04 Feb 2017 20:20:32
Ed1, I just wondered what u make to the current form of Chelsea and Liverpool?
Do you rate Chelsea and do you still think they'll be found out defensively like you said they would at around win 2 or 3 of their 13 game winning run?
Does klopp have a plan b?
{Ed001's Note - of course they will eventually be found out, it will be in Europe though that it happens, as the Prem is just not as good as we like to think. Chelsea had the best team last season but failed due to off field issues, rather than a lack of quality. Since then, they bought the best central mid in Europe and filled in gaps in the squad, to put themselves where they really should have been last season. Conte has done what he is best at, get the players playing well and not letting their focus slip. The Prem is still not good enough to catch out any team playing well, as Leicester showed last season. I just over rated the opposition, as I thought the likes of Jose would do more and thought Pep would get a good first season, before gradually dragging the club down as he usually does. Right now Chelsea deserve to be where they are, they are the best side in the Prem. Still need to get more out of the wing backs and Matic though, particularly Matic, if you are going to be in contention for the Champions League.
As for Klopp, it is nothing to do with plans, it is to do with players' attitudes. Too many players without a winning mentality, that rest on their laurels after a few good performances. The over achievement in the early part of the season has left them thinking they had already won it. The likes of Lallana turn up for the big games and then strut around thinking it is easy against the rest. Then there is too many players who are not fit to wear the shirt, the Clynes and Lovrens, that were recruited by a scouting system without a clue. Klopp had a rebuilding job to do and he still has.}
04 Feb 2017 21:21:29
Thanks for the quick reply. I agree the champions league will be real test. Hopefully we'll find the right players to strengthen us in the areas highlighted. I also think we need to be more clinical and start killing teams off. There were a number of occasions today where we should have had a better final pass and we would have been through 1 on 1.
Also our players need to realise when other players are in better positions. Such as when we were 3 up today and Costa blazed over from a tight angle when he could have easily squared it. Arsenal then went up the other end and bagged.
Is the same scouting team still in place at Liverpool? The only players that uve signed recently that I rate highly is firmino. Wijnaldum is also good but other than that I can't think of any other good purchases made over the past couple of Windows.
04 Feb 2017 21:59:18
Good post king Drogba, as for getting found out next season in the champs league I feel with the youth coming back next season I hope, baker, christenson, ake more involved, and the fact we can spend and attract the worlds best, plus conte having a full pre-season Im confident we can be amongst the top 6 favourites for the champs league, and no offence with klopp but didn't he finish 7th in a 2 horse race in Germany and then not get his contract renewed?, and as it stands now has a worse win rate than Louis van hal, after 18 months,
04 Feb 2017 22:52:58
I think Mane was a fantastic signing and really highlighted to me how much Chelsea could use a player that really threatens teams in behind. I think our wingbacks are a weakness also which only spurs have really been able to highlight.
06 Feb 2017 15:57:46
In think it does have to do with Klopp not adapting his team. He's married to pressing high up the pitch.
Chelsea appear to be able to both press high and break quickly. I'm sure we COULD be found out in Europe but that's when we'll find out more.
As for Liverpools recruitment policy, sorry I don't buy it as an excuse. Every team had a committee of sorts including whoever finishes above Liverpool.
{Ed001's Note - you fail to understand what recruitment policy is. What the hell has the committee got to do with it? Try understanding the subject rather than just ignorantly dismissing it.}
06 Feb 2017 16:40:52
I'm not sure I was ignorantly dismissing anything? But tell us more of the difference between Liverpools recruitment and others, it sounds interesting.
06 Feb 2017 16:40:52
I'm not sure I was ignorantly dismissing anything? But tell us more of the difference between Liverpools recruitment and others, it sounds interesting.
{Ed001's Note - most clubs will research a player's background, family history, look at their work ethic in training etc, which Liverpool have not been doing in recent years. Mistakes due to this lack of work by the scouting dept (which has been little short of inept at Liverpool) include signing a guy with a long term injury received falling off a bar stool drunk for £35m. The chase of a lazy, poor attitude midfielder, as a long term replacement for Gerrard, who ended up at Newcastle and now is at Spurs. Also the signing of a defender who had a well known reputation for being high maintenance who we could only send out on loan when his issues forced him out of the team, as we could not sell him. That is nothing to do with committees or managers, all to do with poor scouting. These things should have been looked at and the players should have immediately been ruled out as potential signings, so that the scouts could move on to looking at the next player and researching their backgrounds.}
06 Feb 2017 17:55:00
Sounds like a basket case.
Some funny stories, and I had no idea they were in for Sissoko.
{Ed001's Note - the club has never recovered from losing the great scout Geoff Twentyman. As for Sissoko, Commolli even told him they saw him as the long term replacement for Gerrard. Now that guy is a basket case, Commolli, how on earth he continues to gain employment I will never figure out.}
06 Feb 2017 20:21:22
He's a regular radio pundit too. He clearly craves some sort of adulation. He'll end up at holistic citeh.
Do you think Klopp needs to adapt at all? Or do you think it's all recruitment? Where do you think the most change is needed.
I thought you were hard on Lallana and Clyne.
{Ed001's Note - Clyne is god awful, how on earth he has managed to make it at Prem level I will never know. He has the positional sense of a man who has just played that drunken game where you put your head on a stick and spin round lots. He can't cross or pass and has no technique. Oh and is terrible in the air. Other than that he is great though.
As for Lallana, he has all the technical ability in the world, runs all day and, when he is moving the ball on quickly he is fantastic. The problem is that he talks too much and doesn't back it up and has a tendency to take 25 touches when one would have done. So many times fast breaks end up becoming him doing Cruyff turns in midfield while the entire opposition team strolls back into place. If he could just stick to what he was doing early this season, fast one and two touch stuff and breaking into the box late, then he is superb. Sadly he tends to get complacent after a few good results and spend too much time telling the papers what he is going to do, before actually achieving nothing.
Klopp might well need to adapt, but it is pointless adapting to the players he has, as they are just not winners. They have no focus, desire and drive. They always think they have done it all the moment the club has a good run. Get the right players in, with real hunger, such as the truly brilliant Kante, and Liverpool would have a chance. Even a player like Medel, who possesses fire and drive in midfield, would make a significant difference, and he could have easily been bought on a couple of occasions. Poor recruitment leaves Klopp with little hope of succeeding, so it is up to him to fix that, which he has shown signs of doing with Matip, who is the first decent centre back Liverpool have bought since Hyypia.}