Liverpool FC - Talk /Gossip/Rumours 25/25

8-10 · 25-04-2026 08:13PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124421787#Comment_124421787

What I wouldnt do for Adam Wharton

Appletart Upsetter · 25-04-2026 08:38PM

We won but it wasn't convincing. Against a Palace side that clearly had one eye on Europe midweek.

Is Slot trying to make a point by leaving Frimpong and Kerkez on the bench?

.red. · 25-04-2026 09:09PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124421870#Comment_124421870

He got robbed once by Szob but other than that he was immense. Looked like the best player on the pitch. He'd fit into our midfield well.

BorneTobyWilde · 25-04-2026 09:49PM

I wonder what team will look like in year 4028

noodler · 25-04-2026 09:57PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124421935#Comment_124421935

About the hair?

SodiumCooled · 25-04-2026 10:55PM

Pickford up to his usual leaving the foot in and the ball long gone I see on motd (and getting away with it).

Fitz* · 25-04-2026 11:36PM

It would actually be horrible if that is Salah's last appearance in a Liverpool jersey, coming off injured. You can tell that he is desperate for one last goal at Anfield. He didn't want to come off today.

Ottoman_1000 · 26-04-2026 08:08AM

That was a seriously underrated finish from Isak yesterday. The guy could actually be Haaland 2.0 for us, if we can get him the ball in the box(this is a problem)!

However, our team is so imbalanced. We have a out and out No.9 in Isak, but with players like Gakpo and Salah either side. Wingers/strikers who's main priorities are to cut inside.

We have a No.10 in Wirtz but have no wingers around him to free up space, and worse again we have a midfield base behind him who could also consider themselves No.10s in their own mind so will constantly drift into that space! Midfield is a massive massive issue TBH.

And whats going on with Kerkez. The bar is obviously not high, but since the turn of the year he has been one of our better performers alongside Dom but has only managed 2x 5 minutes cameos off the bench the last 2 weeks?

Ottoman_1000 · 26-04-2026 08:24AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124422312#Comment_124422312

You just know the season that we're having this will be the case 😞. Everything that can go wrong has this year!

machiavellianme · 26-04-2026 09:39AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124422525#Comment_124422525

Ah come on, everything hasn't gone wrong. Look at spurs!

noodler · 26-04-2026 03:57PM

Serious speculation in the Irish media about a buy back for Kelleher. Id never heard that before

robwen · 26-04-2026 04:16PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124423336#Comment_124423336

Is that just based on this,

https://www.balls.ie/football/caoimhin-kelleher-liverpool-shay-given-654015

robwen · 26-04-2026 04:20PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124421870#Comment_124421870

Him & Diomande seem to be the main targets this summer going by the transfer speculation

noodler · 26-04-2026 04:34PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124423376#Comment_124423376

I probably misused the word serious so!

CajunSurprise · 26-04-2026 05:46PM

I can see Jones and McAllister sold in the summer to fund a move for Wharton or Anderson.
A pacy winger is needed and that looks like Diomande is the main target.

TitianGerm · 26-04-2026 05:52PM

Diomande looks great but I wouldn't like to be risking 100m on him just yet.

giveitholly · 26-04-2026 05:55PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124423587#Comment_124423587

Is Anderson not off to City?

rob316 · 26-04-2026 06:17PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124423376#Comment_124423376

Why would there be a buy back clause for a player in the last year of his contract? Why would any buying club agree to that. Lazy analysis as usual. I do wonder sometimes with these ex players did they pay any attention to the business side of the game.

~Rebel~ · 26-04-2026 06:21PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124423646#Comment_124423646

Shay Given always has particularly poor takes. I think he's maybe just not the brightest when it comes to anything beyond the actual technical aspects of goalkeeping.

Electric Nitwit · 26-04-2026 06:50PM

To be fair to Given, he didn't actually say there was one

"I just hope Liverpool have some sort of a buy-back clause"

Clickbait reporting at play again, really

noodler · 26-04-2026 08:29PM

Id love Kelleher back but weve a million other priorities also.

brevity · 26-04-2026 08:31PM

who knows how Kelleher would perform this season, Jota was his best friend, he already mentioned that he didn’t know how the current Liverpool players were managing this season so I will imagine it would be very hard for him

Appletart Upsetter · 27-04-2026 05:40AM

Simon Hughes wrote an interesting piece in The Athletic today.

It compared Slots troubles this year to those of Dalglish and Klopp after their first league winning seasons.

He raised a couple of interesting points.

