KopTalk.com Forums Football Liverpool FC Forum Salah ?

Anyone else feel for some time now Mo has been looking a bit stale ?

And we need some more competition up there ?

I know we have brewster and elliot but they are not quite ready yet given the long season is upon us

hes lost half a yard and is wasteful. Recently he's even been going missing in games. Hope he picks up some form. He's a known quantity now in the pl, scouted by everyone, people know how to defend against him more efficiently. In an ideal world we could have bought another forward that could play through any position on the front line and rotated salah around to up front or even on the left to freshen things up. I was hoping that with werner...but...yeah

They've been our front three for three seasons now I believe? Two European Cup Finals, one European Cup win and now Premier League champions. I wouldn't be surprised if there's a dip in motivation, hunger, desire etc. What else have they got to achieve or prove?

There's no way we're going to dominate like City.... and can the players really be asked to try and get 99 points in the league again? Maybe the team needs an injection of a fresh face or two and one or two players may need a new challenge. Can't understand why we didn't get Werner.

Top scorer for the last 3 seasons. If anything Firmino has been the weak link in that front 3 as he stopped scoring.

He’s the type to go missing all game but get the winner.
We need somebody like for like who can challenge the likes of Salah, maybe if he has competition for his place he’ll raise his game?

Totally agree, Salah has been poor compared to his possible standard and we could add Firmino as well. It's only Mane who has been consistently good. Opponents know Salah's game now, they know he will try to bring the ball on his left foot to shoot. Last season it's our defence which won us the league.

All poor yesterday but they have been awesome for us over the last few seasons. I've thought for a while we need an out n out goalscorer / something different to Salah n Mane. Fowler n Owen wudda sunk the chances Mane had yesterday.
Should we have let one go this season n got Werner in ? time will tell but that guy's a natural finisher.
Will Brewster get game time this season ?
Anyhow, JK knows what he's doing n I trust him to sort it.

Klopp most probably knows what he is doing, this is why he wanted to sign Werner.

We need a forward to keep that front 3 on their toes. They might all work there socks off. But if you know you are never going to be lose your place because the bench is weak. Then you don't have that fear of missing game time.

We need money... which we should have

Yeah, I don't get how after all the success we've had, we're living like Ebeneezer Scrooge. Procastinating about spending 27m on a top, top player is ridiculous.

See that Manure apparently are after Alcantara now.

Would be typical if they snatch him.

https://www.empireofthekop.com/2020/08/3...-for-transfers/

Apparently the money is going into the training ground....seriously? Even when we renovate our houses we take a long term loan

It's concerning we are more linked with 2 or more of our players leaving, than any coming in.

FSG wont be forgiven when we are on the cusp of another historic era its all thrown away by penny pinching

According to this guy, we are the only club in world football with a wage bill and the only club to not have fans at the stadium.. What a ridiculous statement. Maybe he can explain to me how black and white Chelsea's accounts are after suffering from the same issues every club went through they have spent 200m once the havertz deal goes through.

Chelsea sold about £150 million of players last season and didn't buy as they had a transfer ban, so they have that money to spend, they sold Hazard at the height of the market and can now spend in a defalted market, so it has worked out well for them. They also have a very wealthy owner in Abramovich who can/will underwrite them in the current financial problems, so their financial model is not about being self sufficient like most clubs are.

I can agree that we cannot compete with Chelsea, I cannot agreed that we have the 14th net spend over the last 5 years, you cannot tell me that all the 13 teams above us have higher income, they must be having better owners. Our owners are not good enough to tie Abramovich's shoes.

https://www.transfermarkt.com/premier-league/fuenfjahresvergleich/wettbewerb/GB1

Chelsea are probably within FFP parameters at the moment, however this Messi to City saga is ramping up with La Liga saying his release clause needs to be met. Now if Man City end up with Messi, no honest court, in any land could justify it being within FFP rules.

