10 Jan 2023 16:38:51
Hello eds, quick one regarding transfers, have we shown any interest in Kouadio Kone at all, the rags are saying him and kephrem turam are targets for us?

Many thanks.

{Ed002's Note -

Khephren Thuram (DM) Interest of Manchester United has gone. Interest of Newcastle and Crystal Palace remains. Player wants PSG but they have no interest.

Manu Kouadio Kone (CM/DM/AM) Prior interest of Milan has gone. Newcastle did approach Borussia Muenchegladbach but they will resist a sale and try and agree a new deal. Watched by a number of Premier League sides including West Ham, Chelsea, Liverpool and Brighton. A wildcard maybe PSG. Way down the list for Chelsea but Vivell may push for him - which could spell the end for Loftus Cheek.}

1.) 10 Jan 2023
10 Jan 2023 16:54:27
Thanks ed02, hopefully we can nab something to help the midfield this window.

2.) 10 Jan 2023
10 Jan 2023 16:54:27
Thanks ed02, hopefully we can nab something to help the midfield this window.

3.) 10 Jan 2023
10 Jan 2023 17:18:11
I am still manifesting.

4.) 10 Jan 2023
10 Jan 2023 18:30:19
Talking about dm's, can ed002 tell us if Liverpool have shown interest in Ellyes Skhiri of cologne?

{Ed002's Note - No - it is just another random name.}

5.) 10 Jan 2023
10 Jan 2023 22:12:18
The Caicedo narrative that 'the club thinks he will join Chelsea', imo is to smoke him out. If he really wants to join the reds, he will shun other clubs, thus weakening Bloom's hand a bit.
He is semi proven and appears to have a high ceiling. Prices these days are insane, but then again, clubs and players know that the person paying is likely some billionaire.

{Ed002's Note - Liverpool have made no approach to Brighton for the player, hence Bloom making jokes about the club. If Liverpool are interested in the player they need to follow due process - it is not difficult.}

6.) 10 Jan 2023
10 Jan 2023 22:32:08
There’s no narrative here Spaceman. We’re not signing him or any midfielder who will make a difference. Even if it was a strategy, it would be a weak one given that we’re playing them next week and he’ll have a field day with our excuse of a midfield.

7.) 10 Jan 2023
10 Jan 2023 22:48:29
Reeks of the Barcelona book of transfer tactics. Unsettle player, push for a declaration of love, brief local journos of club's poverty and then knock on sellers door with a derisory bid.

Hopefully that changes with new owners.

8.) 10 Jan 2023
10 Jan 2023 23:51:14
Shame to be borrowing from the Chelsea playbook. #Enzo.

9.) 11 Jan 2023
11 Jan 2023 09:59:48
sounds more like the usual to me.
Fan base freak about a deficit in the squad.
some names get thrown about.
fan base start freaking out when those names aren't signed the second after they hear about them
Fan base turn on the club for not buying players they hadn't thought about a day before they heard about them.

10.) 11 Jan 2023
11 Jan 2023 10:23:50
Faithinworks - a large section of the fanbase have been voicing concerns about midfield legs since summer 21 when Gini left. If you remember, even the Eds had suggested the likes of Bissouma and Neuhaus were serious targets. We are now 3 windows on and those concerns have manifested into a problem.

No need to turn on sections of the fanbase for being very concerned that this area has been neglected for multiple seasons now.

11.) 11 Jan 2023
11 Jan 2023 11:27:54
So it's acceptable for the fanbase to turn on the club for not doing as they demand but it's not acceptable for the same fanbase to be called out for it?
Rather selective that.
"Being very concerned" doesn't even begin to translate into the knicker wetting hysteria we see on a daily basis.

12.) 11 Jan 2023
11 Jan 2023 11:31:37
Exactly Pelican.
Many fans could point to the ever increasing age profile of the midfield several years ago, and the over reliance on just a few of the midfielders.

