10 Jul 2022 13:59:33
Definitely think we need to buy a midfielder this summer to add more legs and energy as our midfield engine is seriously creaking. I guess Bellingham is the number one target next summer, but at that point we may need 2-3 midfielders. Think we are well set elsewhere. I just worry about the midfield engine.

10 Jul 2022 15:06:09
The only way we can improve is in midfield everywhere else is reasonably covered . At a push a left footed attacker to cover salah would be nice, but Man city are superior in midfield and its a shame we haven't stamped our mark on adding quality in this area.

10 Jul 2022 15:35:15
I don't get why Carvalho gets completely over looked on here. He was one of the best players in the Championship last season. Give him a chance before writing him off. He'll certainly bring energy to the midfield. As will Elliott, Morton and Jones who I'm optimistic will kick on.

We've got a very good starting midfield 3, and some bright young talents waiting in the wings. Yes, i'd have liked to replace Ox and Keita with Otavio but it's not the end of the world either.

10 Jul 2022 15:41:40
mk I think it's just that the rest have previously been apart of the team and he hasn't. I think I've only seen him play once.
Hopefully all the players can play well and topple city and spurs.

10 Jul 2022 15:48:33
Morton doesn't look anywhere near ready in my opinion and I hope Jones proves me and many others who I travel to games with wrong.

10 Jul 2022 16:39:45
Really looking forward to seeing Carvalho as there have been some really encouraging comments about him by people who have been involved in his development and the ceiling level for his potential is really high.

He could be an absolute belter.

10 Jul 2022 17:24:45
Topple Spurs? What have you been smoking ?.

10 Jul 2022 17:25:14
I really hope Elliot, Carvalho and Jones have big seasons and you know what I’ll even say it I hope Naby also has a big season as well. Why as fans would we want any of them not to. It’s not like we should want them to fail or fall flat on their faces just to be proven right in some of our opinions.

10 Jul 2022 17:27:31
Tommy, in an interview the other day Klopp said he is ready to start tomorrow. Yet there's people on here who've likely never seen him play and definitely never seen him train who think they know better!

10 Jul 2022 17:45:18
He’ll have to be fitter than Milner If he’s starting tomorrow as the game is on Tuesday ?.

Genuine question and no one will have the definitive answer because it will only be opinion but who has the highest ceiling with regards to potential?

Jones, Elliot, Carvalho and I’m even going to throw in Bellingham.

Really Interested to hear peoples opinions and the Ed’s.

10 Jul 2022 18:24:00
OP, for us to get a midfielder on now, it has to be who the club wants and if a deal can be done. Secondly fir that to happen, one mid player needs to be sold and if we have no offers for Ox or Naby then we can clamour for a mid to come in (like I do) BUT in ain’t going to happen so no
point dwelling on or complaining about it.

As to JK’s question of which of the young mid’s have the higher ceiling, I have not seen Fabio play and Elliott did not play enuff games for me to judge him honestly and Jones, I have seen play a ton so I would say based on that, it’s Jones his skill set and talent is there to see, IMO, BUT I think Fabio and Elliott have the talent to be absolutely brilliant.

10 Jul 2022 18:42:57
JK, for me it is Jones. I think he has more attributes to play in a Liverpool midfield. I've only seen Carvalho play against Championship sides so its difficult to say how he will do. I guess at the very least he will have to alter his game if he plays in our midfield 3.

10 Jul 2022 18:56:18
Non of the young midfield options can cover Fab, nor any of the senior players, other than Hendo, who is a big step down in CDM. Jordan can’t play with Fab in our strongest 11, then be expected to cover for him when he needs resting. We might have 9+ midfielders, but no cover for Fab. I think this is the problem most fans have with the squad. We can only buy players that are available, and if there is no options available right now then we have to stick with what we have, but it is a glaring potential problem that we could get caught out with.
4231 could be the answer maybe?

10 Jul 2022 19:03:00
I've seen a lot of Jones play. Elliott a little (Rovers and LFC), and none of Carvalho. Youtube highlights don't count (even though they do leave an impression in your head) . Now throw in everything I have read by the media, coaches and fans, on all three. And my guess is highest ceiling for Carvalho, then Eliott, then Jones. But this is tempered by my expectations too.

10 Jul 2022 19:29:36
6 Gold stars, that's simply not true. Henderson, Milner, Thiago and Morton all can and have played as holding midfielders. Bajetic is also on the pre season tour right now. So there's 5 players who can cover Fabinho.

Where do you think we'll get affordable cover for Fabinho that will play the role better than Hendo or Thiago can? I haven't understand this clamour for a holding midfielder at all, all summer. If anything our midfield lacked goals since Ox fell off the grid and nobody stepped up.

