Liverpool Banter

03 Sep 2026 19:36:58
Ed001

Thanks for all your hard work over summer

There is obviously a lot of noise about transfers and the squad at the moment etc, but I'd be interested to hear how you are feeling generally about the season and our chances overall.

I'm still hopeful of a good season - the football should be better than last years at the very least!

Thanks

{Ed001's Note - I am very excited about the season and watching the team develop under Iraola.}

03 Sep 2026 20:10:23
As am I Ed 💪🏻 although it's time to get a win now. Friday night has to be a win.

1 win in the first 3 games isn't too much to expect Isit?

03 Sep 2026 20:41:14
When Klopp first took over as manager in 2015, we drew our first three games and won the fourth, which, funnily enough, was against Bournemouth. When the message is that the team is in transition, this is what to expect. Forget how much players cost us and expectations of how they should or shouldn't perform. Give it time, Reds, and great things will happen.

{Ed025's Note - i think playing Ipswich away tomorrow will be ideal for you FM, i think you will beat them easily and kick start your season mate, confidence will be up and you will progress from there..

03 Sep 2026 21:09:43
Ed001 I'm actually getting a good vibe from Andoni in the same way I felt about Klopp. My only concern is the very short contract he's on

{Ed001's Note - I think he was the best option. I am not worried about the short contract as it means he has to earn a new one.}

03 Sep 2026 21:43:17
Let's face it, the transfer window wasn't great, at the very least we were too indecisive and we could have done with a few more bodies through the door.

Having said that, it doesn't diminish my excitement for the season ahead as I'm looking forward to how Andoni gets the current crop of players playing his brand of football and seeing some of the youngsters given a chance.

03 Sep 2026 22:22:55
Coulred, the 2-year contract was Andoni's idea and he explained it well, so nothing to worry about.

03 Sep 2026 22:08:55
Ed25 coming in with the commentators curse

{Ed025's Note - im not you know Faith..

03 Sep 2026 23:32:27
Lol 25, well, can you stop talking us up cos it's not delivered us a win yet!!

03 Sep 2026 18:05:29
Vitor Matos has got Swansea currently top of the Championship. Looks a great, promising manager and one to keep an eye on in the future.

Saw a video of him in the changing room after their recent win and he appears to be a good man as well.

03 Sep 2026 18:45:17
There was a touch of David Brent about his inspirational
speech. Let’s send some loanees there.

03 Sep 2026 17:34:42
We now know the squad going forward, a hectic schedule awaits, Ipswich tomorrow (really looking forward to the game), followed by 3 games in 6 days.

I might be in the minority but I’ve liked a lot of what we’ve produced in the 2 games so far, we’ve tried to win from the off in both. However, all 4 goals conceded were poor from the team, but we have a great coach / manager who I have utmost faith in.

Cody playing on the right side had a good game going forward, beat players and got crosses in, one resulting in Isak’s goal.

The manager spoke today about players connections etc. Forest's 1st goal came initially from their throw in near our corner flag, ball gets cleared upfield towards their keeper who’s nailed on to punt it long. As the ball makes its way up to him, Frimpong sprints 30 yards upfield to press the left back leaving Gapko to cover the eventual scorer who is stood in space right behind him, but Cody doesn’t switch on.

In fact, he has a power nap while the game goes on around him, leaving Ndoye unattended. 1-0 to Forest.

Pretty poor basic stuff from both Frimpong & Gapko, but it’s not rocket science so hopefully more time under Iraola’s guidance, we should quickly improve all over the pitch with these connections.

Hopefully we see some minutes from Monsieur Barcola tomorrow evening. The possibilities now to attack both wings, get to the byline, will definitely improve Isak’s mindset.

I think we may start the game with Munoz left wing, Gapko right, Isak & Wirtz, that’s a good looking front 4 which should be enough to put Ipswich to the sword 🤞

All in all I can’t wait for the game.


YNWA

03 Sep 2026 20:26:20
Agree sizemick, it’s going to get the players up to speed and then we should start to cut out these mistakes, hopefully.

03 Sep 2026 16:14:05
I'm going to say it.

Isak doesn't work. We should not have bought him and we should sell him on at any opportunity.

Oh how I miss Bobby.

It's not that Isak is a bad player, he clearly isn't but he doesn't work in our system with team that all come and park the bus every week.



If we could wave a magic wand and change him out for any player regardless of situation and circumstance who would you opt for?

As per above, excusing his lack of desire to be in the UK, Alvarez would be more suited to our style.

