First Team Squad 21/22

God, I wish Liverpool twitter wouldn't get involved in hackneyed, posturing, moronic twitter cliches like that.

What next? Posting Salah's shadow as a 'GOAT'? Or ' - Klopp is such a mood!'. Posting Captain Obvious statements like 'Salah has x goals in x games this season - the guy deserves respect'. Or what about Klopp's face superimposed on some forgotten third rate rapper posing in front of the camera with the caption 'Who MADE this?!!" followed by a stupid infantile crying/laughing emoji. It really gets in the way of proper football news/source/discussion on that site.

F**k them.

Worse than that is all the wee popup videos and ads.

Worse than that is all the wee popup videos and ads.

Some betting ad as well probably!

I was just using it for the picture mate to avoid typing their names out, I wasn’t paying attention to anything else like captions…

My apologies KK - didn't mean it as a sledge towards you (more the Echo's online descent!)

Some betting ad as well probably!

Oh yes. loads of them.

We’ve gone from Balotelli, Lambert and Borini to this…

https://twitter.com/livecholfc/status/1487040593641582600?s=21

We've come a long way baby.

We've come a long way baby.

F**k me what a trio

We've come a long way baby.

Please do not go there. Thanks God, we moved from that period.

Please do not go there. Thanks God, we moved from that period.

Thanks to Jürgen the miracle man.

If Firmino or Mane do leave in the summer we likely will see another forward come in along with a CM so for me progressing along nicely.

It would be very nice and helpful for us going forward, if we do have a younger front three before the time comes for Klopp to leave.  We don't want to make the mistake the mancs did when Fergie left as all his star players were also reaching their senior years.

F***ing hell one bad trio that.

The downgrade after the 2014 season waa quite unreal.

I wonder what Andriy Voronin is up to now. Gearing up for battle in his pony tail? Unbelievable how far we've come. The hit rate for years used to be about 50% or less at times and we would sign a string of players who were absolute dross. Even the scatter gun approach of signing young European prospects for the youth teams never resulted in any benefit. Now it feels about 80-90% of new recruits prove good value and the youngsters get sold for a decent price. The complete misses are almost eliminated.

Thanks to Jürgen the miracle man.

Started by Brandon but obviously professionally altered and modified successfully by King Klopp.

Started by Brandon but obviously professionally altered and modified successfully by King Klopp.

Kenny did some decent business as well. eg. suarez.

Kenny did some decent business as well. eg. suarez.

I think his business was 50/50. Suarez, Hendo and Jose Enrique but Carroll, Downing, Coates and co balance it out.

I think his business was 50/50. Suarez, Hendo and Jose Enrique but Carroll, Downing, Coates and co balance it out.

Carroll was unlucky, and kennys plan was to play suarez & torres together. that would have been class.

Downing was solid enough, but aye coates was a bomb scare.

Suarez, Hendo, Bellamy, Charlie Adam, Jose Enrique, Carroll, Downing, Coates, Alexander Doni were Damien Comolli signings. Don’t tell me Kenny targeted all of these players.

Kenny had been watching a lot of our games. However I doubt he did all the research to conclude that these were the players which suited us. The numbers or stats man was Damien. Moneyball. This isn’t Kenny’s turf. Therefore the judgement on Kenny’s signings based on the players’ performance at the end of the day is unfair.

Carroll was unlucky, and kennys plan was to play suarez & torres together. that would have been class.

Downing was solid enough, but aye coates was a bomb scare.

Mate, downing was far from solid, absolutely w*nk he was haha. Actually forgot that he played for us until I read this post

Mate, downing was far from solid, absolutely w*nk he was haha. Actually forgot that he played for us until I read this post

I thought he was ok. not a world beater.

But hehyo. ancient history now. ;-)

So second half of the season starts now and looking at the squad it’s pretty strong


World class GK with an excellent back up


Full backs -2 world class with a solid left back support - right back support filled by Gomez , Milner plus Bradley is solid but will always be a drop off from someone as good as TAA

4 outstanding CBs - best in the world plus 2 outstanding young players and of course the excellent Matip


The midfield which has been battered from pillar to post by our own fans

Some excellent players and also some youth to back up - Elliott coming adds a bit of drive going forward and clearly potentially goals - something we have lacked over the last couple of seasons

Forwards - just truly some world class players in Mane and Mo - Jota just keeps moving forward, Bobby there for knit it , Taki and Origi - there for the cup games bringing in goals and now Diaz added into the mix it’s a forward line that’s going to score lots of goals



I guess we could have another right back but the summer it’s not going to need too much to add to the squad - I guess depends on who leaves - Milner will need replacing and maybe Ox if he goes


We have a top class squad and maybe one that at times some have written off too quickly

I wonder what Andriy Voronin is up to now. Gearing up for battle in his pony tail? Unbelievable how far we've come. The hit rate for years used to be about 50% or less at times and we would sign a string of players who were absolute dross. Even the scatter gun approach of signing young European prospects for the youth teams never resulted in any benefit. Now it feels about 80-90% of new recruits prove good value and the youngsters get sold for a decent price. The complete misses are almost eliminated.

When Rafa's signing were good, they were GOOD. When they were bad, they were unspeakably sh*t. And some of his decision making left a lot to be desired. Selling Bellamy, Keane, Finnan even (who we replaced with the mighty Degan)...seriously not good. But in fairness, he was not helped by a dire situation in the boardroom and a legacy of dross and degradation from the Academy. Seriously - you'd have been better growing potatoes between when the Academy opened in 1998 and when FSG and Inglethorpe took over and properly supercharged our efforts on the youth side.

I don't blame Houllier or Rafa for the dire state of the Academy during their years managing the club. Rafa did his best but to no avail because the support and commitment wasn't forthcoming from the board. Houllier likewise. It's a shame that two wonderful managers had David Moores and Hicks & Gillett to contend with. Those three couldn't run a primary school tuck shop between them let alone one of the world's great football clubs. Absolute shower and, in hindsight, we were lucky to do so well under such shoddy third rate ownership.

The recruitment and development of youth we've seen in the last few years under Klopp has been absolutely sensational. It's a world away and speaks volumes to Jürgen's ability to integrate and grow these players. At a footballing level from senior to youth, this club has never been brighter.

Finnan even (who we replaced with the mighty Degan)

Didn't he get replaced by Arbeloa and then Johnson came in? The latter of the two was a pretty bad signing. Thought Degan was towards the end of his reign?

Said in the match thread, this is as good as squad as I've ever seen us have.

Quality all over the place and just as good to come off the bench.

Didn't he get replaced by Arbeloa and then Johnson came in? The latter of the two was a pretty bad signing. Thought Degan was towards the end of his reign?

Yep Degen was brought in when the Purslow effect kicked in.

Kromkamp then Arbeloa followed by Johnson.