Not having a pop, i just don't get it mate.

10 Jul 2022 20:22:04
MK, All the players you mention can play the number 6, But we are considerably weaker when they do. Half of the players mentioned are over 30 and play in front of fab in our strongest 11, so therefore need to be rested, same as fab. We have plenty of cover for the 8 roles, but only Morton and Milner cover for the 6, who aren’t regular players, which are both a major drop off in quality in such an important position. We clearly are not going to invest this summer in a midfielder, and I totally understand that, if the right players are not available. But surely I can be concerned?

10 Jul 2022 20:59:09
MK, none of the players you’ve mentioned are even remotely effective in that position and the drop off in quality when they play there is huge. None of them are defensive midfielders and it shows. Of the four of them Henderson is the best of bad bunch at number 6, Milner is poor, Thiago really isn’t at his best in that position and Morton gets swatted aside the same way that Joe Allen used to as he’s not strong enough, and although Henderson tries, he’s simply not effective there.

Putting square pegs in round holes is not an answer. Selling players who aren’t effective and bringing in players who fit the system us the sensible thing to do and the answer, so Keita and ox should be moved on and someone like Sangare brought in, he can play number 6 and in a box to box role. He’s very highly rated and won’t break the bank.

As for goals in midfield, our midfield hasn’t ever been prolific under Klopp, the midfield is there to get the ball back as quickly as possible and get it to the full backs to supply our forwards. If we didn’t convert chances it’s because we were too samey and predictable, having Nunez to get on the end of those crosses from our full backs is going to address that.

A better man than me once said that scoring goals wins games, but good defences win titles. Which is why we started winning when we bought in Fabinho, there is no coincidence there.

10 Jul 2022 21:11:34
If Morton, Carvalho or Jones was at Borrusia Dortmund, rhen we will be saying wow what a player. I do not get all the fuss about Bellingham. There are better players out there. We were all wanting the guy who went for £70m+ to Manutd. Did u see the real talent there? There must be a reason why Klopp has not bought any player to Lfc from Germany apart from Karius.
Lets give the ones we currently have a chance before going after other players. Jude Bellingham is overrated and iver priced. The issue is we have not bought a new player in midfield. We bought Carvalho. let's trust the academy and recruitment team rather than focus on JB as if he is the only player out there.
Thanks.

{Ed001's Note - who was wanting Sancho? Most people were unsure, and some of us defo didn't want him! The fuss about Bellingham is that, unlike Sancho, he is a class above.}

10 Jul 2022 21:30:40
That's my point though lads, who are we signing to cover Fabinho who won't make us weaker when he's injured? Rodri, Kimmich or Casemeiro? And how are you convincing their clubs to sell them, and them to take pay cuts to play 2nd choice to Fabinho?

It's like saying we need to sign Mbappe in case Salah gets injured. Because no other player in Europe is going to step in and not make us weaker if Mo got wiped out first game of the season.

Fabinho played 48/ 64 games last season. Who is coming here (who is at his level) to play 16 games a season mainly in cup games or Champions League group stage dead rubbers? I'm not even playing devils advocate, i just think it's an unrealistic expectation. We needed a goal scoring midfielder to phase out Ox, and we signed Carvalho. The only 2 games last season where I thought our defence was exposed by the midfield was Brentford 3-3 and Man City 2-2 at the Etihad. Fabinho played both games.

10 Jul 2022 21:40:55
Where do we find this "cover" for Fabinho that's happy to sit on the bench and play the odd league game and a few domestic cup games and any dead rubber CL games?

10 Jul 2022 22:09:31
So what we want is be of the best top defensive central midfielders in the world to come in as cover in case Fabs gets injured. We have tried and trusted midfielders (at least by the club) in Fabs, Hendo, Thiago, Naby, Millie and Ox and young and very promising midfielders in Jones, Elliot, Carvalho and Morton plus the next generation coming through too (Bajcetic, Frauendorf, Clark, Musialowski etc)

People want someone well established - presumably at international level, who is one of one of the best in the world in his position who is willing to be a reserve and sit on the bench in World Cup year of upwards of 75% of the available playing time? Dream on.

The club has more than enough in the dozen plus mentioned above to cover what we need for the coming season. That said I also think that if the right player is available at the right price then the club will move for the player (as they were going to do for the lad who chose Real Madrid whose name begins with T that I can’t spell) or are going to do for the lad named after a Beatles song next season perhaps. Ed02, who knows his onions is / was of the opinion that we are looking at possibilities but that doesn’t mean that there is anybody there that fits the bill and it certainly does mean to say that the club is going to spend silly money just because the fans want us to buy someone / anyone to cover a supposed weakness in our 6th choice for central midfield.

