[Mikus LFC]

I sympathise with that Lucky, and I also saw to some degree Liverpool’s decline coming too. However Klopp at Liverpool has a lot of credit in the bank for him to be under any significant pressure this season. When Eddie Howe walked into Newcastle they were at the bottom, and whilst they did have new ambitious owners, there was no expectation on him to suddenly get them up to the top of the table. I think the concern for Potter at Chelsea is regardless of the long term project that Boehly wants to adopt, Chelsea are a top club who have won very big trophies in the last few years so there is going to be a residual expectation from that. When Moyes went into Utd after their recent success it was meant to be a long term project. We saw what happened not long after that. Yes there were other factors like their transfer strategy at that time, as there are at Chelsea now one might argue. But then, I guess the argument would be that any prospective manager, particularly one that hasnt managed a big club, needs to assess all that before joining. It may be very tempting to join such a big club, but the circumstances need to be right or else he’ll be walking into situation where it could be a baptism of fire.

I’m not necessarily defending the press asking such questions of Potter, but they’ll argue they are asking such questions because Chelsea are such a big club who won the CL just 18 months ago and have now appointed a manager who has no experience at a big club or in the CL.

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[Mikus LFC]

Problem is Boehly could look across to Newcastle who also have a newish owner and a newish manager and they have rocketed up the league and they were in relegation fights before that. Assuming Newcastle stay there this season, that sets a high bar and expectation on every other club with ambition.

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[Mikus LFC]

Will the Chelsea board be as patient as the Arsenal board? And possibly tolerate several seasons out the CL. That’s the question.

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[Mikus LFC]

Without rubbing the salt in the wound, should Havertz not have been booked for that handball?

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[Mikus LFC]

Think it’s all over now nil…

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[Mikus LFC]

They do look very stupid Banjo, they’ll have to find a solution to that as the stewards are effectively blocking them which won’t please the advertiers.

On another note depressing that, imo, it makes the game look more commercialised than ever before.

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[Mikus LFC]

Klopp bemoaned us not winning enough challenges. The concern now is if some of these players have just run out of steam and just aren’t enjoying this anymore. Even just a 10% drop off in performance can have drastic consequences.

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[Mikus LFC]

Not that it may have made the world of difference but given our lack of defensive minded midfielders surprised Bajcetic hasn’t got more time in the recent games.

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[Mikus LFC]

But that was a lovely goal.

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[Mikus LFC]

Traore driving through us like a knife through butter then.

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[Mikus LFC]

Very sad to hear. Seemed like a lovely guy. Lovely tribute from Souness. Rest in peace.

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[Mikus LFC]

Frank just might muddle his way through. Not completely defending his run of form and record, but the problems at Everton are obviously deeper and an Evertonian I know has said the fans really bonded to him last season. So I knew he would get some time this season. Obviously needs a response over next few games after the Brighton game.

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[Mikus LFC]

Lucky, do you think you’d now be better off if Tuchel was still manager?

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[Mikus LFC]

Some long contracts being offered now. Is part of this to now help stay within FFP?

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[Mikus LFC]

Yeh the lower leagues tend to be the best pathway for any young managers no matter what your name, and they need quite a few years there to develop. Also you’re much more out the limelight if you make mistakes.

John Terry might be one to watch. Back at Chelsea after his Villa role I believe, developing the young players. Again, he’s out the limelight.

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[Mikus LFC]

I’d actually argue we’ve been pressing less for sometime now. Even the year we won the league, we tended to just dominate possession and had the players to do it and remember we won a lot of games narrowly back then with lots of 1-0s and 2-1s I think. We still pressed but more in moments of the game I think. I just think those players in midfield have aged and declined and just can’t keep possession as well. Also the fact we’ve bought just one midfielder in 4 years (Thiago) is also pretty shocking.

If you look at Klopp’s reaction to Bajcetic’s closing down and tackle here, it tells me Klopp still wants that from his players.

Stefan Bajcetic with an immediate impact in #LIVLEI 💪 pic.twitter.com/jYPiNRatCA

— Liverpool FC (@LFC) December 31, 2022

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[Mikus LFC]

I used to think a manager should have final say threeps, particularly following the transfer committee debacle. However, whilst it of course makes sense for a manager to have some input on who comes in, I don’t think they should have full control. If our transfer team is that good (and we often wax lyrical about it), then good managers should be able to work with good players picked out by them. I know there’s no still guarantee that they’ll work out, but the transfer team should be responsible for ensuring we have good enough players at all times in each area of the pitch. If it is however being knocked back by Klopp, or if it is being over picky, then we then risk being left short. At some point, the club as a whole has to take leadership over this and not just effectively hand everything over to the manager or sigh that they cant find anyone. But this is the danger when a club weds itself to a long term manager.

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[Mikus LFC]

Is it not just the case now that Klopp knows he doesn’t have the right players in midfield so is having to adapt somewhat to them rather than vica versa? As I posted on TT, the recruitment team should be leading the club over transfers and making them happen, even if Klopp isn’t 100% over them. You look at all the properly run clubs like City and they identify targets and ruthlessly bring them in. This isn’t all about money. If we were chasing Tchouameni over summer there must have been big money available. But when that target went elsewhere, we just seemed to do the old, “we’ll have to wait next season now until the right player becomes available again.” Yet I read somewhere that Klopp effectively made the recent Gakpo signing happen which if true means that Klopp is almost effectively having to run the club completely. That really isn’t good. I know Klopp is the biggest asset the club has, but it’s not good if the whole club ends up bending towards him and relying on him to do most things.

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[Mikus LFC]

Well that was as predictable as night following day…

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[Mikus LFC]

Get Bajcetic on.

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