JamesMcdonald

@Lfcbami3 What? There the best possible options on the market.

I can’t believe Liverpool fans wants Diomande and Barcola on the flanks 😂💔 After watching Salah and Mane ,you decides this is the best for us lol

@SherekhanKlopp Thing is, szoboszlai wint be happy about being a backup, but he doesn’t really have the qualities to work in a double pivot. In my eyes the only option for him to be staftting next season is by playing at right back

@jamesMc_0 It’ll be Gravenberch plus Wharton is my guess. Szoboszlai will have to develop into a deeper midfielder as time goes by. Lots of work to do.

I've been thinking a lot about trade-offs recently. Trade-offs define squad building. Every elite signing, tactical shift, or profile addition creates ripple effects. You cannot simply stack talent and hope it coheres. You have to weigh what you gain against what you sacrifice, then design the system around those compromises. Florian Wirtz. Top player. Central as a 10 feels like his natural home if you want maximum impact. Alexander Isak. Also a top player. But unlike a pressing forward or a pure penalty-box poacher, he needs the right ecosystem too. Runners. Service into dangerous zones. Space to attack. A structure that does not leave him isolated or constantly dropping into traffic. Together, Wirtz’s central creativity and Isak’s intelligent movement should complement each other wonderfully through diagonals, combinations and half-spaces. But only if the structure around them actually enables that relationship rather than suffocating it. And this is where we are today. The moment you commit to both, everything around them changes. The double pivot now has to be a triple threat. Progressive, athletic and combative. It needs to build from deep, win duels, cover ground, break pressing lines, control tempo and protect transitions. That is a huge ask. So even if someone like Adam Wharton arrives, the second slot remains a live question. LFC has just handed Grav a huge deal. Szobo will likely get one too. So are they realistically benching both on a regular basis? Probably not. Which means the trade-offs start immediately. Sacrifice width? Play one true winger and lean into drifting creators instead, perhaps Wirtz from the left with Szobo supporting centrally. That can work. But now Isak becomes the immediate concern, because unless the full-backs become major creators, he risks becoming isolated. Kerkez stops being purely an engine full-back and has to become a genuine separation generator and reliable final-third creator. The midfield has to consistently plug the space he vacates. Your right-back - new one please LFC - then has to do more than simply complete the build-up chain into the pivot and Wirtz. He has to be age-appropriate, physically durable, capable of delivering 2,500–3,000 minutes, and contribute so that Isak is not left feeding on scraps. Yes, you probably gain more defensive structure and control that way. But you sacrifice natural width and some attacking unpredictability. The creative burden falls much harder onto Szoboszlai, the full-backs, and that lone winger. That may help Wirtz centrally. But does it actually maximise Isak? Because if the ball progression becomes too slow, too safe, or too narrow, then you are effectively recreating one of last season’s biggest problems. Expensive attacking talent receiving poor service. So we get somewhere further, not enough. So where do we go? A 4-2-3-1. As things stand, it probably makes the cleanest sense if the goal is maximising both premium signings. Wirtz as the 10. Isak gets service, runners and space to attack. Two proper wide threats stretch the pitch. The football becomes naturally more front-foot. And contrary to what some assume, that does not automatically mean defensive chaos. If the front four press as a coordinated unit, if the rest defence is structurally sound, and if your possession structure keeps you facing the right way before turnovers happen, you should have more players in useful positions to kill transitions early rather than fewer. But that only works if the profiles are right and the preparation is right. Otherwise the attacking ambition simply exposes you, and problems arise. And that is really the entire point. None of these routes are inherently wrong. They are just different compromises. The danger comes when recruitment becomes opportunity-led rather than architecture-led. ‘He is available, he is elite, let’s make it work’ is how clubs create their own tactical headaches. ‘Does he actually complete our best XI and our clearest Plan A?’ is the healthier question. Because Wirtz is not plug-and-play. Wirtz and Isak definitely are not. At that point, you are rebuilding huge chunks of the structure around two premium signings and hoping the compromises around width, balance, durability, transitions and minutes all hold together. And honestly, that feels like the biggest lesson from this season. It was never one singular failure point. Not Slot. Not recruitment. Not injuries. Not grief. Not tactics. It was the accumulation. One problem feeding the next. Instability creating more instability until the whole thing became harder and harder to stabilise. Which is exactly why this rebuild has to be intentional. The club should already know what its best XI looks like. What its preferred system is. What Plan A actually is. Because if the system is unclear, they are not solving the previous cycle. They are building the next one.

@anfield_archive @VasudevEm But szoboszlai doesn’t really have the qualities to be in a double pivot, he’s not solid defensively nor can he progress the ball well, he would work much better in a midfield 3 but that’s out of the question since we signed Wirtz.