FFP rules have been relaxed ATM, so will be interesting to see what happens if City Sign Messi for a huge package (Transfer fee + Wages).

Our owners have helped deliver the PL, CL, 2 lost finals (Europa & CL) and have scored one of the highest PL totals while losing the PL, so I find it hard to be too critical of them.

But I think they are being too conservative on transfers, we should build on success, it's not about net spend for me, Utd have one the largest net spends and have bought aload of dross that didn't fit their system/team by buying 'names' until recently, but the signings should be led by Klopp & his team, so if they wanted Werner/Thiago/Kavertz, FSG should back them based on their success and money spent.

And if at the end of this new season we win the PL again without spending millions and millions the owners will be justified yet again.

On the other hand we could spend millions and not win it.

Spending millions does not guarantee anything.

If it ain't broke don't fix it.

Having said that I would not be surprised if we went for Sarr. Last time a player ripped us apart all on his own was Mane at Southampton and Klopp went and got him in the next window.

Fergie was probably a fool then when he kept on buying one or two top players every year when he was winning tons of titles every season. Why do you think Klopp wanted to buy Werner, what was broke and now fixed?

This if it ain't broke don't fix it mentality is why Tottenham stop challenging for Titles. We have an excellent squad, but over time we've realised that the squad is prone to injuries like Keita, Matip and Alex, or don't get enough playing time, like Shaqiri. If we want to be a great team, we need to keep challenging for titles, and win 2 or 3 a season - and we dont even need to go bust like city.

Fergy also knew when not to buy and use what you had, like when he was bringing the kids through, it wasn't all spend, spend, spend, what he made sure he did was have strength in depth, whether that was by buying players (not always huge stars, who knew Ole/Johnsen before he bought them) or by bringing through players, which is what Klopp is trying to do.

One of our weak points was LB, we all knew that, Milner was not able to cover that well enough, no one was ready to step up, so we went and bought someone who Klopp and his team identified, that's how it should be. City have bought loads of FB at £50+ million, ours are still better (from the academy and £8 million from a relegated club), thats the best way to do it.

We have bought the Greek lad to play LB. Now to be honest that is too much as a cover player in that specialist position for any team except City. Are we going to see Trent going into midfield in the next 12 months or so?

We were all on about getting so close to the PL this time last season and we bought nobody. That didn't turn out too bad did it?

Klopp has built a squad on discipline and effort. The moment there is any drop off then that player is dealt with and this has happened time after time. Right from the start he has been his own man and anybody who isn't right has been dealt with irrespective of talent. Balotelli, Sakho, Moreno, Flanagan, Can, Coutinho, Buvac, Duncan. Anybody not sharing his vision is gone. Some into absolute oblivion.

We are going to struggle when he is gone because that mentality just cannot be replicated or continued as we know it.

The likes of City and Chelsea can buy success up to a point. At Liverpool you have to earn it and Klopp leads by example. It may be true he wanted Werner but there have been a lot of high profile top targets we have chased who have not turned out to be so great after all. Remember how we were after Nabil Fekir, Thomas Lemar and Nicolas Pepe. All of these very highly linked in the last 2 years. None of them came. None of them would have improved us. Look at where they are now. Fekir would have cost £60m, Lemar £90m and Pepe £70m.

Please think of these players when you see us linked with big money signings. We have "missed the boat" (thank God) on a number of occasions. We have sold at the right time, we have sold several players for ridiculous fees, Coutinho of course but what about the others?

Canos £4.5m, Sakho £26m, Benteke £32m, Ibe £15m, Smith £6m, Solanke £19m, Camacho £7m, Stewart £8m, Ward £12.5m and a fair few others who were not good enough for LFC. Ejaria has just gone to Reading for £3.5m and there are rumours Awoniyi might go to Celtic for £9m.

OK so it's not him that is determining the price of the sales but I am sure he has an idea of a price for a purchase and what is too much to pay for a player within his vision for the team.

