Liverpool banter 10

02 Sep 2026 00:44:30
Hope Jaden Danns can stay fit, I think he has something and we will need him.

02 Sep 2026 03:37:19
It will be a long while for him to get back up to speed to play football at the senior level. He has only just started playing u21 football again.

02 Sep 2026 08:41:05
Yep. Danns could well help us out between now and Hugo's return if he can stay fit, even if it’s just for a few mins at the end of games. A natural finisher.

02 Sep 2026 09:41:37
Hailstones, why do our fans hold Jaden Danns in such high regard? He is 21 soon and has played 10 games for the club, most of them in the cup against lower-league teams or Premier League teams' second-string teams.
Not sure how long he has left on his contract but it will be the last one for us.

02 Sep 2026 00:42:29
Very early days but if anyone is onto a young lad from Under18s, Luca Eden, he is only 16, and watching him is like watching Steven Gerrard. It's actually fascinating to see how similar they are. Long way to go for him, but some player in the waiting if he lives up to the hype.

{Ed001's Note - he does look special.}

02 Sep 2026 00:57:27
I know ed 01 i was hoping he was a bit older because he would probably get in our current midfield, but he is worth being patient for and i look forward to watching his progress.

{Ed001's Note - fair point, he does look good enough to make a difference right now.}

02 Sep 2026 04:59:11
Hearing about our Luca is so heartwarming. Hopefully, he stays injury free and AI does what we did with Ngumoha in the cup games.

02 Sep 2026 08:03:35
15 he is.

02 Sep 2026 08:19:57
Thanks, Yoda!

02 Sep 2026 08:24:30
Classic Zed. 😂

02 Sep 2026 08:44:49
Not 16 until the Spring. Cracking little player. Would imagine he will be with the U21’s soon enough. Probably who we plan to replace Endo with next summer. 😂

02 Sep 2026 09:46:47
What happened to young Abe? He was flavour of the month not so long ago.

02 Sep 2026 06:55:01
I'd heard his name but wow, ed1 giving that praise makes me very interested.
He's scouse too isn't he?

02 Sep 2026 10:08:06
With Nyoni, McConnell and Eden, that’s our midfield sorted out for the next 10 years. 🙄

In all seriousness, why not let them get on with it without labelling them the “next Gerrard”? Have we not learned from previous young players how difficult it is to succeed at an elite club like Liverpool? Bajectic is away back to Spain for about a million quid, when he was going to be our DM for years to come even tho he only played about 20 minutes in the PL in that position.

Jayden Danns is another I’ve seen mentioned, but it’s not up to these young guys to rescue the team. If they make it at Liverpool then it’s a great bonus. But ask yourself how many academy players there have been and how many have made a career at Liverpool? A very small amount, so please less of the hyperbole and let the kids play and the coaching hopefully does its job.
I mean, how can you live up to the hype of being the next Stevie Gerrard? Seriously. 🤷‍♂️

02 Sep 2026 00:38:39
I'm looking forward to the season, of course, but it's hard to feel anything other than disappointment at the way things are now. I'm excited about the new signing - top quality, them. It's the club I worry about. Since Klopp came in, and the club showed some direction, I've held faith that things are just well run at Liverpool. This window has shaken that faith. I don't think the club is run as well as I believed.

The biggest issue, for me, is they're not backing the new coach in. They've given him a threadbare squad, and if he fails to make the CL at the end of this campaign, the board will blame Andoni. Signing a new coach and not strengthening the squad in any meaningful way is just unprofessional, as far as I'm concerned.

Anyway, let's get things going. Maybe they're planning on a rebuild of sorts, and thinking it'll take a season for AI to get things running smoothly. Who knows. Now I've got that off my chest; let's move on. Window shut, let's go.

02 Sep 2026 00:59:27
The club is very obviously not well run, and the myths of Liverpool being "the smartest men in the room" and "laughing on deadline day while other clubs panic buy" become more laughable each year. The clearest evidence of us not being well run is that, despite all the advantages the club has (enormous revenues, global support and prestige), we win about 4-5 trophies a decade - far fewer than we could if we were more efficient.

