Incredible achievement but it’s clear that wages are an issue. It would be criminal if we extend Ox, Naby, Bobby and Milner.
Firmino might. Tbf he hit some decent form early in season and still offers something different from the rest. Much cheaper to give him another couple years at reduced wages than buy another player. Especislly if he’s happy being 2nd choice behind Nunez. Lw - diaz gakpo cf - Nunez firmino Lw - Salah Jota 6 players for 3 positions seems right when Jota gakpo and diaz can cover a couple as well. If giving Bobby a new deal saves some money to invest in 2 new CM to replace ox Milner Keita then makes sense.
reduced wages mean nothing - he’ll still be on 100k a week, same as Milner is now. It’s a needless expense on our books now. bobby is inconsistent and injury prone now. His goals have masked his overall poor performances
strikers no 1 job. goals. (bar klopps excuses the rest of the football world applies this logic) We cannot win anything consistently relying on 3 front line strikers and at this point do not have The alvarez's of this world as a policy. We have changed Our playing staff from 3 30 year olds and 3 absolute ban average lads no body else wanted (shaqiri, minamino, origi) to now two 23 year olds, one 26 year old winger, 1 nearly 28 year old portugese player and 2 oaps. thats 6 players and we just have a couple 18 year olds rws. a 1 year deal for firmino would be ok but he is again injured when we really need him. we've actually got 4 forward injuries so he's not helping us AGAIN. the only argument should be that, wages are irrelevant.
https://www2.deloitte.com/uk/en/pag.../articles/deloitte-football-money-league.html this is the money league deloiite is publishing this is a temporary situation based on performance. Not all of the 22% rise is permeant. The projection deliotte have made in our case are just that as 21/22 numbers are not offically published yet.
So you’d rather lose him for free. Have to pay another 40-50m for another striker who is either first choice ahead of Nunez or back up to him as well as wages of 80-130k? Then not be able to sign the 2 central midfielders we need cos we had to buy yet another forward?
There's less risk extending Bobby than getting another player in his position. One of his last games before injury was another motm performance. Inconsistency isn't just relevant to him. Which of our current players are consistent?
1 year or nowt should be offer to firmino. a good sub option imo to get 30mins out of him and even shore up the side by dropping off into cm as a forward. but only if he's available.
yes - I would rather pay for another striker. because we need to reduce the age of the squad, and have more reliable players. Keeping bobby just blocks the pathway for someone else. Once we get diaz and Jota back, we will have plenty of options in attack including Doak so buying another attacker may not even be needed. Giving out stupid contracts is what has put us in this predicament now.
Everyone has been inconsistent but Bobby has regressed steadily since we won the CL. This is not new with him. As mentioned, his performances are not great and are just masked by goals scored. If scoring goals is the only thing that matters for him, then the likes of Ronaldo would still be at united, haaland would have made city number 1. Scoring goals is important but look at the impact on the rest of the team. Klopp said himself that he needs to be more ruthless now. We all love bobby but it’s time to go. The same can be said with others in the squad.
Still think midfield is far more urgent place to be spending 150m rather than 1 midfield and 1 forward personally.
oh I agree with you mate. Midfield is priority. I just feel we need to stop extending contracts - it’s time to be ruthless with certain players
We also have to make sure we have squad depth though, and experience does count. All we and good having a team of 21 year olds but that experienced head can offer so much to the group on and off the pitch. I agree giving out contracts to older players not deserving isn’t right and shouldn’t just extend cos a fan favourite. But also have to weigh up costs. If extending Bobby for another year or two allows us to invest that transfer money elsewhere then have for the squad its maybe a better thing to do.
the reality is this. until such time as fsg sell and some dictator with unl8mted funds arrives there is not cheslea style ffp dodge available. our squad it's the best squad but it's full of players, however..... to play 60 odd games and have a shot at success as a result you do need them. gk is OK but it's not going to be for long. (kellher will leave) rb is only alright, not great unless ramsay does something. lb is OK right now but nothing really coming up from youths. rcb. not great. matip is regressing lcb. times ticking no 6. not great fabinho is toast. rcm. Elliott is not one. we have too many oldies lcm. eyesore. thiag9 is alright for one more season if 2 others do all the work. lw. overloaded with options. diaz, carvalho, the two cfs. cf. 2 clear options in Jota and nunez rw. salah millstone. Elliott option. in light of this I am going to agree with BOTH points of view and say jimmy is right firmino should go but that ibwt is also right that we must spend on cm first. if we get 2 cms and bajcetic can come through all we end up with after that is a rapidly regressing salah and cb eyesore inbound. the work never stops, but we've made our bed upfront now and need to work with those 6. midfield next then look at more cb development. our academy isn't exactly working well. we are signing OK but not developing young lads. rw doak. bought rw Gordon. bought. lcm/lw clark. bought. the best options we have in underage currently is Harvey Davies and jarel quansah. the rest like beck etc, we'll. I just don't see it.
seriously think it would be a great slice of luck if some Saudi team offered us £40-30m for him in the summer
on contract renewals ox never got a renewal did he? keita hasn't. thaigo hasnt Henderson did Jones did fabinho I think did? milner did (and performed fine for a limited minutes steady hand, wages are just an excuse) salah has after months of some fans demanding it and some including those on here thinking that he wasn't worth it after Christmas 2021. I think most wanted it though. I don't see this current state of affairs as being purely down to contract renewals, I think there's just too many unreliable players and players regressing yes Henderson was given too long. yes we kept both milner AND Henderson but equally ox and keita are massive issues. up front the picture is different now as 2 seasons ago we were staring at 3 30 somethings and now we are looking at a whole new set up. I think firmino can go if we like if we have any faith in kid as no 6 forward and fitness of the others.
