You know what disappointed me the most about these long ball tactics? When I grew up watching football, especially in PL, you’d have players fiercely contesting them, jumping as high as possible, heads clashing, limbs flailing left and right. This season, you’d have the opponent feigning a jump in a duel with Van Dijk or Konate just to keep them off balance a bit, the two of them heading the ball away for a few yards and two opponents being on hand to pick up that second ball, while our lads were nowhere to be found. It was especially evident in the Man United game.
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You also see VVD and Konatè heading short and down deliberately. This opposed to long and high.
Short is fine if your support players fight to get to the ball first however ours don’t, they seem to leave it to the opposition.
Even if VVD or Konaté head long and high in comparison to the opposition we are static and soft. The opposition beats us to the ball, easily, with no challenge at the fall or after for the second ball.
It’s here the opposition floods forward and put us under pressure.
The thing is it’s so simple as it just takes a bit of effort.
The question is what is being said in ‘training’ about this.
What gets me is there’s lots of things like this going on all the time. Nothing seems to be being done about it.
Btw it seems to me VVD and Konatè seem to being asked to head short (presumably to one of our players) however it’s evident Konaté is not good enough with his headers to do this he should be encouraged to head long and high and players encouraged to get to the fall of the ball and challenge for it. It’s just soo simple.
Why do our players wait for the ball to arrive to their feet?
When you put it like that, you’ve changed my mind.
#SlotOut #FlobsIn
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Oh good someone for my game of headball. 
Certainly would make recruitment easy, how high can they jump?
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I can’t jump, but I once had a coach descripe my 2nd touch as the best tackling he’d ever seen
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I once could jump, a high ball was coming in I claimed it jumped very high ten other people came rushing in and squashed me. I didn’t get a touch on the ball fell to ground and thought that was the best place to stay for a while to get my breath back.
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This guy may have a point.
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I didn’t personally see any of our players (except Hugo’s goal) but maybe. I think it’s always tricky trying to settle so many new ‘first 11’ players into a team all in one go. I just hope we can salvage this season by finishing in CL places and winning a trophy or 2. Then next year we will be flying again! I hope it’s not a pipe dream!
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A lot of our players as talented as they are haven’t played well. Some have struggled due to tactics and systems but the following have all been below par and I wouldn’t say are being asked to do anything different than they have done or do for their national team
Konate
Salah
Maca
Grav (to an extent)
Gakpo
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Something tells me LFC would look good against Ukraine or Armenia as well.
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Surely depends if Ukraine and Armenia play to Slots plan, no?
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Good summary which discusses some of the ways we’ve changed this year.
it is not mainly on tactics, this dip…It’s because of what Paul T says, the heart-breaking loss of Diogo and his brother, coupled with 6-10 changes in the personnel dept. It’s like this season needs to be our proper pre-season 2.0.
Let’s focus on top 4 or 5 for CL qualification and support the team and manager. And if all that goes well and this time next year we are crap, then I’ll come back to the manager thread.
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Never,she would just pass wind!
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Have you seen Liverpool play for the last few months?!
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Well we beat Real Madrid and Aston Villa.
Plus we lifted a nice shiney trophy a few months back.
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I have been curious about this. I see this excuse (for lack of a better term) a lot and I’m just not sure it has the impact some think. I totally understand that it was a tragic event and that Jota was a beloved figure in the dressing room. I also understand that is has absolutely had some level of impact this season. However, here we are in November and I can’t believe Jota’s tragic death is still impacting players during matches. Surely adrenaline and competitive spirit take over. One could even argue that it can provide motivation…“win it for Diogo!” I am curious what others think.
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As far as I am concerned, having his kit in the changing room is a horrible idea from the POV that you will constantly be reminded of it. I also don’t think the 20m singing helps, however I doubt the players really notice that.
Imagine walking in at half time and seeing that when you are having a shitty game.
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The type of player Jota was, I do remember the many times I had a bit of hope him coming off the bench, his goals always seemed to breakthroughs or vital.
Plus it’s just the general point of view, I suffer from depression and just small issues can add to a cloud over your head. Time does heal but it’s a hard slog.
My brothers friend was killed at 21, I had college and school friends die. This stuff is there for a long time. I do think they deserve some slack for it. I think some are suffering far more than others and it’s probably because they are adding their form to the issues they feel.
I’ve seen all sorts of ideas and tactics, but some players have just dropped off a cliff form wise and I think the fact it’s happened more than just one suggests a bigger issue and I don’t think that’s particularly Slot, perhaps even he is suffering some of the subs like against Brentford we’re just throwing anything and seeing if it worked.
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