Match Thread : Liverpool v Rangers

[vin]

Was Melo on the bench yesterday? Rather than bringing on Milner and Elliot - could we have given him 15 mins or so? I think the rumours of Klopp not wanting him might be true

[Steveo]

Entirely fair comment.

It's also entirely fair to provide another caveat - that we had ONE session of working on that system and managed 22 shots, with 10 on target - using a "four" that have yet to line up together as such and with the team inconsistent, mentally fried and out-of-form.

I don't think it will become our mainstay - but it's certainly a nice "Plan B" for certain sides - particularly those we should "expect" to beat - like Rangers.

True Sid - I was happy to see them try something else. And yes it worked to a degree. Might pose Arsenal a problem in fathoming what we will do on the day. Can't hurt, as long as it doesn't have the same effect on our lads.

[Insidious]

Was Melo on the bench yesterday? Rather than bringing on Milner and Elliot - could we have given him 15 mins or so? I think the rumours of Klopp not wanting him might be true

Could have been injured or ill - we'll know soon - January isn't far.

[Insidious]

Is the problem that we haven't rebuilt with the same quality? Nunez - the jury is very much out for me. Nothing too impressive so far. Diaz looks good, he's hungry and works hard. Not enough end product so hasn't matched Mane so far. Jota to replace firmino? Jota not hitting the net enough.

We tend to buy lads who are on the cusp of breaking through, so when assessing whether or not we have rebuilt well, we have to factor in that we often desire to replace peak-performance lads like-for-like, when in reality we're more likely to acquire lads to grow into roles.

Mane's first 2 seasons for us (may need to correct this info as I could be wrong) he scored 13 League goals and 11 League goals - so I'd be looking to see if one of Diaz or Núñez can match those figures.

With Jota's goal-scoring, we have to bear in mind that he isn't as available as Firmino was. Looking at their goals scored per minutes played might be a better yardstick.

I've touched on this before, but Pep Lijnders has spoken about only wanting to add lads that are upgrades on the starting XI and first few subs. Whilst that's an admirable notion in theory, I wouldn't mind is straying from it a bit to sort the midfield out. Milner's legs look to be gone, so anyone with reasonable athleticism and ability to read the game is probably an upgrade on the current version of Milner. I'd be giving those minutes to Bajcetic or whoever until we can get someone in, harsh as that may seem.

Equally it can't be that hard to upgrade on Ox - someone who is fit-and-healthy and can perform at a 6.5/10 level with regularity is better than someone who is hardly fit but is capable of the odd Worldie. Being able to take Henderson, Thiago or Fabinho off for 15-25 minutes with regularity (to protect them) and bring someone on would be invaluable - I don't even care if we have to shop in the Championship for it.

Then Keita. One high-quality player with a good fitness record to replace Keita would be invaluable.

Even if a really undesirable scenario came about where FSG turned around and said "listen, we can only buy one lad over the £50m mark as we are paying off the Anfield Road End in one go so the club incurs no debt, know that's rubbish but it will benefit the club long-term" and Klopp/Lijnders/recruitment/us fans collectively groan, I'd still think one decent mid, one Bosman and the promotion of Morton (or whoever) would still be a net improvement in the centre of the park.

[Red October]

We tend to buy lads who are on the cusp of breaking through, so when assessing whether or not we have rebuilt well, we have to factor in that we often desire to replace peak-performance lads like-for-like, when in reality we're more likely to acquire lads to grow into roles.

Mane's first 2 seasons for us (may need to correct this info as I could be wrong) he scored 13 League goals and 11 League goals - so I'd be looking to see if one of Diaz or Núñez can match those figures.

With Jota's goal-scoring, we have to bear in mind that he isn't as available as Firmino was. Looking at their goals scored per minutes played might be a better yardstick.

I've touched on this before, but Pep Lijnders has spoken about only wanting to add lads that are upgrades on the starting XI and first few subs. Whilst that's an admirable notion in theory, I wouldn't mind is straying from it a bit to sort the midfield out. Milner's legs look to be gone, so anyone with reasonable athleticism and ability to read the game is probably an upgrade on the current version of Milner. I'd be giving those minutes to Bajcetic or whoever until we can get someone in, harsh as that may seem.

Equally it can't be that hard to upgrade on Ox - someone who is fit-and-healthy and can perform at a 6.5/10 level with regularity is better than someone who is hardly fit but is capable of the odd Worldie. Being able to take Henderson, Thiago or Fabinho off for 15-25 minutes with regularity (to protect them) and bring someone on would be invaluable - I don't even care if we have to shop in the Championship for it.

Then Keita. One high-quality player with a good fitness record to replace Keita would be invaluable.

Even if a really undesirable scenario came about where FSG turned around and said "listen, we can only buy one lad over the £50m mark as we are paying off the Anfield Road End in one go so the club incurs no debt, know that's rubbish but it will benefit the club long-term" and Klopp/Lijnders/recruitment/us fans collectively groan, I'd still think one decent mid, one Bosman and the promotion of Morton (or whoever) would still be a net improvement in the centre of the park.

I think you need a bit of luck when signing players too obviously. Mane was hardly ever injured. Firmino and Salah similar from memory. They seemed to gel very quickly too. At the moment we seem to lack that understanding between players and obviously Nunez won't have that yet. The previous incarnation of Klopp's team was so good that anything less feels a bit crap I think too. But of course the early days weren't all roses in the garden. Would love us to get back that ability to blow teams away again. That allowed us to rest a bit rather than chasing games for 90 minutes. Lately we're always coming from behind and so there's no chance for players to get a break.

[fiordearg]

Rangers are shite and no metric for where we are at. Their fans are shite too

[vin]

Rangers are shite and no metric for where we are at. Their fans are shite too

pretty much...