That was Pools best chance at European Football in my opinion. No FA Cup, no EFL Cup, 2 legs coming up against Real Madrid and 9th in the league. We are likely to get Man U and New U in the top 4 and the EFL Cup final, so that means 6th spot will get a EL spot assuming a top 5 team wins the FA Cup.. FA Cup is still early and a wide open competition, but really Liverpool have to do what looks extremely unlikely and win the CL if they want European football next season. I actually want BHA to win the FA Cup. Gives them EL football and means we get a team playing really attractive football getting a reward.
6th place gets a Europa League berth if a top 5 team wins the FA Cup already; the EFL Cup final has no bearing on that, since that winner qualifies for the Conference League now. Liverpool is mighty ********ed though.
They already have with Diaz, Nunez, Jota, Trent. Their big problem is that their entire system revolves around VVD being superman, but kinda hard to find a second superman.
For me, the bigger issue is that their midfield got very old, very quickly, and they've done nothing to prepare for or rectify that. The last U-25 central midfielders they signed were Fabinho and Keita in 2018.
Their problem was that they decided to wait for Bellingham, but in doing so, may have put themselves in a spot where they miss out on him anyway.
Were you in the meetings? Even if you’re correct that they made that conscious decision, it actually supports the point that was made by @ArsenalMetro.
Precisely. Henderson was always aging, Keita, Ox and Jones were all unreliable. Their attack was fixed by Klopp but he really neglected the midfield which is key in his system. But there is an element of bad luck in injuries. There is a case of having a fit front 3 who can outscore the opposition so the midfield issue is not that damming but that gamble had failed.
I posted after they lost the CL final that they might struggle. They came back from it before but when it happened a second time, I wondered if people might think about leaving (which has also happened). People hang on who should have been moved out. On top of the team getting old
The great thing is, if you post about Klopp being found out every year for 10 years, eventually it comes true
Joao Cancelo going on loan to Bayern Munich. He's played less than 180 minutes in their 6 league matches since the WC ended, but still find this surprising.
The reality for clubs not owned by nation-states like Liverpool (and Arsenal) is accepting that success can't be sustained but it can come in waves. Buy some 21-23 year olds, develop them together, be competitive for 5-7 years, then start over and rebuild. Look at MLB, where the Dodgers and Yankees play the part of a City or Chelsea. Teams like the Cubs, Royals and Nats have won World Series in the last decade because they had a good wave of talent, but when the talent left the team fell apart and now they are in rebuild mode. (NFL and NBA are more sustainable due to the influence of individual superstars. An elite QB or a top 5 all-NBA player can sustain success for a decade and spending isn't as important due to salary caps).
IMO Klopp is overrated, but that's neither here nor there. He is doing what he always does, run players in the ground while winning a few things here and there and then flopping because tactically there's no "There" there. I remember in the deepest darkest days of the pandemic being on Clubhouse and people going on like he was some all timer and I told them he is not any better then Ancelotti and everyone was up in arms. LOL EPL fans crack me up.
Something I've wondered, and Arsenal might be evidence of it, is whether this will go the way of Rugby franchises a little bit i.e. you have a few veteran stars on big money that the team is based around. These are players who don't get injured much and thanks to yoga and modern doping programmes, they play well into their 30s Then you have a core of younger talent, and basically a lot of young noobs - these players have lower wages otherwise as you say, it is hard to refresh, especially as you need to make top 4, but also age and injuries pile up. Liverpool gave a staggering wage bill
The point is there is no business model to justify the vast investments required. I really have no idea how Boehly is planning to generate any ROI on the 490m he has spent this season
Oh I fully agree, but we have a sport that started off as a bunch of guys playing together after work or in civic orgs then it became a thing for rich guys to own and now it's a thing for uber rich guys to own and we somehow gotta figure out a way for them to make money its all kinda absurd but what isn't these days ya know?
I know nothing about rugby, but the NFL is this way. The two ways to win are young, cheap QB on a team with a ton of expensive talent surrounding him, or a superstar, expensive QB with a bunch of young, cheap talent around him. The Eagles are the first one with Hurts still on his rookie contract, the Chiefs are the second with Mahomes, having traded away Tyreek Hill in the offseason for draft picks because he was too expensive. And star QB's can play well into their late 30's or even early 40's and be successful whereas most other positions start to decline much earlier.
You’re describing the Warriors, their key veterans, all in their 30s, were drafted by the Warriors, but the cost of keeping them from becoming free agents has been max contracts that have resulted in an outrageous luxury tax bill (the cost of exceeding the NBA salary cap). Aside from a brief fling with Kevin Durant, the big three have generous been complimented by relatively cheap NBA free agents and a handful of young draftees. Injuries have piled up with all three missing significant time to injury the last three seasons.
Interesting One reason this happens in rugby is the amount of injuries - so you will have a young breakout star at 20 who will be amazing for 2 years before he gets a serious injury - these is a fair turnover in these players It's kind of amazing at arsenal - the entire Emery team is already gone apart from Xhaka