Premier League 2025 - 2026

4 hours ago, owls maniac said:

Worst title retention attempt ever 

Since Liverpool's last one

4 minutes ago, Shifty Powers said:

I never really understand why they didn’t make signing a CB an absolute priority.

 

The chase of Guehi all seemed a bit rushed and in the end a bit of a panic. He should have been the number 1 target in the summer. 

They had been after him all window but Palace held firm. Unfortunately though he wasn't their number one priority, Isak was. 

It was a very odd window for them when you look at it. They bought a player Newcastle wanted in Ekitike - had they not done this, the Isak transfer may have gone through sooner.

They sold a very solid performer in Diaz.

Continued in their quest for Isak, knowing they won't be playing two up top, rendering the Ekitike signing useless.

Palace told them to F off at the last minute for Guhehi. I think they believed this move would go ahead, no matter what. Hence why they just kept toying with Palace.

A CB should have been right at the top of their list. Konate is out of contract in the summer and his displays would suggest his mind is elsewhere.

Think they needed an extra option in midfield too. 

To sum things up, the one midfielder who has performed (Szoboszlai) was playing right back (again) today. 

1 minute ago, SiJ said:

 

To sum things up, the one midfielder who has performed (Szoboszlai) was playing right back (again) today. 

 

 

Which plays right into a problem that hasn't just unexpectedly landed on them

Their fullbacks have needed an upgrade for a while - and yes, i include TAA in that because he's defensively pony when played as a fullback

They have one defender worthy of a team chasing Pl and CL titles

And even VVD has seen better days

9 minutes ago, scram said:

 

Which plays right into a problem that hasn't just unexpectedly landed on them

 

Their fullbacks have needed an upgrade for a while - and yes, i include TAA in that because he's defensively pony when played as a fullback

 

They have one defender worthy of a team chasing Pl and CL titles

 

And even VVD has seen better days

 

At least with TAA, you could forego some of his defensive shortcomings because of how brilliant he was as a playmaker. What they've done with Frimpong is bring in a wingback who is arguably as bad defensively, but offers nowhere near the same level of creativity. Bradley looks out of his depth imo. 

As for Robertson, apparent for a season or two that he was slowing down and needed competition/replacing. The problem is not only has Kerkez completely bombed, it was made clear from the start of this season that he was first choice and Robertson was very much backup...and yet the backup is still clearly the better player. 

I would take Manchester United’s business over Liverpool’s any day of the week. 4 players who they targeted and got in early (apart from the keeper) and 4 signings who go straight into their first team as clear and obvious upgrades.

Wirtz seems like a ridiculous vanity signing and I’m not sure what problem he was even brought in to solve. They’ve created their own problems with the centre forward position and neglected positions of actual need. I don’t actually mind the two fullbacks on paper.. although Frimpong can’t get on the field and Kerkez is badly struggling. 
 

Real shame, like..

12 hours ago, scram said:

 

 

Leeds come barging into the conversation...

Man City once won the title and got relegated the following season. 

10 hours ago, sheffield_dave said:

Wirtz seems like a ridiculous vanity signing and I’m not sure what problem he was even brought in to solve. 

I'm wondering if the thought process was that they were losing the playmaking abilities of Trent, so would bring in Wirtz as a more conventional playmaker higher up the pitch? 

As you say, he doesn't seem to really fit though. He's not got the physicality to play centrally, so they've ended up shoving him on the left. 

Liverpool's whole summer business seemed very much about sending a statement to the rest of the league: we are champions and spending big...but it's all blown up in their face.

It's very apparent that Slott does not have a clue what his best team/set up is.

At the risk of sounding callous, I'm going to repeat what I said elsewhere: if people are blaming Liverpool's poor form on Diogo Jota's death, which some US commenters apparently have done, that's really sick. There are players on that team who didn't know or work with Jota, what's their excuse? And they certainly were playing well earlier in the season.

11 hours ago, sheffield_dave said:

I would take Manchester United’s business over Liverpool’s any day of the week. 4 players who they targeted and got in early (apart from the keeper) and 4 signings who go straight into their first team as clear and obvious upgrades.

 

Wirtz seems like a ridiculous vanity signing and I’m not sure what problem he was even brought in to solve. They’ve created their own problems with the centre forward position and neglected positions of actual need. I don’t actually mind the two fullbacks on paper.. although Frimpong can’t get on the field and Kerkez is badly struggling. 
 

Real shame, like..

And it's paid off, they're actually decent now. 

Also agreed that getting rid of Diaz was immensely stupid. He was a good player! I wish we were in the kind of crisis Liverpool are tbh.

32 minutes ago, FightLikeAGirl said:

At the risk of sounding callous, I'm going to repeat what I said elsewhere: if people are blaming Liverpool's poor form on Diogo Jota's death, which some US commenters apparently have done, that's really sick. There are players on that team who didn't know or work with Jota, what's their excuse? And they certainly were playing well earlier in the season.

It's just a random ill-thought out excuse. Because they're Liverpool and everything simply has to mean more. At the risk of sounding even more callous, if he'd played for Spurs or Brighton he'd barely get a mention now. Yes of course the tragic loss will have affected the players who were his mate and they’ll always miss him, but it makes no sense to only use it as a reason after they've lost a game. The half a billion quid of new players didn't know him (probably not on a personal level anyway), and it certainly didn't affect them when they won the first 5 games of the season, or when they've won 3 out of 4 games in the Champions League despite their PL slump. But Liverpool always have to remind everybody that they're the only ones who suffer from tragedies. 

When they were winning, it was all about doing it for Jota.

Now they are losing, it's all about the impact his death may have had on them.

Awful what happened, but it's all a bit cynical imo.

I was at a club were a player died. 

I cannot tell you how profoundly it affected the rest of the squad - training had to be abandoned several times because the players were in bits

They had a harsh lesson in the really important things in life and as much as winning football matches is nice - it isn't really that important. 

Their form dropped off a cliff - went from challenging for the top spot in the division to just scraping into the play offs.

I'm not making excuses for Liverpool but grief is incredibly hard for some to deal with

Spurs are now like watching prime Pulis Stoke. 

18 hours ago, sheffield_dave said:

I would take Manchester United’s business over Liverpool’s any day of the week. 4 players who they targeted and got in early (apart from the keeper) and 4 signings who go straight into their first team as clear and obvious upgrades.

 

Wirtz seems like a ridiculous vanity signing and I’m not sure what problem he was even brought in to solve. They’ve created their own problems with the centre forward position and neglected positions of actual need. I don’t actually mind the two fullbacks on paper.. although Frimpong can’t get on the field and Kerkez is badly struggling. 
 

Real shame, like..

Man utd's priority was a central midfielder and they couldn't afford one because Mbeumo ended costing more money than they thought he would. 

I agree with the premise though. Liverpool's business was bad. They needed to replace what they lost, but they ended up panicking. Why sign Isak after Ekitike? Frimpong and Kerkez is silly. You can't play both of them in both of those examples, so they are just paying for a good bench. Kerkez or Frimpong playong just unbalances the defence completely. They are wide open. Surprise surprise they win and keep clean sheets against Real and Villa with Bradley and Robertson at full back.

Wirtz is definitely vanity as mentioned. He's a quality player, but similarly with Simons at Tottenham, they want to take too many touches. Liverpool's attack never wants slowing down. They are already slower going forward with Trebt because their outball was often the forward pass from right back over Salah