It must have been so easy for Pep to have had £200m plus after one season to correct his defence. It hasn't stood the test of time although he has delivered 2 titles in 4 years and for the width of a matchstick it might only have been 1.

So after a CL win it wasn't broke and didn't need fixing.
After a PL win I believe it's not broke and don't need fixing.
But after we win the PL again this coming season we will have the clamour again for splashing the cash.

Give it another go in 12 months guys. You got to be right sometime. Even a broken clock gives the right time twice a day.

These players are already legends for that trophy haul but the club should do whatever it can to continue building a lasting dynasty and that means you continue to improve, adapt and strengthen on a season by season basis, Fergie did this as others have mentioned. It's an old saying that you strengthen while at the top but this seems to be ignored by the club in the last couple of transfer windows.

I think we should build a statue to Coutinho because without his money, no Vvd, no Allison, and no PL title as these owners will never spend the profits of the club to make us better, they are just happy with the occasional trophy every 5 years but they got lucky with Klopp and Salah and Mane signings that have powered us to these titles.

We've sold Lovren, and Lallana has gone and also rather quietly Clyne. Lovren and Lallana played a part in the last few seasons, maybe not a great amount but a part they played...they were there ready to play when called upon and that's all part of the strength indepth part of a team. As far as I can see we haven't replaced them and the kids and perennial loanees aren't ready to contribute so we are 2 fairly important players down, making central defence and midfield weak on experience and numbers.

If you ever hear the former title winning old guard, Thompson, Dalglish, Souness etc... talk about their time, they always say how the likes of Shanks, Paisley, Fagan brought in more players each season to keep everybody else on their toes. They never made do, because the theory was players become less hungry for success with no competition for their place in the team.

What if we have major injuries to the likes of Mane, Salah, Bobby, VVD, TAA, Robbo, Alisson? We've been incredibly fortunate to avoid big injuries these past few seasons...are we willing to cross our fingers and hope for the best with our squad?

An honest question for folks do you believe we can go and win the PL Title again this coming season as things stand?

Spend, spend, spend? Are you serious? Just go on the link I put above, you'll note that there are 13 clubs in the EPL that have a higher net spend than us in the EPL, how have we been spending, spending and spending? Nobody here is asking to spend as Chelsea or City but at least to spend some of the money the club has been generating. We have been one of the most profitable clubs in the last 5 years, let's not forget about that please.

i can understand the prudence on spending but not liking it one bit.

i can see Sarr and Thiago coming in with Shaq, Wilson, Grujic, Gigi and even Origi moving out.
actually CB is quite a worry if any one of VvD or Gomez gets injured.

I understand the points about not spend spend spend.

However, that's not what is being suggested merely strengthening the team in one or two key places. I do think we need another striker a better option than Orgi

Keita and Minamino coming good (hopefully) will be like new signings also

Oh and somebody has reminded me about Clyne. Another with an alleged minor indiscretion to his name. Klopp & Pep have their ways of dealing with failure and any unprofessional actions and are good man managers. Anybody want to add another player to that list?

Oh and somebody has reminded me about Clyne. Another with an alleged minor indiscretion to his name. Klopp & Pep have their ways of dealing with failure and any unprofessional actions and are good man managers. Anybody want to add another player to that list?

Yeah the CB back up is a worry. It's not just the injury situation but you have to rest these players too. We have just had a stop start season and in 2 weeks time we are into a condensed PL season starting later and CL games not beginning until October. With the Maguire situation we are now very likely to see Gomez starting and completing both games for England before we play Leeds. Don't be surprised to see Fabinho deployed at CB in our first PL game.

It is difficult to get the right player at the right price but we have 5 weeks left in this window. Maguire being a tw@t may have inadvertently made the job harder for Michael Edwards to work his magic.

