Liverpool banter 9

02 Sep 2026 13:05:14
Interesting article on Liverpool.com saying that Conor Coady and Wrexham have mutually cancelled his contract and he is now back at Liverpool, training and coaching with the U21s, whilst being available on a free transfer.

I wonder if we would offer him a 6m or a pay and play contract?

He's obviously dropped a bit since his time at Wolves - when I do recall a few folks on the boards asking us to bring him back - but he is HG, CT and I'm sure AI will see if he could do a job in our squad lists?

It may be nothing (most likely is nothing!) but worth being aware of.

02 Sep 2026 13:38:51
Is that a joke? Poor one if it is.

02 Sep 2026 13:43:39
No, it's not a joke. If it was, I'd add inane laughing emojis.

02 Sep 2026 13:46:58
Why don't we sign Spearing as well if we are shopping in our U21's?

02 Sep 2026 13:58:44
Zed, if you wanna keep it a buck, @Brown Jesus has a point.

02 Sep 2026 15:00:21
If I was you, Zed, I would start adding those emojis.

02 Sep 2026 12:50:56
Ironically we need Macca to have a great season. He's probably our most creative midfielder with passes that break the lines when he's on it.
If we can get Macca playing a lot quicker and stop the play-acting when he loses the ball, he should be integral in us achieving something this season.


Gravs is a limited midfielder. Hopefully Andoni instructs him to sit and be a 6 again. Soboslis is a conundrum. I don't see him centrally. I'd push him to the right. Great crosser and great striker.
Hopefully they're all fit for an entire season. Deary me, why did we let Jones go to be left even shorter?

02 Sep 2026 13:30:23
Jones was causing issues by all accounts. Best to get him out the door.

Personally I think Grav is an excellent player when used correctly. He shouldn’t be on the edge of the opposition’s box, although I do think he’s been hampered by the lack of runs in behind in that regard.

He gets to the edge of the box and there's no pass on.

I’m looking forward to seeing how the midfield develops because they were excellent in the title winning season.

02 Sep 2026 13:47:23
Iraola did say the other day in his presser, he isn’t going to tell Grav not to run with the ball and where to be.

But in fairness he also said about 6 weeks ago about Elliot that he had impressed and he was even more eager to be a LFC player.



Iraola has his squad now and I’m excited to see how he coaches and develops the team.

02 Sep 2026 13:50:46
Grav has no game awareness and can't pass more than 5 yards. He's a big soft lad. I look forward to seeing Iraola change that. He has no choice but to.

02 Sep 2026 14:02:45
Rios, not sure either Grav or Szobo have any defensive or tactical awareness/nous as no. 8s. Hendo, Gini & Milner had that despite being able to attack in advanced areas.

They can be so careless at times with their passing and decision-making, and maybe those can be mitigated against via coaching, but they have to be more aware positional-wise and in their decision-making in advanced areas cos they lose the ball when you least expect it.

02 Sep 2026 15:11:55
I said this on another post, but I think Szobo should be our starting RB. I never thought after last season I'd be saying this but he loses the ball too much centrally and he can't beat his defender enough to play on the wing. He can be our TAA replacement; great early crosses but with defensive lapses. Only difference is he has a better engine.

02 Sep 2026 15:17:11
Oli, wasn’t Gini the one player fans used to moan about - but absence makes the heart grow fonder?

He wasn’t the most imaginative passer, but he was so useful on the left of midfield. He was great at keeping the ball when surrounded, and then spinning away with it to charge up the pitch.

Those are the same qualities Grav has, and possibly why Klopp played Grav on the left of midfield.

I reckon that’s Grav’s best position, with Mac sitting, and Szob rm - but that doesn’t work with Wirtz taking up the third midfield slot.

The problem is that Szob and Grav both work in a Klopp midfield trio, but neither has the passing repertoire to play in a double pivot behind Wirtz.

In some ways, Mac and Nyoni look like the best partnership in the pivot.

