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


I just spent a joyous last hour putting myself up to speed with this thread.

Thanks all who have contributed.

It is sensational.

I am going to bed and will have nightmares of Hendo as Mother Teresa of Calcutta.

I am staring to believe that they should be known as the Scab Scientologists. Because it encompasses their both their belief system and their behaviour system.
 

Lots of Liverpool players entering the final year or two of their contracts and also hitting 30 / over 30....the summer would be the time to renew.

Henderson will get a new contract after rescuing the billionaire owner of the club from the ire of the fans; Van Dijk they'll hold onto because they'll see him as totemic and believe they can build from the back on him again (fat chance as he's knackered now). But I can see an attempt at a big clear-out there in the summer. Milner, Shaqiri, Firmino, Salah (if they get a massive offer for him), Fabinho, Mane - all will be struggling to stay. Not as old, but the failures Keita and Oxlade-Chamberlain will be under pressure to go too.

In short: they are entering a period of massive instability based on the squad they have and they need to make dramatic decisions fast. Whether the owners are compromised now in light of the scab league fall out is the only issue. They may have to offer contracts to players they know are over the hill and on their way down.
 
I'm moving on, everyone keep laughing while we big up Doucoure :hayee:
But Doucoure has a purpose in our team.
Our best team at the moment tends to be a 433 with Allan and Doucoure breaking up attacks, carrying the ball forward and pressing and then Sigurdsson cutting off passing lanes and trying to play forward to link up with Richarlison, James and the full backs (who then get covered by Allan and Doucoure) and get the ball in the box for DCL.
So whether you like him or not (clearly not) I can’t see anyone deny that Doucoure is energetic and breaks up opposition attacks and then tries to get us further up the pitch? By the way, even though it’s not his game, Doucoure has 25 PL appearances, 2 goals and 3 assists whilst Thiago has 19 PL appearances so far...
 
Lots of Liverpool players entering the final year or two of their contracts and also hitting 30 / over 30....the summer would be the time to renew.

Henderson will get a new contract after rescuing the billionaire owner of the club from the ire of the fans; Van Dijk they'll hold onto because they'll see him as totemic and believe they can build from the back on him again (fat chance as he's knackered now). But I can see an attempt at a big clear-out there in the summer. Milner, Shaqiri, Firmino, Salah (if they get a massive offer for him), Fabinho, Mane - all will be struggling to stay. Not as old, but the failures Keita and Oxlade-Chamberlain will be under pressure to go too.

In short: they are entering a period of massive instability based on the squad they have and they need to make dramatic decisions fast. Whether the owners are compromised now in light of the scab league fall out is the only issue. They may have to offer contracts to players they know are over the hill and on their way down.
Interesting when you compare against our ages and how many of our players should have their best years still ahead of them, most of our top players really apart from Coleman, Allan and James who’s game doesn’t rely on pace or physicality whatsoever so age isn’t too much of an issue
 
Lots of Liverpool players entering the final year or two of their contracts and also hitting 30 / over 30....the summer would be the time to renew.

Henderson will get a new contract after rescuing the billionaire owner of the club from the ire of the fans; Van Dijk they'll hold onto because they'll see him as totemic and believe they can build from the back on him again (fat chance as he's knackered now). But I can see an attempt at a big clear-out there in the summer. Milner, Shaqiri, Firmino, Salah (if they get a massive offer for him), Fabinho, Mane - all will be struggling to stay. Not as old, but the failures Keita and Oxlade-Chamberlain will be under pressure to go too.

In short: they are entering a period of massive instability based on the squad they have and they need to make dramatic decisions fast. Whether the owners are compromised now in light of the scab league fall out is the only issue. They may have to offer contracts to players they know are over the hill and on their way down.
images (7).webp
 

Interesting when you compare against our ages and how many of our players should have their best years still ahead of them, most of our top players really apart from Coleman, Allan and James who’s game doesn’t rely on pace or physicality whatsoever so age isn’t too much of an issue
We really could do with new recruits with pace this summer. I'm not sold on Allkan, tbh. And Coleman is a sub these days.
 
Lots of Liverpool players entering the final year or two of their contracts and also hitting 30 / over 30....the summer would be the time to renew.

Henderson will get a new contract after rescuing the billionaire owner of the club from the ire of the fans; Van Dijk they'll hold onto because they'll see him as totemic and believe they can build from the back on him again (fat chance as he's knackered now). But I can see an attempt at a big clear-out there in the summer. Milner, Shaqiri, Firmino, Salah (if they get a massive offer for him), Fabinho, Mane - all will be struggling to stay. Not as old, but the failures Keita and Oxlade-Chamberlain will be under pressure to go too.

In short: they are entering a period of massive instability based on the squad they have and they need to make dramatic decisions fast. Whether the owners are compromised now in light of the scab league fall out is the only issue. They may have to offer contracts to players they know are over the hill and on their way down.

