ECHO Comment: "Fears of Witch-hunt Against Liverpool FC"

[bluestevon]

I dont think they'll make it back to where they where in one season of CL football, it'll be incremental progress back. The CL next season (if they qualify) will hand them about £50-60M if they reach the round of 16 in performance payments. Their commercial deals are probably geared to triggering more payments if CL qualification occurs. I can see them boosted by the thick end of £100M from all that. If they repeat the trick next season with better players (an out and out striker; GK, LB, RB and dominant CB) they can probably be very competitive as long as they back heel domestic cups and avoid that fixture snarl up.

With their owners mate, they won't throw anywhere near that amount at transfers though, the rumour leaked was they'd get 70m or so to invest, now here's the sneaky thing, klopp always does his business very early in a summer, so they will spunk that, then slowly recoup it all back through player sales and if they sell coutinho then that will pay for bulking the squad out.

Meanwhilst, can looks like he won't sign a new contract. Coutinho drops his draws and winks at barca every chance he can, sturridge is finished and they will be lucky to sell him, their best cb has been frozen out the club and destroyed his asking price in doing so. They've thrown huge contracts at players like lallana, coutinho etc, the club captain is officially a perma crock now, and their one absolutely top class player has bust his knee up, if he returns damaged goods on his pace then they are screwed.

In short, they'll continue to flatter to deceive, and when all the top 7 managers figure out his system which will happen. They will be in a heap of trouble, as that's all that's kept them above west brom type league form.

 

[davek]

With their owners mate, they won't throw anywhere near that amount at transfers though, the rumour leaked was they'd get 70m or so to invest, now here's the sneaky thing, klopp always does his business very early in a summer, so they will spunk that, then slowly recoup it all back through player sales and if they sell coutinho then that will pay for bulking the squad out.

Meanwhilst, can looks like he won't sign a new contract. Coutinho drops his draws and winks at barca every chance he can, sturridge is finished and they will be lucky to sell him, their best cb has been frozen out the club and destroyed his asking price in doing so. They've thrown huge contracts at players like lallana, coutinho etc, the club captain is officially a perma crock now, and their one absolutely top class player has bust his knee up, if he returns damaged goods on his pace then they are screwed.

In short, they'll continue to flatter to deceive, and when all the top 7 managers figure out his system which will happen. They will be in a heap of trouble, as that's all that's kept them above west brom type league form.

I agree that they are far from being in a good position financially with FSG at the helm in relation to their peers. They really need a City type takeover (along with the rest of us!). But I think it's unduly optimistic to think they wont spend big. They've not a had a big spend since Klopp arrived. He's said he's been promised that regardless of CL qualification. They wont compete with United, Chelsea and City for galactico talent, but he'll be well backed to bring in a clutch of very good players to strengthen in those positions I outlined. I dont think he's a manager that feels comfortable buying costly players. Coutinho would be a big loss though, I agree.

 

[toffeejack]

With their owners mate, they won't throw anywhere near that amount at transfers though, the rumour leaked was they'd get 70m or so to invest, now here's the sneaky thing, klopp always does his business very early in a summer, so they will spunk that, then slowly recoup it all back through player sales and if they sell coutinho then that will pay for bulking the squad out.

Meanwhilst, can looks like he won't sign a new contract. Coutinho drops his draws and winks at barca every chance he can, sturridge is finished and they will be lucky to sell him, their best cb has been frozen out the club and destroyed his asking price in doing so. They've thrown huge contracts at players like lallana, coutinho etc, the club captain is officially a perma crock now, and their one absolutely top class player has bust his knee up, if he returns damaged goods on his pace then they are screwed.

In short, they'll continue to flatter to deceive, and when all the top 7 managers figure out his system which will happen. They will be in a heap of trouble, as that's all that's kept them above west brom type league form.

couldn't believe the rumour that west ham want to spunk £15m on markovic. I really wish they would stop getting such stupid amounts back for their flops. He's worth about £2m

 

[boris]

Could you show your working out on that 1 mate, cos I haven't noticed us being deducted any points when we get beat.

It's not difficult Reidy.

Put simply, they're 9 points ahead of us now but if we'd won the 2 derbies they'd be 3 behind us.

