Champions League final

[TylerB]

It'll be interesting to see how Fabinho does. History is not full of Brazilians who have done well in England (I think I remember having this discussion with Beechy before about Firmino, who to be fair has proven me wrong), but there are very few others.

 

Firmino has been great. Lucas wasn't a great player but was a fantastic servant to the same club. Then off the top of my head there's Coutinho. Gilberto Silva, Juninho, Fernandinho, Elano...

 

Plenty of success stories, though obviously there have been plenty of failures too. But Fabinho isn't really a flair sort of player. He's a grafter, one with a bit of quality on the ball too, and I don't see why his game won't suit the Premier League at all.

[Twitters]

Liverpool for me had four major problems:

1 - Their defence (including the keeper) have too many question marks around consistency.

2 - Their midfield's strength is in it's work rate but there is no creativity going forward from those three.

3 - If one of their front three gets injured they have no plan b to change things.

4 - They have no deep strength on their bench.

 

They will resolve 1 if they get a new keeper and a new centre back. Is Butland good enough to win the league? No. They need to be looking elsewhere for a new keeper.

Apparently the player from Red Bull is meant to be a good threat going forward and his goalscoring record seems to tally up with that but I don't watch German football so I'm not going to pretend to know how good he is!

Number 3 and 4 are linked. Real Madrid had Bale who they could bring on. Liverpool had Lallana. He isn't someone who can change a game or offer something different. United's bench against Arsenal was Rashford, Martial and Mata. Against Watford Tottenham had Lamela, Lucas and Sissoko. Man City just have stupid strength in depth. When Liverpool destroyed Watford they had Oxlade-Chamberlain, Milner and Ings on the bench. Easily the weakest of the examples given, and there was nothing on the bench that would have changed the game had they been losing.

 

If Liverpool want to go all out for the title then they should be targetting Mahrez from Leicester. Maybe even have a look at Shaqiri. There's no way he's good enough to start for Liverpool but he's the kind of player that could change a game and for £12m he's worth getting as an impact sub. I'd go for Vardy as well, a million times better than Ings and gives you a different kind of striker to Firmino up front.

 

So if Liverpool want to win the title I'd go all out and sign Allison from Roma, Vardy, Shaqiri, Mahrez and Harry Maguire. Yes I know it's a Leicester crazy list but all three would improve Liverpool's squad 10 times over.

[TylerB]

Liverpool for me had four major problems:

1 - Their defence (including the keeper) have too many question marks around consistency.

2 - Their midfield's strength is in it's work rate but there is no creativity going forward from those three.

3 - If one of their front three gets injured they have no plan b to change things.

4 - They have no deep strength on their bench.

 

They will resolve 1 if they get a new keeper and a new centre back. Is Butland good enough to win the league? No. They need to be looking elsewhere for a new keeper.

Apparently the player from Red Bull is meant to be a good threat going forward and his goalscoring record seems to tally up with that but I don't watch German football so I'm not going to pretend to know how good he is!

Number 3 and 4 are linked. Real Madrid had Bale who they could bring on. Liverpool had Lallana. He isn't someone who can change a game or offer something different. United's bench against Arsenal was Rashford, Martial and Mata. Against Watford Tottenham had Lamela, Lucas and Sissoko. Man City just have stupid strength in depth. When Liverpool destroyed Watford they had Oxlade-Chamberlain, Milner and Ings on the bench. Easily the weakest of the examples given, and there was nothing on the bench that would have changed the game had they been losing.

 

If Liverpool want to go all out for the title then they should be targetting Mahrez from Leicester. Maybe even have a look at Shaqiri. There's no way he's good enough to start for Liverpool but he's the kind of player that could change a game and for £12m he's worth getting as an impact sub. I'd go for Vardy as well, a million times better than Ings and gives you a different kind of striker to Firmino up front.

 

So if Liverpool want to win the title I'd go all out and sign Allison from Roma, Vardy, Shaqiri, Mahrez and Harry Maguire. Yes I know it's a Leicester crazy list but all three would improve Liverpool's squad 10 times over.

 

Fair post, agree with most of it. I don't agree with the Lallana bit though. At his best he's a great player (not world-class by any means) and last season he was Liverpool's best player for 6 months or so, and that was a team with Coutinho in it. This season he's obviously struggled as he's only started the odd game here and there, and so to expect him to come on in a final against Madrid and really make much of an impact isn't right.

 

I like Maguire and think he would be excellent alongside Van Dijk. If Lovren performed how he did in the final every week then we'd only need a back up center back as I don't rate either Matip or Klavan, but he can't be trusted over the course of a season.

 

I said last season here that Liverpool should have replaced Coutinho with Mahrez. He's not as good, but is a player that can create from nothing. Christian Pulisic would be an even better signing in my opinion, but would probably cost 80 million in today's market considering his potential and age. Nabil Fekir seems the most likely of the three, or Thomas Lemar who we've been linked with for a while now. Personally, I'd be happy with this lot, and it wouldn't be unrealistic either:

 

Oblak/Allison/Donnarumma

Maguire/Lascelles

Pulisic/Fekir/Lemar

 

Out of all those it would most likely be Allison, Lascelles and Fekir or Lemar. But add that to Fabinho and Keita and I think with one or two more squad additions it would be a very good summer for Liverpool.

[For Us All]

How’s the Robertson one doing Tone?

 

Nine signed so far.

[For Us All]

Ramos, clever & experienced player though he is, has always been one of the dirtiest players in the game.

He's been sent off about 20 times - in league games only. Yes, 20. Says it all.

He knew what he was doing. A cynical, snide thug. Can't stand the bloke but I don't suppose he cares with all his medals.

 

An Egyptian lawyer has now filed a 1bn euros lawsuit against Ramos for the challenge?

[Howjy04]

An Egyptian lawyer has now filed a 1bn euros lawsuit against Ramos for the challenge?

 

Tut Tut,I wonder if his mummy has anything to do with that?Sorry.

[Fosse69]

Tut Tut,I wonder if his mummy has anything to do with that?Sorry.

Rumours of a pyramid fraud?

[elav trop 1876]

Ramos is most things bad about the game , same as Ronaldo all me me me not sure he even celebrated Bales goal just merely faked a smile no doubt wishing it was him that got the glory this was offset by Marcello who couldn't get the better of Trent Arnold at one point yet went over and acknowledged his good play ....having said that all these players are winners and successful and show you need the right mix---man utd had keane,souness Liverpool,arsenal vierra +many others I'm sure..Liverpool need some of these adding to the squad someone who can dominate midfield with presence and awe.