Squad stretched?

[mark1975]

Can we really cope with losing a couple of players? We've got a couple of injuries already, Lallana and Henderson are just back from injury and are likely to suffer again, Ings is injured again, Klavan now too and VVD is only just getting back to match fitness.

We've basically got Solanke as back up to the front line, while the midfield's sole creativity is resting on Lallana (who's often injured) and AOC, who's not exactly reliable or consistent.

Going into two legged CL ties, sandwiching Premiership games, we're going to have to juggle the squad even more, which is nearly impossible in attack when we play a front three and we only really have three players to fill those slots. We can, at a push play Solanke, but it's sacrificing some level of reliability and ability. He's struggled so far and looks some way off the standard. An injury to Salah or Firmino and we're fucked.

Similarly at the back, Klavan is now out, Moreno is a near impossible last resort pick but at some point Robertson will need resting (and Milner is already bolstering midfield), so we're really crossing everything and hoping that nothing breaks.

How the fuck have we ended up in this situation? Suddenly the Grujic and Sturridge loan moves don't look too clever.

 

[kingjulian]

Don't worry...we will be knocked out the CL pronto and we don't have to worry about this problem anymore.

 

[SummerOnions]

Enter the Woodburn

 

[mark1975]

Enter the Woodburn

I was going to post pretty much the same thing, he deserves a go. I don't know why he seems to have disappeared of late, has he been injured?

 

[SummerOnions]

I was going to post pretty much the same thing, he deserves a go. I don't know why he seems to have disappeared of late, has he been injured?

He tackled Lallana in training and Lallana pulled all his hair out so he needed a transplant

 

[Oncy]

Erm excuse me, we have like 140m in the bank.
I don't understand the issue?

 

[Woland]

How the fuck have we ended up in this situation?

Since Klopp arrived we've sold 25 players and bought 14. We've also loaned out a couple of pretty decent players this season.

So we're an entire first team lighter than we were.

All hail our lizard overlords..

 

[RedStar]

Its certainly odd that we allowed both Sturridge and Origi to go out on loan this season leaving us with just Ings and Solanke as backup. Id rather Ings and Solanke went on loan and we kept Sturridge and Origi.

As it stands we just dont have any depth in the attacking positions, and its entirely self imposed, an injury or suspension to Salah or Mane would leave us very vulnerable.

 

[mark1975]

I completely forgot about Origi, he would have been a better option this season than Sturridge, Ings and Solanke. For all his flaws, I'd wager he'd have scored more than they have managed combined.

 

[Buddha]

Anyone know how long Ings is out for?

 

[Buddha]

Anyone know how long Ings is out for?

(I know Ings can only get better, just wondering how long it'll take)

 

[mwake]

We aren't stretched as such, got lots of midfielders especially. But what I don't like about the midfielders we have is that they are all the same...no diversity... selling Coutinho didn't help that.

 

[jon545660]

Anyone know how long Ings is out for?

He isn't out. He's available for tomorrow.

 

[mark1975]

We aren't stretched as such, got lots of midfielders especially. But what I don't like about the midfielders we have is that they are all the same...no diversity... selling Coutinho didn't help that.

Yeah, we've got two players per position in midfield, but it's much of a muchness, they've got about 10 goals a season between the 6 of them.

 

[Frogfish]

Can we really cope with losing a couple of players? We've got a couple of injuries already, Lallana and Henderson are just back from injury and are likely to suffer again, Ings is injured again, Klavan now too and VVD is only just getting back to match fitness.

We've basically got Solanke as back up to the front line, while the midfield's sole creativity is resting on Lallana (who's often injured) and AOC, who's not exactly reliable or consistent.

Going into two legged CL ties, sandwiching Premiership games, we're going to have to juggle the squad even more, which is nearly impossible in attack when we play a front three and we only really have three players to fill those slots. We can, at a push play Solanke, but it's sacrificing some level of reliability and ability. He's struggled so far and looks some way off the standard. An injury to Salah or Firmino and we're fucked.

Similarly at the back, Klavan is now out, Moreno is a near impossible last resort pick but at some point Robertson will need resting (and Milner is already bolstering midfield), so we're really crossing everything and hoping that nothing breaks.

How the fuck have we ended up in this situation? Suddenly the Grujic and Sturridge loan moves don't look too clever.

Klavan is back in the squad today. Is Ings injured ? First I've heard. Why are Lallana and Henderson likely to suffer again ? Moreno has actually had a good season up to now so (although I want him gone) he's not exactly that bad a last resort. Most of that is a strawman argument to be honest. That said I do agree we lack depth but then we started the season that way.

