‘Put Firmino back up front and drop Lucas’

Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool “don’t have the big-game mentality’ and would you go for Griezmann, Lukaku, Belotti or Morata in the summer? All in our forum…

 

Join in with the debate…

Ronaldo or Messi?

CM – Like I said, the only people who make a case for Ronaldo being better than Messi are Man united and Real madrid fans is what i’VE Notices.Atleast 95 % of neutrals think messi is better.You ask many pundits(Neutral not neville or rio as they’ll still make a case for ronaldo because they’ve played with them) and they’ll say messi.

Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo: Who is the next best?

I really respect ronaldo,he’s clearly had a tougher career and been a harder worker but messi is a natural.He’s god sent to entertain the football fans.Although they are in a league above everyone else, there is really no debate about who’s better or should I put it in the perspective who people would rather watch play.

the specialone

 

‘Their personas have shifted’

I think it’s strange how their personas have shifted in recent years. Messi was always the darling who rode challenges and never went down, played with a smile on his face, clean shaven and generally was an all round good guy. Compared to Ronaldo who was stroppy, dived left right and centre, was selfish and was the player who everyone loved to hate.

Now, Ronaldo has mellowed a bit, does a lot of charity work, is more of a team player and is generally seen in a better light whereas Messi has been accused of tax evasion, has organised strikes by the national team players and has even grown a ginger beard. He’s no longer the darling we all thought he was.

manthistle

 

Ronaldo is better, he’s taller…

The specialone-

I have seen some non United, Madrid and Portugese fan stating a claim that they would prefer Ronaldo in the side in comparison to Messi. Messi has only ever done well in 1 system and that is possession football, anything else and he has not looked himself as proven under Martino and the Argentinian side.

Ronaldo can adapt to any style of play as proven with United, the English game, the Spanish game and the numerous different managers Real Madrid have had.

Some have said that for someone the size of Messi, he should not be doing what he is doing. Well that is incorrect, it is more difficult for someone like Ronaldo to do what he is doing. There are plenty of players similar size to Messi who are naturally good at controlling the ball and gliding past players i.e. Sanchez, Hazard, Cruyff, Giggs, Maradonna, Silva, Aguero, Pele, Overmars to name a few past and present.

How many players do you know that are over 6 foot and done what Ronaldo has done, the only player I can think of, but no where to Ronaldo’s level has been Bale.

CM

 

Griezmann, Lukaku, Belotti or Morata?

Who’s the better choice:

Griezmann for Atleti:
59 goals in 105 games

Lukaku for Everton:
52 goals in 105 games#

Personally i’d rather go for Belotti and Morata

Amz

 

Striker demand pushing fees towards £100m

I find it very interesting when posters turn around and state that this player or that is not worth the money rumoured to be anywhere between £60m – £100m.

The problem is supply and demand and these days it is quite clear that a top striker is pushing the transfer fee towards to 100m mark and if Chelsea are serious about wanting to compete at all levels then we have to accept that this is a figure that we may have to pay

Of all the foreign strikers mentioned there is absolutely no guarantee that anyone of them will settle immediately and may take time to adjust to the EPL and the country. Lukaku is the only striker mentioned who at least knows what the EPL is about, has proved himself at that level in a mediocre team and actually wants to play for Chelsea

I am not saying that those factors should rule out other strikers but unless we have a world class striker on our books – which we do not – then we have to face facts that we are going to have to pay for our next striker assuming that Costa is leaving. KTBFFH

CFC1905

Lukaku is not worth £100m

Romelu Lukaku: Set to leave Everton

I’m sorry CFC1905 but for me at a very steep and hefty 100m quid Lukaku would have to come complete with gold trimmings as well as can make the tea and put the dinner on for that price!.

A 100 big ones is not the going price for a player of Lukaku’s quality…100 mill is the price because Everton want to have fun and games with us and will want to charge us as much as they think they can get away with because it’s deemed we’re not short of a bob or two,we look desperate and we seem to treat money like confetti!.

My crystal ball tells me that if we go calling for Lukaku us and Everton will be going round and round all summer and still get nowhere,but let Man.Utd or someone else enter the race to get him and we’ll see how quickly Everton are prepared to be reasonable…and I bet it’s nowhere near even 70 mill let alone a 100!.

Lukaku can stay where he is for all I care!

mtal61

 

Holding impressed

As i said in another thread i was happy with the defense (mostly) and thought holding had a good game as did Gab.

Let look at holding, hardly any games all season then comes in to a back 3 at Semi Final stage with the team in a mess and a poisonous atmos around the club and fans and we won the game and defended well. not amazing, its not all fixed by any stretch, but i was happy with the way they played and worked

steveo snake

 

Man City were ‘unlucky to lose’

Steveo – The defence had a good game especially after the first half.But overall I still feel we were dominated and city were unlucky to lose.

Yes it was a much improved performance from the rubbish we’ve seen over the 2 months but still as far as what I really expect to see in our team we’re a far way from it.The funny thing is even If I saw what I wanted to see in order to think we can really win titles under wenger,it still wouldn’t have made a difference because it would be over a game.And then we’ll go back to being the same old.

I actually noticed quite often after the game many Arsenal fans saying that we should “Thank” Arsene wenger for getting us to the final.

