23 Aug 2024 10:26:27
Hi all, I know people panicking because we haven't signed anyone yet and obviously we can't win the Premier league with the same team we had last season. But maybe we can, lots of complaints about pep setting more of the tactics last couple of seasons, maybe Slot can make a big difference with the same players, I'm dreaming big and think we going to have a great season, only worry is the contract situation with the 3.
23 Aug 2024 11:32:49
Thing is, we are signing players. The reason people are saying we’re doing no business is because they disagree with what business the club are actually prioritising. Those people are doing so from a position of ignorance though because they don’t know what is going on behind closed doors with contract extensions or transfer negotiations.
We’ve just signed Alvin Ayman (16, CB) from Wolves. We’re close to signing Rio Ngumoha (16, RW) from Chelsea. We’re also close to signing Giorgi Marmadashvili (23, GK) from Valencia.
The club are quite openly communicating out to the fans that the current squad is good enough in their eyes to compete for the title, but that they’ll still do business if the right opportunity arises. Behind that they’re just going about their business and making signings for the future to prepare for the loss of some key players over the next few years.
I have not been this calm about a season for years. Think it’s the strongest squad we’ve had since we won the league. We need a GK if Kelleher leaves, a CB if Gomez leaves, a CM if Endo leaves, a LB if Tsimikas leaves and a RW if Doak leaves. But if nobody leaves, the squads absolutely good enough to win the title. And I’ll take Slot’s word on that over internet doomsayers. Will we win it? Who knows. Arsenal and City also have squads good enough to win the league so let’s just enjoy the season and if anything happens in the next week, boom, bonus.
23 Aug 2024 12:13:57
I don’t agree at all with this constant harping on in the media about how good the squad is when they couldn’t deliver last season with a lesser schedule Why are we adding more pressure onto Slot? Surely he has to win the lot if the team can’t be improved? Putting extra pressure on him and trying to fool fans rather than just admitting we made a complete balls of the window so far. I feel for him. City have won 4 titles in a row including a treble and managed to bring in players to improve them. We need to stop this arrogance that our team is perfect and no one out there makes it better. Those above Slot need to help him out.
23 Aug 2024 12:23:41
I love your optimism but I think it's a risky strategy. The knifes could be out for Slot come January never mind May. As for the signings you mentioned they won't be in the first team squad. That's being childish to try and prove a point.
23 Aug 2024 12:27:54
Nobody’s team is perfect . Man City have just signed Gundogan on a free.
They should be improved by his re-signing.
We could do with a new player at the back because Quansah/ Konate/ Gomes/ VVD isn’t enough for a whole season. We would need to be extremely lucky with injuries, something we haven’t done well with in recent seasons.
Midfield is extremely overloaded but we only have Grav and Endo who seem to play DM role well, especially as there is talk of Bajcetic moving on (which I find bewildering) .
Loads of cover for Diaz/ on the left. Cupboard is bare on the Salah side.
Nobody who can play centrally apart from Jota. Danns gets fit soon.
Too many goalkeepers?
Squad is a bit lopsided and I wouldn’t be surprised to see Morton, Bajcetic and one other depart from midfield.
Home grown is becoming a serious concern.
23 Aug 2024 12:33:58
Wouldn’t say a position of ignorance - think majority of people mean signing players for the first team that are expected to make an impact on our current season. Which presumably would be said on the assumption others wouldn’t be pedantic and apply that logic to their statement as well.
Slightly funny is that two of the players bought for the future have both been sold recently without making an impact on the first team in any discernible way (literally have no memory of either playing a competitive match for the club) .
I get some people are happy with squad but I am concerned - especially with further departures expected. Can also assume the club also think the squad can be improved (attempts to sign Gordon, zubimendi etc) but have failed to complete signings, which also happened last summer. Other worry I have as well is personally think defence / attack can be derailed by one major injury (Mo / Van dijk) and could argue midfield isn’t as stacked as well.
