01 Mar 2023 04:39:22
Hi Ed's 001 hope you're having a good week' just a quick question on who you personally think will leave in the summer and who should leave? I'd personally like to let go of.
Kieta
Fabs
Jones
Milner
Gomes (nowhere near as good since leg break)
Arthur
Matip
Adrian
Bobby (love the guy but the times come)
Personally I'd love to see a midfield x3 of rabbiot. Nunes. Jude with hendo Thiago and mount as options and back up. obviously I'm clutching at straws but curious what you think?

{Ed001's Note - to start with who I think will leave:
Keita, Arthur, Kelleher, Oxlade-Chamberlain and probably Milner and Firmino as well.

Who I think should leave:
Adrian, not that he is a bad 3rd choice, I just don't see the point in having a third choice. It is a waste of wages and I have no idea how it has become the norm in the Prem. Just seems they will do anything to avoid having to give youngsters a chance.
Virgil, he has been a shadow of himself since the injury and I think it is a good time to get the money and upgrade with Gvardiol.
Matip, never been a good defender and he is on far too high a wage.
Gomes, too many injuries and he looks shot to me. Needs to leave and rebuild his career somewhere with less pressure I think.
Williams, nowhere near Premier League level and I doubt he ever will be, though I hope he proves me wrong.
Keita, worst signing of the Klopp era. Should have been let go years ago and his wages off the books even if it meant giving him away.
Arthur, pointless having unreliable players on the books.
Oxlade-Chamberlain, should have gone last summer at the latest. Lovely guy but he is unreliable.
Salah, love him but it is time for him to be moved on and replaced.
Jota, great to have on the bench, but he picks up far too many injuries to keep on a big wage for that.
Firmino, time for him to move on.
I am not saying all would go at once, just saying these would be the ones I would look to move on. Our squad is far too big, Jota and Firmino are already replaced anyway, so losing them would just clear the wage bill down.}

1.) 01 Mar 2023
01 Mar 2023 06:06:04
Thanks for the thoughts Ed’s. I forgot about ox.
what about Rabbiot Nunes and jus bel as a midfield 3? You like ???.

{Ed001's Note - I don't see the point in buying Nunes. When would Bajcetic get games then? And what about Morton? I am not even convinced Nunes makes sense at all. Be expensive in both transfer fees and wages, better to use the money to buy the defence we need.}

2.) 01 Mar 2023
01 Mar 2023 06:22:21
Hi Ed, thanks for your response. There's many on the list that I can't argue against although I have to admit that I would have liked for VVD and Salah to stay for at least another season. Still, your reasons do make sense.

Just to add on, I would like your thoughts on Fabinho. Like many others, I did not expect the drop-off in his form this year and frankly, it did come as a surprise to me. What do you think the problem is with him this year and do you think he can rediscover his form?

{Ed001's Note - I would give Fabinho one more season to recover, with that time to help Bajcetic along. It is entirely possible that his problem is just down to having a baby and the lack of sleep that comes with it. I do fear the worst though and think it is likely he will never get back.}

3.) 01 Mar 2023
01 Mar 2023 07:17:26
Bloody hell ed1 that would be a serious red out! U obviously feel we need to start almost from scratch on our team again?

{Ed001's Note - I don't think it really matters unless we stop messing about with the boring possession football tactics. That is the biggest issue. But we have a huge squad with far too many players, so we need to pare it down.}

4.) 01 Mar 2023
01 Mar 2023 07:31:30
I agree with your list completely eds1 and it would generate a lot of money. Obviously you told us vvd, jota and Bobby replacements but what about the other players?
Thanks.

{Ed001's Note - other than Gvardiol, I would go with Bellingham and Rabiot as the midfield replacements. That really only would leave us short of one centre-back, even if everyone went, as most of the players barely play a full season between them. The ideal would be Saliba or Romero, but those two are not going to happen, so Kim from Napoli would probably be the best solution. We need less players, so we don't need to replace everyone.

I know everyone is fearful of ending up with all the centre-backs out again, but surely the thing we should have learnt is that a good partnership of young defenders can see us through an injury crisis? So why keep 5 when we can manage perfectly well with 4? We should be leaving gaps to be filled by the best of the youngsters, to give them chances of games when injuries hit.}

5.) 01 Mar 2023
01 Mar 2023 07:58:07
Good read that Ed001. I think Phillips will be added to the list of players that could or should leave. He’s turning 26 this month and is in danger of kind of having a career as a professional footballer without actually playing much professional football.

