22 Jul 2022 18:05:00
For Ed001 please. Firstly hope you are well! Secondly, I see you mentioned Bajcetic and said we are looking to see him as Fab cover, have you any idea how we think it’s going? Would you think Morton going on loan is a sign Bajcetic is further up the pecking order? Thanks in advance mate.
{Ed001's Note - Morton is not a holding mid, so his status is irrelevant. Bajcetic has impressed, I can see him being in this season's Cup teams.}
22 Jul 2022 18:20:44
I stand corrected then, did we not at some points field Morton in the 6 though? Both very tidy players but Bajcetic has caught the eye!
22 Jul 2022 18:31:10
Bajcetics Father played professional football for Celta Vigo, Red Star Belgrade and Serbia at International level, so comes from good stock.
The youngster arrived as a Central Defender but was changed to a holding midfielder due to his Exceptional Talent he has a very bright future and was signed for £250,000 which is buttons nowadays.
22 Jul 2022 18:44:15
Trophies will determine at the end of the season if this squad is better.
22 Jul 2022 20:10:41
He did Oraujo, but it's not his natural position. In the youth and U23 teams Clarkson played as the 6 with Morton further forward.
I think Bagetic started as a CB so they do tweak the positions in the youth from time to time.
22 Jul 2022 22:28:56
JK is 3 trophies the bar? Anything less means we’ve stood still or declined?
22 Jul 2022 22:54:54
Faith no not necessarily. Lots of teams win domestic cups due to good draws and other teams fielding weakened teams.
If we win the League or CL and nothing else to me that’s progress on last season. Last season was great but we didn’t win any of the big ones even though we competed for them immensely.
Surely the owners and Klopp will measure the squad on trophies won and what trophies.
Perhaps you’ll just measure it on us getting rid of Naby and buying a midfielder.
22 Jul 2022 23:30:22
Totally agree JK. FA Cup and League Cup great wee additions but its the big 2 that will let us know if THIS team with the new players can stand up to the squad that won the League and CL in consecutive years. that's the bar that has been set.
23 Jul 2022 01:02:54
@JK and Faith, interesting points raised. My own opinion is that, if you can do it as Klopp appears capable of doing, is to concentrate on building a team / squad that plays the way the coach wants them to. The coach also needs the self-belief and ability to ensure that the squad he builds can actually challenge for trophies.
So, the players stand or fail on their ability to provide the results the coach wants and the coach stands and fails on the ability of the squad to challenge for trophies.
Basically, the focus is on ensuring we have the ‘right’ squad and that is the focus rather than aiming to win specific targets. Of course, if you have the right squad you can sensibly plan for targets but winning things is secondary to ensuring you have the tools (squad) to actually try and win things.
All that said, PL and CL double will do for me ??.
23 Jul 2022 05:32:44
I think you will find Morton is a yr behind Clarkeson in the youth team set up, so he was often played as his understudy in the 6.on the few occasions they played together clarkson was the 6,I remember watching A youth cup game against Spurs and Morton replaced Clarkson in the 6 role in the 2nd half. C.V. Cancelled a lot of the youth team games that season and beyond. Morton played most of his games as a 6 but I agree with Ed that he has more about him and is probably better in a box to box role now. Not disagreeing with anyone by the way just stating the facts. As kids Morton was younger than Clarkeson both played the 6 role when they played with their own yr group.
{Ed001's Note - Klopp has said many times that Morton's future is not in that role, so it is not really me saying it mate. I am going by the coaches' input.}
23 Jul 2022 06:56:08
JK that’s not true though is it. Many factors can influence a trophy return. This LFC team of recent years is one of the best in the clubs history IMO and I am sure many on here would agree. However squads of other eras would have won more trophies because how often do you get two teams of LFC’s and Man City’s current quality, probably the best two teams in the world ATM. There’s no way on gods green earth Ream Madrids squad was superior to ours in the CL final a few months back yet they have the trophy. Was the squad with Torres, Alonso, Mascherano, Gerrard, Reina etc in the late 2000’s (who won practically nothing) inferior to the CL winning squad of Dudek, Smicer, Baros, Hamann and Traore? Yes I know there is some cross over there. My point is there are so many variables. I judge a team based on how they play on a game by game basis and am currently just enjoying our consistency. Yeah trophies are nice and always the goal but it’s not the be all and end all for me. I just enjoy watching my team play good footy. If it happens enough times and the chips fall right some silverware will come but it is a potential byproduct of my team entertaining me as a supporter and fan.
