14 Oct 2025 23:02:19
I was one of the few that thought we needed a midfielder as it was brilliant last season in large patches but in certain games could be bullied and bypassed so in my eyes could be improved on, at the minute mcallister is a passenger and I am trying to get my head round him having a hernia operation and the club not understanding he needs time to fully recover, going forward I want to see Jones in there and mac rested til he is fully back.
14 Oct 2025 23:19:53
How we’re using Mac is so contradictory to everything Slot has said about other players without a pre-season.
14 Oct 2025 23:37:52
There are no reports of him having a hernia, you have just made that up.
15 Oct 2025 08:16:36
You are wanting an Engine/ destroyer (or whatever the Genz call these days) . McAllister was never an engine. He is a Fabregas who needs a proper sitter / stopper beside him to function. McAllister is technically an excellent footballer with an eye for a goal. But asking him to run around and win the ball back isn’t his cup of tea.
The problem is not McAllister, Its how the midfield is balanced. It’s very difficult to succeed in England without a Rodri / Matic / Fabinho. Unfortunately we don’t have that profile in the squad.
I fully expect us to sign a DM in January or Summer.
Not sure if others have noticed it, but the font of this page has changed? Or is it only me?
{Ed001's Note - didn't Macca have the most challenges last season? The problem is Macca, as he does run around a lot, when he would be better served by running less and working on his positioning.}
15 Oct 2025 08:19:14
Slot would rather play a half fit Macca than Jones. Hopefully he has seen sense during the break.
15 Oct 2025 08:37:12
Well if he was never good positionally in the first place. And it’s the same with others too. This won’t go away by “training / chemistry”.
{Ed001's Note - it did improve last season.}
15 Oct 2025 08:58:02
McAllister is no Wijnaldum that you could deploy him in that role. But He is by and far our best midfielder on technique and skills (Wirtz is an exception) . He should be rotated with Wirtz. We need an upgrade on Endo (a Profile that would balance the midfield) .
15 Oct 2025 09:34:50
Macca had no preseason due to the injury he was playing with last season and trying to recover from right now. That is the first problem. IMO, he should go and get fit, get his legs fully underneath him and then come back fitter and ready to go. Till then, play guys like Jones who are actually fit and doing better than he is. But that's a "Dear Arne" question.
Secondly, Slot is trying to get Macca fit by playing him which is not helping the team overall esp. in transition and out of possession. Also, he lacks the athleticism that a Gini, Hendo, Fab or even a Szobo possesses even tho as Ed said, he runs around a lot. So expecting him to do things he lacks the ability to do is just a strange logic. Maybe as Ed said, he should focus on his positioning a bit more.
15 Oct 2025 10:02:39
Rodri, Matic and Fabinho are all unicorn players, I'm sure if players of that standard were on the market we would take a look. People on here are asking to get somebody like Wharton, who isn't at all that type of midfielder, sometimes I wonder if folks even really watch him play besides the games that he suits up against us (which should also tell you that he isn't a deep lying stopper of a midfielder) . Baleba is a very good player, mobile, athletic and excellent on the ball, but he has been very poor this season, probably also because of lack of match fitness.
Other than these two that everybody on here is always clamouring for, the likes of Joao Gomes and Andre would certainly be worth a look, though as good as he is I'm not sure Andre is good enough for us. Gomes, while not being a defensive stopper either, works very well as an all action pivot player who is very good on the ball and adds tenacity to any midfield. He just signed a five year contract a few months ago, though.
As for the point that a team can't succeed in England without a stopper of a midfielder. am I mistaken, or did we not win the title last year? Arsenal, who are once again the hype team in the PL, have Rice and Zubimendi as pivots, neither of them are traditional 6s or defensive stoppers, either.
I don't really understand this often-espoused logic on here that if we get a proper defensive midfielder all our problems are solved.
It might seem counter intuitive but I agree that our midfield is a big problem right not, though not because none of them are particularly defensively minded, but because we are having such huge difficulties in our build up we are not able to assert control in the game, and the likes of Mac Allister are having to do so much of what they are subpar at (receiving the ball with his back to goal in small spaces desperately trying to retain possession/ running around trying to put out fires) rather than what they are in the team for (facing forward and picking those trademark Mac Allister bounce passes into attacking spaces) . This team was built to dominate games and make the opponent retreat, not pass the ball backwards because Ryan and Macca can't turn or get the ball to the attacking third or have to run around everywhere trying to cover space.
