‘Liverpool need to cover Coutinho loss or they’ll miss out on top four’

Oli Fisher

Manchester United fans discuss their January wish list, while Liverpool readers reflect on the Coutinho loss and the EFL Cup semi-final is previewed.

 

Got something to get off your chest? Join the debate on our forums.

 

Quiet January for United?

Talk of Moura, Ozil and Mahrez, but lets be honest i think we are all a bit naive to think this board is gonna buy anyone this January. its not what they do, we are one of the wealthiest clubs and generate more than most but it means nothing if the Glazers put it in their pockets. remember Fergie talking about no value in the market? he also brought Scholes out of retirement while City and Chelsea were free spending.

Just as well he was a genius cos it bailed the Glazers out every time.

Jose will come and go and it will no longer be his problem, another one will step in, he will come and go and so goes the merry go round until the root of the issue (our owners) is dealt with. Ed Woodward is another naive idiot who should never stand in front of a camera again, talking about ‘we can do things most clubs can only dream’. We will never be that club as long as the Glazers are in charge. they are quite happy with top 4 as it brings the money in. the fans are getting dumped on and it would do us all good to get off Jose’s back and hop on the Glazers again

jimshady

 

Coutinho follows the Holy Grail

He was a good player for us scored many memorable goals, shame the exit was a bit messy but ultimately deep down we all know most South Americans view playing in Spain/Italy as some sort of holy grail.

I only just realised form a podcaster on AnfieldIndex that even our own relatively local lad Ian Rush left Liverpool in the glory years to go abroad to Juventus so how can we begrudge a complete foreigner like Coutinho who never supported Liverpool as a kid the opportunity of a lifetime!

For some reason no matter how strong the Premiership is there is always this attraction especially for some South American players to go and play for those Spanish supergiants. Obviously less so for Italian teams now but Barca/Madrid still represents the Zenith for many players.

And when all said and done Coutinho gave us 5 years, he never won much but ironically might pick up a league medal at the end of the year so I guess I can understand why he would view that as another reason to leave. I wish him well and will look out for Barca games in the genuine hope that he does well. He was always the ‘nice boy’ and that is how I will try to remember him.

With all that being said, a bit cheeky, but I see his recent injury hasn’t affected his keepy-uppy skills during his unveiling lol 🙂

mwake

I think everyone knew he’d be gone but not many expected it this window. As we all know Klopp is big on the morale & camaraderie of the group & I think once he realised Couts wanted out now he agreed to take the money & avoid anything effecting the group. I believe we did indeed have a plan but weren’t expecting to have it implemented until summer. For that reason I think we won’t make any further major signings to cover the loss & if that is indeed what happens we will regret it big time by missing out on top 4 & in turn any potential quality players we had lined up.
Hopefully I’m wrong.

number8wasgr8

 

So VAR, so good?

It was available, but there was some confusion with whether it was used or not.

Apparently the ref would have (should have) used a triangle motion to indicate they wanted VAR – which he didn’t do.

There are reports that the ref may have had a signal from the sidelines, from someone else who saw the reply on VAR, that it was a goal rather than used the VAR himself. Which is strange as I did not think that was the idea.

Apparently VAR will only overrule a decision if there was a clear and obvious mistake, so expect lots more arguments on decisions given through VAR as it is not designed to get to the bottom of every decision referred to it, just ensure there are no clear and obvious mistakes.

It’s a good start though, and I’m sure they’ll amend the way it is used after they see it in action.

Alfie07

Clattenburg: Set for Euro 2016 final

The VAR will definitely improve things but it still isn’t accurate enough.I mean what does it depend on,and who has the power to Call for VAR.As far as my knowledge on this,there is no possibility of offside goals scored and it is detected without the referee having to instruct to go to the VAR for assistance.However,if there is a penalty incident involving a foul or handball incident,it is solely down to the ref whether he wants to take it to the VAR or not.So basically,if the players are crazily appealing then automatically with that pressure the ref will take it there.However,if there’s not one appeal and even though replays show there was a clear foul but yet the ref waives play on/doesn’t take it to the VAR then that is an incident ignored.

Personally,I have no idea why the ref should have the final say even on the VAR.I mean rules are the same technically.So ref should have no power to take it to the VAR or not.There should be a pre-assigned official who’s solely in charge of the VAR Who analyses the incidents during the game and communicates with the ref through the microphone if he’s missed something or gotten it wrong.Obviously that particular official i charge of VAR should be attentive because efficiency will most be required.But Really how hard can it be?

The Special One

 

Liverpool’s bench problem

Team I can see starting on Sunday…
Migs, Gomez, Matip, VVD, Robbo, Can, Wij, Lallana, Mane, Firmino, Salah.

