rgk_lfc

Emery, to me, strikes as a diet Rafa. Obsessive, attention to detail, works harder than practically everyone at the club, and has a very pleasant personality if you get to know him. His teams don't play the most aesthetically pleasing football, but they are tactically so well drilled and you know you are going to get a game. I would be happy to be proven wrong, but I don't think he will win La Liga (like Rafa did with Valencia) or the CL, but he is just below that level, which is a great place to be.

The key is what is the real Arsenal - the one which gave an impressive title challenge for the first 30 to 32 games or the one which collapsed in the last 6-8 games. Assuming last season's title challenge is not a one-off, it is very difficult to find value-for-money signings when you are at that level. You have to overpay to generate that delta which helps you overcome that gap between finishing second and first. And that gap is particularly hard competing against City and Pep. Everyone had exactly the same comments when we overpaid for VVD. To be fair, I was also thinking WTF are we doing? But we needed that investment to help us win the CL and PL.

The great Ancelotti once commented that Chelsea is a graveyard for strikers not named Drogba, and one should never rate a striker based on how they performed for Chelsea.

And Bayern on an average score 3 goals per game in the Bundesliga. I do think Kane can get close to that 41 number, if not equal or beat it.

Bayern scored 92 goals in 34 games this season, and I think that is the lowest in the last few years. They normally score nearly 100 goals. The Spurs scored 70 goals in 38 games. I am not trying to downplay Lewa who is a great player. But I think Kane is not that far behind. Sometimes we are guilty of underrating EPL players. Kane's record in the premier league is insane. I think he is as good and there is a slight chance that he could be better than Lewa. I would be sad to see him leave Spurs as he is a genuinely great striker and I love watching such players. However, if he moves to Bayern, I wouldn't bet against him scoring late 30s number of goals per season, atleast.

@joeyt, @Manxst I meant goals scored in a season. I think he has a decent shot at getting close to 41. He has been putting up close to Lewa numbers in a much stronger league and playing for a much weaker side relative to the opposition. As he has done that he has been continuously developing into an effective playmaker.

I think he will get close to breaking the Bundesliga scoring record and has a decent shot of breaking it also. Kane is that good.

I will be very surprised if that is true. All the reliable journos are saying our targets are Thuram or Kone or someone in that price range and if the money stretches, maybe a central defender who can play right full-back.

Also, they might not be focusing on the traditional European footie fan. Visit Saudi was one of the big sponsors of the IPL. Tons of ads about Saudi tourism in Indian media. I have heard from a couple of friends that it is the same in a couple of other South East Asian countries. A lot of folks in India, Sri Lanka, and other South East Asian countries work in middle eastern countries at all levels - construction workers, shopkeepers, engineers, doctors, and teachers. Places like Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and other middle eastern countries are increasingly viewed as holiday destinations for people from these areas. The Qatar world cup, for example, was very popular with people from these countries. For the first time, people from this region got a chance to attend world cup games and see the stars. Billions of people live in these countries. Their economies are growing, and most of these countries will have GDPs comparable to EU nations in a decade or so. We are talking about a huge body of people with disposable incomes, who love football, but without the deep attachment, someone like you will have to European clubs. Maybe this entire move from Saudi is aimed at them? Like a middle-class family in India or Vietnam, vacation in Saudi, enjoy fine cuisine, new malls, and the weekend afternoon, watch Ronaldo and Salah and Benzema play footy live?

Purslow is excellent on the commercial side of things. Problem is that he likes to meddle in the footballing side and loves associating himself with the old-boy English professional footballing network. He was the main driver in sacking Rafa and appointing Hodgson. He was apparently boasting to everyone about how he managed to convince Joe Cole to reject other clubs and sign for us on a free transfer. If he had just stuck to the commercial side of operations in which he had strong credentials, successes, and connections - he would probably still be at Liverpool.

One week ago, my guess would have been Mac Allister plus one midfielder. But given the links to so many midfielders, we might buy two more. LFC usually doesn't have this level of "information" leaked about Thuram and Kone unless we are serious about both. We are losing Ox, Keita, and Milner. Thiago leaves in a year. Hendo and Fabinho cannot play more than one game per week at a decent level. Carvalho will be leaving on loan. Bajcetic and Jones should get more games this year. The other outlier is Harvey Elliott, who is not a traditional Klopp midfielder and has been overtaken by Curtis Jones in the squad preference list in the second half of the season. If we buy two more midfielders, I wouldn't be surprised if Thiago is allowed to leave (Barca is interested) this year. We are also linked to several central defenders who can play fullback if needed. Matip will most likely be allowed to leave this summer, as it looks like we are committing to TAA playing an inverted fullback/CM formation. There is a limited role for Matip in that formation, and his contract is up next year anyways.

