Here’s hopingWith the previous history and this thread jinx, fully expect to hear about a long term injury to VVD in next couple of days.
And then we can all agree to copy this heading into Man City thread.
Liverpool 2018/19
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Arnautovic could be gone though.
I think you can be good and lucky. That little bit of luck might be what separates you from city at the end. The Pickford mistake for example. And others such as the penalty save against Mahrez and the sturridge equalizer are not luck but have a touch of serendipity to them in the "It's meant to be" sense. Kind of similar to the last minute winners City scored last year during Nov and December.
I really hope this backfires in the same way as "this does not slip" Slippy G.
So it's fair to say Steven Gerrard was a choker. Glad that's out of the way. Thanks Mane.
Was really surprised with that loan since Klopp praised him for great match against United.
Was under impression that he's still first choice RB just was out injured. But as Ban said Lovren can play there, Milner as well, but they aren't natural RBs. Weird decision to loan him out in the middle of title campaign.
Their best back up for RB is probably Fabinho and that's why I think they let Clyne go.
Forgot about Fabinho being able to fill RB position, you could be onto something here!
He's also our best back-up CB right now. We had 2 out of 4 CBs injured when we sent Clyne out on loan, and the 3rd got injured just after. We fecked ourselves pretty bad.
Apparently he's denied it but I wouldnt be surprised if he actually did say it and has back tracked.I really hope this backfires in the same way as "this does not slip" Slippy G.
I don't like wishing players to miss matches due to injuries so hopefully liverpool will have some suspensions
We are the anti-Arsenal
The thing is, all it'll take is Salah to leave and they're nothing more than a top 4 side again.
Hopefully Barca or Real can do the decent thing.
Hopefully Barca or Real can do the decent thing.
That's debatable. There's a pretty solid base of players in the squad now. Alisson and Van Dijk are a very good foundation to build a team around and we've got other good players such as Robertson, TAA, Gomez, Wijnaldum, Firmino and Mane.
We'd still have to get in a decent replacement for Salah but I don't think it'd be as big a headache as replacing Suarez was.
If we were to lose Van Dijk I think we'd struggle to replace him though and would suffer for it.
People said the exact same thing about Coutinho.
Very true. People have to come around to the fact that they are (atm) the club in the PL with the most success at identifying and buying the right players for the chosen system of playing football.
Nah, if you took Salah out of that system (even with the money for replacements), Liverpool would be easily 15 points worse off.
And that's not just the goals he scores / assists - it's the fact of the opposition constantly having to deal with him and his genius runs / timing.
It means that teams are always (whenever Salah's on the pitch) terrified of really pushing up and pressing Liverpool. Without him, teams always look better against them.
We are the anti-Arsenal
What good are contracts when the likes of Real and Barca need only to wink in the general direction of your players and they go running?
I give Salah another year and a half at Liverpool, Firminho the same.
Every team has its star players. Like take De gea or Pogba from United and its a different team.
About an extra £100m. Ramsey is leaving for free, Sanchez left for nout... How much did Pogba go to Juve for? Meanwhile, a long contract meant we got £140m for Coutinho.
If he leaves, so be it, but we'll get paid handsomely. Will we invest it wisely? I hope so. Our recent record is pretty good.
@Rhyme Animal is right. Salah is the only truly special attacker they have. Mane and Firmino are good but they aren't on the same level as Salah, he's world class and one of the best players in the league and this absolutely does scare teams. He's the real difference maker in that side.
They got lucky with Coutinho in that Salah had already arrived in the summer and replaced him as their star player, I do think they missed him but the blow was majorly softened because Salah was having a worldie of a year. Whilst their recruitment is excellent, it's very unlikely they could find another Salah, they struck gold with him. He's more impactful than Coutinho ever was for Liverpool anyway, he was magical at times but nowhere close to as consistent a threat for them.
Lose him and they lose their top provider of goals, assists, and they lose the player that scares the bejeesus out of teams, they lose the magic. They're a solid team without (with the best backline in the league) but Salah is the man propelling them to the top of the table. Don't see him leaving for a couple of seasons yet though tbh, got him on a big contract and Liverpool would resist it as much as possible.
They got lucky with Coutinho in that Salah had already arrived in the summer and replaced him as their star player, I do think they missed him but the blow was majorly softened because Salah was having a worldie of a year. Whilst their recruitment is excellent, it's very unlikely they could find another Salah, they struck gold with him. He's more impactful than Coutinho ever was for Liverpool anyway, he was magical at times but nowhere close to as consistent a threat for them.
