Liverpool 2018/19

By how many points will Liverpool win the title this season?

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    Votes: 100 52.9%

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    Votes: 89 47.1%
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Cassady said:
All great teams have had great keepers though mate. Going from the top of my head.

Forest - Shilton
Liverpool - Clemence
Everton - Southall
United - Schmiechel

Many more too .

When Clemence played for us we were that good we didn't need a keeper. :)

Awaits a divvy to mention the pass back rule.
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My point is though, is that Liverpool & United still continued to be successful even when they replaced the likes of Clemence & Schmiechel with inferior keepers (Grobbelaar & Barthez). Shilton & Southall continued to play for many more years after their spell of success at Forest & Everton respectively, yet neither of them ever got close to replicating their previous achievements. Like I say, that doesn't mean we shouldn't continue to search for an upgrade on Karius, but I just feel that a lot of Liverpool supporters feel our season is doomed from the start with him between the sticks. & let's face it, there isn't a goalkeeper on the planet that hasn't been guilty of making a few cock-ups throughout their career. It's just unfortunate for Karius, & for us, his 2 biggest ones were on the biggest stage of them all. I just believe that our outfield players will be the one's who ultimately hold the responsibility to whatever happens over the course of the forthcoming season.

 
Liverpool are currently playing Bury in a pre season friendly and. . . .



You'll never walk alone. . . Indeed!
 
It's easy for Liverpool fans to be confused & stunned as to why they haven't strengthened the GK position, but it's not the easiest position to buy for especially with the prices being banded about. It's always hard to judge whether a GK shining in a mid-table team can make the step up as well, so many have done it in the past and failed. Karius was rated very highly in Germany before his move to Liverpool and yet has been a flop, Mignolet looked good for Sunderland and it was predicted he would make the step up to the next level at Liverpool, there's no reason to suggest Butland wouldn't struggle if he made the step up, and he's been poor the past season.

Schmeichel is a solid enough keeper but is he worth spending £20-30m? For me, he isn't much better than Karius and the £ would be better served strengthening other areas. Unless Liverpool find a gem then it's a tough position to be in because there are no guarantee's unless they spend big on Oblak/Alisson. Klopp seems reluctant to really spend big in that position when he knows he could potentially invest it in other areas.
 
SambaBoy said:
It's easy for Liverpool fans to be confused & stunned as to why they haven't strengthened the GK position, but it's not the easiest position to buy for especially with the prices being banded about. It's always hard to judge whether a GK shining in a mid-table team can make the step up as well, so many have done it in the past and failed. Karius was rated very highly in Germany before his move to Liverpool and yet has been a flop, Mignolet looked good for Sunderland and it was predicted he would make the step up to the next level at Liverpool, there's no reason to suggest Butland wouldn't struggle if he made the step up, and he's been poor the past season.

Schmeichel is a solid enough keeper but is he worth spending £20-30m? For me, he isn't much better than Karius and the £ would be better served strengthening other areas. Unless Liverpool find a gem then it's a tough position to be in because there are no guarantee's unless they spend big on Oblak/Alisson. Klopp seems reluctant to really spend big in that position when he knows he could potentially invest it in other areas.
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We literally agreed a fee with Roma for Alisson about an hour ago :p
 
Great window for Liverpool so far, finally addressing areas they are poor in. The fans will be confident it's their year, like every other year.
 
So, first XI looking potentially like...

Alisson
TAA Van Dyke Lovren Robertson
Fabinho Keita
Shaqiri (Fekir?)
Salah Firmino Mane

Not too shabby
 
Sparky Rhiwabon said:
So, first XI looking potentially like...

Alisson
TAA Van Dyke Lovren Robertson
Fabinho Keita
Shaqiri (Fekir?)
Salah Firmino Mane

Not too shabby
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Shaqiri won‘t be starter. He is not an AM anyway, just a winger. Either Fekir comes in or it will be a 3 men midfield with Ox as the most attacking option.
 
People were, on the whole, seemingly quite comfortable with the idea that City are far better than us and likely to walk the league again.

However the idea that we might now be going into the season with a weaker squad than Liverpool, has thrown everyone into complete meltdown.
 
Sparky Rhiwabon said:
So, first XI looking potentially like...

Alisson
TAA Van Dyke Lovren Robertson
Fabinho Keita
Shaqiri (Fekir?)
Salah Firmino Mane

Not too shabby
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I think Shaqiri is going to be a a squad option to begin with. Our midfield for the West Ham game on first day of season should be Keita, Fabinho and Lallana as Hendo won't be back I think. We will have a great squad, especially when the likes of Chamberlain are back from injury.
 
