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

[Jamo Martinez]

Haha brilliant, he will be devastated if they win and sees they’re in the same position.

Be even more devestated if they lose and he realises they're in the same position and out of the cup.

 

[allen]

This headline is ridiculous. You need a good result to count as a turning point in a bad run, not a worse one.

 

[davek]

Their accounts come out in a few weeks. I think we will see massive indications that these ideas of buying Mbappe are absolutely miles out. The fact they couldn’t buy Jamal Lewis in the summer (who Newcastle could afford) passed up on Werner, and sold Brewster Lovren Hoever to finance Thiago and Jota (apparently his transfer is on a bizarre payment plan as well, effectively 40 mill plus Hoever so way above his market value but the payments are all deferred as they couldn’t afford them) all shows that they are not flush with cash. If they were they’d have bought a centreback in even on loan, it’s a no brainier. They wouldn’t have been trying to furlough their staff either. That all screams of an organisation with cash flow problems. They probably budgeted for going further in the CL last year also.

FSG are venture capitalists. They invest in assets that will rise to make them money. As soon as an asset plateaus they’re not going to keep it. They got Liverpool on the cheap, pumped money into it to deliver success, and just as they were probably looking to sell it when it’s value was at its highest, Corona has absolutely screwed it for them. They have committed costs tied up in paying for the stadium, transfers, and mega wages whilst seeing their income absolutely slashed.

It wouldn’t surprise me at all to now see them try to clean the decks a bit. Get a big fee for some players (wouldn’t shock me to see them court PSG for Allison), get some high earners off the books, and task Klopp with a few seasons of getting top 4 with a sell to buy policy and using academy kids. Then look for a sale in a few seasons. Klopp won’t want that though. I think he threw his toys out the pram in the early season to get Thiago and Jota as both deals looked very unlike FSG, but I think he thought he could get another title or CL then he’d be off.

If he fails to get them in the top 4 the ramifications for them could be massive because unlike an Abramovich, Mansour, Moshiri, they don’t have owners who can just swallow those losses and keep funding transfer spending because of personal interest in the project. FSG will look at a cold hard investment v expected output spreadsheet and if the investment isn’t worth it they won’t be doing it and they’ll take their money to whatever asset is growing at the time.

"Course correction" FSG would call this if it were the Red Sox. Changing strategy between investment and scaling back according to external factors. The Red Sox have been cutting spending and selling players again for the last year or two, and I doubt the two organisations will follow massively distinct lines in that respect. Peaks and troughs rather or an all dominating dynasty does the same job for FSG as long as the peaks aren't too spaced out: keeps the money rolling in with commercial deals.

 

[mccole]

United will have 4/5 changes from.the league game.

They'll be full strength again (oh so many games, injuries boo boo) and if they struggle again it's more pressure and if they win, they'll paper over the cracks.

 

[davek]

View attachment 115276
This headline is ridiculous. You need a good result to count as a turning point in a bad run, not a worse one.

I hope Liverpool win today. We need to see them extended across a lot of competitions and stretch their resources to breaking point.

If I were Solksjaer I'd play a weakened team today to put even more pressure on Liverpool to win the game AND play a hard physical game to further test Liverpool's fitness levels. Defeat would be a good thing for United's season; success would be a bad thing for Liverpool's.

 

[allen]

I hope Liverpool win today. We need to see them extended across a lot of competitions and stretch their resources to breaking point.

If I were Solksjaer I'd play a weakened team today to put even more pressure on Liverpool to win the game AND play a hard physical game to further test Liverpool's fitness levels. Defeat would be a good thing for United's season; success would be a bad thing for Liverpool's.

I was saying to my United-supporting mate earlier that if it were us playing Liverpool today, it would 100% be the day they bounce back. I think he’s similarly pessimistic.

 

[Tipp blue]

I'm hoping that ship has sailed because you only need to look how Ibe, Solanke and Brewster have panned out for their respective clubs after sizeable deals.

Surely clubs will look at what they've got to offer in terms of youth players, how much they'll be asking and go, "What's the odds this is going work?"

It also speaks volumes that Klopp has often regularly chosen central midfielders over playing genuine, young central defenders, so does he trust them?

Link to the how media effects outcome thread.. A few young lads start for Liverpool in the FA cup against opposition they'll easily beat like Yovil, Southport, Everton or Kidderminister.. the Kid does well and scores a goal assists 1 and does a bit of tracking back.. then you've got all the pundits nobs in hand talking about him as the next big thing, so some newly promoted team or a team that just avoided relegation stick in a bid of 20 million thinking that he's the guy to keep them up the following year, based solely on a couple of Fa cup games and what Souness, Carragher and Thompson had to say.

