His physique lends itself to CB but he’s not effective there. He’s nothing special defensively, he’s worse than Conor going forward in my view. If he had been signed, I would have still preferred Conor for the starting role.
Was late to this, my bad! once again, there’s a tax on the step between Portugal & the EPL, never mind a team defending a title. He’s nowhere near Frimpong attacking wise. A solid RB at best, who emerged into that role this past season, having been tried at CB (which he is not good at anyway).
Happy birthday Rae :). This win’s for you, the trophy for all of us.
His storytelling remains an inspiration to how I & many others should approach the world, our loved ones & life in general. A glass to him & a warm hug to you.
Rae, my deepest sympathies for your loss. I was incredibly lucky to speak to him about Liverpool, Benfica, football, growing up, parenting & God knows what else.
Noted 😊!
…he’s young so needs time to develop. And that would be my argument. Could walk in better than Robbo and Tsimi assuming the Benfica tax doesn’t kick in again. But I feel like there’s still a gap between the LB LFC need & the player he is. I would let him develop more at Benfica, if it were me.
It’s hard to say, his body of work is very thin. We’re talking about a couple of seasons, a shade over 50 games for Benfica. In my view, he has discipline issues (too many bookings for my liking, but people will enjoy that passionate side to his game. He’s not as solid a defender as I’d like but…
He’s super talented and has been one of Benfica’s bright spots this season, definitely an upgrade on Robbo or Tsimi… but then I have to factor in that LFC have a rather poor record buying players from Benfica which immediately makes me suspicious of his successful transition.
Mind you, those teams could land in very different places after their final matches as well. Hard call to make either way.
@gagstandon.bsky.social maybe a slight change to the question I asked you in your post match show based on this…
Obviously if you have ambitions to win the thing, you need to play all the opponents, big & small. But looking at how the seedings may shape up, staying in the top 2 means avoiding teams like Real Madrid, City, Atlético, Bayern etc before the quarterfinal at the least.
I assume these views of the playoffs and round of 16 from the FotMob app are accurate. And if so, there’s definitely a case for Liverpool to just make 100% sure of a 7th win out of 7 in their UCL campaign.
Fugly win, but accumulate enough of those & then you likely win things. So keep them coming where they make sense to exist.
Ah, the obligatory Stuart Robson “Trent incapable defending” narrative. Almost went the whole match without it.
Running?
The more I see, the more I’m sad Darwin pretty much stayed the same player from Benfica, just a much more expensive version. Raw & talented & sub optimal coaching then. But I naturally struggle to defend him now with the same narrative.
Oh well, at least Alisson gets a chance to get back into shot stopping sharpness 🤦♂️
Am I weird to think Trent shouldn’t have to have been closing both his opponent on the wing AND the one just outside the box?
To be fair, go back a generation & the same isn’t as true. Bernardo Silva, Jan Oblak, João Cancelo all developed nicely after leaving but perhaps that speaks more to their destinations & how they were used rather than some hard coded pattern of leaving too young.
Can’t help but lament the presence of Felix & Renato on this list & think what a damn pity this dynamic exists where Benfica feel obligated to pull the trigger on every big deal that comes in. Goncalo Ramos, Guedes & João Neves also left too early in my view.
My late mom would love 2 of your choices. Mind you, I share the same soft spots for Nuno & R9.
I still want that proper 6. Amazing what Slot has done with the place, but I wonder if a proper first choice 6 wouldn’t enable the present cast to show the fuller extent of their box to box / attacking abilities.
Appreciate that. I think I fixed it? Let me know… 👍🏼
Keeping out of trouble, perhaps too much under the radar 😁. But all good. You?
Introduce yourself with 4 football players.
Introduce yourself with 4 video games.
What are the chances… both of us with a Lauren, both of them short … 🤣
…get sad when it ultimately ends in him walking away (as opposed to the sack - interesting) but it *needed* to end. Even players who were great under Klopp look good for the refresh. The best part is that there’s a hint that possible success doesn’t need or rely on Klopp, & that is a good thing.
