06 Feb 2025 10:39:34
So we have heard planning to improve in the summer - let’s bring our own version of football manager. Who do you think we can realistically go for to improve on this year? (With the 3 OOC gone/ 3 Staying/ dreaming)
For Me if the three go, I would have to be dreaming to improve the squad - summer would look something like… Bradley replace Trent, Bastoni for VVD but also looking at someone like Hincapie or Huijsen (young and already go and do a very good job), look at bringing Kerkez in with either Robbo/ Tsimikas going, bringing in Baleba for competition on the Midfield, I would look at Bakayoko as a salah replacement, but would also try and bring in a “proper” 10 to try and replace goals, I think either Jota/ Nunez goes, so dreaming again throw big money at Isak (would cost a bomb with him and Bastoni but letting the three go is huge) . If Diaz gets a move to Barcelona i would be bringing in a younger LW for competition for Gakpo maybe someone like Nusa.
It’s similar if the 3 stay in my eyes - look at the two young CBs for rotation and future proofing - Kerkez for one of the LBs, a young player like Bakayoko as a Salah rotation option with the view of replacing. I think that strengthens us.
In Dream Land it would be Bastoni for VVD - Rodrygo for Salah - Bradley for Trent with money going on Isak.
Like I said it’s all fantasy stuff but I think there are a couple of gems out there who could make our squad frightening! Who would you guys be looking at for a big summer as promised?
06 Feb 2025 12:16:35
I like most of those shouts, would love Bastoni. For me
LB - Kirkez
CB - Scalvini/ Hujsen
DM - Baleba
LW - (If Diaz leaves) - Barcola/ Gittens
RW - I'd wait another year and try to get Olise out of Bayern
ST - Isak (if both Darwin and Jota leave)
That's some serious outlay and about as likely to happen as Ruben Amorim is to see the season out. But I'm all for a bit of fantasy.
06 Feb 2025 12:23:11
Scalvini would be my pick but never happening.
06 Feb 2025 13:35:16
Cb per kroldrup
Lw Aidan mcgeady
St Brett angell
Gk the monk ( mean machine ) or Richard wright.
06 Feb 2025 13:49:32
Dream signings (because it’s fun)
LB: Davies
CB: Bastoni
CM: Valverde
ST: Isam
RW: Rodrygo
Realistic:
LB: Hato
CB: Huijsen
CM: Baleba
ST: Cunha
RW: Bakayoko with Salah extension to bed in.
06 Feb 2025 14:16:45
Reckon we'd be able to get Jimmy Grimble off City?
06 Feb 2025 14:27:21
If we are playing football manager then I'm bringing in Freddy Adu to replace Salah.
Saviola as our new striker.
Defence, it's got to Ezequiel Garay. I'd bring in Collicini too. Collicini can play RB too.
I'm also adding Aimar because his class.
LB. The young Brazilian Marcelo.
Team
GK. Alisson
LB. Marcelo
RB. Collicini
CB. Garay
CB. Konate
DM. Gravenberch
CM. Szoboslai
LW. Gakpo
AM. Aimar
RW. Adu
CF. Saviola
We'll one hundred percent win everything with this team.
With this team and my god like a ability to turn back time when a result does not go my way, we'll be unstoppable.
06 Feb 2025 14:30:03
Dani Rojas.
06 Feb 2025 15:25:46
In 2018/ 19 when we won the champions league. I feel like we missed a trick that summer. We didn’t strengthen when we was on top.
Won the league the year after but we wasn’t quite as good as the previous year imo, and then we slipped further behind.
If we was to go on and be the best this season I’d want us to learn from those mistakes and buy some of the best players around in summer.
06 Feb 2025 15:27:45
Bastoni or Huijsen
Baleba (not convinced entirely but he has a lot of ability) or Bruno G (not happening)
Isak (don’t even bother with other strikers, quite frankly, Isak is an absolute sniper. )
06 Feb 2025 16:18:31
@Davey Sulls.
How could you not put in Tonton Zola Moukoko?
SHame about Cherno Samba's career. ;) ) )
06 Feb 2025 16:38:27
Jorrel Hato to replace robbo or tsimikas, whoever slot prefers to keep
Antoine Semenyo (to replace diaz if he still wants barca)
Matheus Cunha (to replace Jota or Nunez, whoever slot prefers to keep
Elliot Anderson (to replace endo and elliot in CM)
Dean Huijsen (to replace Quansah who i think we should send on a loan to a PL team)
selling Nunez, Diaz, Endo, Morton, Kelleher, Robertson, Doak, Bajectic, Beck, Chiesa should cover most of their costs.
