Have Liverpool peaked?

cafecillos

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Plenty of quoteable replies in the first few pages, this is so much fun :drool:
 

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I don't think the've peaked, I think they overperformed. Salah is an example, only one season has he gone about 30 goals. He's moving back to his historical average goals per season.
 

Yorkeontop

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No excuse though
Definitely. But it does factor in as a possible reason for some of the weird things I'm seeing. Like Martial's form this season (never been out of form for this long and even weirder considering the season he was coming off) and Liverpool being on course to miss out on CL football because they can't score anymore at home (their last too EPL campaigns have been championship worthy).
 

GBBQ

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VVD, Mane, Firminho, Sallah, Henderson and Thiago will be 29+ at the start of next season. extenuating circumstances of the season aside, age is not on the side of many of their big game players.
 

marktan

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VVD, Mane, Firminho, Sallah, Henderson and Thiago will be 29+ at the start of next season. extenuating circumstances of the season aside, age is not on the side of many of their big game players.
And the fact that they all play about 50 games with pressing and no rotation doesn't help. This summer with a break for a lot of their players should help, the first few weeks of next season will show us whether there's still something there or not.
 

Berbaclass

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VVD, Mane, Firminho, Sallah, Henderson and Thiago will be 29+ at the start of next season. extenuating circumstances of the season aside, age is not on the side of many of their big game players.
And nobody knows where VVD level will be at after his injury.
 

Member 101269

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VVD, Mane, Firminho, Sallah, Henderson and Thiago will be 29+ at the start of next season. extenuating circumstances of the season aside, age is not on the side of many of their big game players.
And they have no money..
 

Infra-red

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They may never reach the peaks of recent years again, but they'll still be a force in the league as long as Klopp stick around and the club keep backing him in the market.

Dreadful season, though.
 

OmarUnited4ever

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Of course I am happy to see them lose 6 times on the trot at Anfield, my weekend ended on high tonight with us smashing city.

But if I am being neutral, and just looking at them as a team that dominated the league for the previous 2 seasons, at team that just won the PL last season and CL the season before, it's really shocking to see them like this, they can't score a goal, they just can't, I know they have an injury crisis in the defence this year, but they still have their front 3 + Jota available for selection, their fullbacks who created countless chances last season are also fit, most of their midfielders are fit, Henderson played many games this season in the midfield before getting injured, they brought in Thiago who is supposed to be a quality addition, they've got Shaqiri and Ox available on the bench (they are at least good squad players) Keita played today too.

December 2020, they smashed Wolves and Palace, and they've beaten Spurs too in that month..

Now and since the Brighton loss, they just can't score (only 2 goals in the last 7 league games!!!!). We scored 18 goals in the last 7 league games (9 if you exclude the Southampton result)..




This is not normal. Not at all.

When we won the league in 2013, we had issues in the team, and we weren't as dominant as Liverpool were last season, United had 43 GD vs Liverpool's 52, United had a win percentage of 73%, vs Liverpool's 84%. United won the league with 89 points vs Liverpool's 99 points last season, that's more dominant win of PL vs United's win in 2013, they improved their side with Jota and Thaigo in 2020, we brought only Fellaini in 2013 (Mata in Jan 2014).
 

Green_Red

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Have peaked and are currently stuck in the death zone with no oxygen.
 

Jericho

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One good result and I can see them getting into decent form again. They're on a brutal run but I've seen teams play worse and get better results. They were unlucky today that none of those chances were converted.

But I'd love to be wrong and see them continue this.
 

sglowrider

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They peaked up until the Coronavirus hit.

Since the lockdown, Liverpool are:
PlayedWinsDrawsLostGoals ForGoals AgainstPoints
3617910664760
They have the best fans and the most songs in the world. Without them, they are bang average.
 

DuruttiColumn

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They look shattered and Mane and Salah are both 28 and have their eyes on the last chance to o get a mega contract.
Liverpool aren’t paying anyone 300K a week; so both look to be agitating for a move, to me
 

meamth

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Said it again and again.

Salah, Mane and Firmino had steady decline on their physical abilities.
They ran less and less in each season.

Coupled with injuries and also ageing midfield, they have lost the intense pressing. This has happened before with Poch's Spurs.

Now going forward, they have to sell Mane/Salah and Firmino and build new attacking trio based on Jota - Salah/Mane - ????
 

Nevilles.Wear.Prada

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Oh my, i have new found respect for sir alex ferguson. How the hell he keep them up season after season, rebuilds after rebuilds.. Using youth and great football as well. Absolutely amazing.
 

FrankDrebin

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Remember when they thought Trent was better/more talented than Beckham :lol:
 

thegregster

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Oh my, i have new found respect for sir alex ferguson. How the hell he keep them up season after season, rebuilds after rebuilds.. Using youth and great football as well. Absolutely amazing.
He rebuilt the whole youth academy from the late 80s.

The likes of Klopp does nothing for youth football. A chequebook manager.
 

GoldTrafford99

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Oh my, i have new found respect for sir alex ferguson. How the hell he keep them up season after season, rebuilds after rebuilds.. Using youth and great football as well. Absolutely amazing.

Because he was always thinking three years ahead, Sir Alex.

He was never in the present.

Now we have fans on here who dismiss such a philosophy and who only wanna concentrate on the now!

"Sack Ole. Hire Allegri."

It doesn't make sense to be a Man United fan if that is your level of thinking. Be a Chelsea fan.
 

hmchan

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Said it again and again.

Salah, Mane and Firmino had steady decline on their physical abilities.
They ran less and less in each season.

Coupled with injuries and also ageing midfield, they have lost the intense pressing. This has happened before with Poch's Spurs.