Mean I am hopeful and believe we have a chance to win the league, but signings could improve our chances. Plus with three of our best players on dwindling contracts there is a chance (mean think hopefully slim chance) we could be looking at having to replace those three next summer. So unless the reported failed attempts is being stockpiled in a piggy bank with a couple hundred £ we’d be a bit stuffed.
23 Aug 2024 12:38:39
I don't think the knives will be out for Slot unless we finish lower than 6th. It's his first season and it's not his decision to not buy players. I think the Anfield matchgoers will give him plenty of time once they can see what he is trying to do.
23 Aug 2024 12:38:54
Not the end of the window yet. Just wait and see.
If any 1st team departures or season loans, there should be replacement signings such as CB and ST/ LW.
23 Aug 2024 12:43:44
What a statement. Nobody who can play through the middle except Jota (and Danns) .
Conveniently forgetting Nunez? And don’t say he can’t do that role as you state Danns can who you can’t surely be saying is better than Darwin right now?!
23 Aug 2024 12:47:38
Let’s be serious we aren’t going to challenge for league without atleast 3 quality additions. The serious drop off last year will reappear again.
My top 4 predictions
1. Arsenal
2. City
3. Liverpool
4. Man U or Chelsea
And we’ll be about 10 points behind city. Just my guess.
23 Aug 2024 13:01:03
Up to now I’ve like slots press conferences but the constant answer the questions with “our team is hard to make better” is annoying now. We can make this team better because there are/ were better players out there. He starting to sound like a yes man to me.
23 Aug 2024 13:14:45
The way some talk on here you’d think we won the league last year by some margin and had a clean sweep of trophies. A lot of hubris on here. The same people saying we don’t need anything this season are the same ones who said we didn’t need to buy a centre back in 20/ 21 and the same ones who said we didn’t need to get another midfielder in 22/ 23. They were wrong then and they’re wrong now. Ironically Quansah is now out injured. We have an unbalanced and relatively thin squad. And it certainly isn’t good enough to win the league.
23 Aug 2024 13:20:15
I think it all depends on what we think is going to win the league this season. I do not think this team can get 95+ points for example. If city and or arsenal push to that level I personally don't think even if we had got for example zubimendi gordan and Inacio we would get to that tally.
I think this this team can aim for 80-85 points and with some luck here and there could push towards high 80s-90 points.
If we had signed the 3 players I listed as an example I would fancy us more to get towards that 90 but that still might not be enough.
So it's tough we do have a really good squad we have a lot of players that are on the fringe of being at that top level Konate Gravenberch Jones Elliot Szoboozlai Gakpo Nunez Diaz to name a few.
I don't think we've seen enough from these players to right them off and if they all push up a level then I think we would be in a title race. They are also all at ages where they could easily still take that step up. Some might obviously disagree with that.
I think next summer we will need to be ruthless on some of the players I've listed and the ones that don't make that step need to be moved on and replaced or improved upon with the players we have dropping back to squad players.
Overall I still remain optimistic for the season and our strongest 11 on paper is a match if not favourites against every other 11 in the league so it is down for the players to prove this or be improved upon next season.
23 Aug 2024 12:53:46
Noones panicking. There's 3 key players going into their last year of contracts. That's the concern. Our squad is fine. I don't see any worldclass players we're linked with to improve what wr have.
23 Aug 2024 13:52:13
I couldn’t disagree more MK, I think it’s nailed on that we will flatter to deceive again. Injuries will creep in and players will get overworked as a result. Maybe there is a chance to get through to Christmas and then add to the squad., that’s the best we have got.
When the captain repeatedly calls for reinforcements the club should listen. IMO VVD knows more about this squad than Hughes, Slot and the owners put together.
Looking to next season i.
23 Aug 2024 14:00:14
MK, how can you say it's the strongest squad since we won the league, when it's weaker than last season? I'm pretty sure everyone who I'll be sharing the coach with on Sunday, won't be in agreement with you. But, it's all about opinion, and I respect yours. As it stands, we're all putting an enormous amount of trust in Slot to help bridge the gap, not forgetting that sides who were below us have strengthened.
