[Red Herring]

Songman >> I totally agree that the inverted/opposite winger philosophy is only a current trend and by no means the only way to set-up your attacking options. I thought Gakpo looked fine on the right against Forest and played a perfect right-footed ball for an Isak tap-in at the far post. He probably wouldn’t have produced such pin-point accuracy if he’d tried that on his left foot from the opposite flank. All Gakpo does from the left side is a telegraphed cut-inside where all teams know exactly what he’s attempting and, more times than not, can easily counter it. Yes, Salah (left-footed on right flank) was optimal for us as a.) he had Trent overlapping and providing dangerous right-foot crosses and b.) he had the guile and skills such that his end result wasn’t so telegraphed and the defenders still had to cover all options. Basically, it’s horses for courses and vary your set-up according to the skillsets of the players available.

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[Red Herring]

Threeps >> perfect summary of our disappointing transfer window and the reasons why it ultimately had to be so disappointing. I think the fact that we were by far the biggest net-spenders is the whammy that makes it such a double-whammy!

Obviously, time (i.e. results) will tell whether it was a good window or not – and I include Iraola as part of the transfer window – but general expectations around the club aren’t great at the moment. Recent seasons though have proved that early season expectations aren’t a great barometer of what actually happens. 2 seasons ago, Klopp gone and with a bit of an underwhelming name of a new Manager in place, Chiesa as our most significant signing and we went and won the league. Last season, PL Champions, huge investment in the squad and we were fairly dire most of the season. So, let’s give things a chance before we totally write 26/27 off.

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[Red Herring]

Now the focus has shifted from Ndiaye –> Spurs to Ndiaye –> Man City. This is even more painful as it means that he’s not committed to a London Club move for family/personal reasons. If the only block towards us not showing an interest is because we would have to offload Endo or Chiesa first, then nothing is making any sense.

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[Red Herring]

As regards full-backs, I see that Hickey at Brentford isn’t in their current starting XI. He could certainly fill-in at RB for a modest price until Bradley is back and then we’d have him as an option for LB as well. The same could be said of Neco Williams, but he’s firmly cemented into the Forest team and probably wouldn’t be interested in coming back to us.

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There’s something on Sky Sports this morning about the possibility of Ndiaye going to Spurs. I’d take Ndiaye over Minteh or Sarr any day of the week if he really is available. Maybe they wouldn’t want to sell to us, but there’s never been a historical unofficial embargo between us and the Bitters like there is with Man Utd. Will be shocking if (basket case) Spurs could convince him to move there and we couldn’t !

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[Red Herring]

Did anyone see the Spurs v Newcastle game (or MotD highlights) where, in the opening moments, Elanga attempted a shot towards goal from inside the area – which drifted wide of the far post – but instantly after making contact, got barged over by Van de Ven ? Of course, no penalty was given; but could anyone explain to me what the difference was between this and Alisson on Williams? Exactly the same sequence of events where the forward makes unhindered contact with the ball – which goes wide and out of play – and then gets clattered afterwards. As always, we fall foul of the inconsistency and poor refereeing interpretations.

Come to think of it, it’s another example of Van De Ven getting away with things in the box. It was his awful challenge that broke Isak’s ankle last year and because Isak scored, somehow the red card, late challenge got overlooked.

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[Red Herring]

In this era where your left-sided attacker has to be right-footed and your right-sided attacker has to be left-footed; it was a bit ironic that Gakpo looked more effective when he played on the right yesterday than he has done playing on the left where he repeatedly attempted his telegraphed cut inside / shoot for far-post / shot gets blocked – and now we are selling him! I also thought that Munoz looked fine and threatening playing on the right after Gakpo got subbed-off. Maybe this current trend of inverted / opposite wingers is getting over-thought a bit too much.

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[Red Herring]

I think the fate of Gakpo will depend on where Iraola will want to be playing Barcola. BB is defined as a right-foot dominant player which means that within the context of current formations and tactics, he will be played on the left which should signal the exit for Gakpo. However, we still have a gaping Salah-shaped hole on our right flank and it’s conceivable that we may have plans to slot Barcola in there. When you look through his Highlights Compilations, it is actually difficult to work out which is his strongest foot as he looks proficient with both; but somehow I still feel that we will play him on the left which will still leave us with no obvious candidate on the right. The only left-footed attacking player that we have in our senior squad is Elliott, but with the best will in the world, I can’t see that Iraola will have the ability to suddenly convert him into a Salah v2.0 and much more likely that he will be moved on, either permanently or otherwise, by the end of the window. If all of these assumptions are correct, the only conclusion is that we will still be working hard to bring in a right-sided attacker.

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[Red Herring]

2::0 up at halftime is a dangerous score-line in 2026 pre-season games, but hopefully this is the game to buck the trend. JJ has been a hit with the crowd so far.

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[Red Herring]

…..just as a follow-up on Jones; whenever he had to fill in at emergency RB last season, I thought he did it fairly well. Which then leads us on to the question of whether Bradley is seen as the long-term future RB for the team. If he is, then keeping Jones as part of the RB options until Conor is fit makes sense. If we splash out big for a RB before the end of the window, then the Curtis Jones argument gets nullified – as it does effectively for Conor Bradley !

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Of course, we are not privy to the internal conversations between Curtis Jones and the Club e.g. you’re not part of our plans / you’ll only be considered a squad player / you can be captain for League Cup games etc etc. This would maybe help determine whether he wants to jump or whether he’s being pushed towards Inter or not. Personally, when I look at our current squad depth, it only makes sense to keep him as he is versatile and, Leeds game excepted, always shows good character and, finally, is ‘a scouser in our team’. However, if he has told the club that he will only stay if he gets elevated to more of a first-pick starter and the club is being honest and confirming that he won’t be…….then, yes, maybe he has to go. That said, he will have to be replaced by the likes of an Alex Scott or Adam Wharton or A N Other because, as I’ve already said, the midfield squad is OK on numbers but lacking in quality of numbers.