11 Jul 2022 00:27:14
WDW, are you talking about Lucy Diaz? Coz we already signed him ?.

11 Jul 2022 02:49:09
If hypothetically Fabinho tears a cruciate in the first game, how many posters believe our chances of winning the title are not dramatically affected? Sure we have cover for a few matches but we are not the same beast over a full season without him. We don’t necessarily need a world class DM replacement to warm the bench but i think there's an argument to be made to get a dynamic and versatile player who could offer more than we have right now. If we could have swapped Keita and Ox for a Kante/ Bissouma/ Tchouameni-type player id suggest we’d be a stronger side going into this season.

10 Jul 2022 22:37:12
Don’t say we need Fab cover without wearing a helmet.

11 Jul 2022 05:50:57
We have managed to get cover for every other position on the pitch, with out too much drop of in quality. Not saying buy a world class player to sit in the bench, just it’s concerning that we don’t have a natural backup in that position. The way we play exposes our CB’s a lot, and I fear if Fab gets injured, the positional awareness of the square pegs put in to cover will continually get found out.

11 Jul 2022 09:34:26
@IDreamofGini imagine, hypothetically of course, that we spend £30 or so on a midfielder and he ruptures his crucial ligament in his first training session…. what then? Do we sign another one? Are you suggesting that our transfer policy should be cased on chance?

The transfer windows are - for football - easily the funniest time of the year.

11 Jul 2022 10:43:10
@JK if we're including Bellingham then he definitely has the highest ceiling for me. Out of our 3, its difficult to say. I've not really seen much of Carvalho. Out of Jones and Elliott, I'm leaning towards Jones. He's young and needs to learn to release the ball quicker but I think he has a better all round game to fit into our midfield.

I'm ok with no DM being added as MK said Henderson can drop in there - not sure on Thiago or Morton, I wouldn't trust them in big games in that role. But moving Henderson to DM means the RCM role is opened up and then there's the reliance on unknown entities such as Elliott, Carvalho etc. So i get the concern but hopefully the kids can step up.

11 Jul 2022 11:11:03
If Alisson, Trent, Van Dijk, Fabinho or Salah got injured then there is a drop off. Welcome to the curse of having world class players!

They don't grow on trees. WDW is bang on. The transfer policy should not be to try and assemble 2 world class teams with like for like replacements. That is how you breach FFP and obliterate squad harmony. Anyway, we got to a CL final with Hendo playing DM, and Bayern won the CL with Thiago playing DM. So clearly they are not bad players there.

11 Jul 2022 12:26:38
Absolutely spot on MK Scouser. By the very nature of spotty, the replacement for an injured player tends not to be as good as the injured player. If they were they would probably be the starter and not the replacement. Too many Premier League Manager gamers sponsors a transfer window time.

11 Jul 2022 12:41:12
Not saying they are bad players MK, but they are starters themselves in our best 11. Not sure when they get a rest, if they are playing their own positions then covering for fab when he needs a rest. You will probably argue to rotate them, but if we had a player like Jones or Elliot to grow in to Fabs shoes, then we wouldn’t have to.
Either way, it looks like we are done in the transfer market for now, so I will support whoever plays and look forward to the new season.

11 Jul 2022 12:57:21
The answer is simple, we don’t buy a Fabinho replacement per se but a versatile midfielder who can perform multiple roles well.
By the time Bellingham is 21, 22 or whatever he’ll be able to do the lot.

11 Jul 2022 13:07:44
Meanwhile, Naby gets his 5th season and Ox his 6th.

11 Jul 2022 13:46:55
Cmon WDW, injuries could happen to any player at any time. My hypothetical scenario was to point out that we are weaker without Fabinho. If his replacement gets injured we are weakened even further but its less likely than a single injury. If every LFC midfielder spontaneously combusts the team is in dire trouble but again the odds of it happening are slightly slimmer.

11 Jul 2022 16:18:38
I think it's fair to be hesitant on carvalho. Ryan Sessegnon came from championship after a great season and has struggled. I was quite hyped on him at the time as I am with Carvalho and he does look a step above and I do think he will make the cut but he definitely needs to be afforded time.

Overall on the midfield I don't really think we need one unless it was a Bellingham who is always going to improve the team. Or unless ox and maybe even baby moved on then I definitely think we would need another midfielder.

11 Jul 2022 17:43:24
Sounds like Carvalho will play further forward, and provide cover for the front three.