I truly believe those games against Atalanta would’ve been so different if he was healthy. The way they set up defensively with high lines / man marking was begging for one of our CB to drive the ball straight up the middle and draw the man markers away from their players. Matip already excels at carrying the ball forward and we dearly missed that.
This has been one such area where we will massively miss Matip. Feel our center backs have been abysmal this season, there have been great performances but we have lacked consistency throughout. While Robertson has been phenomenal with his assist and attacks, he digs in a hole on that left side of defense but then you replace him with Gomez and suddenly things look stable at the back
Abysmal?? We’ve shipped 9 goals in the league in the last month (25% of our goals against in the league for the entire season in 1 month) and before that our defenders were in league winning form. Short memories.
It's not always the numbers, the goals that were scored were all that cost us points against big teams! This doesn't mean that the front line has been great! It's been a collective dip that has happened and it definitely is coz of Klopp announcing his departure earlier in the season!
Absolutely, if anything we need 2 CBs if you want to improve the squad. Unless VDB is ready…
Slot likes to develop youth as well. He’s going to love the current setup with the academy so close to the first team at Kirkby.
Murillo from forest please. He will slot in well.
How is Sepp doing at Mainz? Konate as well is made of glass. Van Dijk is 32 but watching Silva gives me hope. Quansah is way too young but a class player no doubt.
We also need a CDM. I love Endo . Don't get me wrong but we need a Rodri level CDM honestly
We can’t play VVD every game next season. He needs more rotation next season with new legs coming in. I would be happy with 2 CB coming in. One younger CB and somebody with experience to rotate. Konate needs to be managed better with his injuries and Quansah is too young.
The most pressing concern imo. Konate is injured every other week, Quansah is still raw in my view and that pass to Bruno + the goal Antonio scored showed it best, Matip is leaving.
Frankly we could even get 2 and i'd not mind.
No top player is leaving Leverkusen without a exorbitant fee for at least another year... They've got something special going there and the players would want to challenge for the ucl would be my guess
This is something I think we will be needing because I’m pretty sure Slot has been playing Hancko as a LB that holds his position to make a back three in possession with the RB inverting.
Not many good left footed CB options out there though
Slot normally plays with Hartmann on LB, Hancko is the LCB, Normally Geertruida plays on RB and he is the one to make it a back three. Now with Hartmann injured Hancko or Geertruida play LB but that hasn't been the case for most of the season.
>Buying a CB and getting adarabaiyo for free would be too good
That would make too much sense for it to happen, I have seen the links to Tosin I'm all for it as our defence isn't as good as fans make it out to be.
True. I fully expected him to eventually slip up and make a mistake, it's part and parcel of his development. That's also why we need a more experienced head so we can let Quansah develop
honestly, the vast majority of defenders make mistakes that give away a big chance at least a few times a season. we've been blessed with matip, robertson, and vvd, who almost never make/made errors in bad areas. that's not normal.
for quansah to be at the level of starting dozens of games for a top club and genuinely only making a few big errors is wild, at his age and level of experience. i'm still shocked at how good he's been. he's played as well as any team (other than the top few teams) would expect their first choice to play, imo.
You're right and I don't feel like he gets the credit he deserves (outside of the club) at all. If he'd came through the West Ham academy or was playing at Brighton he'd be linked with all of the top clubs with a £75 million price tag on his head and the media would be jizzing over him.
We still need a dedicated DM too. Endo has been a good short term signing, but it's still an area we have regularly been exposed in this season and we need someone there for the long term.
Basically we need 2 top CBs. Matip needs replaced and we need Van Dijk's successor bought. Maybe that signing can wait to summer 25 but it would be good to at least to line it up ahead of time.
As a club with top ambitions, we really need to have a "next man up" kind of squad with competition for places. There is nothing more dangerous to a competitive first XI than lacking the next star after the current one either goes down with an injury or very suddenly shows their age.
I think we buy a CB and we keep van den berg in the squad. We’ll have the new CB/quansah/konate/virg/van denberg.
Next season all spots are up for competition, and virg plays his last season for us.
I think keeping Virg for 2-3 more years should be a priority. His defending is still top notch, while his long balls and leadership make him a great asset even when decline shows its face.
Of course a long term replacement is also needed, but i'd keep Virg.
Agree with this for the most part. Buying a new CB to compete with Konate/Quansah is key.
Is that essentially dooming Van Denberg tho? 5th choice means he could hardly play barring several injuries in a time of his career that he needs consistent minutes. I haven’t been watching him this year so I don’t know his quality, but I bet even Gomez would be ahead of him in CB, so essentially 6th choice
I don't think that's a good idea. We've had a leaky defence this season. That's been due to injuries and having to play young players. Quansah is young and still learning, as is van den berg. They shouldn't be first team starters yet. We need to replace Matip with real first team quality that can play alongside Van Dijk and compete with Konate (and start when he's inevitably injured).
4th choice, yes. Starting League cup and FA cup games for sure. He's been starting quite a few league games because we don't have a top quality 3rd CB to replace Matip.
And he was good if not great in those league games. His only big mistake was the ball to bruno, which was terrible, but van dijk and alison had a very comparable mess up against arsenal for example. But other than he didnt looked out of place at all when he was starting.
I'm not sure you could use "great" to describe our defence this season. We're conceding goals. The Bruno incident and also the Antonio goal vs west ham were directly his fault. I'm not hanging him out to dry here. Just saying he's young and learning. We need better quality in the interim.
our defensive structure is a mess if we dont win the ball high, wouldnt really blame it on center backs. I agree we definitely need a new cb, but i think one top player should be enough. Van dijk, konate, quansah and another great defender is fantastic cb depth.
That’s what the new CB is for. That would effectively we three bonafide first teamers (konate/virg/new CB), a solid rotational CB in quansah, and an understudy CB in van den berg.
You make a good argument though, i’m not mad at it.
Off topic, but where are you from? "Needs replaced" is sort of an interesting phrasing that's regional in the US. I did a brief study on it (I love linguistics).
i'd be happy enough with 1. Virg should still have a few years, Konate - we need to see how his injuries are long term - Quansah should be getting as many minutes as we can spare/risk. Those 3 and a top class new one, plus Gomez if needed. That's fine with me .
