Transfer Rumours 21/22

[mark1975]

Christ you're all a massive bunch of fannies.

Really? While I'm not exactly throwing in the towel, our lack of spending is a massive worry, when you look over the last 3 transfer windows. We have a very good team, but our lack of depth is pretty much always hanging over us. It's disconcerting seeing how strong United and Chelsea have quickly become.

While we are never really going to spend hugely every year, it's frightening how much we have stood still (squad wise) since winning the CL. In that short space of time Chelsea have improved beyond us and United have probably the best strike force in the league, arguably one of the best in Europe.

Mane still looks short of what he was, Bobby the same, so while we can be pretty potent, it only takes a lean spell from two of the front three for us to begin to look clueless and short on options again. Origi and Minamino aren't providing us with any kind of reliable, threatening depth. The front three or four is what we have to fight across all fronts.

It's an issue, and no amount of banking on having injured players back, securing the services of existing players and lack of noise from Klopp, will disguise the fact that for a side that's won the CL and league in the last few seasons, we're acting like we haven't got a pot to piss in. Regardless of Covid, the business model or stadium/contract investment, it doesn't add up and we're one barren spell away from serious questions rightly being asked.

No offense, but I get the impression you'd still be calling us fannies when this shite continues and Klopp walks.

 

[Mystic]

Really? While I'm not exactly throwing in the towel, our lack of spending is a massive worry. When you factor in the last 3 transfer windows. We have a very good team, but our lack of depth is pretty much always hanging over us. It's disconcerting seeing how strong United and Chelsea have quickly become.

While we are never really going to spend hugely every year, it's frightening how much we have stood still (squad wise) since winning the CL. In that short space of time Chelsea have improved beyond us and United have probably the best strike force in the league, arguably one of the best in Europe.

Mane still looks short of what he was, Bobby the same, so while we can be pretty potent, it only takes a lean spell from two of the front three for us to begin to look clueless and short on options again. Origi and Minamino aren't providing us with any kind of reliable, threatening depth. The front three or four is what we have to fight across all fronts.

It's an issue, and no amount of banking on having injured players back, securing the services or existing players and lack of noise from Klopp, will disguise the fact that for a side that's won the CL and league in the last few seasons, we're acting like we haven't got a pot to piss in. Regardless of Covid, the business model or stadium/contract investment, it doesn't add up and we're one barren spell away from serious questions rightly being asked.

No offense, but I get the impression you'd still be calling us fannies when this shite continues and Klopp walks.

United and Chelsea haven't surpassed us, they've had strong windows and made what looks like solid signings i'm not arguing that, but they've proved nothing yet. This is the attitude that gets me, everyones looking at the other teams like everythings going to go perfectly, and looking at us as if everythings going to go wrong, it's ridiculously negative. Who says Sancho sets United on fire? He's playing under a manager just as restrictive as Southgate for England, where he offered absolutely nothing and was benched by Saka. Who's to say Ronaldo is gonna transform United? He arguably made Juventus worse. Same for Lukaku, he was completely redundant on Sunday, yet apparently it's a given he's a beast that'll ruin the premier league.

I'm not saying those guys won't be good, Lukaku clearly will be, but it's weird how you guys are all sure Mane or Firmino won't regain their form, yet it's a given that all these signings hit the ground running and transform their respective teams. We know our team is very very good, it's the strongest starting eleven in the league for me, and whilst I'm not dismissing that one more attacker would make me feel a bit more comfortable with our depth, to say the team hasn't improved or that it's stood still since we won the Champions League is tripe. We've lost Gini, Lovren, Lallana and Shaqiri, but in return have signed or blooded in Konate, Tsmikas, Thiago, Elliot, Jones, Minamino and Jota, thats more depth in every department, and arguably more quality.

No offence taken, but the reason I'm calling people fannies is because there's about 10 posts of people calling for our owners heads just because they haven't satisfied their latest football manager itch, and because they're calling out every doomsday scenario on our squad without affording our rivals the same luxury.

