01 Sep 2026 00:38:50
Hughes has been a 2-year disaster show, emphasised more by his relationship with Edwards, who was a disaster of a reappointment.
We now need to seek a new, outside recruitment man with a proven record of upcoming players who then develop into stars.
The full-back issues and a lack of a striker will ruin our season.
Fair play to Barcola, signed for us despite the s*** show in the background.
Nothing to see today, I’m afraid.
01 Sep 2026 01:35:23
Really? Are you serious?
In the last 2 years we've won the league, signed the best player in Germany, the 2nd best striker in the Premier League, another excellent striker, the best left back in the Premier League, a right back who won the Bundesliga going unbeaten all season, the best young French CB from Ligue 1, the best young CB from Serie A, a former Barcelona captain and now one of the best wingers in world football.
In that time we've tragically lost a player, sold the likes of Nunez, Doak, Morton who most deemed not good enough, we've lost the scouser in the team because he fancied the bright lights of Madrid, we've lost our talisman and record Premier League goalscorer who's time was up and we lost Konate who again, most deemed not good enough.
Frimpong was injured for a lot of last season and was only really signed as backup to Bradley who we were all excited about but he got a serious injury, Leoni got a serious injury, Ekitike got a serious injury, Isak broke his leg, Ali has been in and out of the team with injuries.
We've now changed managers and the players are struggling to adapt immediately. Communication and cohesion isn't quite there but it will come.
I seriously think all the hate and doomsday scenarios are totally unnecessary. We are in a good place. When the players get that cohesion and we get players back from injury we will be a serious force to be reckoned with.
It was always going to be difficult moving on from Klopp. It was always going to be difficult transitioning from Salah, Mane, Bobby, Trent, Robbo, Virgil, Ali etc. to a new team and still stay as successful.
How do you replace Mo's goals? You won't find another wide forward like Mo so we've had to go a different way. We are transitioning from a false 9 model with 2 wide forwards and a solid, compact midfield to a proper 9 with a 10 and a more creative midfield with wingers staying wide and feeding the forwards.
We've needed to sign a whole different profile of player. We tried playing Salah and Gakpo as wingers with Isak or Ekitike through the middle and it didn't work. Just like it didn't work for Klopp when he tried it with Nunez.
I literally could go on forever but I hope you understand what I'm trying to say. We are nowhere near as bad as some of you think and have done some excellent business in the last couple of windows. We haven't reaped the rewards yet because we've been in between styles of play and haven't had the right profile of player and we've had a lot of injuries.
We will get there but we were never going to complete the squad in 1 or even 2 windows. We have a squad that, if Iraola gets them going, can seriously challenge for everything. I know many won't agree because all you can see are negatives but I honestly believe it.
Front line options consisting of Barcola, Isak, Ekitike, Wirtz, Gakpo, Munoz and Rio is absolutely frightening.
Yes we need Bradley back and Kerkez needs to step up but is it so impossible for that to happen?
Sorry this post wasn't meant to be this long and well done if you made it to the end but I needed to remind everyone of just what a good squad we are building here.
01 Sep 2026 02:00:18
Stepover
You’re entitled to your opinion and I have mine.
You do you and I will do me. ??
I hope your positivity pays off, mind you, but I am one of life’s realists.
I still stand by my statement. Our full backs are undoubtedly some of the worst in the Premier League.
Wirtz is now 14 months with the club and yet to show me anything that tells me he is top class. He is not.
The squad balance is poor. We win nothing this season.
01 Sep 2026 02:22:58
I wasn’t really aiming that at you, Hughes; your post just echoes most posts I read on here, so I replied to it with my own thoughts.
I would hasten to add, though, mate, you are not a realist. You are a pessimist. Realism is very often used to excuse pessimism.
It’s about how you perceive reality. I look at our reality and I’m excited. I look at the players we’ve signed and see bags of talent. I know it hasn’t clicked yet, but I’m sure it will.
You look at our reality and see problems. You see negativity. You see that the team isn’t performing as you’d like, and you can’t see it getting any better.
From my point of view it’s much more likely that we will get better than not. There’s too much talent in our squad for that not to happen. We are building a team to get the best from Wirtz and Isak and we will. And when we do it will be a joy to behold.
