[Mikus LFC]

Maybe a bit controversial, but I’m not actually as worried as some others. The workman midfield we had anyway before Fabinho came managed ok. The biggest impact was Van Dijk coming in. The half season before he signed, Liverpool conceded 23 goals. The half season after, we conceded 15 goals. Yes Fabinho helps us be more solid, but we can cope.

Much has been made of Liverpool’s poor clean sheet record this season, but little has been made of the attacking record. Liverpool have been winning games, but only just! We’ve needed more goals. Salah has been carrying an injury and he’s not been terribly great for some time. And after that, Ox is a useful player to have, Shaqiri, again has been injured but struggles to get in the team. And Origi again can be useful but just isn’t a 25 – 30 goal a season man. Think if we lost any of our front 3, and or one of our full backs (and we saw how we struggled without Trent the other night as Sean pointed out), I’d be even more worried.

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[Mikus LFC]

Runners and riders via Skybet:

Freddie Ljungberg
3/1

Nuno Espirito Santo
7/2

Carlo Ancelotti
5/1

Mauricio Pochettino
5/1

Mikel Arteta
5/1

Massimiliano Allegri
6/1

Rafa Benitez
12/1

Eddie Howe
20/1

Patrick Vieira
20/1

Brendan Rodgers
25/1

Leonardo Jardim
28/1

Diego Simeone
33/1

Giovanni van Bronckhorst
33/1

Julian Nagelsmann
33/1

Marcelo Bielsa
33/1

Niko Kovac

33/1
Roberto Martinez
33/1

Steven Gerrard
33/1

Thierry Henry
33/1

Chris Wilder
40/1

Joan Francesc Ferrer Sicilia
40/1

Slaven Bilic
40/1

Thomas Tuchel
40/1

Didier Deschamps
50/1

Per Mertesacker
50/1

Sabri Lamouchi
50/1

Dennis Bergkamp
80/1

Gareth Southgate
80/1

Zinedine Zidane
80/1

Nigel Winterburn
100/1

Tony Adams
100/1

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[Mikus LFC]

Trying to work out how Arsenal beat them 3-0 last season.

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[Mikus LFC]

We needed more cleverness and composure tonight (like the times Firmino cleverly flicked the one twos in the opposing box). It’s just been a bit too much hit and hope tonight.

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[Mikus LFC]

We needed more cleverness and composure tonight (like the times Firmino cleverly flicked the one twos in the opposing box). It’s just been a bit too much hit and hope tonight.

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[Mikus LFC]

Would have preferred Shaqiri I think, but probably not enough game time behind him.

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[Mikus LFC]

Salah poor again tonight. He can still produce moments of magic, which is why he still gets picked but he’s disappearing too much for me at the moment and isn’t producing quite enough magic moments to counteract it.

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[Mikus LFC]

Looked better at the end there, just beaten by the half time whistle.

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[Mikus LFC]

It is quiet Sean. Think we all felt a bit nervous about tonight and the fans probably feeling a bit too. Always feels like playing a José Mourinho team when we play this lot. It’s always a difficult game.

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[Mikus LFC]

Fabinho injured, Van Dijk getting treatment, and 1-0 down. Not the best of starts…Great finish though.

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[Mikus LFC]

We’ll see, FSG have always been open to the right minority investor. But success at a club is for me all about bringing in the right manager first and foremost. On everything else does such a thing hinge on. So ensuring the boardroom stays stable and rational to make the best decisions will always be key for me. I wouldn’t want too many cooks in there, so to speak.

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[Mikus LFC]

So long as it’s used smartly Steveo. I’m just quite happy with how we’ve done things so far to be honest. And if you look at clubs like Man Utd, you can see that because they’ve increasingly had shareholders to please, it creates a more pressured, chaotic and ruthless boardroom to chop and change, and they end up throwing money around left, right and centre.

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[Mikus LFC]

And what of Financial Fair Play? Or is the idea that the investment would further attract other commercial revenues that could be used to build the squad?

In any case, Liverpool and particularly Klopp have proved you don’t need a bottomless pit to get to the very top. Would Liverpool have still gone for Andy Robertson had they had a huge wodge of cash burning a hole in their pocket for example?

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[Mikus LFC]

Yes that’s fair Nine, though there does seem a lot of feeling in the media of over sympathising with Poch when as I say, he knew what he was signing up for and got paid handsomely for it.

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[Mikus LFC]

And he’ll currently be counting his £12.5 million pay off whilst under the train. So I wouldn’t have too much sympathy with him.

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[Mikus LFC]

Levy used Poch to keep them in the top 4, and Poch used the job as an opportunity to make a step up from Southampton. But Poch will have known what he was signing up for when he first came to the club in terms of the finances. And having known that he still signed a long 5 year contract extension last year knowing full well the conditions he would be working under.

So for me Poch volunteered to walk under the train as much as Levy may have thrown there.

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[Mikus LFC]

For information:

The FIFA best player award: voting criteria (via Wiki):

“The votes are decided by media representatives, national team coaches, and national team captains. In October 2016, it was announced that the general public would also be allowed to vote. Each group has 25% of the overall vote.”

Ballon D’Or: Voting criteria (via Wiki):

“… based on voting by football journalists…After 2007, coaches and captains of national teams were also given the right to vote.”

So basically the difference between the two awards is the FIFA award gets a part public vote it seems.

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[Mikus LFC]

Ed, what I will say with Maguire is this – now that you have bought him – sort of similar to the Henderson situation at Liverpool, he may not be top quality, but he’ll put a shift in and will probably become an important player for you from a team ethic point of view. But as you allude to, you should never have really been in such a situation.

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[Mikus LFC]

Maguire would have helped City, no doubt. But would he have been a regular under Pep? Not for me. I suspect that, as well as the money, was why Pep couldn’t ultimately justify going for him, and he’d rather take a hit in the short term and wait to find someone more suitable.

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[Mikus LFC]

In some ways the Poch legacy reminds me of the Benitez legacy at Liverpool. They were both very good organisers of a team, made them both very effective, but both teams just lacked a bit of personality for me and both teams were a little too restrained, and that is ultimately what cost them the opportunity to take the next step up. It doesn’t look like man management was a particular strength with either of them. I think Benitez would have done a pretty similar job under the same circumstances at Spurs.

Would Klopp have done better? There’s no doubt Klopp was helped with some investment, but I do think he would have given Spurs that bit more of a personality that would have bought them some silverware. Remember Klopp did take a very mediocre side to a domestic and European final in his first part season at Liverpool.

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