General Premier League Thread 2024-25

You'd swear Trent was the first RB to ever cross the halfway line. Cafu 20 years ago was an attacking force of nature WHILE being rock solid at the back. The basic requirements for a defender is to be able to defend. Obviously if you have a good defender that CAN attack then you get into best/greatest level.

Tbf, Cafu is probably the greatest right back of all time!

People highlight Trent’s weakness and that’s fair enough. But for me, and the way I’d want my team to play, I’d have to have him. he’s the best there is that you can put there if you want an attacking team playing on the front foot. Remember, Real only want to sign best in class players.

Injuries have hurt him. He's absolutely a top level CB

Martinez is 6/10 at everything. In no way elite. If he was, he wouldn’t have ended up at Man Utd when he moved in 2022. The same way when Liverpoool were poor, they didn’t have the option of signing top class players.

It's amazing how we seem to keep having to relearn the same lessons

Galacticos didn't work at Real Madrid, it didn't work at PSG, It hasn't worked ever.
Real Madrid won the CL with Bellingham pushed higher up, 2 fast players either side (one of them very hard working) 3 actual midfielders behind that to control the game.

PSG are doing much better now they don't have 3 players walking around at the top of the pitch waiting for their moment…

I can understand the temptation of bringing in Mbappe but trying to play all of Mbappe, Vini Jr, Bellingham and Trent will leave the team unbalanced and under resourced when it comes to the hard yards side of the game.

The names on the teamsheet are better but the team isn't a better unit.

I'll be very interested to see how Real line up come September. They have problems to solve.

I think Trent is in for a rough start over there at the very least. A couple of bad results, couples of goals down his side and their fans will be all over him.

Trent is hardly a galactico. Beckham is the only player they've produced over there that could be considered that.

I fully believe he'll be a massive success for them

When I think Galacticos I'm thinking Beckham, Zidane, Figo, Roberto Carlos, Ronaldo, Cafu, Other Ronaldo

All of whom I'd describe as hard working off the ball.

Yeah someone like Beckham was flashy and easy on the eye, but people forget how hard he worked, and you really started to see it at Madrid and when he was England captain

Beckham absolutely was a workhorse as well as being a superstar.

In general though, you need to balance out your team with the superstar and the players who let the superstar shine.

That Real Madrid for example were better with Makelele during that era. Zidane, Figo and especially Carlos etc.. Had more chances to do their thing with him on the pitch.

The midfield never looked as good when he was sold off.

We'll see how Real attempt to balance this but you can't just drop Trent with his skillset and weakness into this current team and expect it to work.

They need to know what they are getting. That is someone who is absolutely world class on the ball and going forward but needs to be protected on his side defensively. That means the midfield but also the CB on his side needs to be able to cover the space and pick up runners coming in off the back of him.

There are lots of games where Real are much better than their opponents in La Liga but the games against Barcelona, Athetico and the CL is where they can't get it wrong.

I think they are already a weaker team because they never figured out how to add Mbappe correctly

Real going 3 atb? That would be interesting.

Is that not 2 years from now? They really play the long game! Tried it with Yoro too.

I'd assume Alonso would stick with the same formation that's worked for him at Bayer Leverkusen. 3-4-3 with Mbappe and Vino either side of Bellingham maybe as the front three.

Could go 4-3-3 and still play Trent in a midfield trio with Valverde and Tchouaméni. Frimpong has a £30M release clause and could suit Alonso for the RB spot.

Jonathan Tah is a free agent this summer and wouldn't be surprised if he followed Alonso to Madrid.

Can't see them bringing in Frimpong to then play a back 4 with Trent in midfield
Trent could be moved into midfield easier in a 343 / 352 with Bellingham acting in a similar role to the one he played last season. Pair Trent with a Valverde etc.. and let him playmake from deep

Would be very interesting to see how that plays out. There would be an adjustment period no doubt.

Something Real did miss this season was Kross ability to pick a pass from deep. Trent does have that in the locker

A bit worried, but I have a lot of faith in Slot and even more in the Liverpool data analytics team to get the right replacements in.

If Conor Bradley's injury record was better, I'd say he should be the starting right back next season.

I expect Liverpool to sign at least two defenders this summer capable of walking into the first team, and maybe three. There's a lot of talk of Kerkez at left back. I think we'll sign a centre back (huijsen would be ideal) and then also maybe a right back.

Not a Liverpool fan, but I think Bradley will do fine. I remember when he came up against Azpilceuta, and eventually Cesar had to back down, not Conor, and he also had a good game against Mbappe, if I recall correctly. If he's fit, he's fine, and definitely more suited to the Slot style than TAA.