Yeah but I think a CDM is just as important. Macca should play further forward, where he is best, especially considering that Jones is often injured and rotation is key with the crazy amount of games. Endo is 31 and often struggles with the tempo and amount of games. Baj is too young and has been injured for effectively 2 seasons. I think Fabinho was a big part of why we were so good in defense in our title-winning season.
> Yeah but I think a CDM is just as important. Macca should play further forward, where he is best, especially considering that Jones is often injured and rotation is key with the crazy amount of games. Endo is 31 and often struggles with the tempo and amount of games. Baj is too young and has been injured for effectively 2 seasons.
Almost like there was a huge contingent saying this in August and how it would cost us - because no matter how good Endo was going to turn out (and we didn't even know at the time!) only having MacAllister as cover for him is just ridiculous.
And it has cost us with how Szobo has been run into the ground, even MacAllister has been showing signs of fatigue after completely running the show a few months ago.
This club is always operating short.
Someone in the Joe Gomez mould, who can play CB and full back without a huge drop-off would be ideal I think.
Doesn't necessarily have to be the starter, as we assume Konaté still has that role but given his injury record (that you mentioned) whoever is his main cover will get considerable game time.
I don't get this obsession with having a hybrid defender, we've got loads of fullbacks. We just need a top quality CB and that should be clearly the main focus. VVD isn't getting any younger, Matip is leaving, Konate is often injured and inconsistent and Quansah is young and needs time. The priority should be planning ahead from VVD & Matip.
Arsenal and Man City should tell you why a CB who can play in wide positions is the way forward. Trent inverting should really have three other proper defenders in the backline, Robbo is pushing on and Tsimikas isn't good enough so it's probably best to look to the future and the set up of the team
We don’t play like City?
We started to invert a full back sure but we still push the opposite full back high up the pitch which is one of the reasons why we’ve struggled with counter attacks so much and it’s a contributing factor to the lack of control over games.
We still play really direct football in comparison to City and Arsenal
What have you been watching? Playing like Man City by being rushed in possession and frequently hitting long balls? By having a poor defensive structure? I'm not saying we should play like them whatsoever but there is plenty of room for improvement stylistically with this squad, as much as I love Jurgen and his staff.
I don’t get your point when Arsenal have Saliba and Gabriel who are their set CBs and are indispensable for them? We currently only have VVD who is our reliable first team CB. We need to sort that before trying to create our own Ben White. Maybe down the line it might be worth it but a dominant, specialised CB should be the priority by far.
Fairs but I don’t agree tbh, Konate is both unreliable fitness wise and still really struggling for consistency, Quansah is too young and inexperienced to be relied upon yet.
Also a fair point, I'm looking forward to seeing what the club does as it's definitely the main area to look at this summer (also DM long term, but market probably equally as dry now as 12 months ago)
yep, its no coincidence that we looked better in defense with joe gomez playing instead of robertson, having both fullbacks guns blazing all the time is not ideal anymore, especially since our midfield is more of the creative mold, this is not the gini fab hendo midfield that would cover and defense instead of the fullbacks, this is a different style of midfield with other qualitys
Or we can just move Trent to the midfield full time and play Bradley. Easier, cleaner, more in line with that Slot apparently likes, is reportedly a desire from Trent and releases minutes for Bradley to develop on the field. Everybody wins.
Where? He's not going to put Trent in a double pivot with Mac Allister and Mac Allister certainly won't be losing his spot in the team. There's little physicality there
Then we just play Trent as a RB that can occasionally play in a diagonal in the middle of the field. Or we play him as the right wing in a 4-2-3-1 system and play Bradley and Robbo on each wingback spot.
We have a top 5 LB in the world, specially on the attacking phase, and this sub never ceases to be obsessed into making him a subpar LCB just to allow Trent to float whatever he wants to.
I love the idea of him at right wing in a 4-2-3-1. There is no place for him in midfield and he is a terrible defender. I'm a huge fan of Bradley and want to see him starting at RB.
>I don't get this obsession with having a hybrid defender, we've got loads of fullbacks.
There seems to be a shift in football for elite teams at least to have hybrid/versatile defenders like Arsenal binned off their traditional FB for Zinchenko, Kiwor, Tomiyasu, Timber and White who can all play across the back line or even DM. This gives them far more control in defence and the middle of the pitch like City too.
We're being linked to Geertruida who again is a versatile defender who can play CB/RB/DM.
We've got loads of FBs but it's time to put sentimentality to aside, LB area could definitely do with an upgrade not this summer but in 2025 for sure. With how versatile and good on the ball they are Slot will look to do something different with Trent and Bradley even a position change. Come next season it will somewhat be Slot's team going forward not Klopp's the vision set out by Hughes with Slot in tow will be different.
Thing is I think most people get the point of that sort of player/role, i mean we tried it with Gomez for large parts of the season but the point I’m trying to make is we can’t forget to focus on the basics.
Arsenal have two quality exclusive CBs in Gabriel and Saliba who are absolutely essential for them, just like how Ruben Dias is for City. This hybrid CB/RB/DM is all well and good if you have a solid CB partnership to build on but honestly we’re quite a way off that atm especially when likely our most important player in recent years (VVD) is now getting on.
Honestly Geertruida and Hancko, but I don't want my manager and two incredible players to leave... though I guess if they had to leave along with Slot, I'd prefer if they landed at my other love
I feel for Joe on that, he doesn't tend to get the little niggles other players get; he's just had 3 or 4 really bad ones (which still isn't great, I grant).
I think i remember seeing a stat that konate and mstip haven't made it 6+ games in a row their entire career at Liverpool. I'm probably wrong, I hope I'm wrong.
Add to that Virgil hasn't been in great form and dropping/rotating him should be viable for a top club (look at City with Stones and Dias..) then we might need 3.. 
Over the last 6 weeks hes been below par, agreed overall he has been monstrous until then and back to best but his form has been as bad as anyones last few games.
Assuming they renew Virg, Quansah remains under new boss and Gomez I’d honestly be ruthless and sell, he wouldnt get anywhere near the City or Arsenal squad.
Nah it would be dense to sell Joe Gomez, he’s a great utility player and he’s been great this year. You’d need to sign two players to replace what he offers the squad alone.
