Liverpool 2024-25 | Most definitely winning the League Cup on Sunday
- Thread starter Sassy Colin
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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?
All the poor pundits predicting Loserpool to win.
Do think it’s unfair on Liverpool to go out on penalties. VAR has clearly been told not to give opposition players penalties against the Scouse so how can Allison possibly be ready?
Take out Salah VVD and Alisson from this team and what happens?
You have a team without Salah, VVD and Alisson
Are Trent, Oliver, Attwell or Konate fit and available for the weekend?
BBC says the attendance was 47k. Is there a lot of closed areas for fan segregation or seats covered for advertising hoardings still?
Think they also have a Super Cup and Charity shield or two via pens as well.
In fairness, PSG's away support is great. I went to a game with them in the Bernabeu in 2018 or 2019, and they were genuinely amazing before, during and after the game.
Imagine being top of the phase league only to face PSG in this round
Ah, the old "they are not as good as they otherwise would be once you take away all their best players" adage.
By the power of anfield, I have the powerrrr....... Oh wait
It's true though. Potentially Salah, VVD and Trent could all go this summer for buttons. They'll struggle after that.
That part stings a bit I must admit. Meanwhile Barcelona had fecking Benfica.Imagine being top of the phase league only to face PSG in this round
I think TAA going is a boost for them. He's probably the most over rated player in the Premier league and just not very good. He's plays like a failed midfielder/winger shoved into RB.
VVD & Salah will be huge gaps for them to fill though
We lost our edge the moment he went off yesterday. He was the only whose passes opened them up.
And I can point to many many examples of his poor defending costing big chances/goals/games.
He's got some qualities and he does have some brilliant games, but that doesn't mean he's not majorly overrated. He's a luxury player at rb that's had major pr machine & neville behind him
But each go their own, I'm not trying to change anyones opinion, no one will change mine bar the player himself by improving the basics of defending
It's people like yourself with the mindset of "a player at RB should be a defender first and foremost" that are completely missing the point of his presence and his task in our team, or just don't watch enough Liverpool games to understand that. If you evaluate his performances just because he's mentioned as RB on the team sheet, then yeah you'll think he's massively overrated indeed. If they want to use him as a right back in Madrid, they're targetting the wrong player.
With Nunez being more Cringer than Battlecat
Isn`t it an interesting question/topic?
These 3 players have been ridiculous for you for a long time, and they are all getting to the age when the wheels usually start to rattle a bit. Just how important are they to your game? Can you find decent replacements and just keep on trucking?
Its suprising they arnt doing everything they can to get Salah to sign a new contract as has carried Liverpool this season with his goals and assists, they would be nowhere near where they are in the league without him.
Yeah but don't think those count as major trophies. 7 major trophies on penalties (and just one final lost that way) is fantastic record. 2 CLs won on pens.
All three of them still are having one of their best seasons ever for us though.
- Alisson: I have no clue what we are going to do with him, think he can still perform at the highest level for a few more years but don't think Mamardashvili is happy to come sit on the bench either (and I read somewhere he wasn't having the best of seasons this year either). But whether it's him or Alisson next season, seems like we've already tied up our long-term solution to the position.
- Van Dijk: think he'll extend his contract, he's obviously key to our game. Konate has taken steps forward recently but isn't as secure defensively as Van Dijk (yet?). Not sure he could lead the back four like Van Dijk is currently doing but Konate and a new CB signing would be sufficient talent in defense for it not to be a problem for us imo.
- Salah: think he's off and any replacement we'll sign will obviously be a step down for him unless we unexpectedly strike gold with someone right away. Similarities with Mane and Diaz, as in Diaz has been a fine player for us but definitely not on the world class level Mane had been playing at.
Maybe the most important thing going forward is that the core to our squad has been replaced, i.e. our midfield three, and they are 23, 24 and 26 at the start of next season while still on an upwards trajectory but also having the necessary experience in the league and in Europe by now. That transition has gone smoothly, although we could still use some additional cover there (it's currently just Endo, Jones and perhaps Elliott if you consider him a midfielder, which is not sufficient).
