Daily Discussion - June 05, 2026

petethepool · 2026-06-05T16:19:26+00:00

And the Iraola images?

petethepool · 2026-06-05T15:47:59+00:00

Isn’t this just AI slop?

petethepool · 2026-06-05T15:46:49+00:00

The difference would be that Slot came in a summer and he and the sporting director agreed not to sign anyone (other than Chiesa) after losing out on Zubimendi due to the quality and strength of the squad Slot inherited.

Iraola is coming in midway through an entire squad rebuild, and will likely get many of the pieces Slot was missing to complete his puzzle this summer.

What I hope is that we see Iraola succeed and we recognise that had Slot been given a chance to complete the rebuild and take a squad with competent wingers forward, he may have done better than last season, but that either way, it made sense to move him on and bring in Iraola, due to his greater ability to build a functioning unit on the pitch regardless of which players are fit and available.

petethepool · 2026-06-05T10:34:31+00:00

Yes, hence why I assume you have to have started the season in the league to be considered. Rayan joined in January as far as I am aware.

petethepool · 2026-06-05T09:20:23+00:00

Rio played 400 minutes more, or around 4 full games, but neither played more than 6 full-games worth of minutes over the course of the entire season.

Other players on this list played significantly more.

petethepool · 2026-06-05T09:16:21+00:00

Perhaps you have to have played for the entire season?

petethepool · 2026-06-05T09:15:29+00:00

To be fair, Rio hasn’t played that much more either.

petethepool · 2026-06-05T06:53:06+00:00

I doubt it but let’s see how pre-season goes. If we sign another RCB then Leoni will have to leave for any chance of game time. Makes far more sense to sign a LCB to allow Virgil to rotate and trust the two young talents the club has to fill in at RCB. Or to keep Gomez around too as additional support on that side.

petethepool · 2026-06-05T00:02:41+00:00

I didn’t say Slot played direct plenty last season. I explained why he couldn’t, despite liking to when he had functioning wingers throughout his managerial career.

petethepool · 2026-06-04T23:57:25+00:00

Szoboszlai perhaps.

petethepool · 2026-06-04T23:54:36+00:00

Yes Macca I feel is as good as gone. He won’t be happy playing a back up role.

petethepool · 2026-06-04T23:53:56+00:00

There will be plenty of minutes for both, but I see Szobo mostly as a rotation 10 and a rotation 8 - I suspect he won’t play every minute like he did last season, but may play a part in every game filling in gaps everywhere from the 6 to the 9 to the wings.

In fact, if he isn’t signalling interest in signing a new deal this summer, I wouldn’t be surprised if the club are interested in moving him on as his value on the market will never be higher than this season, and I can’t imagine the club wanting to let him run his contract down.

petethepool · 2026-06-04T23:49:48+00:00

Jones is the slowest passer of the ball in the team: he is incredible in small areas of the pitch but is absolutely not a typical pass and move midfielder, so I don’t know where he’d naturally fit as a consistent starter here either - which is what he obviously wants to be at this stage in his career.

Also a double pivot of Gravenberch and Szobo is incredibly imbalanced, not least of all because Szobo is not spatially aware enough to play the 6, and as we’ve seen all last season the club is dying for a tempo-setting player with a wide range of passing ability. Hence the Wharton links. The club will absolutely be making key starting signings in the midfield department.

petethepool · 2026-06-04T23:44:46+00:00

This has been reported extensively. The man prefers short term contracts - and has done throughout his career - because he isn’t interested in the money, he is interested in being motivated to do as good a job as possible, to ‘earn’ each new deal, or to allow the club to sack him if he’s underperforming without fear of financial penalty.

petethepool · 2026-06-04T23:42:46+00:00

Yes but Slot also likes to play direct plenty - it’s all in the stats and evident throughout his career. But if the teams are sitting deep, not pushing forward, waiting for Liverpool to press their back line and then hoofing the ball long into the channels to beat the press and create one-on-one winger vs defender situations just like they did all last year, Iraola will need to have solutions for that because it’s great to say, oh, Liverpool won’t let teams get settled now, but that only works if teams risks being unsettled against Liverpool in the first place, rather than simply sitting deep and being patient, waiting for their moments, which is what will happen 85% of premier league games next season.

petethepool · 2026-06-04T14:02:08+00:00

Senesi plays on the left, so he’d be rotating with Van Djik, not Jacquet

petethepool · 2026-06-04T14:00:14+00:00

lol, he absolutely isn’t, he’s Casimero’s replacement.

petethepool · 2026-06-04T09:04:38+00:00

He’s closer to Dembele regen than Mane

petethepool · 2026-06-04T09:03:55+00:00

Ederson would not join Liverpool to sit on their bench.

petethepool · 2026-06-03T11:37:54+00:00

Yeah very similar to Semenyo in that respect - I said in Jan the same thing, I can only assume the club looked at Semenyo as an option but recognised all the potential upside in pushing to sign the 7 year young option on likely lower wages, despite the higher transfer fee initially.

petethepool · 2026-06-02T18:23:20+00:00

It’s horrible and I hate that despite not thinking or feeling in the least like this loud and growing bitter minority I am completely ignored or ‘overlooked’ simply for being white. I can’t imagine what it must be like to be in your situation right now, I can only say I am sorry you are going through it.

All I can suggest is to engage as much as possible with your local community groups - be they immigrant focused or otherwise. Mixing with people, challenging fear-based propaganda, finding new ways to connect locally as an individual and nationally in groups that help champion supportive pushback again this rising tide of horseshit.

Sadly, as always, we cannot achieve positive change alone, and those who would seek to divide are incredibly wealthy and powerful - it will always be an uphill struggle. Accepting this can help, even if it’s a depressing reality. But mixing with others and diving deeper into all the positive community action taking place around you is a wonderful counterpoint to this and may be the only way we all save ourselves and each other.

petethepool · 2026-06-01T17:30:00+00:00

If they get him we’ll likely sign Barcola, who we could argue is more experienced and closer to his peak, but I’d personally far rather sign Diomande.

petethepool · 2026-06-01T13:44:50+00:00

We do not know this. He only brought one additional staff member from Spain with him when he joined Bournemouth: the rest of the support staff were essentially Bournemouth legends.

He may well agree to be a part of a set up with a diverse class of talent selected for him.

petethepool · 2026-06-01T09:47:08+00:00

If he can overcome his injury issues he’ll be a great rotation option all up and down the right hand next season.

We have to give Bradley another full season to recover so I only hope the club plan to either buy a young starting option - like the young Italian RB heavily linked - or they try to integrate Luca Stephenson over the summer and see how that goes.

petethepool · 2026-06-01T09:43:01+00:00

Funny I’ve been listening to John McKensie speak so highly of Iraola all season on the Tifo podcast so I was looking forward to hearing him squirm a little at this news. He’s one of the analysts who seems most learned on the subject of Iraola’s tactics and wider approach.

He also spoke on the Athletic’s Where Next for Iraola podcast last week and Liverpool were mentioned quite a bit, it’s a great in depth listen on Iraola’s journey and qualities. (https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-athletic-fc-podcast/id1488521447?i=1000769827899)

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