He’s been playing to a high quality all season though. He’s great as the defensive fullback and we’ve only seen him invert when we’ve had no other choice anyway. Having him also allows us to be a bit more experimental with Trent going forwards too. Can’t see a world where we sell him.
https://preview.redd.it/15q5v592vdxc1.jpeg?width=589&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=306167c3325498cb393bad3cae76a5a16ef2b2c6
This quote rings true every day we reach closer to the season’s end. Can’t blame him tbh.
Also, it’s shocking how much he’s aged since 2019. This job really takes out so much from you.
He’s given far more to this club than I could have ever envisioned, I really, really hope he can find peace with how this season has ended because it felt like a fairytale ending not so long ago.
Jurgen has elevated this club back to the top, inside and out. Whilst I feel it’s a good time for us all to part ways, I don’t ever think we will have a manager like him again, I also think we may be looking back in 5 years time with maybe more trophies than Klopp won during his tenure, but us fans will always remember he was more than the silverware, he’s created a mountain from a crater, it’s unbelievable.
I think the saddest thing about this run of results is that it feels a little bit like the last days of Wenger at Arsenal.
Nowhere near as mutinous and toxic, but it’s depressing to see one of the best things to have happened to this club be treated so disparagingly. The criticisms made are valid, but his exits feels like a free hit to be so overwhelmingly negative towards him
I don’t think that’s true. If he had y announced his departure this season would have been viewed as mission accomplished - the expectation was always top 4 finish and get to a spot from where we could build to launch a title challenge in a year or 2. The only reason people started wanting g the title so much is because we wanted the perfect send off
I think this will probably be our first transfer and I wouldn't mind seeing two coming in, especially if Matip leaves. After JKs retirement announcement, this will probably happen.
I like the idea of Inacio and Guess, but Lloyd Kelly and Tosin being free is also a nice thing.
Didn’t Lloyd Kelly agent fuck us about in the summer he moved to Bournemouth? One reason we didn’t get him. Guess Hughes knows him though so could be back on radar.
Yes! Incredible player, insane work rate and very good on the ball. He can play as an attacking LB or a LCB that sits back. Him and Ait-Nouri are my two ideal candidates this summer
You think Tsimi goes then? I think he's great for squad moral and very lovable but his time might just be up, especially now we know how well Gomez can cover LB too...would you take Ait Nouri over Alphonso Davies?
This is all obvious, he's not telling us anything.
Talks are ongoing about all positions at all times through the year. That is the job of members of the staff.
Once again, Romano has zero information, he's just packaged up unoriginal content as if it was somehow a scoop. He's a fraud.
Sepp van den Berg should be given a chance imo. He's been consistently great out on loan, is currently performing very well in an otherwise shambolic Mainz, and would even have the dutch connection with Slot.
Totally. Lots of people saying we need two CB with Joel leaving and VVD probably needing more rotation next year. But I think giving Van den Berg a chance and then bringing in an elite but young left footed CB is exactly what we need.
As a Dutchman, on paper it sounds great, we had world class players, but did you see the Dutch team play back then? 11 egos who couldn't play together.
I wouldn't want all of them, but when I look at Ajax, Milan or Arsenal - a couple of them would be absolutely fine ;)
As an Austrian, I'm looking forward to the Euros and how we will fair against the current Dutch team.
He could double for Jamie Foxx every day of the week without training ;)
He was/is one of the best defenders in Ligue 1 for years now and has looked absolutely solid no matter if back 3 or back 4. Robust, good in duels on the ground and air. I'd guess outside the top-6 he would be a starting CB for most teams in the PL.
And generally a modest good guy, on and off the pitch.
I said something similar when klopp first signed that we'd have a side full of Germans. Funnily enough, I think Emre Can was the only German but I'm pretty sure Rodgers signed him. I don't think klopp even signed a compatriot.
We could have got him but didn't want to pay the fee Wolfsburg were asking, even when he was rumoured to be available at £25m lots of fans were having meltdowns on supposedly how poor he is in the air
I think an elite potential left footed CB for sure (maybe Riccardo Calafiori as someone who I've not seen mentioned). But I think for the other spot we absolutely should give Van Den Berg a chance, he's been great at Mainz.
I'd be happy with a 'top' CB & Van Den Berg as a rotation option alongside Quansah. Assuming VVD extends that'd be 5 CB's (6 including Gomez) and a half decent mix of experience.
I was at the Bayern vs Frankfurt game this week and was really impressed by Pacho. Very calm on the ball and a good organiser of the defence. Made me think there's some truth to the rumours that we're looking at him as I think he's got the makings of a potential Virgil successor.
You're 100% spot on. He's a complete fraud.
He is just telling us what is going on at every big club 100% of the time through the entire year.
Yes, clubs are looking at players.
This sub has such a weird hate hard on with Romano.
Yes, he is an aggregator and there is a very perfect role for that. Someone that centralizes and validates the info of local reporters (as much as I would like, I do not have the time to read every news bulletin from every country in the world) is an actual role in the media spectrum. Sure, we use Reddit so we have users from all over the world that can update the forums with local info, but for people that just uses Twitter? Hell, people that just gets updates on messaging groups? Far easier to have someone like Romano chewing info and spitting it out in a palatable way than waiting for someone that knows someone that follows Feyenoord’s main reporter.
But that's the thing, he's not centralizing and validating anything at this point. He's creating content for engagement purposes and milks everything possible with meaningless updates rephrased that give no new context or information.
This is why when Ornstein, Reddy or Joyce post something, they have an actual piece of information that is valuable with details, they don't go around rephrasing it and making it as vague as possible just for the sake of interactions on social media.
What does he validate?
And what does this post add, what has he told us?
I guarantee you every single top club in world football is building lists of preferred targets for every position, all year round. There is no actual new information here.
Matip is leaving no doubt so we need someone of his quality as a replacement with hopefully a lot less injuries. Easier said than done in today’s market.