 

[Red Bird]

I'm baffled to why Klopp seemingly does not trust some players yet we keep them on the roster? Mané by most accounts stank the place up on Saturday; he (and Henderson who was subbed) kept turning over possession yet Minamino or Oxlade-Chamberlain were not even given a chance.

 

[Frogfish]

........No doubt that the other clubs have had a better window than us, its not even close. But they still have to incorporate these new players into a starting eleven and make it work on the pitch.
People seem to think that every new signing that other clubs make will immediately improve them.......

And of course for sure some of those new players that United/Chelsea/City have just brought in won't work out, though personally I'm hoping they'll be utter failures.

 

[The Nomad]

United and Chelsea haven't surpassed us, they've had strong windows and made what looks like solid signings i'm not arguing that, but they've proved nothing yet. This is the attitude that gets me, everyones looking at the other teams like everythings going to go perfectly, and looking at us as if everythings going to go wrong, it's ridiculously negative. Who says Sancho sets United on fire? He's playing under a manager just as restrictive as Southgate for England, where he offered absolutely nothing and was benched by Saka. Who's to say Ronaldo is gonna transform United? He arguably made Juventus worse. Same for Lukaku, he was completely redundant on Sunday, yet apparently it's a given he's a beast that'll ruin the premier league.

I'm not saying those guys won't be good, Lukaku clearly will be, but it's weird how you guys are all sure Mane or Firmino won't regain their form, yet it's a given that all these signings hit the ground running and transform their respective teams. We know our team is very very good, it's the strongest starting eleven in the league for me, and whilst I'm not dismissing that one more attacker would make me feel a bit more comfortable with our depth, to say the team hasn't improved or that it's stood still since we won the Champions League is tripe. We've lost Gini, Lovren, Lallana and Shaqiri, but in return have signed or blooded in Konate, Tsmikas, Thiago, Elliot, Jones, Minamino and Jota, thats more depth in every department, and arguably more quality.

No offence taken, but the reason I'm calling people fannies is because there's about 10 posts of people calling for our owners heads just because they haven't satisfied their latest football manager itch, and because they're calling out every doomsday scenario on our squad without affording our rivals the same luxury.

Squad wise. They have surpassed us.

First XI wise we are about on par.

But it's all about opinions.

 

[peekay]

Sorry, we ain't falling for this again.

 

[tomasjj]

Sorry, we ain't falling for this again.

Flmao

 

[Tinto]

Squad wise. They have surpassed us.

First XI wise we are about on par.

But it's all about opinions.

Yeah, but don't think any team beats our strength in-depth at centre back.

@Mystic is right too in that we have a better squad now than when we won the CL and the title.

We had nobody as good as Jota up front, no back up for Robbo, and we're stronger at centre back as already mentioned. Plus we had no passer as good as Thiago.

The worry is due to the way Bobby and Mane have been playing, we're not as good up front but the same can be said for City.

They may have scored 10 against Norwich and Arsenal but they failed to break down Spurs and Leicester. If you include the CL final, that's 3 competitive matches in a row in which they failed to score. That wouldn't have happened to the City team of a couple of years back.

 

[binomial]

205 pages of meaningless shite

Delete thread

 

[Dreambeliever]

Our glaring weakness is our form falls off a cliff when Salah doesnt play.

We have zero depth up top. None. Klopp looked at his bench on Saturday, saw 2 attacking players and brought on a fullback.

Every single one of our rivals is stacked in attack. We're not. It's not controversial or petulant to say that we're going in to the season same as last year; vastly underprepared in one part of the field

Yep hated how we beat Barca away 3-0 with Salah but then lost 4-0 at home when he was out in the CL………

 

[Frogfish]

Yep hated how we beat Barca away 3-0 with Salah but then lost 4-0 at home when he was out in the CL………

This is making my head spin.


*It could be a deliberate transposition but ... it's Dreamy.

 

[tomasjj]

Yeah, but don't think any team beats our strength in-depth at centre back.

@Mystic is right too in that we have a better squad now than when we won the CL and the title.

We had nobody as good as Jota up front, no back up for Robbo, and we're stronger at centre back as already mentioned. Plus we had no passer as good as Thiago.