Now going forward, they have to sell Mane/Salah and Firmino and build new attacking trio based on Jota - Salah/Mane - ????
Their intense pressing requires strong mentality and desire to sustain, which they lack after their success and in the absence of fans. This could theoretically be solved by introducing fresh, hungry players, but Jota is injured for most of the time and Thiago never fits into that category. Their drop is easily predictable and it doesn't need hindsight to foresee.
 

DanClancy

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There won't be much of a transfer budget this summer if they fail to make the CL, can see Salah angling for a move but given his age there won't be too many clubs willing to spend big on him.
 

dinostar77

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I dont think we can judge if this liverpool team has reached the end of the cycle just yet. Probably need to see how they do upto xmas next year when Henderson and VVD are back.

If it wasn't for covid ruining football finances i could see firmino and maybe salah leaving but i dont think any of their big players will leave this summer. The money simply isn't there in football.
 

Tyrion

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VVD, Mane, Firminho, Sallah, Henderson and Thiago will be 29+ at the start of next season. extenuating circumstances of the season aside, age is not on the side of many of their big game players.
Jonathan Wilson from the Guardian said on a football podcast I listen to that they have the oldest squad in the league if you weight it by minutes played.
 

ti vu

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Jonathan Wilson from the Guardian said on a football podcast I listen to that they have the oldest squad in the league if you weight it by minutes played.
:lol:

Whose fault was it, for they're rarely rested and rotated?
 

manutddjw

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It’s a combination of a lot of things. Klopps heavy metal football is not sustainable long term, especially when you don’t have the squad depth and there’s a pandemic that ensures you play 2 games almost every week. For all his jabs about Disneyland, at least he would have had adequate funding at Disneyland to build on his wins.
 

KikiDaKats

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@mad1max954 Ive always wondered how will they play without fans. Also, the injuries are piling up on them. Is it not similar to how it all went downhill at Dortmund. Klopp will need to refresh the team but that means a rebuild, do their fans have the patience for it after tasting a freakish period of success.
 

KikiDaKats

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It’s a combination of a lot of things. Klopps heavy metal football is not sustainable long term, especially when you don’t have the squad depth and there’s a pandemic that ensures you play 2 games almost every week. For all his jabs about Disneyland, at least he would have had adequate funding at Disneyland to build on his wins.
You might be unto something here. The intensity is not sustainable especially when you don’t have fans to push you across the line.

I might be wrong here but is this not similar to his final year at Dortmund. A Dortmund fan might be able to put clarity to this opinion of mine.
 

Nevilles.Wear.Prada

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You might be unto something here. The intensity is not sustainable especially when you don’t have fans to push you across the line.

I might be wrong here but is this not similar to his final year at Dortmund. A Dortmund fan might be able to put clarity to this opinion of mine.
Oh ffs not this thing again? You guys do realize that every team on the planet earth playing without a proper preseason and in empty stadium?!! And you dont see Doncaster losing 6 home games straight?!!!
Please at which point you all going to accept the fact that klopp is out of ideas since teams found his one dimensional yet efficient play? The players are broken and now demotivated having won it all. It happened in dortmund as well. JFC! RANT OVER.
 

golden_blunder

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Perhaps not but on lack of effort alone I’d say some of these players will not be at Liverpool next season. Looks like some have lost their “hunger” as SAF used to say. You could question whether they’ve stopped playing for klopp because they can’t keep up with the high intensity. But they aren’t gonna sack Klopp so they have to reboot the squad. Gonna be a hard task with financial restraints
 

dinostar77

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Perhaps not but on lack of effort alone I’d say some of these players will not be at Liverpool next season. Looks like some have lost their “hunger” as SAF used to say. You could question whether they’ve stopped playing for klopp because they can’t keep up with the high intensity. But they aren’t gonna sack Klopp so they have to reboot the squad. Gonna be a hard task with financial restraints
Theres no money in football at present. The affect of covid on football finances has been devastating. I'd expect the entire core of that team to remain at least for another season. Salah and Mane at both 28. This would normally be the summer that they made their moves abroad but theres no money available from the traditional clubs that would be interested. What money those clubs do have is being held back for runs at Mbappe, Messi and Haaland.

Maybe there will be a merry go round of forwards moving if the above three move,and if they do Salah and Mane are just sloppy seconds.
 

thegregster

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Theres no money in football at present. The affect of covid on football finances has been devastating. I'd expect the entire core of that team to remain at least for another season. Salah and Mane at both 28. This would normally be the summer that they made their moves abroad but theres no money available from the traditional clubs that would be interested. What money those clubs do have is being held back for runs at Mbappe, Messi and Haaland.

Maybe there will be a merry go round of forwards moving if the above three move,and if they do Salah and Mane are just sloppy seconds.
They are both 29 by the time the transfer window comes around.

I think Real learned a lot from the Hazard transfer. Its just not worth the risk putting up huge money for a player in their late 20s. Also last thing Barca need is another ageing attacker.
 

Ish

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Let's just hope no one is dumb enough to give them loads of cash for any of their frontline players, allowing them a chance at a rebuild. I suppose COVID has meant that barely anyone has lots of cash to dish out anyway, fortunately.
 

golden_blunder

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Theres no money in football at present. The affect of covid on football finances has been devastating. I'd expect the entire core of that team to remain at least for another season. Salah and Mane at both 28. This would normally be the summer that they made their moves abroad but theres no money available from the traditional clubs that would be interested. What money those clubs do have is being held back for runs at Mbappe, Messi and Haaland.

Maybe there will be a merry go round of forwards moving if the above three move,and if they do Salah and Mane are just sloppy seconds.
Another year older and the amount of money they’d make from any of those players will drop significantly