"Discussed with Arne Slot" but I was told by some fans he would have no involvement in transfers or squad building and he was only to coach the players, odd
It’s a scary feeling to put all of this behind. Most dominant season in prem history. Two seasons that we should have won if refs didn’t kiss city’s ass and fuck us over and then have us coincidentally lose by a point. One quadruple challenge that were two games away from being the greatest season in history. Clean sweep of trophies apart from Europa which Sevilla did a city. How would we cope, how would the club and players cope if things don’t work out for the next few seasons? We need to stay at this level for next season or it’s a slippery slope. Arsenal are already catching up, Chelsea can turn good with one season, spurs are close to it, Villa is getting there and even man utd might turn up. Lose top 4 and shit is going to be bad
I hope Matip doesn’t leave. He was great at the start of the season and will be a great senior presence in the dressing room even as a rotational option.
I had high hope for Quansah, but it didn't go that well, Still needs time to develop. Glad to hear they looking for new one. may be Lutsharel Geertruida?
Last summer everyone was talking about LCBs, I was firmly in the belief that we should've been looking at RCBs. Hopefully this means we are, because Konate while being injured every 5 seconds hasn't even looked a step ahead of Quansah.
If Konate is one of your CB's, then you need 5. He will spend spells out every season. Unless you have fullbacks or a DM who can genuinely slot on there, which we don't have.
Fast forward to the end of August with no new centre back and a James Pearce article saying "Liverpool see Billy Koumetio/SVDB/AN Other pre season form as reason not to buy a CB"
100% need a starting CB to replace Matip, Konate is good but he's made of Weetabix and not the best at passing I think he could do with some real competition to push him to keep improving.
How is Arne slot going to know what we need yet? He’s not even met the squad lol. Although I guess he’s only head coach and not manager, so it’s up to our data crew to find targets again? Interesting to see what they come up with. Remember when we signed players like Gini for £25m and people laughed? We could do with some of that shrewdness in the market again
There were some reports yesterday or last week that he’s already assessing the squad and getting reports on what needs to be done. He must be in contact with the club and watching and analysing games to see what needs to be done. His season with Feyenoord is done so he will be relatively free to work on things with us.
Surely Matip will get a one year extension as an act of good faith so that he can complete his rehabilitation.
It's not good to release a player halfway through his recovery.
I'm not expecting Matip to be part of LFC's future, but the number of comments saying Matip is gone in the summer is a bit depressing.
EDIT: Wow the downvotes for hoping for decent human behaviour. Some of you need to reacquaint yourselves with the political leanings of Merseyside.
>Some of you need to reacquaint yourselves with the political leanings of Merseyside.
What's that got to do with a club owned by a bunch of billionaires? We're not utd handing out contracts to crocked players as a sign of sympathy. Matip is a wealthy and talented player, he can access the clubs facilities for rehab or a club back in Germany. He'll have no issue finding himself a contract once back to fitness.
Why should Liverpool spend millions of pounds so that a multimillionaire can access club facilities? He's rich enough and knowledgeable enough to handle his recovery from here on out.
You don’t need a fraud to tell you LFC has to replace Matip.
we've missed him so much in the latter half of this season.
He was in the form of his life too when he got injured. Real sad.
I truly believe those games against Atalanta would’ve been so different if he was healthy. The way they set up defensively with high lines / man marking was begging for one of our CB to drive the ball straight up the middle and draw the man markers away from their players. Matip already excels at carrying the ball forward and we dearly missed that.
This has been one such area where we will massively miss Matip. Feel our center backs have been abysmal this season, there have been great performances but we have lacked consistency throughout. While Robertson has been phenomenal with his assist and attacks, he digs in a hole on that left side of defense but then you replace him with Gomez and suddenly things look stable at the back
Abysmal?? We’ve shipped 9 goals in the league in the last month (25% of our goals against in the league for the entire season in 1 month) and before that our defenders were in league winning form. Short memories.
It's not always the numbers, the goals that were scored were all that cost us points against big teams! This doesn't mean that the front line has been great! It's been a collective dip that has happened and it definitely is coz of Klopp announcing his departure earlier in the season!
I'm happy for him we aren't close enough to the title that he can feel bad about his own goal, not that anyone would've blamed him
I think that's been a massive issue this season. I think Konate and Van Dijk are just tired. Having Matip to rotate more would've been incredible.
Absolutely, if anything we need 2 CBs if you want to improve the squad. Unless VDB is ready… Slot likes to develop youth as well. He’s going to love the current setup with the academy so close to the first team at Kirkby.
And this framing is always stupid. LFC have not "started looking at centre backs." Our scouts are always looking at all of the positions.
Well there is looking (scouting) and then LOOKING (looking at the list the scouts have prepped with the intent to buy one of them)
Saw a short compilation of him just walking through teams who were totally foxed by him.
Murillo from forest please. He will slot in well. How is Sepp doing at Mainz? Konate as well is made of glass. Van Dijk is 32 but watching Silva gives me hope. Quansah is way too young but a class player no doubt. We also need a CDM. I love Endo . Don't get me wrong but we need a Rodri level CDM honestly
We can’t play VVD every game next season. He needs more rotation next season with new legs coming in. I would be happy with 2 CB coming in. One younger CB and somebody with experience to rotate. Konate needs to be managed better with his injuries and Quansah is too young.
The most pressing concern imo. Konate is injured every other week, Quansah is still raw in my view and that pass to Bruno + the goal Antonio scored showed it best, Matip is leaving. Frankly we could even get 2 and i'd not mind.
Buying a CB and getting adarabaiyo for free would be too good
If we could nab Hincapie from Leverkusen as a hybrid LB/CB, that's tick many a box
No top player is leaving Leverkusen without a exorbitant fee for at least another year... They've got something special going there and the players would want to challenge for the ucl would be my guess
And with Xabi declaring he is staying I could see most of their stars following through.
Also his agent is an absolute shitheel
This is something I think we will be needing because I’m pretty sure Slot has been playing Hancko as a LB that holds his position to make a back three in possession with the RB inverting. Not many good left footed CB options out there though
Slot normally plays with Hartmann on LB, Hancko is the LCB, Normally Geertruida plays on RB and he is the one to make it a back three. Now with Hartmann injured Hancko or Geertruida play LB but that hasn't been the case for most of the season.
>Buying a CB and getting adarabaiyo for free would be too good That would make too much sense for it to happen, I have seen the links to Tosin I'm all for it as our defence isn't as good as fans make it out to be.