15 Oct 2025 11:22:02
For me, the issue with the midfield last season was that we were missing one more body. Gravy, Macca and Szobo were goosed by the time the PSG and Newcastle games came around. It was clear pretty early that Endo was not fancied by Slot and Curtis has a great knack of being injured when you need him the most. It's almost an art form. Had we one more body to rotate in there last season I believe we would have beaten both PSG and Newcastle and picked up at least one more trophy.
This season is slightly different in that Macca is just not fit. I have no idea what the issue is/ was but it has clearly impacted us. Secondly, Gravy himself has admitted his role has changed a bit and that he is being given license to push on - which is probably also contributing the midfield's lack of cohesion right now.
We still haven't addressed last season's issue of being a body short in midfield. Will Nyoni, Bajcetic or Endo get game time - I am not so sure Slot will rotate them into anything other than domestic cup games.
Lastly, it's not just the midfield personnel that is the issue. The fullbacks are a key part of the build up, whether they hold width, underlap or invert into midfield. These lads are new and still getting to grips with being Liverpool players.
Slot has a lot to do.
FWIW, my four point plan would be:
- go back to basics with Gravy's role - as per last season
- give Kerkez and the right back (whichever we choose) the license to take their man on/ bomb on - we need to create a bit of risk
- tuck Mo in to leave space for the fullback
- while Macca is getting up to speed, get Szobo into midfield alongside Gravy.
And one bonus - fine Cody everytime he ignores the pass to Kerkez.
15 Oct 2025 12:10:06
Sorry guys my mistake I thought he had an operation but he is recovering from an injury and it would of been good if we knew the extent of his injury as he is such a key player when on song, he stands out like a sore thumb with his performances lately as its night and day, having said that he scored twice for Argentina yesterday maybe its a turning point.
15 Oct 2025 12:34:56
This team last year didn’t had Frimpong and Kerkez who are more of a winger than full backs or likes to operate. The team cannot operate without holding midfielders while playing two offensive full backs and central midfielders who simply can’t hold their position.
I like Wharton and he is a better player than McAllister for the defensive role. Not an engine but sold enough to sweep danger.
Arsenal have 4 center backs in their defense. With defensive minded full backs and plays defensive football all-together. They also have Declan Rice who is a better footballer than Baleba.
Zubemendi is their McAllister who all of you want to be dropped.
15 Oct 2025 14:48:03
Yes, it has for me 007. A bit weird.
15 Oct 2025 15:29:04
I agree that the team cannot operate without players sitting while others attack. Whether this is both midfielders, or a midfielder and a fullback, I don't know, but we can't commit everybody to attack and get done on transition. I disagree that we need to buy specialist 6s for that purpose. Gravenberch did perfectly fine doing that last year, Dom or Macca can do that too. When we control games better we won't need to be scrambling everywhere putting out fires anyway.
If we buy another midfielder, it's to provide more cover and rotation for the style that Slot wants to play. I think we should give the whole 'Slot needs to change and play a specialist 6' nonsense a rest, we won the title without one.
That being said, Adam Cleary put out a very interesting video as to why 6s are being asked to arrive late in the box and pick up attacking positions this year in the prem. Definitely worth a watch.
15 Oct 2025 15:44:45
Why are you talking about Arsenal? Are they your latest crush? I guess it's their turn after Chelsea and City had a go.
15 Oct 2025 16:19:46
FlyPelicanFly, those ^layers were goosed cos Slot refused to rotate them. He literally admitted it before the season ended and said he regrets not doing that more cos tho, Jones could pick up an injury here or there, Elliott was right there who could come in and do a job. and he also underrated Endo at first, only to use him later. That's on Slot and to his credit, he admitted it so Im fine with that.
On the other hand, he has started rotating this season from the off which does not help cos he seemed to go from one extreme to the other on this topic hence, I have always said that he needs to recalibrate his ideas a bit more to suit his team that is trying to learn a new way with so much player turnover.
Now tho one can agree that we may have needed a new midf. body and I was saying MacConnell should have been promoted (that's just me), I don't know the in's nor out's of whether there was a viable option out there. At the end of the day like you said, Slot has had a lot to keep him busy this int'l break so let's see what we have come Sun.
15 Oct 2025 16:24:52
TB2, don't be surprised if Harry starts bigging up Spurs (as a stick to beat us with) if they ever went top at any point this season.