What's new

Premier League 2019–?

DiVaio

Well-Known Member
May 27, 2020
4,173
17,393
I knew I would log in this morning and see people posting "it could have been us" type posts. If only ENIC were more like FSG. The reality is that even if ENIC had given Pochettino a blank chequebook in 2017 and told him to bring in whoever he wanted, it's still extremely unlikely we'd have ever become as good as they are now. Case in point - Sheikh Mansour literally has given Guardiola, one of the best managers in the history of the sport, a blank chequebook and even he couldn't produce a team that was as good as this Liverpool one. What they've done is more than just about having funds available, it's been about making intelligent acquisitions in the transfer market, top class coaching and tactical training, and creating a winning culture.

FSG and ENIC operate in fairly similar ways - they both make sure the club runs at a sustainable level but tend to re-invest major windfalls into the side. We sold Keane and Berbatov for big money then bought Modric, Corluka, Bentley, Gomes, Pavlyuchenko, Defoe, Palacios and then re-signed Keane in the same season. We sold Modric for big money and signed Lloris, Dembele and Vertonghen with the funds. We sold Bale and signed the "magnificent seven". Sometimes we've been good at this, sometimes not. FSG sold Suarez for big money and re-invested it with Balotelli, Lambert, Markovic, Lovren and Lallana - that was poor. But then in 2018 they sold Coutinho (and got the CL final windfall money) and re-invested it into Van Dijk, Alisson and Fabinho. As has been pointed out before, their net spend is actually not so different to ours, the two owners are operating a very similar strategy - difference is ENIC were better at it from 2010-2015 whereas FSG have been better at it for the last five years. That's all there is to it really. For similar money to what we spent on Lucas they signed Firmino. For similar money to what we spent on Sissoko they signed Salah. For the money we spent on Juan Foyth they signed Andy Robertson. When we had our Champions League windfall we signed Ndombele, Sessegnon and Clarke - none of which we can get onto the pitch, for the same money that they spent on Alisson and Fabinho when they got theirs - the best GK and DM in the league respectively. Yes I know they spend more on wages - but face the facts guys, they are a bigger and richer club than we are and that's the whole point of moving to the new stadium, so that when it is paid off we will be able to compete for those kinds of contracts.

It's not just about money, it's about being smart with it, and I think that what Klopp and his staff have done is far smarter than anything I've seen from Tottenham management in my time. When we didn't sign anyone in 2018 then Levy had apparently committed a war crime, but Liverpool literally didn't sign anyone last summer and have gotten even better. That's because Klopp is not only a superior tactician (imagine him randomly playing Mane at left-back in a semi-final or leaving Salah out of the starting XI in the final after he scored a hat-trick in the semi), but he is also loved by all of his players, he's kept everyone motivated, created a hugely positive atmosphere around the club and his players would die for him - and whilst we'll never know for sure it seems Poch's relationship with some of our players (am thinking Eriksen, Alderweireld, Rose and Trippier) was deteriorating and the atmosphere was sour - and I'm not so sure Mourinho is going to get it back to what it was. That doesn't mean I don't think we could have improved by taking a few more risks - clearly we've been too cautious in the last couple of years and we're seeing the results of it now. But whilst I think we could easily have been ahead of Chelsea and Leicester this season - to suggest we'd have been able to get as good as a team that's breaking all sorts of records and will likely go down as one of the best teams in English football history is a bit of a stretch - we should not have it on our conscience that we let them get better than us - far richer and bigger clubs than we have ever been have never gotten this good.
They are smart and they also had luck. Salah was their 4th choice for winger after Draxler, Brandt, Pulisic and he massively surprised everyone, that's a single decision who really changed everything.
 

JCRD

Well-Known Member
Aug 10, 2018
19,153
30,013
They are smart and they also had luck. Salah was their 4th choice for winger after Draxler, Brandt, Pulisic and he massively surprised everyone, that's a single decision who really changed everything.

I don't like the word luck... You make your luck. That decision wasn't pivotal though. They went out and got their two most important singings they targeted and went all out to get them... Allison and VVD. Without those two they wouldn't have won the league... Shows a clear strategy and plan in who they want and got.

We also went out and got Ndombele as first choice... But now we need to go again. Hopefully we target who we want and get who we want this window for next season.

Liverpool didn't spend heavily but their mentality is insane. We lost the CL final and we grieved like mad into this season. They lost the CL they won it the following season. They lost the league last season they won it this season.
 

George94

George
Feb 1, 2015
3,661
19,454
I don't like the word luck... You make your luck. That decision wasn't pivotal though. They went out and got their two most important singings they targeted and went all out to get them... Allison and VVD. Without those two they wouldn't have won the league... Shows a clear strategy and plan in who they want and got.

We also went out and got Ndombele as first choice... But now we need to go again. Hopefully we target who we want and get who we want this window for next season.

Liverpool didn't spend heavily but their mentality is insane. We lost the CL final and we grieved like mad into this season. They lost the CL they won it the following season. They lost the league last season they won it this season.

You could make the argument that it all went downhill for Klopp after losing the Champions League final with Dortmund, so he had that experience going into the job with Liverpool to make sure the same mistake didn't happen twice. There's no doubt about it, Klopp being a much more experienced manager and previous winner has played a massive part for Liverpool.
 
D

Deleted member 27995

Makes you wonder if we'd sold Eriksen to make the squad stronger if we'd had been better off ...
 