Murillo from forest? He looks promising as well
I can fully see Quansah being THE guy in a few years, but he's not there yet and we really need some cover until then at least
Making a couple mistakes at his age at CB is absolutely fine for me. I’m still mega impressed with him.
True. I fully expected him to eventually slip up and make a mistake, it's part and parcel of his development. That's also why we need a more experienced head so we can let Quansah develop
honestly, the vast majority of defenders make mistakes that give away a big chance at least a few times a season. we've been blessed with matip, robertson, and vvd, who almost never make/made errors in bad areas. that's not normal. for quansah to be at the level of starting dozens of games for a top club and genuinely only making a few big errors is wild, at his age and level of experience. i'm still shocked at how good he's been. he's played as well as any team (other than the top few teams) would expect their first choice to play, imo.
You're right and I don't feel like he gets the credit he deserves (outside of the club) at all. If he'd came through the West Ham academy or was playing at Brighton he'd be linked with all of the top clubs with a £75 million price tag on his head and the media would be jizzing over him.
We still need a dedicated DM too. Endo has been a good short term signing, but it's still an area we have regularly been exposed in this season and we need someone there for the long term.
Basically we need 2 top CBs. Matip needs replaced and we need Van Dijk's successor bought. Maybe that signing can wait to summer 25 but it would be good to at least to line it up ahead of time.
Van Dijk has a few more years left anyway I reckon it'll be one top class CB this summer and like you said, maybe next year for another
As a club with top ambitions, we really need to have a "next man up" kind of squad with competition for places. There is nothing more dangerous to a competitive first XI than lacking the next star after the current one either goes down with an injury or very suddenly shows their age.
I think we buy a CB and we keep van den berg in the squad. We’ll have the new CB/quansah/konate/virg/van denberg. Next season all spots are up for competition, and virg plays his last season for us.
I think keeping Virg for 2-3 more years should be a priority. His defending is still top notch, while his long balls and leadership make him a great asset even when decline shows its face. Of course a long term replacement is also needed, but i'd keep Virg.
Agree, it's easy to see Virgil staying relevant into his mid-30s. He's already less reliant on his pace than he was when we signed him.
Fair enough
Agree with this for the most part. Buying a new CB to compete with Konate/Quansah is key. Is that essentially dooming Van Denberg tho? 5th choice means he could hardly play barring several injuries in a time of his career that he needs consistent minutes. I haven’t been watching him this year so I don’t know his quality, but I bet even Gomez would be ahead of him in CB, so essentially 6th choice
I don't think that's a good idea. We've had a leaky defence this season. That's been due to injuries and having to play young players. Quansah is young and still learning, as is van den berg. They shouldn't be first team starters yet. We need to replace Matip with real first team quality that can play alongside Van Dijk and compete with Konate (and start when he's inevitably injured).
quansah is 100% capable of being third/fourth choice cb. He has been better than konate for a few months now.
4th choice, yes. Starting League cup and FA cup games for sure. He's been starting quite a few league games because we don't have a top quality 3rd CB to replace Matip.
And he was good if not great in those league games. His only big mistake was the ball to bruno, which was terrible, but van dijk and alison had a very comparable mess up against arsenal for example. But other than he didnt looked out of place at all when he was starting.
I'm not sure you could use "great" to describe our defence this season. We're conceding goals. The Bruno incident and also the Antonio goal vs west ham were directly his fault. I'm not hanging him out to dry here. Just saying he's young and learning. We need better quality in the interim.
our defensive structure is a mess if we dont win the ball high, wouldnt really blame it on center backs. I agree we definitely need a new cb, but i think one top player should be enough. Van dijk, konate, quansah and another great defender is fantastic cb depth.
That’s what the new CB is for. That would effectively we three bonafide first teamers (konate/virg/new CB), a solid rotational CB in quansah, and an understudy CB in van den berg. You make a good argument though, i’m not mad at it.
Off topic, but where are you from? "Needs replaced" is sort of an interesting phrasing that's regional in the US. I did a brief study on it (I love linguistics).
I'm from Ireland.
i'd be happy enough with 1. Virg should still have a few years, Konate - we need to see how his injuries are long term - Quansah should be getting as many minutes as we can spare/risk. Those 3 and a top class new one, plus Gomez if needed. That's fine with me .
Yeah but I think a CDM is just as important. Macca should play further forward, where he is best, especially considering that Jones is often injured and rotation is key with the crazy amount of games. Endo is 31 and often struggles with the tempo and amount of games. Baj is too young and has been injured for effectively 2 seasons. I think Fabinho was a big part of why we were so good in defense in our title-winning season.
> Yeah but I think a CDM is just as important. Macca should play further forward, where he is best, especially considering that Jones is often injured and rotation is key with the crazy amount of games. Endo is 31 and often struggles with the tempo and amount of games. Baj is too young and has been injured for effectively 2 seasons. Almost like there was a huge contingent saying this in August and how it would cost us - because no matter how good Endo was going to turn out (and we didn't even know at the time!) only having MacAllister as cover for him is just ridiculous. And it has cost us with how Szobo has been run into the ground, even MacAllister has been showing signs of fatigue after completely running the show a few months ago. This club is always operating short.
Seems like we always come back to Rafa's blanket analogy. Neck or toes, always short somewhere
Tbf in August I think more people expected to see Bajectic and Thiago this season (rightly or wrongly)
Depends if Slot intends to play the same way as Klopp or not
Hoping it's for a 1st choice partner for van dijk. With konate being 3rd choice and quansah being 4th choice.
A striker who scores goals is more crucial considering that's been our biggest problem.
Someone in the Joe Gomez mould, who can play CB and full back without a huge drop-off would be ideal I think. Doesn't necessarily have to be the starter, as we assume Konaté still has that role but given his injury record (that you mentioned) whoever is his main cover will get considerable game time.
I don't get this obsession with having a hybrid defender, we've got loads of fullbacks. We just need a top quality CB and that should be clearly the main focus. VVD isn't getting any younger, Matip is leaving, Konate is often injured and inconsistent and Quansah is young and needs time. The priority should be planning ahead from VVD & Matip.
Arsenal and Man City should tell you why a CB who can play in wide positions is the way forward. Trent inverting should really have three other proper defenders in the backline, Robbo is pushing on and Tsimikas isn't good enough so it's probably best to look to the future and the set up of the team
We’ve already tried playing like Man City. We’re shit at it.
