I want, I want, I want SHINY NEW TOYS! - LFC transfer thread

Oddly enough - I don't care as much as I should. He's a terrible defensive right back and has shown he probably isn't a midfielder.

Of course - on the opposite side - he's a sublime play-maker, ball striker, and of course is Scouse. Also - only 25.

 

I would be gutted if he goes because of how good he is. At the same time, he wouldn’t be the hardest player to replace, especially since we don’t even know what it is that we are replacing.

 

At some point last season I said that I thought Trent’s days of playing right back for Liverpool were over. I didn’t think he had the appetite for it anymore. He doesn’t enjoy the defensive aspect of the game. He doesn’t enjoy the English media picking apart every single error he makes. He doesn’t enjoy the English manager leaving him on the bench for far inferior players.

I have always thought that his contract negotiations would be very complicated. I could never see him signing a new contract to be Liverpool’s right back. I think he would have always wanted assurances that his new position would be in midfield if he was going to commit his long term future to Liverpool. Then Liverpool would need to decide if they wanted to commit mega wages to a midfielder who has never played midfield. A player who is no guarantee to be a better midfielder than the ones we already have. There is also a chance that he turns out to be a world class midfielder.

If Trent is to continue as a right back, I think it makes total sense that he would want to do it as a new challenge. If the best team in the world wants him as their right back I think he will be sending a message to the English media, Southgate, and the next England manager.

 

Good summary

 

I'm not looking at his body language - but if you think he loves having every defensive mistake overanalyzed and then dissected on MOTD and SkySports roundtables - then he's the exception to human nature.

We already noted he's a sublime offensive player - what more do you want us to say? But on the defensive side - we can see how he defends in actual games. And it's very average or below-average.

We are not blase - but I, at least, understand why he would go. Don't forget - he's won everything possible for Liverpool. Sometimes players want new challenges (especially when his best buddy is in his ear all day long about sunny Spain). Even scousers. We saw it with MacManaman, Owen, and almost Gerrard.

Add in that his father figure in Klopp is gone - this might be the time for him to go in his mind.

Just looking at things objectively.

 

I think it makes a lot of sense to sign a centerback who can also play fullback. We are well stocked at centerback with Virgil, Konate, Quansah, and Gomez who can also play centerback. If we had signed an 18 year old like Leny Yoro, would we have been able to guarantee him games like United can?

The new trend in football is to play centerbacks at fullback. It’s one way to instantly improve our defensive stability.

 

I'm not trying to discern TAA's thoughts on this, but I think Klopp figured out a system that worked for him with both he and Robinson crashing forward all the time. For TAA this system worked until about 2 years ago, when his defensive positioning and pace (or lack thereof) was mercilessly exposed. Klopp and co. managed to put a band-aid over this problem by having him slide into a more central position and Konate slide out into TAA's space during offensive transitions. But while this halted the bleeding, I don't think it was a wholly successful solution. It protects TAA from being stretched out wide and then broken inside (which is how many of his defensive lapses occurred). But it causes confusion as other players have to adjust to his changing positions depending on game context, and it runs the risk of having too much space between our two CBs. I expect that this will continue to be an increasing problem as long as TAA is inverting with Konate (or VvD) on the right defensive flank, and teams continue to exploit this vulnerability.

Last year we saw that Conor Bradley often could operate just as well as TAA on the right as a more traditional FB. I don't think any of our current players have the same accuracy of long diagonal ball as TAA. But I don't think moving him permanently into a "6" position is going to solve the issues. The reason TAA has never done particularly well as a "6" is that he takes too long to collect the ball and redistribute it. On the right flank he's got more time, and he used to be able to dribble forward while assessing is passing options. I don't think he sees the field as well in a 6 position, and he doesn't protect the ball consistently well from the much quicker press that he faces from the opposing midfielders and attacking players.

Frankly, I think if we can develop Bajcetic or bring in a top-notch holding midfielder we won't miss TAA's long-range passing for long. I don't want to see TAA go, but I'm sanguine about the prospect as long as we get a good transfer fee for him... Better to put those funds to use to purchase players that will move the team forward than persist with a supremely talented player who just doesn't anymore fit perfectly into either holding midfielder or full back positions.

 

Have you experienced the Madrid nightlife scene? That at relatively cheap cost of living/high RM wages probably goes a long way to compensating for just being a cog in the machine...