not sure about that long mate but we have 17 league games between now and the January window plus 1 league cup game and 6 CL games. Its actually shocking how packed in the season is to give this bollocks of a world cup time in the middle. January is a long time off without reinforcements but i think Klopp will have to move then. I think you are right about now. Klopps said what he has said so we don't REALLY know how long players are out for, only the club knows it really. Jones sounds like something more serious to me (stress injur could be shins for example) Ox is obviously out for a long time and little loss Kieta WILL be out again soon but for now he is an option. thiago is at least 4/6 weeks. That leaves. milner. long list of injuries in past 3 seasons. Henderson - long list of injuries in past 3 seasons Fabinho... guess what. at least 1 muscle pull per season. Elliott - kid. I think we will be going to 4231 sooner than the preseason developments hint at. Carvalho/firmino behind nunez with salah and diaz side. I'm going to be watching Palace game with interest to see where ketia plays from cos i think we might narrow the midifeld with henderson and thaigo and play naby lad advanced as a quasi 10 pressing up.
Ahh ... the infamous midfield conundrum... Currently, Fabinho is the only mainstay IMO. Quality DM but also durable. Thiago is the next best however unfortunately, he's just too injury prone. I know everyone does not like Naby but he is the next best - you only have to look at the records when we have either Naby or Thiago alongside Fabinho and we pretty much win most matches. He's not the all action midfielder he once was but he brings balance, Elliot is one for the future in the RCM role. Jones - I do like him but I just don't know how he fits into this midfield. Milner - with Konate out, he will now need to be the RB back up for the time being. He is most likely leaving next summer as well. And our good friend Henderson - in my eyes, he's just not good enough for that RCM. He's not good defensively any more, he doesn't have the legs and he does not have the composure to contribute to the attack. We need to evolve this RCM because it really our weak point. Hendo should rotate with Fab as the 6 IMO. We need at least 2 new midfielders.
I think we've all agree in an ideal world. Its a pity klopp doesn't work like that (sometimes) 2 sounds like a good number to me. we have 8. thats more than enough, the issue is 2/3 are not up to it now (not next season)
The odd thing for me is we were obviously in for Tchouameni and it seems the Bellingham interest is there but feel that was always a next year buy if it was to happen. It seems we had no back up option to Tchouameni. After it was announced he is off to Madrid then the stories of Ox staying emerged.
Not a huge surprise. We seem to have a much more targeted approach. If we don’t get who we want, we’ll wait and reassess or go for them next window if they didn’t move. Much better than uniteds scattergun approach tbh
Who knows what opportunities arise. I would have said that last January til spurs tried to steal Diaz.
Obviously, there are examples where we've done it in the past such as Diaz and VVD but it's a rarity and only happens when forced. We won't be looking to sign anyone in January
no, nowhere near those two. never will be. but theres nothing to say he can't improve to a wijnaldum level.
This is the point......Curtis isn't a dynamic goalscoring midfielder and can't be compared to Foden or Mount. But a Gini type midfielder?.........quite possible. I think maybe even playing the DM role is a possibility in the future.
If he keep hogging the ball like windy did and maybe learned to run in a circle with the ball 5 times before passing to someone 2 yards away he would be there or thereabouts. Seriously though Jones came up as a quasi LW/10 in the youths and used to take frees and all sorts so moving back to 6 would be a fairly radical change. He needs to make himself a no 8 here. He just hasn't the pace for anything else. Bajcetic moving from CB to no 6 as a youth coming in is an eye opener. he certinly made himself a name as a new hot prospect just by his passing and moving. SO far form the finsihed article though