6.) 01 Mar 2023
01 Mar 2023 07:49:00
Just a question ed - does it really make sense to bring in rabiot considering his age?

{Ed001's Note - yes, why would his age be a problem? We can't have a team full of kids. You need a mix of ages.}

7.) 01 Mar 2023
01 Mar 2023 08:14:20
Phillips is a curious case, JK. Obviously not trusted by Klopp despite being the only defender we have capable of being fit, but still being priced out of a move elsewhere. If I were in his position, I would certainly be looking to leave. However, from the perspective of the club, I would not look to actively sell him, since both Matip and Gomez should go before him.

8.) 01 Mar 2023
01 Mar 2023 08:31:17
Do you mean Cristian Romero eds2?

{Ed001's Note - 2? And yes.}

9.) 01 Mar 2023
01 Mar 2023 08:33:22
What if it's Philips himself that loves the club and doesn't want to leave?

10.) 01 Mar 2023
01 Mar 2023 08:52:48
I’d imagine Ox, Milner and Bobby love the club so we should def look at new 5 year deals for the 3.

Hopefully Naby doesn’t say he loves the club otherwise out of loyalty and love we’d have to keep him.

11.) 01 Mar 2023
01 Mar 2023 09:09:46
I have to agree on the Nunes one, I really don't get it. Didn't sign him last summer because we weren't sure he was good enough, he's done absolutely nothing to prove us wrong so why pay a premium for him now? Looked bang average for Wolves and has no physicality about him. Considering this will probably be our one opportunity to bring in a few top players at once, he would be an absolute waste of a signing.

12.) 01 Mar 2023
01 Mar 2023 09:17:22
My personal opinion is that we’ll need more than 3 players in. More like 5-7, depending on Kelleher and Tsimikas futures.

I’m all for giving kids a chance but other than Bajcetic and Doak, maybe Gordon, I’m not sure others like Morton etc are good enough to play in a title challenging side. More likely batches of them will be sold on to Championship sides. Of course, that might be where some of us disagree - ambition and expectations etc.

As Ed suggest though, all is moot until we drop these terrible tactics.

13.) 01 Mar 2023
01 Mar 2023 10:21:24
Ed01, I remember you addressing this very topic in the last podcast so good to know you are addressing it again.

There I one thing that you mentioned in the P-cast regarding whether we keep or let Klopp go. You said that Klopp of course should stay and rebuild this team BUT that you wanted the OLD version of Klopp, not this one. And if this version of Klopp is the one we will be getting moving forward then, you preferred that he too, should go. I thought that was an interesting take.

Frankly, I admit that a small part of me kind of agrees with you. Anyone want to chime in on this scenario?

14.) 01 Mar 2023
01 Mar 2023 11:50:11
Awk a real rebuild I think is necessary, there needs to be a decision over who would be given time though. Whilst VVD hasn't been the same, I'd give him another season tbh, likewise Fabinho. The ones I'd sell/ let go are Gomez, Matip, Keita, Ox, Bobby, Williams, Phillips

I'd keep Jota but honestly more out of sentiment, his injuries are ridiculous so if he was sold I'd understand. If Milner was offered a 1year deal I'd get it, would love to see him in the coaching set up though tbh

Ins, I'd love Gvardiol and Bellingham as the 2 main ones and would like to see possibly a free like Skirniar or Rabiot or both and more, sensible priced type players, depending on outgoings. Atm we have a very bloated and injury prone squad so that needs addressed

I'd like to see Elliott, Carvalho and Doak given chances in attack next season, so if Jota was sold I wouldn't buy a replacement - we'd have those 3 youngsters, Salah, Diaz, Gakpo and Nunez so I would hope we would be ok, certainly Salah, Gakpo and Nunez look like they're starting to gel.

15.) 01 Mar 2023
01 Mar 2023 12:15:39
For me ideally.

Gvardiol
Bellingham
Rabiot.
Caicedo or McAllister

We still have the likes of Ramsey, Elliot, Carvallho, Bacjetic and the young lad at Bolton who is doing really well.