 

[riddick]

couldn't believe the rumour that west ham want to spunk £15m on markovic. I really wish they would stop getting such stupid amounts back for their flops. He's worth about £2m

Its crazy, isn't it? Ibe for £15m, now Markovic. Wtf, we are ecstatic to get Cleverley off our books for £8m and he's MUCH more accomplished than Markovic.

 

[Titus Bramble]

I think the "12 point swing" stat does point one thing out though.
You take points off the teams around you and you can afford slip ups here and there.
Hopefully this is something we can work on next season.

Absolutely this, hence why they are where they are in the table. They're unbeaten against the current top 10 if I'm not mistaken, but have dropped points to those at the bottom.

 

[bluestevon]

I agree that they are far from being in a good position financially with FSG at the helm in relation to their peers. They really need a City type takeover (along with the rest of us!). But I think it's unduly optimistic to think they wont spend big. They've not a had a big spend since Klopp arrived. He's said he's been promised that regardless of CL qualification. They wont compete with United, Chelsea and City for galactico talent, but he'll be well backed to bring in a clutch of very good players to strengthen in those positions I outlined. I dont think he's a manager that feels comfortable buying costly players. Coutinho would be a big loss though, I agree.

Even with a big spend I'm not certain about just how good klopp is in that regard mate, Dortmunds director of footy was the real secret behind that clubs brilliant recruitment.

The rs have shown time and again they really know how to waste money.

Last summer his main priority was supposed to be Gotze, him of the totally wasted career. This,year the club leajedcsome names to the echo as priority summer targets, 2 of this 4-5 names dahoud and another whose name escapes me have already agreed deals to move elsewhere.

That strikes me as same old Liverpool in transfers, klopps one market he knows well is Germany, but they will lose out to bayern and Dortmund on the best players and have zero chance of getting players from either.

Lfcs transfer successes in the past have been taking punts on players other teams looked at but weren't sure about, Suarez, Torres, coutinho all fell in that bracket, these days more clubs have more money and will take an earlier punt on those before the rs do.

There best two players by a mile this season are lallana and mane, both bought domestically, the cost of doing that type of deal is gonna rise dramatically now.

 

[ToffeeDan]

couldn't believe the rumour that west ham want to spunk £15m on markovic. I really wish they would stop getting such stupid amounts back for their flops. He's worth about £2m

Steve Walsh is putting his feelers out to see if the same schmuck can stump up a similar amount for the likes of Luke "I vant to be on loan" Garbo'tt, Conor and Oumar.

 

[davek]

Even with a big spend I'm not certain about just how good klopp is in that regard mate, Dortmunds director of footy was the real secret behind that clubs brilliant recruitment.

The rs have shown time and again they really know how to waste money.

Last summer his main priority was supposed to be Gotze, him of the totally wasted career. This,year the club leajedcsome names to the echo as priority summer targets, 2 of this 4-5 names dahoud and another whose name escapes me have already agreed deals to move elsewhere.

That strikes me as same old Liverpool in transfers, klopps one market he knows well is Germany, but they will lose out to bayern and Dortmund on the best players and have zero chance of getting players from either.

Lfcs transfer successes in the past have been taking punts on players other teams looked at but weren't sure about, Suarez, Torres, coutinho all fell in that bracket, these days more clubs have more money and will take an earlier punt on those before the rs do.

There best two players by a mile this season are lallana and mane, both bought domestically, the cost of doing that type of deal is gonna rise dramatically now.

I dont doubt there's hurdles to get over in the transfer market for them. But my premise is based on CL qualification opening a few opportunities up, and they still do have a cache in football (as much as we'd like that not to be the case), and so too does Klopp - players speak well of him and others want to be part of that. Maybe recruitment is going to be an issue. His record last summer was ropey (although most of them were small outlays apart from Wijnaldum and Mane). His signings for Dortmund, on the other hand, where outstanding in terms of talent and value.
http://www.thisisanfield.com/2015/10/assessing-jurgen-klopps-standout-transfers-dortmund/ ...though that might underline your point about the director of football being the brains of the operation there.

 

[bluestevon]

couldn't believe the rumour that west ham want to spunk £15m on markovic. I really wish they would stop getting such stupid amounts back for their flops. He's worth about £2m

All the talent you'd want but absolutely dreadful attitude, when he was at benfica I wanted us to go for him... shows what I know.