So from “wenger out” week it’s “thank Arsene wenger week”.Wenger talks about loyalty but what about the loyalty the club have showed him in the past decade of not winning trophies.You can’t really classify it as loyalty under this current board it was actually desperation from the board to save their faces.

All in all I would love for him to win a trophy and win but right now there is nothing to thank him for.No matter what I still want wenger gone at the end of the season along with the board.

the specialone

Van Dijk unlikely to choose Liverpool

We need established players to help the team to turn the corner around but those famous, established players always refuse to join us because of football and financial reasons. So, we are always forced to bet on those overpriced future players. No matter we can get a CL spot or not, the coming transfer window remains the same. We have to fight an uphill battle in the transfer market.

Instead of attack, defense is equally or even more important. I mean keeping our best players (defense) is more important than new signings (attack). We must keep all our best players like Coutinho, Mane etc. before trying to make new signings.

About CB, van Dijk is no doubt the first choice but personally don’t believe that the player will join us instead of Chelsea or Man. City. It is better for us to find other CBs.

Klopp said that we received very positive answers form our targets, just hope those positive answers come from van Dijk, Nabi keita and Aubameyang etc. Not just from those M. Keane or Robertson.

Football Scouser

Liverpool have grown and £100m to spend isn’t bad…

You know what guys, as many as you can concede I am the eternal optimist, its the law of O´toole.

Often I might get a bit a head of myself with my predictions but you know what, they are not that far off, we are in 3rd position. The only reason why is our attacking force, that have scored the most goals of any side in the league like I tried to convey when the season started.

We are not getting one hundred goals, painstakingly the defense might even concede about 50 goals, if things turn really bitter.

But you know what, we are miles ahead from where we were last season, the team has grown. Coutinho has stepped up, Lallana has stepped up, Can has stepped up. We got a number of players that are equal to the best in the league.

What we lack is depth, that will be dealt with this summer, I can´t say if we will see another false dawn or not but we will see reinforcement brought in. There is no doubt about it. Even the most pessimistic fans think that we will have about 100 million to spend this summer. Those are the ones that think we are going to crash out of the top four in our last four games.

I´m thinking okay, 100 million on top of what we got, that´s not half bad. Its not a title challenge but its something. That would put us into the 3rd spot in terms of investment being made, if we go by the last summer window.

Right now though, there is a lot of pressure on the lads, the most vocal player after our defeat is Can, 23 years old. Alexander Arnold as a impact sub, Grujic as a impact sub, lets not condemn the players. We can rally behind them, even at the away fixtures.

Even the lone cry of watch out for that run from the fans can be the difference right now.

NotoriousBingo

 

Big-game mentality missing at Anfield

Number8 it’s not just Mane we are missing. We have some players in there who are young, some without that experience and others who just don’t have that big-game mentality (either never will or don’t yet).

As I said thou some of this rests on Klopp to find the best system and start those players in those positions, for example Firmino back up top. Klopp also needs to be a bit braver with his subs as he has done sometimes (I just mean change things earlier).

Rob mate I do agree with what your saying and that’s why for me the focus should be more on attack, we have proven we can’t really shut up shop and generally keep things tight so should go back to high intensity football. I have seen less of this from the players recently (unless we are just tired).

I think Klopp should drop Lucas for the last few games and put someone more dynamic in or consider dropping Coutinho further back as a play maker (for example if Lallana won’t be back).

At times we look far too pedestrian with that trio and whilst I don’t think Lucas has done a bad job by any means, those 3 are just not what we need for the remaining games. So back to basics, press from the front and possession higher up the pitch.

Bob-Notts

 

The great Pogba debate

fatrooney

Yet more evidence that you are more concerned about stats and fail to watch the game.

Get me another central midfielder in europe who has contributed as much as pogba to his team. I mean all round contribution, passing chances created, tackles, duel won etc

Make your mind up. Am I to watch the matches or find players with better stats?!

How do I know that most of the ‘chances created’ by Pogba weren’t just half chances or barely even chances at all? What defines a chance created? People who generally just watch the game and don’t rely on stats say that Pogba has been poor this season, yet you use them to claim the opposite. Yet when I use stats I’m accused of not using my eyes and seeing whats right in front of me.

Just out of curiosity how are Pogba’s miss-control stats and caught in possession stats and shot conversion stats?

manthistle

 

Pogba expectation levels

On the Pogba debate, I think it’s more of a skill level vs what is expected of him that people need to look at; people expect a lot more from him than, say, Herrera so if Pogba has a 7-rating game and Herrera has a 7.5-rating game then you’d still expect to get more from Pogba overall than Herrera even though he was rated lower (because expectations are higher on him).

It’s the same thing with Sneijder vs Messi back in 2010 – Sneijder had a 9.5-rating year and Messi had a 9-rating year however Messi’s 9 is still a greater level than Sneijder’s 9.5

On Pogba this season, going with the above in mind, I think he came in with a very high expectation level and hasn’t come close to hitting the heights expected however that shouldn’t hide the fact that he has done well for us and has been a very important part of the team.

He needs to improve his long and short range shooting for us (the amount of times he’s hit it into Row Z from outside the box or missed a good chance in the box is incredible) and needs to play better in big games to lead the team in midfield however, besides those two, I’m very happy with his contribution.

Sympathy for the Devils