Igrači koje bi gledao u LFC i rasprava o momčadi

[gento]

Zaboravio si našeg najboljeg igrača.

Salah/Jota                        Diaz/Carvalho
                  Nunez/Firmino

Tu je i Gordon, a i Elliott pa i Jones mogu na desno, odnosno lijevo krilo. Po meni smo oke brojčano. Recimo da je tu 5 jakih opcija (Salah, Diaz, Nunez, Jota i Firmino) i dvije mlade (Carvalho i Gordon).

[treiler]

Joyce i ekipa su rekli da Klopp namjerava Carvalha koristiti na krilu, a dugorocnije u sredini. Diaz (jota, nunez, carvalho) nunez (jota firmino) salah (jota elliott diaz). Mislim, svaka cast maneu na ovoj polusezoni na devetki, ali dvije sezone nas je ubijao u pojam igrajuci krilo. Sto se tice minamina i origija, origija skoro pa nismo ni koristili, a ovu rolu minamina ce preuzeti vjerojatno firmino.

[luigi]

Zaboravio si našeg najboljeg igrača.

Salah/Jota                        Diaz/Carvalho
                  Nunez/Firmino

Tu je i Gordon, a i Elliott pa i Jones mogu na desno, odnosno lijevo krilo. Po meni smo oke brojčano. Recimo da je tu 5 jakih opcija (Salah, Diaz, Nunez, Jota i Firmino) i dvije mlade (Carvalho i Gordon).

A nisam, on mi se podrazumijeva za tu centralnu poziciju, a vise sam se na krilne referisao, gdje cu MVP zaboraviti.

Nista, onda je do mene. Nadajmo se da nece biti povreda.

[Lasko]

Ne mislite li da dolaskom Nuneza idemo na 4-2-3-1 (makar u ovim "lakšim" utakmicama?). Zapravo ne kažem samo radi Nuneza, Carvalho je klasična polušpica, a i Elliott je više lijeva polušpica nego nekav centralni veznjak ili krilni igrač.

Thiago i Fabinho da duplom pivotu, Henderson i Keita isto mogu odigrati.

[mashaka]

Ne mislite li da dolaskom Nuneza idemo na 4-2-3-1 (makar u ovim "lakšim" utakmicama?). Zapravo ne kažem samo radi Nuneza, Carvalho je klasična polušpica, a i Elliott je više lijeva polušpica nego nekav centralni veznjak ili krilni igrač.

Thiago i Fabinho da duplom pivotu, Henderson i Keita isto mogu odigrati.

                                       Alisson

           Arnold     Konate      Van Dijk    Robertson


                               Fabinho        Thiago

 
           Salah                    Firmino              Diaz


                                        Darwin


Bobby nakon 7 godina na svojoj prirodnoj poziciji 

[graba1926]

Bobby

ma ko ti je taj? Carvalho je već u prvoj momčadi 

[Lasko]

                                       Alisson

           Arnold     Konate      Van Dijk    Robertson


                               Fabinho        Thiago

 
           Salah                    Firmino              Diaz


                                        Darwin


Bobby nakon 7 godina na svojoj prirodnoj poziciji 

Da. A zamjene se isto lijepo poklapaju:


-----------------------------Kelleher---------------------------------

Milner-----------Gomez---------------Matip--------------Tsimikas


------------------Keita-------------Henderson--------------------

Elliott---------------------Carvalho------------------------Jones

-----------------------------Jota-------------------------------------

[Luis Garcai]

Da. A zamjene se isto lijepo poklapaju

Kako? Sreca pa iduce sezone imamo 5 izmjena pa ce se moci vise rotirati, ali vezi treba bolji igrac od Hendersona i Keite, a o desnom beku da ne govorim.

Carvalho je nedokazan, od Elliotta ocekujes iskorak, kao i od Jonesa. O Joti sam vec dovoljno rekao. Valjda digne formu.

Fali vamo jos 2 ozbiljna igraca.