It's frustrating because Liverpool have everything that 99.9% of clubs dream of having - we could do so much more with it.

02 Sep 2026 01:02:18
How have we not strengthened the squad? How have they not backed the coach when they’ve just spent £123m on a player?

I honestly think you are allowing last season to cloud your judgement. There were mitigating circumstances for our poor performances last season, but it doesn’t make the previous season's champions suddenly crap players. Even if we’d signed no one, we would’ve been better than last season.

As it is we’ve significantly strengthened the defence and have got 2 wingers in. One has started really well and the other is one of the best out and out wingers in world football.

Rio is a year older. Isak and Wirtz have had a year to settle, and the former looks like he’s getting back to full fitness after a really unfortunate broken leg curtailed his season last year.



The midfield will be fine; we just need to find the right balance like we did in 24/25 with the same players.

Iraola will have to work with the fullbacks to improve them both defensively and offensively, but that can be done.

Most of all Iraola needs to get the confidence back in the players. They all look a bit beleaguered after last season and seem to be questioning themselves, which causes hesitation.

A few good results will help with that and I’ve a strong feeling they are just around the corner.

We’ve got a really good squad which, with a bit of work, could end up being a great squad.

Have some faith.

02 Sep 2026 03:31:48
Kerkez was crap last year, and looks crap this year, and there are quite a few other players who could have the same accusation thrown at them. Gravenberch continues to dine out on having a good 6-month spell nearly 2 years ago, Szobo produces moments of magic but zero consistency, Frimpong keeps pretending to be a football player, Isak saunters around like he’s a Messi regen rather than the Benteke regen he is. If we get serious injuries this season and/or currently injured players (Bradley, Ekitike) don’t recover sufficiently, do we have a squad that can compete for the league, let alone CL and FA Cup? We clearly do not.

The club has let Iraola down, and this season is going to be a big wake up call after the years of progress under Klopp. The owners have history of this though - even when we were looking excellent under Klopp we under strengthened instead of pushing our advantage (like Arsenal have). The club has Michelin-star ideas but doesn’t want to pay Michelin-star prices. They may be good at generating revenue, but if that revenue isn’t put into strengthening the team then what is it all for?

{Ed666's Note - Couldn’t agree more seano..Bring on the Bhattia era..

02 Sep 2026 06:46:17
Alonso backed
Mersesca backed
De Zerbi backed
Arteta backed

Iraola needs to improve the players.

02 Sep 2026 07:10:39
The answer is simple, Seano
FSG is an investment company.

Looking to make a return on their capital is what they do. People seem to forget that. If the club keeps making money, then great for the owners.

If it gets to the end of the season and Linda can put her red dress on and walk around the pitch, then it’s an added bonus.

02 Sep 2026 07:19:33
I wouldn't say Arsenal pushed their advantage and strengthened. I think the only top club that had a good window was City.

Arsenal - light up top
Chelsea - light in the middle (injuries dependent)
Man Utd - light in defence (ageing/injuries)
Us - RW, full backs, at least 1 cm.



However, Munoz, Gakpo, Szobo and Frimpong can all cover RW for now. Our main issue is the bench. We have players who can rotate between positions within the main group, but our bench has always been pretty light.

02 Sep 2026 07:43:18
Alonso backed
Mersesca backed
De Zerbi backed
Arteta backed

Transition! Or is that only a Liverpool thing? 🤔

02 Sep 2026 07:54:10
Rio “We have a great squad” did you see our bench the first two games? Like every pundit out there said bringing in Barcola doesn’t solve our issues, so I’d take your rose tinted bins off with that. You can allude to injuries, but these injuries are not simple knocks.

They’re long term and we’ve opted not to do anything about it. Not replacing Jones was criminal for me.

Also, these myths about us being a well run club have been dismissed now. It was clear Klopp was the mastermind during that golden era.

