Florian Wirtz

[justme]

If we cut out the long balls to wide areas. I'll be happy. Our front on passing leads a lot to be desired as well.. gets cut out so easily

[Insidious]

Also his style of playing so many quick short passes with intricate movement. I’m just sceptical we can do it to the requisite level to succeed in the premier league.

The thing I'd ask there (and I must point out, I'm not disagreeing entirely) is what would constitute "success" for us just now?

I'm pretty confident that Xabi could get us doing a few things next season, if he comes -

- Scoring more goals (it's wild how few we have scored after 31 games)
- Finishing 3rd/4th, thus securing Champion's League football
- Being a more entertaining watch, which isn't exactly a high bar at present
- Getting more out of Frimpong and Wirtz, which isn't a dig at either as I am a fan of both, Florian particularly

The idea of 3rd/4th may feel a disappointment after what Klopp left us with, but it would be a good platform upon which to build, particularly if it came with some of the other things mentioned and if we can continue to bring in younger talent.

We need our next winning "core" of players and whilst I believe some are at the club right now, we also need to recruit.

Alisson, Robertson, Van Dijk, Salah - we don't need to sell them all in one window and lose our DNA or anything daft, but we need to accept that we don't try to build around them at this point.

It'll likely be lads like Mamardashvili, Jacquet, Leoni Kerkez, Frimpong, Szoboszlai, Gravenberch, Wirtz, Ekitike, Ngumoha, Isak - not all of them perhaps - some won't reach the heights, some will be sold - but they're some of the lads we need to build around, bolster and bring the best out of.

I think the League is beyond us for 26/27 but with the right Manager and recruitment there could be a strong effort in 27/28 and/or 28/29 - just have to be smart about it.