[luigi]

Ramsay ce biti back up desno

[mashaka]

Mislim da je ova iduća sezona krajnje vrijeme za malo jači iskorak Elliota i Jonesa. Ako naprave to, onda nam i ne treba vezni ove sezone. Također očekujem i boljeg Diaza u završnici nakon šta se odrade pripreme. Od Carvalha nemam neka velika očekivanja s obzirom da je tek došao, ali tko zna možda iznenadi i pokaže se da već sad može. Po meni smo okej pokriveni, imamo 4 odlična stopera, dva prava lijeva beka, 5 kvalitetnih napadačkih opcija, malo veza šteka ovako na prvi pogled, ali kažem ako Elliot i Jones napreduju onda to neće biti problem. Više manje znamo šta možemo očekivat od Keite, Fabinha, Thiaga i Hende.

[Luis Garcai]

Ramsay ce biti back up desno

Ako ga dovedu. Posto Aberdeen trazi 10 miliona za klinca. Sto naravno ne zelimo platit.

[luigi]

Ako ga dovedu. Posto Aberdeen trazi 10 miliona za klinca. Sto naravno ne zelimo platit.

Ma pustit ce ga. Ide tu za bonuse i uspjehe kluba par bonusa

[gento]

The next evolution of Klopp's Liverpool

(click to show/hide)

I feel I have finally talked it into existence. This might actually be the season Liverpool properly commit to 4-2-4 variant.

Jurgen Klopp has flirted with this idea since the 2017/18 season. He would roll it out for a few matches and then revert back to the traditional 4-3-3. There’s a feature here from late 2017 following the win over West Ham that takes a look at the shape.

We’ve used it briefly in the following campaigns, including a stint while bedding Fabinho into the team.

Now I know that a formation is just a rough template for where players will line up when a team is defending and that this Liverpool team is daily fluid when going forward so everything is pretty interchangeable so you shouldn’t really get too hung up on it all. But if the plan is to move to a proper two-man midfield, it means more attackers and perhaps a subtle change to the dynamic to the forward line. This opens up an array of options.

Why now?

Most of the arrivals all joined from teams playing with two in midfield.

Southampton flip-flopped between 4-4-2 and 4-2-3-1 in the season prior to Sadio Mane’s move to Anfield. Roma played a variety of systems in Mohamed Salah’s final season with the club but they generally deployed a midfield two. Fabinho was part of a two at Monaco, as was Naby Keita at RB Leipzig and Thiago at Bayern Munich. Even Roberto Firmino at Hoffenheim and Diogo Jota at Wolves played in front of a midfield two. Luis Diaz joined from Porto having played on the left of a 4-4-2 in Portugal.

If reports are believed, Aurelien Tchouameni was a top target for Liverpool and the Reds are also keeping tabs on Ibrahim Sangare as an alternative. Both play as part of a midfield two.

Not long ago, Melissa Reddy said Liverpool have been looking at Darwin Nunez. The Portuguese side used a 4-4-1-1 shape a lot this season.

Signings and targets all seem to have either played in a two or been part of a team that utilised a midfield two.

We’ve also seen Liverpool use a double-pivot this season, even when the starting formation is 4-3-3. Thiago and Fabinho would drop deep during the build-up phase while the right-sided central midfielder would push on. At times, we’ve even had Naby Keita playing as a second striker.

Klopp has been much more liberal with his 4-2-4 usage following the arrival of Diaz, too. Instead of it being a final ten-minute thing, the German tactician has been going with four attackers with 30 minutes left to play. It is not out of desperation. He has used it to not just find a winner but also in games he is looking to see out. We know the former BVB boss is a meticulous planner so this will have been worked on.

The foundations are there for a permanent switch.

You also have to consider the future of this team.

Sadio Mane is set to leave. If the club don’t meet Mohamed Salah’s wage demands, he is likely going to leave next summer. We don’t know whether Diaz can hit 15+ for the Reds yet and we don’t really know what Jota is like as a centre-forward in the same team as the Colombia international. We didn’t really get chance to see it.

The original front three of Salah, Mane and Firmino were good for a minimum of 45 Premier League goals between them. We don’t have a baseline for Diaz, Jota and Salah as a trio, but the club might feel as though adding a fourth attacker into the mix guarantees enough goals to remove the potential risk, if that makes sense.

