ECHO Comment: "Fears of Witch-hunt Against Liverpool FC" part 3

[NewRadical]

Impossible I've seen the celebrations all the players and manager were waving to fans all round the stadium some were taking selfies of that magical night, unless you are telling me it was all a sham and they staged the most pathetic embarrassing cringeworthy staged managed celebration in history.

It had better direction than when Stanley Kubrick directed the Moon landing. lol

 

[bilyaletdinov_]

i think he will be a good signing for them, from the little i’ve seen he looks like a really powerful CB. injury record is a bit of a put off mind. still no Ben Godfrey like

 

[Zatara]

An interesting signing for them, and if you discount price probably a good one. I was quite critical of Davies and to a degree Kabak (Davies hasn't played which has born that out).

It feels more like FSG going back to core principles, buying younger players who they feel for whatever reason have lost appeal to the market. I see a lot of sense in that for them. Almost a reset and start again for them, and look to identify players for 2-3-4 years down the line.

The only cautionary notes would be, he's really fallen quite a way behind Upemecanno over the last couple of years, and perhaps allied to this, he has had a string of fairly serious injuries I believe he's only played about 15 league games over the last 2 years.

I would imagine they really wanted Upemecanno who looks likely to go to Bayern, Kouliably (who I also think will end up at Bayern) but for whatever reason they are not in the picture for either of those so have moved for plan B. So there's a realism of where they are at, but looks quite decisive once that has sunk in.

The fee does seem large to me. Depending on what exchange you use, around 35m. Leipzig will have a sell on attached in their too. And whenever you buy from the RB Franchise there are generally lots of additional fees on top (you essentially have to siort out the agents/players demands etc) partly due to the lower release clauses. Cautiously it depends to be around 50% on top of the book price, but in transfers like Haaland went over the 100% mark (ie the real fee was well over double the advertised amount). I think thats what led them to move on from Werner last summer who's fee would have been a lot higher for Chelsea. You also have to factor in, you have to pay most/all up front.

In terms of the wider point, it seems to suggest that FSG feel that either the market prices will not decline, they feel that younger players value will hold better than older players, or they have just made a mistake. I'm not sure I would be spending £35m on Konate if I felt a 30% decline in prices was coming, as I don't think he's anything like a 45m player.

2 years ago Konate looked like he was destined for the top, it seemed like with him and Upamecano Leipzig had two of the best u21 centre backs in the world.

Since October 2019 hes been out with 'torn muscle fibre' (as per transfermarkt) for 335 days. His performances since returning to the squad seem to be hit and miss and it looks like Liverpool are gambling that he's on the road to getting back to speed and will be guns blazing after this summer.

Its definitely a roll of the dice.

On the other hand, if theyve met the release clause they may be negotiating with Leipzig for low upfront fees (like with Jota). Leipzig could be willing to accept that as theyve banked the Upamecano money and dont want to take the risk of Konate not getting back to his previous best, let alone reaching his potential.

They are going for this signing early and its something which we should be doing as well. They know what they need and are making moves, we know what we need but seem to be waiting for the window as usual.

 

[catcherintherye]

2 years ago Konate looked like he was destined for the top, it seemed like with him and Upamecano Leipzig had two of the best u21 centre backs in the world.

Since October 2019 hes been out with 'torn muscle fibre' (as per transfermarkt) for 335 days. His performances since returning to the squad seem to be hit and miss and it looks like Liverpool are gambling that he's on the road to getting back to speed and will be guns blazing after this summer.

Its definitely a roll of the dice.

On the other hand, if theyve met the release clause they may be negotiating with Leipzig for low upfront fees (like with Jota). Leipzig could be willing to accept that as theyve banked the Upamecano money and dont want to take the risk of Konate not getting back to his previous best, let alone reaching his potential.

They are going for this signing early and its something which we should be doing as well. They know what they need and are making moves, we know what we need but seem to be waiting for the window as usual.

Lots of good points there.

I agree with your overall assessment. I always felt Upamecanno was the better player of the two but you are right to say they are close. I know City looked closely at Konate but in the end went against it.

From an FSG perspective they like buying an asset that goes aginst the trend with better intrinsic value. They may well feel that Konate represents the dip, and yes, with Upamecanno sold Leipzig may be more open on a payment plan. My feeling is they probably won't be, as they have more strength now with the money generated and generally they want the fees up front to re-speculate. But if they feel he's not the player he might have been, who knows? It is classic FSG though, taking a risk on a good underlying asset that has struggled of late. Similar MO to Kabak, for their sake you hope it works out better than Kabak has.

In terms of us, Brands approach is to buy later and I suppose exploit drops in price more. We are probably a bit more dependant on firstly sorting the stadium finance out, and secondly seeing exactly what comes of FFP. As we saw in 2017 buying earlier tends to come at a premium and doesn't always mean buying well. I'm not massively worried about that.

 

[B17BLG]

I mean the fact they are cheering on climate change, which would basically destroy the entire City financially and probably do enormous adverse damage to their football club as well in the process, purely because it it would cause harm to us is just indicative of the sort of petty minded stupidity they have become synonymous with.

Why are they so weird? Who honestly wants climate chnage to destroy the City their clubs based in?

Because it means more......or something.

