‘Liverpool need cup win and can’t risk off-the-boil Divock Origi’

Divock Origi: Gives his thoughts on Premier League title race

Divock Origi: Confident the goals will return

Our readers discuss why Liverpool should take the transfer plunge this month, while the end of John Terry at Chelsea, Tottenham’s best 5 players right now and Timothy Fosu-Mensah’s struggle for game time at Manchester United are also discussed.

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Liverpool’s team v Southampton / has Origi gone off the boil?

A bit of a safety net for us is that we have 2 legs to get this one right and book our place for the Final next month which I’m confident we will do so.

I was disappointed this afternoon in things not quite happening on the goal front for Divock Origi and it’s almost as if he’s gone a little bit off the boil.

Incidentally too since our thumping win against Stoke, our goals have a little bit dried up, so we need our shooting boots on for Wednesday.

Naturally, there has to be a stronger line up in place, though those key players injured in Milner, Henderson, Matip and Coutinho won’t be available till next Sunday anyway. I wonder whether Sturridge and Firmino will start and JK goes for an outright 4-3-3.

We could afford to come away with a draw, but any win would be a huge bonus because don’t forget, the away goal rule is taken into account.

From a statistical point of view, the Saints have fail to win their last 2 games at St Mary’s and overall have been on a bit of a wobbler, so a good time to play them and hopefully, we can come away with a positive result.

SensibleS7

 

Hopefully a few players who need mins like Couthino will get maybe a 20 mins here. It’s a chance of a cup. I know everyone wants to focus on 4th and we have a huge game on Sunday but I’m sure Klopp will field a strong team. It’s a huge chance of getting to wembley and a day for our fans and a chance of actually winning something.

Everyone’s worried about injuries which is fair enough but what do we do next year if we are in the cl? Say we have a cl game on the wednsday and play Man Utd on the sat. Do we not play a full strength team in the cl game? We dont play many games this year and we should be able to handle two games a week for 3 weeks in a row. Ill be gutted if we lose this. Klopp will be remebered for trophies and not how many times we get top 4.

Sean the Sailor

 

[of_poll name=’Who do you think will contest the EFL Cup final?’ id=’1411495′]

 

Has Terry written his own obituary and can Zouma replace him?

Poor old JT. With that send off I reckon he has just about written his own obituary regarding any chance of playing Premier League football again for Chelsea.

He is getting caught out by younger legs far too regularly now. I, for one, hope that he retires. I think that the club, under Conte, has moved on now. His time is up. Forever a legend and appreciated by all.

chelsea1967

 

Kurt Zouma has the credentials to be a brilliant defender for Chelsea but to be honest I don’t think we seen enough of him to really know how good he may or may not be, he is also highly rated in France. We will see.

I also keep thinking how he managed to injure himself like that and find it rather strange.

Rollonaverage

 

Zouma is back.
Well I’m not sure what fans really expected, he had been heralded as some sort of super defender in his absence, which personally I never really understood
He is not in anyway the finished article and will need time to both get over his injury and adapt to conte’s playing style and tactics.

bluepylon

 

READ MORE ~ Ref Review: Was Kevin Friend right to red card Terry?

 

The Curious Case of Timothy Fosu-Mensah

TImothy Fosu-Mensah: Defender penned new deal

Fosu-Mensah’s not getting any minutes in the first XI and not getting any minutes for the rezzers yet Mourinho blocked loan moves for him in the summer and won’t consider them in this window.

Anybody know what is going on with him?

The couple of times I have seen him this season he looked a poor imitation of the player who stormed the first team towards the end of last year but that’s understandable, he must be rusty as hell. Surely he has to be given some decent minutes against Reading…would be criminal if he isn’t at least given the chance to make it.

TS7

 

He’s still young and has time to develop – I don’t think he deserves a spot ahead of any of the first teamers and think we have better reserves than him too currently.

What I don’t get is the lack of action for the Reserves.. but there must be a good reason.

Sympathy for the Devils

 

Liverpool ‘unlikely’ to but should take January window gamble

I think this January there is a stronger argument for a signing: we’re in a strong league position. If we can keep up our form and league position, that will bring lots of revenue and success to the club (tv money, champions league, increased sponsorship opportunities – main stand deal for champions league next year…?!). Spending £30mil now would make sense if it’s the right signing. Even if we overpay by £5mil. Maybe our owners / Klopp will refuse to overpay, in which case we will never sign anyone as the market is crazy!! But an overspend of £5mil now could mean we have success this season, and are better prepared for next (we will need a larger squad if we have Europe, and gradually building such as 1 or 2 players now is better than a huge influx of players again next summer, integrating them all at the same time etc). ?