Lose him and they lose their top provider of goals, assists, and they lose the player that scares the bejeesus out of teams, they lose the magic. They're a solid team without (with the best backline in the league) but Salah is the man propelling them to the top of the table. Don't see him leaving for a couple of seasons yet though tbh, got him on a big contract and Liverpool would resist it as much as possible.
Any extra money gained from his sale is irrelevant, though. No amount of money can replace a player of Salah's ability, at least not one who would be willing to sign for Liverpool.
Maybe he is. But that could be said about all the top teams except City. Where would Chelsea be without Hazard? United without Pogba? Spurs without Kane?
Fact of the matter is, that he is tied to a longterm contract, and it would take Coutinho-level money to price him away.
It's far from irrelevant. Having money in our coffers from the Coutinho sale allowed us to bring in Allison & VVD. You don't necessarily have to replace a player like-for-like to improve the overall team as a whole, otherwise we'd never have bounced back from losing Suarez, never mind potentially losing Salah in a few years time.
(We did kinda piss away that Suarez money, though).
Well, yeah. The idea was that Salah could be easily replaced because Liverpool did it with Coutinho, which I just don't think is true. All of those sides would struggle very badly to replace their stars, hence why teams fight tooth and nail to keep hold of them. We would get a record fee for Kane but even if we spent every penny of it sensibly, getting in a player of that level would be impossible.
Agreed. I don't think he will go for a while at least, you're in a very good place.
Yeah, but you you've improved the overall team as a whole now. Who would you sign to improve the overall side if you sold Salah, some more central midfielders despite splashing out on Fabinho and Keita?
You'd have to replace him directly, and in this market a top class talent is upwards of 80 million minimum and wouldn't be anywhere near as good as Salah if we're being realistic (he's arguably the best in the league, replacing that kind of talent is a nightmare) and with what you have left you sign what? Some depth for right back, a backup striker maybe? You had plenty of problems to fix when you got the Coutinho money, now you have a well functioning side but minus Salah would lack that star quality.
I still look at our midfield & think there's major room for improvement there, and apart from Shaqiri, our front line cover is still Sturridge & Origi.
& a top class talent isn't always £80m+ when there's gems out there to be found. You picked up Deli Alli for the cost of Solanke's arm, & we picked up Robertson for 6 months of Ozil's wage packet. If you have a system to find & bring in talent, whilst also having a manager like Poch/Klopp to nurture it, there's no real need to think that the only options are to sign the Dembele's & Mbappe's of the world.
Not to mention, we bounced back from Suarez alright, no?
Salah is instrumental to Liverpool's fortunes, the likelihood of finding a player of equal to or greater ability than him is slim to none regardless of how much you spend. Same for Mane and Firminho when they finally depart. Spending a shitload of money on replacements does not in any way shape or form guarantee their success - Keita and Fabinho are a testament to that. It's pretty much a pot-luck scenario when entering the transfer market these days.
I'd be terrified at the thought of losing any of those 3 if I was a Liverpool fan.
Salah was considered a Chelsea reject by guys like you on here despite his form for Roma. He wasn't even in the best 15-20 strikers in the world when we got him. Are we not going to be able to afford another top 20 striker with the £200m from Salah? One that Klopp can turn into another 20+ goal scorer?
Was Salah's world class-ness just a massive fluke? Could Klopp not repeat this with Dembele, Dybala, etc?
Even if they do depart, I'm not gonna arse myself worrying about it
I understand the points you're trying to make, but I just feel that saying it's irrelevant how much money a good contract helps get out of a sale is WELL over the top.Even if they do depart, I'm not gonna arse myself worrying about it
Well, I tried. You used to be able to put the fear of god into Liverpool fans without much effort. These days you're not afraid of anything.
I blame Brexit. And Klopp.
To be fair, I never really cared. It's just football. As long as I can tune in & we're entertaining, I'm good.
You've just spent well over 100 mill on your midfield. Unless you're giving up on Keita already spending huge money there again would be a pretty big deal, and who is to say you wouldn't just bring in another Keita? You could bring in superior front line cover, but that is not replacing Salah.
The likes of Deli Alli and Robertson are very rare. It's far from a given you can just find another one of these, if this was the case every side would be selling their stars every season and simply recycling for a much cheaper player.
