Liverpool 2024-25 | Most definitely winning the League Cup on Sunday

Starting to sound like Van Dijk might be off as well. Letting him go is madness imo. He's the most irreplaceable of the three.

Next season will be when we'll see a real rebuild start under Slot. Already looks unlikely we'll be close to a title for the next couple of years but I suppose it's hard to call without seeing what the squad looks like at the beginning of next season.
 
Crazy to me that we're this close to Salah and van Dijk's contract expiring and nobody knows what's going on. Only reason we know about Alexander-Arnold is because the Madrid press can't hold their piss.
 
Klopper76 said:
Starting to sound like Van Dijk might be off as well. Letting him go is madness imo. He's the most irreplaceable of the three.

Next season will be when we'll see a real rebuild start under Slot. Already looks unlikely we'll be close to a title for the next couple of years but I suppose it's hard to call without seeing what the squad looks like at the beginning of next season.
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Absolutely agree, not jsut as a defender, but in terms of calm demenour, of brains on evry line that this Liverpool needs like water in the desert.

Of course there are no hundreds of Salahs either, and the forward market is hard nowdays to find intelligent forwards, but it can be quite a problem the transtition till some great forward is found without having the backline with such a huge presence helping. More when if Liverpool wins the league, they'l be a more calm scenario to foudn more reliable attacking solutions. I guess also that Trent can help a lot more in terms of money that can be obtain to revamp the offensive line.
 
Fobal said:
Absolutely agree, not jsut as a defender, but in terms of calm demenour, of brains on evry line that this Liverpool needs like water in the desert.

Of course there are no hundreds of Salahs either, and the forward market is hard nowdays to find intelligent forwards, but it can be quite a problem the transtition till some great forward is found without having the backline with such a huge presence helping. More when if Liverpool wins the league, they'l be a more calm scenario to foudn more reliable attacking solutions. I guess also that Trent can help a lot more in terms of money that can be obtain to revamp the offensive line.
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Trent is leaving on a free and I don't think his wage was that high either so I don't think they will be obtaining any money to help rebuild their forward line. It does seem as though Diaz and Nunez are available and they will hope to raise enough from those sales to sign a new forward but I would imagine there is still some amoritization left on the Nunez transfer and he surely won't move for anything close to what they paid for him.
 
Klopper76 said:
Starting to sound like Van Dijk might be off as well. Letting him go is madness imo. He's the most irreplaceable of the three.

Next season will be when we'll see a real rebuild start under Slot. Already looks unlikely we'll be close to a title for the next couple of years but I suppose it's hard to call without seeing what the squad looks like at the beginning of next season.
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I don't think you'd have won it this year if literally any other team had shown up.

You've been the best side in the league, but being on course for a 92 point season is insanely flattering.
 
Gandalf said:
Trent is leaving on a free and I don't think his wage was that high either so I don't think they will be obtaining any money to help rebuild their forward line. It does seem as though Diaz and Nunez are available and they will hope to raise enough from those sales to sign a new forward but I would imagine there is still some amoritization left on the Nunez transfer and he surely won't move for anything close to what they paid for him.
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That's freaking bad.
 
Klopper76 said:
Starting to sound like Van Dijk might be off as well. Letting him go is madness imo. He's the most irreplaceable of the three.

Next season will be when we'll see a real rebuild start under Slot. Already looks unlikely we'll be close to a title for the next couple of years but I suppose it's hard to call without seeing what the squad looks like at the beginning of next season.
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Yeah that's bizarre. Especially when CB's age quite gracefully generally compared to other positions, no reason to think he'll have a big drop off any time soon.
 
Alex99 said:
I don't think you'd have won it this year if literally any other team had shown up.

You've been the best side in the league, but being on course for a 92 point season is insanely flattering.
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I mean it depends who you're referring to. Arsenal finishing on 90+ points isn't a normal season for them. Last year they were incredible. City...sure but they can't keep finishing on 90+ points every year. It's not normal. I think we've been 90+ point good this season overall. Competitive in every single game, even when we've started slow or had a poor first half. Even when we had 10 men for 75 minutes against Fulham and went behind twice, we still drew and could've/should've won. In games where we've been below par (United at home, Everton away), we've still managed to score twice and remain in the games. Look at goals scored, chances created, chances conceded etc. and we're either top or close to top for all of them.

I think people sometimes make the mistake of thinking games are only 45 minutes long when analyzing 24/25 Liverpool. They see us having a shaky or slow first half and assume that's it, we got lucky. This ignores that games are 90 minutes and having a good 45 minutes against Liverpool this season doesn't mean you're winning the match.