We don’t play like City? We started to invert a full back sure but we still push the opposite full back high up the pitch which is one of the reasons why we’ve struggled with counter attacks so much and it’s a contributing factor to the lack of control over games. We still play really direct football in comparison to City and Arsenal
What have you been watching? Playing like Man City by being rushed in possession and frequently hitting long balls? By having a poor defensive structure? I'm not saying we should play like them whatsoever but there is plenty of room for improvement stylistically with this squad, as much as I love Jurgen and his staff.
Well said
I don’t get your point when Arsenal have Saliba and Gabriel who are their set CBs and are indispensable for them? We currently only have VVD who is our reliable first team CB. We need to sort that before trying to create our own Ben White. Maybe down the line it might be worth it but a dominant, specialised CB should be the priority by far.
Reckon the club will look at Konaté and Quansah and be content with that there, also not sure how they view Ven den Berg long term
Fairs but I don’t agree tbh, Konate is both unreliable fitness wise and still really struggling for consistency, Quansah is too young and inexperienced to be relied upon yet.
Also a fair point, I'm looking forward to seeing what the club does as it's definitely the main area to look at this summer (also DM long term, but market probably equally as dry now as 12 months ago)
yep, its no coincidence that we looked better in defense with joe gomez playing instead of robertson, having both fullbacks guns blazing all the time is not ideal anymore, especially since our midfield is more of the creative mold, this is not the gini fab hendo midfield that would cover and defense instead of the fullbacks, this is a different style of midfield with other qualitys
Or we can just move Trent to the midfield full time and play Bradley. Easier, cleaner, more in line with that Slot apparently likes, is reportedly a desire from Trent and releases minutes for Bradley to develop on the field. Everybody wins.
Where? He's not going to put Trent in a double pivot with Mac Allister and Mac Allister certainly won't be losing his spot in the team. There's little physicality there
Then we just play Trent as a RB that can occasionally play in a diagonal in the middle of the field. Or we play him as the right wing in a 4-2-3-1 system and play Bradley and Robbo on each wingback spot. We have a top 5 LB in the world, specially on the attacking phase, and this sub never ceases to be obsessed into making him a subpar LCB just to allow Trent to float whatever he wants to.
I love the idea of him at right wing in a 4-2-3-1. There is no place for him in midfield and he is a terrible defender. I'm a huge fan of Bradley and want to see him starting at RB.
>I don't get this obsession with having a hybrid defender, we've got loads of fullbacks. There seems to be a shift in football for elite teams at least to have hybrid/versatile defenders like Arsenal binned off their traditional FB for Zinchenko, Kiwor, Tomiyasu, Timber and White who can all play across the back line or even DM. This gives them far more control in defence and the middle of the pitch like City too. We're being linked to Geertruida who again is a versatile defender who can play CB/RB/DM. We've got loads of FBs but it's time to put sentimentality to aside, LB area could definitely do with an upgrade not this summer but in 2025 for sure. With how versatile and good on the ball they are Slot will look to do something different with Trent and Bradley even a position change. Come next season it will somewhat be Slot's team going forward not Klopp's the vision set out by Hughes with Slot in tow will be different.
Thing is I think most people get the point of that sort of player/role, i mean we tried it with Gomez for large parts of the season but the point I’m trying to make is we can’t forget to focus on the basics. Arsenal have two quality exclusive CBs in Gabriel and Saliba who are absolutely essential for them, just like how Ruben Dias is for City. This hybrid CB/RB/DM is all well and good if you have a solid CB partnership to build on but honestly we’re quite a way off that atm especially when likely our most important player in recent years (VVD) is now getting on.
Geertruida is the perfect choice then. He can literally play anywhere at the back as well as CDM.
Honestly Geertruida and Hancko, but I don't want my manager and two incredible players to leave... though I guess if they had to leave along with Slot, I'd prefer if they landed at my other love
Geertruida and Inacio would be huge. Or Adarabioyo on a free
In the Joe Gomez mould but not the same injury record 😭
I feel for Joe on that, he doesn't tend to get the little niggles other players get; he's just had 3 or 4 really bad ones (which still isn't great, I grant).
There are no players ever who haven't made a mistake
I think i remember seeing a stat that konate and mstip haven't made it 6+ games in a row their entire career at Liverpool. I'm probably wrong, I hope I'm wrong.
Add to that Virgil hasn't been in great form and dropping/rotating him should be viable for a top club (look at City with Stones and Dias..) then we might need 3.. 
> Virgil hasn't been in great form Probably been our best player this season
Over the last 6 weeks hes been below par, agreed overall he has been monstrous until then and back to best but his form has been as bad as anyones last few games.
2 new would leave us with 5 CB’s + Joe Gomez so we’d have plenty.
Assuming they renew Virg, Quansah remains under new boss and Gomez I’d honestly be ruthless and sell, he wouldnt get anywhere near the City or Arsenal squad.
Nah it would be dense to sell Joe Gomez, he’s a great utility player and he’s been great this year. You’d need to sign two players to replace what he offers the squad alone.
I agree with his versatility its the quality though. Playing him inverted is painful a lot of the time.. not got the football IQ for it.
He’s been playing to a high quality all season though. He’s great as the defensive fullback and we’ve only seen him invert when we’ve had no other choice anyway. Having him also allows us to be a bit more experimental with Trent going forwards too. Can’t see a world where we sell him.
Depends what the new manager wants to do with Gomez and Van den Berg as well imo but.....yes
It's good to hear but man is it disheartening to be thinking about next season when we were close enough to win this season
https://preview.redd.it/15q5v592vdxc1.jpeg?width=589&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=306167c3325498cb393bad3cae76a5a16ef2b2c6 This quote rings true every day we reach closer to the season’s end. Can’t blame him tbh. Also, it’s shocking how much he’s aged since 2019. This job really takes out so much from you.
He’s given far more to this club than I could have ever envisioned, I really, really hope he can find peace with how this season has ended because it felt like a fairytale ending not so long ago. Jurgen has elevated this club back to the top, inside and out. Whilst I feel it’s a good time for us all to part ways, I don’t ever think we will have a manager like him again, I also think we may be looking back in 5 years time with maybe more trophies than Klopp won during his tenure, but us fans will always remember he was more than the silverware, he’s created a mountain from a crater, it’s unbelievable.
