Gravenberch has adapted imo. I think this is why Klopp didn’t rate him as highly as Slot seems to.
Jurgen played him in a completely different position and this year he has more license to get forward, when for me he should be sitting, because if it is Macca as the deepest when we lose the ball he doesn’t have the recovery pace.
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As I keep saying Gravenberch is limited.
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Why would we be looking to recruit for a team coached by Slot?
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He is still learning the defensive side of the game and when not expected to do too much work, trying to do evrything he has done reasonably well defensively.
As with others my main concern is his quality and decision making when passing, thats why I like Jones next to him because he demands the ball and is trusted with the ball.
Some things will have to be improved and questions answered (mostly how to fit some big players in a functional team) regardless who is the coach next season.
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Agreed.
In any case, the World Cup will most likely dictate in what order our recruitment takes place rather than by position.
But I don’t expect us to be able to get two first team level wide players as well as the quality additions we need at CB and midfield.
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It dropped off significantly in the final third of the season. This season looks is a continuation of what we already started seeing from around March of last season.
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We’ll see.
It can be a factor, it may not be for some targets. Some players will want their futures resolved before the WC.
Right now I’m not even thinking that much about transfers, although the club are working on it as we see. No way I could tell right now all the targets we’ll have, but I’m pretty sure it won’t be only in defence and I can see us doing something in wide areas.
I highly doubt our 4 wingers on paper next season will be Salah, Gakpo, Chiesa and Ngumoha.
More than the WC, now we have to see where we end up in the league, what we have qualified for (if anything!) and if it’s Slot or someone else next season.
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Yeah, that’s a worrying trend. I do think it gets improved significantly by placing Szoboszlai and Wirtz in central midfield (the hard work the latter puts in goes unnoticed, in my opinion) and getting the new wingers right. Ekitike doesn’t seem to be a stranger to pressing as well, though I don’t think he does it effectively.
That said, the coach also has to insist on it, use his squad more effectively etc. etc.
Particularly if we don’t have Champions League football.
This is why we need to get it right.
Which is why I think midfield is where we should concentrate. As I say we haven’t got a player who can slow the opposition down. They come at us through the centre wingers aren’t going to help there.
I don’t think we’re buying any wingers.
The 4-3-3 was built to maximise the forwards we had especially Salah (and Mane, Diaz). It made complete sense for that era. But if the long-term core is Wirtz, Ekitike and Isak, then the pressing 4-3-3 doesn’t really fit anymore.
You either:
- Push one (or two) of them wide and blunt them, or
- Accept we’re evolving away from the system entirely.
Something like:
________________GK
RB________CB________CB________LB
_______________DM
________CM____________CM
_______________Wirtz
________Ekitike________Isak
Narrow. Central. Combination-heavy. Width from full-backs and midfield runners.
Thats the direction our transfers appear to show we are heading, a structural change. And if we’re being honest, that probably limits the long-term role of Salah, Gakpo, Chiesa and even Ngumoha , in a first-choice 11.
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We switched from Klopp’s 4-3-3 to Slot’s (mostly) 4-2-3-1 since he took over.
If the diamond shape was our big plan, we would’ve seen it in more than that 1 game away against Inter (and even then, it wasn’t a classic diamond).
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Well you cannot compete in PL without wingers.
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Ultimately, they have only played 191 minutes together on the pitch. (most that from 2 games in CL where we played a front 2). Eintracht, and Milan. Fitness has curtailed Isaks influence on the squad formation. If the plan was to continue with 4-2-3-1 then last summer we bought the wrong players for that system.
Because of Isaks fitness Slot has rather chosen Isak or Ekitike. However that surely is not a long term approach. Long term, we would want both on the pitch ?
@Thomas1195 I think its fair to say our fullbacks are almost wingbacks, teams like city have used fullbacks as primary width to win the league.
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Yes, in Frankfurt we played an asymmetrical 4-4-2, with Wirtz coming inside off the right.
In Milan, it was indeed a diamond, but with them two a bit wider (they failed to complete a pass between themselves).
They were available for more, because we had games with one started and the other one was benched.
If the diamond was the system we had in plan, we surely would’ve used it even without one of them. Especially in a problematic season that could be damaging and with questions hanging over Slot’s head. It would be very, very weird otherwise. What the hell would we be waiting for to use it and start working on it?
And especially since we played quite a bit with different structures and players in different positions. 4-2-3-1; version with 2 wingers, 1 winger and 0 wingers. 4-2-2-2 a few times and 4-diamond-2 once.
We surely did a few things last summer that left me with a few question marks. I have a certain guess what we planned to do, but I still don’t get the whole picture. Even the “Ekitike on the left” thing didn’t happen enough. Slot didn’t mention the diamond in the interview with Hargreaves.
But it’s not like formations and players are perfectly aligned. Example: we switched from 4-2-3-1 to 4-3-3 when Klopp had Coutinho and Firmino as key players. That doesn’t mean Coutinho was tasked to play like Mane on the opposite side or that Firmino was tasked to play like Sturridge or Origi when they were up top instead of him.
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Correct, I was thinking of Calum Scanlon
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Poster of the Year indeed. Doesn’t even know his Scanlons from his Aymans, let alone his Calums from his Alvins.
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Surely we are looking at a fluid 4222 system. After that it’s all about imagination of how that plays out. We often use asymmetric positions in that general idea.
I feel to progress we need to go away from specialised players and particularly wingers.
Of course it might not go this way but it’s a possibility. However we see how having specialised limited players is hurting us.
I’m not going to guess, double guess what Slot or any other coach sees. It’s what I’m seeing that’s influencing my thoughts.
The limiting factor really is just the market. What has been produced and how much that costs.
When it comes to buying players we also need to keep an eye on the homegrown contingent.
FFS…
Are we’ still talking about Slot and his tactics and man management?
We won our last game…
We’ve turned a corner!
Arne’s at the wheel!
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