We aren’t just talking about the short-term either. If Salah leaves, Liverpool might struggle to find another 20-goal per season right-winger. If you preempt this by alleviating some of the reliance on him while he is still here, the transition is a lot more seamless. That might be something to consider during this particular transfer window. We aren’t just buying for the now but for the next five-year cycle, perhaps.

An additional centre-forward shouldn’t be a target man, but he should be more of a traditional No9. Brutish, decent with their back to goal and a genuine threat. Let them almost be a backboard for the other three to play off, but all over the final third.

Klopp’s attacking options all have experience with that sort of forward.[/i]

Sam McGuire

Do Liverpool need to sign another midfielder?

Liverpool went into this summer transfer window wanting to bolster their midfield options. Paul Joyce mentioned Aurelien Tchouameni in an article before the 2021/22 campaign had even come to a close, there were also links to Porto maestro Vitinha and PSV powerhouse Ibrahim Sangare.

The Reds were reportedly in the race to sign Monaco’s French midfielder but refused to get into the bidding war fuelled by Real Madrid and PSG’s involvement.

There was a feeling that Liverpool would quickly pivot onto their next target in order to get business done sooner rather than later. They did, it just so happens that the next target on their list was a centre-forward and not a midfielder.

In his latest article, Joyce has now suggested the club might wait untl next summer to bring in midfield reinforcements. Given he’s been on the money with everything else, you can assume this is more than just an opinion. Heads have fallen off on social media.

I’ve seen some claim the Reds won’t challenge for the title without a new midfielder. Some have queried Julian Ward’s decision making, too. Did he put all his eggs into the Tchouameni basket? Why aren’t there alternatives? Why is it the club were prepared to part with big money to bring in the France international but now they feel as though no additions are needed?

You get the picture, there are a lot of reactionary comments to this latest article.

We know that Liverpool don’t sign players for the sake of it. They may have only wanted Tchouameni in the same way they only wanted Virgil Van Dijk. Sometimes they have alternatives, sometimes they don’t because, well, there aren’t any. I struggled to find players who could replicate what the 22-year-old did.

Granted, I don’t have the same resources as those at the club and I am not close to their level, but I genuinely had real difficulty finding players with the Frenchman’s ability and potential. Some, like Matheus Nunes and Kouadio Kone did certain things well, but not everything.

So maybe Ward and the rest of the recruitment team feel as though it isn’t the right market for them at the minute. Maybe, after another 12 months, others will have developed and they’ll be a much better fit. Maybe Jude Bellingham will actually be for sale next summer.

Another thing to ponder is whether the team are looking to evolve next season.

The additions of Nunez and Fabio Carvalho mean Liverpool now have six first-team attackers. I know we’re potentially losing Takumi Minamino but he was rarely part of the rotation cycle and was used almost exclusively in cup competition. On paper we have fewer numbers - with the Reds adding two to their ranks having lost three in Divock Origi, Sadio Mane and Miniamino - but you could argue that the quality and suitability has improved.

Jurgen Klopp was a lot more open to using 4-2-4 in the latter half of the campaign following the addition of Luis Diaz and I do think he might be willing to use it - or a variation of it - on a more regular basis next season.

If that is the plan then this opens up even more possibilities for the German tactician. For example, if there are four goal threats instead of just three, you can field the like of Curtis Jones and Harvey Elliott in the forward line.

That sounds like a bit of a contradiction but it is true. Hear me out.

In a front three, you cannot really accommodate a Jones or an Elliott - both of whom are more creators than they are goalscorers. Our 4-3-3 works on the premise that the inside forwards are the goal threats. Add a creator there without adding a threat elsewhere and the balance is off.

Now, there are going to be at least two goal threats in a front four so you can make it work with two players who aren’t necessarily ruthless goal machines. As long as the balance is right.

It immediately means Liverpool have the depth in attack to cover playing a front four.

They wouldn’t be short in midfield either. In Jordan Henderson, Thiago, Fabinho, Naby Keita and James Milner, Klopp has five options for his double pivot. Some are better than others in that role but there are five senior players there who can play there. You could also add Jones into the mix if you’re pushed for a body.