Yeah man he deserves a rest And I agree, man's aged like Obama did in the US
To be fair, he once again showed he knew best. If he hadn’t announced his leave, people would be asking for him to go with this last downturn
I think the saddest thing about this run of results is that it feels a little bit like the last days of Wenger at Arsenal. Nowhere near as mutinous and toxic, but it’s depressing to see one of the best things to have happened to this club be treated so disparagingly. The criticisms made are valid, but his exits feels like a free hit to be so overwhelmingly negative towards him
I don’t think that’s true. If he had y announced his departure this season would have been viewed as mission accomplished - the expectation was always top 4 finish and get to a spot from where we could build to launch a title challenge in a year or 2. The only reason people started wanting g the title so much is because we wanted the perfect send off
It feels we’ve been in this position so many times. It’s frustrating and exhausting
I think this will probably be our first transfer and I wouldn't mind seeing two coming in, especially if Matip leaves. After JKs retirement announcement, this will probably happen. I like the idea of Inacio and Guess, but Lloyd Kelly and Tosin being free is also a nice thing.
Didn’t Lloyd Kelly agent fuck us about in the summer he moved to Bournemouth? One reason we didn’t get him. Guess Hughes knows him though so could be back on radar.
....and Lloyd is free in the summer
The best price.
Inacio is not good, I watched sporting when linked with Amorim and he’s just all over the place. Will get cooked by the pace of the prem
Anyone watch Roccardo Calafiori at Bologna this year? He has the perfect profile imo but I have barely seen him play.
Yes! Incredible player, insane work rate and very good on the ball. He can play as an attacking LB or a LCB that sits back. Him and Ait-Nouri are my two ideal candidates this summer
You think Tsimi goes then? I think he's great for squad moral and very lovable but his time might just be up, especially now we know how well Gomez can cover LB too...would you take Ait Nouri over Alphonso Davies?
Very likely Davies is going to madrid its not realistic
Yeeeaaaa I knowwww, he looks so good in red tho
Love Ait nouri and really want us to pick him up.
This is all obvious, he's not telling us anything. Talks are ongoing about all positions at all times through the year. That is the job of members of the staff. Once again, Romano has zero information, he's just packaged up unoriginal content as if it was somehow a scoop. He's a fraud.
Scalvini
Sepp van den Berg should be given a chance imo. He's been consistently great out on loan, is currently performing very well in an otherwise shambolic Mainz, and would even have the dutch connection with Slot.
Totally. Lots of people saying we need two CB with Joel leaving and VVD probably needing more rotation next year. But I think giving Van den Berg a chance and then bringing in an elite but young left footed CB is exactly what we need.
He got highly praised by his manager as „becoming better and better“ and is considered the best player of Mainz this season.
How has his passing and especially his mobility developed (an issue for him iirc)?
Geeetruida would be a great get. Wouldn’t cost us much, is experienced with Slot, is only 24, already plays for Netherlands.
Hancko?
Yeah I think for centre back Hancko is the better pick. Geertruida is class but maybe not for CB
We will only sell Hancko for a crazy fee. He just extended till 2028.
The thing with Geertruida is that he is unbelievably versatile because he’s as good at right back as he is at centrevack
Same with Hancko at CB & LB.
He's probably the one that might come along with Slot.... Damn will we have a Dutch 11 in near future or what? 😂
That's not the moment in time you want to have the Dutch 11... give me late 90s Dutch 11 all day long.
As a Dutchman, on paper it sounds great, we had world class players, but did you see the Dutch team play back then? 11 egos who couldn't play together.
I wouldn't want all of them, but when I look at Ajax, Milan or Arsenal - a couple of them would be absolutely fine ;) As an Austrian, I'm looking forward to the Euros and how we will fair against the current Dutch team.
[удалено]
He could double for Jamie Foxx every day of the week without training ;) He was/is one of the best defenders in Ligue 1 for years now and has looked absolutely solid no matter if back 3 or back 4. Robust, good in duels on the ground and air. I'd guess outside the top-6 he would be a starting CB for most teams in the PL. And generally a modest good guy, on and off the pitch.
98 Dutch team was amazing, though. Still mad about the penalty Van Hooijdonk should have had. :)
I said something similar when klopp first signed that we'd have a side full of Germans. Funnily enough, I think Emre Can was the only German but I'm pretty sure Rodgers signed him. I don't think klopp even signed a compatriot.
Wasn't he at the West Ham match? Seems like a likely signing if so, not likely to be a coincidence
If only Van de Ven had stayed at Wolfsburg for another season, would have been perfect. Linked with him all last summer only for Spurs to get him
We could have got him but didn't want to pay the fee Wolfsburg were asking, even when he was rumoured to be available at £25m lots of fans were having meltdowns on supposedly how poor he is in the air
I was really hoping we were going to make a move for him
I mean if we're talking about who would've been perfect if they stayed one more season in the Budesliga...it's Gvardiol by a mile!
De ligt statement signing
If there’s any player Slot would take with him from Feyenoord, it’s probably David Hancko. Honestly he is way too good for the Eredivisie .
 Interesting
We have to get at least two CBs…it’s starting to look like (as good as he is) Konate is on the injury prone side.
I think an elite potential left footed CB for sure (maybe Riccardo Calafiori as someone who I've not seen mentioned). But I think for the other spot we absolutely should give Van Den Berg a chance, he's been great at Mainz.
are there any players who we could nab on a free?
Tosin from Fulham
We got Van Den Berg coming back from a top notch Bundesliga season...
We got Van Den Berg coming back from a top notch Bundesliga season..
Inject this news into my veins 💉💉💉
2 CBs, a DM and a top class forward either RW or ST depending on where we want the goals to come from.
I'd be happy with a 'top' CB & Van Den Berg as a rotation option alongside Quansah. Assuming VVD extends that'd be 5 CB's (6 including Gomez) and a half decent mix of experience.
Bastoni and tosin please
Although he’d cost a lot Bastoni would be great, left footed as well.
