The Tactical Times | Football analysis, tactics and statistics
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Florian Wirtz has played well enough to justify his place in the first team, and that is really all he needs to think about. His talent is obvious, and his individual output will improve as the level of his team does. The usual noise from the media shouldn't trouble him.
The record fees are more a consequence of inflation and increased revenues at top clubs than it is about Liverpool suddenly deciding to stop spending cautiously. £100m just isn’t that much anymore. Just like £20m, £40m and £80m stopped being huge fees over the past two decades.
🚨@carra23: As things stand, we are in the midst of Anfield’s failed galácticos era. For #LFC to become the first club in the world to field three £100m footballers is bewildering. To me, it was wrong.
The foundation of the club’s success has been signing those with the talent and hunger to become Premier League and world stars after their arrival. Spending record fees on those who already have that reputation did not sit well with me a year ago. Nothing has changed my mind. Whatever Iraola achieves, no one will convince me that Liverpool have executed a well-conceived plan.
If it’s Gakpo or Sarr, Gakpo has to be preferred. He’s simply better.
I think Gakpo, perhaps more than many others, suffered from an identity shift when Klopp left. He is a strong talent with a really favoured style that I think just hasn’t been played to or encouraged.
🚨 BREAKING: Cody Gakpo to stay at Liverpool. Manchester City had £75m + £5m bid rejected by #LFC & pursuit over - confirmed between all sides in direct communication. #MCFC now fully focused on attempting to sign Enzo Fernandez from Chelsea @TheAthleticFC nytimes.com/athletic/7549660…
Liverpool will need to buy into explosiveness under their new manager. You can see it in Muñoz, I expect to see it in future additions too, but the challenge will be breaking that old habit in the existing squad. Fitness is one aspect, another is mentality.
In terms of the results it isn’t a bad start for Iraola at Liverpool. What is concerning is that the slow, aimless, horizontal football is still favoured by a lot of those players. That was the approach that saw Slot lose his job after winning the league.
It’s a bit much. Liverpool had wealthy, sustainable owners when those two were at the club too.
There is no evidence that the new consortium will operate any differently from FSG or the private owners that came before them. In fact this intention was literally in their statement
Jeff Bezos: Amazon founder part of consortium that agrees to buy into Liverpool - BBC Sport. SHANKLY AND PAISLEY TURN IN GRAVE. bbc.com/sport/football/artic…
The Premier League is changing again, and it’s going global, so it’s natural that the super heavyweights in the commercial world are involving themselves. It isn’t romantic but I would take commercial incentives over political ones.
LFC are one of very few genuinely global sports brands. What growth there is left lies in the US and Asian market, and I think that will be the intention of this consortium.
The first symptom of a poorly managed team is good players looking really poor. Liverpool have that in abundance. Slot should have gone last week. It isn’t going to improve.
Liverpool somehow manage to leave themselves desperately exposed when they lose the ball without actually taking any risks when they have it. It’s amazing.
Signing Guehi, Semenyo or 2012 Lionel Messi isn’t the pathway to having this Liverpool team challenging again. They would all struggle because the plan isn’t working. We’ve seen so many broken teams in the PL and this is the latest. Slot has needed to go for quite a long time.
It will be LFC ownership’s general disengagement that means Arne Slot isn’t under huge pressure right now. They employ people to make football decisions and that has worked out for them. But I don’t think Slot has as much credit in the bank as many assume, and eventually the experts will have to ask questions.
The perfect example. Bradley looked unbeatable against Vinicius Jr on Tuesday, and he looks like a trialist against Doku on Sunday.
When they lose tonight Liverpool will have lost 40% of their games since exiting last season’s champions league.
Another miserable performance to add to a growing list for Liverpool over the past 12 months. They too often look either tired, lost or simply disinterested.
Liverpool were happy to concede possession tonight, they were comfortable without the ball. They managed to create all the meaningful chances and deservedly win without trying to dominate the game. It has to be an eye opener for the manager.
There are times Conor Bradley looks like a world beating talent. He doesn’t show it consistently enough to be in those conversations, but tonight… my god he was excellent.