Is it ideal? Probably not. But you can kind of understand why a midfield addition might now be on the back-burner. Even if we stick to a three, there are enough numbers there to justify not bringing in one for the sake of it.

The point is there are reasons why Liverpool might be reluctant to now bring in a midfielder. It is not the end of the world if they don’t.


Transfers, negotiations and patience

 
We aren’t necessarily privy to this sort of information but I get the impression the likes of Football Manager and FIFA have skewed how people view transfer negotiations. I’m talking about this now because I’ve seen a few online getting a bit nervous now that there is talk that a midfielder won’t be on the agenda for Liverpool this summer.

I imagine that they’re basing this on two things.

Firstly, Paul Joyce said a new midfielder is now likely in 2023. Secondly, all of the links seem to have dried up following Aurelien Tchouameni’s decision to move to Real Madrid. Prior to the 2021/22 campaign ending, the Reds were linked with the Frenchman, Vitinha and Ibrahim Sangare, to name but a few.

But why would Liverpool advertise the fact they’re in the market for a midfielder? The reliable journalists rarely mention names until something is far along, and the fact Joyce specifically used the word ‘likely’ gives him wiggle room if anything does change. If a midfield arrival was definitely off of the table, the Joyce article would’ve been much more emphatic. So something might be going on in the background, but it isn’t an overnight thing.

Talks between clubs can go on for months because everything is a negotiation point.

You often hear about how payment terms and structure needs to be finalised. That is not as simple as saying something like we’ll pay you on the first of the month. Some have loan repayments and prefer money hitting their accounts on a specific day. Some clubs may want payments to be delayed for reasons we’ll never know or understand. All of this impacts cash flow and dictates what you can and cannot do in the market.

It is a tedious exchange between two clubs looking to come out of this as the winners. A selling club, for example, will want more upfront. If they can’t get that, they want more over a longer period.

Take the Diogo Jota deal. It was reported that Liverpool paid more for the versatile forward than Wolves had initially wanted, but they did they to get a favourable structure. I believe it was James Pearce who reported the Reds paid just £4million up front for the one-time Atletico Madrid attacker and the rest would be paid over his five-year deal with the club.

If we’re to believe Portuguese reports, the Reds parted with a large chunk of the £64million to bring in Darwin Nunez. So Liverpool might’ve talked Benfica down from a larger fee but in return, they had to pay more of it upfront. I think this might actually be the case because one of the clauses is tied to appearances.

According to Sport Witness, the Eagles are due £5million after Nunez has appeared in 10 matches. On paper, that seems a bit silly, why not just agree to that in the upfront package because we’ll be paying that in September or October anyway?

Well, it is just a way to delay, isn’t it? It gives Liverpool an opportunity to recoup some money from player sales before another £5million leaves their account. In the short term, that money can be used as a downpayment for another player - say a Calvin Ramsay.

The Reds might be seeing what they bring in from player sales and the structures of those deals before they make a move for another midfielder. If the deals are favourable and more money is paid upfront, they might be able to put together a decent package to convince a certain club to sell a certain midfielder one year yearly. I’m just thinking out loud here but if you want to tempt BVB to sell Jude Bellingham, you need to be able to stump up.

It might be a game of patience right now to see what can be brought in from sales because, ultimately, there is not an unlimited amount of money and Liverpool need to be in a strong bargaining position. The best way to do that is to be armed with cash.

I went off on a bit of a tangent there, but the point is deals are rarely straightforward - often beyond what we can even imagine -  and negotiations can, and regularly are, be drawn out. We don’t know what is going on in the background but we’re only on June 16 and international fixtures have only just finished. I wouldn’t be flapping just yet.

EDIT

Paul Joyce has just tweeted to say that Calvin Ramsey is set to be the last piece of business Liverpool do this summer and that the club are prepared to wait until 2023 to add a new midfielder.

I do think he's chosen his words carefully, there. If you read it properly, it is not an emphatic statement. 

Sam McGuire => https://www.patreon.com/sammcguire/posts

[gento]

I ovi pišu da bi mogli preći na 4231/442:

[jon_snow]

Mislim da ostajemo na 4-3-3 kao startnoj,4-4-2 ce biti jedino kad lovimo rezultat.