Firminio doesn't need to up his goal tally..
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You're out....
His account must be a lizard spybot, its posting the same stuff over, over, over and over again.
I think everyone is forgetting we have a goal a game striker in Origi
Plus Solanke to replace Firmino, behave
Plus Solanke to replace Firmino, behave
I think some people are missing the point a little. It's not about one player scoring all the goals - it's simply about quality in the right areas. We need more game-winners, and since goals win games, they're usually players who score goals. It's all very well spreading the goals throughout the team, but if the team is playing shit, you need players who can produce something a bit special to turn a game. Aside from Coutinho, we don't really have anyone who can do that with any consistency. Which puts more pressure on Coutinho to deliver, and results in him shooting from anywhere and everywhere when things are going badly.
If you look back at the only two times in the last decade that we've actually challenged for the league, we had Steven Gerrard and either Torres or Suarez tearing shit up. More quality means more threat, which in turn frees up space for the rest of the team. At the moment, you just have to shackle Coutinho and you can be fairly confident of getting a result against us. We have an excellent supporting cast, but we need more stars. If you put a Torres or a Suarez into this team, we'd be right up there. As it stands, we'll be fighting for top four again.
Having said all that, I like Firmino. He does shit like this, which makes me smile.
But he should be deployed as one of the prongs, supporting a prolific goal-scorer. Preferably someone who can produce something from nothing, since we created very little from Christmas onwards last year.
If you look back at the only two times in the last decade that we've actually challenged for the league, we had Steven Gerrard and either Torres or Suarez tearing shit up. More quality means more threat, which in turn frees up space for the rest of the team. At the moment, you just have to shackle Coutinho and you can be fairly confident of getting a result against us. We have an excellent supporting cast, but we need more stars. If you put a Torres or a Suarez into this team, we'd be right up there. As it stands, we'll be fighting for top four again.
Having said all that, I like Firmino. He does shit like this, which makes me smile.
But he should be deployed as one of the prongs, supporting a prolific goal-scorer. Preferably someone who can produce something from nothing, since we created very little from Christmas onwards last year.
Mane and Salah will both provide a bit of x-factor this season in addition to Coutinho.
But, yeah, it'd be great if we could find a prolific goalscorer to fit seamlessly into the side. But, honestly, what do you believe the chances of that are? And do you believe we will/should prioritise that player over other areas? Because the money we would pay would be eye-watering.
None more so than Jurgen Klopp himself
I like Salah and think he'll be a good signing, but he's vying for a position we already had pretty well covered. My main priorities this summer would have been a centre back and a prolific forward. I'm fully invested in the Klopp model, but you'd think from the way some people are talking that a prolific forward compromises the vision in some way. On the contrary - it makes it all the more achievable. Forwards are nearest the goal, so if we don't have one who poses a significant goal threat, then we make defenders' jobs easier from the outset. We basically rely too heavily on a team performance. And as we've seen, not everyone can play well all the time - it simply isn't sustainable, as evidenced by us running out of steam last year. That's why we need outstanding players in key areas who can prop the team up and get that little bit more out of the players around them. We don't have any outstanding defenders or forwards at the moment, which means that the midfield has to make up the shortfall. And it's not good enough to do that.
In all honesty, I don't think our chances of getting what we need are that good, but that's not because the players aren't out there - it's because I have no confidence in our scouting set up, or our ability to negotiate good deals. When Klopp came in, I thought he had a reputation for finding rough diamonds and polishing them up. I was looking forward to us being at the cutting edge of talent-finding, plucking players from obscurity before they had a breakthrough season and their prices shot through the roof. As it is, we seem to be arriving at the party a year or so late, when the opportunity has gone. Increasingly, it looks like Klopp's part in Dortmund's success was purely on the the polishing side. Which is why the idea of a proper DOF seems all the more appealing.
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Del has nailed it. We suffered from the same problem under Rodgers as well.
This team functions well when everyone or most are on point. We don't have enough match winners and that's why the ones we do have get burned out mentally and want to leave (well, the extra money and genuine chance at trophies helps too).
This team functions well when everyone or most are on point. We don't have enough match winners and that's why the ones we do have get burned out mentally and want to leave (well, the extra money and genuine chance at trophies helps too).
Did we? I don't think we had any cover for Mane at all, and it showed vividly when he was absent.
