Lots of teams in transition and with Gungodan gone, KDB in decline, Silva and Mahrez possibly going there is an opportunity if we get the transfers right imo.
too many ifs there. reality gundogan gone and replacement is bought. city will be on 95 point. need to work towards that. reality, arsenal not in transition, they are in full on buy the league mode. no reason to beleive they will be any worse than 80 points min reality, man utd are not that good, nor that bad. are the 75 points good? we will see. As of now their team has not improved. reality; newcastle are not yet in buy the league mode. they have added a no 6, theres a lot of work to do there to keep their current 4th place even reality spurs are dross still. a new manager can only do so much. they won't be in a title race. reality: Chelsea - who the hell knows what happens next. they have a huge amount of work jsut to come together and their squad is badly balanced and bloated reality: LFC are 2 season into transition and need to see huge improvement up front form the players bought previously. a new midfield is now being built on top so thats a big ask. 2 weeks ago we were going in as you were with a new yuong 60mil attacking cm to fight for a place. As of now its a whole new midfield on day 1
We did in Mac and Szobo I guess. We probably do have more targets, but those targets may be 19/20 and not quite ready for first team atm. We may have a couple in that age range that keeping tabs on with view that in 1/2/3 years we’d make a move for them to replace fab. Fab going now means we have to look for someone more immediate etc. Have faith in our recruitment having good list of players but it’s getting that balance of someone ready now when you weren’t initially planning for that.
We tried all that with Tchumeani, never got him, so sulked for a year and are now not in the CL because we had a threadbare midfield that everyone knew needed strengthening LAST summer. We need to be more pragmatic - I'm sure we were in the past when we missed out on our number one targets.
Henderson was already replaced (not sure whether by AMA or Szoboszlai because I don't understand their positions yet, but one of them anyway) in light of what was to be the start of limited minutes for him, so his loss is already covered. It's Fabinho who we need to replace as his leaving wasn't anticipated either although he would surely have got good playing time, (legs dependent). So a new number 6 should be on the cards. The other four we lost, barely played and their minutes won't really be missed (even though their physical presence as part of the group may be). I think we need another midfielder and a CB and I'm expecting both.
But we haven’t missed out on targets? We’ve signed 2 of them which was perfect. The fab and Hendo ones have come out of no where (and haven’t actually left yet) so not sure anyone can complain we haven’t replaced them yet.
But we did last season. My point is that, basically, a bird in the hand and all that. No point having 19/20 year-old targets for the future if you just sit on your hands and cut your nose off to spite your face (I'm obviously mixing metaphors today) when you can't get them when you want them. We may have a target to replace Fab, for instance, but not until next season - tough, we need to go for that target now or buy somebody else. It's as if FSG sometimes wants the world to stop and wait for them to get their act together.
Our midfield, if we play a 3 (and really 3223 is still 3 cms) would be Fabinho (gone) Henderson (going?) Macallister, (new arrival) LCM: thiago (going?) Jones (22 and back form injury and did ok) RCM: Szoboszlai (new arrival) Elliott (20) No 6: Bajcetic (18 and injured) Morton (likely to be loaned anyway, also injured) On the face of it we had 9 options day 1 of preseason for 3 slots and were planning what do do with the kids. I even put a likely 3 starts first and then the 6 others. Fabinho didn't travel to germany so we can assume he is gone. Instantly there's a serious imbalance there that others cannot really cover. We see two yuong lads who are injured and really thats not sustainable. If we go nucelar on this we find just 6 left Bajcetic/ morton at 6 Macallister/Jones at LCM Szolobszlai/elliott at RCM. Now, I don't know about the rest of you but this would seem very very risky that we need to play 3 new CMS day 1 or 2 new plus a kid. Then all the back ups are kids really. for this reason i strongly suspect thiago will hang round for 12 months more. he is not nor should ever be considered a no 6 in a 433 imo but all this strongly suggests 3223. Alisson Konate VVD robertson Trent Thaigo Salah Szoboszlai macallister diaz Nunez/gakpo We could even go 4231 and borrow from the forwards to fit nunez and gakpo in Any way we cut it we seem to come back to the same issue. theres a gap somewhere to fill. RB? no 6? we need to buy one more player but are relying on the blood money actually coming in to afford it.
i should have said if we assume trent is the 6 from now on then rb? this is the thing, we need to put a way of playing together that gets the best out of everyone
Its almost like we need a person, for argument sake let’s call them a manager, to go watch the players train and implement ideas during a period of time where we aren’t playing any actual matches.
I think we’ll keep a 433 just be much more mobile (hopefully). LCM 1) Mac 2) Jones RCM 1) Szob 2) Elliott (though am not convinced with him here) DCM 1) ?? 2) Baj leaves Morton, Thiago as cover for all positions - the latter clearly doesn’t have the legs, the former needs bedding in but could be very good. Did I miss anyone?
Joel Matip can play in midfield, but we have never played him there before since he arrived at Anfield. He is also getting old. I don't know if he can be of any use in emergency
