mrfahaji

Based on the first three matches where we dominated and drew, won, and lost playing an untried formation with several second choice players... I understand people being pessimistic about our chances but "based on the first 3 games" doesn't really fit up with a definite loss!

AR-10, I quite like reading posts where people post snippets they have from various sources. Normally they don't amount to much, but still good to know. As Tom28 has got a couple of things right with his timing, and the fact that he has imparted things that we previously didn't know, I'm prepared to believe his ITK credentials, without taking his word as gospel. Some of this flak you've copped does seem a little OTT, but by the same token you have posted a few needy posts - I understand feeling frustrated if you post something and people immediately lambast you - you must wonder what the point is - but equally I think some people feel like you're doing it for your own status/benefit, and get upset when you're not promoted to a forum sage with people hanging off your every word. The main thing you could do to change that is to post something that nobody knows, or post a few definitive things that will eventually come to pass. As many have pointed out, you tend to hint at things which are already the general consensus, like you're playing the odds rather than actually ITK.

To be honest, I can forgive him trying a new formation, but agree that it's concerning he stuck with it for such a long time when it clearly wasn't working at all.

But who falls into that category? I'd agree that Keane, Schneiderlin and Sigurdsson are excellent signings, but how much were they? £30m, £24m and £45m? That's a lot to shell out, and basically puts that kind of approach out of our reach. Gueye has probably been their best buy when you factor in price as well, and to be honest we could have got him (and were rumoured to be in for him), but a lot of people on here were scornful of such a bid - after all, Villa had just gone down, how could any of their players possibly be good enough? Everton's approach has been helped by a new owner willing to splash the cash, but more so by the sale of Lukaku. Having said that, we may yet see that even using the money to buy good players (which they appear to have done), often doesn't adequately replace someone who sticks the ball in the net.

Yeah that looks right, thanks! Interesting that he is training with the first team when on the website he is only listed as U-18 (compared to a few other youngsters who appear on the first team page).

Just looking through the gallery on the official site. Looks like Lemina is fully involved, hopefully that cut on his leg isn't too bad. Who is the tall blonde guy? Don't recognise him, and can't see any matching profiles on the team page (pretty sure it's not Bednarek). Also wondering whether Lemina & Hoedt, after a couple of years in Italy, will also be able to converse with Gabbiadini a bit - there were rumours he was having trouble settling, maybe having a couple of italian speakers around might help. All total conjecture of course. Also no sign of a few players, but imagine there might be a handful off doing something else (Austin, Yoshida, Stephens, JWP, Tadic... set pieces? Penalties?!)

Or maybe - and I'm saying this is what I think, just a theory - coaches and academies can only do so much, so an academy can only be 'world class' through its facilities. Perhaps a bigger factor in producing talent is finding it in the first place, in which case it's more to do with scouting than coaching.

Basically anything other than an own goal then.

Exactly... weird.

Good that you currently prefer VVD to Tadic.

Well I don't think anyone disputed that, did they? We were the 8th best (or most successful) side, it was more the interpretation of what our points & position meant for our progress year on year, and whether Puel had done a good job.

As much as the club would be stupid to lose out on £50m+, there is part of me that rather enjoys the prospect of our response, if he continues being a d1ck, being to keep him in the reserves (or the equivalent) until he's 31, with his career totally down the pan. (of course, preferably he either would return to playing, or be sold for a lot of money to non-LFC club)

On a side note, I hope we don't have a bad season with this kit... it looks bl00dy brilliant and don't want it to be soiled by terrible performances and underwhelming or disastrous results!

Oh god not this again...

Just attempting to continue the 'Arry theme in text...! But Mike Reid, close enough.

If that what it takes! Failing that, I'd just tell him to "go out there and f**king run araand a bit!"

Maybe Tadic reminds him of players/teams from the 70s?

Yep, same. By the same token I'd also be taking Tadic to one side and tell him that I want him to be a key cog in the team, that he is to be the main creator etc, but that he needs to start showing that he wants to be that person. Give him a few games off to assess games, making an impact later in the match as a sub if we need to break a team down. See how he responds to that. I accept Tadic being inconsistent, that one week he is unplayable and the next he's ineffective, but it has to be better than a 20 minute spell every 4 games.

But we signed Redmond and Boufal. You might not think they are good enough, but we did try. We probably should have pushed for more money for Mane, as he is a rare breed of player that creates/scores out of nothing, and scores at a reliable rate. He's Liverpool's best player, ffs. But those players are so difficult to replace - Spurs couldn't replace Bale, Everton will struggle to replace Lukaku. Sigurdsson scores a few goals from midfield (most of which are set pieces) and goes for £45m. We tried, and we MAY have failed, but Boufal fits the mould of player we needed, so I don't want to write him off yet.

You mean like Boufal? What we need is a goalscoring attacking midfielder, who also links the play, works hard and has a bit of pace. And for the love of god, somebody consistent with a good attitude! Do any players like that actually exist? Never mind ones that are unknown and/or affordable!

Do you know lots of Olympic-level sprinters then? 11s is ridiculously fast, and if loads of your mates claim they could run less than that, I suspect they were either serious athletes, many of them are either bullsh1tting or (incorrectly) guessing. As I've mentioned in an earlier post, my mate's best time was 10.74s, which he achieved coming second in a county (or may have been national) athletics meet, and he was probably the fastest player in the entire Southampton league for our age group. If Shane Long can do 100m in 11 seconds, it proves, not disproves, he is rapid.

I think our players are good enough now, if Lemina ends up being the industrious DM/CM we are hoping for, and Hoedt is both good in the air and not a liability. The manager has to figure out the right system and style of making it work. It looks like we have the same problems as last season, in that our build up play is pedestrian and we allow the opposition to get back into position when we go on an attack. We could improve on this with more/higher pressing, but not sure the best way to make a change in our general approach. I'd also like to think that Fraser Forster works on coming for crosses every feasible minute of every training session, but I doubt that happens.

Pellegrino seems like the sort of guy who can connect with the players. If so I really hope he can cajole the likes of Boufal and Tadic to apply themselves differently/better than they are currently. It beggars belief that footballers are so unimpressionable that they wouldn't listen to or take on board any advice or instruction. Surely they want to be better? I guess there's a reason phrases about leopards and spots, and old dogs and tricks exist, but I can live in hope!

A reasoned post. There would be a case of cutting off our nose to spite our face by keeping an unhappy, disruptive player. One of the reasons Fonte left I believe was because he was undermining the manager and being a bad influence on other players. That being said, I wonder if there should be a principle of "the worse you behave, the stronger we will be", particularly if it all stems from his scumbag agent, because else it sets a precedent for players to force a move away. I think we should say "£60m from anyone but Liverpool and he can leave. £100m from Liverpool and he can leave." As much as I would like us to dig in for a bit more (eg £65m - £70m), not sure you could sniff at a world record fee for a defender, perhaps with a sell on % in case the market goes crazy (crazier) and he ends up going to Barca or Madrid a couple of years down the line.

Don't forget that when we played Mane as AM with Tadic and Long on the wings we were often overrun in midfield, and that was with Schneiderlin & Wanyama. Shouldn't be a surprise that it happens now with Boufal/Tadic as the 10, though hopefully Lemina & Romeu can form a strong partnership. Both have something to offer but may not suit our style of play.