Derryank

Well-Known Member
Aug 2, 2014
1,002
1,875
These two quotes sum up and simplify the momentum shift. Had we not a world class stadium to complete, would Daniel have backed Poch the following window...... we'll never know and can only hope that our stadium brings the revenue Jose needs to win some silverware.

Congratulations to Liverpool and in particular Jurgen Klopp. Hard not to admire what he's done, only a few of their fans takes the shine of it.



They are smart and they also had luck. Salah was their 4th choice for winger after Draxler, Brandt, Pulisic and he massively surprised everyone, that's a single decision who really changed everything.
I don't like the word luck... You make your luck. That decision wasn't pivotal though. They went out and got their two most important singings they targeted and went all out to get them... Allison and VVD. Without those two they wouldn't have won the league... Shows a clear strategy and plan in who they want and got.

We also went out and got Ndombele as first choice... But now we need to go again. Hopefully we target who we want and get who we want this window for next season.

Liverpool didn't spend heavily but their mentality is insane. We lost the CL final and we grieved like mad into this season. They lost the CL they won it the following season. They lost the league last season they won it this season.
 

rossdapep

Well-Known Member
Aug 25, 2011
21,904
78,638
As a Spurs plastic from up North, I can hardly be one to talk about not supporting a club from where you're from. But I reckon I was likely the only Spurs fan in all of North Yorkshire when I was a kid. As opposed to all the 20 something Liverpool fans I see down here now.
You weren't alone, mate. I'm from Scarborough and there's a nice bunch of Spurs fans from the town. Thanks to the legacy of Bill Nic.
 

Metalhead

But that's a debate for another thread.....
Nov 24, 2013
25,351
38,294
The moment I saw Neil Mellor as a pundit on Sky Sports was when I realised the fixation the media have with Liverpool Football Club. This is a guy who scored one last minute goal against Arsenal and was never heard off again. It would be the equivalent of Rory Allen representing our club on Sky Sports.
Yes, they do have a massive media presence. Again, not taking away from their title win though. They have been magnificent over the last couple of seasons.
 

Metalhead

But that's a debate for another thread.....
Nov 24, 2013
25,351
38,294
Liverpool didn't spend heavily but their mentality is insane. We lost the CL final and we grieved like mad into this season. They lost the CL they won it the following season. They lost the league last season they won it this season.
Absolutely this and perhaps the mentality thing played into Levy’s thinking. If there is one thing that Jose should be capable of doing is instilling a winning mentality. It’s something that we’ve lacked over the years unfortunately.
 

DiVaio

Well-Known Member
May 27, 2020
4,173
17,393
I don't like the word luck... You make your luck. That decision wasn't pivotal though. They went out and got their two most important singings they targeted and went all out to get them... Allison and VVD. Without those two they wouldn't have won the league... Shows a clear strategy and plan in who they want and got.

It was pivotal for me. That winger end up scoring 32 goals, 11 assists and according to Transfermarkt he had 8 match winners (Kane and Agueroo too) in his 1st season. Liverpool ended season 17/18 on 4th with 5 points more than Chelsea. I would say it's likely that without him they could be in EL for next season. He was crucial in Champions League too, that alone made a lot of money they could reinvest. 92 goals and 38 assists overall.

Then they already had VVD, but I remember that Alisson was strongly linked with them, Chelsea and Real. I can imagine him joining Chelsea with them in CL and Liverpool in EL.
 

ajspurs

Well-Known Member
Jul 7, 2007
22,985
31,166
It doesn't hurt or anything seeing the celebrations as we've known this would happen for months, but it does make me even more so want us to just win something.

Not gonna happen until the squad gets sufficient financial backing IMO, which realistically could not happen for years. Liverpool, Chelsea, Man City and United will keep spending as necessary to stay/get strong. Unfortunately I'm not sure I can say the same for us, not to be strong enough to really challenge anyway but we'll see.
 

spursfan77

Well-Known Member
Aug 13, 2005
46,679
104,956
Let's see how they do next season if they don't buy any other first teamers in the next transfer window after bringing nobody in last summer. Fringe players will be fed up on the sidelines and want out now. African cup of nations is in January.

Can they survive two years of no investment in the playing squad?
 

Shadydan

Well-Known Member
Jul 7, 2012
38,247
104,143
Makes you wonder if we'd sold Eriksen to make the squad stronger if we'd had been better off ...

Not sure that would have gone down too well with the players or fans, would have sent out a wrong message to everyone that we're a selling club. I know you're trying to directly correlate when Liverpool sold Coutinho but I just think looking at it like that doesn't tell the full story, the truth is that we didn't push on leading up to the years when we built the stadium because the priority was getting the stadium complete.
 
D

Deleted member 27995

Not sure that would have gone down too well with the players or fans, would have sent out a wrong message to everyone that we're a selling club. I know you're trying to directly correlate when Liverpool sold Coutinho but I just think looking at it like that doesn't tell the full story, the truth is that we didn't push on leading up to the years when we built the stadium because the priority was getting the stadium complete.
Ah, well, we didn't win anything with him in the team in the end. Probably for the best.
 

Saoirse

Well-Known Member
Aug 20, 2013
6,143
15,550
They are smart and they also had luck. Salah was their 4th choice for winger after Draxler, Brandt, Pulisic and he massively surprised everyone, that's a single decision who really changed everything.
If true, that's a big difference in strategy. We seemed to have one or two targets for a position, and if we didn't get them then Poch wouldn't take anybody else. Of course they're not going to be as successful as Salah every time. But at the minimum they refresh your squad which is crucial to the type of high-intensity football we were playing.
 
Top