goodrobotusses

I actually don’t think he’s hit his ceiling, he’s young and will definitely keep improving under Slot. Have to stress I want him in the squad, no question, it’s more about the type of player he is. He’s a Red Bull product, can run all day and has characteristics built for a transitional game. That serves us great a lot of the time and given his age, I expect him to get better and add more end product. I just feel we need someone to challenge him, someone with characteristics more suited to breaking down deep defences. And if that mystery player replaces him in the team, I would still expect Szobo to get a lot of game time, given what he gives us off the ball. It just might be in different positions to what we’ve seen so far, or still as the No10 when we need horses for courses against high quality teams we want to counter-press.

Respect your view but just don't really agree. Nunez ballooning that chance Szobo laid on on the counter aside, haven't seen a lot of evidence that Szobo is creating lots of chances that are being wasted by our forwards, and that he would become a more subtle, creative player with better forwards ahead of him, although of course it would be nice to have better forwards either way. Also not sure how how we lined up under Klopp is relevant now. Different coach, different shape, different squad to our peak Klopp team. Under Slot we have a player just behind/alongside the No9, usually Szobo. We rarely lined up like that under Klopp. The midfield's job was to compensate for an unreal forward line and very attacking full-backs. Szobo can do a great Gini/Milner-esque job off the ball, sure, but on the ball I think we're gonna need more from him or some other player, based on how we line up now and the fact our most creative player is leaving.

Gonna say this again. No question marks over his place in the squad nor in a big percentage of games the team. But we need an option in attacking midfield better at unlocking packed defences, especially with TAA leaving. Kind of surprised this view is so controversial. We have bigger priorities elsewhere in the squad so might not happen, but it's a concern moving into next season if Slot doesn't see Elliott as that player.

Once every ten games or so Diaz pulls off some mad dribble that makes you all the more frustrated at him being a crab so much of the time. I can't tell if I was just spoilt by Mane, Firmino and Salah (and Coutinho before), but our attack just doesn't feel as deadly and fun as it was back then, despite Salah's great individual season.

That's Carra's spot. We all know how he felt when GH signed Finnan.

Exactly. And he's a great asset, especially – as mentioned earlier in the thread – against better teams, when a counter-press is often our best route to goal and his work rate adds an extra layer of protection, covering for less active pressers such as Salah. My only argument is that, after TAA leaves, we're going to need more guile from that part of the pitch, especially in games against deep defences, because I don't think you can replace what Trent offers from right-back.

He has been playing as a 10. We occasionally switch to a classic midfield three with Szobo on the right, but if you look at the team structure most of the time, he's often practically up alongside the No9 when we're off the ball.

Could see him laugh/smile at Tarkowski after Ibou reacted to Tarkowski purposefully pressing his knee down into Ibou’s calf/achilles in the first few minutes.

Agree. Think he’s a great option to have and is the engine of the team without the ball, but don’t think he has the creativity we need at No10. Doubly so if TAA is going. Not convinced about playing him deeper either as he can be quite sloppy with his passing sometimes. Can see him as an option wide (although wouldn’t be my first choice there either) or in his current role against teams who have more of the ball, but would prefer to have someone there who offers more against deep defences. Maybe we can just go mad and convert him into a right-back.

BALLON D'OR

It would fit with FSG's agenda of purposefully running the club into the ground and buying lots of yachts.

What little I've seen of him is quite Cunha-like. Deceptively skilful, as he's quite gangly, but only started scoring at a decent rate this season. Three years younger than Cunha though.

My worry about Cunha is that he's only been a 1 in 2 goalscorer for one season. At some point, maybe even this summer, Salah's goals will need replacing. If Cunha becomes our No9 and isn't a killer in front of goal, we're going to eventually be in the tricky position of looking for a winger who is. Yeah, I think there are probably a lot of crossed fingers that that will be the case.

Kostas' car just screams "reserve left-back".

Defo. I am curious about this thing around Newcastle still owing 30m to Real Sociedad though. Not sure if there will be some PSR wheeze in all this where they have to sell someone again. I suspect we've been in contact with the player and he wants to come, leaving it down to whether Newcastle are in a stable enough position to price him out of a move. Especially for someone who picks up as many small injuries as he seems to.

Oh god, can only imagine Iraola try to implement his pressing game with that dressing room. "Lads, sorry, but you're gonna have to run a bit."

I'm kind of ambivalent on the move now. It's been in the offing so long that I've had time to resign myself to it. He has talents few players have, let alone academy products who grew up as reds. He can't be replaced one-for-one because he's unique, but he can be replaced with a combination of new players. As Épieur says, he has the right to leave, earn his money and win trophies elsewhere, even on a free and even if all that Ballon d'Or chat made him look like a b*****d. Him leaving for free at his peak stings, but as I've said elsewhere, I don't think anyone would have paid the sort of fee we'd have demanded, so this was his only realistic way out. And even if we had extracted maximum value, sold him for nigh-on 100m two years ago and reinvested the money in the squad, we'd have probably been livid at the club for cashing in on one of our best players and a potential future captain, so it's all for the birds really. Yeah, this is maybe where I feel a bit disappointed in him, but that's just because I have a personal distaste for footballers turning themselves into clothes horses and brands. He's free to do as he pleases, it's his life, just a bit lame.

Dibling is going to be a nice addition to the pile of confused and lost looking teenagers at Spurs.

Would be a massive help If he and Nyoni turn out as good as we hope.

Don't think anyone would have paid what we would have wanted for TAA, it was a free or nothing. Madrid offered a token fee in January but that wouldn't have been on the cards had he not run his deal down. The club has a no-release clause policy on contracts IIRC, that's the reason Emre Can wouldn't sign an extension.

With Trent going I think we're gonna need someone more creative than Szobo at No10. Dom still has a big role to play but his strengths are his running power, speed and ability to kick the ball really hard. We are now gonna need more than that in that zone, an Elliott+ if you will.

Pfft, daddy Huijsen just needs reacquainting with Ricky H’s multilingual skills. He’s gonna be like that lad in Love, Actually but with cards in every modern European language.

Apparently someone in The Athletic has said that, although LFC like Isak, spending £100m+ on one player would have a knock-on effect on our ability to rebuild other parts of the team. Truly might be this season's Bellingham, then.

Think Vinicius and Mbappe are gonna get a lot of chances to run at unset defences from his switches and Bellingham’s box crashing is gonna benefit from his deep passes and crosses.

Absolutely zero logic in the idea we'd sign soon-to-be-32-year-old Harry Kane, who earns more than Salah, for €50m-60m, when we're haggling to within an inch of our lives over a new contract for soon-to-be-33-year-old Salah, who'd cost us nothing beyond wages. Bayern just want his salary off the books and have realised no one will give them the transfer fee they want.