Liverpool's squad now even with United's?

Fortitude

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With us barely doing anything in the market this summer and Liverpool having their best summer in a while, has the gap in quality of the squads (not just 1st xi's) been closed?

Generally, post-Fergie, I've felt if Liverpool ever finished above us it's because we've underperformed due to us having the stronger squad, but I'm not sure the same can be said now.

Fabinho, Keita and Alisson are actually all touted players and not your usual 'hope they come good' types Liverpool tend to shop for - Shaqiri being the outlier and actually being a good example of the generic Liverpool signing.

I've seen a few posts where people think the title 'race' is between City and Liverpool, is that because of the squad, or is it something else?

If you're able to look at it objectively, how would you rate their (Liverpool's squad) against United's and who do you think will finish higher in the table?

Note: I've not said better squad.
 
They attack better than us and have presumably sorted out the other end with VVD and Alison so yeah on the face of things they'll be better than us next season
 
I expect them to be significantly better than us this season, but I believe that will mostly be down to the coaching rather than the quality of the players .
 
charlenefan said:
They attack better than us and have presumably sorted out the other end with VVD and Alison so yeah on the face of things they'll be better than us next season
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Pretty much. They should be expected to challenge for the league.
 
A thing to take note of is that whenever Liverpool look primed to build on a good season and challenge for the title they tend to collapse and struggle badly, thinking of 2003,2010,2015. They struggle when the pressure is on, look at their cup final record in the last 10 years or so.

Clutching at straws maybe.
 
Djemba-Djemba said:
A thing to take note of is that whenever Liverpool look primed to build on a good season and challenge for the title they tend to collapse and struggle badly, thinking of 2003,2010,2015. They struggle when the pressure is on, look at their cup final record in the last 10 years or so.

Clutching at straws maybe.
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The size of the points gap they have to overcome to win the league is huge. I presume only Leicester finished more points off the top in the season before they won the league.
 
I'm afraid it might be better if 1) Their new signing perform similar to how they did in a different league and don't flop 2) Salah doesn't totally come down to earth and his scoring somehow takes a nosedive (I doubt that happens)
 
The only reason they didn’t win the league last year is because of a lacking squad at times. They should give city a good run for their money if not win it this year
 
They have a far better first XI than us. Be very surprised if they don't challenge for the PL.

Sad thing is our first XI could've been there, but we've done nothing all summer. Two strong full backs and a RW and we'd be right up there.
 
their attack is much better than ours, and so is their fullbacks.

I think our midfield is just a bit better than there's.

VVD is the best defender out of the lot, but our collection of CB's is better as a group.

We've got the better goalkeeper.

They play the more exciting football, we got more points last year.

Who knows how it'll play out, but they'll be 2nd or 3rd with us this year IMO.
 
Much depends on how our signings will pan out. It could well be that both Fabinho and Keita will take a while to settle. But on paper it certainly has been the best transfer window I can remember. Don't think anyone really expects us to "challenge" for the title as the gap between ourselves an City is far too big, despite the newcomers. I mean, we finished with 25 less points than them three months ago.

As for you, I think I rate your team higher than many of you do, and unless Mourinho has a melt down he will keep you firmly in the top 3.
 
I know the collective thoughts on the caf are on a downer with regard to our [non-]activity in the market, but that should be in regard to challenging City's squad for the league, as they're the only team who finished above us last season. Not sure I buy the notion we shouldn't be head-to-head with what Liverpool have or what they can do this season.

Our players underperformed last season and can do better - you can't look at theirs as peak performers and ours not, surely?
 
Adam-Utd said:
their attack is much better than ours, and so is their fullbacks.

I think our midfield is just a bit better than there's.

VVD is the best defender out of the lot, but our collection of CB's is better as a group.

We've got the better goalkeeper.

They play the more exciting football, we got more points last year.

Who knows how it'll play out, but they'll be 2nd or 3rd with us this year IMO.
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Keita is better than any of our midfielders and their weakest CB is better than Smalling or Jones. Liverpool have overtaken the giant called Man Utd. Ed Woodward has overdosed Man Utd with sleeping pills.
 
Liverpool now have a significantly better first 11. By not signing anyone we have effectively accepted Liverpool and City finishing above us which can only be called nothing short of pathetic for a club bigger than both combined.
 
We need to wait and see.
Its good business on paper but I have my doubts about their FB and two new midfielders.
Its hard to judge at the minute
 
Son Of Sam said:
Keita is better than any of our midfielders and their weakest CB is better than Smalling or Jones. Liverpool have overtaken the giant called Man Utd. Ed Woodward has overdosed Man Utd with sleeping pills.
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Keita is not better than Pogba/Matic, and Lovren/Klavan being better than Smalling & Jones...? I'm not sure Ed is the only one knocking down the pills to be honest.
 
WR10 said:
The only reason they didn’t win the league last year is because of a lacking squad at times. They should give city a good run for their money if not win it this year
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Utter drivel. City finished on 100 points, the reason why Liverpool didn’t win last season is because City are superior. Liverpool have an average midfield with little creativity, unlike City with Kevin de Bruyne. If Pool had de Bruyne, they would win - but they don’t and he would cost 200M. Liverpool still have players like Lovren and Arnold in their starting line-up, and I’m sure Henderson will play lots of games this season when they realize Fabinho is slow and lazy.
 
AndyJ1985 said:
I expect them to be significantly better than us this season, but I believe that will mostly be down to the coaching rather than the quality of the players .
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Completely agree
 
Yes. I would say that the two squads are about equal on paper.