23 Jul 2022 07:31:52
Their was too many distractions around that final in Paris but the same could be said about Chelsea in the fa cup so I think sometimes you need a bit of luck and to take your chances at the top end of you don’t your not going to win.
23 Jul 2022 08:26:16
I think people are getting confused with my original post.
I’m not saying if we don’t win anything next season then it means we are crap. If Spurs or Chelsea had won the domestic double last season that wouldn’t have meant they had a better squad than us as clearly they didn’t.
I’m not comparing us to any other team apart from ourselves. Funnily enough my original comment was meant for a post 2 posts down where Ed001 was asked what his thoughts were on the squad.
We could finish next season with more league points than the year we won it and finish 2nd but the history books will always show the didn’t win it.
You only have to look back at Rafa’s years and he probably had better squads over the seasons than the one that won the CL. But no one really remembers those other squads but we certainly remember Istanbul.
Either way I’m extremely excited about this season and can’t wait to see what the new lads and hopefully a fully fit Thiago brings to the party.
23 Jul 2022 08:44:02
Winning trophies like the league also comes down to what your opponents do. If we maintain our current level but City drop their standards just a touch then the title is ours.
Luck with injuries and events on the pitch plays a big part too.
23 Jul 2022 09:12:35
Of course your opponents come into it and a little rub of the green.
The season we had all of our centre backs injured though the other 18 teams weren’t wining that league. That season could have been played out under this exact circumstances a thousand times and not one of those other clubs would have finished ahead of City.
Westwood I m wasn’t comparing our team over the years mate. Just comparing next seasons to last. I could have said only time will tell which it will but I think it’ll boil down to what we win.
If we play far better football next season, score more goals, concede less goals and get more points in the league but fail to win anything then it’s pretty hard to say that next seasons squad has outdone last seasons.
I wouldn’t imagine there would be a bus tour for it.
23 Jul 2022 10:06:47
@007, given that it’s buttons, can you lend me £ 250,000 mate? ??.
23 Jul 2022 10:09:30
Bajcetic looked like he has maturity beyond his age. I saw him as a centre back, but he genuinely looks an exciting talent in that midfield anchor role. The things he has over both Clarkson and Morton are that he looks like a natural there and physically he’s quite an imposing lad even at 17, which they’re not.
I think he has to be given the cup games and broken in with some sub appearances to get him in the first team picture as quickly as possible.
23 Jul 2022 10:38:48
Talk about hyping a player up! The lad hasn't even played 90 minutes of friendly football and now we are fast tracking him into the first team, all at the ripe old age of 17 and a pivotal position in the team as well. No pressure! I will guess that unless there is some sort of major injury crisis he won't be kicking a ball much with the first team.
23 Jul 2022 10:56:49
JK - nope. You’ve not paid attention, I’m the “we’ve got 100 midfielders so don’t need to spend 10s of millions on a midfielder to sit in the stands” poster.
As for results, agreed each season it’s subjective to that season. I just expect that we’ll compete for trophies each season, how many we win or don’t can be assessed at the end of the season and compared with previous season’s on the merits of the full season being completed.
23 Jul 2022 13:00:17
Faith I was bantering in my reply ref a new midfielder. And fully agree this squad and each player can only be assessed come the end of the season.
The question was asked (albeit on another post) about the squad before a competitive ball has been kicked so it can only be opinion now.
24 Jul 2022 00:38:50
JK- got ya, was listening to Klopp in yesterdays interview and he made the comment that the goal ran season is top 4. How we do this has changed over the years from scrapping in to doing it easily and competing for the title.
24 Jul 2022 09:47:17
At the end of the day, you deserve whatever it is you win come the end of the season.