We won the league in August-early December. Very strong defensively (giving the opposition very little in terms of quality chances, something we struggled with under Klopp last season) which allowed us to win games with lower scores (a lot of 2-1's and a couple of 1-0's. The Villa game at Anfield is a perfect example of the control Slot's side had in the first third of the season. From the beginning of the second half through to Salah making it 2-0 around 80 minutes in, Villa hardly had a chance or the ball.

Once that lead was established, it required someone else to go on an insane run to keep up.
 
Klopper76 said:
Starting to sound like Van Dijk might be off as well. Letting him go is madness imo. He's the most irreplaceable of the three.

Next season will be when we'll see a real rebuild start under Slot. Already looks unlikely we'll be close to a title for the next couple of years but I suppose it's hard to call without seeing what the squad looks like at the beginning of next season.
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I'd say Salah is. He is incredible, and if you take him out of that front three, it suddenly looks a bit ordinary. I really don't rate Diaz and Nunez very highly, and even though Jota is a good player, he seems to be a bit unreliable when it comes to fitness. Finding a player that scores and assists at the same rate of Salah will be really tough.
 
Klopper76 said:
Paul Joyce put out a quote from Van Dijk today saying no one knows where his future lies. Or something to that effect.
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Sigh.

Could be a crazy summer if all three of them leave when we already need a new lb, striker (arguably two) and back up cb.
 
Mike Smalling said:
I'd say Salah is. He is incredible, and if you take him out of that front three, it suddenly looks a bit ordinary. I really don't rate Diaz and Nunez very highly, and even though Jota is a good player, he seems to be a bit unreliable when it comes to fitness. Finding a player that scores and assists at the same rate of Salah will be really tough.
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Salah was excellent for the first half of the season. Hasn't been all that since and barely got a sniff across 210 mins against a proper team. He's been the best player in a pretty average league this season.
 
erikcred said:
Salah was excellent for the first half of the season. Hasn't been all that since and barely got a sniff across 210 mins against a proper team. He's been the best player in a pretty average league this season.
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He's the runaway leader in both goals and assists. Doesn't matter how average the league is (which I don't even think is true), he puts out great numbers compared to everyone else, and he does it pretty much every year. He's also a year younger than VVD and clearly in great shape.

If I was a Liverpool fan, I'd choose to keep Salah over VVD if I could.
 
Mike Smalling said:
He's the runaway leader in both goals and assists. Doesn't matter how average the league is (which I don't even think is true), he puts out great numbers compared to everyone else, and he does it pretty much every year. He's also a year younger than VVD and clearly in great shape.

If I was a Liverpool fan, I'd choose to keep Salah over VVD if I could.
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The thing with that for me is that Salah's goals and assists can be replaced if the right signings are made. You can spread his output between two attackers (maybe with better output than Diaz, Jota and Nunez).

Van Dijk isn't replaceable. His defensive ability, leadership, passing ability, all of it. CB's as good as he is aren't common any more. Imo we should be doing everything we can to keep him.
 
Klopper76 said:
I mean it depends who you're referring to. Arsenal finishing on 90+ points isn't a normal season for them. Last year they were incredible. City...sure but they can't keep finishing on 90+ points every year. It's not normal. I think we've been 90+ point good this season overall. Competitive in every single game, even when we've started slow or had a poor first half. Even when we had 10 men for 75 minutes against Fulham and went behind twice, we still drew and could've/should've won. In games where we've been below par (United at home, Everton away), we've still managed to score twice and remain in the games. Look at goals scored, chances created, chances conceded etc. and we're either top or close to top for all of them.

I think people sometimes make the mistake of thinking games are only 45 minutes long when analyzing 24/25 Liverpool. They see us having a shaky or slow first half and assume that's it, we got lucky. This ignores that games are 90 minutes and having a good 45 minutes against Liverpool this season doesn't mean you're winning the match.

We won the league in August-early December. Very strong defensively (giving the opposition very little in terms of quality chances, something we struggled with under Klopp last season) which allowed us to win games with lower scores (a lot of 2-1's and a couple of 1-0's. The Villa game at Anfield is a perfect example of the control Slot's side had in the first third of the season. From the beginning of the second half through to Salah making it 2-0 around 80 minutes in, Villa hardly had a chance or the ball.

Once that lead was established, it required someone else to go on an insane run to keep up.
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I just don't think you're actually that strong. You're getting through games and winning most of them, but there are a lot of not particularly convincing performances in there (what you see as competitive, I'm seeing as limping to results). You've won a lot of points through penalties and late (sometimes very late) goals. "Mark of champions" and all that, but it's not that convincing.

It's not even so much the lack of direct title rival, but I think it speaks volumes about the quality of the league this season that Forest are in the hunt for top four, Chelsea and City have actually been quite crap for the majority of the season and are still very much in the mix, and Brighton and Bournemouth are in the hunt.