Don Alfredo said:
Shaqiri won‘t be starter. He is not an AM anyway, just a winger. Either Fekir comes in or it will be a 3 men midfield with Ox as the most attacking option.
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He can play in the hole as well, but I agree, he may just be a better squad option
 
AndyJ1985 said:
Liverpool went from strength to strength when Coutinho left. They play brilliantly as a team. It's their defence and 'keeper that let them down. If they strengthen both areas then they are real title contenders. Only a fool would think otherwise..
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After the first half of last season, myself and others were of the opinion that Coutinho was their best player. Of course they made up for it (short term atm), but can they continue going from strength to strength? United earned more points then them, even by taking their marvellous second spell of the season into consideration. And we're not even talking about City yet. My point still stands, i feel that Scouse will feel the loss of Coutinho eventually, it all depends now on Salah. Quite risky, IMO.

Can23 said:
Coutinho didn't even play for us for a month because of his "bad back". Sure he scored some wonder goals for us but it was plain to see he was sulking. Instead of relying on Coutinho hopefully we'll have 3 midfielders who can change the game. The worrying thing is having too many new players, could take time to click.
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After the sulking he settled in quite nicely and ran the show, IMO. The two new guys aren't proven they can cut it consistently in the Prem, especially i've doubts about Fabinho, Mourinho last season steered clear. On top of that Can is gone, who was at least a solid player. So are Scouse really better in midfield and as a team without Coutinho and Can but Fabinho, Keita, Shaqiri and (Alisson?) in it? I'm starting to worry if someone like Fekir arrives.

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Had to copy & paste it in here, did it for @Damien[/QUOTE]
 
It’s a very good team. Long gone from the dreaded ‘committee signings’ to actually spending big on players that adhere to the brand of football the manager seeks to impose.

They’re a big threat next year, certainly.

No excuses for Klopp not to compete.
 
Oga on top. said:
I think Shaqiri is going to be a a squad option to begin with. Our midfield for the West Ham game on first day of season should be Keita, Fabinho and Lallana as Hendo won't be back I think. We will have a great squad, especially when the likes of Chamberlain are back from injury.
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I'm reluctant to start both Fabinho and Keita against West Ham unless they've shown a great understanding in preseason games before that. Easing them in would be a better option imo.
 
RobinLFC said:
I'm reluctant to start both Fabinho and Keita against West Ham unless they've shown a great understanding in preseason games before that. Easing them in would be a better option imo.
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If they play a big chunk of the preseason games I say throw them in there as soon as possible starting with West Ham. Unless Injury strikes I think Keita should be starting that game, Klopp and the rest of us have been waiting long enough to get him in our midfield ha. I can see both of them starting with Lallana just ahead of them. Pellegrini is going to comoletely change the way West Ham play in terms of tactics and personell so we should be fine for the first game hopefully. I'm just glad it will be at home.
 
abdo99 said:
If anything Liverpool were better after Coutinho. They played as a team and got to the CL final. Coutinho is individually good but him leaving meant that everything didn't have to go through him. The dynamic between Salah, Mane and Firmino and the energy of Ox was a very strong base and now they've added to that with Shaqiri whilst strengthing the defensive midfield area and central defence plus the keeper. It's a stronger team.
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They not only lost Coutinho but Can too. It remains to be seen whether or not Fabinho and Keita can make up for it in midfield. Ox had a serious injury, will he back to his very best?

In the cups they will be annoyingly dangerous, are they good enough to collect point after point in the league? Scouse want the league, that has to be the goal.

Furthermore they added legs with Keita and Fabinho, but creativity wise, how will they fare against low blocks? Klopp in the past tried to replace Gotze with Mkhi to build a pressing machine, it went horribly wrong, so let's find out.
 
"Being 4th is great because we don't spend money". So what will be their excuse this year? net spend?
 
RobinLFC said:
I'm reluctant to start both Fabinho and Keita against West Ham unless they've shown a great understanding in preseason games before that. Easing them in would be a better option imo.
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We might have to start Fabinho as Henderson won't be ready when the season starts. I think something like Fabinho, Wijnaldum, Keita in a midfield three would be my expectation for the first game.

That won't be an easy game. West Ham have thrown some money around as well.
 
Alex99 said:
Come off it lads. No one's said those words but there was plenty of "we've done well considering our resources compared to United/City/Chelsea" going around.
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No I thought that we'd done well considering how crap we'd been since 2009. Back to back top four finishes is progress.