23 Aug 2024 14:01:18
I am as eager as most on this site to see us sign a couple of quality players to improve the squad but what I feel the need to point out is that nobody at the club has ever said that the squad can't be improved. Obviously the squad can be improved - there is not a squad on the planet that couldn't be improved in some way.
What the club has said is that we have a very good squad and they are finding it difficult to find players that will improve the squad. This might be because they are priced above what they consider to be good value, their clubs might not be willing to sell, the players might have their heart set on moving elsewhere, our squad might be too well stocked in that position, they may want guarantees of playing time that we are not in a position to offer, there wages may be unattainable due to our wage structure, we may have procrastinated and another club stepped in or they might just be too attached to their childhood clubs.
There is also the minor excuse that we came into this window with a cold start - a brand new manager, backroom staff and recruitment team so there was not much continuation from last season and club targets may not have been relevant anymore so it was a major reset and no work on transfers could really have been done prior to the window (most other clubs will have been working year round on transfers) .
Do I think Hughes is doing a good job? No
Do I think the club are deliberately not buying any players? No
There I only a week left and I think it is becoming increasing unlikely that we will sign any players that will improve this season's squad but I don't think it is a deliberate plan of a club showing no ambition - I think it is a complete failure of the recruitment team to carry out fundamental parts of their jobs. Hopefully they will prove me wrong in the next week.
23 Aug 2024 14:11:40
It’s all just excuses for not being properly prepared and not have proper target lists. Never mind the 3 contract situations. They all appear yes men.
23 Aug 2024 14:20:58
MK are you Hughes in disguise?
23 Aug 2024 14:26:19
I feel genuinely sorry for those suffering emotional and mental trauma through this transferless window.
23 Aug 2024 14:27:41
Knives won’t be out for Arne unless we get relegated.
He needs time.
23 Aug 2024 15:23:11
@Flash, don't pretend you feel sorry for it. You constantly revel in it.
I'd be very surprised if we let the window close, sign nobody and sell/ loan all the names that are being floated. If so, the squad will simply be too small to cope with the additional games, especially without having the outgoing u21s to call upon. Calling on the 16/ 17 year olds is a whole different ball game.
I still think (hope) we do some business and get at least two of the contract renewals done.
As it stands, I think we're just a little short for challenging for the title. With a couple of decent additions, there's no reason why we cannot expect a challenge.
23 Aug 2024 15:36:02
1jj I am pretty sure, unless I dreamt it, that Nunez played centrally for most, if not all of last season. And he wasn’t great.
Since then, ignoring his profligacy, a high percentage of posters have said he is better off coming n from the left, like he did at Benfica and how he plays for Uruguay. So no, I don’t think he is the answer to the centre of our front three.
Danns played how many games? 2 league games (one of those an 86th minute substitute), an EFL cup final (another subs appearance) and FA Cup 5th round. Scored twice and got an assist. Now that’s a return. And not profligate. Key attributes for being a no9.
23 Aug 2024 15:39:15
The knives will be out for Slot is just lazy analysis that has no basis in reality. As for the squad, it is not good enuff to win the title, imo. That doesn’t mean it can’t or won’t compete either. I think people should relax and stop speaking in absolutes about stuf they know nothing about. Nobody knows a damn thing about what will happen for certain this season, signings or not so slow your roll.
For me, we need signings. If we don’t make any then, I’ll have to accept it and still support my team game in and game out. I am in control of nothing so no point doing my head in and acting emotionally like many are doing now. Just my take.
23 Aug 2024 15:39:21
They did identify a target a long time ago that they wanted to bring in, though, that was Zubimendi. They did all the leg work and he came close to arriving but in the end decided not to come. These things happen, and maybe their plan B was just to stick with the squad we have if he chose not to come? I don't get the posters repeating ad nauseam 'even an infant could see that we have a gaping hole in the middle that needs to be plugged or we're going to end up midtable', it's like a chorus of parrots feeding off each other's panic in here sometimes.
