UEFA Champions League 21/22

[DCSPUR64]

Lo Celso played against Liverpool tonight like he played for us in the PL.

Villareal's midfield was utterly dominated.

You can say it was a one off game, but he was anonymous. He's not cut out for PL intensity.

He made one good block and he had a great run beating a couple of Liverpool players before he was fouled near the end of the game but no foul was given. Hard to judge Lo Celso as most of the Villareal team were outclassed.

 

[TheChosenOne]

He made one good block and he had a great run beating a couple of Liverpool players before he was fouled near the end of the game but no foul was given. Hard to judge Lo Celso as most of the Villareal team were outclassed.

Strange one that. Think the ref gave 'the benefit of the doubt' to Liverpool on quite a few occasions.
.
Probably the crowd creating a cauldron of noise and dare I say - hostility

 

[shelfboy68]

To be fair it was even way before that. They’d got to the CL final the year before too and when we played them the year after they were huge favourites and already title challengers.

Since Klopp took over it was clear something special was happening there but their recruitment has been insane.

They are already building for the next generation with Jota, Diaz, Konate and their wing backs will be around for another 5 to 10 years. The utter ****s.

As a club they have shown us up doing things the right way whilst we stumble along.

 

[Aphex]

As a club they have shown us up doing things the right way whilst we stumble along.

They have invested money there is no doubt about it. It hasn’t been City levels but they still spent big when needed on Allison, VVD etc

Our chairman and board are happy to appoint expensive managers but when it comes to player spending we just don’t go big for the right targets. We have always seemed to view player acquisitions in a risk averse way, rather than go for proven performers we sign players that we think will prove as wise investments financially rather than for sporting success being the primary driver. It has levy’s finger prints all over. For example never would we ever have signed Allison or VVD. When was the last time we gave a PL club 70 million for their best player? No, signing PEH for 20 million with a year left on his contract is how we do it. As you see it’s always looking for a deal rather than the actual best player.

And when we’ve spent a bit more money than usual it’s both rare and it’s been on poorly scouted targets. It’s not a good mix that.

 

[sausage]

They have invested money there is no doubt about it. It hasn’t been City levels but they still spent big when needed on Allison, VVD etc

Our chairman and board are happy to appoint expensive managers but when it comes to player spending we just don’t go big for the right targets. We have always seemed to view player acquisitions in a risk averse way, rather than go for proven performers we sign players that we think will prove as wise investments financially rather than for sporting success being the primary driver. It has levy’s finger prints all over. For example never would we ever have signed Allison or VVD. When was the last time we gave a PL club 70 million for their best player? No, signing PEH for 20 million with a year left on his contract is how we do it. As you see it’s always looking for a deal rather than the actual best player.

And when we’ve spent a bit more money than usual it’s both rare and it’s been on poorly scouted targets. It’s not a good mix that.

This has been done more than once, but the issue is that Liverpool only spent £75m on VVD because Barca paid for it. They refused to pay it in the summer prior, and it's simply an abstraction of a fee - they got £25m more for Coutinho and so paid £25m more for VVD. There was then £50m spare to go towards Allison.
Would they have otherwise, at that point, have spend/invested £130m in a CB and a Goalkeeper? History suggests they wouldn't. It's a real anomaly even since then. Same as when they sold Torres for £50m and used it to spent £35m on Andy Carroll (lol) and £20m on Suarez.


The only key difference between Liverpool's transfer activity and ours is that we haven't sold any key players for big money. That used to be seen as a sign of weakness ("selling club") but the narrative has since been re-written.

 

[jurgen]

As a club they have shown us up doing things the right way whilst we stumble along.

It might be because I have some in-law family who support Liverpool and aren't too bad about it, but since they won the title - and the world didn't end - I find myself wanting them to overcome City as they're the only team that seems to be able to compete with that plastic, sportswashing nonentity of a club. Especially when there's more shit like those City emails proving what a joke they are in regards to finances.

Liverpool's spend (both pure outlay and net) over the last decade is actually quite similar to ours it seems, they're just extremely well run on the football side - so although some of their fans are dicks, they're arguably the best organised club in the world by far given they're competing with the doped clubs on a more than even footing. A quadruple would be pretty sickening but it wouldn't be undeserved, unfortunately.

It proves it is possible to compete with doped clubs if you're 'rich enough' and clever, so one day there could be hope for us. Fingers crossed Paratici's in-depth assessment of our club structure results in meaningful changes to how we operate.

That being said I'm sure they'll get some disgraceful decision when we play them and I'll roll back on this.

 

[shelfboy68]

It might be because I have some in-law family who support Liverpool and aren't too bad about it, but since they won the title - and the world didn't end - I find myself wanting them to overcome City as they're the only team that seems to be able to compete with that plastic, sportswashing nonentity of a club. Especially when there's more shit like those City emails proving what a joke they are in regards to finances.

