I suspect Walter Smith has had a lot to do with Stevie G’s success – which is what happened with Souness all those years ago. And Souey, sans Smith, was found out when he was lured back to Merseyside.
Klopp might stay, yes. But much may depend on the availability of Nagelsmann.
You really think Liverpool are OK for top four? I think they’ll struggle to finish sixth.
I agree. Liverpool may struggle to finish top ten. See my previous post.
It’s quite funny at work now because the very, very vocal Liverpool supporters are actually shell shocked they can’t quite believe what has happened in the last 6 months it’s as if, actually not as if at all they 100% believed that last season’s PL win was the beginning of another Liverpool dynasty.
When I told them last September that they would do well to get top four it was as if I’d told them the world was really flat. Jurgen Klopp took a decent side and transformed them into one of the most exciting footballing sides since Wenger’s Invincibles but for some reason the magic has worn off and to me he looks disinterested.
Actually not a huge Walter Smith fan though Gerrard has recently admitted he’s been helpful. Look what Smith’s tutoring did for Ally McCoist. Souness was able to sign half the English national team for Rangers which helps explain the discrepancy between his coaching experience in Scotland vs England
As for the Pool, I believe last year they punched above their weight, but recent results obviously way below their capability. They’ll revert to their true mean which I think presently is top 4. Guess we’ll see.
It looks pretty straightforward to me (although I may well be delusional). The signing of VVD was the reason behind the huge success. He gave confidence to all around him, and provided a rock-solid foundation for the midfield and front three to sweep all before them. His loss has been enormous; it cannot be overstated.
Klopp has compounded that disaster by demolishing his midfield instead of bringing in defensive reinforcements. He had some (admittedly inexperienced) central defenders, and chose not to use them. But that would have been better than pushing Fabinho and Henderson into the defence with wholly predictable, catastrophic consequences. There’s simply no excuse for a club of Liverpool’s stature and wealth sitting on their hands after VVD was injured.
I really dont see that happening.
Well this is all good in hindsight, but that simply says that Liverpool were reliant on one player.
My main concern would be the tactics and formation Klopp has used. They worked very effectively for three years or so, but we saw that Pepp and a few others were able to deal with them because of the quality of their teams. But now, pretty much all the teams know how to play Klopp, even those sitting at the bottom of the table. And he simply does not have the quality in depth to alter his formation and tactics, confounded by the injuries the team has had.
I have been quite impressed with Tuchel and Pep who have been able to rotate or introduce quality players into the team when needed, and they have altered formation and tactics to suit the players qualities. Klopp is still some way off having a squad where he can adapt the teams tactics effectively to meet the challenges, ironically, it’s the other teams in the league that seem to find success against Liverpool by adapting to a them.
I think the arrival of VVD at Liverpool coincided with the rest of the team starting to benefit from the superior coaching of Klopp and his team and so this perception that it was all VVD and so therefore it is his injury that is the sole reason for the wheels coming off is over simplifying things.
The transformation of Jordan Henderson, Roberto Firmino, Sado Mane and Mo Salah also the signing of Alisson which was arguably as important as the signing of VVD all contributed as much as VVD, he was the icing though admittedly but rather than reacting to his injury the Liverpool board should have already had injury replacements signed.
When you look at teams who have retained the PL like Pep’s Man City, Jose’s mid 00’s Chelsea and Fergie’s treble winners they all had big, strong squads with replacements in those key areas good enough to walk into any PL team.
So literally no-one things the rot set in the moment his number two left in mysterious circumstances!!!
No! But it’s a good theory, if a little romantic.
Romantic? That’s certainly not the response I was expecting 
So if I say that one of our members has a direct line into the board and I have an indirect line in and both of us have heard separately about the incidents which led to the departure and about the subsequent tactical and training changes which have caused increasing disquiet…
There is absolutely no doubt that high pressing, high energy teams have suffered this season with the intensity of the fixture list. Equally it’s indisputable that the loss of Van Dyke and the bizarre attempts to fudge a solution are massive contributing factors to recent form.
Those much touted theories completely fall apart when you look back to last season where Liverpool’s form post Christmas was barely less dismal. Van Dyke wasn’t injured then. The midfield wasn’t playing in defence then. They weren’t playing games every 4 or 5 days then.
Only one thing changed in that whole period. I’ve highlighted it.
Well you did mention Clough and Taylor.
I agree that the intensity of training and tactics may have impacted on the team in general. But what has changed, and I think this is crystal clear now, is that most team have wised up to the very rigid structure of Klopp’s tactics. Having such a specific way of playing will inevitably give rise to an effective counter solution.
You may be right that the departure of Buvac has in some way highlighted Klopp’s limited tactical skills, but we can’t know if Buvacs presence would have resolved anything, who’s to say he would not have made things more difficult.
Or are you stating Mike that Buvac warned Klopp against such hard on training methods and strategies? And that was the reason for his departure.
Reason for his departure was very much more complex than that as these things always are. Noticeable there has subsequently also been a slow leakage of other cisching staff.
Not sure I agree on rigidity of tactics. They’ve arguably varied them a lot to their detriment.
And Top Secret apparently!
Do you actually expect such things to be public?
No but you keep alluding to all this inside info you have yet you don’t divulge.
Ah right. 
For the record then, yes, inside info at my club, Wrexham AFC, Liverpool and Arsenal. Been that way for 30 years with my club; 27 with Arsenal and about 20 with Liverpool.
Information given in confidence and it stays that way. I don’t see why it’s an issue to allude to stuff. Football fans often have pet theories which tend to ignore what’s in front of them. Liverpool fans obviously want to believe that the sole cause of their troubles is the loss of one player. Opposition fans want to believe they’ve been somehow found out. Usually there are elements of truth to both but rarely do such simplistic ideas tell the full story.
In this instance I’m lucky enough to have heard the full story but like everyone else here I hope I would never divulge personal or professional confidences. Football is no different in that respect. The key fact is in the public domain though.
That’s fair enough, Mike. Revealing sources = betraying confidences.
Well we did keep it under 4 - just. From looking at the stats we were pretty much second best. At 2-0 at half time against a top side it would take a miracle to get back in the game (I know we did against Sheff Weds last week but…) and despite changes we didn’t seem to find a way back. The points should push you further ahead in your automatic return to the Prem.