Will be interesting to see who gets the most out the quality at their disposal.
 
There's definitely not much in it. Weirdly, I think we have the better defence right now. United have the better keeper (but maybe Allison will step up, I've no idea). I give United the edge on the first choice midfield, but we'll have to wait until the season starts proper to see how Keita slots in. In forward areas, I'd not swap any of our starting 3 for any of your starting 3 (not because Sanchez isn't world class, but because I'd not want to break the synergy of what we have).

Burrow said:
Keita is not better than Pogba/Matic, and Lovren/Klavan being better than Smalling & Jones...? I'm not sure Ed is the only one knocking down the pills to be honest.
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Lovren gets a lot of stick for his performances (and almost always justified), but he's been a very good CB partner to VVD since he came in. Maybe Smalling/Baily would be a better CB partner to VVD than Lovren is, but I'd take VVD & Lovren over any pairing you can field, Robertson over Young/Shaw, and we'll have to see how Dalot does. With better players in front of our defence, and a better keeper in the nets, we should be conceding a lot less than last year, without necessarily impacting out offensive play.
 
ivaldo said:
Right...
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Mane - Firmino - Salah >>>>> Alexis - Lukaku - Lingard - 90 goals to 50 goals last season

Midfield we were better but Matic - Pogba - Fred could now be similar to Keita - Fabinho - Wjnaldum

Full backs - TAA & Robertson >> Young and Valencia

CB - Van Djik & Lovren a similar level to Bailly / Smalling

GK - De Gea > Allison but Allison could be very good.

So they have a far better attack than us, better full backs, similar level on CBs, and their GK and midfield could very well end up being as good as ours with the new signings.

The thing is even without all their signings, that front 3 alone is deadly. We just don't have anything close to that.
 
Burrow said:
Keita is not better than Pogba/Matic, and Lovren/Klavan being better than Smalling & Jones...? I'm not sure Ed is the only one knocking down the pills to be honest.
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Wait till season starts. You’ll come back here and delete this comment.
 
Son Of Sam said:
Wait till season starts. You’ll come back here and delete this comment.
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Maybe, we'll see. I stand by my comment until the season is well underway though. Do you think that Klavan is better than any of Smalling and Jones, or was that hyperbole on your part?
 
Nah feck Liverpool, always. We'll finish above them. If we can play with any semblance of cohesion we have a better XI.
 
With the lack of VAR unfortunately the refs will play just as huge a part. We all know they love getting caught up in a narrative.
 
I don’t think they are better personnel wise but they are pretty close at least. Klopp also seems to get more out of his players, especially offensively so I won’t be surprised if they perform better than us.

I am almost sure they will go further in Champions League and we should be within five points of each other in Premier League.
 
Tommy said:
Lovren gets a lot of stick for his performances (and almost always justified), but he's been a very good CB partner to VVD since he came in. Maybe Smalling/Baily would be a better CB partner to VVD than Lovren is, but I'd take VVD & Lovren over any pairing you can field, Robertson over Young/Shaw, and we'll have to see how Dalot does. With better players in front of our defence, and a better keeper in the nets, we should be conceding a lot less than last year, without necessarily impacting out offensive play.
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Fair enough on your end, I'd much rather have any of our CBs over Lovren though. I have no real issue with anything you said really, it's all a matter of opinion and personal preference. I think it's very even all over the pitch, so I think a combined XI would be a matter of bias rather than a massive gap in ability.
 
Son Of Sam said:
Keita is better than any of our midfielders and their weakest CB is better than Smalling or Jones. Liverpool have overtaken the giant called Man Utd. Ed Woodward has overdosed Man Utd with sleeping pills.
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The state of this.
 
Djemba-Djemba said:
A thing to take note of is that whenever Liverpool look primed to build on a good season and challenge for the title they tend to collapse and struggle badly, thinking of 2003,2010,2015. They struggle when the pressure is on, look at their cup final record in the last 10 years or so.

Clutching at straws maybe.
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We had poor windows before all of those seasons. In 2002 we turned down the chance to sign Anelka and signed Diouf, Diao and Cheyrou instead for 19 million pounds (a lot back then). Then in 2009 we sold Alonso and replaced him with Aquilani. In 2014 we replaced Suarez with Balotelli & Lambert and blew a load of money on potential.
 
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Our squad is on a par with Liverpool. The difference this season will be in the coaching of the two managers and the philosophy of the two teams. Liverpool already played more cohesive attacking football last season and performed to their absolute maximum something we didn't do. Individually we have some talented players across the team with a few weaknesses in defence but they play as a TEAM which is all that matters. With the investments they've made they should be ahead if both teams continue on the same trajectory from last season.
 
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We still have better players on paper, we just need to get the best out of them. Liverpool of the past have had far better teams than this one and still won nothing.

As Jose rightly points out, the media have painted Liverpool and Klopp as the second coming despite them having won absolutely nothing and finishing below us last season.
 
Their squad isn't better. The difference is manager.
 
WR10 said:
The only reason they didn’t win the league last year is because of a lacking squad at times. They should give city a good run for their money if not win it this year
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They finished 25 points behind City.
 
marktan said:
They have a far better first XI than us. Be very surprised if they don't challenge for the PL.

Sad thing is our first XI could've been there, but we've done nothing all summer. Two strong full backs and a RW and we'd be right up there.
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They really don't.
 
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