19 Jun 2020 08:44:20
Well it looks like we are going to be light in attack from January for 5 weeks if the AFCON does go ahead turn. Mané and Salah leave 2 massive wholes to fill. Yes we have Origi, Elliott and Minamino but there going to Haver to hit the ground running to replace the threat and goals of our world class wingers.

{Ed001's Note - it is almost certain to be postponed, they haven't been able to sort out the qualifying yet. And if we can't manage without 2 players for 5 weeks then we don't deserve to win anything anyway.}

19 Jun 2020 09:43:31
I hope common sense prevails and it does get postponed, from a purely selfish point of view the bulk of our goals come from those two (more than half) and we don’t have many goals in our back up options or in our midfield to offset that. Generally speaking if they don’t score we struggle to score and we lack any real strength in depth to replace them. I think we would be likely to have a difficult five/ six weeks without them which may impair defending the title.

19 Jun 2020 11:36:21
I agree that a team shouldn’t miss 2 players for 5 weeks over a season to an extent where it could ruin that season but I think the issue for us is who those 2 players are. The fact it’s 2 of our front 3 is massive. Just throwing names out there if we were to lose 2 of our other key player’s who played in separate positions then it wouldn’t be as big a notice. For example Allison and Hendo. I’m sure at some point this season we had Alisson out injured and Hendo not available and we still continued to win the games. Missing Salah and Mane Will be massive. Perhaps Bobby will be able to occupy the box more seems as he won’t need to drop as deep to open up the gaps for them pair to run into and he can get a few more goals for us to compensate.

19 Jun 2020 14:09:27
We shouldn’t miss just 2 players for 5 weeks but we will.
That’s 2/ 3rds of our attack (either side as well! ) which could be anything 4 to 8 games (I’m guessing there! ) hopefully we get another attacker in but may well be cancelled anyway. That said we need another anyway.!?

19 Jun 2020 20:46:57
Look at city without Laporte and Kdb. You lose 2 of your best players and it can mean the difference between 1st and 2nd. If it were any 2 other players (bar vvd and becker) I'd totally agree but mane and salah are our star players.

{Ed001's Note - you can't compare that situation. City were fine without KDB and the only reason the loss of Laporte mattered so much is because they don't have another defender in their squad. They have lots of midfielders who play at the back and a headcase in Otamendi, but not another defender. We have quite a few players who can actually play there to a Premier League level, rather than being like City and having John Stones to bring in, who would struggle to be called National League level.}

19 Jun 2020 21:10:04
Ed001 even if it was to go ahead mate do you think there would be a chance that clubs could try and stop players going or players deciding not to go themselves. Reason being that Cameroon along with a lot of African countries are well behind other nations with regards to medical facilities. It’s already said that people from BAME backgrounds are 4 times more likely to die if they are to catch C.V.. It could even be an insurance nightmare where insurance companies might voice their concerns regarding clubs insurance of players and even players own insurance. Would Liverpool be in a position if the insurance company said that Salah and Mane’s insurance would be void if they were to attend. Just a thought mate.

{Ed001's Note - I have no idea, sorry. It is far too early to know.}