Mole

Yeah like the issue isn't English players, it's high fees and high wages for players who do not move the needle. If they were cheaper they probably wouldn't need to move the needle as such, but for the prices paid last summer they absolutely had to be. More players in the 20m bracket would mostly be fine even if aren't rip-roaring success stories. It's the combination of expense and performances not justifying the expense.

Hard to take Sacha seriously without his shoebox ass haircut.

Tonali was playing well at that time ( at least defensively) and the midfield overall wasn't terrible at doing their job defensively (they've been ass in possession all season) Said this a million times but it makes no sense to point out individual performances when the team as a whole has been broken all season long and nothing shows that more than the dogshit job the midfield as a whole have done at covering the defence and forcing them to do way more than a "good" team would. Very convinced no individual defender in the league would look good the way we've been set up this season.

Even if the club has put plans in motion you're not going to hear about those plans for a while. If you're looking for actual reports without any sort of validity I would avoid this thread for at least a couple of months.

We just gotta be thankful that he's not resorted to the claiming Wemby card like he did with Giannis.

If you simply must play all 3 CBs and still want a back 4 then Thiaw at RB seems a much more sensible solution to me. Because he's played there before on multiple occasions, this whole thing is just bizarre.

That's because of the aforementioned technical issues throughout the team, I dunno how anyone expects to maintain pressure if there are so many players are liable to cough it up at a moments notice. I understand Howe's preferences and that's fine but it would be a million times more effective if they could keep it a bit longer than they do. If I am being honest in the starting XI Hall and Bruno are the only ones I trust in this department.

That's not what I'm saying and I think you know that. It's a change in formation doesn't mean a great deal without changing how the team plays. Formations don't matter much, I'm much more interested in how we actually play which hasn't worked effectively all season.

The system has nothing to do with playing "differently" You can play multiple different formations and still play the same way. It's why I have never really had an issue with what formation he does or doesn't play because it doesn't really matter that much. It's the willingness to adapt outside of a set structure and find solutions outside of that. The way we play is very limited and never really changes and he hasn't resorted to looking outside of that. Which is fine when it works, obviously he found success prior to this season but when it doesn't you get what you see. He could play 5 different formations but it wouldn't change anything if the general play style and how we approach games remains the same.

My reply more is a response to the bit in bold (I should have quoted you ) What has happened since is exactly why people aren't showing much willingness, week after week there's been very little signs of life and he looks like he's run out of ideas. (I am someone who has said repeatedly he deserves a chance but I will admit I lack belief he can turn it around) I just disagree with the bit in bold, I think it's very easy to understand both sides of the equation for different reasons.

I can see why you would want to give him a chance given the context but to act like the deterioration of performances across the board since October isn't a massive concern is silly. There's no real evidence to be hopeful outside of what he's done prior to this season, if you can't see why people have little to no confidence in him turning it around you aren't looking hard enough IMO.

Really don't like the tendency to single out individual players when the entire team has been dogshit. Of course no individual is performing, the entire structure of the football team is broken and setting up everyone for failure.

He'll never mention the dogshit performances from others throughout the whole season. If this attitude was applied to everyone nobody in the squad would be playing because they've all done a lot worse than Hall has.

Most of the signings last summer were met with either wide spread criticism, bemusement or in the case Woltemade and Wissa (and to a certain extent Elanga, because people were desperate for a signing) mostly relief. This board was mostly miserable last summer and if they actually were excited about the signings that wouldn't have been the case. If everyone was happy and excited and then shit on the club now that would be fair enough, but all I'm mainly seeing is people holding the same positions they held in the summer now we have months of evidence.

If any of the traditional big teams would accept that it would probably be City mind. They seem to value getting rid of unhappy players over trying to bleed rivals through the nose. They probably won't accept 30 but if any team would, then it would be them.

You know why, because it's a negative link. (Or at least perceived to be) The source doesn't matter if it approves the confirmation bias.

Technically yes, but those tools aren't really impacting the game in the way we need them to. Also as dogshit as the forwards mostly have been, I would argue they aren't being put into the position to succeed which poses it's own issues. But yes I could see a scenario where those midfielders could be used in an effective manner, but that's part of adapting and finding solutions to the problems you have. The team in general has felt broken for most of the year and the midfield not offering the solution to any of those issues is a large part of it because it would make things easier for the attackers and defenders to do their jobs. I am definitely not ruling out the manager finding the answer to these problems, it's just he hasn't this year and it's a big part in why the season has gone like it has. Seems harsh, but it's his job to figure this stuff out and hopefully the summer will allow him to, whether that's new signings or figuring something out tactically.

The midfield has been an even bigger issue than the attack for me so I don't know if I agree if the right forwards were signed that it would be drastically better. This season has been one that had signs of what was to come back in October and there was never any signs of improvement. Idk I feel like not getting the right forwards really undersells the issues and is somewhat delusional. I know it worked before but this year they failed to protect the back 4, establish any level of pressure and create chances, if you don't adapt and improve you go backwards as this season as proved. I am not worried about signings, across his entire tenure there have been successes more than failures or there wouldn't have been CL football this year to begin with but I am concerned about the ability to adapt when something isn't working. I do think he deserves a chance to put it right though and we'll see how the summer goes but I just really think getting Etitike instead of Woltemade for example really undersells what the week to week issues have been.

Mane and Salah are worlds apart from our lot, if you want to use Klopp as a blueprint your wingers have to genuinely be matchwinners. No one Howe has to call on can be considered anywhere close to that. There a lot of problems with the current team but if the wingers were genuine, top quality it would hide a lot of problems.

And he would have if he wanted to, those are not the same things at all. It changed because Isak wanted to leave.

Yeah like I expect a couple of big sales from the names mentioned on here repeatedly and the main way I see the list mentioned here departing is if the money we use from said sales to get a player that impacts their position. For example, if Gordon is sold and a part of it is used to get a RW we like I could see Elanga going if the offer is right. Mainly because I am pretty sure we won't see a repeat of sell Isak and spend it all on two strikers again, but there's a lot of moving parts for all of this to actually happen.

I think this largely depends on who we get in tbh, but I agree that most of those players probably aren't being sold unless a new signing completely negates the need for them and a good enough offer comes in. But yeah it's probably important to remember it's just one season as much as it sucks, football is littered with examples of guys were utter dogshit one year and looked awesome the next.

Yep, I get these guys are hard to get but it's absolutely a problem. It would make everyone's lives so much easier if they had a couple more who could do it.

Yeah I was thinking it meant a communication fallout regarding management.

Tbf to Bruno on this, he's one of the few who can actually threaten the opposition and force them to make positional mistakes so I'm not surprised he makes mistakes sometimes as he's the one making the plays. The rest are either very tidy without being much of a threat or other flaws offensively, basically a lot of our midfield options while being fine individual players don't actually impact the game offensively to concern the opposition.