03 Sep 2026 16:24:12
What CF does work against teams that park the bus in this league? Genuine question?

03 Sep 2026 16:29:56
It's a tough one, but I would say the quicker feet and interlinking players that can drop into the gaps between defence and midfield and draw players out of position.

Isak wants to play to either run in behind or around the 6-yard box, neither suits us as we can't cross a ball and we never have space in behind.

03 Sep 2026 16:36:54
We all miss Bobby BK.

03 Sep 2026 16:39:13
Had quick feet and linked play at Newcastle. Don't think there’s a forward in the league that doesn't struggle against parked buses. Even Haaland does sometimes. Quicker more direct wingers will be better for Isak this season.

03 Sep 2026 16:42:38
Gakpo through the middle for me.

03 Sep 2026 16:42:48
I think he’ll come good, BeKind. He’s had a difficult start to life at Liverpool. Iraola seems to get his forwards firing. A good chance he does with Isak too.

You can’t find Bobby Firmino’s anywhere these days. Just like you can’t find Mo Salah and Sadio Mane’s. Just keeping evolving with the game and talent supply.

03 Sep 2026 16:54:58
Kroupi.

Ta.

03 Sep 2026 17:10:56
This is quite premature in my opinion, given that he was nothing like fit when he started playing for us, before breaking his leg.

He spent what time he was available last season playing for a coach who seems to actively discourage running. It has been 2 games under Iraola, and suddenly it's never going to work, even with a goal last weekend?

All that said, if we could swap him for any player I would pick Alvarez, but that's not to say Isak won't fit into this system and do very well.

I'd also definitely take Isak for £125m ahead of Enzo Fernandez or Morgan Rogers at £115m. The market has gone nuts.

03 Sep 2026 17:18:21
Isak will score 20+ for us this season. (If he stays fit, of course)

03 Sep 2026 17:19:13
I’m still here boys. 🤣

03 Sep 2026 17:31:46
I still think it will click for Isak, but if we're playing fantasy football I think Joao Pedro would have been a great fit for us.

03 Sep 2026 17:48:32
Doesn’t suit our style. 🧐 What style?

We’ve played 2 games.

03 Sep 2026 17:53:42
Wasn’t the whole point of signing Wirtz to break down the low block? Manchester City play against just as many low blocks as Liverpool, and I don’t think anyone thinks Haaland has quick feet.

03 Sep 2026 18:26:07
I often find it prudent to write off a 125mil asset after 2 games in a new system.

Given the transfer window has now closed, is it unreasonable to ask that people assess suitability and progress of said new system after maybe a decent sample size of games? 10?

03 Sep 2026 18:41:48
Joao Pedro loves August. Don't fall into the trap. Starts r very season well then fades.

03 Sep 2026 18:57:43
Isak is one of the best finishers in Europe.
A good head coach will be able to set the team up to maximise his talents.

Andoni has had 2 games. Give him a chance.

03 Sep 2026 19:18:30
Aww, thank God, BB. 🙏

03 Sep 2026 20:07:33
I think Isak, with Wirtz just off him and 2 decent wingers either side, looks very good on paper.
I don’t think you can judge Isak and Wirtz based on last season. Slot didn’t know how to utilise either of them. There’s no point having Wirtz in your team if you have absolutely no movement on the wings, but now we do.

03 Sep 2026 20:28:39
Really hope he kicks on. He’s talented and in this system should thrive, but if he doesn’t then look to sell him next season.

03 Sep 2026 22:52:03
To clarify, not judging on two games. I'm judging on all of last season also, albeit with a different style of play; it still didn't click.

Haaland and City are a different ball game. Both the player and the playing style are different to Isak and LFC, so that's not a comparable for me.

03 Sep 2026 11:33:42
🗣️ Andoni Iraola on right-back and midfield cover:

"Challenge in the squad now is we don't have Conor Bradley there at right-back. That's why I value Dom [Szoboszlai] at right-back as he can play there. Versatility in the player helps us go through the moments when we have injuries.

In midfield we have good numbers. Now it's a matter of getting the right calls from myself. I'm finding now the best combinations and we are going through a period now where we will play a lot of games and we'll have a chance to see the options we have and the combinations we have. It's a matter of coaching."

Gaffer seems pretty calm on the situation. Of course he wouldn't come out and say he feels like what he has isn't good enough even if he did feel that way, but at least he's saying the right things regardless.

I hope we see as little of Szoboszlai at RB as possible though. Bradley can't come back soon enough!