A left back seems to be an obvious addition this offseason, let's say we sign Kerkez. That would leave us with something like this:
Mamardashvili
Bradley Konate VVD Kerkez
Gravenberch
Mac Allister Szoboszlai
RW CF LW
Bradley Konate VVD Kerkez
Gravenberch
Mac Allister Szoboszlai
RW CF LW
Signing someone like Isak (not sure if realistic) would go a long way to paper over the cracks, but if Salah is gone (and so is Nunez most likely), we're basically left with Diaz (fine but not great) and Jota (always injured) up front. Desperately need reinforcements in that regard, especially since Salah will leave behind a LOT of goal involvements. Looking at the side above, only Szoboszlai could (at a stretch) be relied upon as a regular in the scoring department.
One of the best things to come out of this season is with United, City, Chelsea and Tottenham out of the picture, Arsenal and Liverpool fans seem to have finally found each other online.
And they absolutely hate each other. And it's wonderful to watch.
And they absolutely hate each other. And it's wonderful to watch.
Michael Thomas has a lot to answer for!
A lad I work with is a Liverpool fan and seems to think that they want to do a complete reset/overhaul this summer. He thinks that they plan to let Salah go and replace him with Isak through the middle and a wide player that is more of a creator than a goalscorer.
IMO, if both Trent and Salah go then the midfield will need to be reconfigured, with a more creative 10 coming into the side that has more final third impact. Salah is the top scorer and top chance creator in the league by every metric and Trent is firmly in the top 10 for chance creation, with no other fullback even close to him. Take out those two unicorn players and replace them with a fairly standard issue RB in Bradley and a mere mortal at RW and you need more creativity and end product from elsewhere. Isak would be a massive coup and go a very long way to replacing Salah's goal production and threat on the break, but he won't replace Salah's chance creation and not sure FSG (or any other club) is going to put up the 120-150m it will reportedly take to sign him.
Szoboszlai could have more final third impact with a freer role (and perhaps that is what will be tried first) but there isn't much in his track record to suggest that he's capable of raising that part of his game to the necessary level.
Isak is contracted through 2028, Newcastle just got the green light to create as much phony associated party revenue as they want, they stand a very good chance of getting back into the CL, and they have other players to sell first if necessarily who will have substantial markets like Gordon and Bruno G.
Unless there is some informal release clause in Isak's contract saying that he can go for a fixed price, then Newcastle are either going to refuse to sell him or put a truly massive price on him.
Yeah hadn't thought of that but good point. Isak would be ideal and is the obvious choice, but I don't think we'll get him, seems too good to be true.
TAA looks like he might work well in Amorim's system.
Maybe we should target him when his contract runs out, in the summer.
Trent is integral to the long balls they play for the front three to attack. He has bad games in him for sure, but they score way more than they concede and as an attacking outlet they will miss him
Think Salah, TAA and VDV are all off. If something had been done it would've been announced. The owners at Liverpool have a clear model and it does not involved giving multi-year high salaried contracts to players outside their peak. TAA is the only one that fits, but he has clearly wound down his contract to the a fat Madrid signing on fee with the wages to boot. Alisson is the real interesting one. My guess is he does another year and him and the Georgian guy rotate next season between the PL and CL teams.
David Ornstein mentioned something about Liverpool being in for him in the summer.
He's too good for Newcastle, he's one of the best strikers in Europe. I don't see him still being with them next season either way.
If Liverpool are letting Salah go then they will almost certainly need to go for the closest possible thing to a guaranteed goal scorer as a replacement.
I hope I'm completely wrong but I think he will end up there.
We’ll see. People said Kane was too good for Spurs for years and years and he didn't go anywhere until he was 30. Newcastle have a brighter future than Spurs did at that time because of the owners have unlimited money.
I think Newcastle have a very strong hand unless there's something in Isak's contract that we dont know about.
Kane was from the academy and Spurs through and through, Isak's already had 4 clubs.