02 Sep 2026 16:02:11
I would have liked Manu Kone for 50-60 m Euro and offered Fede for free and has played with most of our French players. Overall better stats than Camara on fwd passes, fwd passes % key passes and carrying. Only slightly lower on poss won duels and prog passes (datamb). Would link up nicely when we finally get Olise. 😂

02 Sep 2026 17:01:08
Ireola will never play him there, snugglepool. He’ll have seen the fans' reaction to when Arne played him there last week.

02 Sep 2026 12:07:56
Said it yesterday about Sarr and bad egg. now his agent who is also Camara's has come out giving dogs to Palace and Monaco!
Denying them moves let's say they become superstars and Real come knocking we'd be getting the same crap!
I don't like it one bit.

02 Sep 2026 12:30:43
I’m hoping the Sarr interest has now gone. Far better players out there for a better price.

02 Sep 2026 12:40:41
We needed midfielders.

02 Sep 2026 12:44:52
He is acting in the best interests of his players, it's his job to get his clients the moves they want... What do you want him to do, just let their careers be dictated by the clubs?

02 Sep 2026 12:35:20
He's probably just a bit miffed they didn't move and he didn't get his 10%, or whatever he managed to wangle out of them.
Agents make money when a player moves, this leach will blame anyone he can, for teams hanging on to their players who are contracted to them.

02 Sep 2026 12:58:09
Just go and get Rayan in Jan.

02 Sep 2026 13:03:51
I still don’t like the terminology being used constantly. We “needed midfielders” is not really accurate. We’ve “left Iraola short in midfield” is even less truthful. We have 6 players for 2 positions: Szobo, Grav, Macca, Endo, Nyoni and McConnell.

A more accurate statement for me is the midfield lacks balance and steel. I think we should’ve aimed to sell Mac Allister so we could replace him with someone more mobile and naturally defensive. I made no secret of the fact I wanted Lamine Camara to replace Macca. Anyone wanting him to replace Endo is just delusional though as that just doesn’t work in terms of the finances or getting everyone the playing time they’d want. Many Prem teams have had an older midfielder in the squad as 4th or 5th choice down the years; Henderson at Chelsea, Kovacic at City etc. Years gone by we always had Milner, Arsenal have had guys like Jorginho/Nordgaard, Man United had Eriksen etc.

I really don’t get why people have a problem with Endo. It’s baffling to me, as he is a good player and ultimately Dom, Macca and Grav will alternate as the starting duo. Endo is for the bench and domestic cups. We also seem to be moaning about not moving for other teams' youth players (Lewis-Skelly, Chema Andres etc) whilst we have our own academy producing players who deserve a chance like Nyoni.

All this doesn’t make us short or in need of midfielders, though ultimately it just means we haven’t upgraded on the players we have to achieve better midfield balance. Something I think every fan was in favour of doing, and thus a more than fair criticism of the transfer window. I strongly believe we should’ve moved on Macca and brought in someone who would be a better partner to Grav or Dom. Saying we’re short though just smacks of hyperbole. Anything to incite a bit of panic or drama though, eh.

02 Sep 2026 13:17:09
MK talking absolute sense.
Andoni will wring every drop out of what he has at his disposal.
The issue could be around exhaustion since he demands so much from
his forwards and when Isak gets injured we are thin at CF, although Munoz will
surprise us, I believe.


If Trey and another break through this season we will
look back with glee. This is Koumas' last chance at LFC and a big chance it is.

02 Sep 2026 13:19:18
Depends on what you see in Endo (who hasn't kicked a ball in 2 years) and two 18-year-old kids. If those are your midfield options, then widen it by adding a few more kids from the academy to make it 10 players for 2 positions.


We have had three managers who didn't fancy Endo (including Iraola). If you think fans have a problem then so do the coaches. He is not good enough.

02 Sep 2026 13:23:24
MK, very sensible post.
What is your take on the right back position?
Happy that Aroujo & Gomez can cover until Bradley comes back?

02 Sep 2026 13:33:36
Semantics, MK. Short can mean short of numbers. Short can mean short in quality. Short can mean short in height. We are short in quality for the system (whether it be Slot's or Iraola's).

Endo is crap. Can't run, can't stay fit and can't get the ball out of his feet quick enough. Lovely guy, I am sure.

Re Macca - We could have told his agent to find another club at the start of the summer.

I look forward to seeing Nyoni getting more minutes.



