LOLiverpooLOL - Next Season

[South Coast Royal]

I told you that you should have waited.
What an in depth squad Chelsea now have and the latest South American starlet is probably going to be a bit special.

Oh well, Man Utd up next will be interesting.

[windermereROYAL]

Liverpool keeper was MOTM tonight,could have been much worse but losing in added time again was priceless after doing it to other teams early in the season, Wirtz record signing, no goals, no assist, Isak,record signing , no league goals, got an assist, Salah looks done for me, not saying he won`t come good again but I`ll be astounded if he gets 20 plus goals this term.
Like the team, hate their fans. so damn entitled.

[Royal Rother]

Integration of a bunch of new players, however highly ranked, takes time.

Slot tried to do it too quickly, but they’ll get there in the end.

[Sutekh]

Don’t know how 2nd place FC managed it but they seem to have got their agent into manage Liverpool, either that or Slot is the second coming of Jaap Stam.

I mean, Chiesa in form and champing at the bit to get a game but mysteriously overlooked yet again, Isak arrives yet no ****** clue how to play him Brilliant for the rest of the division. Any ‘pool fans on here any ideas what they should do?

[South Coast Royal]

How did LFC manage the transitions back in the day, SCR? I'm vaguely aware of the 'boot room' culture, but not too sure what it actually is

Basically promoting from within and people with long associations with the club who understand and were instrumental in establishing the culture. In other words, continuity.

Liverpool Managers 1959 to 1998

Bill Shankly 59-74

Bob Paisley 74-83 played for the club 1939-1954 and was Shankly's assistant manager

Joe Fagan 83-85 - Scouser. Coach under Shankly and was Paisley's assistant manager, Quit after Heysel.

Dalglish 85-91 played for Paisley and Fagan

Ronnie Moran - 2 caretaker spells - Scouser. played for Shankly, coached under Shankly, Paisley, Fagan and Dalglish

Graeme Souness - 91_94 played for Paisley and Fagan

Roy Evans 94-98 - Scouser. Played for Shankly, coached under Paisley, Fagan, Dalglish, Moran and Souness.

It helps that up to and including Dalglish, they were all decent managers. Only Souness was an external appointment but obviously he played for the club for 6 years and won 12 major trophies in the process.

Thanks for saving me from having to check all the dates.
Four things I feel that have contributed to this slightly erratic start.

Firstly McAllister has been absolutely key to the set up but was injured pre-season and hasn't played in all of the games.
The trio of Gravenberch, Macca and Dom worked so well last season with each covering the other when forward moves progressed through whichever midfielder pushed ahead.
Wirtz coming in has altered the way the team plays and sangers pointed out that his contribution has been significant in creating chances but at the same time the team has lost a bit defensively.

The second thing is the departure of Diaz who showed great pace and did his share of defending whereas Gakpo for all his other ability doesn't cover so well

The third thing follows on from that in that the Robbo/Diaz combo has gone which had built up over time and Kerkez is finding it difficult to get the same type of connection with Gakpo.
Also defensively the new pairing of full-backs hasn't worked so well yet in combination with the central defenders, e.g. when to play offside.

The last thing is the Jota effect.
Not only has the team lost a valuable member but also his death was a major shock.
Anyone on here who has lost somebody close will know that it can take some time to get over it and I do feel that it has been a factor in this early part of the season.

Slot's problems (if indeed they really are problems) are how best to use the 4 full backs and how to do the same with Salah, Gakpo, Isak, Wirtz and Ekitike when all are fit.

I come back to the point about Macca who is such a clever all-round footballer that if and when he gets back to last season's (and the previous season's) performance levels you will see a better organised football team and who knows they might even win the title again.

That was my take on things the other day Sutekh.

Once again Macca not up to his best yesterday.
Last season as an emergency full-back Bradley did well but he has always been a midfielder and IMHO doesn't think like a full-back.
Frimpong was bought but looks very much a wing-back and the same goes for Kerkez.

If they had managed to get Guehi I wouldn't have been surprised if Slot planned to go with a back three with Frimpong and Kerkez used as wing-backs with their lack of defensive capability not so important.
BTW Luis Diaz scored twice yesterday to make it 6 goals and 5 assists in just 12 matches and his dynamism has been missed.

So, 1 point off top spot, two of the most difficult away fixtures at Newcastle, Palace and Chelsea out of the way-things aren't that bad and Man Utd at home next.

[Sutekh]

Certainly feel the sad loss of Jota is far bigger impact as he was the most reliable striker they had and could make something happen but his lost has left them cold and despite the quality additions there is something seriously lacking in the manager's tactics and it's not clear what on earth he wants the team to be doing. Seems to be far too much sideways and backward passing and both Gakpo and Salah seem to be doing a lot of checking back when they do get a run which slows everything down and allows opposition to reset defensively. There is also the personal effect his loss has had on some as it's bound to effect them all in different ways but all this is on the manager who has to be able to judge and make the relevant calls in the best interests of the club as well as the players themselves and this does not appear to be happening.

Agree Kerkez and Frimpong are quality WING backs yet he isn't playing them as such and the defence is suffering as a result as they get caught between two stools.

While their window business was generally outstanding they yet again failed to address the centre back issues properly (still 1 down after Matip retired now they've allowed Konate to take up last year's TAA role and piddled about over Guehi at the last moment rather than getting it sorted up front at the start of the window. Not entirely all their fault, as Palace were equally comedic with Glasner now seemingly running the club, and the Italian they did get as cover managed to do his ACL in 60 minutes.Reckon despite all this that they still won't go back in for Guehi in January- as he's on a free in the summer- but may instead look to Sporting's Ousemane Diomande. They'll certainly need to do something as Konate's head hasn't been in the same place as his feet for most of this year.