TRon

Except UEFA are claiming those were special exceptions and those conditions will no longer apply in future.

I don't get it. Didn't Covid affect all clubs in Europe? What was exceptional about those four?

He still is tbf, those headlines don't really reflect his tone, he was very measured and calm as usual, but there was a bit of steel behind the words, and a message sent loud and clear: what other people think doesn't matter to us, we will do what we have to do.

Mehdi Abeid is still knocking around?

Seems to have been productive enough for uber-whining cunts like Klopp and Mourinho.

If it wasn't clear everyone is against us before, it certainly is after Wednesday night. Even NUFC friendly journalists like Henry Winter was having a go, but that's ok. It shows we are coming up in their rearview mirror and they are rattled. Howe's not the type to talk big talk, but he knows how to shithouse with the best of them. He'll just get Tindall to do the in your face stuff.

Yeah, we clearly wanted loans in, Howe said as much, but they obviously had to be the right loans, and if they were Chelsea players, then they obviously weren't willing to co-operate. We've already seen with Liverpool and Klopp how the atmosphere has suddenly become a lot more hostile as they perceive us as a coming threat.

Ok fair enough. Just seems we could really have pushed harder for a loan signing then just to cover midfield if nothing else. Even Ross Barkley might have made sense on the right deal.

7th-9th I reckon. As you say, injuries could play a crucial role. We certainly have a team which can challenge anybody when everyone is fully fit, but Shelvey and Krafth are big misses considering those are two areas where injuries could make a big difference. Also clubs like Villa and West Ham have invested heavily in some real quality, although that could be mitigated by Gerrard pissing his squad off. 7th is definitely still on, but the Big Six looks further away after the spending of Arsenal and Spurs.

I still think he could do a job for a championship club, preferably a small friendly type where there is less expectation. Seems the sort who doesn't thrive under pressure, but he does have pace and a decent strike when he's not shitting himself when the ball arrives at his feet.

Can only imagine the reason he didn't kick up more of a fuss is that he's happy to run down his contract like Tielemans, then take his pick from the clubs lining up for his services. Wasn't it @Shearergol who reckons he has his sights set on Arsenal?

Probably just you tbh.

Keep Bondswell in the squad then if there's a shortage of numbers.

Well duh. I just said this in the other thread, we really need to have learned from January.

We saw this with Man U in the last window when they put a prohibitive tax on signing Lingard because they were hoping we would get relegated. I agree with TCD, we should have learned from this and tried to loan from European clubs who don't have an axe to grind. But that's just my opinion, obviously Eddie wanted to work with known quantities, especially on loan.

I don't think that's true tbh, I think we spent at least as much as I expected us to, would have no issue with the total amount of outlay, it has been what, £200m in two windows? That's fantastic tbh. My only concern is we didn't end up using the loan market to plug the one or two gaps we thought were weak prior to the window opening. One of them was addressed spectacularly with the signing of Isak who looks like he might be even better than we dared hope. But reality is we might still be starting Willock/Longstaff and Almiron in a lot of games unless Wilson stays fit. They have all bust a gut when they are playing so no complaints there, but not quite producing the quality which makes the difference to win tight games. Still, maybe Eddie thinks he can get that extra 10% out of them over the next few months, and tbf, if anyone can, it's him.

I see absolutely no point in including Shelvey in the squad keeping our fingers crossed he might play two or three games, I really hope Howe was just suggesting it to keep the player's morale up. Shelvey usually takes longer than others to get up to speed with fitness as well, he's never been the best trainer. Do we actually need to lose any more players now Fernandez and Shortstaff are gone?

8/10. On the one hand, we signed two genuinely world class players, and Isak is way beyond what I expected in this window. But I can't ignore that we didn't get CM and RW addressed. I really did think we would be able to utilise the loan market to address it, but not going to complain too much if this is down to Howe not wanting to bring in anyone who might upset the squad unity. When the short term injuries clear up it might look a lot brighter than appears right now.

In Ando we trust. Always.

Very appropriate avatar for that post Pilko.

No.

He'll go on to be a future star IMO. Fabulous signing.

Welcome to Liverpool.

N-O so underwhelmed no one can even be aresed to do a thread.