McConnell has been the worst of the kids given an opportunity in preseason. There has been no evidence to suggest he will ever be a Liverpool first team player.

Macca will no doubt run his contract down now for a cut-price or even free move to Spain.

Grav and Szobo will now have to show they have the smarts to play the way Iraola wants. Else, we have some very big contracts to offload in future windows.

tldr: the club have left Iraola short in midfield.

02 Sep 2026 13:17:58
Mk scouser, no you understand perfectly. I think you were in the minority crowd of repeating the "title winning midfield". Don't backtrack now.
It's been stated by nearly everyone on this page that we needed to improve midfield.
I believe I posted more than anyone else about midfield this entire summer.


No one stated we needed numbers. When one mentions short, we let Jones go. So by not improving on what we have whilst also letting Jones go, we've left ourselves short and even weaker.
I'm not repeating myself on what I think of the 3 first teamers available. As the famous edd002 said use the search engine.

02 Sep 2026 13:55:25
If I have six gallons of fuel for my petrol car, but three of those gallons are petrol and the other three are diesel, then effectively I only have three gallons of fuel. Numbers/quantity isn't meaningful if it's not the right type and/or not of sufficient quality.

02 Sep 2026 14:05:20
For me, the whole Sarr thingy just reeks of abject desperation. For starters, we wanted him 6 years ago from Watford, and then nothing.

Suddenly, it seems like someone went to the basement and dusted off this interest from pre-Lockdown period (as if Sarr was still 21) then say, "Hey, buddy. Fancy coming to us after all these years?"

To me, it stunk. Just my take.

02 Sep 2026 14:17:48
How much cash did Chelsea spend on midfielders again? Caicedo, Lavia, Enzo (now sold even after the numerous posts about how much Chelsea have backed Alonso after they went 2-0 up but funnily went quiet after they shipped 3) all could be described as CDMs, yet Chelsea still ship goals for fun. 🤷‍♂️ We have 6 players fighting for 2 starting spots - 4 prem winners, 1 of them a World Cup winner.

🤷‍♂️ Will they be able to adapt to AI football - I have no idea, but I think they have earned the right to at least be given a chance to try before I start writing them off - based on us signing a so-called CDM that means 6 players now fighting for one spot, which seems insane to me until we give both them an AI a good run of games.

02 Sep 2026 14:38:35
We had Salah six years ago, OliRed.
We no longer have Salah.

02 Sep 2026 14:57:20
Clay, on RB, I think we should've moved on from Frimpong and signed a new RB. Kounde was my choice as he'd also be a CB option which would've negated the need for Araujo.

Seems like as a club we don't want to block the return pathway for Bradley though.

02 Sep 2026 13:58:14
Is Ron Funk another Harry regen? Must be from all the stuff he's misremembering and also quoting Eds to make his point seem stronger and more relevant.

If you had used the search function like you suggested others do, you would have known that MK has been clamouring for the signing of Camara from the very start of the window. He has been fairly consistent in that actually. And that he'd like Kounde to be brought in.

And like has been mentioned on this page, Nyoni is being seen as the replacement for Jones. Andoni did name drop him as a player he was very impressed with during pre season and he has been on the bench the past two games and even came on to try and make a difference in our last one.

FPF put it nicely. We are not short on numbers but we are short on quality. In an ideal world, we would have moved on both Endo and Macca and brought in at least one midfielder who can sit and play the 6. But we're not in an ideal world and now that the window has closed, we just have to make do until we can do something about it next time.

02 Sep 2026 14:31:13
Ron, if you yourself had used the search function, you'd see I said months ago I wanted Camara to replace Macca. You're upset, I get it. But don't lie or put words in my mouth, please. I have caveated many a debate with the fact that we do still have a title winning midfield trio on our books, but that doesn't mean I wanted them to be the midfield this season. Iraola plays a different system to Slot. Also, Jones going hasn't left us shorter (in terms of numbers at least) than we were because we've moved Nyoni and McConnell up to the first team. Most of our fans thought Jones was terrible, so shouldn't be much shorter in terms of quality either, unless we're now changing the narrative?

