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The Official Liverpool Thread - Part 2

nico said:
Apparently the club are entering into contract negotiations with him to extend his deal which runs out in 2 years. Personally, if he doesn't sign this summer I'd be happy to offload him rather than see him run down his contract and piss off to Madrid on a free.
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Agree.

nico said:
He's good, not great,
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Disagree. He's entering his prime years, can play almost anywhere, great engine, strong technically, great from free-kicks, consistently the best player on the park this season when most others were underperforming.

nico said:
and some of his antics this year have soured him to a lot of supporters.
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Not sure that's true. Storm in a teacup stuff.

Ultimately fans value what a player produces on the pitch and there's nobody in that squad performing at a higher level than him currently.
 
outdagap said:
It's hard to imagine this deal wasn't set up by Edwards months ago.
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Hughes more likely, but yeah...I doubt the first time there was any meaningful contact was this week.

But it really doesn't seem like a definitive call was made on Slot prior to the final game.

At the very least you'd think they got word to Iraola back in April that if he was interested in the Liverpool job he shouldn't go too far down the road elsewhere without checking in.
 
Philby said:
Agree.



Disagree. He's entering his prime years, can play almost anywhere, great engine, strong technically, great from free-kicks, consistently the best player on the park this season when most others were underperforming.



Not sure that's true. Storm in a teacup stuff.

Ultimately fans value what a player produces on the pitch and there's nobody in that squad performing at a higher level than him currently.
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Agree with this. He is the best performer in the squad currently. He is very consistent and brings a few handy attacking weapons along with his brilliant ability to run and press all day.

Slight issue with his exact best position. Wirtz was bought as a 10 and Szoboszlai isn’t brilliantly creative in the 10 but he can press from the front in that role which was a big help in winning the title 2 seasons ago. Not sure he has the discipline to play deeper as he loves running so much but he is more useful there than someone like MacAllister that can’t run.

I don’t think he’s irreplaceable so if he won’t sign I would offload. He isn’t the only player in the world that can press well with good technical ability. But he was our best player in the season just gone and a further change of personnel wouldn’t be ideal.
 
Shabby said:
Slight issue with his exact best position. Wirtz was bought as a 10 and Szoboszlai isn’t brilliantly creative in the 10 but he can press from the front in that role which was a big help in winning the title 2 seasons ago. Not sure he has the discipline to play deeper as he loves running so much but he is more useful there than someone like MacAllister that can’t run.
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IIMHO his best position. in a midfield three, is probably with a dedicated specialist #6 behind him and someone a bit more creative in front of him. Give Szob a degree of freedom to use his stamina to contribute going forwards & backwards. He isn't best used as the most defensive or most attacking player in a midfield 3, but he can do a good job for the team almost anywhere.

Shabby said:
I don’t think he’s irreplaceable so if he won’t sign I would offload.
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He'd be very hard & expensive to replace, but I agree that the club can't allow yet another expensive "asset" to wind down his contract and leave for nothing. So if the sense that a deal isn't there to be done then they should reluctantly put out word that they'd accept bids.

I accept that there may have been a reluctance to give Konate a monster pay deal, as he's erratic as f**k. But you know what you get with Szob. He's a fine player.

Shabby said:
He isn’t the only player in the world that can press well with good technical ability.
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No, but there are fairly few midfielders in world football who have such a rounded set of abilities - physical & technical. Replacing him adequately would be expensive & you incur the risk of the transfer now working out. Better the devil you know.

Shabby said:
But he was our best player in the season just gone and a further change of personnel wouldn’t be ideal.
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Yep. There's going to be a lot of turnover this summer and we'll probably have to accept holding on to some guys who, on any other season, we might have let go. So to lose a top performer in this window would be a big blow.
 
Philby said:
IIMHO his best position. in a midfield three, is probably with a dedicated specialist #6 behind him and someone a bit more creative in front of him. Give Szob a degree of freedom to use his stamina to contribute going forwards & backwards. He isn't best used as the most defensive or most attacking player in a midfield 3, but he can do a good job for the team almost anywhere.
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Liverpool haven’t signed a specialist DM since Fabinho 2018.

They obviously recognise the importance of one cos they’ve tried for Tchoumeini, Caceido, Lavia etc but, bar Endo as a stop gap, have struck out.

Gravenberch worked fine there for 7/8 months in 24/25 but he’s not naturally defensive.

They badly need a monster in there. The back line was brutally exposed last season with zero shape in midfield.

To get the best out of soboszlai and gravenberch they need to play as 8s imo
 
Orchard thief said:
Liverpool haven’t signed a specialist DM since Fabinho 2018.

They obviously recognise the importance of one cos they’ve tried for Tchoumeini, Caceido, Lavia etc but, bar Endo as a stop gap, have struck out.
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Zubimendi too. But while he's neat and tidy I'm not sure he's got the physical profile that Liverpool need for the role. Arsenal get away with it because they've got 6ft+ monsters everywhere and only really attack in numbers at set-pieces.

Orchard thief said:
They badly need a monster in there. The back line was brutally exposed last season with zero shape in midfield.
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Agree. Made worse because Slot seemed to sanction Gravenberch dribbling forward regularly, with MacAllister struggling to plug the gaps.

It yielded 5 goals for Gravenberch, but probably cost the team overall.
 
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