03 Sep 2026 12:40:31
I disagree, MK, I think Szoboszlai at RB is the ideal position for him to cover his weaknesses and show his strengths. He has excellent quality on the ball but serious positional indiscipline.

Very few wingers will outlast him as he has speed and stamina, and RB will give him the space he doesn’t get in midfield. It also “solves” the issue of Frimpong being nowhere near good enough.

03 Sep 2026 13:02:21
Lowe, I can’t agree with that at all, but it’s a subjective topic so I understand your viewpoint. I am a big believer in playing people in their best positions unless you’re desperate. Last season we robbed Peter (midfield) to pay Paul (right back) repeatedly. Neither Szoboszlai nor Jones really performed at RB and we ended up just looking short in midfield at times. The worst part was that Frimpong and Ramsay were fit for most of these games where Dom and Jones played right back.

No matter how average Frimpong and Ramsay are, retaining balance in the team should’ve been more important.

I can understand Dom playing RB to close games out if Frimpong needs a rest, but in terms of them actually starting there? That’s a no from me. I’m not averse to Araujo playing RB as that doesn’t weaken the team in other areas, seeing as he appears to be back-up to Jacquet at CB. But please, not another year of midfielders in defence. We can’t behave that desperately again!

03 Sep 2026 13:05:05
You need positional discipline to play RB.

03 Sep 2026 13:09:54
No, no, no, no!! Wasn’t it unanimous that Dom shan’t play at RB? That only a fool would play him there?

03 Sep 2026 13:15:42
Would you expect him to say something else?

03 Sep 2026 13:43:23
MK, as a general principle, I agree that you play players in their positions - clearly we saw that in 2020/21 when we improved just by playing Nat Phillips etc instead of Henderson there. In my opinion, Szoboszlai isn’t a very good central midfielder even if he is an excellent overall player, and that would be my rationale for moving him.

Would he take Bradley’s place? No. Frimpong? I think it’s worth a try.

03 Sep 2026 12:36:31
Cannot believe you advocating Szobo to play at RB, absolutely battered Slot with your posts for an entire year on playing him out of postion and taking the engine out from the midfield. My Fecking fowler. At least slot got it right about Frimpong not good enough as a RB.

03 Sep 2026 14:02:49
So hang on a minute I’m confused.

Slot was crucified for playing Dom at RB, and in my opinion rightly so. I understand doing it for a game or 2 if we literally don’t have anyone else, but he constantly did it when we needed a goal at the end of a game. Take a defender off, put an attacker on and move Dom to RB, and it never worked. Not once, yet he still did it every time. It was as if he was just so beleaguered by the end of the season, he used it as a comfort blanket.

Now Iraola has just done the same thing.

Are we saying Slot was actually right all along?

I bet Slot was laughing his head off in his Ibiza apartment when he saw Iraola put Dom at RB on Saturday. It kind of gives him justification for something he got absolutely hammered for, don't you think?

Please, Andoni, if you read these pages (which I’m sure you do because you’re a Liverpool fan now), please no more Dom at RB. Please.

I don’t care who you play there, but please not Dom. I’ve still got PTSD from watching that last season.

03 Sep 2026 14:14:51
I’m sure this won’t be a popular post, but just my opinion. Iraola is playing 2 6/8 hybrids and a 10/9 hybrid. Dom is an 8/10 hybrid. There’s no natural position for him in this formation. Imo he can play any of these 3 positions, but won’t get his best attributes out of them. Under Slot, in a 433, it made sense not to play Dom at RB, but under Iraola, in this formation, I’m not so sure.

I’d like to see him as an RB with freedom to roam for a few games and someone with more defensive awareness (Nyoni/Macca) in midfield for a few games. Szoboszlai and Munoz on the right. I like the idea of that.

03 Sep 2026 14:44:08
Dom's absolute best position really is as the number 10 leading the press. Maybe you don't get as much creativity from him as Wirtz, but that's the best way to harness his best traits while minimizing the risk of his weaknesses in terms of lack of positional awareness. He is an excellent 8 in most respects and can also play in the double pivot, but he needs an ideal partner that can sit.

Right now we don't have one, which is why the suggestion that he plays right back is not a terrible one. When we do end up buying one, then sure, playing in the double pivot would be where he should be, unless Wirtz isn't playing the 10.

03 Sep 2026 14:57:48
This is the absolutely crazy thing about our midfield. Szoboszlai, Mac Allister, Gravenberch, Nyoni and Wirtz's strength all get amplified playing alongside a proper physical, more defensive-minded midfielder.
Everyone can see it.
Madness.

