I’ve said numerous times that we invested in defence couple years ago with tsimikas and Konate. invested in forward line with Jota diaz Nunez and we were clewrly waiting to then invest in midfiekd this year. now with hindsight looks bad decision as midfield has fallen off a cliff but I think going into season given how we finished last year and the plan was clewrly to wait for Bellingham that made sense as thought coukd geg by with midfield we had plus Elliott carvahlo. Now the signing of gakpo obbiously came out of no where and we all thought was silly given we needed midfiekd. but then announcement that Bobby is leaving and that’s clearly a replacement so made sense to do it early
My point is merely to agree with you that some of the commentary is shortsighted. We have spent what the club has to spend. Thats not on klopp or linders shoulders; thats on FSG's shoulders. they have burdened the club with stadium and training ground debt, never ever seeking to take that away despite it being clearly outside FFP. they refuse to let any spend outside that available as revenue. About 50mil this season. (ignoring singing on fees and agents fees) Thats got us gakpo and nunez and carvalho and ramsay. all meeting the myhtical player profile we seek. We offset by selling mane, minamino, grujic, williams and davies. About 50mil last season getting us diaz and konate and that was also offset by selling wilson, awoniyi and shaqiri about 60mil the prior season which was heavily affected by covid, getting us jota, thaigo and tsimikas, we only could sell Lovren and jaria that year. The reality check here is that there is no magic 200mil coming to buy who we like. The reality check is the club have been unable to off load certain players like keita, ox, phillips and origi due to the wages they were on and injury profile they had/have. We don't have the sales to make up the gap between 50 and 200mil unless someone comes in and offers mad money. What I see there is a recruitment team INCLUDING klopp living within the constraints they have and knowing full well that they can't lose the old folks as well. money was shovelled wrongly at milner and henderson (we all can agree i'm sure) to stave off their departure and bridge to some form of deal or other. hindsight is indeed wonderful. The fact is LFC were going to be down to firmino and salah and jota once mane made his thought clear. We moved for diaz, we've looked at origi and minamino and replaced with nunez and gakpo etc. its patently obvious if LFC bough midfielder that we would have been playing a 4-5-1 formation for most of this season given how jota's injuries have developed, diaz got injured etc. Same for the defence. Everyone demands cb and lb and some demnd an RB constantly. Yet there they are and still oh you did a shiut job you forge tthe next bit. There is not the money to go round and the risk adverse nature of FSG and the recuritment team means we are not in the market for macallister or caicedo before they are blindingly obviously good enough. Start thinking 50mil before we sell. Then add up he bits and bobs we can sell and not worry about. Its a lot easier than expecting bellingham and getting disappointed. the good news is that if the club can get back into the CL and can pay down the stands then that money will grow to 80mil a season as a budget.
Darwin and gakpo may be in the age range but they are clearly different to the type of player we normally recruit for those positions. How can you not see that?
Ps I’m not disputing the konate / diaz signings - I just wish we did more of them. But there was a clear change in strategy and who was influencing it. Im sorry MITO but you must trust me.
pace. development. value. they can increase in value. fsg box ticked they are young enough to pay and work like we want. box ticked. they have pace. box ticked. I'd have contended jota is the diametrically opposite if anything but again, presses like mad if fit ever and suits the age at the time bought. no value though. minamino never ever ever suited klopps game but was bought. carvalho is the same. both bought as appreciating assets. I don't see a massive strategy shift here. I see a compromised process due to not having the cash/ asset to sell to fund the full team. we've done what we can imo. if certain bad actors want to swan off and then throw shade to justify their decisions the rest of the club can't really get involved. the fact ward and Edwards won't get as good a job again and mane and others have found the grass is not greener elsewhere just kind of shows how the whole package together is what's worked for us.
Teams have to develop though. Constantly playing the same tactics unless you are just far superior then you’ll soon get found out. Pep had to adapt his city team to stay on top and has done that.
firmino has a **** ton of flaws to his game. always had. no pace. not a great goal scorer. terrible pen or free taker. he's a legend. now that's cos klopp got the very best out of him. he sees potential and value in gakpo mane, the lad had the pace and work rate but my god he is a terrible shot and takes 4 to score. he's a legend. klopp loved him at dortmund and had to have him and we got him cos utd bottled it and he was going relatively cheap. klopps seen the same work rate and pace in diaz. he is a different player, a dribbler. same sotry for nunez. he's a flawed player but again he works like a trojan. he's got a **** touch but tonnes of pace and effort. it's this simple, as said above suarez to balotelli to firmino looked lunacy at the time but klopp loved firmino for his strengths not his flaws. we either trust klopp or come out straight and say sack him. fairly simple!
The only signing I have to question is Gapko. Not because of his age or anything but his skill set compared to Bobby’s and how Bobby was used to help his forwards around him. Gapko isn't a Bobby style player
Not many around like Bobby though. Hard to find someone play that role to same ability so rather than try shoehorn in a lesser quality player, seem like just trying to change things slightly n
4 teams below us. 3 have spent some or most of that time in the Championship and Palace who are well known to be on a tight budget