I would be very surprised if we signed Sarr without selling one of Mane and Salah. If I had to choose between those 2, I would sell Salah

I agree, we won't make a big signing unless a big name is sold, so a like for like replacement, but we must be confident that Salah, Mane or Bobby will not leave, or we would have bought Werner I think, as he was the 'cheapest' of the replacements, as Sancho & Havertz are around £100 million.

yes but Sarr would not be in the "big signing" category. sales of a 2 or 3 within the origi, shaq, grujic and wilson group should fund it.

I think that the plan was to buy Werner at the bargain of 50m then sell one of Salah or Mane. However, we were not sure of the market with the Covid situation and decided to wait and see and we are still waiting and seeing. Anyway I am ready to see how we perform without any proper reinforcement, I dont think anybody expected us to be Champions that fast since Klopp's arrival, so we already got what we wanted anything else would be the cherry on the cake with our owners.

Klopp did say we'd be Champions within 5 years and it has been 5 years so this was the aim which came to fruition.

I agree about Werner, if you study our history under FSG, making that sort of acquisition has always entailed a star player being sold first for huge profit.

Yes Klopp said that but who believed him?

Lots of managers have said similar and not delivered, I guess it's easy, as they know if they get 5 years it's a good stint anyway at a top club, imagine what the fans would say if a new manager came in and said we were 10 years from winning a title !

At the point Klopp took over, I think most fans (me included) doubted we would get the PL within 5 years, as the club was in disarray, losing star players like Suarez & Sterling, retiring Stalwarts like Carra & Gerrard, with the emergence of Man City as the expected Powerhouse to take over football for the next decade.

Something looks to be really wrong with Salah, I mean he peaked in his first season and has been dropping even since. His form in pre season doesnt even guarantee him a place in the starting line up and I can only hope that the motivation is not there in pre-season and he will pick up himself as from the next game. But worrying.

94 goals of which 72 in league play across the 3 seasons which he has twice topped the league in goals, and 3 times top scorer for the club. I wouldn't bet against him being a top scorer for the 4th continuous season so I don't know what else the man can do? He is surrounded by 3-4 players every time he gets the ball. Firmino for all his wonderful play should be on 20 goals plus, 9 goals last season in the league is simply not good enough. We should have purchased Werner and upgraded that position.

Salah is a strange forward.

He looks like he has no touch. Kinda has a lot of bad games. Misses tons of chances. Looks selfish. Has no right foot.

Yet still scores 20+ and gets 10 assists each year.

Mad.

i was hoping for werner to come in and bobby pushed back to a no10 role.

I said he has been dropping in performance since his stellar season, last season he was nowhere near his first season especially since coming back from the lockdown, a form that continued in the preseason. Even young Eliott played better than him yesterday.

looked much sharper today to get his hat trick... best of our front three tonight

He was brilliant today, scored a fantastic goal either side of his penalties, second 1 a lot of pressure to win the game and complete his hatrick. Salah also became the 2nd fastest player in club history to score 50 Anfield goals. Firmino was absolutely wasteful today and his passing was so poor in very clear decisive moments where we could of had a better cushion, Mane missed a few but he was quiet.

Salah is taking for granted.

Yeah, good performance from Salah, looked dangerous and was involved in the game, tracking back and support TAA who had a poor game, real pressure last minute penalty, good to see him hitting the ground running.

i choose to have mane in my fantasy football team over him. im regretting it now

Yeah, Salah can be selfish sometimes. I think he's a better player after he scores his first goal in a game. He becomes more of a team player. Almost like the burden of 'having to score' is lifted and he stops over-playing. Regardless, the stats dont lie. He's been consistently our top scorer and top assister for 3 years. People who speak disparagingly about him, are just simply, objectively, wrong. He's our best player and he's in the top 5 best players in the world.

He looks right on it, gonna be golden boot winner this year.

When Salah is flying like he was against Leeds it seems that Mane and Bobby are not on their day. Hope to see some games when the front three are all having a great day. That would mean a lot of goals against any team I think.