We've been finishing below Spurs for years and they rarely outspend us so it's not really fair to blame lack of spending on why we don't finish higher. That and the fact that we've always spent money and brought players in. Before Klopp they were very much hit and miss (probably more miss).
 
Klopper76 said:
No I thought that we'd done well considering how crap we'd been since 2009. Back to back top four finishes is progress.

We've been finishing below Spurs for years and they rarely outspend us so it's not really fair to blame lack of spending on why we don't finish higher. That and the fact that we've always spent money and brought players in. Before Klopp they were very much hit and miss (probably more miss).
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But his post wasn't meant to cover every individual fan's opinion, but a general attitude that was definitely present among a decent portion of your support, so what you think as an individual wasn't really too pertinent.
 
Klopper76 said:
Said no one ever.
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Come on man. It was said so many times in last two years on rawk. Your posters are often saying how much money we spend comparing to liverpool. Look at your thread from 2016/17 season after we won europa league. I think it was something like who had better season? Or it was in some other thread? Can't remember now. Lots of posts was about spending money.

And don't be so touchy. You are spending a lot of money. On players who you need. No one is saying it is bad thing or something like that.
 
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Andycoleno9 said:
Come on man. It was said so many times in last two years on rawk. Your posters are often saying how much money we spend comparing to liverpool. Look at your thread from 2016/17 season after we won europa league. I think it was something like who had better season? Or it was in some other thread? Can't remember now. Lots of posts was about spending money.

And don't be so touchy. You are spending a lot of money. On players who you need. No one is saying it is bad thing or something like that.
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That is true but all fans do that - even Utd fans have moaned about how much Pep has spent. (Yes I know - classic whataboutery) :smirk:
 
Cutch said:
Hendo will still be a regular starter, that’s the only blessing. Strong looking team otherwise
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Where does he play though? Fabinho will play in Henderson's role more often than not imo.
 
Finn MacCool said:
That is true but all fans do that - even Utd fans have moaned about how much Pep has spent. (Yes I know - classic whataboutery) :smirk:
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Agree. But we don't deny that and we accept it . In all those games last season when our defence was shit many of us said " oh, so that is why you spend 250 mil on defenders":lol:
 
Cutch said:
Hendo will still be a regular starter, that’s the only blessing. Strong looking team otherwise
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I'd be surprised if that happens, unfortunately. Think this is the season he gets squeezed out.
 
Liverpool fans, if we settled thing about spending money, what is general thinking about lovren now? Do you want him or matip to partner van dijk?
 
Andycoleno9 said:
Liverpool fans, if we settled thing about spending money, what is general thinking about lovren now? Do you want him or matip to partner van dijk?
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Lovren has been solid this year. He 100% deserves to partner VVD.
 
Andycoleno9 said:
Liverpool fans, if we settled thing about spending money, what is general thinking about lovren now? Do you want him or matip to partner van dijk?
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I'd be fine with Lovren and Matip rotating to see who is a better partner for Van Dijk. Lovren has had a pretty solid 7/8 months since his nightmare against Spurs at Wembley. Matip's been injured for ages but should be fit for the start of the season.

CB might be an area to look at in January.
 
Be interesting to see whether they remain as dependent on the triumvirate as they were last season. Either Salah matches his 32 goal haul or Liverpool have to find goals from elsewhere. Because even with Alisson, I'm still not convinced Klopp can win the Premier League if he continues to play with reckless abandon. It's cool an all, but at some point you have to grow up.
 
They’ve done good business, they’ve identified weak areas and brought in good players. They know have a far better squad than us. I’m sure City will win the league and Liverpool will be the only challengers to them.
 
If I could choose one of their players to play for us it would probably be TAA. RB talents are rare and he has a great cross in him too. Already has alot of experience for a 19 year old. I can see him playing for a big club in 4/5 years
 
Joe Cole Is Exhausted said:
This aged well.

Liverpool needs to put up or shut up this season. They've spent the money. Enough excuses.
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I agree. If we do bring in Alison & a Fekir type cover/rotational player, then there's zero reason for us to not be competing for trophies. Klopp has been here long enough to put all his pieces into place, and has a squad which is now pretty much entirely his.

There's a decent gap between our squad & that of Man City still, but we should at least be able to make for a more competitive league than last season, & hopefully throw some cup runs/finals in there at the very least.

(I'm still predicting 3rd)
 
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