can transition to that quicker the next time the goals dry up instead of wasting a month or two flailing about, we'll be better off.
Henderson has newer been the holding deeplying playmaker before. But I think with him it is more about staying fit for the season.
There wasn't a whole lot of good competition back then though was there? And Klopp isn't a patch on Fergie.
One word, Robin Van Persie
I actually think they might win the league. If they get Lemar and a very good defender like Van Dijk they'll be able to beat the smaller teams and everyone knows how good they are against the big teams.
I think we should be a little worried, let's see what happens after 10 games but I don't think I can cope if they do win it, well I guess it was a fun ride for so many years but they really do look a different team now.
I think we should be a little worried, let's see what happens after 10 games but I don't think I can cope if they do win it, well I guess it was a fun ride for so many years but they really do look a different team now.
Hey hey, let's not get carried away, ok? As a Liverpool fan my concern is to be able to weather the extra games from a CL campaign, get decently far enough in it (no lame first knockout round exists, never mind group stage exits), as well getting top 4 again.
I did .. which is why I mentioned the feck ups Lovren and Moreno are capable of !
Come on, it's really not just us is it?
http://www.express.co.uk/sport/foot...amie-Carragher-Virgil-van-Dijk-Premier-League
You faced a Hoffenheim team that with a better finisher could have won that tie in the first leg. Maybe the trend is improving but I think assuming a few solid results against all-too-willing competition is just as silly as United fans assuming we'll roll everyone over 4-0.
That you were. I should've worded it better (even though I know you're just being pedantic): I meant you were out of all cup competitions early into your season and had only league commitments to concentrate on from January onwards.
I think Coutinho is definitely gone if we get Lemar (and a CB which I don't think will be Van Dijk).
I know what you meant. I was just messing with you.
We could also have scored 6 or 7 in that first leg. Blinkers on again for most.
If we want to talk about facts let's not just focus on ONE game out of the last 7 PL Liverpool games, even though it was abysmal. We have still had 5 clean sheets out of the last seven, so there is undoubtedly improvement. So even though we can still be vulnerable to meltdowns we are still nowhere near as bad as most people here make us out to be.
Your ability to score goals isn't the major question about your title credentials though, is it? It's the ability to defend. You lot came close in 2013/2014 and you hold it up as the standard for why it can be done but what other team can say they won the league, or came close, despite an inability to defend? It's an obvious exception.
And why are you choosing such an oddly specific "last 7 PL games" as the ruler to judge your defending?
Thanks man.Great post - as usual from what I've seen.
All 3 of the MF have some sort of all round game isn't it? Competitive, good athletes, decent engine etc. However, I'm still maintaining Can is a donkey regardless of any evidence that contradicts this,
Played some great stuff.
Only a few days of transfer window left though? He must want to do something, surely?
I think both Henderson and Gini were doing way better than the last two games and that they'll hit their stride soon, but Can really is a donkey at times, though has been performing better overall.
Game against Arsenal was his bread and butter, big games in general I think will never really bother him, because the opposition leaves so much space in the middle, it's unreal.
When it gets tight and compact, that's when he becomes reckless in his tackling, and sloppy in possession. He's at his best when he has enough space to roam from midfield into opposition's third unopposed. Him and Milner I think both have this problem, while Wijnaldum strives at just that, creating spaces where there are none (when he's at top of his game of course).
If Can gets rid of his sloppiness in possession, he can become one of Europe's best. He already improved in every other department, especially in his distribution of the ball.
impressive signing, and would much prefer Coutinho to stay. That money could significantly improve them elsewhere. Lets not forget last 2 games at Anfield the opponent has played completely into Liverpools hands with ridiculous high line and space. Salah had half of Anfield to himself for his goal. lets see when teams actually frustrate them again how they fare
I must have only half read the post, Rafa. Or maybe compromised its meaning - I understand that this can happen from time to time on most internet footy boards when opposing fans are
What is odd about highlighting our last seven games since the issue is our defending as it is at this moment in time ? Why would it be necessary to go further back ?
2013/14 just highlights that an outstanding defence isn't the only way to the title. I'm not suggesting that's (similar to the 2013/14 season) where we are at now but using it to demonstrate the possibility for argumentative purposes.
Haha - I like you Monty.
What would strengthen the argument is if you'd actually won the title.
Not saying your defending needs to be outstanding but it certainly needs to be good. Liverpool have not proven themselves to have a good one yet. Judging based on some arbitrary number of recent games (which stretches across 2 seasons for some reason) doesn't do much to instill confidence IMO.
You need some valium or something. Always pessimistic and nervous when it comes to United.
Very negative character.
United haven't conceded a single goal in the PL yet whilst Liverpool shipped 3 against Watford, ambled to a one goal win over a truly terrible Crystal Palace and comfortably beat one of the worst Arsenal sides in years at Anfield... Yet you're soiling yourself in fear. Why? feck knows.
It's not one of the worst Arsenal sides in years on paper. It's miles better than the side that lost 8-2 for example. They're just a tactical mess under Wenger...again.
Carrick is the proper DM that he just mentioned "but you won't win the league without sorting out your defence and maybe getting a proper DM to replace Henderson / Can."
RVP was the difference but without Carrick, RVP wouldn't be the difference.
Lacazette Giroud
Sanchez Xhaka Coquelin Walcott
Kolasinac Mustafi Koscielny Bellerin
Drop deep, work hard defensively, release Sanchez and Walcott with pace. Get setpieces and kill them in the air with Lacazette and Giroud. Though I admit I´m not sure that midfield could/would do a proper job for Wenger, so in a way it´s a matter of quality, too. But the back four should have been automatic. Even Klopp said in the post-match conference that he was expecting Kolasinac and Mustafi, then laughed at Arsenal.