Liverpool banter 3

12 Oct 2025 17:56:39
Seen every international game to check on our players. Its just a matter of time before we click. I know these international games are wiff waff but we have some special players and it will work out in maybe next 4-5 games.

12 Oct 2025 18:55:28
Hi Akira good to hear from you mate. What’s your opinion on our difficult start. Too much tinkering or expected given the whole heap of changes?

12 Oct 2025 19:04:30
Robbo was pants for Scotland, his legs have gone.

12 Oct 2025 20:10:13
Jamie Car Rager

Reference Roobbo claimed in his Sky analysis that the winning goal for chelsea reserves was because of three Robbo mistakes.

When the ball was lost by LFC to Chelsea, he was ten yards further forward than his winger Gakpo, when they frame freezed the lost LFC ball possession.

Had he been ten yards behind winger Gakpo, Jamie Car Rager claims he would have been ten yards closer to winger Estevao who scored the winning goal, Car Rager also showed the chelsea winger unmarked on his own in the build up to the winning goal.

When the winning cross was played, Jamie Car Rager again freezed the frame, and instead of looking at the crossed winning ball, Robbo can be seen quite clearly with his head between his knees not looking at the cross for the winning goal.

Last season TAA was the LFC Vice Captain, this season it is Robbo what a strange and most baffling choice when he is not a guaranteed starter for the first eleven, and his contract finishes next June 2026, surely the VC role should have gone to a player who is guaranteed to stay beyond 2026.

Bill Shankly was once asked the question who is your Captain for the season, typically Bill replied " I always want eleven Captains in my Teams"

As Bill often said: "I can only point them in the right direction, I do not kick a ball for them, the players have to find the solutions on the pitch themselves"

Graeme Souness when he was FIRST making his debut for LFC said to Sir Bob Paisley with five minutes to go before the kick off, "what do you want me to do during the game, Boss"

Sir Bob replied "I have just broken the British Transfer Record in signing you, and you're asking me how to play Football"!

YNWA 97 and 20.

12 Oct 2025 20:24:12
Older than me LFC fans will be posting no doubt Sir Kenny Dalglish cost more than Souness at circa £440,000 a year before the Souness transfer, but Sir Kennys transfer was between an English club and a Scottish club, Souness was a record between two English clubs at the time?

Sozzes for raining on someone's parade?

13 Oct 2025 04:09:41
I think most of it has to do with loss of Jota. And its pretty evident that a lack of good pre season means many players are lacking match fitness.
These pre season friendlies to Asia USA etc do more harm than good to players but are a easy money hack. Pre season far away after the emotional feelings should have been avoided. But such is the game

Then slot has not been able to identify his midfield and full backs and that just means no fluidity in play.
We have played 3RB in 8 odd games (due to injuries) and we don't know which LB is better. Other than gravy no midfielder has worked. There is no position for wirtz and in accommodating wirtz we have a bit of pace and one touch passing.
And finally Konate. Oh we have been carrying that lad this season and he is heavy. can't read can't pass can't tackle and positionally he has been inept since we bought him. I can't believe how he gets to the wrong side of an attacker every damn time! Only thing good about him was his heading and he has been awful at that too this season. His new contract offer is mind boggling and we should not offer that amount of money for such bad performances. Unfortunately we don't have an option to drop him and VVD has def lost a yard or two so we will have to see out this season. Id drop him and start gomez.

13 Oct 2025 10:45:45
Akira . I couldn't watch one international game never mind a few of them, . glutton for punishment for you .

13 Oct 2025 11:04:00
I also wondered whether the intensity of pre-season training was compromised by the Jota tragedy. We shall see in time I guess.

Hopefully the break away from AXA will allow them to reset and what better game to return to - Man Utd at Anfield! Cannot wait!

14 Oct 2025 20:52:46
Of course the intensity was compromised Fly. It’s a really delicate situation and they can’t say ‘what do you mean you’re upset? Drop and give me 20!’

I think the slow start to the season is a necessity due to a lack of preseason. We are trying to slow games down and play in bursts, score a couple and then see the games out with slow possession.

People saying why can’t Slot see it’s not working don’t have access to the information he has on the general fitness of his squad. The susceptibility to injury if not fully fit is high so he’s having to manage players through the first part of the season.

He’s not an idiot. He’s not going to change tactics to something that’s not working. We had 3 games in a row where we went 2 goals up and completely stepped off the gas, is he really going to do that 3 times in a row if it’s not absolutely necessary? There’s more to football than just sending everyone out to run through walls. We have a long season ahead and we need to keep as many players on the pitch as possible.