16.) 01 Mar 2023
01 Mar 2023 13:30:19
If we end up getting the 5 to 7 new players, we will truly be in Liverpool, Klopp version 2.0 . You can argue that it began with Diaz, but getting 5 to 7 new faces could seriously revitalize the club. (Let's get past Klopp's tactical and loyalty issues first) .

17.) 01 Mar 2023
01 Mar 2023 14:09:38
There’s no way we sign 5/ 7 players in one window Aray. Ivan Toney wouldn’t even bet on that.

18.) 01 Mar 2023
01 Mar 2023 15:45:18
Is five new signings in one window that outlandish?
We brought in four last summer (that I can think of) when our recruitment was supposedly so poor.
Nunez, Arthur, Carvalho and Ramsay all came in.
I think Ivan Toney might have a flutter if the odds were right.

19.) 01 Mar 2023
01 Mar 2023 16:02:47
Great response Ed, fascinating to hear you call for such a ruthless clear out when you are so often the advocate of patience and rationality.

I agree with almost all of it, apart from Jota. He does my nut in but his devastating runs and natural poachers ability are so rare in the modern game. He’s invaluable to have around the squad and if the manager can sort out the fitness strategy then maybe the injuries will go away.

I am most of all intrigued with your stance on Salah, and I’d really like to hear you explain it in more detail. I have recently found myself feeling he should be sold, which I thought was unthinkable. We all thought he could play into his mid 30’s, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.

He has lost a yard of pace for sure, but more worrying than that, he has lost the speed of thought and his nimble feet. He does the same cutting inside action every time, and it doesn’t work. He looks like he has cinder blocks attached to his feet.

When he was in his prime, he didn’t relentlessly cut inside and take pot shots. He‘d shimmy, he’d twist, he’d put players on their backside and scored many different types of goals. Now that seems to be all but gone. He is actually beginning to remind me a bit of Ronaldo, not in his attitude but in the way that he has become too much of a focal point and destroys the unpredictability in our attacking play.

I never thought it would end like this, but he hasn’t looked right for a year. Perhaps the laser that made him miss his AFCON penalty will be his Shevchenko moment. It feels surreal for someone to go from superhuman to meek and timid so quickly, he really was god like for so long but I don’t feel that anymore.

What do you think is going wrong with him and why do you think he should be sold?

{Ed001's Note - Jota had injury problems at Wolves, that is why I would let him go. It is not just a Liverpool thing, though I would agree with you otherwise on him, even if he does drive me mad when he starts.

Salah just looks finished. He is a yard off physically, he is still quick but not at the level he was and mentally he is even further off, which is a much bigger problem. Finished is harsh actually, too harsh. He still has a lot to offer, but he is clearly on the downhill slope of his career now and it is time to replace him before it gets too late.

That mental side is so difficult to get back and I believe the failings in the AFCON and in not reaching the World Cup have hurt him badly. I just can't see him getting back mentally while with us. I think he needs a fresh start to relaunch his enthusiasm and get him back to his best. Though it will hurt to lose him.}

20.) 01 Mar 2023
01 Mar 2023 16:11:16
Fair point Rigsby, think we need about 5 or so depending on the departures discussed. But we definitely need a stance where injuries are concerned, we simply cannot afford to keep paying high wages to players that do not play regularly

Whilst this will be partly fixed with Ox snd Keita going, we should look at others mentioned above and also its good seeing Bajetic doing well do we should not simply sign players, like Chelsea lol, but ensure players like him get a chance

Big summer coming up lads.

21.) 01 Mar 2023
01 Mar 2023 16:57:14
Rigsby I think most summers we’ve usually brought in 3-4 players. I think the difference for me is this summer we need 4-5 players who can go straight into the first team and make a difference.

The 4 you named from last summer 2 of the 4 are hopefully for the future and the other 1 I think it’s safe to say everyone knew wasn’t good enough after we got him last minute dot com. That means of the 4 only Nunez was at the required quality to come in and make an instant sustained impact this season.

22.) 02 Mar 2023
02 Mar 2023 12:53:39
I agree with you, JK.
But I also two or three top players could totally transform this team.