We all agree our squad is thin, unbalanced and more than a bit to average. Our players dont compliment each other and over all its just a bit dodgy. We have a few players with star potential. Sturridge, Coutinho, Can and Sakhho, and apart from there current exhaustion from being over played I quite like our full backs. Henderson is our most rounded all round player but lacks creativity. Ings and Origi are getting there, but are injured. And all that is ruined by injuries and exhaustion because our fitness and depth is so poor. Look at the rest and what do we have? Mignolet sloppy, as is Bogdan. Lovren sloppy, Skrtel clumsy and uncomplimentary to our style. Lallana and Firmino have the potential, but we are not seeing it at all. Lucas and Milner are just a bit slow. Ibe, Gomez and Origi show great potential, but are they ready yet? To pick a team all I think we can look at is balance and style, because if you look at quality you will just cry. I can fortunately think up a team that is balanced and I like. But w cannot use it because of injuries, and then it is still not brilliant. Mignolet Clyne Lovren Skrtel Moreno Henderson Can Ibe------------------Coutinho Sturridge Ings In our current bunch it almost looks like it is not even worth trying as our players just dont match.
We are actually weak in almost every position so it's quite difficult to second guess what Klopp will do first. I'm certain he'll look at defence as he builds teams from the back but he can't ignite the midfield or lack of goals either.
In a January window it depends on who is available. Berahino and Subotic seem like realistic, but potentially pricey targets Matip is possible but we may have to wait until the summer. Can they be value for money? Will they improve us?
we have zero creativity in the middle bar couts strikers need to be supplied with balls in order for us to score goals and win games. i would say sturridge is our most important player when fit without him we look toothless upfront
Honestly I don't know if we do have a 11 to rely on for Klopp yet. I think Gerrez is largely right that Klopp will buy to build a spine to his team first that he can rely on. It's like this.... do you faff around with flair players and full backs when you cannot rely on the basics of not getting beat. The only difference between lfc and Utd is Utd did actually have that base. De gea and Smalling and Carrick etc. As we stand today I don't think klopp can hand on heart rely on a single one of our lot. Not can... Nope Hes young and needs coaching for a number of elements to his game... time needed here. He's not the guy in the next 6 months Not sahko.. his decisions can be rash. He's on his ass to much and likes to run up the pitch chasing the ball... and he gets injured a lot.... our best cb though... give him someone to mind him and you can work with his 100% effort Not Mingolet. . We all know that. Not henderson, he's a work horse with a bad heel now. (Ferguson is laughing) he could be a guy who will never get back to his best. Not lucas, despite his grit he's not doing enough barring his own Renaissance which is great but he's not the guy Not coutinho, he flits in and out and is a flair type that needs the others. Not sturridge, he's a crock or worse a hypochondriac Not benteke as he needs total faith and is a confidence player who needs others to lift him too. Clyne, Moreno etc are wider players so not the spine but can be important once it is in place. So it comes to this.... can Klopp produce a list of 4/5 guys he's either worked with before or scouted intensively before that he could say yes I can rely on him.... or at worse a few guys he can work on like lewandowski was for 4mil...... First step for me would be an element of a reliable spine but we cannot ignore the next step which is pace and balance = wingers. So far Klopp has talked about fight, effort, application and his players gave failed to deliver it so if that basic isn't there... they go and new guys come in. Klopp needs 3 players this month to deliver a European place from league.... 6th.... I hope he can scrape by stoke in league cup
We do have a strong XI. Problem is that it contains an injury prone striker. migs Clyne Lovren Sakho Moreno Can Hendo Origi Firmino Coutinho Sturridge I would use Origi or Ibe in that forward 3 role because we need pace in that trio and someone to stay out of the central area to give Firmino more space. It's actually a good team and the midfield protects Lovren to some extent so the defence isn't too bad. We need to buy a GK, RCB, CM and a striker - without Sturridge, our attack is useless. Without a decent partner next to Can, our defence is exposed.
Dont think that's strong. That's just about top 6 if that. Origi is not an Rw for exampleasure and coutinho aint a lw so it's all narrow and lacks that threat. There's zero way they stay out-of central area. In short leaving the obvious argument out you've had to shoehorn to come up with a team. You have named 4 positions and none fix the wide areas... that would then be 6. If we need 6 players it can't be called strong. Im of the view we need the spine and some width to the attack.
Oh yeah agreed it's not great but it should be enough to be challenging for top 4 given how **** the league is this year. Keep Sturridge fit and we walk top4.
Below would be my strongest team minus areas that need immediate improvement. A CB to partner Sakho, a proper wide player on the left to alow Coutinho to be a proper number 10 and not just stay wide left and cut in to shoot as usual, and obviously a CF for Sturridge who is always injured, but I've shoved him there anyway. Mig Clyne X Sakho Moreno Hendo Can Firmino Coutinho X Sturridge
Dunno... big club expectation maybe cos frankly most of these players could be at oh I dunno palace and not be cream of the crop. What's the difference between dann at palace and ANY of our cbs... none. And that can go on and on. Let's be frank. Arsenal are top cos they bought cech, ozil and sanchez over 3 years and have continued their policy of development. City have bought everyone in but have a real quality front 4 that makes them top 4. Tottenham have bought well too. They poached Alderweireld and kept kane and eriksen and loris... real quality. Everton have 4 or 5 very good lads so why are they down where they are???? Lfc have a new manager, poch was very average last year as he took time to get his way into the players but you can see the results. Everton and Utd by contrast have had the time but haven't really kicked on. To judge Klopp on his own cannot be done until next September..... But our team itself... There's very very few that might imo be called top 4 players or players who set us apart as a team to compete for it. Henderson is a work horse but the signs are bad right now there. Coutinho flatters to deceive. .. constantly up and down and capable of more... far more. After than can is young and needs tactical development. Sahko is a bit of a wild man who needs to mature still. He thinks get better than he is in other words. The rest? Top half... No point even mentioning sturridge.
I often find people have difficulty understand the difference between challenging and achieving, much the same for opinion vs fact In my opinion we should be challenging for top four but the fact is we won't
I meant about the league being ****. Why is it ****? Because the usual suspects are not topping the bill? how does that make it ****?
Ah, fair enough. I don't think the league is ****, I think its great. The quality of the top teams is lacking somewhat but that's not a bad thing unless you happen to support one of them Leicester and Watford doing so well is great imo, as is Chelsea being so poor (although they looked to have turned the corner now). No different to previous recent seasons though, our top teams have been lacking for some time hence our European shambles.