Well, we now find ourselves in the position that 3 of the midfielders will likely leave for nothing recouping very little in the process. The remaining midfielders consist of those aforementioned players we over rely upon with 2 turning 32 before next season, 1 turning 29 and the rest inexperienced kids. Thiago and Hendo aren't going to fetch very much, if anything, either when their times come.
Add in that Gini left for nothing too and that means our entire midfield of the teams that helped win the league and CL will have all left for zero money.

We are now seeing the result of not slowly refreshing the midfield from a position of strength over the course of 4/ 6 windows.
Every club now knows that we’re desperate for a midfielder and will price their players accordingly.

13.) 11 Jan 2023
11 Jan 2023 12:48:00
FlashTheRed - I don't see it as fans turning on the club. Why be so hyperbolic? A strange take.

Some fans are quite rightly frustrated at the recent recruitment failures. You would have to be an idiot to not admit we've gone into 4 recent seasons short in crucial areas and have sometimes, not always, paid for it.

Most fans will continue to support the players and the club as they always have.

Debating line-ups, tactics, contract extensions and signings is part of the football experience now. And, as we have seen over the last two decades, success in elite football depends on sustained good recruitment.

14.) 11 Jan 2023
11 Jan 2023 19:03:03
What I struggle with, is that this is the same team/ players that played every game possible last season and nearly won a quadruple. Yet supporters are turning on the team, manager and owners that nearly got us there are the same supporters who who dribbling over them last season.

Yes being a supporter is about opinions, debating who the club should sign is part of that. We know we need a midfielder, Klopp has acknowledged this and admitted he has made a mistake, but as they did with Van Dijk and others, if the player they want is not available, they are not going to throw money at just anyone.

15.) 11 Jan 2023
11 Jan 2023 19:23:48
The right midfielder (s) havnt been available for 6/ 7 windows now?
I find that extremely hard to swallow considering the midfielders still at the club and our renewed interest in a midfielder that not only were we interested in during the summer but actually moved to another Prem club.
This lack of midfield recruitment isn’t something that just happened this past window or 2, this had been going on now for quite some time.
I hold out hope that there’s still time this window, I just hope it isn’t another Melo type signing.

16.) 11 Jan 2023
11 Jan 2023 20:38:47
Caicedo hype kicking in since he liked a tweet about joining the reds.
The club is going to spend, it is counter productive not to since it could lower the value at the time they are looking for buyers. They want a bouncing team, not an ailing on. Caicedo this window, Nunes and Jude the next, which will all be paid for by the new owners since they will have to pay the added value from new additions.

17.) 11 Jan 2023
11 Jan 2023 21:22:44
It's sad to see fans calling each other out, but it's part of football. Ultimately we're all passionate and we all want the same thing.

I really don't believe that the fans who have been complaining about the midfield since Gini left have been proven right. If you're a pessimist, you're going to be right eventually. We nearly won a quadruple last year - the collapse this year just was not predictable in my opinion. They say a boxer ages overnight. That is what has happened to our midfield. The 'signs' weren't there, otherwise last season would not have been such a success.

Now it's a matter of letting FSG sell the club and hoping that this is just a season in transition.

Keep the faith reds, there's a lot to be positive about.

18.) 11 Jan 2023
11 Jan 2023 22:52:52
@FPF, you make an interesting point

Success does indeed count on good recruitment.

Setting aside what you actually mean by ‘good’, the issue these days is that a sizeable portion of the fan base (IF you chose to rake this forum and in particular those people who chose to add to the threads) of being an accurate representation seem to regard good recruitment as buying the most expensive three players in the world for each position.

Whilst it might occasionally be the case (most recently City, although they seem to be having their issues too this season) it isn’t always so. Take Chelsea’s spending in recent years and the phenomenal turnover in expensive players, managers and owners or our close friends from down the other end of the East Lancs Rd. Big money doesn’t necessarily mean good recruitment.