I don’t see there being a market for mega bids for any of their front three now. Maybe in 17/18 but now they are all approaching 30 and apart from Salah their best days are behind them. No sane club will trade a lot of cash (which none have apart from City PSG Chelsea) for another team’s depreciating asset. Imagine the conversation at board level ‘sorry Florentino, we gave Liverpool 100 million for Salah, he’ll be good for a year, we can’t have Mbappe though as Liverpool have used that money to get him’. It won’t happen. They need to decide with all of them whether to give them new deals and keep them as they decline or let them go for lower fees as their contracts run out. Hopefully not having CL football makes the equation more difficult as the players may not want to stay even if they can’t get moves.

The only saleable assets I see them having for a mega fee are Alisson (although I think his only buyer is Juventus and they might not be in the CL either). Alexander Arnold (although clubs will balk at the price for a player who can’t defend) and Fabinho (will want CL). Every other player is either the wrong age profile, injured, or just not good enough.

They either go for a sweep the deck fire sale and sell all their tat for whatever they can get for it (Shaqiri Minamino Origi Ox Tsimikas) or they carry on mostly as they are. Wijnaldum is walking out on a free and I’ll be amazed if Milner can keep going another season.

It’s the end of the cycle of the team they had (metaphorically and probably chemically). FSG needs to finance a rebuild, Klopp needs to have the energy for it, and the fans need to have the patience for it. I can’t see any of those three conditions happening. FSG will tighten their belt, Klopp looks drained, and the fans pretty much riot whenever they drop a point these days, they’re not taking another season or two in the wilderness as they rebuild.
 
I don’t see there being a market for mega bids for any of their front three now. Maybe in 17/18 but now they are all approaching 30 and apart from Salah their best days are behind them. No sane club will trade a lot of cash (which none have apart from City PSG Chelsea) for another team’s depreciating asset. Imagine the conversation at board level ‘sorry Florentino, we gave Liverpool 100 million for Salah, he’ll be good for a year, we can’t have Mbappe though as Liverpool have used that money to get him’. It won’t happen. They need to decide with all of them whether to give them new deals and keep them as they decline or let them go for lower fees as their contracts run out. Hopefully not having CL football makes the equation more difficult as the players may not want to stay even if they can’t get moves.

The only saleable assets I see them having for a mega fee are Alisson (although I think his only buyer is Juventus and they might not be in the CL either). Alexander Arnold (although clubs will balk at the price for a player who can’t defend) and Fabinho (will want CL). Every other player is either the wrong age profile, injured, or just not good enough.

They either go for a sweep the deck fire sale and sell all their tat for whatever they can get for it (Shaqiri Minamino Origi Ox Tsimikas) or they carry on mostly as they are. Wijnaldum is walking out on a free and I’ll be amazed if Milner can keep going another season.

It’s the end of the cycle of the team they had (metaphorically and probably chemically). FSG needs to finance a rebuild, Klopp needs to have the energy for it, and the fans need to have the patience for it. I can’t see any of those three conditions happening. FSG will tighten their belt, Klopp looks drained, and the fans pretty much riot whenever they drop a point these days, they’re not taking another season or two in the wilderness as they rebuild.
That's about the size of it, yes.

And I dont see mega fees for anyone other than 2/3 players in Europe at the moment due to the state of the game's finances.

The other factor in all this with Liverpool is the failure of their crop of youngsters to come through. They were a flash in the pan couple of games in 2020 and now they are pretty much lower league fodder.

That strengthens the hand of the old guard in the Liverpool squad to stay on.

It really is a mess over there now. They are stuck between a rock and a hard place.
 
That's about the size of it, yes.

And I dont see mega fees for anyone other than 2/3 players in Europe at the moment due to the state of the game's finances.

The other factor in all this with Liverpool is the failure of their crop of youngsters to come through. They were a flash in the pan couple of games in 2020 and now they are pretty much lower league fodder.

That strengthens the hand of the old guard in the Liverpool squad to stay on.

It really is a mess over there now. They are stuck between a rock and a hard place.

Questions need to be asked over Michael Edwards the man who apparently doesn’t ever make a mistake and is sponsored by KFC.

Big money midfield signings of Keita and Thiago haven’t worked, yet Can Lallana Wijnaldum and probably Milner will leave for nothing. Shaqiri Minamino Oxlade Chamberlain haven’t worked. There’s no youth coming through as you say apart from Curtis Jones who’s path has been blocked by the vanity signing of Thiago. There’s no cover for either fullback who is premier league standard. Ben Davies can’t even make the squad. Add all of this to the overall contract situation they now have on their hands.

All he did was spend world record money on players to give Klopp everything he wanted then they went all out for two seasons (probably illegally enhanced also) to win a couple of pots and now there’s nothing in place for continuity.

Not a single mistake there.
 

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