This is a nice piece on Virgil’s role in the smooth transition this season
but there is stat in here that shocked me
There could be a simple explanation for that, with Liverpool’s average possession this season of 58.3 per cent, the first time the club have averaged below 60 per cent in a Premier League season since 2015-16 (57 per cent), when Klopp arrived mid-campaign.
It’s funny. Everyone knows the big difference this year is Slot has us be more patient in our approach and more focused on possession. Yet here we are having less of the ball than we’ve had for years. It’s interesting how sometimes reality doesnt align as you’d expect from simple narratives.
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This may also be down to more teams offering a pressing style of football, rather than sitting back in a low block?
Yeah, I was puzzled by this as well. I’d like to see the home and away distribution - I’d say that it has a lot to do with the way Slot sets up the team when playing away.
We’re also more calm without possession. We allow opponents to keep the ball and stay compact, rather than pressing as much as we did before. I think that gives our opponents more possession, but fewer chances to attack us.
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I’m not sure we win this game today had we taken everyone to Eindhoven and played a team similiar to Lille, this man has got it all figured out…well, apart from how to beat Forest.
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I think the main difference this season is we dictate the games. If we want to kill 5 minutes we will. Also, added on time no longer becomes end to end as we dictate the pace of it. Under Klopp 5 minutes would go up and if we are holding a slender lead youd think buckle up this is going to be a roller coaster…Not now.
Im loving that Slot is so different from Klopp . Jurgen was such a big personality so everything he said made headlines…Arne, i think, is still, despite being top of 2 leagues and in a semi, still a bit under the radar.
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It does my head in seeing Liverpool fans who experienced first-hand Klopp’s tenure claim that under him we were this crazy, gung-ho team that never controlled and killed games. There are differences between Slot and Klopp but this isn’t a major one.
I am certain that had he stayed on, Slot’s more measured approach is very close to what we’d be playing.
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You would not guess that looking at Walshy’s posts…
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People only remember the recent history the last 2 years of Klopp where we were very open. If you look at the title winning season and the 97 point season its a very different scenario.
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I dont think we would. Maybe we would…but who knows…