When is the last time Liverpool lost a player to a "mega club"? Suarez in 2014? They just took Thiago from Bayern.
Coutinho?
It obviously worked out great for them, but Coutinho wanted out.
Emre Can in 2018, certainly a player they wanted to keep.
Thank god he wanted to leave. He was good enough, but Fabinho is just a completely different level.
they got caught short on this though, they typically like to sell and use funds to replace. They unchatacteristically let Can go on a free and had to fork out 40 plus to replace him. When Alcantara is fully settled and Henderson is back, can all 3 of them play in same mid or does one lose out?
I think we've accepted players leaving on free as an acceptable way of operating. We knew he was leaving the previous summer, he was on offer but we didn't force the issue and Klopp was still happy to use him.
you are right. At that time they weren't title contenders. I feel that premier league clubs generally hold onto their players well. We haven't really lost anyone we wanted to keep since Ronaldo a decade ago.
No doubt. Aside from VvD and Mane, we couldn’t care less when they signed those players.
Exactly, and why would those players leave the current 2nd best team in the world (don’t like saying that
)? That argument makes no sense.I think Liverpool are very strong at targeted scouting for their particular needs. Like, it's pretty clear how Thiago and Jota fit into Pool's playing style and squad. But in the case of Van de Beek, as much as I think he's a great player, I don't see him clicking as quickly with Man Utd's style. (Except if he instead indicates what direction United want to go into, of course; Liverpool have the advantage of already have the playing style they want.)
Didn't you guys already rotate and change things a lot in midfield last season? Reckon that will just continue. (And Wijnaldum might still leave?) Plus, with Thiago around, Fabinho can be moved to CB to have stronger back-up there.
We lost Sterling to City in 2015. We were shite at the time though and I could understand him wanting to go even though I hated the fact that he did.
Coutinho was amazing for them... esp for klopp.
Players not at risk are Alisson, Van Dijk (cuz he is a defender), Arnold, Robertson, Fabinho. Then you have more easily replacable players like Henderson (I know Liverpool fans like to overrate his importance, but he is replacable), Firmino (He is not in-form from at least a year and yet they are winning). Then you have Salah, Mane and Thiago now who will have maybe 3-4 years at top of their level.
Klopp the CNUT will just find adequate replacements. He seems to have a knack. He turned Dortmund into league and CL contenders (nearly did the double) and is doing the same here. Sad times
Let us not glorify Klopp and Liverpool more than they actually deserve. Liverpool have won a sum total of one premier league trophy in 30 years.
He took them from seventh to Champions League and Premier League winners. I would say that is worthy of glorifying, if you would ever do that. Looks like they will win this season as well; gap might be even bigger than last season.
!
This is why Liverpool are such a strong side. The majority of these high-quality footballers have grown up together in the same team over several seasons. They’re peaking together and it’s formidable. That’s obviously deliberate. In the same way it’s deliberate that Klopp has been reluctant to bring in too many new faces.
Crucially it’ll be less of a harder sell. We were in dire straits when he came to us. We’ve now won a league and CL back to back and look well placed to challenge. Refreshing the squad slowly and building the next side won’t take the long rebuild that was required this time.
You seem to have missed the crucial part - the timeframe. It’s been a steady ascent over 4 years, not some sort of miracle transformation.
But you could tell they would challenge for the title even in 17/18. As soon as January hit of that season, they were certain to challenge in the next. In 17/18, they were equal to City in terms of attack; only their defence held them back until January.
I’m not saying it’s not a good achievement. It was the spin out on it. From 7th to first.
At the given moment Chelsea and Arsenal are easy fixtures. Leeds were not. That's way I said fairly easy.
.Arguing this way, I think you might find that Liverpool has nearly only easy fixtures this season - and that they're all 'game-raising cnuts' when they meet Man Utd... Also, I don't really see the difference between Leeds and Chelsea in your description.
Except Lijnders totally messed up during his team at NEC back in the Netherlands. Of course, that was a very different experience (a poor and messy squad and no money, in the Dutch second level) from what taking over a functional Liverpool side would be for him; but he might well be a Meulensteen type (great assistant, crap boss). Remains to be seen, I guess.
Liverpool were genuinely shit when he took over though; Chelsea had won the league in 2015 and were/are bankrolled by a sugar daddy
Genuinely shit is a bit strong; they nearly won the league the season before.