{Ed666's Note - And here’s my reality the squad we CURRENTLY have is light years away from challenging for the title. This could miraculously change by 11pm tommorow evening but at the moment we are going to draw and lose more games than we won. This is not a reflection on Irola but in fact the way he’s been let down by the lack of reinforcements. Look at City & Chelsea the way they have recruited. They’ve identified holes in the squad and plugged the gaps. We have need a right back, a right winger and a midfielder and what do we do we but a goalkeeper and a striker for the future. Why are we even entering competitions this year if we have no chance of winning anything. Fcuk this transition season crap give the manager a team he can compete with. I might be eating humble pie tommorow night and I gladly will if there’s some incomings for the first team squad.
01 Sep 2026 03:17:27
I'm with Rios, though maybe not too excessive. I do accept the reality that our SD is ferked up big time, and can't understand for whatever reason the Board allows him to double as AlHilal's SD at a crucial point, but I also think we have some really above average players that can be coached into becoming better.
Challenging the title, maybe not this season. But I'm optimistic we'll be Top 4 and, if luck (which plays at least 10% in each game) comes our way, we might surprise everyone with a trophy this season.
I'm a coach, lived my life in football. I had a fair share of turning professional once upon a time and I'm certain we can do well with this group of players.
That includes Kerkez and Frimpong. It depends on whether some players are able to restrict their nature and be disciplined, whether they'd run and sacrifice for their teammates and the badge, and lastly whether they can let others take the glory instead of thinking they're better than the others (even if they are) and put their shift in.
Expect injuries as Iraola's and Klopp's style of play will have us running on fumes by the eleventh hour. But if everyone does their part as a team, us fans will start to enjoy Liverpool's football again.
01 Sep 2026 03:19:58
Whatever people want to say about money spent, the players we've bought and their reputation prior to coming to us, the objective facts remain that the squad is imbalanced and not ready to challenge on four fronts.
I will leave a slight caveat in that Iraola's coaching may make a difference but that we may not see the real fruits of that until later in the season.
01 Sep 2026 03:59:01
Well said RSO.
01 Sep 2026 04:05:08
In a vacuum, some of the signings we have made are world class signings. But teams are not just a sum of their individual parts, and windows are not made on one or two signings.
Context is everything. Matip retired and we signed Chiesa. The following season you can look at things in isolation and say Quansah > Leoni or Kelleher > Mamardashvili is good business. But we were still desperate for a CB and spent 200m on 2x CFs and no wingers for a system that needs wingers and only has 1 CF. We also created our own problems adding Wirtz to the team, because then Szobo had to be moved out of position, we had 3 senior left backs and had to force Kostas out the club.
Which brings us to this calamity of a window. We finally replaced Matip with Jacquet, Ibou left and we brought in Araujo. Again, we can say this is good business, but players of Konate's age and calibre should never be leaving on a free and this is becoming a habit. We are desperate for a right winger because we just forced the only one we have out the club so what do we do? Go and buy 2 more left wingers.
So yes, Gakpo > Barcola is a massive upgrade but we didn't sell Gakpo and are instead left trying to fit square pegs in round holes on the right, we still have nobody to take control of the midfield, and the full back situation is up for massive debate. We also have 7 contracts expiring next summer, Araujo's loan ending and 4 more contracts the summer after... more holes needing to be plugged.
You know the situation is dire when people are arguing about which sub-par player is a better fit for us... at the beginning of the window, names like Senesi, Nunez and Bowen were being thrown around because they were free/cheap and achievable and fixed gaping holes in the squad while leaving money to upgrade elsewhere. Players like Sangare or Palestra that would drastically improve our starting 11 gone to other Premier League clubs for fees well within our price range.
We have turned into post-Fergie United, I'm afraid... just chasing the big name and hoping fans won't notice the leaky roof
{Ed666's Note - name me one of these world class signings mate?
01 Sep 2026 04:18:53
Summer 2024, folks.
01 Sep 2026 04:38:02
It's the 16th of September (NZ time) 8AM and I'm up early to watch the Spurs EFL Cup game. And what a turnaround the season has been. After that extraordinary Tsimikas brace against Athletico Madrid (4-2 final score with Mcalister and Gakpo netting the other two) preceded by the Ipswich hammering (Isak hat-trick and a brace by Cocacola) and followed by the closer 3-1 against Fulham (yep that Tsimikas again finds back of the net) the Reds are humming like a well tuned Valiant Charger running a hemi 265.
