It’s been on my mind for a little while... but I’m kinda worried about our big players and fatigue from all the games they have played with country. They haven’t had much of a break.
I really expect a dip next season. I think we could finish 2nd again but there will be a big gap between us and City. We need another winger that can provide cover for Mane and Salah
Yes I’m very worried. Absolutely happened to Spurs with so many players playing so long in the World Cup. And now, like them last year, we appear to be fine to not add any players. I’m sure our brigade of glass players will all stay healthy this year though
The only ones I’d be really worried about are Sadio and Mo if they go deep in AFCON. Both will deserve and need breaks to the point where they aren’t in the team the first week.
We MAY be ok with only Brewster, Shaq and Origi next year. But if management is playing the odds, which we know they do, they will go out and get another player who is a realistic option to start for us up front. That player, however, will take some time to get used to our team and to our style of play. IMO, he will not be a realistic option to start for us early in the season. So while Mo, Mane and Firmino are recuperating from their summer tournaments, I think will likely get a heavy dose of Brewster, Shaq and Origi.
That is true, and he’s playing a lot for Brazil (which is great). They will be done on Sunday and then three weeks off and he joins up when they get back from the US end of July and works back in over 2-3 weeks. I wouldn’t hate giving him an extra week off to your point and you try and bulldoze Norwich on opening day with a team sharp off of preseason. The league is going to require 95 points again and if I remember we play a bunch of the top 6 the first 10 games, like 4 of 10, and a bunch in the last 10. It sucks but if we want to even be in the race, we are going to have to start really fast and try and rotate guys through the middle part of the season. So crazy that superstars can go for 10 year periods at the height of their career playing every 3-4 days and get only 2-3 summers where they get more than 3-4 weeks to rest. Pulisic is on his way to that.
He can play in multiple positions which is obviously what Kloop wants. We've played Keita and Ox on the wings a couple of times, but they clearly aren't best suited to that role.
We came up a dick hair short of the Premier League crown and conquered Europe coming off a World Cup summer that almost everyone was involved in. Salah had additional shit to deal with with Egypt, or boys showed well in the summer, and we were more injured/hurt this time last year. I’m not shitting on your concerns, I have similar ones, but I think we’re in as good or better shape starting training than last year or the last few years when you consider team chemistry, kinship, and health.
That’s not a terrible option though. The boys may not need the break in late August, September. Their legs might get heavy late September through November, giving newbies some time to acclimate and find their stride. September/October was arguably the the apex of some of our newcomers/bench last year. I’ll be interested to see how we play this summer based on how we did coming off the WC last year, but also seeing how close we came to winning the league and how close we came at time to losing the opportunity to win the CL
But seriously. We have Norwich, Southampton, Arsenal and Burnley in August. Then there is an international break the first week in September. That should be enough time to get some those guys rest.
Everyone says Liverpool will take a step back in the league. We got 97 points last year. Highest total outside of Man City the last two years. Regression to the mean is likely. But it was fucking fun. Going to have to beat City twice to win the PL. Liverpool have the best back 5 in the world and the best front 3. And while the midfield lacks flair, I'll go to war with Fabinho, Henderson, Gini, Miner, Kieta, and Ox.
You're exactly right. If we truly want to win the league we need to take 6 points off them next year. They would have taken 6 off of us if Mahrez hadn't choked. While it would be amazing to win the league, it's going to take a herculean effort. The priority should be for our team to be firing on all cylinders come the Spring and the champions league knockout stages.
He was also the one who kicked it off his own player toward goal. The reality is they outplayed us in both fixtures.
Fair. And the first half of the Champions Leagues game after we won 3-0 was an absolute battering where they had a good goal disallowed. But fuck em. Anfield is currently the most difficult place in the world to get a result.
I wouldn't be surprised if we get 80-85 and they get 90-100 again, can't see us winning the league any time soon
Liverpool just won the Champions League. We are Champions of Europe. Have faith. We'll do the bastards next year.
I'm always one of the more optimistic guys in the thread but there's no way the team is replicating what they did this past season
I couldn't agree more. Almost everything that could go our way went our way last year. Hard to imagine the chips will fall that way again.
Well, I'll be the optimistic guy then. We got 7 trophies to win. Oh god, we have to fuck off to Qatar for a Club World Cup in December. Before the Christmas crunch of games? Curtis Jones step up.
That’s horseshit because you don’t just get to add a goal to the game. Who knows how the rest of the game plays out if that goes in. Very well still could lose
I'm full of horseshit. But, I'm not mad about that goal getting cleared. It happened. But it was important.
The Power Cube is hurt. I’m taking the family down to South Bend for the game next week, and was psyched to see him play. We were in Ann Arbor last summer when he hit the bicycle kick against United (right on the goal line, 40 rows up). My 7-year old daughter still talks about that goal - she’s going to be so bummed that neither Mo nor Shaqiri will be playing.