The worry is due to the way Bobby and Mane have been playing, we're not as good up front but the same can be said for City.

They may have scored 10 against Norwich and Arsenal but they failed to break down Spurs and Leicester. If you include the CL final, that's 3 competitive matches in a row in which they failed to score. That wouldn't have happened to the City team of a couple of years back.

I agree that our squad is quite strong, our first 11 tops.

Only two real weaknesses to sort out. 1) We are lacking quality in the middle. 2) We lack the heir to Bobby.

The first is due to Thiago, Keita and Ox all not being of the quality required/contributing properly with regularity.
Also, Hendo and Milner are getting older, and Gini not being replaced. A player like Bissouma would do well, as he can also cover for Fabs, who is now undroppable.

The second we haven't really had a proper go at I think. None of our other players can be a false nine/playmaking forward and link play like Bobby.
There is a reason he plays even when out of form. Our team needs a player like him. I imagine this is why Klopp was interested in Havertz. Instead we got Jota, who is great, but more similar to our wide forwards in style.

 

[Fabio]

Yep hated how we beat Barca away 3-0 with Salah but then lost 4-0 at home when he was out in the CL………

And now we've got rid of gini and Shaq, without having adequate replacements.

 

[tombrown]

And now we've got rid of gini and Shaq, without having adequate replacements.

Yeah, but we kept Origi who was the real star of that show

 

[Woland]

Our glaring weakness is our form falls off a cliff when Salah doesnt play.

We have zero depth up top. None. Klopp looked at his bench on Saturday, saw 2 attacking players and brought on a fullback.

Every single one of our rivals is stacked in attack. We're not. It's not controversial or petulant to say that we're going in to the season same as last year; vastly underprepared in one part of the field

Didn't he drop Salah for minamino last year and we won 7-0?

 

[MomoWASright]

And now we've got rid of gini and Shaq, without having adequate replacements.

They’re shit.

 

[Hyena]

Sorry, we ain't falling for this again.

Being "interested in" players is our superpower. We probably have a Vice-President of Interest just for it.

 

[dmishra]

Neil Jones, who's been quite good at the insider stuff ever since he moved to Goal, has an interesting article today:

Mentions that players on our midfield shortlist were Ward-Prowse, Sabitzer (and presumably Neuhaus and McGinn).

And players on our attackers shortlist were Bowen, Ismaila Sarr and Harvey Barnes.


Now I expect that most of these players would have been unattainable without a cash outlay of 40+ million and we simply did not have that money available. Worth noting that two of our big sales (Grujic - 10.5 million and Wilson - 12 million) are both loans for the 1st year and I don't think we get significant cash till next year.

Next year, I would believe that Ward-Prowse (too old), Sabitzer (signed for Bayern, and too old anyway) and Barnes (signed new contract) will be off the list.

I expect the midfield shortlist to include Neuhaus and players like Gravenberch, Tchouameni, Kessie, Barella (in case he doesn't sign a new contract).

And I expect the attackers shortlist to include Sarr, Bowen and also players like Jonathan David, Doku, Moussa Diaby, Darwin Nunez, En-Nesyri, Gouiri.

I expect we'd also like to get involved if some major opportunity arises - like say if Lautaro Martinez fails to agree to a new contract at Inter.

Next summer will be interesting. Think FSG won't have an option but to buy at least 2 players.

 

[Dreambeliever]

And now we've got rid of gini and Shaq, without having adequate replacements.

Elliot and Jota

 

[Dreambeliever]

This is making my head spin.


*It could be a deliberate transposition but ... it's Dreamy.

Shit my cover is blown!

 

[Donavan Ried]

Yeah, but don't think any team beats our strength in-depth at centre back.

@Mystic is right too in that we have a better squad now than when we won the CL and the title.

We had nobody as good as Jota up front, no back up for Robbo, and we're stronger at centre back as already mentioned. Plus we had no passer as good as Thiago.

The worry is due to the way Bobby and Mane have been playing, we're not as good up front but the same can be said for City.