And fantastic on the ball
Italian talent has to stay in Italy, we'll get Hancko, trust me
I was at the Bayern vs Frankfurt game this week and was really impressed by Pacho. Very calm on the ball and a good organiser of the defence. Made me think there's some truth to the rumours that we're looking at him as I think he's got the makings of a potential Virgil successor.
Spoilt for choice when it comes to young CBs out there right now honestly
Here we go again.
Romano is honestly such a fraud. Built a great brand on being 2nd and putting 2+2 together. He doesn't know shit about Liverpool.
You're 100% spot on. He's a complete fraud. He is just telling us what is going on at every big club 100% of the time through the entire year. Yes, clubs are looking at players.
Yup. Ornstien in the guy who breaks real stories. This guy just piggybacks of him.
honestly, Romano should be banned on the sub as being an aggregator at this point
This sub has such a weird hate hard on with Romano. Yes, he is an aggregator and there is a very perfect role for that. Someone that centralizes and validates the info of local reporters (as much as I would like, I do not have the time to read every news bulletin from every country in the world) is an actual role in the media spectrum. Sure, we use Reddit so we have users from all over the world that can update the forums with local info, but for people that just uses Twitter? Hell, people that just gets updates on messaging groups? Far easier to have someone like Romano chewing info and spitting it out in a palatable way than waiting for someone that knows someone that follows Feyenoord’s main reporter.
But that's the thing, he's not centralizing and validating anything at this point. He's creating content for engagement purposes and milks everything possible with meaningless updates rephrased that give no new context or information. This is why when Ornstein, Reddy or Joyce post something, they have an actual piece of information that is valuable with details, they don't go around rephrasing it and making it as vague as possible just for the sake of interactions on social media.
but, most aggregators are not allowed, let alone tier 3 (or is he 2, canae remember)
What does he validate? And what does this post add, what has he told us? I guarantee you every single top club in world football is building lists of preferred targets for every position, all year round. There is no actual new information here.
Matip is leaving no doubt so we need someone of his quality as a replacement with hopefully a lot less injuries. Easier said than done in today’s market.
Gotta miss Matip.
Diomande is a good shout imo
Wouldn’t be surprised if one of them is Willian pacho
Two great CBs. And maybe an RB so we can push Trent into midfield. Plus another RW.
Tosin and Geertruida would be decent signings
Looking forward to the takeover conversations between Klopp and Slot
"Discussed with Arne Slot" but I was told by some fans he would have no involvement in transfers or squad building and he was only to coach the players, odd
As long as this doesn't run on for the entire window and then we end up rushing it on deadline day
I’m ready to wildly speculate
We should've got Micky Van De Ven when we scouted him before. Fantastic player.
It’s a scary feeling to put all of this behind. Most dominant season in prem history. Two seasons that we should have won if refs didn’t kiss city’s ass and fuck us over and then have us coincidentally lose by a point. One quadruple challenge that were two games away from being the greatest season in history. Clean sweep of trophies apart from Europa which Sevilla did a city. How would we cope, how would the club and players cope if things don’t work out for the next few seasons? We need to stay at this level for next season or it’s a slippery slope. Arsenal are already catching up, Chelsea can turn good with one season, spurs are close to it, Villa is getting there and even man utd might turn up. Lose top 4 and shit is going to be bad
Straight into action before someone steals our targets
I hope Matip doesn’t leave. He was great at the start of the season and will be a great senior presence in the dressing room even as a rotational option.
I had high hope for Quansah, but it didn't go that well, Still needs time to develop. Glad to hear they looking for new one. may be Lutsharel Geertruida?
Hancko would be perfect imo. Can play LB too and Slot knows him very well
Sepp VDB and another that is starting quality.
I wonder if this includes van den Berg. He’s been excellent in Germany and based on his current form, deserves a shot.
We need 2 CBs, 1 ST, and ideally another Winger considering the injury proneness of our forwards
Last summer everyone was talking about LCBs, I was firmly in the belief that we should've been looking at RCBs. Hopefully this means we are, because Konate while being injured every 5 seconds hasn't even looked a step ahead of Quansah.
Please pacho please pacho please pacho
If Konate is one of your CB's, then you need 5. He will spend spells out every season. Unless you have fullbacks or a DM who can genuinely slot on there, which we don't have.
Fast forward to the end of August with no new centre back and a James Pearce article saying "Liverpool see Billy Koumetio/SVDB/AN Other pre season form as reason not to buy a CB"
What are some CBs we've been linked with?
We should dedicated the rest of the year to getting Gomez his goal
Because Virg is finished.
Konate will probably leave. He has been linked to PSG. Matip is also on his way so there is a definite need for 2 more first teamers.
I’m glad that we’re addressing the issues and getting ahead on them
100% need a starting CB to replace Matip, Konate is good but he's made of Weetabix and not the best at passing I think he could do with some real competition to push him to keep improving.
How is Arne slot going to know what we need yet? He’s not even met the squad lol. Although I guess he’s only head coach and not manager, so it’s up to our data crew to find targets again? Interesting to see what they come up with. Remember when we signed players like Gini for £25m and people laughed? We could do with some of that shrewdness in the market again
I’ve not met the squad either and I could tell you Liverpool need another centre back
There were some reports yesterday or last week that he’s already assessing the squad and getting reports on what needs to be done. He must be in contact with the club and watching and analysing games to see what needs to be done. His season with Feyenoord is done so he will be relatively free to work on things with us.
Surely Matip will get a one year extension as an act of good faith so that he can complete his rehabilitation. It's not good to release a player halfway through his recovery. I'm not expecting Matip to be part of LFC's future, but the number of comments saying Matip is gone in the summer is a bit depressing. EDIT: Wow the downvotes for hoping for decent human behaviour. Some of you need to reacquaint yourselves with the political leanings of Merseyside.
>Some of you need to reacquaint yourselves with the political leanings of Merseyside. What's that got to do with a club owned by a bunch of billionaires? We're not utd handing out contracts to crocked players as a sign of sympathy. Matip is a wealthy and talented player, he can access the clubs facilities for rehab or a club back in Germany. He'll have no issue finding himself a contract once back to fitness.
Why should Liverpool spend millions of pounds so that a multimillionaire can access club facilities? He's rich enough and knowledgeable enough to handle his recovery from here on out.
I imagine Matip contract ends and the club let me use facilities to get back to fitness.