02 Sep 2026 08:49:23
Doesn’t really matter how well or badly we are run. By next Summer it will be a totally different crowd overseeing things. Why would FSG’s eyes be on the ball when they are moving on?

02 Sep 2026 09:18:16
We won the League in 2025 and then spent over £400m. Most of us thought we had strengthened. Hindsight is proving, and may continue to prove, that that isn't the case.
We can also use hindsight to judge the strengthening done by Arsenal, City, Spurs etc.



I will also add that Arsenal and City are well run clubs. PSG, too.
As well run and wealthy clubs, they are also expected to challenge and win trophies.
Maybe more so than we are.

02 Sep 2026 07:59:04
When was Arteta backed??

They needed a top striker and a top left winger and got a defensive mid and a cb who are no better than what they already have. Probably not as good as what they already have actually.

02 Sep 2026 09:50:32
Is there a rule that says if you buy hundreds of millions you are guaranteed to be successful?

02 Sep 2026 09:53:02
Good points Sir Bob and Rigsby.

I genuinely think after Arne won the league in his first season they were all basking in glory, and the smartest men in the room god complex took hold.

FSG put too much faith in Edwards and Hughes, and Arne, and allowed them to make huge investment which they thought would see us good for years. They probably thought only a few minor squad tweaks would be needed in the next five years after that. They thought they had the keys to the kingdom, it was a huge investment but they wouldn’t need to do it again. Ali's and VVD's successors were in, the attack was set, and Mo was unstoppable.

What they forgot to factor into the model was human things.

The Jurgen impact on squad building, fitness etc, and that year one wasn’t all Arne.

They also vastly overestimated the judgement and ability of Hughes and Edwards in the market, and gave them way too much leeway.

The squad churn should have been done more gradually.

Easy to forget after the stroll of our Premier League win how truly competitive Premier League football can be.

There are clever and ambitious people employed at clubs across the country, from Brighton and Brentford to City and Arsenal. Never mind PSG, Real, Barca etc.

They’re all battling for their position, and the Premier League has been hoovering up all the talent from every continent for years, making any match against a top 10 team quite unpredictable from one season to the next.

We’ve seen that already in the first two games, games we should have easily won on paper, but tellingly we only have two points.

02 Sep 2026 00:35:58
If you think our window was bad take a look across to the DickSpring stadium!

Sell Beto, sell Ndiaye, negotiate a deal for Balogun, then mess about with the fee so go for Zirkzee, get rejected so go back for Balogun only for him to tell you to do one.

Talk about a cock up.

Started the window with Beto and Barry (the chuckle brothers) and ended it with just Barry. You couldn't make it up.

02 Sep 2026 01:31:33
Dick Spring. 😂

02 Sep 2026 09:25:31
Yebbut they've re-signed Irish Jack on loan.

My brother-in-law is a Blue and he's been telling me all summer that they need a striker and he was keen on Delap. I spoke to him on Sunday and he said he was looking forward to seeing Brennan Johnson playing for them.
I just nodded and smiled.

02 Sep 2026 00:22:08
{Ed's Note - Ed001 has posted a new article entitled, Matchday 2 - Quick Round Up

02 Sep 2026 00:39:50
Great read as always Ed.
The Calvert-Lewin fitness bit made me laugh.

{Ed001's Note - thanks mate.}

02 Sep 2026 01:10:21
Great write-up, Ed.
I can't understand why more clubs ignored Jackson and just let him go to Villa. A thoroughly underappreciated player.

{Ed001's Note - he has disciplinary issues which puts teams off.}

02 Sep 2026 01:33:29
Brilliant to have them back Ed001 👏

{Ed001's Note - thanks Bazza.}

02 Sep 2026 09:31:29
I didn't realise Jackson was that bad.
If he is, it's not surprising that with the transfer window looming Villa could beat it because a lot of other clubs would Neverland him anyway.