Though I agree with FPF that McConnell does not look good enough (he floundered in the pre-season games I watched), where I disagree with FPF, is that Endo isn't crap and he quite clearly can run; albeit not very quickly. That's also hyperbole. As 5th choice behind the 3 obvious players and also Nyoni, I really can't see what the problem is. He will be an impact sub or a Carabao cup player, as well as a very good role model to have in the squad.

Karma, you've just bare-face lied. Klopp did fancy Endo. He started him ahead of Gravenberch in loads of games. Klopp even started Endo in a cup final against Chelsea (a game in which Endo came out on top against a £260m trio of Caicedo, Enzo and Palmer). Slot didn't fancy Endo, that is true and I'd be talking out my backside if I tried to claim anything otherwise. As for Iraola not fancying him, well he has only just walked through the door so we don't know how much he will or won't play Endo yet. So "three managers" not rating him is just a ridiculous thing to say.

RR, that's a dreadful analogy. A better analogy would be you have 3 gallons of 99 Octane Petrol and 3 gallons of 95 Octane Petrol for your Petrol car. The 95 Octane is lower quality but it's still an option, that might result in a lesser performance, but can be used if you run out of the 99 Octane. Ultimately you have 6 gallons still, but 3 of them are better than the other 3. The Diesel analogy would imply that we cannot use the 3 players (Nyoni, McConnell and Endo) at all. That's again, another case of hyperbole unless they're all injured for 12 months and I've missed that news?

Ultimately, I can't win here. People are upset and so they're making irrational statements from a position of heightened emotion. I wanted to sign Camara as much as anyone, but the circumstances simply were not right. We already have 2 players that we cannot register for the Champions League squad. Hughes failed to improve the midfield quality or balance, but Iraola has hardly been left with a lack of options. The simple fact is, he has 6 players for 2 positions and he will have to find a solution from that until at least January.

02 Sep 2026 16:27:53
idk why Endo gets slated so much on here, especially considering how rarely he plays, he's never really disappointed me whenever he's been in our midfield... don't ever want to see him at CB again though.

02 Sep 2026 11:34:43
I still don’t know why we didn’t go for Cherno Samba, Tonton Zola Mokoukue, Tsigalko, Ibrahim Said & David Prutton.

02 Sep 2026 12:23:25
I think you've just named 5 of the 7 dwarfs there.

02 Sep 2026 12:59:00
Championship manager references, love it 😊!

02 Sep 2026 13:25:07
@Barry,
Why not, as Dopey has just left for Al-Hilal.

02 Sep 2026 14:17:24
cm0102 Prutton would be a dream right now. Or even better, Brett Emerton.

02 Sep 2026 10:44:52
Think Chema Andres will be signing of the summer.

02 Sep 2026 11:15:08
I think Bradley Barcola will be the signing of the summer.

But each to their own opinions.

02 Sep 2026 11:34:31
Vic Munoz is my early pick.

02 Sep 2026 11:40:03
Toss up between Rogers for Chelsea and Barcola. Love Rogers as a player... very expensive but English tax and all that. Hopefully the fact that the club is poison might not help but I think they've got a great manager in and supported him well.

I'm looking forward to seeing Barcola. I think Iraola might rotate him a bit.

He's definitely capable of playing both sides, stronger off the left but quite often with PSG he was rotated with Doue on the right as Kvarta is just top top notch and has cemented that left spot.

Roll on Ipswich and hopefully we can put a strong performance in and kick the season off properly!

02 Sep 2026 12:52:01
Doku/Haaland/Ndiaye seem like a fun attack to watch every week. Ndiaye might make Erling step it up a level... But I think Anderson is a massively overhated player. People are constantly talking about the fee, but he will prove he is worth it by season's end imo.



My bet would be on Munoz though, if not for the question marks over the rest of the team. It might be difficult for him to shine if the rest of the team lets him down.

02 Sep 2026 12:52:25
Barcola will frustrate fans. Henry even pointed out that he's not a guy that will bust a gut to run back and defend.

02 Sep 2026 12:42:08
Who's supplying Barcola? Kerkez or gravenberch? 🤣 We need wirtz and ironically Macca to have big seasons because there's spots in the team that are extremely underwhelming. Kerkez is an extremely lucky boy to be wearing a Liverpool shirt.

