It's Quiet the £250m return

It wasn't a particularly stunning window for us although we added a few players where we obviously felt they were needed. Who knows what sort of season we have ahead of us, but the signs aren't particularly positive at the moment. The RB situation is causing some concern and I think this does have some merit. One thing I think most of us agree is that an awful lot of the team need to improve markedly and rapidly. Some players really need to up their game. I don't think we can have many more showings like the Spurs and Brighton let downs.
 
Gumzy97 said:
We’ve built a good spine

Donnarumma - Gvardiol/Dias- Rodri - Haaland

It’s just about now building around it. The spine of the team is there.
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Dias ? Was his biggest fan but his form in the last 12 months has fallen off a cliff . No good in the air, our slowest defender which with a high line is suicidal, and our worst ball player when building up form the back . I see khusanov and Gvardiol as our future cb pairing .. khusanov has that speed and strength , Gvardiol cultured ball player . Right footer and left footer as well which massively helps . And also our two youngest cb's.

Just to add .. I would of also thrown the 35million at guehi as ake and stones will no doubt be injured at some point and both need replacing next summer
 
Blue Maverick said:
Only if we play to the players strengths something everyone bar one man can see at the moment.
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Absolutely this!

Our wingers need support so they aren't left isolated against 3 men each.

Our FB's need to stop inverting, stay wide & support the wingers.

Moose was essentially a No 10. Why're we playing him as a left & right winger, or as a No 9 when Haaland needs a rest?

All the above can be immediately resolved with the squad we have now. However, is Pep "over-thinks finals" Guardiola a man for turning???
 
Dribble said:
Do you think it's about the personnel, the system they're being asked to play in, or both?
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Well I think we’re just asking too much from players who can’t do it. The problem is recruited wide attackers who don’t have the same skill set of the previous ones.

Previous ones could deal with issues, but these ones can’t. This causes extra pressure on full backs who aren’t as capable as the ones we had. Even Delph and Zinchenko had more to them than these ones.

If we can get some full backs in who can defend positionally and have the pace to nullify wide runs it would make all the difference
 
Thaksinssoldier said:
Well I think we’re just asking too much from players who can’t do it. The problem is recruited wide attackers who don’t have the same skill set of the previous ones.

Previous ones could deal with issues, but these ones can’t. This causes extra pressure on full backs who aren’t as capable as the ones we had. Even Delph and Zinchenko had more to them than these ones.

If we can get some full backs in who can defend positionally and have the pace to nullify wide runs it would make all the difference
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What if we get these FB's & better wingers, & they're tasked to play with inverted FB's?

Not even prime Messi & Ronaldo were regularly getting past 3 defenders each.

Also, if we get traditional specialist FB's & they're told to invert, it still leaves a gaping hole in the space they've vacated. How do we get around that?
 
alexmcity said:
Fair point, but Salah has been much more than a goalscorer. If both Wirtz and Isak perform as expected (not guaranteed), then they won't be reliant on Salah (47 GA last season).

I think Ekitike would be an option from the bench. Gakpo will be the main man on the left: he's good but not Diaz good.

Also, it will be interesting whether Isak can press like Liverpool's former strikers. He's highly talented, but I doubt that Gakpo and him can press as intensely as Diaz and Jota/Nunes. These days Salah doesn't offer much in terms of pressing either.

On paper, Liverpool have improved a lot. Let's see what happens.
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From watching Salah so far this season I think he’s on the verge of catching a dose of Gundoganitis. Seems that yard off the pace and his footwork sloppy.
 
Dribble said:
What if we get these FB's & better wingers, & they're tasked to play with inverted FB's?

Not even prime Messi & Ronaldo were regularly getting past 3 defenders each.

Also, if we get traditional specialist FB's & they're told to invert, it still leaves a gaping hole in the space they've vacated. How do we get around that?
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To be fair we never played 2 inverted full backs, and against Brighton neither were inverted, so nothing is set in stone.
 
I like how we done in ruthless with Gundogan, Akanji and Ederson this summer

Hopes we gonna do the same with Bernardo next year
 
Nicholas van Whatsisface said:
It seems the Club took the decision that none of the RB options on the market this summer were worth progressing at the prices their current teams valued them at - so rather than actively buying a player they didn’t think was up to standard, who would likely be difficult to shift in future years, they decided to keep their powder dry til January and re-evaluate.

We can all agree or disagree with that position, but I doubt the RB position will remain unaddressed in future windows.