9 players out and 8 players in this season. Historically, Liverpool's success has been built on stability. If you look at our 2 most recent league wins, the team didn't change at all prior to each.

The profile of player we signed under Klopp tended to be in their mid-20's (24/25/26). This season, Isak aside, Wirtz is 22, Ekitike 23 and Kerkez 21. Players can still be inconsistent at that age.

Funnily enough, if Liverpool were to win their last 4 games (if doing a lot of heavy lifting there), they'd finish 3rd and have 1 point more than Klopps team in 2020/2021.

Again, he reiterated that the club have no plans to change manager.

It would be an exaggeration to claim Arne Slot is clinging on to his job because, throughout a very difficult second season, all of the indications from Liverpool have pointed to the club sticking with him, despite persistent calls for his dismissal since November — albeit the noise being much louder online than inside stadiums.

noodler · 27-04-2026 09:56AM

This has been done to death but we had 4 CBs injured in 20/21 and still finished the season extremely strong.

We weren't completely void of a playing style either.

Also, we had seen a Klopp style for 4 years and it had brought us a league and a CL (and 2nd/CL final) so there was a clear sense he could maintain or rebuild as he had done.

It is alot more difficult to see Slot's input before this season when things fell apart.

SodiumCooled · 27-04-2026 10:00AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124424662#Comment_124424662

I don’t think people are acknowledging how hard we have been hit by injuries this year either though. We have been severely impacted by them in multiple positions.

noodler · 27-04-2026 10:10AM

So, it's clear what system Klopp would return to after a difficult season.

We've no clue what Slot will do given the squad and system in his first season were basically extensions of Klopp''s.

He has begun the process of transforming into something else, and although progress isn't always linear, the early signs are not good.

redoctober · 27-04-2026 10:19AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124422512#Comment_124422512

Agree with all that. We're a disjointed mess and not all of that is on Slot. You would have thought the plan was to have Frimpong and Kerkez provide width from FB. Wirtz to be the 10 and help to break down stubborn defences and Isak to get on the end of things. Unfortunately, Isak has missed most of the season, Kerkez struggled and Wirtz has lacked the physicality. It's hard to know where Gakpo and Salah fit into the blueprint. Salah will be gone next season so there should be a chance to set the team up maybe the way Slot wanted to but couldn't due to having to accommodate Salah. If Isak can stay fit for the first half of next season maybe with others having bedded in as well we might start to look better. There will be problems when Ekitike is back as to where he will play. Right now we don't seem to know what way we want to set up and it shows.

redoctober · 27-04-2026 12:10PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124424708#Comment_124424708

Despite all the soundings to the opposite, I'd be very surprised if they start next season with Slot, given that he'd be a lame duck manager and also it might be the only chance to get certain managers, i.e. Alonso.

Bacchus · 27-04-2026 12:25PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124424373#Comment_124424373

Just on the "if we win the last 4 games, we finish 3rd".

We're currently 15 points off the top and could realistically end up that way. 3rd place would not in any way absolve Slot for the season we've had. I 100% agree that we've had horrid injuries and effectively lost ~20 goals from Salah vs last season… BUT that doesn't excuse the lack of fight and concentration so many times this season where in the dying minutes we gave up a win or a draw to a late goal that the players on the pitch should have dealt. THAT is a problem Slot should have sorted the first time it happened. I can almost forgive the lack of attacking prowess give the various issues, but not that. There's been 8 goals conceded after the 90th minute… Palace, Chelsea, Bournmouth, Wolves, City… all draws that turned to losses. Fulham, Leeds and Spurs… wins that turned to draws. That's 11 points lost due to injury time goals. Some might have been unavoidable but hypothetically, we don't concede those goals and we're in 2nd on 69 points with City behind us on 68.

EDIT: missed the Leeds game that turned a win to a draw

Appletart Upsetter · 27-04-2026 12:46PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124424662#Comment_124424662

I get all that and at present the team is failing the eye test. It's why I'm sceptical about Slots ability to correct this next season.

The only point that I think is fair to make, is Klopp had a much better team at his disposal than Slot has currently. Mane, Salah and Firminho were incredible. Trent and Robertson in the full back positions were so much better than what we have now.

It looks like Slot is going to get another crack at it. I am curious to see what he can do if the club can sign some good players in the summer. Are our issues just related to the managers tactics and inability to motivate this group of players or would any manager struggle with this team in its current guise?

Liverpool FC - Talk /Gossip/Rumours 25/25

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