I would obviously also keep Trent, Van Dijk and Salah.
06 Feb 2025 16:42:13
If all three stay; murillo, kerkez, mbuemo and baleba - if Salah were to leave maybe gyokeres but is a pipe dream.
06 Feb 2025 16:56:31
LiverpoolFC8, learn from the mistake of winning the CL and then the PL by 18 points the year after?
There's no pleasing some folk!
You don't always strengthen by signing players, you know.
The season after we won the PL we lost VvD, Matip and Gomez with long term injuries and then Henderson and Fabinho went down. You can do a lot about that but we still finished third.
I don't think any team in the world would buy three centre halves and two midfielders in case they lose five players with injuries.
06 Feb 2025 16:59:31
I still don’t think we’ve seen the best of Alexandre Pato.
06 Feb 2025 17:36:58
The only version of football manager I ever played was the Kevin Toms version in the eighties and all its telling me that we can sign is Paul Mariner and Russell Osman.
06 Feb 2025 17:54:53
Not sure there are any dream players out there tbh.
Long gone are the days of imagining Bergkamp, Ronaldo (R9) and Baggio in a Liverpool shirt are gone.
However, extending the contracts of certified dream players like Mo, Virgil and Trent would be pretty cool.
Seriously though, Hato and Baleba would add so much to the current squad.
If there are big outgoings, then of course we have a lot to do.
06 Feb 2025 18:27:34
Santiago Munez but he looks nailed on for Madrid.
06 Feb 2025 21:57:40
so many ifs, find it a bit overwhelming hahaha
but in principle without diving into the ins and outs, the players I'd like to see at the club would be Huijsen, Hato, Isak and another player for the midfield. Although if Endo was happy with it, I would be totally ok with Endo remaining in the squad to play that role. Endo's future would seem to rely more on Slot tho cos Endo seems content to stay and play whatever role he's given.
so whoever that midfielder player is I'm thinking should be an experienced and versatile player. I think between the youth of McConnell and Nyoni and Baj we have the 7-9 midfield positions sorted. Guys who cover cups and step into the first team when needed through a long season. baj may even break through next season, who knows.
In brief, I think we need a body in midfield but that it'll be experience to add to the squad.
06 Feb 2025 21:59:57
Latest getting reported on contracts is VVD very close (we’ve heard that before), Salah less so but still positive he’s staying, Trent gone, Diaz, Konate, Curtis all closing in on new deals as well.
Got to say if we close 5 out of those 6, with Gakpo, Mac, Connor, Szob, Darwin all on long deals we’re really well set for next season.
Add a new keeper in to the mix we won’t need too many new faces in the summer. Say it quietly but Robbo has played better recently as well so perhaps just two reinforcements would be enough, the young Ajax left back who we can ease in to the team and a centre mid to rotate.
06 Feb 2025 22:50:24
isn't Diaz on something like 70k? he could easily be on 130-150 and I imagine this is all playing into the number crunching.
06 Feb 2025 23:03:06
I have no idea who might be coming in, haha. If the work is being done, they are doing a good job of keeping it under wraps.
However, I would think there will be a significant change in the squad for next season. While I don't expect all of them to go, I could see any, or all, of Diaz, Jota, Nunez, Elliot, Endo, Tsimikas, Gomez, and Kelleher leaving.
So on top of the CB and LB that were already needed, the team could be looking for 2 or 3 attacking players (maybe Danns gets a shot also), a DCM (I like the link to Stiller I saw recently), and another CB.
I trust Slot to ID the players he wants and hope the team can get them.
Dream signing would be Camavinga and Wirtz, Luka Vuskovic, Hato, and another attacking player.
07 Feb 2025 00:06:56
Correct rigsby. I’m not happy with just that.
Someone once said this football club should be a “bastion of invincibility”. Im going to follow that guy he knew a thing or two.
07 Feb 2025 07:26:42
This season’s team is - assuming the accepted wisdom that if you don’t move forwards you go backwards - an obvious exception to the rule.
With basically Chiesa being the only arrival the squad that was here last year has improved by a double digit percentage. It’s like the old days when coaches actually did coach. It’s great to see and being a cynical old git it’s great watching the current generation getting its knickers in a twist because the club isn’t run along the lines of a very, very simplistic computer game.
Tell me ma, me ma
I don’t want no tea, no tea
We’re going to Wem-ber-Lee
Que sera, sera ?.
08 Feb 2025 03:33:54
@Daveysulls. Honestly mate, I lost 2 months of my life playing FM while on tour in the army signing those exact players. Honerable mention to Nigel Reo-Coker!