Agree with this though 'An injury to Salah or Firmino and we're fucked'.

 

[Insignificance]

Klavan is back in the squad today. Is Ings injured ? First I've heard. Why are Lallana and Henderson likely to suffer again ? Moreno has actually had a good season up to now so (although I want him gone) he's not exactly that bad a last resort. Most of that is a strawman argument to be honest. That said I do agree we lack depth but then we started the season that way.

Agree with this though 'An injury to Salah or Firmino and we're fucked'.

Not need an injury Even. Slight drop in form for either is worrying.

 

[mark1975]

How's it a straw man arguement? Lallana, Henderson and Ings have been unavailable a lot this season, none of them can be relied on for the rest of the season.

 

[Frogfish]

How's it a straw man arguement? Lallana, Henderson and Ings have been unavailable a lot this season, none of them can be relied on for the rest of the season.

Because you are using something which has not and may not come to pass as the whole basis for your argument and claiming they can not be relied on. And yet only 12 PL games remain.
I would be a little surprised, and it would be very unlucky, if either Lallana or Ings were to succumb to injury again this season, though obviously there is a greater chance of that happening with Hendo.

 

[hmmmmm1]

Loosing a world class player is always going to make us weaker. The problem is amplified when the back up players are a combination of milner, ox, lallana. Can they step up is another question, as it's been salah who has bailed us out of late.

 

[Rafiagra]

An injury to one of our front three has a high chance of derailing our season.

 

[moron]

I actually think we are looking at it too deeply - take the front three - if say Salah was injured then I actually believe Mane would step up - and his movement would be accros the front. The midfield is another proposition - as long as the young ones stay healthy nothing would change that much. The problem would be for us if we relied on Milner to play for the full match. I am a big fan of Milner because I think he is the coolest headed of all our midfield and has more game intelligence than all the other midfielders put together. The problem with our midfield is not really injuries and who replaces who - but rather consistency from game to game, and not giving up the fight. I would worry from a defensive point of view if Robertson got injured and we had to rely on Moreno for a number of games (although he has been very good this season).

 

[StevieM]

It's, buts, maybes... the squad is good enough and big enough to secure 2nd place.

 

[6TimesaRed]

Erm excuse me, we have like 140m in the bank.
I don't understand the issue?

No we don't.. Its Banked for the New Annie Road end... And we will probably end up with a negative net spend again in the summer..

 

[Ryan]

I think Lallana’s key. People are forgetting how good a footballer he is in my view.

He covers 4 or 5 positions across midfield and up front, and provides something we don’t have right now.

If he can get back fit, then it’ll massively help.

Mind you, nothing covers the loss of Salah or Firmino if either of them go down injured.

 

[Brizzle]

The beauty of having world class players is that there are few players who can emulate what they do. We are fortunate to have the likes of Salah & Firmino who are amongst the best in the world at their roles, but that also means we would struggle to replace them. As mentioned, I think Mane would hugely step up if deployed on the right again meaning we could plug Ox, Lallana, Ings, Woodburn into the left slot. If we lost Firmino I think we'd just play a more fluid front line and move one of Mane or Salah through the middle and do like above and move someone else to the left.

I agree with the points that those we are hoping would replace are either coming back from injuries or not lacking match sharpness.

 

[hmmmmm1]

Can Banana stay fit. He looked more threatening ins his 20 minutes cameo than ox has been for the last few games put together.

 

[jan]

His toes though

 

[doctor_mac]

Can Banana stay fun.

It's a question that needs answering.

 

[mark1975]

I think Lallana’s key. People are forgetting how good a footballer he is in my view.

He covers 4 or 5 positions across midfield and up front, and provides something we don’t have right now.

If he can get back fit, then it’ll massively help.

Mind you, nothing covers the loss of Salah or Firmino if either of them go down injured.

He was really good when he came on yesterday, he's key really because he's the only link across the midfield who will quickly turn defense into attack and who will make those late runs off the ball, bursting into the box. He should have scored yesterday but it was a reminder that he can and will get into those positions and will make things happen.

 

[manwithnoname]

He was really good when he came on yesterday, he's key really because he's the only link across the midfield who will quickly turn defense into attack and who will make those late runs off the ball, bursting into the box. He should have scored yesterday but it was a reminder that he can and will get into those positions and will make things happen.

What he doesn't usually "make happen" is score goals, though. He's got 17 league goals for Liverpool in 4 years, which isn't a great total for an attacking player