03 Sep 2026 15:04:02
But then you're taking the mystical 'legs' out of MF. Grav and Macca aren't gonna cover the ground. No legs in MF has been one of the major gripes on here since last year.

03 Sep 2026 15:07:24
Szob should not play RB ever if he doesn't have positional discipline as suggested. He should either play in the middle, at 10, or at RW, the latter being where I think he should be personally.

03 Sep 2026 15:21:49
I think both things can be correct on this topic. Yes, Slot got slaughtered for playing Szobo RB and I did too and on a good day, I wouldn't want that either. And btw, he didn't sign a 5 year extension to play RB.

Now, that was then. This is now. And right now as @Lowel put it, Szobo lacks the defensive nous, awareness and decision-making in terms of his passing choices, to play the no. 8 the way we need him to play it. Grav is no better either right now.

The reality (this is also "now") is that Frimpong, who many of us wanted to get a chance this season, is massively struggling right now.

So what should Iraola do in the meantime cos, remember, he is there to find solutions to issues in the short/long term? Just keep things the same when they are not working? Of course not, and he won't do that, thankfully.

Therefore if Szobo has to play RB till things get better (not what we all want, of course) then, so be it. Again, both views can be correct at the same time here.

03 Sep 2026 15:33:15
Frimpong struggled last season at RB whenever Bradley was out too. And wasn’t Wirtz playing ahead of Dom and Grav last year whenever we had our best team available? Seems to me putting him at RB now would be pretty much identical to when he was out there last year.

03 Sep 2026 15:42:54
Slot was rightly criticised for playing Dom at RB. If Iraola also does so, he should be criticised too. Dom is a CM or an AM. At a push he could be a RW. He is nowhere near good enough defensively to play RB, though.

Frimpong might not be a great RB, but he at least defends the 1v1 situations to an average Premier League standard. Dom is clearly a front foot player though. He can power through challenges, he can press, he can run beyond players and he can score goals. As soon as he’s backing up towards his own goal and has to stand someone up, he gets found out. He has the wrong body shape/stance when defending 1v1, and that leaves him flat footed and relying on recovery pace after he’s beaten.

That’s fine in midfield when there are players behind you and you’ve got 30-40 yards to recover. At RB, though, if you get beaten, either a shot is going at goal or a cross is going into the box. There is nobody behind you, and it’s unlikely you’ll get back in.

Karma B and Flo Musiala are correct. Slot was absolutely battered for playing Dom at RB. He’s a last resort there in my opinion and whilst Bradley is injured, it makes sense that Dom might occasionally have to fill in to allow for tactical changes within a game. But I still do not want to see him start a single game at RB.

03 Sep 2026 15:53:51
You need a far higher degree of positional discipline to play in a pivot and Szoboszlai doesn’t have anywhere near the required level to play there, so Right Back suits a player who has a good engine and can run all day.

{Ed666's Note - I don’t even think it’s that much of a nuanced role Victor. I mean we’ve all played football how difficult can it be to stay back and keep your position when you sense danger or when you’ve made a forward run and you or the team have lost the ball to track back. It’s elementary stuff and these are meant to be proffesionals.

03 Sep 2026 15:30:00
this right position, please not Frimpong, he doesn't have a clue at right back, just find the right formation to get the best out of our midfield,
still can't believe that we didn't bring in a proper right back,
and a proper right winger,
feels like we don't have the right people in charge,
however, I do think that there will be a couple of changes come the winter transfer window, Minteh for one, and Macca going out and replaced with someone who can actually run and tackle.

03 Sep 2026 16:12:22
Frimpong has only played two games this season. He is struggling, so we want him replaced and that's giving him a chance?
And replace him with a player that is struggling in his more natural position? Hmmmm.

03 Sep 2026 16:32:51
People making out this playing in a pivot is rocket science. Should be a 30 second conversation between Andoni and the players to get across what he expects.

03 Sep 2026 17:29:14
Half of you plus szob have to realise doms best position is rb. Hes's a rb just like Trent was. People fought over putting him in midfield but like dom he was a useless prima donna there who just messed up the mf. We wanted a Trent replacement we got one in dom.

03 Sep 2026 18:28:57
Interested to know why people calling for Dom at RB weren’t piping up to defend Slot’s decision to play him there last season?

He got hammered for that on a weekly basis on these pages.

It is way too early to judge anyone in this new system yet.