01 Sep 2026 23:56:43
So apparently we asked Monaco to wait and we will get closer to their asking price for Camara?
So hopefully we'll be in with a bit in Jan and probably looking to offload Macallister.
Spoke to Camara also, asking to wait. There's still hope.

02 Sep 2026 01:24:38
Why wouldn’t we pay it now if they wanted him?

02 Sep 2026 09:33:19
We're saving up and we'll have our Christmas money in January.

01 Sep 2026 23:38:00
I love the signings we did make like Barcola, Araujo, Jacquet, Munoz and some promising youngsters, but I can't help but feel we only got about half done what we should have.

The window could've been so much better with just a few more deals like:

1) Mama and Chiesa out. No need to replace either, just use Woodman as no.2 GK (Jaros back end of year I think) and Koumas takes Chiesa's minutes.

2) Camara or similar in. Macca can stay if happy with limited minutes or go (VG said Man City made a late approach).

3) Sign a RB. So many options, even get a loan.

Of course, more could've been done like Tsimi out and use Chambers or sign better LB. Maybe Gakpo out if unhappy and get Mbaye, Sarr or Minteh etc etc but the 3 points above were in my opinion very doable and would have made a world of difference to bring better balance and improved quality to our team.

In a way it makes sense to get about half done when you have a relatively incompetent Sporting Director working in half capacity for two clubs.

It was so odd to me that it always felt like we could only work one deal at a time but now it makes more sense since Hughes was working transfers for two teams at the same time and even the Barcola deal had to be finalised by Gordon.



I think ultimately FSG is at fault there. Hughes and Edwards were left in way too long making a mess and Hughes should never have been allowed to work for two clubs at the same time, that is bonkers.

Nothing else we can do. What's done is done. Iraola is not a miracle worker so we'll need a lot of patience this season.

Klopp had similar seasons and worked miracles, but at least he had players with more fight in them even if quality was lacking a bit. Our current crop of players, especially our midfielders, are just too soft and there seems to be little fight and passion in some of them so Iraola will find it harder in my opinion.

Still, looking forward to this season, especially seeing what Barcola can bring to the team. I definitely think Wirtz and Isak can both improve having the pace of Barcola and Munoz. I'd consider using Gakpo up top over Isak if Isak doesn't kick on in the next couple of games.

02 Sep 2026 07:14:11
I’m not a fan of Mama but I certainly don’t want a guy that couldn’t cut it in a lesser league as our backup keeper either. To me that’s just ludicrous.

01 Sep 2026 23:28:49
I think this team is going to struggle. We have Ipswich away Friday night and I’m not confident at all. The team is so imbalanced and looks like we are going to have to play players out of position.

01 Sep 2026 23:51:35
Good to read your opinion.

02 Sep 2026 00:11:31
I think we’ll batter Ipswich myself.

02 Sep 2026 00:39:28
Ipswich just got battered by Manchester United and are one of the favourites for relegation. If Iraola can’t beat them with the likes of Isak, Wirtz and Barcola then we have bigger problems than an unbalanced squad.

01 Sep 2026 23:26:21
There are a few positive straws to clutch at:
1) Expectations on the new manager are lowered. Less pressure, less clamour for instant results. Gives Iraola a bit of time with the squad.

2) Iraola can work with the players and see exactly what he can get out of them. There isn’t a player in our squad who can’t improve. Szob is arguably in the form of his life, but all the others can and have done better.

3) Hughes can be replaced with no more damage to the squad.

I’m keen to see what Koumas and Nyoni can give us whereas if we had bought more players, their paths would have been restricted.

01 Sep 2026 23:38:51
That's the spirit, Ron.
Let's see what Iraola can do. We've been wanting to see more minutes for our youth players... They'll get a ton this season, I'm sure.
Koumas, Nyoni and Rio all look extremely good. Also keen to see TYLP this season.

01 Sep 2026 23:45:24
That's not a bad way to look at it, Ron.

01 Sep 2026 23:50:52
Szobo is in the form of his life?

01 Sep 2026 23:52:55
A fan being a bit optimistic - it'll never catch on.