@jamesMc_0 @VasudevEm its more a gravenberch issue than a dom issue, gravenberch cant pass and his technique when passing is shite, he almost sort of drags the ball when he does the passing motion

lowkirk this actually cooks yk and jacquet would just be a rb

@SherekhanKlopp I just don’t think we can have both szoboszlai and gravenberch in the double pivot, and we have just given grav a big contract so I doubt he’s going any time soon. We have Wirtz in the 10 aswell so we can’t move szoboszlai there, it’s a weird situation

Maybe. Ideally you want a full-back who can go up and down, build from deep, and step inside as a +1 in midfield during transitions. Szobo probably can do that profile-wise. Whether he would actually want to become a right-back is a very different conversation. If we went down that road and sold Jones, I do not think you need three midfielders. Two feels more realistic. Wharton plus one more who can still progress from deep, control tempo, and hold their own physically, because otherwise the drop-off between options becomes absurd. That said, I am not convinced the answer is trying to solve one structural issue by forcing one of your better attacking midfielders into a completely different long-term role. That can work as a tactical wrinkle. Building around it as a foundational fix feels much riskier.

@StrydomMarnus @ATLiverpool_ Both could easily be playing in the double pivot in the future

@ATLiverpool_ Looks a steal with that potential, sad as it seems Nyoni will be another Tyler Morton .

€12m release clause for a Bastian Schweinsteiger regen cutting about in the Bundesliga.2? Yeah, pull the trigger on that one Dicky Hughes #LFC

@anfield_archive @VasudevEm Dom doesn’t really bring progression though does he, it’s been our biggest issue progressing the ball to the front 4.

@VasudevEm yes, dom brings progression and legs, he also gives us more verticality, we would keep the ball better too

@cslfc @SeanDOlfc We won’t be able to get both diomande and barcola

@SeanDOlfc Diomande and Barcola. That’s all we need upfront. 3 new midfielders and a RB. CB if Konate and Gomez go

We genuinely need 3 forwards. Fill in the blanks at the minute : LW - Rio and new winger ST - Isak and Gakpo RW - who and who?

@1Driva @SeanDOlfc Never happening

@SeanDOlfc Fuck it, Gordon, Diomande and Barcola lol

@HenrySwanick @LFCApproved When he could’ve helped us out and got some money for him

@HenrySwanick @LFCApproved I just think with the state of our squad and our lack of squad depth we should be trying to raise as much money as possible to put it towards improving the squad, Konate and salah could’ve been sold for loads, I don’t really know why salah asked to be let go for free

I’ll go into summer details and my own ideas in full soon, too early to play that game yet but, in short I think Liverpool require serious work, no matter who the coach will be. For me… • GK (depending on Alisson future) • RB (Think Bradley may leave) • CB (Konate & Gomez future?!) • Hybrid LB/CB • DM • An energetic 6/8 • Top RW • Rotational LW

@Corballyred @nugss_ Fans booing the manager every game might be part of the reason slot didn’t go up to clap the fans 🤷‍♂️

@nugss_ It's miles off togetherness we had under Klopp, something is not right about direction club is going currently 👍

There is something unLiverpool about Liverpool at the moment. If Klopp was manager he'd have been on the microphone with Robertson and Salah also saying their bit. Instead we got Slot slumped in a chair and LFC afraid to give Salah a microphone in case he said something. And where were John Henry and rest of FSG to show their gratitude to Robertson and Salah who helped make them 100s of millions by adding massive value to the club. Also where was the football guru Michael Edwards, he is getting paid massive amounts of money by LFC and has been missing all season. This is not how Liverpool are meant to be run. UnLiverpool like 👍

@Anfield_Age @97RedSlots @LFCApproved As I said a loan would be the better option

@jamesMc_0 @97RedSlots @LFCApproved See below: January is extremely optimistic and most research suggests that he won’t be anywhere near competitive standard until at least 12 months (April). He’s 23, relying on rushing his recovery is a crazy risk to take for his long term future.

@Mike_RMCF You’re a miserable cunt aren’t you, and of course you support Madrid the most soulless club, wouldn’t expect anything less from your fans tbf. They’ve got Europe for the first time in the clubs history, in the champions league and you expect them to not celebrate?

Top 4ism has escaped England. The sports in a disgusting state.

@Anfield_Age @97RedSlots @LFCApproved Ekitike wont be out the whole season he could be back around January, why would we sign an extra player who’s only going to be of use for 5 months, a loan would be a better option but who would we even get.

@jamesMc_0 @97RedSlots @LFCApproved I can’t believe you’ve watched Gakpo play as a striker for the last few weeks and you’re happy for him to be the only backup to an injury prone Isak for the whole season (because that’s how long Ekitike will be out). We’ll be extremely lucky to finish 5th next season.🤷‍♂️

@JohnProgress7 I agree with you about the Wirtz point but don’t use training clips to back your point up

Anyone who says Wirtz can’t dribble/shoot clearly hasn’t watched inside training clips

@BlessedBobby_ What the fuck else did you want him to say?

Listen to the state of this. This isn’t a Liverpool mentality

@97RedSlots @LFCApproved @Anfield_Age We’re not going to buy someone for them to be used for half the season, gakpo can play there and we should sign a versatile rotational attacker

@LFCApproved @Anfield_Age Ekitike won’t play a serious part all season. You cannot include him as an option next season.

@EliTheWright @LFCApproved @Anfield_Age We’re not going to buy a player just to use him for half the season, gakpo can play there.

@LFCApproved @Anfield_Age Because ekitike misses half the season, Ngumoha is 17, and gakpos got one goal on his last 1 games