Did you bounce back from Suarez alright? You had a horrible season afterwards and it all fell apart when he left. It took you a few and a new (world class) manager who has spent serious money to get back to a title challenging point. I don't think anyone is suggesting you'd drop down in to mid table without Salah, just that you would lose your edge and probably just be another side challenging for the top four places.
You struck gold with Salah. It doesn't happen often and there's absolutely no guarantee you can do it repeatedly. Klopp would not be able to get Dembele having anywhere near Salah's production, maybe Dybala but I doubt you'd be able to get him and he would probably cost Salah money anyway. Also I never considered Salah a Chelsea reject, I watched him quite a bit in Italy and thought he was really coming on as a player, even at Chelsea I rated him highly and thought he didn't get a fair crack of the whip. Never expected him to be as good as he was but I doubt Klopp did either, sometimes players just explode at different points in their career.
It wasn't a fluke, but just because Klopp did it with him it doesn't mean he can do it with anybody. Klopp isn't a magician who can bring in anybody and get them scoring at Salah levels, there's an element of risk with any signing he would make. We had a similar mentality when we lost Bale and brought in two top class attacking talents in Eriksen & Lamela (who was tearing up Serie A that season) and it didn't work out, it doesn't always. Replacing one of the best in the league isn't easy for any side.
Anyway, like I've said I don't think you'll lose him. Honestly I don't think the Spanish clubs have the power they once did with the wealth of the English game, I genuinely don't think going forward they'll be able to click their fingers and bring in top talents from England any longer.
Klopp has a history of turning players into elite attackers. Salah is world class but the introduction of VVD and Alisson has been what's propelled us into a title contending team.
Perez is on the hunt for a new manager as we speak and Klopp is very likely a strong candidate for the role.
Joining Real is a calling. Klopp won't turn it down should they come in for him this summer.
I'm not talking about Keita. More about the aging Milner & the often questionable Henderson. There's no sense in writing off a 23 year old (I know you're not, but some are).
They're rare, but our first choice back four is still made up of 3 players that cost the same as VVD's knee
Maybe I'm just being optimistic, but given how our recent signings have worked out, I have faith that, at the very least, whoever we bring in will be entertaining to watch.& yeah we did. It wasn't as fast as we'd have liked, but we bounced back in the end. We bounced back from Coutinho pretty much right away, but he was a cut below Salah & Suarez, really.
It's Pochettino you should be more concerned about joining Real Madrid, not Klopp. The former is several times more likely to end up in Madrid than our guy, I reckon.
Take Salah and Firminho out of that Liverpool team and they would spiral down the table at an alarming rate. Take VVD and Alisson out and they would remain in contention - albeit slightly more vulnerable at the back.
There is no Liverpool without Salah.
I'm not talking about Keita. More about the aging Milner & the often questionable Henderson. There's no sense in writing off a 23 year old (I know you're not, but some are).
They're rare, but our first choice back four is still made up of 3 players that cost the same as VVD's knee
& yeah we did. It wasn't as fast as we'd have liked, but we bounced back in the end. We bounced back from Coutinho pretty much right away, but he was a cut below Salah & Suarez, really.
It's Pochettino you should be more concerned about joining Real Madrid, not Klopp. The former is several times more likely to end up in Madrid than our guy, I reckon.
Sure, but you already have Keita on the bench, wasn't he meant to come in to midfield? Fabinho too. You've just invested heavily in that area, going forward wouldn't you want to go with a Fabinho/Keita/Wijnaldum midfield, if all develop as expected when they arrived at the club? Maybe if you also moved out Henderson/Milner you could bring in more competition.
It is, but then we've also got a very cheap starting XI and I'm still aware that we'd never be able to replace Kane. That kind of player (one of the best in the league) is so hard to replace unless you strike seriously lucky, and can take a team to another level, and IMO that is what Salah does for you. More depth in other positions might add some more points across a season, but not as many as having somebody as dangerous and feared as Salah in the side. You would probably bring in an exciting, talented young player who would do well, but Salah is your star player, the Hazard or Kane of your team.
Yeah and I'm sure long term you'd bounce back from losing Salah too, but it would definitely set you back IMO. Agreed that Coutinho wasn't on the same level, I think you completely ripped Barcelona off with that transfer fee and were able to move on comfortably from him because you already had Salah come in that summer. You also had some serious, obvious weaknesses in the backline that you were able to fix with that money.
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