12 Oct 2025 12:24:28
I was gutted when Coutinho left because I had seen him and Mo play together and it was a sight to behold. Obviously in this situation now Wirtz is our Coutinho and can surely gel with Mo and Isak surely this has to be inevitable.

12 Oct 2025 19:10:56
Did Philipe have to be sold surely are very rich owner could have bought VVD and Becker from his 6 Billion fortune (Forbes) that would of strengthened the team with three staying and one having to leave weakened it on the other hand?

A lot of conjecture regarding who is the best between Wharton and Baleba ( my choice) wouldn't it be a whole lot better with the two of them signed than just one of them Mr John W. Henry?

12 Oct 2025 19:50:19
Come on man give it a break, you know it doesn't work like that.
Newcastles owners are worth circa £500 billion bit can't just go out and buy every man and his dog that can kick a football well.

12 Oct 2025 20:33:33
Coutinho wanted to leave and didn’t want to play for us anymore inventing a back injury until he got his move.

Just because we have very rich owners doesn’t mean we can’t ignore PSR.

We need defenders before we buy a midfielder.

13 Oct 2025 00:25:02
Coutinho didn't have to leave but he wanted to, even to the point of refusing to play for us. Everything else is just irrelevant after that.

11 Oct 2025 23:44:17
Hey Ed001,

Any chance of the pod coming back once you're less busy?

Thanks.

{Ed001's Note - yes mate, it was only on hiatus because of that cable getting cut in the sea, which left my internet really spotty and constantly cutting out. We would have been back now, but it is the international break and not a lot to discuss regards the Prem. Hopefully do one this week to build up to the weekend games.}

12 Oct 2025 13:19:07
Looking forward to it, Ed. I will really try to get on it cos I've missed the last two.

12 Oct 2025 13:48:13
Cheers Ed001, looking forward to it.

{Ed001's Note - thanks mate, they are good fun to do.}

12 Oct 2025 16:06:18
The pods are on YouTube, Oli. If you miss them on here, you can always catch them there. The account name is "Football Rumours" or you can just search up "Sharkopod" if it doesn't show up.

12 Oct 2025 22:50:26
Awesome, Drac. Will check them out when I have nothing to do. Like during the rest of this int'l break, lol.

11 Oct 2025 22:01:26
Questions to edd1

Have you heard about any cantract renewal for Slot?
I completely understand it in order to signal some workingspace for Slot, even if things does not work out, even if spending big this summer. I'm much more letting him turn this team into a machine, and then give him a new contract. We've not been in hurry to fire coaches even if they're in a very bad period.

Have you thought about letting your ideas about the state of the coaching, low intensity and playing with to many touches before going at the opposition. Or do you trust Slot to find out him self that this kind of football is not suited for the players awailable? Wirtz, Salah, Szobo, Ekitike, Isak as I see are much better playing in high intensity teams. All Ekitikes goals have come from playing quick and pressing.
I do think Slot have been good at altering things better during matches that Kloop was, just that maybe Klopp was better in creating a fearless unit, tormenting the opposition.
Do you trust Slot to somehow change a bit and going more for the throat than all this dull boring slow play, trying to avoid burning out players, which I personally think is bull. But the Guadiola fascination have somehow spread into every club in the premier league.

Do you think managers are too focused on avoiding injuries, even though an injury to one player should benefit another player.

The last one. Do you think Slot will sacrifice Salah and give Chiesa the chance in the nearby future, maybe even for the Manchester game?

{Ed001's Note - I have not heard of any renewal for him yet. They will give him time though, I am sure.

Slot is willing to change and adapt, so I am sure he will adapt his style anyway, even if it had worked immediately. So I am doubly sure he will be tinkering with it gradually to find a way of playing that works.

I think it makes sense to look at avoiding injuries, but you can't let it be to the detriment of results. The squad should be more than strong enough to provide cover.

Chiesa is best on the left, so I very much doubt that Salah will be dropped for him. It is more likely Frimpong would get the nod, if Slot decides Salah needs a break.}

12 Oct 2025 13:24:14
Like you, Ed. I hope Slot changes and tinkers less. I also agree that it is way too early to start rotating while still trying to bed in new players and a new system.

If you are playing well then, fine I can get into that esp. if the goal is to mitigate against injuries. In fact, that shows the foresight Slot has going into this season as he thinks the title will be tougher to win this season than last season. I fully back this argument.

However, he's going to have to find a settled structure, a settled team esp. backline, get the system that fits the strengths of the players right and go from there.

