They looked great vs City, but City is exactly the type of team Bournemouth likes to play against as they want to try and build from the back.
My concern is that our back line struggled mightily against long balls. Granted, we faced the most long balls in the league (571), but Bournemouth were second (525, with no other team facing more than 500) because teams had to go long to beat their press.
I think Konaté and Virgil have all the attributes to deal with that, but both struggled with it at times this season.
My other concern is that our midfielders don’t tackle with the same success and intensity as Bournemouth’s. That could be tactical, maybe Slot is instructing to sit off and disrupt passing lanes (or at least try to, didn’t see a lot of success with this), whereas Iraola wants his players to go and win the ball off dribblers. But it might also just come down to the players and their skill sets.
Like I said, I really like Iraola and I’d be thrilled if we hired him. But with Virgil getting older, Konaté inconsistent at times, and a midfield that isn’t exactly known for taking the ball off dribblers, I could see us struggling early on with Iraola’s preferred ultra-high line and man-to-man pressing system. Iraola would want a Kante type to run around and just tackle everything in midfield. That’s not a player type we currently have.
Yeah that was a growing pain we had to go through with Klopp who eventually slightly toned it down so that we could avoid the quick counters as much. I’d certainly be happy to see us have to learn that lesson again if it was part of a long term plan and strategy.
I’m not sure his Bournemouth team is quite as gung-ho as you are saying it is (after all they’ve only allowed one more goal than us despite having Senesi and Hill as their CBs both of whom I think are poor defenders but good on the ball) - and a 20 year old RB who took at least half a season to start playing well but for sure it’s high energy pressing.
My issue with we are doing currently is that for all the talk of “Slot wants controlled possession” we actually see absolutely none of that on the pitch so it’s hard to actually define what we want to do or how we want to do it.
@GratefulRed I think the answer to those things you raise is the same as to most of the criticisms that have been aired at these players this season - they didnt used to be bad at [insert whatever they are being criticized for].
A lot of comes from a mess of a midfield (and to a degree forwards) who are in stuck in this neither one nor the other mode of being too far up the pitch while not putting enough pressure on the ball early enough. Defenders get too much time on the ball to pick their pass, we’re too easy to play around and too easy to play over and pick up second balls on the other side of them. These players didnt used to be like that
I need to start an ITK account on X and see how many followers I can gain by making up seemingly plausible rumors about the club.
Example:
BREAKING
Sources inside FSG have reported that a split has formed between Michael Edwards, Richard Hughes, and John Henry regarding the future of Arne Slot which may result in Edwards, Hughes, and Slot departing within the next 48-72 hours.
Or
Exclusive
FSG sources indicate that John Henry and Michael Gordon have contacted representatives of PSG boss Luis Enrique to gauge his interest in taking over Liverpool following the Champions League final. Sources indicate that Enrique is receptive to these overtures subject to him having final day over transfer activity.
A source close to former Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers indicates that he has reached out to Liverpool to offer his services in the event that the club decides to part with Head Coach Arne Slot. Those sources report that Rodgers’s overtures, which were via text message to a number known to be associated with FSG Chairman John Henry, received a response of “New phone, who dis?” Rodgers’s attempts at follow up were met with no further response at this time.
Klopp wasn’t perfect. If we are being honest, some of his seasons he didn’t overcome all the obstacles and things didn’t work out. However, I was never bored to tears watching him struggle with them.