What we’ve been very effective at is clearing out a lot of over the hill players from what was a bloated squad list - giving us the room to act decisively in future windows.

It’s clear that our excessive non-homegrown list was a problem this summer, which meant we couldn’t have moved on a number of potential targets even if we’d wanted to.

This won’t be the case in January.

KDB, Eddie and Akanji are all out of the squad now, with Gundo rumoured to follow over the next few days.

Kyle and Jack are also gone, with their places now freed up for others to play.

Providing Gundo goes through, and we’re happy to drop Ortega from the CL squad from January, then we are in a position to move for the right player at RB in January.

It’s been a frustrating window in many ways, particularly in the immediate term - but we’re building for the future and have made clear progress on that.
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well said
 
blueparrot said:
To be fair we never played 2 inverted full backs, and against Brighton neither were inverted, so nothing is set in stone.
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Nunes is never played inverted because Pep's thinks he doesn't have the intelligence to play in midfield.

Early against Brighton, Ait Nouri provided the attacking width, however Moose kept gravitating centrally to support Haaland, which left RAN isolated. When in the defensive transition, it's only then that Moose moved left. I kept noticing this throughout the first half, as did many analysts & commentators. It seemed it was by design.

We kept leaving our wide attackers (RAN & Bobb) isolated. Regardless of our formation & tactics, the end result always seems to end up the same... Isolated wide players.

This is why I don't get the attacks on Bobb, Savinho & Doku. WTF are they supposed to do when isolated against three opposition players. What are the odds of them getting past them? 1 in 5 or 6 if they're fortunate?
 
how our wage bill changed after this window?

some big earners left like Walker, KDB, Ederson. some on loan albeit we have to subsidize some of those salaries.
the new arrivals surely arent on minimum wag either but I hope we didnt do crazy salaries apart from maybe Donnarumma.
some renewals happened as well upping contracts and few more pending.

agent fees also will run high again imo as we needed help from some of them to help us with outgoing transfers as well.

are we still on the highest wage bill in PL? possibly yes but I would think Liverpool now must be very close and Arsenal surely reduced the gap to us.

its just the things like Grealish 300K, Akanji 180K, Phillips 150K, do we need to pay this much to them really? sick thing is probably it was result of agent asking more we were offering less and met in the middle.
 
I’m in the minority but haven’t lost faith with the manager yet. It will click again, it just depends how long. Our starting xi could have as many as 5/6 new players and a returning Rodri getting back to fitness. It’s well documented it can take a while for new players to adjust to Pep. So maybe a mixed run til Christmas then hopefully we’re firing.
 
Dribble said:
What if we get these FB's & better wingers, & they're tasked to play with inverted FB's?

Not even prime Messi & Ronaldo were regularly getting past 3 defenders each.

Also, if we get traditional specialist FB's & they're told to invert, it still leaves a gaping hole in the space they've vacated. How do we get around that?
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Well for starters if we’re gonna build up projects at wing we can’t also do it at full back. It’s one or the other. Both at same time is suicide
 
City Raider said:
I’m in the minority but haven’t lost faith with the manager yet. It will click again, it just depends how long. Our starting xi could have as many as 5/6 new players and a returning Rodri getting back to fitness. It’s well documented it can take a while for new players to adjust to Pep. So maybe a mixed run til Christmas then hopefully we’re firing.
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Don't share your faith but I love it.
 
Thaksinssoldier said:
Well for starters if we’re gonna build up projects at wing we can’t also do it at full back. It’s one or the other. Both at same time is suicide
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I honestly don't think seasoned full back & winger pros would make much difference. The main attacking & defensive issues that everyone complains about all eminate from using an inverted FB.

Look at Brighton's winner for instance. Lewis came on & inverted leaving Stones, Dias & RAN as a back three. Stones moved across to cover the space left by Rico, but four Brighton players pounced after Stones gave the ball away.

Immediately, we were in a 4 v 3 situation with our backs to goal. Stones recovered to cover his man. Ait Nouri covered the left winger, but Dias was left to cover their No 9 & No 10. If Lewis was at right back, that goal was unlikely to happen as it would've been 4 v 4, with Trafford to beat.

We kept seeing the same transitional carnage game after game last season, & this one's continued much the same. We've changed players, but kept the inverted system that keeps costing us time & time again.

At this point in time, I'm struggling to see the benefits of having inverted FB's that Pep obviously believes is there...
 
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