Even if a club does recruit well (or seemingly so) there is the secondary problem that it doesn’t guarantee immediate success. A number of players take time to adapt to a new club, new systems of playing, new surroundings off the football pitch. Some never do (a la Mr Keita)

In this instance, I’d love us to be in the position to identify who our three or four top targets are for this and the next couple of windows and I’d love us to go out and get them but I think there will be compromises and that means I will need patience on my part. In my honest opinion, at the moment, there is not enough patience and way, way too much unreasonable expectation of instant gratification.

I’d love to have quite a lot of things I don’t have (most of us probably would) and no doubt I’ll get some and no doubt equally there some I won’t but it’s also worth saying there are an awful lot of things I have that I value very highly and I wouldn’t want to lose those ….

19.) 11 Jan 2023
11 Jan 2023 23:01:31
Sorry Shabby but there were many signs last season. You might recall how many times Alisson saved our bacon las we gave up big chances, how Trent was getting pelters for being left without protection as Hendo Fab couldn’t cover the acres of space and how we went behind on the majority of games in the second half of the season. We also gave up more leads than any previous season under Klopp. The decline started last year, it was just in stealth and covered up by us still being good enough to get results. Shame you weren’t paying attention .

20.) 12 Jan 2023
12 Jan 2023 00:47:03
Well Pelican you'd have to be an idiot not to believe that fans calling for coaching staff, the scouting departmwnt, those responsible for transfers and half the playing squad to be gotten rid of is turning on the club.
Where's the discussion or debate involved in endlessly pouring scorn on nearly facet of the club?
Expressing opinions is one thing, venting and just slagging off is another. And you'd be an idiot not to have noticed any of that going on recently.
YNWA and all that eh?

21.) 12 Jan 2023
12 Jan 2023 03:16:36
@FPF, sorry but I think your last post about Ali saving us and Trent being left exposed by the midfield and using that as a sign of decline is just incorrect. You saw the season as us scraping through by the skin f our teeth, being in terminal decline and a lot of us being blind blinded by us ……. Winning games.

What I saw was an excellent football squad giving it everything they had and then some trying to win every competition that they could enter - a feat which hasn’t been achieved at the premises level of English football ever. We got within two games and basically three goals of doing it. Sure Ali made some great saves - but he also made mistakes. Sure the midfield left the defence exposed at times but lots and lots and lots of times they didn’t.

I think you might be losing a bit of sight about what the real game actually is - it’s a thing to be enjoyed not least because it’s unpredictable, there are no absolutes, players are human and make mistakes and get tired and lose form and grow old and get injured but sometimes are inspired and brilliant and breathtakingly good and are magnificent to watch.

Even if the team was in decline last year - which I don’t believe for a second - it was pretty good fun watching them have the best crack anybody has ever had at winning all four trophies.

Of course we are paying for it this season, no doubt, but again all the midfield players most people were clamouring for last season - Bissouma, Traore, Raphina have proved to be just the ‘flavour of the week’ and would be about as much use as a chocolate teapot at the moment.

22.) 12 Jan 2023
12 Jan 2023 10:33:32
@FlashTheRed - you might want to loosen the scarf a little. As a wise Ed always says, players and staff are transient. Their performances are up for debate - always. The club is the club. That is immutable. Don't conflate the two in my name.

@WDW, it's ok if we don't agree the decline started last year. Opinions are opinions. I, too saw a monumental effort by the players. But it's also possible to see both the decline in physicality of some players and a change in style/ tactics that has led us to where we are now.

The hill I am willing to die on is that this situation started last season, nearly-quad or not.

23.) 12 Jan 2023
12 Jan 2023 11:18:58
And what do you want for that Pelican? A Blue Peter badge?
Acknowledgement from the club that you know better and they should have listened to you last year? I'm not sure where "I saw it first" gets you to be honest.
Newsflash mate - all clubs have ups and downs, football is cyclical.

24.) 12 Jan 2023
12 Jan 2023 11:33:12
Flash - I think that's pretty much the end of the debate. Good work.

25.) 12 Jan 2023
12 Jan 2023 20:26:32
Cheers mate!