I don’t think that leaves us with much on the bench to change things. Ox?
Can’t really rely on Sturridge, Ings, Solanke.
For me we defo need another player we can call upon for the front three.
After Coutinhos departure it looks like we are light on players for front three.
Is there anything to be said for selling Sturridge and Ings and buying another front three player??

gingerlfc

 

Two games from Wembley

OK – so not far from a visit to Wembley – just 2 games

Personally, I think we should be playing a strong team to try and take the initiative in this tie. We proved the other week that we are more than capable of opening up their defence and creating chances. As always, taking them proves to be our Achilles heel. We also were able to contain pretty much a strike force that on the day was considered by pundits to be the best in the league so that says a lot about how far our defence has progressed

Wenger normally fields a much changed side and he is pretty stubborn so I think he will play a few youngsters which means they could be there for the taking…?

Regardless, we play over 2 legs so potentially the game will not be won or lost tonight. We have to play better than we did at Norwich, but that won’t be hard, and I would try to take a decent lead back to the Emirates which may allow 8s to rest a few players again (and this time leave them on the bench…!!). KTBFFH

CFC1905

Since conte

Played 6
Won 1
Drew 2
Lost 3

Wenger has outplayed and outsmarted conte on most of them games. Arsenal is somewhat of a bogey team for us nowdays

Phwepsi

 

Wenger the problem?

I mean we could sign the top 10 best players in the world and wenger will still muck it up.And in that case there would be no point to even debate anything.But I’m still in hope that wenger will leave asap and I’m only discussing transfers because it will affect the incoming manager.
Personally,Wenger shouldn’t be given even one more decision to make but until he’s there we all know that’s not going to happen.

Anyways,Apparently Sanchez might go for 20m.You know putting his contract situation aside,the simple fact of the matter will be Liverpool sold coutinho for 140m, napoli sold higuain for 100m and we are selling a player of Sanchez’ calibre for 20m.The most laughable transfer fees in the world.Even at 29 he should be easily worth above 100m AT LEAST in today’s market.People don’t realise how good a player he is or how much we’ll miss him. Irreplaceable.

Ozil,I know a lot of people like him but for me he dosen’t do enough in big games.I still probably want to keep him and see how he does under a new manager,but I won’t be too dissapointed if we lose him.Ideal replacements would be mikithanriyan and mahrez.Not one,we should sign both because players like those cannot be replaced by one player.
Sanchez?I wanted sterling in the summer but now Get both draxler and zaha to replace him.Truth is that sanchez can only directly be replaced by players like ronaldo and neymar and bale.But theyre expensive and not available and we would never get them anyways.So those I would honestly get those two in.
Walcott?Even though he’s not worth his 140k,I still wouldn’t sell him.He’s probably the most useful player in the squad when called upon.But even if he were to go.I’m looking at cuadardo or lucas moura the latter clearly being available.We also still haven’t replaced ox.

We should also seriously look at leon goretzka as a santi replacement. Nzonzi for coquelin (even though I think it should not be coquelin who should be sold and someone else).And of course we desperately need at least two top class defender signings.Oh wait didn’t we sign that greek fella.Typical.How all this is still happening at the club, you’d genuinely take away all hope from the fans perspective.

The SpecialOne

Sorry but Wenger wont leave anytime soon and I just don’t trust him with transfers so there is no hope until he leaves. You throw names around but why would any of them choose us? Goretzka will join Bayern as almost all German players do for sure he wont come here. Mkhitaryan has been pretty useless for United not sure he will improve under Wenger. But with the state of this club under Wenger i don’t think any good players will join. That will only happen if Wenger is fired and they see that changes are being made. I actually doubt that apart from Wilshere no one really wants to stay at our club.

Mahrez might come but if anyone else wants him he will not. Not even Lacazette had us as his first choice.. he had gone to A Madrid had they not received a ban. So we only attract desperate and stupid players at the moment and not top players so you wish for that but they will never come to us now. So nothing will change anytime soon it will only get worse.

Muffler_1

 

Chelsea’s 25 signings

Those 25 signings have helped us win the league twice in three years or four if you want to include this season as well…. They’ve all played a part in keeping us near the top of the table. Think about it. 60 million for a left footed defensive player.. Thanks but no thanks… we signed a certain A. Cole for the value of Sandros big left toe.

I don’t mind who we sign so long as they come in and give 100 percent to the team cause. Most players are going to have to develop so it means signing a not so big name and getting them to become one. We do need cover on the left hand side and some form of striker. I’ve said it hear but I think Abrahams coming back would be a shrewd move.

Romansdirtypants