Bring on the Spurs! Go the Reds! Go the Greek!
01 Sep 2026 05:03:26
@666 When I say "world class signing" I don't necessarily mean the player is world class, just that the signing is one that one of the biggest clubs in the world would make to dramatically improve their team.
Isak was the 2nd best striker in the league when we bought him, replacing what many would consider a failed signing.
Barcola is a pacy, multiple Champions League winner, replacing a player many consider 1-dimensional and not good enough.
Wirtz was considered generational when we bought him.
My point is that last season if instead of Isak we had spent the money on Rodrygo and Guehi, both players that are arguably not good enough but fix problems in the side, then it is a better window overall.
It doesn't really matter if we go out and buy Kvaratskhelia next year if we don't replace Alisson, Virgil and Salah with some players that at least play in those positions. We need to go back to actually building a team, rather than just buying the next big name "market opportunity" and giving our manager a pat on the back and telling him to work it out.
01 Sep 2026 08:04:22
Some are misusing realism when they mean pessimism. It may be your reality, but it isn’t mine.
Neither am I an optimist. I think it is better to have a balanced perspective. My half a glass is exactly what it is, half a glass.
01 Sep 2026 08:44:59
Good luck to all the optimists on the site, I hope you end up being right and I’m wrong.
I see a 5th place finish at best, and a no show in all the cups.
Maybe an early exit even in the CL.
Good banter all the same, boys and girls, love to all.
The Pessimistic Realist xx
01 Sep 2026 08:51:59
I put it on the club. It's been a collective balls up. Maybe not backing Hughes is them realising this. Either way, those above have to shoulder some of the blame. Were they not reacting because of the deal to sell a percentage of the club? For me, I have faith in AI, and once he gets us playing, I imagine half of Hughes' signings to be moved on.
01 Sep 2026 09:10:53
You could sign the best player from every legue in the world; it doesn't mean they're going to succeed in the Prem, or that they'll gel, or fit the manager's system. It's not about signing "the best players", it's about signing the right players.
Hughes has been absolutely useless, and so has Edwards, no idea why they brought that snake back in the first place, pure conman.
01 Sep 2026 10:01:57
Scouse, I agree with you even though, I agree with a lot of the posters who have a diff. opinion to yours. This tells me that our issues are multi-faceted, which tells me how much of a shambles we have been over the last 1é to 18 months.
Im just happy the 3 amigos have/will be gone so we can start afresh with a new vision and new energy and ideas.
Now also, I see Ed's point that whether we can win the title or not is not that important for this season, at least. The more important thing is to give the manager a squad he can work and compete with and here, the club (via Hughes) has failed massively.
Multiple things can be correct at the same time, essentially.
01 Sep 2026 03:11:13
I've a gut feeling that you won't be eating any humble pie unfortunately Ed0666
01 Sep 2026 07:04:26
People who allign with Ris has zero ambition to win the league anytime soon, They would rather we play good football and next year is our year than actually addressing the problem.
Ed666 nailed it.
01 Sep 2026 09:32:36
I do understand your frustrations Ed666, Hughes and all the other pessimistic realists but the fact is we have a squad of excellent footballers with a few players who were considered world class before we bought them.
The midfield of Grav, Szob and Macca have won a Premier League title so they can't be that bad can they?
A forward line of Barcola-Isak-Gakpo/Munoz is, on paper as good as anything in the league. Far, far, far better than anything even the champions have.
I think people are allowing last season's poor form to cloud their judgement without taking into account the mitigating circumstances.
The team need to shake last season off, Iraola needs to get them playing in his way and I really believe we'll be a force.
{Ed666's Note - with the greatest of respect mate I couldn’t disagree more. Irola might be an excellent coach but he’s not a magician. This midfield won a premiership two seasons ago and are pitiful now and the forward line you mention is not firing otherwise we’d have 6 points now. We need a right back, a midfielder and a right winger for us to even be in the mix and I don’t know why this hasn’t happened yet?