Liverpool FC - Talk /Gossip/Rumours 25/25

I think Wharton and Lamine Camara might be a good pairing.

I always thought Wirtz was going to be the 10?

Wirtz cannot play off the left for us. It works at international level and in the BL. But in the Premier League he'll just get aggressively bullied by most of the Premier League physical fullbacks, and likely put on the back foot as they get foward against him.

But also, we need pace on the left. One of our biggest issues all season has been the lack of pace in both wide forward spots. We just don't offer any threat. We need 2 pacey wide forwards, badly....

It's safe to say Jones ar RB accounts for a fair number of those starts though and that won't be the plan next season.

Maybe, hard to check stats for his starting position.

I suppose you could also argue we won't get as much time in the middle unless Mac is useless again.

I'm just not convinced him as a member of the first choice XI so happy for him to stay if he is a backup.

If we do end up with something like that, it'll be vital that Wirtz, Szob, Grav and Isak develop some chemistry. I'm really hoping that the DM will have an exponential effect on the team. In that, it will allow Grav and Szob to play their more natural game. I really rate both despite Grav not having the best season. Szob has shown that he can get to a higher level on his day.

Wirtz has shown glimpses and there's no doubt he has a great first touch and instinct. Many times he's been on another wavelength from his team-mates though apart from Ekitike. You would hope that one of Frimpong or Bradley could remain fit so that there's one of them available throughout the season but we'll see. As you say Konate and VVD would be enough at the back but it'll be important to play Jacquet and/or Leoni when possible to get them up to speed as understudys. I would keep Gomez too as he's a great option for a number of positions. Also Jones but he may have fallen out with Slot.

I think it's important we keep Alisson even if he's not fit for the full season. Can't rely on Mamar.

It's really crucial that our key players start to build relationships this season. Injuries definitely didn't help last time. If Isak, Wirtz, Grav, Szob and the new RW could start to connect….we might have hope.

Since I'm only talking about depth for the position here, not getting as much game time in the event Mac returns to good form is neither here nor there. Jones is a quality midfielder that Slot didn't freeze out. He is one of the 5 players in the midfield vying for 3 spots. My whole point is that in terms of squad depth, it is there. I'll not argue with improving on what we have but just in terms of depth, we can manage there with injuries that pop up.

On Jones' quality on it's own merit. Yeah he's not in that top bracket but he is a very handy player to rotate in or bring on as a sub. He is very good at retaining and moving along the ball. Someone posted an analysis video him before (or maybe I just stumbled on to it) but he is a very hard player to get the ball off of and as a result pulls in opposition midfield as they try to close him down… which obviously opens up space for others.

Looks like Diomande isn’t going anywhere this summer now as there is issues with his agent and CAS are getting involved.

Gordon to Barca and I doubt Barcola will leave PSG if they can’t get a replacement.

It’s going to be a long summer and Hughes and Edward’s probably heading out the door at the end of it as well.

I’m not Slot’s biggest fan, but he massively shifted how we operated on the right-hand side. He restricted Trent’s movements back into a more traditional right-back role, moving him away from the inverted position Klopp had him playing over the previous two years. He also adjusted Dom’s positioning, turning him into more of a defensive No. 8, very similar to the role Henderson played a few years earlier. Those changes gave Salah far more freedom to do what he does best in attacking areas. Salah even singled Slot out for praise at the end of last season for the tactical shift, which was pretty ironic considering the criticism he got from him this year.

Crucially though, he also moved us away from being a relentless pressing machine, which had increasingly become our downfall over the previous few years, especially towards the end of the 23/24 season. I remember being at the 2-2 United game and I genuinely couldn’t believe what we were doing at times. It was absolute madness. We completely lost control of games and constantly looked like we were getting overrun far too easily.

Personally, I don’t think Slot is the man to take us forward long term, but completely overlooking the changes he made last season is wrong too. You have to give credit where it’s due.

Best season for every manager this century (with multiple seasons) and the following season's points total:

Slot:

2025: 84pts

2026: 60pts

-24pts

Klopp:

2020: 99pts

2021: 69pts

-30pts

Rodgers:

2014: 84pts

2015: 62pts

-22pts

Rafa:

2009: 86pts

2010: 63pts

-23pts

Houllier:

2002: 80pts

2003: 64pts

-16pts

You'd swear Slot was the first we've seen to have a drop off. It's literally happened every single time. Only Klopp has had consecutive 80pts+ seasons since Paisley (and that was 97 then 99!)

Seriously awec,the amount of posters who have said we got lucky that City/Arsenal's form fell off a cliff,it was klopps team that won the title,Salah won it on his own with all the goals/assists he got. Plenty of posters have tried to undermine our title win last season.And nobody is making that up. If posters want to believe that then thats up to them but it has happened in here