Centre-back who is perfect for Liverpool; Ed Woodward on a hiding to nothing
Liverpool fans talk about prospective summer signings, Manchester United’s support analyse Ed Woodward’s comments and football’s top three podcasts are recommended, all in our forum.
Join in the debate here…
Mbappe signing would bring issues…
Mbappes high wages would mean other players would start banging on Klopp’s door for higher wages. I think we have a model whereby we buy talent and no matter if they cost 10m or 100m we try to ensure they fit into a wage structure. For example, look at all that Salah has achieved and see that he is on 220 reportedly.
Mbappe wages are going to be in the 350k range (conservative estimate). All our top players would then want some sort of parity with that, after all, you could argue that the likes of Mane, VVD and Salah have achieved more success in the last 12 months than Mbappe.
For this reason, I don’t see the Mbappe thing happening, I think the club has committed to an ideology that is more about the value and incentive-based bonuses. As I said even if we could afford his wages the knock-on effects would be financially destabilizing.
Anyways I think I prefer Klopp buying cheap and then making them into megastars, I never get bored of that!
mwake
A good choice for CB is Jimenez from Atletico Madrid but he will probably cost more than 50 mil. Regarding Mbappe, Harvetz, Sancho etc their prices are too high for Liverppol standards. Of course if Firmino leaves the minimum price must be 120-125 mil…
pinezes69
Top three football podcasts
I listen to a lot of podcasts, these are my top three that I listen too, stylistically they are all different which I like too!
Guardian Football Weekly This is the best for in the know football journalists. Also Barry Glendenning is soo funny, he gets me…hes not that old but when I listen to him he reminds me of the Irish version of Larry David from Curb Your Enthusiasm as he has this “im not crazy, its the world has gone crazy” wit.
Football Ramble Daily for a good belly laughs – Oh my god I have split my sides to this one more than any other football show… I admit depending on my mood it can be a bit extreme lads banter mode at times but they do consciously balance it up with great opinions and stats.
Soccer Comic Rant – Don’t be put off by the name! This is a lesser-known alternative and I find their name is actually a little misleading as I find it one of the most chilled out and less ‘shouty podcasts’. The podcasters who are comedians day job-wise are generally North American ‘soccer’ fans but their level of knowledge and insight into the game is high level good. The main podcaster Ian Edwards has a really smooth voice too which helps.
mwake
Latest Woodward comments
Not sure if you’ve seen Woodward’s latest comments to the press but, essentially, he said that the board aren’t happy with where the club is at the minute. Everyone is determined to get back to challenging for the league and CL. And as a result they’re currently planning the signings that they need to make. With “the summer transfer window seen as the big opportunity to strengthen the club to get us back to where we need to be”.
Surely he’s backed himself into a corner with these comments? He actually has to deliver 3 or 4 top signings now, he’ll look very very foolish if he doesn’t.
happyhurling
It’s the same sort of utter bulls**t that he has been coming out with since he got the job 7 years ago, which is more about putting a giant smokescreen around the absolutely horrific job that he and the gimps are doing, rather than setting out any sort of a proper strategic plan for football success.
In short, nothing is ever going to fundamentally change whilst these twats are in charge, and as for looking “very, very foolish”, well I think that ship has already well and truly sailed as far as he is concerned, simple as that.
Blacky
Smoke and mirrors. At best the board want us to be qualifying for the CL every year because of the money it brings, not because it’s an important competition. They have no interest in this club winning trophies because, so far, we haven’t needed to win any to keep the money flowing in.
killyboye
True. I just don’t think he’s been as blatant as this with his comments before. Surely he can’t now go and sign nobody in the summer, surely he can’t go and sign the likes of Lee f**king Grant?
Will be interesting to see what happens.
happyhurling
He’ll let Romero go, re-sign Lee Grant as our back up and sell Henderson to Chelsea or Arsenal for a massive fee. Well on the way to where we’re going, which is mid-table obscurity.
killyboye
The club is in a mess,a few days ago that useless Viking PE teacher said the follwing: Sanchez & Rojo will come back much stronger next season and will prove you all wrong,then yesterday Ed said; the club is looking to find buyers for both of em.Madness!!!
redblood
Woodward can promise us that he’ll sign 1 billion worth of talent in summer and that he’ll leave if he doesn’t – the talk doesn’t mean sh*t. It’s all smoke and mirrors as mentioned by killyboye; like politicians they will say what sounds good in the short-term and deny it all when it all (inevitably) goes down the toilet.
We won’t spend more than 150m net this summer – I’m quite positive of that. If we sell more of the deadwood it might get pushed to 200m or so but that’s about it – we’ll struggle again next season because that is nowhere near enough.
Sympathy for the devils
‘Arteta effect’
Lots of debate on the vs Burnley thread especially around the “Arteta effect” and some even questioning if he is the right fit for the job. Personally I can see an improvement in our performances but the result are not where they should be. It’s easy to forget that he’s had to play 10 games in 5 weeks which surely is not the best preparation for laying down his ideas (which is why the board should have got rid of Emery before the November International break IMO.
So, we seem to be much more compact and feel more like a team when we play rather than 11 individuals hopelessly running around. But, we are still too slow transitioning the play. We play better with the kids. Our right side seems to be a bit of an issue. I’d prefer to see Willock rather than Ozil in Number 10. Lacazette probably needs to be dropped.
I’m hoping for a step up from our front 4 after the break. Number 1 priority has to be getting these guys firing. Auba has to play up front where he belongs. If that means dropping Lacazette then so be it. I don’t think buying both of them was part of the plan so aside from their price tags why would you play them together?
This will be the first quality time Arteta has had with the squad. Lets see what happens.
madmaxsdaddy
I pretty much agree with that in terms of he needs to work out our best attacking options and make it work. Apart from Willock I don’t know who is an Ozil option and Willock is not the same type of player. Laca is a thought and although I am not convinced I also don’t think it would be a lot worse that the other two options. My front three would be Martinelli, Laca and Pepe as they could all swap positions. I actually prefer Martinelli down the middle. Teaching a team how to defend is the easier part of Coaching. If he can make it work up front then we will be laughing and I think he can.
stev2bath1
I just don’t know why not one manager can pick a starting 11 and largly keep to that (injuries aside) and i know we havent been lucky with injuries but we need to play a settled team and let them work together and form partnerships, constant chaning is not helping, you look at everton and they have picked up a lot of results, performances and points both with big dunc and now ancelotti, im not slating Arteta i was just hoping for more of settled team and picking up more than one point especially when we havent even deserved that sometimes
either we have to many players to choose form or they are all as bad as each other, the best teams dont chop and change so often unless they really need to due to injury or to rest players
i still think this is going ot be one of the biggest summers ofr us, maybe not in terms of gross spend but with the whole in and out it SHOULD be massive, and id like to see just how ruthless he is with some of the players at the club, time will tell
steveosnakeeye