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Jurgen's great when it comes to defenders, full backs, CMs and forwards, he absolutely sucks at getting that ever elusive more attacking mid in, Keita - Fail Shaqiri - Fail Minamino - Fail Oxlade - Fail Ox has been the best of that four by far
Thiago's first season would have been incredibly different were it not for our injury issues, he never once got to play a single game, let alone have a run of games with Hendo at No6 and Gini at LCM controller, which is the combo that every single one of our other midfielders has played to their very highest levels with, bar Fabinho whose deficiencies were covered through being supported by Gini at LCM controller and Hendo at RCM with more license to get forward but having to operate more as a second controller.
I also don't think the 'ideas' of how to further evolve what we do have worked or been well thought out, even had all players been fit and available, Thiago would still have had to make considerable adjustments to his game and adapt, I give Thiago incredible credit for how he evolved and developed his game to suit the players we have, truly showing his class, because essentially, he was the wrong type of midfielder to sign, we needed to get the more attacking CM signing in first, the right one, to have the players between the lines in the attacking CM and Bobby or Jota, ideally for a season and evolve playing that way together with our incredibly direct play, before bringing in a CM like Thiago who can take 4 or 5 players out of the game with a pass from much deeper by finding the false 9 or attacking CM between the lines when they already have an understanding of how to work with and for one another to each be in pace to be found and create space for each other to be found
Thiago finished the season strongly, essentially by providing the switches, medium to longer balls and other types of passing and greater dynamism that Hendo provides, he wasn't using his passing and skills in the way he is world renouned for, he was using them to operate like Hendo did in 19-20
The attempts to go tappy crappy were as big a disaster as our CB issues last season too
From later season comments from Jurgen, it seems he has arrived at the realisation i had as to why we were so successful and that to continue being successful and evolve further, the solution is to get even better at what we already did, at greater ability at all the things we're great at all over the team and a couple of players with a little bit of something different that works in our set up, rather than try and play like City used to and try to become the best footballing team in the world, I believe his comments later season, which he repeated 3 or 4 times, including when asked about transfers for the coming season were something like "We don't want to be and we aren't the best football team in the world, but we do want to be the team that no other team in the world wants to play"
And I absolutely fucking love that, that's how I see the team as it evolved from when Jurgen first arrived, our front foot aggressive pressing, our ability to be incredibly direct, our power and pace, our incredible mentality, focus, intensity, togetherness, belief and energy, our ability to constantly and quickly ask all sorts of different questions of opposition teams, that's us, that's Jurgen's Liverpool, going tappy crappy or trying to play like City used to isn't us, we're the team that can hurt you from anywhere in lots of different ways and who will look to test you in every way imaginable and score goals out of nothing in the blink of an eye through nicking it off you, winning the second ball, and being incredibly direct or being incredibly direct suddenly from deeper when you think we're just trying to play keep ball, we're the biggest pain in the arse, mother fucker of a team to play that nobody wants to play
"If Everton were playing at the bottom of my garden, i'd close the curtains”
Wijnaldum signs for PSG for double the wages Barca offered.... So it was about money in the end
I don't begrudge him a penny of what he'll get paid there. If money was the deciding factor, so be it. He was mega for us and helped us bag the big ones. Good luck to him.
It also shows more problems for Barcelona
Given the links in 2017 and 2019, combined with him getting less game time at Dortmund, I wonder if there might be a "third time lucky" for Brandt coming here.
Admittedly has his inconsistencies, but perhaps Klopp would be the Manager to bring the best out of him and the player himself should want to salvage a career that has stagnated a touch.
Still only 25 and probably wouldn't cost an awful lot.
Would you not think that if he's not getting a game at BD he would struggle for game time at Anfield? We need to bring in people who'll push who we have and personally a player in that situation wouldn't give me that confidence.
Klopp has liked him though so maybe he could bring more out of him?
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