I don’t think Liverpool will defo sign someone in Jan though. I agree that Klopp et al don’t see value in January window (as a general trend, this doesn’t always apply!). But I did think the idea of we haven’t signed anyone for 3 January windows means we won’t do it this time around…not well articulated by me late last night or before any caffeine this morning!!

I think we also went after texeira last winter didn’t we? I think we offered good money etc, just China offered silly money – which we should not be trying to match!!

ian2105

 

Wenger should be judged on performances not results

Arsene Wenger: Not happy

I just hope from now on, people actually start judging Arsenal on the performance rather than the result as I always have.Some of our results have been very impressive this season, however our performances haven’t really matched them.We’ve just been very efficient in front of goal.
But ever since cazorla got injured,we’ve been such a poor team to watch.

Last season, even though Klopp didn’t really set the PL alight, it was the performances in matches that made me judge them to challenge for the PL sooner rather than later.

It probably won’t happen under wenger but I would like us to completely dominate teams, show some aggression and passion but most importantly actually test the keeper rather than make up shot on target stats.

thespecialone

 

Luke Murphy was a disaster for Leeds

Luke Murphy has been eased out on loan. This was a player for whom we payed top dollar – at least it was the most we had paid out in donkeys years – and sadly for all concerned, turned out to be a complete damp squib. Hindsight is an exact science but thank you Brian McDermott!! Murphy never has looked the part and I suspect we will struggle to recoup any money for him.

It will be interesting to see who, if anyone, we bring in. If it is a striker then either we change formation and play two up front or we alternate Chris Wood with the new man. I hope we bring in some defenders to give us resilience there – at the moment if Pontus or Barkley drop out we are scuppered. Also we have felt the pinch when O’Kane is missing.

Bring on Derby County!!

phoenixunited

 

Batshuayi – Llorente loan would suit Chelsea

The rumour is Michy on-loan to Swansea and we would get Fernando Llorente. It would be good if it’s only on-loan, Michy is 23 and Llorente is 31.

Obviously Michy has more future but Llorente is probably readier to replace Costa. I haven’t watched him a lot though, but he was with Conte at Juve.

aindro

Who are your favourite top 5 Spurs players right now?

In order:

1, Lloris – When this man talks people listen
2, Dembele – The man is just a beast
3, Rose – I’ve watched this player go from below average to best LB in premier
4, Alderweireld – A calmly influence
5, Kane – Proves that hard work, faith and belief pay off

Very difficult list to compile.

lucksterk

 

Blimey, this was tougher than I thought…

1) Dembele – every great team performance always seems to have him in the middle of the park
2) Hugo – best goalie I’ve ever seen at the Lane (too young to remember/compare to Jennings before anybody jumps on that!)
3) Kane – he’s one of our own, one of our own, and know’s where the net is!
4) Alderwieireld – The glue that keeps the best defensive unit in the Prem together!
5) Ali – Puts a smile on face like the days of Gazza/Bale in their pomp!

banjo_chuckers

 

Man Utd v Liverpool will have huge say in direction of season

Sunday’s game is massive. If Liverpool leave OT with 3 points, I’d definitely have them down as real title contenders. Lose, and all of a sudden, everyone else is closing in. If I was to put money on it right now I’d have Liverpool finishing in the bottom end of the top 4 but it really is so close that anything could happen.

number_seven

 

At full strength Liverpool are the best in the PL in forward mode but they still look a tad vulnerable defensively and there are still question marks against both the Keepers, injuries have hit them hard the squad looks a little thin and now they’ve lost Mane to the AN Cup.

January is a massive month for them with so many games and having to go to Plymouth for a Cup replay so soon after the United game hasn’t helped them because even playing a shadow team v Plymouth a number of starters will still be involved in the squad and have to travel.

But if they come through January there or there abouts in the PL in the League Cup Final and still in the FA Cup with Mane coming back early February at the latest there’s no telling what the season may hold for them.

Personally I would be surprised if Liverpool don’t make the top 4 at least this season.

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