BTW Slot never ever said that we can't improve on the team we have, he simply said that they will try and bring players who CAN improve the squad if they can, but sometimes it's not possible to do so. Bit ridiculous that he gets branded a 'yes man' for simply stating the truth. Is our midfield that desperately bad that they should just bring anybody in who can run about and put in a tackle? I get that people are anxious that our entire midfield is going to get injured and we're going to have to play Kelleher as a 6 but surely folks are getting tired typing the same thing over and over again?
Certainly there are players that could improve us but if we don't buy them this window I don't think it's the end of the world, maybe we had a bad window in terms of putting all our eggs in the Zubimendi basket but maybe Gravenberch will be a revelation there? I can't believe people are standing there with arms crossed insisting that the lad will never be a good premier league player and will never be a big player for us, what sorts of fans are you? Who knows, let's see, this shrill 'oh no we're the only team in the cosmos that hasn't bought big, we're going down', 'failure isn't an option, FSG Slot Hughes and Edwards need to go with their small club mentality' entitled nonsense is just inane.
23 Aug 2024 15:41:34
Rome77, I thought we were strong going into last season but my concerns were Matip and Thiago who both seemed to be breaking down. However a whole host of good young players showed massive improvements over the last 12 months (Jaros, Bradley, Quansah, Elliott, Morton, Jones, Nyoni, Danns etc) . I think those players stepping it up a level significantly offsets losing Adrian, Matip and Thiago from the first team squad given none of them offered us anything last season anyway.
I also think it is a huge bonus that there is no AFCON this season as that makes our squad stronger through January/ February.
On top of that MacAllister, Gravenberch and Szoboszlai are both fully settled in and should have a better season than last given they are still young themselves. That’s our whole midfield which is the engine room and it’s never easy learning a new language/ culture/ team mates etc.
Then you have guys like Nunez and Gakpo who are getting better and more experienced. On paper they should be coming into their prime years soon.
Lastly, we have Diaz, Jota and Robertson back fully fit after knee and shoulder injuries which should be a big bonus.
I genuinely believe the main issue last season was Klopp quitting. I think it gave a short term boost of an emotional high and then once that dissipated and the form dropped, I think it had a huge negative affect. we should have won the league last season from the position we were in GW30 but we let it slip. I don’t think that was lack of quality, I think it was lack of experience and the manager admitting he had nothing left to give.
23 Aug 2024 16:26:52
Lots of different opinions on where we currently are. We have posters who seem to be happy with the current squad and transfer/ contract situations and then others who aren’t (and obviously flash who as usual brings nothing to the party or discussion)
Good and interesting read on all and I suppose it’s just a case now of time will tell.
23 Aug 2024 16:41:35
Why does Slot need time? Ancelotti, Mourinho, Pelligirini and Ranieri all won the League first time of asking. And Slot says he was left with a great squad. There are some on here that have the excuse we were in transition for the last 2 years and are now saying more transition for Slot ?♂️.
23 Aug 2024 16:43:00
They will hopefully it doesn't come to that.
23 Aug 2024 17:06:59
When exactly did they identify Zubi as a target, you say a long time ago I’m calling bill rubbish and they saw he had a good euro’s. We’ve tracked nico Williams for a long time and never moved for him either. I fully understand slot needing to assess the players already here but to keep spinning the old’ it’s hard to improve on the team klopp has left behind’ so you saying klopp. Wouldn’t have been looking for a few new players also after the end of last season when apparently the team was playing to their maximum to send jurgen off in style and then collapsed. again nonsense. And if alli had come out and said he wants to leave after this season to klopp you think he would be buying and loaning a keeper till he goes instead of promoting Kelleher. The fact is we are running players into the ground because we don’t have decent back ups.
23 Aug 2024 17:23:38
I don’t believe the squad we’ve got will challenge for the title. Top 4 we should be challenging for. We’ve stood still when that was the last thing we should have been doing. As I repeatedly say, Hughes has been asleep at the wheel, and assume others have too.
23 Aug 2024 21:03:47
Guilty of not taking myself or this site too seriously.
And unrepentant.