I read an article couple of years ago which gave a rough outline. If I find it, I will post it. It appears the first point of contact is the approximate wage range, and this is often done informally through the agent. If the wage expectations dont match, then the clubs don't bother anymore. With respect to the actual bid, how you structure the payment has a bigger impact than the total amount. For example, we bought Jota only because Wolves were willing to spread the payment over multiple years. For Diaz and Mac Allister, we paid a big lumpsum upfront. Diaz's lumpsum was to help Porto with meeting FFP. Not quite sure why Brighton needed a significant amount upfront. Maybe that is the way they do business. With Coutinho, Barca paid a significant amount upfront. LFC then "sold" the rest of the Barca debt to a finance company which paid LFC a lumpsum, and then Barca paid the finance company. Not sure why that happened, and it might potentially be at Barca's request due to their finances. The other thing I read is that free transfers are sort of very expensive due to initial bonus's, high wages etc and better to stay away unless the player is a special talent.

Which one? Outside of Joyce, Pearce, Bascombe (sometimes), and Neil Jones (sometimes) - I wouldn't recommend any other sources. The midfielders on our radar, according to the reliable ones, are - Thuram & Kone (in touch with both of their agents and clubs), Gravenberch (player interested and we are interested, but Bayern don't want to sell), Lavia and Veiga (admiring from afar but no contact yet).

Makes sense.

https://theanalyst.com/na/2023/06/john-stones-centre-midfield-centre-back-hybrid-role/ https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/sports/walker-cannot-play-inverted-full-back-citys-system-guardiola-2023-04-08/ They gave us a footballing lesson in the defeat two to three months ago. Klopp pretty much adapted that system and played TAA in the hybrid inverted full back role and our performances have been significantly better since then.

Pep's deployment of John Stones as an inverted roaming fullback is genius. Arteta copied the same formation in deploying Zinchenko the same way. Klopp did the same using TAA as a hybrid roaming right back and central midfielder and our performances improved.

I will be surprised if that is true. None of the "reliable" journos for LFC have linked us to Veiga.

I have to disagree with the make or break assessment. One thing I have realized over the last 25 years is that progress and, at the same time, moving backward, at the highest level is highly nonlinear. We went from way outside the CL places to compete for the PL in 2013-2014 over a summer. We reduced a 25 point gap to City to one point over a summer under Klopp. In one and half seasons, you went from nineteenth (or eighteenth) to CL. No one would have predicted Chelsea finishing outside of tenth place at the beginning of the season. We went from competing for quadruple to finishing outside CL places in one summer. Even if we don't qualify for CL the next season, it will be fine. As long as we have a quality coaching setup, anything is possible. All it takes is one superstar signing, and clubs will rocket up the table.

Yes and No. Edwards played an important role in the successful signings, but I don't think it is 100% due to him. Edwards's signings were not that great pre-Klopp. It was during that 2016-2019 period under Klopp that it reached another level. So was it entirely due to Edwards or entirely due to Klopp, difficult to say so. All I know is we had an incredibly smart analytics plus scouting division which delivered. But I also think it was difficult to sustain that level of hits with signings year in and year out. So while our signings in the last couple of years haven't been at that level, I am fine with that. Even if Edwards was at the helm, I doubt we would have replicated the 2016-2019 success levels. Not sure if any club or sports franchise (in other sports) has nailed almost every signing over an eight to ten period.

To be fair, fans of most clubs think their transfer operation is not up to par, and their rival clubs are better than them. Most "normal" and "rational" Liverpool fans are very impressed with Newcastle's transfers under Ashworth and Howe - Bruno, Botman, Trippier - all bought with a purpose in mind and can play at the highest level. You see LFC being quick in the transfer window after having a pick of whom we want. We see a club that chased Tchouameni for 4 months before losing him to Madrid, then chasing Bellingham for a year before turning out attention to other players. Don't get me wrong, I am not complaining about our transfer operation. It is not up to the level which delivered Mane, Salah, etc. but still very, very good. Just pointing out that we tend to be more critical of our clubs and sometimes look at others with rose-tinted glasses.

They bought Luiz for 25 million or something. Then within three years sold to PSG for 50 million. Then within two years bought him for 35 million or something. Then within 2-3 years sold him again.

Looks like Havertz to Madrid for 70 million. Chelsea must be the best in the world in terms of selling their players.

https://twitter.com/OptaAnalyst/status/1664200943435497472

Agreed. That is why I think he will do very well with Chelsea. I know the Chelsea squad looks mental, but there is enough latent talent there for someone like Poch to create an effective team. They also don't have the Europe distraction next season.

Forgive my ignorance as I rarely watch games out of the PL, world cup and the Euros, but does the game appear really slow given the context? I saw a pullback into the Mainz box and the Dortmund player was just ambling to get it. Another example was a ball going out of play and the Dortmund player was just gently jogging. At the risk of appearing like a PFM, show some effort. Great chance missed for Dortmund. Even the Mainz keeper has started to feel sorry for them now.