1% fight

If one were to defend the transfer record of the past few years the only hope would be to point to the policy of investing in developmental talent, which might eventually bear fruit. The idea in a perfect world would be for players like Markovic, Origi, Moreno, Gomez and Can (£40M right there) to spend a 1-2 years developing, 4-5 years performing well for the club, and then recoup the investment or turn a profit when sold around their peak.

I don't buy it though.

As unhelpful as a net spend analysis is here (crediting Rodgers for cashing in on talent he didn't identify or recruit, then debiting him for investments that will ultimately pay dividends for someone else) the eye test is sufficient here. And the simplest eye test is to look at the mature players who were brought in to contribute immediately: there's a range of course, but overall the group of highly priced veterans (Lovren, Lallana, Allen, Balotelli, Sturridge, Sakho) have performed very poorly relative to the price tag.

While I think it's dumb to blame BR for "choosing" not to spend the Suarez money on one world class replacement (it's not like he didn't want players like Sanchez and Willian, he simply failed to sign them), and I also think the inability to offer competitive wages was a much bigger road block than people acknowledge, the fact is that he overpaid for a lot of players who weren't that good. I understand WHY he did it -- Lallana is a safer bet than, say, Tadic, and the extra money wasn't coming out of his salary. But he still did it.

I'm sure BR feels hard-done. But panic-buying upper mid-table talent is not an acceptable solution to losing Suarez and getting snubbed by Sanchez. The hope with Klopp is twofold: (1) he will lose the battles for Suarez, Sterling, Sanchez, Willian a little less, and (2) when he does lose those battles he will have the wisdom and self-confidence to fall back on tactics, coaching and bargain shopping over buying a mid-table all-star team.

There is/was a gay pub very close to the ground that was always completely empty on matchdays for some reason so I always went there with my Dad for a safe away pub.

He called it the Shirtlifter's Arms which I believe could be construed as homophobic nowadays.

Plus it'll get you a booking.

Except I'm not attempting to dispute that BR was a wasteful, underperforming manager. We are all aware that LFC have been in the tallest midget contest far too often for our liking in recent years, and in several of those years it has been Spurs who have in fact been the tallest midget.

I'm focused solely on you behaving like a bore with a "Plop" complex. You can obviously contribute in other ways if you choose to, and I'd encourage you to do so. For example, we have a very compelling matchup at WHL tomorrow. I'd be happy if you'd join us in discussing the tactics of said matchup. Being a weekly Spurs viewer I'm sure you have more to offer in this regard than another "lol Plop, they spent more than we did in jointly falling short of our goals" post.

I've read that Rossiter came back from England with a hamstring problem and was set to miss Spurs. (CM is the one spot at which we had depth left at least). Hadn't heard anything about Sturridge, but that's one piece of news that we're all psychologically prepared to hear at any moment...

Dicksauce planning to move country of the back of $10/12k winnings to play fantasy sports is best thing itt for a while.

People in a £75 team kit with an iPhone, iPad and flatscreen who used to have season tickets to watch the greatest footballers in the world 20 times a year but have now feel the squeeze of ticket prices and can only get to 4-5 games are not my definition of poor people. Those are the people I was targeting in my (admittedly stupid) rant. Just because you take aim at "the rich" in a protest doesn't make you "the poor". I happen to think the majority of those people are living a magnificent life due mainly to circumstance, and it bugs me when they play the victim (though I'll acknowledge for the fourth or fifth time that my post was ****ty).

Mignolet – Clyne, Škrtel, Sakho, Moreno – Emre Can, Lucas – Milner, Coutinho, Lallana – Origi

Sturridge has travelled, late fitness test, above line up more likely though.

Is that your prediction or something more than that? I think it looks about right FWIW. Lucas-Can is not the kind of midfield I'd want to combat Spurs (not enough pace or agility). We did well there a couple years ago with Lucas-Allen-Henderson, a midfield that offers much more IMO. I'd almost want to sacrifice an attacker and play a 433 so we could at least crowd the midfield. Worry that this particular 4231 could get disjointed offensively and is at risk of being overrun defensively. That said, tactics and formations aren't the same thing, and I'll be excited to see our progression under Klopp whether we impress tomorrow or not.

Same leaked lineup from the guy on Twitter that's always right

Are you away support or home? If you want a bigger/busier place then there are a bunch south of Earls Court or right around Fulham Broadway. For a better pub experience my favorites are Finsborough Arms (about 3 min from my flat), Kings Arms or Sydney Arms (personal favorite but a bit longer walk to the ground).

Much lower wage bill than teams above, though.

I live in Fulham. Do not drink in Fulham. Go a bit north to hammersmith and pop into a Weatherspoons. Unless you're keen to pay 5.50 a pint

Yeah I should have noted that. I prefer drinking in non-SW areas but if you want to be close to the ground was just listing some options. Personally dislike Earls Court and Fulham Broadway especially.

that'll be 3 pts to spurs then

Sturridge is still fit to be on the bench which is curious why wouldnt he risk him now considering Benteke and Firmino are coming back like next week.

I think it could be a case of Klopp laying the law to the players in a "Im so serious about this running **** that Im willing to play Origi over Sturridge to prove it" kinda way.

At my bros in LA he must have 500+ channels but not NBC SN wtf is this ****. I think it's Comcast too.

I think it's perfectly standard to post banter before a big game between what are effectively the two teams slugging it out for 5th.

I did post earlier about Spurs problems in CM. I think perhaps the most interesting thing about today's game from a Spurs perspective is "How much will we miss Dier?" who has started every game this season as a DM. You're more than welcome to give an opinion on that.

Tempting fate here, but that does look a particularly bad Liverpool team. If Klopp drops Milner into a 3 it could cause problems, but I just don't see Milner/Lallana/Coutinho creating or scoring nearly enough goals long term, and the whole 5 lack pace (but then so do we bar Alli).

1 hour left for LMS entries, €10/$12 to matt20 on stars and pm pick and email address. Just hit 100 runners

RIP Howard Kendall. Crowd's going to be well up for Utd even more now I imagine.

RIP

Every where Benitez goes there are "dark forces" working against him. What a deluded muppet.

Yeah, gg Howard. Words won't go close to expressing the respect and gratitude, but there will be some pretty emotional scenes today.

I'm not a big fan of public displays of grief for people I never met so I hope Goodison doesn't go all princess Diana. Of course we're all saddened and we all appreciate what he did for our club, so hopefully this can be conveyed with some level of dignity. And of course, the best way to honour his memory will be on the pitch!