 

[Connor]

Well done to the Crimson on..... triggering a release clause

 

[PaulPowersTash]

Looks like Wolves have become the new Southampton.
Firstly Jota and now this fella

 

[JelavicBrate2]

As I resemble that remark I'll point out that its total rubbish.
As for Garston and Dingle being mainly Protestant. Isn't the whole point to march around and wind up the local Catholics.
You always get the odd one of course, but usually being a Blue (and a rs for all I know) was always Pan Denominational

As I said I don't think that religion plays any part in the rivalry, it may intertwine with it, on a purely coincidental level, but it has no relevance to the rivalry. I've always found we have more supporters in the North End they have more supporters in the South End, obviously you have plenty of RS in the North End just like you have plenty of Blues in the South End.

I pointed out that we have supporters from all backgrounds, just like they do, however they claim that they are a Socialist club and there are some RS both on Merseyside and in Ireland who claim that they support them due to a mythical connection between Liverpool and Ireland. I was just pointing out that they aren't a Socialist club, and their strongholds in the city, where always associated with the Orange Order. The point I was making is neither club can claim to have a particular religious or political stance and the RS should pack it in, with their fake Scouseness and fake Socialism.

 

[catcherintherye]

Looks like Wolves have become the new Southampton.
Firstly Jota and now this fella

I'll be honest, I'd be delighted if they signed Adama Traore. Jota was always a clever player with good outputs. Whenever I'd watch Wolves I'd think he was a tidy, useful player. He's not the player they've all made him out to be, but as usual who is, and I'm not sure he's great value at £45m but he was a decent signing.

I look at Traore, and I just don't see it. He's quick and powerful but has very little end product. A quick glance at his numbers, and he has played about 170 league games for 9 goals and 15 assists. So he's a guy who will get you around 2 goals and 4 assists a season if he plays most of the league games.

I'm sure with better players he may do a bit better, but if if he doubled his output, to me thats still a bit underwhelming for a winger.

My theory FWIW is that Wolves far from becoming the new Manchester are happy to take their role as a selling club now, and have probably hit the peak of where they will get to under the current ownership. They are quite happy to move players on for a good fee, and refresh again with Mendes's next batch of Portuguese players.

If Liverpools attacking cover next year is Adama Traore, I'm pretty delighted. He's not going to get them anywhere near the title, and in honesty he's probably not going to get them anywhere nearer the top 4 either.

 

[Tipp blue]

They’re now comforting themselves with the hope climate change will see the stadium under water in the future.

I think the whole of Liverpool would have something to worry about given that Liverpool One, the Albert Dock, the Three Graces, etc would all be going underwater at the same time.

If it gets to that point football will be an afterthought, hundreds of millions... probably a billion+ of the worlds population will need rehoming.

 

[ToffeeDan]

Excerpt from You Are The Mersey Derby Ref (my words; 2008)

You are refereeing a big local Derby - you have already missed a shocking challenge by the visiting striker on the home captain almost depositing him in the paddock. You award a dubious penalty for a challenge on the very edge of the box and the visiting captain reminds you to send the defender off and the non-dismissed striker nets an equaliser. You follow this up by allowing the aforementioned (non-dismissed) striker to handle the ball in the build up to another offence in the penalty box by the home side which results in the visiting side taking the lead. Injury time looms and the home side are attacking, losing 2-1 - there are 2 incidents - in the first the home defender is poleaxed by an opponent in the area and in the final seconds of the game repeats this within 5 yards of your vision on the goal line, whilst just to the right of you another home player is similarly held back by an opponent.

The question is - how do you get to remain on the Premier League list with a performance like this?

 

[PaulPowersTash]

I'll be honest, I'd be delighted if they signed Adama Traore. Jota was always a clever player with good outputs. Whenever I'd watch Wolves I'd think he was a tidy, useful player. He's not the player they've all made him out to be, but as usual who is, and I'm not sure he's great value at £45m but he was a decent signing.

I look at Traore, and I just don't see it. He's quick and powerful but has very little end product. A quick glance at his numbers, and he has played about 170 league games for 9 goals and 15 assists. So he's a guy who will get you around 2 goals and 4 assists a season if he plays most of the league games.

I'm sure with better players he may do a bit better, but if if he doubled his output, to me thats still a bit underwhelming for a winger.

My theory FWIW is that Wolves far from becoming the new Manchester are happy to take their role as a selling club now, and have probably hit the peak of where they will get to under the current ownership. They are quite happy to move players on for a good fee, and refresh again with Mendes's next batch of Portuguese players.

If Liverpools attacking cover next year is Adama Traore, I'm pretty delighted. He's not going to get them anywhere near the title, and in honesty he's probably not going to get them anywhere nearer the top 4 either.

I think his injury record is not that good either.
No doubt they would get him on the Ventolin and coach / teach him how collapse in the penalty box when someone blows on him.
It would be a strange signing I think. He would however, suit their kick & rush style of football.

 

[KaiserEFC]

Adam’s Traore isn’t a good footballer and Wolves are kicking themselves that they didn’t cash in next season. He’s an athlete that’s it

 

[catcherintherye]

I think his injury record is not that good either.
No doubt they would get him on the Ventolin and coach / teach him how collapse in the penalty box when someone blows on him.
It would be a strange signing I think. He would however, suit their kick & rush style of football.

Thats about the best you can say- he's a good fit.

I mean tmhey did similar with Salah, but also posh boy Chamberlain. The concept was they were fast and direct. Worked with Salah but not with Chamberlain.

 

[DanB90]

Looks like Wolves have become the new Southampton.
Firstly Jota and now this fella

Stick Iwobi on growth hormone and he’d be twice the footballer this fella is.