In all honesty hes been good for years, hes very good at what he does. I just think I wanted something else from him and it wasnt there. Very much hold my hands up and say I was wrong about the lad
If you want to sell a player now you should have bought his replacement at least 6 months ago. We're not Man City, we actually have tactics to teach players. That takes time, especially with so little training time due to fixtures.
Except that's only because of their own failures to recruit and train any better defenders. Van Dijk accounts for 87% of the cost of our first choice defence. Laporte cost £57m but Pep alone has spent over £380m on his defence. That doesn't include another £32m on Otamendi and £40m on Mangala. It's impossible for us to have bought a backup for Van Dijk, but City could have easily had a backup for Laporte.
The seasons started and their squad is what it is. We would massively struggle without VVD, they're struggling without Laporte.
Pep was a moron to let Kompany go without replacement. Klopp didn't let Lovren go even though a move was lined up. We're top of the league because of those decisions.
I dont think wed be "****ed" yes there would be a drop in quality but I reckon we would cope. The laporte excuse for city is just that an excuse, everyside loses players, the simple fact is they have lost that fear factor of last season. Teams have woken to yes we may get hammered 8 zip, but if we go at them weve got a much better chance if getting something. That's the same if laporte plays or doesnt
Van Dijk's transfer was delayed half a season because of Southampton's strop. Klopp hasn't been on the Big One since.