Liverpool's spend (both pure outlay and net) over the last decade is actually quite similar to ours it seems, they're just extremely well run on the football side - so although some of their fans are dicks, they're arguably the best organised club in the world by far given they're competing with the doped clubs on a more than even footing. A quadruple would be pretty sickening but it wouldn't be undeserved, unfortunately.

It proves it is possible to compete with doped clubs if you're 'rich enough' and clever, so one day there could be hope for us. Fingers crossed Paratici's in-depth assessment of our club structure results in meaningful changes to how we operate.

That being said I'm sure they'll get some disgraceful decision when we play them and I'll roll back on this.

Yes mate they have done well and were behind us at one stage but as is spurs bad decisions, weak mentality etc has seen us go backwards.
Who knows what the future holds I kind of gave up a few years ago and then after the CL final that cemented it.

 

[thebenjamin]

This has been done more than once, but the issue is that Liverpool only spent £75m on VVD because Barca paid for it. They refused to pay it in the summer prior, and it's simply an abstraction of a fee - they got £25m more for Coutinho and so paid £25m more for VVD. There was then £50m spare to go towards Allison.
Would they have otherwise, at that point, have spend/invested £130m in a CB and a Goalkeeper? History suggests they wouldn't. It's a real anomaly even since then. Same as when they sold Torres for £50m and used it to spent £35m on Andy Carroll (lol) and £20m on Suarez.


The only key difference between Liverpool's transfer activity and ours is that we haven't sold any key players for big money. That used to be seen as a sign of weakness ("selling club") but the narrative has since been re-written.

And that they have always paid big wages. Their wage bill has been astronomical for a long time.

 

[glacierSpurs]

I hate Liverpool when we have no worries of the scums. But when they are having a resurgence now and are competing with us for the CL spot next season, my hate is now channelled back to them instead for being our closest challenger at the moment.

 

[sausage]

And that they have always paid big wages. Their wage bill has been astronomical for a long time.

"Greasing the wheels", wasn't it?

For a while we were getting their targets ahead of them (Siggy? Dempsey?) and they found a way around that. I think the key factor has been getting the right players in, and getting the wrong players out at the right time. Currently feels like we're Brendan's Liverpool right now.

 

[Styopa]

This has been done more than once, but the issue is that Liverpool only spent £75m on VVD because Barca paid for it. They refused to pay it in the summer prior, and it's simply an abstraction of a fee - they got £25m more for Coutinho and so paid £25m more for VVD. There was then £50m spare to go towards Allison.
Would they have otherwise, at that point, have spend/invested £130m in a CB and a Goalkeeper? History suggests they wouldn't. It's a real anomaly even since then. Same as when they sold Torres for £50m and used it to spent £35m on Andy Carroll (lol) and £20m on Suarez.


The only key difference between Liverpool's transfer activity and ours is that we haven't sold any key players for big money. That used to be seen as a sign of weakness ("selling club") but the narrative has since been re-written.

We had a similar situation with Bale but rather than spend it on two outstanding players we used the cash to fund several new buys. I understand why we did that but ultimately most of those buys didn't work out for us whereas Liverpool went to a new level with VVD and Allison. It was the springboard to where they are now.

Generally speaking they don't spend as much as they did on VVD. But overall they still go a bit higher than we do in terms of fees and probably also wages. See our biggest buys versus their biggest buys below, taking into account the Coutinho money.

Obviously as @Aphex mentioned the other thing that really stands out is that whilst most of their big buys have been a huge success, most of ours have been pretty average or complete flops.

1. Virgil van Dijk - £76.2m (from Southampton, 2018)
2. Alisson - £56.3m (from Roma, 2018) ...
3. Naby Keita - £54m (from RB Leipzig, 2018) ................................1. T Ndombele - £55m (2019)
4. Luis Diaz - £50m (from Porto, 2022) ................................................2. C Romero - £42.5m (2021)
5. Fabinho - £40.5m (from Monaco, 2018) .......................................3. D Sanchez - £42m (2017)
6. Diogo Jota - £40m (from Wolves, 2020) .....................................4. S Reguillon - £32m (2020)
7. Mohamed Salah - £37.8m (Roma, 2017).......................................5. M Sissoko - £30m (2016)
8. Sadio Mane - £37m (Southampton 2016)....................................6. Lo Celso - £27m (2019)

 

[Pekoni]

Yooo 1-0 Villareal

 

[JCRD]

It is on

 

[Romulus]

Nice goal by Danny Rose

 

[SlotBadger]

That from Capoue is one of the best shit shot assists I’ve ever seen.

 

[Pekoni]

Very nice stadium btw. Such a cauldron.

 

[daveduvet]

Emery, at times, is so Alan Partridge… I can’t take him seriously

 

[philll]

Stoney silence in the BT Sports commentary box after the replay showed Coquelin got a forearm to the back of the neck and they were both taking the piss out of him for going down.

 

[DarwinSpur]

Liverpool aren’t at the races. Villarreal need to capitalise

 

[JCRD]

Foyth is a scary player - the combo of Foyth and the keeper passing to each other is a scary scary sight