At this stage last season, 55 points would have you 6th, 9 points off 3rd. Arsenal are sat on that now, 4 points clear of 3rd and 8 clear of 5th. 44 points was 15 points shy of 4th, and this season it's 5 points.

Simply put, you're on course for 92 points, but are nowhere near as good as you were in 21/22, for example, when you also finished on 92 points.
 
Klopper76 said:
The thing with that for me is that Salah's goals and assists can be replaced if the right signings are made. You can spread his output between two attackers (maybe with better output than Diaz, Jota and Nunez).

Van Dijk isn't replaceable. His defensive ability, leadership, passing ability, all of it. CB's as good as he is aren't common any more. Imo we should be doing everything we can to keep him.
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And experience in the team. He knows Pool from top to bottom.

Liverpool can build a new defensive line, yet it's better for me to build the team again from the back, than doing it the other way around.
 
Alex99 said:
I just don't think you're actually that strong. You're getting through games and winning most of them, but there are a lot of not particularly convincing performances in there (what you see as competitive, I'm seeing as limping to results). You've won a lot of points through penalties and late (sometimes very late) goals. "Mark of champions" and all that, but it's not that convincing.

It's not even so much the lack of direct title rival, but I think it speaks volumes about the quality of the league this season that Forest are in the hunt for top four, Chelsea and City have actually been quite crap for the majority of the season and are still very much in the mix, and Brighton and Bournemouth are in the hunt.

At this stage last season, 55 points would have you 6th, 9 points off 3rd. Arsenal are sat on that now, 4 points clear of 3rd and 8 clear of 5th. 44 points was 15 points shy of 4th, and this season it's 5 points.

Simply put, you're on course for 92 points, but are nowhere near as good as you were in 21/22, for example, when you also finished on 92 points.
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Can you provide examples of games where you think we're getting through them (winning) and not really convincing? I'd expect in a lot of those you'd still see us out in front in terms of chance creation. Wolves at home and Palace away stick out as wins where we weren't great.

I agree that 21/22 Liverpool was better than this one. Klopp got a lot out of the whole squad (not just 15/16 players). Players like Minamino, Origi, Milner, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Tsimikas making at least 25 appearances. Our attacking quality has dropped off from Firmino/Mane. Players like Jota and Diaz are fine when complimenting Salah, Mane & Firmino. When it's just Salah, it is more of an issue. We saw that last night when we played a very good European side.
 
Really hope they do make the mistake of letting both go. They'd need to get their recruitment bang on just to stay in the top four if they do, whilst keeping them on for another season and they could grab another title.
 
Klopper76 said:
Next season will be when we'll see a real rebuild start under Slot. Already looks unlikely we'll be close to a title for the next couple of years but I suppose it's hard to call without seeing what the squad looks like at the beginning of next season.
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This is the key part I think. Next season will be interesting to see who can pull ahead.

City are in transition, United are wherever we are and if Liverpool lose the 3 players, then the rebuild is going to be tough.
I wonder if Arsenal or Chelsea will fancy their chances or if we’re going to have a season like the one when Leicester won..
 
Klopper76 said:
Can you provide examples of games where you think we're getting through them (winning) and not really convincing? I'd expect in a lot of those you'd still see us out in front in terms of chance creation. Wolves at home and Palace away stick out as wins where we weren't great.

I agree that 21/22 Liverpool was better than this one. Klopp got a lot out of the whole squad (not just 15/16 players). Players like Minamino, Origi, Milner, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Tsimikas making at least 25 appearances. Our attacking quality has dropped off from Firmino/Mane. Players like Jota and Diaz are fine when complimenting Salah, Mane & Firmino. When it's just Salah, it is more of an issue. We saw that last night when we played a very good European side.
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Admittedly, it's more of a general feeling. Seems like every other week you're behind or drawing, then suddenly you've got a penalty or scored a couple of late goals.

You said in the previous post that 90 points isn't a normal season for Arsenal, which is true, but Arsenal in either of the previous two seasons are getting there in this one.

You'll be worthy winners, but it's more being the only side that turned up than this being a particularly amazing side, which is what I feel you'd generally expect a 90+ point team to be.
 
iKnowNothing said:
This is the key part I think. Next season will be interesting to see who can pull ahead.

City are in transition, United are wherever we are and if Liverpool lose the 3 players, then the rebuild is going to be tough.
I wonder if Arsenal or Chelsea will fancy their chances or if we’re going to have a season like the one when Leicester won..
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I think if Arsenal get a striker and a midfielder to replace Partey (and don't lose anyone major), they're favorites.
 
LordSpud said:
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
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When he was out for a period last season and Bradley was in, they scored plenty without having a liability at full back.

So I disagree that they would miss him over the period of a season
 
RobinLFC said:
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.
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I don't miss the point at all. I just don't have an opinion that you like so you try to discredit me.
 
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