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[Red Herring]

He’s being described as a CB /RB, which would indeed tick a couple of boxes for us as these are the positions where we are most in need of injury-free reinforcements. However, and maybe there’s no substance to this, but somehow it just doesn’t sit right with me to have a 6′ 3″ defender playing as a full back. There must be a reason that there aren’t many of these examples around in the top flights – something to do with speed off the mark / turning speed – but whatever, it can’t be optimal to play in that position. That said, I do recall Markus Babbel doing a good job for us there for a season. Anyway, presumably we’re getting him primarily for his CB duties which hopefully he can help see us through before Leoni and Jacquet are getting up to speed.

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The recovery time for Leoni’s ACL has been particularly disappointing. The average these days for young and fit professional players, with the best surgical techniques and under the best medical care available is about 7 – 8 months, 9 to be on the safe side. Leoni’s return is clearly going to be well above the current average and probably at least 12 months before he plays in a competitive game. Just seems that whatever can go wrong, will go wrong for us when it comes to putting out 2 dependable CBs.

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I think the story/video on Curtis Jones getting into a bit of a tizzy post-match has been blown out of proportion a bit. The only relevance it has to me is that if it was to do with him not getting passed the armband – and no other explanation has been offered – then it says that he’s not personally planning to jet off to Milan anytime soon. If he was, then why give a toss about not getting the armband for the closing minutes of a pre-season friendly? However, that’s not to say that the club may like a bid that comes our way and put pressure on him to accept it. Personally, I’d be happy to keep him as a squad player as £30 million is nothing in today’s market and other teams with top 4 ambitions seem to have much bigger inflated squads than we do at the moment.

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There has been so many comments on here over the last 6 months or so basically writing off Mac Allister as not good enough / should be sold. Personally, I just don’t get any of it. He’s been with us for 3 years and for the first 2, he was up there in a very small group of players contending to be our best player over that period. OK, so last year his ‘form’ dipped a bit, but does that mean at the age of 27 (in his prime) he suddenly turned into a bad player? The much more plausible explanation is that he didn’t appear so effective because the whole team suffered a generalised downturn in form and belief. Even last season, his attitude was really good and he was often the one flying into tackles when a malaise had engulfed the rest of the players. He was also the first one in the face of Martinelli following the Conor Bradley incident.

I really hope he stays with us – recent comments appear to be supporting this – and under a new style and regime, we can see the player from 12 months ago again. Fans need to show a bit more patience on things; I know we’re in the ‘next day delivery’ era where everybody ‘wants things / wants things now’, but let’s see how things start working out in this season first.

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My experience is the same as Rob and Mikey where I got sucked in by Shankly’s revised team of the early 70s where so many new bright, young players had replaced the old guard from the 60s. KK was the shining light of this revamped team and idolised by the Kop for the 6 years that he was with us. What is a bit surprising is that he was never remembered as a legend and rarely featured in anybody’s ‘best XIs’. I think the reason for this is down to who replaced him in the No. 7 shirt. I went to Kenny’s debut for us in the Charity Shield vs Man Utd at Wembley and he was such an instant hit with the fans that the “Dalglish !” chant was born in his first game and a general feeling around the stadium of “Kevin who?”. So, that was it really……Kevin was taken to our hearts when he played, but rather instantly forgotten as soon as he left.

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Nil>> Yes, I just need to try harder and shut-out my long-felt prejudices against a.) England fans, b.) England players who I’ve just spent the last 9 months wanting to fail every time they cross the white line for their PL clubs and 3.) the England international set-up schedule in general that keeps messing up the Premier League.

I actually went to the World Cup in Brazil and really enjoyed the overall experience of travelling around a really interesting country and watching games and interacting with fans from lots of other countries. Yes, did the obligatory Brazil game on big screens on Copa Cobana beach !

But my most abiding memory was taking up our seats in Sao Paulo for the England v Uruguay game. The stand was a good mixture of fans from both teams and the Uruguay fans were really great. There were a couple of knuckle-draggers from Croydon sat next to us and then a row of Uruguay fans the other side of them. They asked us whether we would swap seats with them as “we don’t want to sit next to Uruguayans”. My initial reaction was yes, but then I thought “no, you racist, intolerant twats – stay where you are and suffer for 90 minutes!”. It was that type of England fans that I can’t associate with and subsequently, the Suarez-double to knock England out in the group stage gave me a bit of an inner glow.

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Nil>> I credit you in finding the formula to be a Liverpool fan and then be able to flick a switch in June that allows you to be so ‘made up….YES!!!’ when the England team win in a major tournament. Over the years I’ve tried to find that formula, but it just won’t come naturally for me and I’ll watch their games and there’s always this yearning with me for them to lose and put an end to the media circus surrounding them. I get so bored in hearing ‘It’s coming home’ and seeing main News items of the type of football fans that I don’t associate myself with throwing pints of expensive lager over each other. In any other sport, I’m an ardent supporter of the England / Brit team or individual, but try as I may, it just doesn’t work for me with football.

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Rob>> pardon my pedanticism, but Kane moving to Man Utd would only have been the penultimate cardinal sin. There is a move to another club that would have been considered much more sinful.

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<<Interestingly, there is a (loose) connection between Alan Turing and Liverpool Football Club. Answers on a postcard….>>

Alan Mathison Turing
Kenneth Mathi(e)son Dalglish

OK, maybe not that interesting then, but they are the only 2 people that I have ever heard of as having that as a given name.

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