02 Sep 2026 14:08:27
RF, Henry has been wrong on a decent amount of stuff. I couldn't be bothered about what he has to say about anything or anyone, personally.

Now I don't rate Barcola like that but he is a good to very good player and will have the platform to show the world that he was not just some scrub on the PSG bench. Over to you, Bradley.

02 Sep 2026 10:42:29
We'll never truly know what went on in this window and why,
But from the outside it certainly looks like a s*** show!

02 Sep 2026 11:45:10
It looked to me that Edwards/Hughes never had a Plan A let alone a Plan B. From Mo going to Slot staying/going and eventually going at end of season, hiring AI in a World Cup year, Edwards going, Hughes about on his way, going all in for Diomande, and when that fell apart it just looked like a scatter gun approach to everyone and no one.


I hope Camara and Minteh join in January as without I fear we'll not make a CL place.

02 Sep 2026 11:50:28
Yay, best time of the year - transfer window shut and the kids putting their social media accounts away and going back to school. Bring on the footy!!

02 Sep 2026 11:35:19
Oh no, @Hoofit. We will know what happened. Ed01 is on the case.

Just give it time.

02 Sep 2026 12:00:43
I've seen on different platforms, we tried for Gusto on loan but were told only a sale from Chelski, and Kone, we spoke to his agent. Don't know if any of that is true.

02 Sep 2026 12:14:18
Does it?

Is it not possible that the coaching staff have faith that they can get the players we have working in the system they want to employ?

We’ve got a few coming back from injury too, so is it not possible that they have faith that these players will come back and make the desired impact?

The priority was to get wingers in. It was obvious from last season that if we are now going to play with a number 9 who we want to score 20+ goals a season, the wide forwards like Salah, Mane, Diaz, Gakpo aren’t going to work.



We needed pace on the wings and players who want to go in behind. We needed to stretch teams a lot more than we did last season.

We got 2 excellent wingers in 1 window. We tried for another but it didn’t work out, so I’m sure we’ll try again in the next window.

In the meantime Iraola has to get the team functioning with what he has. If players can’t do as he needs then I’m sure they’ll be replaced.

02 Sep 2026 13:15:03
Historically we struggle against teams that sit back and park the bus. Not sure how space in behind for players to run helps here. Our biggest issue is lack of discipline in midfield when we commit everyone forward.


Let's not talk about Gravenberch. He won't listen and Iraola has openly said he wouldn't shackle him to play the deeper role. The club should have signed a proper CDM.

02 Sep 2026 14:10:06
Karma, committing everyone forward is the first mistake, imo. That means we have no structure atm.

Hopefully, Iraola can implement some structure and discipline into the team.

02 Sep 2026 10:34:02
Is Hughes gone yet? I really hope he sods off as soon as possible. Despite still needing many players to have a squad that can compete on multiple fronts, Liverpool still managed to somehow be the most spending team this summer again (net spend) don't understand this ed woodward approach at all. Its so idiotic.

02 Sep 2026 11:32:47
Last summer we were the biggest spenders but way down in net spend. This season we are top like you said on net spend but that's because we didn't sell any valuable assets. Last season the media hounded us for our huge investment but failed to take in net spend. Will they do the same with City who spent just under half a billion?

02 Sep 2026 12:58:46
Jones, Bajcetic, Salah, Robertson and Konate all gone for a combined fee of £26m... Hard to have a good net spend with such stellar business.

02 Sep 2026 14:10:40
BJ, where did Baj go to?

02 Sep 2026 14:39:00
Celta Fortuna in the Spanish Segunda Division, hopefully he can get over his injuries and get his career back on track, but it seems a massive step down from what we all expected he could achieve.

02 Sep 2026 10:19:58
One to watch is Dario Osorio who has gone to Palace on loan with obligation to buy for £22m. We will see if he's a hit or miss.

02 Sep 2026 10:19:11
So deadline has passed.

It is what it is, Andoni is going to work his magic, the more time he has with the players the better it will be. You can already see it's better than last year.

My question is now when is Hughes being announced as leaving the club?