They may have scored 10 against Norwich and Arsenal but they failed to break down Spurs and Leicester. If you include the CL final, that's 3 competitive matches in a row in which they failed to score. That wouldn't have happened to the City team of a couple of years back.

In fairness Origi was playing well then *CL*

 

[Mystic]

I agree that our squad is quite strong, our first 11 tops.

Only two real weaknesses to sort out. 1) We are lacking quality in the middle. 2) We lack the heir to Bobby.

The first is due to Thiago, Keita and Ox all not being of the quality required/contributing properly with regularity.
Also, Hendo and Milner are getting older, and Gini not being replaced. A player like Bissouma would do well, as he can also cover for Fabs, who is now undroppable.

The second we haven't really had a proper go at I think. None of our other players can be a false nine/playmaking forward and link play like Bobby.
There is a reason he plays even when out of form. Our team needs a player like him. I imagine this is why Klopp was interested in Havertz. Instead we got Jota, who is great, but more similar to our wide forwards in style.

This is a very fair assessment.

 

[Mystic]

And now we've got rid of gini and Shaq, without having adequate replacements.

Thiago was Ginis replacement, he should have been an upgrade, I'm expecting much more from him this season. Shaq clearly being replaced by Elliot, seeing as Shaq played both on the middle right and right wing, which is the two positions I expect to see Elliot play this season. Huge gamble on a youngster, but it's one I'm happy we've taken.

 

[Donavan Ried]

Neil Jones, who's been quite good at the insider stuff ever since he moved to Goal, has an interesting article today:

Mentions that players on our midfield shortlist were Ward-Prowse, Sabitzer (and presumably Neuhaus and McGinn).

And players on our attackers shortlist were Bowen, Ismaila Sarr and Harvey Barnes.


Now I expect that most of these players would have been unattainable without a cash outlay of 40+ million and we simply did not have that money available. Worth noting that two of our big sales (Grujic - 10.5 million and Wilson - 12 million) are both loans for the 1st year and I don't think we get significant cash till next year.

Next year, I would believe that Ward-Prowse (too old), Sabitzer (signed for Bayern, and too old anyway) and Barnes (signed new contract) will be off the list.

I expect the midfield shortlist to include Neuhaus and players like Gravenberch, Tchouameni, Kessie, Barella (in case he doesn't sign a new contract).

And I expect the attackers shortlist to include Sarr, Bowen and also players like Jonathan David, Doku, Moussa Diaby, Darwin Nunez, En-Nesyri, Gouiri.

I expect we'd also like to get involved if some major opportunity arises - like say if Lautaro Martinez fails to agree to a new contract at Inter.

Next summer will be interesting. Think FSG won't have an option but to buy at least 2 players.

What no Dominik Szoboszlai..??

 

[binomial]

In fairness Origi was playing well then *CL*

Origi is shit.

He's played about 10 good games in 200 FFS, even Ngog managed that.

 

[The Nomad]

Origi is shit.

He's played about 10 good games in 200 FFS, even Ngog managed that.

Remind me of the memorable goals Ngog scored?

 

[LeTallecWiz]

Remind me of the memorable goals Ngog scored?

I can think of one, and remember it more because of REina's celebration!

 

[binomial]

Remind me of the memorable goals Ngog scored?

Utd to make it 2-0 when Reina ran the length on the pitch to celebrate.

But it's really besides the point which were memorable and which weren't, fact remains 90% of the time he's been here he's remained either as a bench option or not in the squad...not becuase he's injured or suspended but because he's shit.

Fact remains we've been trying to offload him to anyone that would pay a decent fee for the past 3 seasons and no one's come forth tells you what you need to know... Wolves rejected him, Valencia rejected him...Wolfsburg didn't want him back.

 

[Donavan Ried]

Origi is shit.

He's played about 10 good games in 200 FFS, even Ngog managed that.

I know that he is shit, I believe that I am shouting harder and longer than most here to sell him, but was not that shit in the 2019 CL season,. Die a fuck death form wise after that

 

[Hyena]

Now rumours on the net that Fenerbahce want Origi.

Perfect timing, as always