{Ed001's Note - I think you get it settled down first, then you start worrying about potential injuries in the future with rotation.}

12 Oct 2025 21:37:31
You have to consider what information he’s getting from the sports science dept too. If they are telling him certain players are undercooked and are at risk of injury he has to listen. If they are saying the team can’t handle 90 minutes at full pace safely yet he will alter his tactics accordingly.

In the first 5 games we were underwhelming yet we beat some very good teams so he had no reason to worry too much. We played at half pace and won. He tried something different against Palace and it backfired badly although we probably should’ve turned that game around in the second half after being fortunate to only be one down at the break.

The Gala game was a farce with the whistling from the crowd, the ridiculous penalty and the ref blowing his whistle every 30 seconds. It wasn’t even a football match.

The Chelsea game was one which could’ve gone either way. The major disappointment was that after we’d equalised we didn’t push on and put them under enough pressure.

My point is, after the first 2 losses I don’t think he would’ve been too bothered. His own fault against Palace and just a weird game against Gala. However, after the Chelsea game I think he’ll realise that more urgency is needed. This is the premier league if you invite teams into the game they will take advantage of it. Even the worst teams have good players who can hurt you if you allow them to.

We have to be more clinical both in attack and defence. I’m sure we will be.

13 Oct 2025 05:39:14
The bigger problem, it seems,
is the fact that we are finding it difficult to move the ball through the thirds right now, none of the players we have in midfield or defence are really passers besides Virgil and Dom, and our full backs are great carriers of the ball but they aren't really being asked to do that either.

It's been said so many times on here that Trent was a massive part of us being able to get the ball from defence through the thirds or out wide to attack the opposing third, robbo and Kostas were huge for us carrying the ball on the left as well. For people saying Kostas wasn't good enough to play for us, the stats don't lie, he was a more than decent option carrying and passing at left back. Kerkez can be superb for us, it's a matter of us playing to his strengths, right now he is having to stay close to the center halves and play short passes under pressure in build up, it's not his forte. Not saying he can't become much better at that over time, I'm sure he will because he is young and a great footballer, but that's not his strength right now.

The fact is that we really miss Trent right now, and we didn't replace him with a similar style of player in defence or midfield, so we have to gradually figure out how to progress the ball in a different way, Madrid had a similar problem when they lost kroos and I'm still convinced that Trent was brought in to fix exactly that problem. Macca lacking match fitness and not having a natural inclination for receiving with his back to goal under pressure also means wirtz has to drop much deeper often to get us up the field as well.

Right now the likes of mo and isak look pretty marooned for the most part, isak without Murphy feeding him every chance he got and mo without Trent and Dom. We have a plethora of incredible attacking players but until we figure out how to connect the dots between the thirds they are going to struggle more than usual. I'm sure slot is working hard to figure that out, and they can very much be fixed.

11 Oct 2025 21:24:16
Hi Ed001,
I saw that Rob Page recently came out and said that he believes Danns would be the next No9 for England afyer Harry Kane. That's very high praise and not something he explicitly needed to say unless he truly felt it. Danns has had a tough time with injuries recently but he has always looked impressive when he has played for us (apart from the PSV game) . I wanted tonask if you know how highly he is thought of generally in football circles, and is he really that big a talent? I hope he recovers quickly from his new hamstring injury.

{Ed001's Note - he is very highly rated, which is why he has had chances. Not so sure he will be the next no 9 though, I would think there will be someone in between, even if he does reach that level.}

11 Oct 2025 21:39:46
Fair enough, thanks Ed. Hopefully he can get over these injury struggles and get the chance to play for us regularly.

{Ed001's Note - I hope so too as he should have a very bright future.}

12 Oct 2025 02:39:33
I heard a rumour which I hope isn’t true that he needs hamstring surgery.

12 Oct 2025 08:06:52
Funny his playing style always reminded of harry kane. On what I've seen he looks potentially super player but I just fear all these injuries have set him back too far to ever make it as a starting lfc player.

12 Oct 2025 13:26:05
That kid's got talent and the goals he scores are real quality cos he knows the right finish to apply depending on the situation. Very essential. Hopefully, he makes the cut.

11 Oct 2025 13:17:03
Konate on his way back to Liverpool with an injury. 🤦🏻‍♂️ hopefully it’s not to serious but also good tp have Gomez and Virg get some games together.

11 Oct 2025 15:04:29
Quadriceps.

12 Oct 2025 07:47:33
I thought Konate had a knock before the international break.

12 Oct 2025 13:26:49
Me, too Faith. Not sure why he even went. I guess Gomez is up.