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Thread: Summer transfer thread

  1. #4051
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    That Vlahovic we're being linked with looks something of a prospect and a bit of a best, perhaps Jurgen thinks he can do a Lewandowski with him?
    "If Everton were playing at the bottom of my garden, i'd close the curtains”

  2. #4052
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    Quote Originally Posted by Nineteenx View Post
    I'll be honest, as much as I want us to be back to our very best, I just don't feel it, it's an autistic spectrum thing, I don't like change, you may or may not know that a strong feature of autism is an an obsession with mechanics and how things work, it works that way with football too, I'm very quick to recognise team mechanics and the development of what I call automation and it being broken through changes.

    When things change as they did, I have a severe adverse reaction to it and a really strong disconnect, I can't help it, it's not a conscious thing, I don't decide to do it, I just can't believe in things, with that same unshakable belief and assurance I did before, however much I want to
    Thanks for this really interesting post, Nineteenx. I would say my mind works very far from the autism spectrum and so it's fascinating for me to see how differently we are reading the situation. I have done a little study of autism and its mental traits so I recognise completely the features of football tactics and play that you are responding to as being classic. I could say that I have never considered the possibility that people see football this way but that's not strictly true. The fiercest arguments I have with other people - whether its about football, God, politics or Covid - seem to have an aspect of this dividing line at the heart of them.

    So, I'll describe two things that I have seen happening this year that have affected our football, which are not accounted for in the mechanics, as you characterise it, for what it's worth.

    Firstly I'll say that I don't think the mechanics have been affected that much. I see the same patterns forming themselves in our play, the same dominance and penetration, but with the other critical ingredients missing. Obviously the loss of Van Djik has affected our capability (mechanically), but that is secondary in my opinion - we have enough talent to cope, we just don't have enough of these other things.

    1) confidence

    Here, Van Djik's loss has affected us greatly. How much? Is it possible to measure or observe all the ways in which his absence has undermined our play? Every time we lose the ball, I can imagine in the minds of our players the fear that Van Djik is no longer standing behind them.

    You also made a good argument earlier in the season about how cumulative VAR decisions affect confidence - just the feeling that things won't go our way starts to eat into the minds of our players. The point is, that's what I can actually see when I am watching the play. The mechanics look good enough. The last two games we've lost leads in games we dominated and should have been comfortably ahead in. That couldn't happen when we felt we were invincible.

    An injury crisis, unfair results like Everton, further bad results, and suddenly the team can't remember how it used to win. The mechanics are in place to still make us look like the better team but there is no confidence. We cut open the defence and Sadio Mané can't remember how to hit the back of the net.

    So, I would say the confidence comes first. In order for our system to work mechanically, the team needs to be brimming with confidence.

    I would also say that it's hard to tell if we're tired - one criticism of Klopp seems to be that he over-trains or overworks the players. It could be a factor but it could just be confidence.

    2) belief

    There's no fans in the stadium. What then are we playing for exactly? I've talked to ex players and they all say the crowd lifted them when they were down. Anfield breeds the most insane support in this league. It's impossible to quantify how it affects our success.

    In my opinion, get the mechanics in place and our crowd ensures that we can beat Man City over and over again, even if they are better than us on some other level. Rafa took a severely under-equipped team and organised it enough for the belief to flood into it, right through the knockout stages of the European Cup.

    One of the reasons I've been arguing against the 'underinvestment' crowd is because I think they are destroying the very magic we need for success. The mechanics are in place, now is the time to support. But we can't, thanks to the politicians.

    Does anyone remember what this feels like?


  3. #4053
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    File this under, “Surely not!”

    Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp says he sees the long-term future of 26-year-old Guinea midfielder Naby Keita with the Reds. (Mail)

  4. #4054
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    Quote Originally Posted by miller0863 View Post
    File this under, “Surely not!”

    Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp says he sees the long-term future of 26-year-old Guinea midfielder Naby Keita with the Reds. (Mail)
    Must be doing his coaching badges.

  5. #4055
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    Is he having a sex change ?

  6. #4056
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    Quote Originally Posted by Nineteenx View Post
    That Vlahovic we're being linked with looks something of a prospect and a bit of a best, perhaps Jurgen thinks he can do a Lewandowski with him?
    Has improved his numbers massively.

    Great build for the centre-forward role. Lewandowski-lite if you will.

    He's the sort of signing I could see Juventus making.

  7. #4057
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    Quote Originally Posted by Insidious View Post
    Has improved his numbers massively.

    Great build for the centre-forward role. Lewandowski-lite if you will.

    He's the sort of signing I could see Juventus making.
    He's 21, he'd be a good signing imo, be good to have a No9 on the books to play different ways, watched a few of the obligatory youtubes, looks a good finisher, has decent link play, is strong as an ox, decent pace and continually and consistently gets himself in the right positions and makes good decisions, bit raw, will need to improve and be developed, only issue is his valuation, 50 plus million I think
    "If Everton were playing at the bottom of my garden, i'd close the curtains”

  8. #4058
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    Daka is quoted at just £17m, has great numbers. Austrian league or not he’s still finding the net with a 27% conversion rate. Even Haaland at the same stage was only at 30%.

  9. #4059
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    Quote Originally Posted by miller0863 View Post
    Daka is quoted at just £17m, has great numbers. Austrian league or not he’s still finding the net with a 27% conversion rate. Even Haaland at the same stage was only at 30%.
    Yep, he'd be a great signing, he's probably the one we should go for on ability and value, I like that he is not only a good finisher he is a very good header of the ball and gets across defenders well to score headers, which, in our side, with our full backs would be brilliant to have, he heads things a lot of players would try to put their foot on

    Player like him, attacking anything into the box, getting across defenders, ooooooooooooooooh suits us Sir
    Last edited by Nineteenx; 4th May 2021 at 08:29 PM.
    "If Everton were playing at the bottom of my garden, i'd close the curtains”

  10. #4060
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    Konate, Daka and Bellingham for LCM plus another CM and money in the kitty to get Neto in the January window if he's still playing as he does at his best once fully fit again
    "If Everton were playing at the bottom of my garden, i'd close the curtains”

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