I'll read through the rest of your post and respond later!
No we didn't. Firstly when Mane was out for long periods last season we lost that threat from the wing entirely. Secondly we were playing Coutinho, Lallana, Firmino or Sturridge out wide to cover on one or sometimes both flanks. None of them are wide players and the acquisition of Salah now frees them up to play in their more natural positions and Coutinho especially to go central.
Actually I haven't seen a single person say that. What they have said is that this prolific CF needs to fit the Klopp profile / system otherwise we'd then be compromising our tactics. Other posters of course have agendas so deliberately misrepresent many comments (not pointing a finger at you at all) ! Personally I've said all along that a CB, CM and LB should be our priorities and 2/3 are not covered yet so I'm not happy. We have 4/5 players for one position in the centre and hopefully Sturridge can remain fit for most of the season for a change.
We didn't run out of steam, as our record over the last two months of the season proves. We hit a sticky patch for 2 months due to an horrendous injury list and AFCON.
More and more I find I'm agreeing with this and your DOF comment.
It's about priorities, though, isn't it? In an ideal world, I'd like a defensive midfielder, too, but it's unrealistic to think that we can solve all our problems in one transfer window, so we have to prioritise. Our forwards don't score enough goals and our defence is leaky as fuck. That's been patently obvious since Klopp arrived. Back up for Mane is a luxury when there are still gaping holes in the team. I'm all for strengthening the squad, but if that's the sum of our achievements at the end of this window, then we'll have categorically failed.
As for the chances being slim and the prices being eye-watering - tough luck! That's the business we're in.
Quite, I don't see how goalscorers are any rarer a commodity than a top defender or DM. Top class players are premium, unless you're smart, regardless of position. Moaning about prices and chances being small is neither here nor there, all of our competitors are investing big in talent, which is the point. It's exactly what we should be doing and it's something we repeatedly struggle with. We can't moan about a lack of talent and it being difficult to attract these players, when we repeatedly throw £20-30m around for players like Wijnaldum, Downing, Benteke, Lovren etc, clearly overpaying when we can and should be smarter at both ends of the market.
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You really think we don't score enough? We score plenty and last year more than the PL winners in the previous two seasons. It would be always great to score more, but as you say it's about priorities, and what needs addressing first. We need a decent midfielder to offer a little protection, plus a top notch CB.
Last season we scored the fourth most goals, and finished fourth.
That's not what I said - I said our forwards don't score enough goals. We score loads when we play well. We don't enough players to make the difference when we don't.
We might have won the league if we had something even close to being the top 4 defenses/goals conceded in the league though.
Also, we score lots of goals when we know how to break through a defence. A good few times against the shite we couldn't
We have no one who is even close to being described as 'clinical'. We need someone as the fulcrum who can take the half chances when we're struggling for that first goal
We have no one who is even close to being described as 'clinical'. We need someone as the fulcrum who can take the half chances when we're struggling for that first goal
Ok. I think Salah coming in and Mane not missing over a quarter of the season will help in terms of making a difference when we are labouring.
Last season our attack was as good as anybody's in the league. Other teams scored more than us but they also managed to not lose their their best two attackers to injuries for as long we did.
Put it this way, despite Spurs being able to put out their first choice attack more often than us, 5 teams managed a clean sheet against them whereas only 4 managed it against us. All those extra goals that Spurs managed to score compared to us didn't help them unlock more defenses.
Put it this way, despite Spurs being able to put out their first choice attack more often than us, 5 teams managed a clean sheet against them whereas only 4 managed it against us. All those extra goals that Spurs managed to score compared to us didn't help them unlock more defenses.
He is too expensive for back up for Firmino. Solanke and Studge should fill that space.
We will score the shit out of the others this season, but still end up in a discussion if Firmino scored enough. Lacazette scored around 26 goals this season, where 10 were pens. So Arsenal got themselves a reliable 20+ striker.
It ain't about how many we score., it's about who scores 'em. And they bloody must come from that number 9 guy, or they only count as half a goal. Or don't count at all. Or something.
It's not about scoring more goals. It's about having players who can break the deadlock when things aren't working. We need more quality, at both ends of the pitch.
I said the same thing last season and got hounded on. We lack enough players to create something out of nothing when we are struggling in a tight game. It happened far too often last season. Obviously we also are massively below what we need at the back too but that's a different debate
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