Salah looks great, Mane just looked off it a little, but was good to see them 2 laughing when they were passing too each other and Mane hit it over the bar, like neither wanted to take it on and wanted to create the chance for the other, Bobby is a worry, he's not shown decent form for a while, he had a good chance on the second half and took it with the wrong foot.

The good thing about having 3 of them up front is that if 1 had a bad game, you still have the other 2 who can win it.

Was surprised Brewster didn't even make the bench, but I guess we had a very strong bench.

Yes, Firmino has been quite poor for some time now,this is probably why Klopp wanted to sign Werner and dont think Brewster is ready

I don't think Werner was to replace Firmino, totally different players, Werner is fast and direct, playing in the shoulder of the last defenders, Firmino is far more creative and drops off to supply Salah & Mane, integrating in play, that's why he is so difficult to replace, Minamino is probably the closest to Firmino in style with his movement and vision.

Werner was probably to cover Salah & Mane, then eventually to replace when of them moves on, but I cannot see him wanting to sit on the bench, especially with package we would have had to give him, which I think was part of the reason we pulled out, especially with Covid.

The reason we pulled out was because of funds, full stop, even Klopp said so, no need to look for other reasons. Yes he is different to Firmino, but Klopp has had great strikers, centre forwards in his team like Lewandowski and Auba and yes, Werner could have played across the front line.

It was funds, but also not wanting a highly paid £50 million player sat on the bench behind the current front 3.

It was only funds that made us pull out.

We need more than 11 players to compete. Rotation means there should always be good players on the bench.

Every man and his dog knows we are royally screwed trying to compete on all fronts or if one of the front 3 picks up an injury.

Werner should've been affordable, young, potential, completely different to Bobby.
We've got 6-7 midfielders all vying for a starting place that Klopp can chop and change depending on the opposition, form, fixture congestion etc., so why not 4 top strikers?

For Origi and someone like Wilson, there must be someone around the £40m mark. I can only assume we've had no takers. Vardy's still got a couple years of pace in him.

Vardy will be expensive and can't see Leicester wanting to sell, I think transfers will pick up as the window get's closer, clubs will panic, so I can see Origi & Wilson leaving.

Everybody will be expensive for us

If we sell a few, we might buy a forward, especially if Origi leaves, as it stands, I am happy with our business, we have cover at LB and a quality CM, who is not like the current MF we have, so changes it abit and offers other options, varying the attack.

Still a bit wanting for a CF unless Minamino turns out to be that player but if Klopp thought a CM was more important, then so be it. With the little funds we have IMO Willian would have been more useful. No problem to trust Klopp though I understand that you cannot get a better CF than what we've got with 20+5m

Rumours are we've enquired about Sarr from Watford.

Sounds more likely. Young, front 3, fast, and from a relegated team. Expect a few weeks negotiations on this one..

He's got bags of potential and won't mind being 4th choice. If we get someone like this and off-load 1-2, it's a really good window. Back up LB, world class midfielder & a great option up top.

As much as we'd like to see big money signings like Sancho it's just not realistic anymore and maybe shouldn't be. I don't think fans demand that, £50m net spend shouldn't be too much to ask though.

I love Gini but our midfield needed someone to freshen things up. I think he'll go now.

Thiago - Fabinho - Henderson

Quite formiddable now.

I like Sarr, lots of pace, he's young so Klopp can develop him to fit our system, he's got a good understanding with Mane as they are international team mates, so I am sure they have spoken, so no need for Klopp to go to Blackpool on the rollercoaster with him

Rumours are United are interested if they do not get Sancho, they could be using us to put pressure on Utd so we will have to move fast if we want him, I think this will depend on us selling the likes of Gruijic/Wilson/Origi, his pay should be relatively low as he is at Watford, so will not be expecting the £200K+ a week the likes of Werner & Sancho etc would demand.

I still see Brewster going on loan rather than selling him.

If we get Sarr that would be an excellent window under the circumstances.