 

[bluestevon]

I dont doubt there's hurdles to get over in the transfer market for them. But my premise is based on CL qualification opening a few opportunities up, and they still do have a cache in football (as much as we'd like that not to be the case), and so too does Klopp - players speak well of him and others want to be part of that. Maybe recruitment is going to be an issue. His record last summer was ropey (although most of them were small outlays apart from Wijnaldum and Mane). His signings for Dortmund, on the other hand, where outstanding in terms of talent and value.
http://www.thisisanfield.com/2015/10/assessing-jurgen-klopps-standout-transfers-dortmund/ ...though that might underline your point about the director of football being the brains of the operation there.

Will give that a read now Dave, cheers. Thing about the manager profile attracting players, honestly think it's a myth, unless it's a player whose worked under him and had a bond, hence the vvd slim hope for us, even the goetze knocked him back which should sound alarm bells. klopp is good, but he is also hugely overrated at the same time if that makes sense.

Two league wins was very very impressive even if against the backdrop of bayern being in a period of change, but five cup final losses on the bounce, and now five years without any trophy does suggest a manager not at an elite level, and will say the same for koeman as well mate.

He's also looking increasingly like a manager who can only do one competition at a time, they get CL next year then 100% he throws everything into that, they will finish 7th next season.

 

[davek]

Will give that a read now Dave, cheers. Thing about the manager profile attracting players, honestly think it's a myth, unless it's a player whose worked under him and had a bond, hence the vvd slim hope for us, even the goetze knocked him back which should sound alarm bells. klopp is good, but he is also hugely overrated at the same time if that makes sense.

Two league wins was very very impressive even if against the backdrop of bayern being in a period of change, but five cup final losses on the bounce, and now five years without any trophy does suggest a manager not at an elite level, and will say the same for koeman as well mate.

He's also looking increasingly like a manager who can only do one competition at a time, they get CL next year then 100% he throws everything into that, they will finish 7th next season.

Yes, he has it all to do still, Klopp.

I think the reputation he has is only partly due to the honours racked up. For the most part people recognise that it's the style of football (when he gets it right) that is the most impressive part of his career thus far. The football he had Dortmund playing was all guns blazing proactive footy that forced the issue in games; the CL run Dortmund went on the season they made the final won a lot of hearts and minds as they knocked over some big names and they felt like a breath of fresh air. Liverpool up until Christmas were a good team to watch in that vein. Players want to be part of a team that gets a buzz going around them. If they get CL football next season I personally dont think they'll have difficulty persuading some very good players to forsake the bigger wage paying clubs in the PL where it may also be difficult to nail down a starting spot each week.

If they miss out on the CL this season I would see Klopp's position being very insecure.

 

[The Rhino]

Let's just hope Arsenal remember how to play football again and Utd keep digging results out and one of them takes them out of 4th. I think the next 4 games will make or break their season. Stoke, WBA, Watford and Palace are all capable of taking points of them, means nothing if Arsenal keep cocking up and Utd don't take advantage.

 

[bluestevon]

Yes, he has it all to do still, Klopp.

I think the reputation he has is only partly due to the honours racked up. For the most part people recognise that it's the style of football (when he gets it right) that is the most impressive part of his career thus far. The football he had Dortmund playing was all guns blazing proactive footy that forced the issue in games; the CL run Dortmund went on the season they made the final won a lot of hearts and minds as they knocked over some big names and they felt like a breath of fresh air. Liverpool up until Christmas were a good team to watch in that vein. Players want to be part of a team that gets a buzz going around them. If they get CL football next season I personally dont think they'll have difficulty persuading some very good players to forsake the bigger wage paying clubs in the PL where it may also be difficult to nail down a starting spot each week.

If they miss out on the CL this season I would see Klopp's position being very insecure.

Thing is Dave, it's really exciting to watch, so long as the opposition play into your hands, a true great style just does it no matte what, fergies United would go out and play there style and more often than not batter teams. Same for bayern, barca, and various others, klopps relies on a team playing against them a certain way. If they refuse to bend over, then it looks frankly innefective at best, boring and devoid of ideas.

Everton in the 80's presed the hell out of teams, didn't need to call it some fancy gegenpress and if they sat back we hammered them as we had more than one trick.

 

[PITA]

Have you seen the state of Lawro's table?

http://m.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/39504741