Match Thread: Liverpool v Crystal Palace

[Jenson78]

Bizzare, totally and utterly bizzare

Maybe FSG realised they was spending big money for once now we've got to sell everyone and have a bunch of kids on the bench

even if we stupidly splash money on Isak, still not enough

Still doak,Elliot,Tski,Chiesa to go, too!

Starting to look like Slot and FSG have come to an agreement. Slot can start to shop at Harrods for top quality players. BUT….. He must trim down the size of the squad. Especially after giving Vigil & Salah new contracts, who were ironically both shite today. If a team wants to compete for everything, you need a squad that has strength & depth in all areas. We will not if we carry on weakening our squad and don’t replace them.

[jozza800]

We lost the midfield battle as the game went on, they were much more aggressive in there and bullied us out of it, in much the same way Newcastle did.

Mind you, there were so many sub par performances, I’m putting it down to the affects of pre season catching up with them and hope they come through it for Friday.

Szoboszlai has been excellent in pre season, so has Mo and Gakpo has been sharp but they were all poor today.

Palace were good though, they had a very good second half of the season and gave everyone a game, no pushovers.

Probably the most balanced post of the afternoon.

Anybody basing there opinions on the season based on a Charity Shield run out wants their head wobbling.

[jozza800]

The squad is imbalanced but there is still 3 weeks left of the window. I'd be amazed if we don't bring in a CB and a forward (maybe 2). And we can still let Tsimikas, Elliot and Doak go as well.

But again, all players that most deemed not good enough at the start of the 24/25 season.

[Kev0909]

The squad is imbalanced but there is still 3 weeks left of the window. I'd be amazed if we don't bring in a CB and a forward (maybe 2). And we can still let Tsimikas, Elliot and Doak go as well.

But again, all players that most deemed not good enough at the start of the 24/25 season.

So what? 3 weeks to go, great

5 days till the real deal kicks off, that's what matters.... 3 weeks to sign playes yes but get them use to the squad... ?tactics everything, as well as the other signings bedding in and getting use to each other still. ??

I mean how long did robertson & Trent the front 3/5 play together ?

people think players can magically come in and we'll be fine and dandy, today is a wake up call in that regards, needs to be sorted fast because if we drop to many pts early doors- that could be the difference.

Yes some that are going might not be upto standard, but I'd rather have them as depth than be screwed over by 1 or 2 injuries... or burnt out and having to count on a 16 year old or Endo at CB... or count on Chiesa(who will go too i guess)/Bradley/Gomez staying fit, good joke that.

Arsenal look way more ready than us.

[jozza800]

You're right Kev. We should have had all of our transfer business sorted as soon as final whistle of last season was blown. Ffs.

Is this your first pre-season?

[teesred]

That was dire. All that money spent and so far none of the new players look at that special to me. Depth is also woeful.

Have any of you been impressed by Flo so far?

The match looked like the team had q heavy training session this morning.

Disagree there. early days obviously but I think there's plenty to be excited about from the new signings. They should some real quality today, Wirtz will be outstanding. I've no worries on him at all, he will absolutely be a difference maker in many games.
Palace are a good side,they give all the top sides a game.

[Kev0909]

You're right Kev. We should have had all of our transfer business sorted as soon as final whistle of last season was blown. Ffs.

Is this your first pre-season?

Pretty sure most teams are ready to go, and not looking as stupidly short as we are and have 2 senior CB's well 3 if you count gomez.... if he even still counts at this point, and 1 striker who's new to the league and gakpo being the only LW option apart from a kid.... and salah still no competition..... apparently frimpong is going to cover? great, good luck with that he'll be playing RB most of the time, bradley fit about 5 games, and it's not like he's a inside forward

Do we normally leave it this late?

do we make so many changes normally, you know team has to get use to playing together too, not magically come in and all click and be dandy? but it's ok, seasons only 5 days away but not to worry, still 3 weeks left in the transfer window.

it's not fucking fifa and when you're talking about a 150m signing who's had little pre-season assuming we get Isak when is he going to be ready up to speed- and click with the team and tactics? 5? games in ? 10 ? not good is it really ?

Also wide open today without Grav, once again no DM this season and same players will have to play every game in midfield. Szob&Wirtz can rotate at least, that's if Wirtz doesn't have to play out of position all season.

[LFC-DPG]

Disagree there. early days obviously but I think there's plenty to be excited about from the new signings. They should some real quality today, Wirtz will be outstanding. I've no worries on him at all, he will absolutely be a difference maker in many games.
Palace are a good side,they give all the top sides a game.

Yep, not worried about the new signings at all.

Wirtz was excellent today, let’s see what he’s like with a proper dm behind him and Mac along side.

Ekitike looked good too and should have had more than one goal today.

Kirkez was left exposed too often mainly due to Gakpo

Gakpo, Virgil and Mo were seriously off today and konate was just konate.

[Red October]

We'll bring in a CB and Isak I think.
We can't argue with that window, it'll have been absolutely outstanding.

We can want more but it's not really realistic and even with the players we bring in it's a lot of flux in the squad. Some of those situations have been of FSGs making letting players get close to end of contract but we can't say they're not addressing them at this moment. At the end of the day this is the start of Slots era, last season not really counting in terms of him bringing in who he wanted.
Another midfielder would have been high on my list personally, expecting the same levels from Mac and Gravy is too much imo. We need another of that level in there.

Agreed. We've complained for years about lack of investment and now they invest and we complain about selling of bit- part players in order to fund some top class signings. Can't have it all. Yes it'll probably take some of them a while to settle but that's life. Much rather be us than a settled arsenal side who will finally have their year (will they really?).

Didn't see the whole game but eki looked good, frimpong looked good and wirtz did too. Its also only the charity shield. Most seasons fergie seemed to lose it and then go on to win the title! Much to our chagrin!

[Insidious]

Have any of you been impressed by Flo so far?

I'd need to rewatch highlights as I could be misremembering details, but I believe it was Wirtz's flick that could nearly have been another assist (for Gakpo) in the first half, whilst he also would had the assist with his ball to Ekitike that gets skied in the second half.

The weight on his first pass to Ekitike in the build-up for the goal (when Hugo points into space and makes the run away from centre rather than asking for a cross or through ball into the box near the penalty spot) was also sublime.

He also has a habit (generally speaking, not necessarily talking about today) of receiving the ball with touch-and-turn in a way that Lallana was very good at and quickly moving it forward to maintain momentum when progressing the ball up the pitch.

He was probably the least of our "crab" passers today. People expecting to him to replicate De Bruyne instantly because of the price tag will be disappointed (I know you haven't said this ) but he will be excellent for us.

Personally more inclined to be concerned about depth in a position or two, looking vulnerable on counters and not putting chances away (Ekitike had the header, skies one and Salah puts a medium-difficulty chance by his high standards straight at the keeper) than I am about the performances of certain individuals today though I remain extremely optimistic that we will remedy our failures quite quickly.

It will not be at all long before we are seeing at least two of Mac Allister, Szoboszlai and Gravenberch starting competitive matches which will help both our defensive and attacking units - we'll get a much better read on things then.