Match Thread: Liverpool v PSG

[Nineteenx]

Again the knee jerks talking shite we weren’t awful v Southampton

PSG should have buried us at their place we should have won last night & never let the game go to extra time or penalties & the goal they scored was spawny as fuck

[Kev0909]

Again the knee jerks talking shite we weren’t awful v Southampton

PSG should have buried us at their place we should have won last night & never let the game go to extra time or penalties & the goal they scored was spawny as fuck

Yes we was, first half we was awful

9 pts southampton at home, was pretty fucking awful first half

how should we have won last night? PSG couldn't finish many glorious chances could have been 0-3 at HT

give ya head a wobble jesus they fucked us up the arse, away and at home..... we was lucky in the away game, very lucky, lucky they didn't win in normal time, we created fuck all 2nd half few half chances, i.e quansah that was the last I remembered.

if it wasn't for allison it would have been over before the 2nd leg

Stats and xG don't lie

[ianlfc]

I can live with getting beaten by the better team over 2 legs like last night. What hurts more is the likes of Athletico during the covid season beating us. We were by far the better team.

[Steveo]

And the fact the Arse got a piss easy tie compared to us

[teesred]

I don't really have much issue with the format now, it's how it should be at this stage. It's annoying that finishing top basically yielded no benefit at all but I'm sure in the future we'll get the rub of it.

[Insidious]

The best team won over two legs

They definitely out-performed us, absolutely excellent.

FSG need to start shopping at Harrods and not always looking for that club card bargain, because if we don't strengthen in the summer with top quality, we'll struggle next season.

None of the following points will be "aimed" at you trueandred, merely using what you have articulated as a spring-board.

I come back to this subject matter a lot, but for me it has always been about value - and unfortunately a lot of fans will assume that "value" means doing things "on the cheap" - Van Dijk for example has proven to be excellent value and if we relived the past number of years of him with him having cost £150m instead of £75m I'd be very happy with our return on that investment, as he would still represent excellent value based on his contribution - in my opinion anyway. I get accused regularly of always wanting the cheapest option, when in reality I just prefer the most intelligent option, where it's humanly possible.

Equally, I often see calls for "bigger spend" and often (by no means always of course, absolutely must highlight that) this is code for "buy the most expensive players" - which can be a total disaster if done incorrectly and does come with higher risk.

Funnily enough, so many outlets and fans have (quite rightly) been praising PSG for stepping away from a Galactico style model and spending more intelligently, but last night will fuel talk of us "spending bigger" - a number of models can work, if implemented correctly.

The difference-makers for them over the two legs were Dembele and Donnarumma, with the "joy to watch" stand-out probably being Kvaradona.

- Dembele was bought for £43.5m after scoring 12 La Liga goals in his last 4 seasons with Barca having not fulfilled his potential, about as "Moneyball" a signing as you can get.
- Donnarumma was a free transfer.
- Kvaradona cost less than Núñez did.

The secret for me will always be to shop as intelligently as humanly possible. Ox and Keita both had fees that were more than those of Salah (was reported as 4th-choice on our list, now one of our best ever players...) Mane and Firmino* which some may file under "shopping at Harrods" simply because the fees were larger, so it looks more "ambitious" if you will and I think a percentage of our fans just get a bit of a hard-on for how they do it on their FIFA files in Playstation.

Bigger transfer fees on the RIGHT players I'm all for, absolutely. Undeniably tricky though when up against sides like Real Madrid who can cherry-pick who they want. Where I wish we would get better and show more "risk" isn't actually in big fees, but in earlier recruitment. We mitigate risk by going for lads who tend to have 150+ games under their belt so we have more data - which is intelligent - but I do wish sometimes we would go for the Bellingham-before-Dortmund kind of players and sort out the issues we seem to have around recruiting players from South America. Or indeed, when we do buy the young-and-talented lads, actually play them enough so they develop to a point where we use them, or get a good fee. A Home-grown lad like Harvey Elliott who has his skill-set could probably go to a tidy side like Brighton or whoever for £35m or so and you use the money to top-up investment in your next £60m sort of player like a Szoboszlai.

Anywho. Last night is finished. Hopefully Sunday and the remainder of the season can yield two trophies, which would be an excellent return. Sunday won't be remotely easy mind.

*will try to remember to double-check that later, but if it's wrong it will be by a couple of million, sadly "nothing" in the football World.

[jozza800]

PSG spent nearly 3/4 of a billion € over that last two seasons. The have spent it very well.

Whether any of us think the squad is or isn't strong enough, I think it's pretty clear that Slot has made his mind up on a number of players.

I think we'll see a pretty big overhaul in the summer.

I can see the likes of the following possibly/probably moving on in the summer -

Nunez
Kelleher
Elliot
Tsimikas / and or Robbo
Nunez
Chiesa
Endo
and maybe Gomez.

And obviously not forgetting the 3 Amigos.

There's maybe enough to rustle up £200m, with maybe another £100m to put towards it. If we have to replace VVD and Mo, Like it it or not, there are going to have to be some 'astute / budget' signings as £300m isn't going to go very far replacing nearly 10/11 players.

[Kev0909]

That needs to happen, but simply won't we can't afford it

no way we replacing them without leaving ourselves short.

3-4 signings maybe 5-6 if the 3 leave

Attack & Defense very much getting close to midfield refresh we had to do, sadly.

[faridtoxteth]

I don't think both Endo and Gomez will be leaving. They are the kind of versatile player that is handy to have on the bench.I have been impressed by Endo at centre back actually.
If we do get that lad Kerkez, is he just left back or can he play in any different positions?

[jozza800]

I don't think both Endo and Gomez will be leaving. They are the kind of versatile player that is handy to have on the bench.I have been impressed by Endo at centre back actually.
If we do get that lad Kerkez, is he just left back or can he play in any different positions?

I dont think Slot fancies him, otherwise he'd have played far more often. same with Elliot, Chiesa, Nunez and Jota...