Other Games, July 2025

[shminkyred]

Very strange. Can't get my head round it. There must be something behind all this. They've always sold to buy which for the most part has worked, particularly with VVD and AB and also the midfield re-build. The worry I have is that we may still end up being toothless up front unless we do get Isak. Can't see us getting Isak though. We could potentially have a load of midfield/number 10s and wingers with no-one to put the ball in the net. Salah had a great season last year but went off the boil after Christmas and has had dry spells before, in which we don't have many others to step up. He will be a year older this time round and getting a bit slower.

Is it possible that it was Klopp who didn't want to pay stupid money?
I know he loved team development ....

With the success he enjoyed, he must have been in a position to push harder for more money if had had felt the need.

[CCTV]

Fun fact...

Over Klopps last 4 seasons he had a net spend of €76.7376 mill per season

In Slots 2 seasons he has a net spend of €72.69 mill per season

[Insidious]

Is it possible that it was Klopp who didn't want to pay stupid money?
I know he loved team development ....

With the success he enjoyed, he must have been in a position to push harder for more money if had had felt the need.

Fairly plausible.

There's a lot of information our there (how much can be trusted and to what extent is hard to say) about Edwards and Klopp not being aligned in terms of transfer policy.

Jürgen is said to have wanted more choice over transfers (Núñez a Klopp buy, not a committee buy) which is understandable given how ridiculously good he was as a Manager - he'd back himself. Edwards is very heavily oriented towards stats and data (which are great when taken in correct context) whereas someone like Núñez was more likely brought in because he caused our defence a headache over two legs when we played Benfica.

Klopp's also renowned for being fiercely loyal to his lads (wanted to keep/extend with Milner, Henderson and Wijnaldum apparently) whilst Edwards is more oriented to freshening things up and trusting analytics.

Disagreement in, for want of a less over-used word - "philosophy" are said to have been a big factor in what Edwards felt was a diminished/weakened role at the club, whereas now it seems he has a much greater say about the direction of things.

We wouldn't be where we are without either man, though you can't get anywhere without excellent coaching/management - so to say that Klopp deserves huge credit is the most massive of understatements.

A brilliant time to be a Red. Thankfully it looks like having Slot at the coaching helm with Edwards and Hughes working on recruitment is going to be a winning combo as well - which is something we all want.

I'll be fascinated to see tidbits of info coming out in books in the future regarding some of the back-and-forth claims.

[Red October]

I think you will be very pleasantly surprised with Ekitike's vision, touch and ability to incorporate those around him into play. Think of a world where Matip pretends he's Firmino for a day and you won't be a million miles out.

The odd Darwin-esque headache with finishing but he'll be worth it.

Hope you're right. It's great winning stuff. That's the point of the game, but to do it with style. That's the joy. Teams that stand out in my mind are the 1988 team, 2013-14 - some of the best football ever at times; 2018+ under Klopp - great football - often unplayable when they started well. Honourable mention to Roy Evans' side in the mid/late 90s.

[Insidious]

Hope you're right. It's great winning stuff. That's the point of the game, but to do it with style. That's the joy. Teams that stand out in my mind are the 1988 team, 2013-14 - some of the best football ever at times; 2018+ under Klopp - great football - often unplayable when they started well. Honourable mention to Roy Evans' side in the mid/late 90s.

I think we'll entertain, never worry. It's just that with Slot's football you'll see more patience/pragmatism before the "go" moments. We'll have lovely interchanges stemming from the central areas just outside the "D" (going to need to as sides will low block us a LOT) whilst we still have the players and muscle-memory/DNA for great work in transition.

Benitez used to talk about himself not as being a defensive manager, but a balanced one. Controlling space ensured we conceded less, which was our platform. I think of Slot as something of a Benitez in a sense, only that he is more focused on control of the ball, than control of space.

You can see Pep's style in Slotball, whilst we still retain much of the Klopp DNA for transitional play when required. That's potentially perfect - having multiple gears and multiple tools in the box. The next thing I think we will see more sides trying to emulate is the rotational play that Enrique's side produces and I wouldn't be at all shocked if we see Slot integrate aspects of that into us given the versatile forward targets we seem to be after.

I'm very optimistic. I tend not to go into a season with expectation of winning XYZ but I am very confident that we will be challenging on multiple fronts and being engaged with the season (rather than being mentally checked out by January or February) is half the battle.

[Red October]

I remember when Kenny took over in 2011 we played some lovely stuff with interplay between Maxi Rodriguez, Meireles, Suarez, Kuyt. I remember being amazed at what Kenny could get of those players (with the exception of Suarez who had just arrived). It's great when you've got players who can play in tight spaces, first-time passing etc.

[RedMagic]

I remember when Kenny took over in 2011 we played some lovely stuff with interplay between Maxi Rodriguez, Meireles, Suarez, Kuyt. I remember being amazed at what Kenny could get of those players (with the exception of Suarez who had just arrived). It's great when you've got players who can play in tight spaces, first-time passing etc.

I'm glad to see that I'm not the only Red who really enjoyed that combination of players, though I would swap Meireles with Bellamy. I loved Maxi's late surges into or around the box in order to get onto the end of a promising move.

[Insidious]

I remember when Kenny took over in 2011 we played some lovely stuff with interplay between Maxi Rodriguez, Meireles, Suarez, Kuyt. I remember being amazed at what Kenny could get of those players (with the exception of Suarez who had just arrived). It's great when you've got players who can play in tight spaces, first-time passing etc.

Fabulous fun and the 5-2 against Fulham probably embodied it best.

It's a shame we moved away from it as I definitely felt Kenny was "cooking" as it were, but it has all, slowly but surely, turned out alright in the end.