 

[PhilM]

Link to the how media effects outcome thread.. A few young lads start for Liverpool in the FA cup against opposition they'll easily beat like Yovil, Southport, Everton or Kidderminister.. the Kid does well and scores a goal assists 1 and does a bit of tracking back.. then you've got all the pundits nobs in hand talking about him as the next big thing, so some newly promoted team or a team that just avoided relegation stick in a bid of 20 million thinking that he's the guy to keep them up the following year.

Which has sadly been the case.

Yet in the world of football post-COVID and how previous acquisitions have turned out, I can't see teams tasking the risk at the inflated fees the RS request.

 

[peteblue]

 

[davek]

I was saying to my United-supporting mate earlier that if it were us playing Liverpool today, it would 100% be the day they bounce back. I think he’s similarly pessimistic.

Suits me if they do. I doubt they'd get too much of a boost out of it if United rested up players.

This Liverpool team dont want to be playing a lot of games. They should be given every encouragement to do so.

And it's noticeable that this United/Liverpool fixture hasn't been given the usual BS build up. That's because everyone knows it's small potatoes to the main course. The winners of this game will be the real losers.

 

[davek]

United will have 4/5 changes from.the league game.

They'll be full strength again (oh so many games, injuries boo boo) and if they struggle again it's more pressure and if they win, they'll paper over the cracks.

Exactly.

 

[Saint Domingo]

I hope Liverpool win today. We need to see them extended across a lot of competitions and stretch their resources to breaking point.

If I were Solksjaer I'd play a weakened team today to put even more pressure on Liverpool to win the game AND play a hard physical game to further test Liverpool's fitness levels. Defeat would be a good thing for United's season; success would be a bad thing for Liverpool's.

Im not sure, momentum and confidence for them is huge. If they lose today then the pressure on Klopp and the players gets ramped up and the Spurs game becomes massive. If they win their propaganda machine goes back into full effect and by the end of today they’ll be back listed as favourites for the Spurs game. Some of those Spurs players are unbelievably mentally weak and will start fearing what has become a big standard team now. Klopp will just chuck the next round of the cup anyway as soon as it’s not a high profile fixture but in the past he’s used games against us and United in cup comps to get confidence back in his team. Also no telling what it might do to United’s players.

Ideal scenario is both teams to play decent lineups, it goes to 120 minutes, United win, menawhile Spurs have rested their players then batter a tired Liverpool in midweek.

 

[John from Bootle]

Im not sure, momentum and confidence for them is huge. If they lose today then the pressure on Klopp and the players gets ramped up and the Spurs game becomes massive. If they win their propaganda machine goes back into full effect and by the end of today they’ll be back listed as favourites for the Spurs game. Some of those Spurs players are unbelievably mentally weak and will start fearing what has become a big standard team now. Klopp will just chuck the next round of the cup anyway as soon as it’s not a high profile fixture but in the past he’s used games against us and United in cup comps to get confidence back in his team. Also no telling what it might do to United’s players.

Ideal scenario is both teams to play decent lineups, it goes to 120 minutes, United win, menawhile Spurs have rested their players then batter a tired Liverpool in midweek.

Surely we want Rs v Spurs to be a draw?

 

[catcherintherye]

You know what usually happens next though Catcher, there is always some company that saves them after the drastically overspend/ overstrech financially. They have and still have the pull. Remember towards the end of the 90's, when Granada tv paid them £22m for a 10% cut, that I think was the beginning of their luck. Hicks & Gillette, conned them, but FSG, rode to their rescue. And the same will probably happen this time, love them to go bust, have a big fire sale, but it just ain't going to happen.

H & G was a very specific circumstance though. Someone didn't ride in to save them, they screwed H & G over. FSG will have protected themselves against that, and will not allow themselves to walk away with nothing.

Nobody will pay FSGs asking price.

 

[davek]

Im not sure, momentum and confidence for them is huge. If they lose today then the pressure on Klopp and the players gets ramped up and the Spurs game becomes massive. If they win their propaganda machine goes back into full effect and by the end of today they’ll be back listed as favourites for the Spurs game. Some of those Spurs players are unbelievably mentally weak and will start fearing what has become a big standard team now. Klopp will just chuck the next round of the cup anyway as soon as it’s not a high profile fixture but in the past he’s used games against us and United in cup comps to get confidence back in his team. Also no telling what it might do to United’s players.

Ideal scenario is both teams to play decent lineups, it goes to 120 minutes, United win, menawhile Spurs have rested their players then batter a tired Liverpool in midweek.

The line ups will be interesting today: it'll tell us something about the mentality of the two clubs in terms of ambition. Whichever fields a more weakened outfit are the team looking to kick on in the PL.

If Liverpool go for this today - and especially if they play either Henderson or Matip - they'd look to me like they're going for the cups they're left in.

Regardless (and going against the habit of a lifetime) I can see Spurs putting about 3 or 4 past any Liverpool team on Thursday.