here's what i think about ward. we really don't intend to give him a shot at #1. this is to take heat off karius. i think we made a huge mistake. we want to buy a keeper. i think our interest in allison (and others) is genuine. i think we approached roma about it and their price was way too high. so we did the classic walk away, saying we are happy with what we have to put pressure on roma (especially if we know that allison is interested in coming, which we would know before we made any approach). we did this without thinking how it would affect karius. so what actually happened is that now karius, who is already broken from the final has pressure to be the unflappable #1 now. and the fanbase will (did) jump on every little mistake and it will be worse. so, now we are doing the same to ward. Just moving the pressure down the line. I think we buy a keeper. move out two of ward, karius and migs. whoever is left is the #2.
any keeper we put in there - no matter what their cost, or experience, or reputation - will always be one brain fart, one missed cross, one fumbled shot (etc etc) away from being digitally lynched.
Neil Jones reporting that Liverpool will not sign a goalkeeper before the close of the transfer window. Klopp has been impressed by Danny Ward in training and his ready to give him a chance. This is what several journalists close to the club are reporting. If this is true is extremely risky. Our attack is world class. The arrival of VVD, emergence or Robertson and TAA, and improvement of Lovren saw our defense get better and better last season. This summer we have improved our midfield by leaps and bounds. This is a team ready to challenge for everything. We are going to let our 3rd choice goalkeeper who didn’t play at all last season take on that responsibility? His only real experience was in the Championship and Scotland. It would be one thing if he was putting his faith in Karius. That is clearly not the case. If he believed in Karius, Ward would never be getting a chance. This is beyond risky. There is no way you can measure a goalkeeper by what they do in training and friendlies. How will he react when all the pressure is on him? The pressure will be on big time, because after one mistake everyone will ask why we did not sign a goalkeeper. Is this just a negotiating tactic to make Roma drop the price on Allison? Or will this be like last summer when Klopp did not sign a centerback despite it being the number one item on our wishlist? Is Allison worthy of Van Dijk treatment? There are no available goalkeepers that are an improvement on Danny Ward? Normally I would trust Klopp, but when it comes to goalkeepers even he can’t know how they will hold up mentally on the biggest stage.
You and Poo make good points - my only thought on all of this is that these journo's ask the same question ad nauseum - in this case 'Are you going to sign a GK?" - and expect a concise answer. During Klopp's reign, when has he ever been forth-coming about his signing plans? Only after the fact. So we can speculate all we want but we won't really know until the window closes.
Yup seems like a negotiating ploy to me. It is pretty certain we have been in the market for a keeper recently and have been frustrated with our prime targets. No way are we set with this position at this point.
Right bayred - but also, Klopp (likely) won't overpay for a player, nor will he (likely) pay for a player he does not want...so if the GK he wants is overpriced, he will (again, likely) wait it out and use what he's got...
Hopefully there is someone at the club who has the strength to tell him that would be the wrong course of action this time around. Everything about the club is happy days, except with GKs. Our fans are jeering Karius is preseason games. Its only going to get worse. Spending money (overspending even) on anyone who is at least as good as Karius is money well spent, if only to take our Gk situation out of the narrative for a while.
Also word on street is we've bid for Cilisen (sp?) from Barca. Will be interesting to see where the GK merri-go-round ends up. Seems like we are sort of all waiting on RM to make their move.
thread title suggestions -- going with david bowie song puns: A New Fekir in a New Town Jan, I'm Only Dancing Alisons of the Silent Age
GK situation: we are in crisis mode because our GK made a brainfart (ok - two) in the final of the CL and we lost - and the fans/media can't stop talking about how bad he is... Hugo Loris made a very similar brainfart in the final of the WC - which his team won, and no-one seems to care...at least I have not heard of anyone out to string him up - for club or country... Moral of the story: these things happen...
right on, CB. add to that the mistake deGea made (very similar to the Karuis error). ppl tolerate strikers missing multiple scoring chances, but if a goalie effs up, he's toast. it's OTT.
It’s not just us supporters who have our doubts. Our manager has said that Danny Ward has the chance to win the job. That would never happen if he had faith in Karius.
remember when the transfer window was fun? it's just tedious for me at this point. anyone else feel that way?
I don't think Klopp is concerned about playing over the odds for a player who really wants. I think he understands the importance of the position and how many points it could cost us not to have a top keeper. I also remember going into last year very worried about our defense especially the outside backs. Everybody thought he was going to spend big on those positions especially left back and he picks up Robertson for little and Trent was brought up. Both were fantastic. As for Virgil a lot of people thought we were spending too much for a center back but look how well he played in his ability to solidify that back line. Worth every penny. If there's a keeper out there in that same vein Klopp won't be worried about spending what some people believe to be too much. Maybe Ward is going to be this year's TAAor Robertson
I agree, but unfortunately for as long as Karius in goal, the narrative we have issues with GK will be keep alive, no matter how well he does. He has no margin for error and if Klopp decides to stick with him all the trust he's built will erode the minute Karius does something bad. Not only with the fans, but I'd imagine with the squad as well. We can be as rational as we want about this, but the bottom line is, as soon as he throws one in, the questions will start all over again. We've already seen it in a preseason game.