Summer Transfers

Larry Stranger said:
Not a chance. Cancelo just needs to adjust, but you can see his quality especially going forward. Also one of the reason he doesn't play much is because of our deficiencies in defence. So Walker is needed in that respect. No way I'd play Couto right away if Walker went down. He needs to learn a lot in terms of the system and getting used to the PL.
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Disagree...Cancelo is not going to make it here so get rid.
Now, if we played three at the back it might work, but that is unlikely
 
Alcatraz said:
Disagree...Cancelo is not going to make it here so get rid.
Now, if we played three at the back it might work, but that is unlikely
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If you say Cancelo can't play in a back 4 then you're expecting Couto to be better than him in a back 4 right now? I don't see how a player who's never played in Europe, never mind the PL is somehow going to slot in before Cancelo. He's also never even trained with us yet and it takes a while for players to understand the system.
 
Remember we won 2 leagues with 198 points with Delph and Zinchenko as left backs, and Liverpool have won the CL and league with Henderson as a primary player. United under Ferguson won things with Wes Brown and John O'Shea.

If we got back up to our motivated best then a lot of players you might not rate will all of a sudden look great. If we're confident and believing then all of a sudden players like Mahrez, Mendy, Walker, Jesus, and Bernardo will all look class acts. At the end of 16/17 everyone not called Touré, Aguero, or Jesus came out looking like there were question marks over their long term futures. We got rid of the genuine deadwood, brought in 4 players, and all of a sudden everyone looks great.

We only need to make the signings that get the mentality of these players into gear. The primary issue is likely removals.

Anyone who's too old needs to go. Bravo and Silva are off obviously, but Otamendi should probably join them. Fernandinho is someone we need to be careful doesn't end up like Touré, if he's got another top year in him then 100% keep but we shouldn't be sentimental. Obviously Aguero stays. A big decision needs to be made about Stones, but we don't want to have too few centrebacks. If we're looking for another LB it might be time to say goodbye to Zinchenko (even though I personally like him). Nobody else needs selling.
 
We've been a weird team this year, even after the restart. At our highest we look back to our best from the past 2 years but every 3-4 games we lay an absolute dud where it looks like the squad is playing together for the first time. They just look slow, lethargic, and disjointed (e.g., yesterday and Southampton are prime examples)

I honestly do believe part of the issue is down to losing Kompanys leadership in the locker room. It's not quantifiable but having a true leader to rally around - even when they're on the sidelines - that can bring the whole squad up a notch is so important.

On the pitch we haven't been able replace what peak Fernandinho brought the team (everyone knew this would be the case) and sadly with Sanes injury/Agueros on and off injuries and slight decline we're really missing an electric attacking option that can change the game at any moment. I think that's why we can look so disjointed and exposed and there's the odd game where we look like we could play all day and not score.

I'm hopeful Rodri will take a big step forward next year, I think he's a fantastic player that needs to grow into the role.

This summer I think we really need to nail a CB partner that can pair with Laporte and a speedy winger that can take on defenders. If we can solve those 2 issues we'd be a much stronger and cohesive team. After that I think we need to find a LB to compete with or replace Mendy, and call it a day. If a game changing cf becomes available we should pounce but I think we'll look to tackle that next summer.
 
For it to work for Mendy and Cancelo going forward we have 3 CB and DM in front

pointless playing wingers with either playing as they get caught out too many times

we need a CB with pace
 
birchwoodgingerste said:
If our fullbacks are gonna stay wide like mendy did all game yesterday cant we just sign a good wide player who can cross.and play him there like the young mcneil from burnley.we need a good supply from decent crosses.
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This, this and this.

I think people see Liverpool's fullbacks bombing forward and delivering brilliant crosses and think we should be able to have the same. The problem is our midfield is very attack minded, Liverpool's is very defence minded. If we tried it with our midfield we would get destroyed on the counter attack, Liverpool have no choice but to do it.
 
ctid1894 said:
This, this and this.

I think people see Liverpool's fullbacks bombing forward and delivering brilliant crosses and think we should be able to have the same. The problem is our midfield is very attack minded, Liverpool's is very defence minded. If we tried it with our midfield we would get destroyed on the counter attack, Liverpool have no choice but to do it.
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Not just liverpool though, barcelona at their peak, madrid too have had full backs providing attacking width while at the same time having tucked in wide forwards and attacking midfielders. The trick is having centre backs that can read the counters and are quick enough to cover them as well as having a d.m intelligent enough to drop in.
We have only Laporte and he’s missed the season. If we have Laporte and Koulibaly Rodri dropping in we’ll see a different team next season. The centre backs are key.
 
ONTHERUNWITHTHAKSIN said:
For it to work for Mendy and Cancelo going forward we have 3 CB and DM in front

pointless playing wingers with either playing as they get caught out too many times

we need a CB with pace
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You won't be able to play with just 1 DM in front of a back 3. You might think it makes us more solid in defence, but the 1 DM will have too much space to try to cover. You'll have to bring 1 of the FB's further back which is essentially how we are playing now with Walker. Either that or 2 midfielders in front of the back 3 which means a midfield of Gundogan and Rodri, or Kev playing deeper. Then you'll have 1 less midfielder attacking.
 
blueparrot said:
Not just liverpool though, barcelona at their peak, madrid too have had full backs providing attacking width while at the same time having tucked in wide forwards and attacking midfielders. The trick is having centre backs that can read the counters and are quick enough to cover them as well as having a d.m intelligent enough to drop in.
We have only Laporte and he’s missed the season. If we have Laporte and Koulibaly Rodri dropping in we’ll see a different team next season. The centre backs are key.
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Different leagues, different playing styles; I dont think it's comparable. You don't get the smash up front to big, strong, quick athletes in other countries anywhere near as much as you do here. It still happens but it's not a tactic, here it's classed as sophisticated style of play (even Frank Lampard told Chelsea to go long against us the other week).
 
ctid1894 said:
Different leagues, different playing styles; I dont think it's comparable. You don't get the smash up front to big, strong, quick athletes in other countries anywhere near as much as you do here. It still happens but it's not a tactic, here it's classed as sophisticated style of play (even Frank Lampard told Chelsea to go long against us the other week).
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True. The game against Bournemouth was worrying even though we won.
Bournemouth pressed us well and high up the pitch. First we were unable to play out from the back quickly with Stones and Otamendi along with Walker. Lots of times it resulted us in going long ourselves which we lost possession.

Their tactic was to go long from their keeper with big physical forwards in KIng, Solanke, Stanislas along with Billing a midfielder. They won the duel in the air every time and were immediately in our half putting pressure on us.

The difference between that game is that we took our chances in goal where we had multiple chances against Arsenal and failed at all of them. We need to be more clinical and score 1st to put the pressure on other teams to come out and play. When they are up a goal they will most times go into a shell.

We do need a CB who can play quickly out from the back, but they should also have enough physical presence to handle big forwards in the air for us to win the 2nd balls to gain posession.
 
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I see Jack Harrison is staying at Leeds for another year. How long does his contract with us run for?
 
Did anything come from that guy saying he was waiting for an email on Thursday who worked on Liverpools transfers or was it a proven WUM?
 
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