TRon

He might just be looking for someone who will facilitate a certain type of football. Targett's a really good left back but Howe might want one who brings a lot more overlapping and crossing to the mix. Trent Alexander Arnold is probably nowhere near as good defensively as Targett, but look at what he brings to the table going forward. It's those sort of things which make Liverpool what they are.

Liverpool have become the PL's standard bearer club, it feels like the national media and the football authorities themselves take pride in their achievements. There's this almost RAWK level of reverence associated with the club, far beyond the confines of Merseyside.

If it's his money that's where it should end up. Chelsea have a had a nice long ride to the top on the back of it, they can hardly complain they were robbed.

Yes, we have to start thinking like Man City or Liverpool would think if we want to get to that level. Not saying Targett is a bad player, but we want to compete with the best, so we have to try to buy the same type of players they would buy.

Interesting perspective, but you would think Howe would have sounded out Bruno about Lodi as well.

Wijnaldum and Sissoko were our two best players at the time and it was reflected in the fees we got for them. I know they got plenty of stick on here, and I also know they weren't perfect. Sissoko being one of our best players didn't make him a good player for Spurs. But when you look at the side we had, he was probably one of the few who could actually offer an outlet. Gini was just a good player period, whether he gave 100% is another discussion, but he was easily our best player technically.

Well we are supposedly chasing Ekiteke, he looks about as physical as a bag of candy floss. I like Nketiah, he seems to have a real striker's instinct, but whether he's proven at this level is the only question mark.

Yeah I'm not Miggy's biggest fan, but to dump on a fellow pro like that is kind of offensive.

Howe is a very detail oriented coach, he's the exact opposite of Steve Bruce. I imagine he wants players to do certain things, move in specific directions, and the team to advance or defend in unison. I just don't think someone like ASM is the type to follow instruction, he plays off the cuff. I just don't see how it works long term, not with this manager. And yeah, I know ASM is trying to pass more, but he still does it reluctantly, as a result he'll often miss the early pass which is usually the one which catches defences off guard.

Anyway, regardless of whether the Lodi rumours are true, I think it's fair to think we might want a more attacking left back. Not convinced we will sign Targett, although I wouldn't be disappointed if we did. At least we know he's a rock solid defender.

I haven't seen him tbf, just assuming he is good because Howe seems to want him. Of course there maybe nothing in it and all this is just paper talk.

Would love to lock him in a room with Rick Masters and a hand grenade.

Not sure what makes anyone think he'll be any use next season. The only thing he did well was close down people, and that's because you don't need the ball for that. We looked so much better when Wilson started it immediately became obvious that Wood is shit.

If you watch Man City or Liverpool, one of the reasons they are such an effective passing team is because their full backs are almost better out wide than most teams actual wingers. If we want to play football like that we will need to upgrade. Basically we want a left sided version of Trippier. Targett's a fantastic defender but he's not going to give you what Trippier does.

Targett will have no shortage of takers, defensively he's as good as they come. I still hope we sign Lodi though.

Fraser seems to be crocked an awful lot, not sure he's worth holding onto either. He's been here two seasons now and we've barely seen him play.

Not really bothered how much we get for him, given that he's 30 and fairly shit, I think we might do well to get £10m. But no complaints, we stayed up so if we have to write off the vast majority of the £25m we paid, can't really complain.

None of them are good enough tbh. I would have thought if we are signing 4 new players, a top class left forward has to be high on the list. Miggy was good last week, but it was normal service resumed yesterday. He'll run all day so that's great, but he offers no threat.

Good to see you haven't been banned after your last comment, Joeyt just made a cryface. I think that's progress.

I almost wish they would get promoted back in the top league just so we could get put them back in their place since the days of Pardew surrender.

He was, but he had to adjust without his minder big Jo, and I thought he got better over the 90 mins. It was kind of gratifying to see him adjust to the pace and engineer it to his own tempo by the end.

I was honestly fearing for our chances when he went off. The midfield was almost non-existent for all the efforts of Bruno and Longstaff.

I couldn't really understand his decision to bring Murphy on in place of Joelinton today, I thought it left us light in midfield, but maybe he just wanted to test out other positions to see who could cut it? Anyway, after Count Dracula turned us down, I backed Eddie to the hilt. The guy is the best of the current breed of English managers, and I love every day I know he won't make us look stupid as a club.

That finish for the second goal though. It was poetry how he guided it with the inside of his foot beyond the keeper. He played much better last week against Arsenal and got nothing, today he had barely two strikes on goal and scored both.

I was going to say fuck off man, then thought that would be kind of offensive. So instead...really?