Off the ball showing of Hendo
On the ball showing of Can
Is what he’s producing this season whilst scarcely showing glimpses of a 60m player.
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Nobody is questioning his work rate.
But he is not a #8 anymore.
As the #10 I’m sure Slot wants him to ‘run the show’ more with ball control and excellent passing - more of that and less ‘dirty work’ will be required actually.
Additionally he can do some running in behind, attacking, shooting etc. - because he has the qualities for that.
Like I said - with the rise of Gravenberch and if we were to sign a midfielder in January I could definitely see the new signing and Ryan as the double pivot and Alexis as the #10 - at least for the biggest matches against strong opponents.
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just an average player. I dont doubt his work rate but needs to do a lot more but not sure he has the ability to do so,
I wanted to see more what he’s made of when he had that impressive start last season, what was a new role for him.
Now, he’s back in a more offensive role and obviously it will take more than distance covered, sprints, pressing and shooting.
For Klopp, the #10 position was defensively the most demanding on the pitch. I doubt it’s much different for Slot. So absolutely keep up the defensive work he’s putting in.
I don’t see us changing much the midfield structure this season and Mac Allister, without a natural holding player, Gravenberch still learning a new role (doing well), Endo being limited… is absolutely needed in the heart of the pitch.
Cannot make a mistake of playing Mac too deep or too high. He’s exactly where we need him in this structure, that left sided double pivot. Quality, calmness, already good experience, especially compared to our other midfielders.
Like a few said, I don’t think Szobo’s been bad, but now it’s a longer period of not great form. I think a little bit of risk in his game is missing in last weeks, want to see more confidence from him. On the ball. So let’s see what’s his ceiling.
In some positions, it’s not fixed so much. We might see another player getting a go in Szobo’s role. Jota might not be the answer long term and Nunez either.
This is a guy that needs to tell himself that he wants to become the best… he appears very hesitant in all that he does, and it seems to be holding him back
Easy to forget he’s still a relatively young player. Just 23. He’s still learning and developing. I think he’ll suddenly “click” and go up several levels.
However I think what he is offering right now is valuable also.
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I don’t understand the criticism. He’s been good so far, certainly better than how he finished the previous season.
Of course there are things for him to work on, but the balance is very much on the positive side.
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I just saw the miss from yesterday’s game. As somewhat expected it was far less egregious than I expected from the response to it. Sometimes when you’re that close to the keeper all you can do is make good contact, direct it on target and hope for the best.
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It was simply a stunning reaction save, I’m amazed Dom has come in for any criticism for it
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Apart from the Forest game I think Szob has been instrumental in our great start to the season, his work rate and the speed that he does it at is a massive bonus in the defensive pressing phases, recovery runs and also helping to break the lines.
Yes he could be better in possession, but I allow some leeway in this due to everything else he offers.
On the whole, our midfield 3 has great balance in all aspects of the game and has been a revelation under Slot.
I just thought I would lay some praise on Dom, because he has become a bit of a scapegoat for some, when I reckon, he is one of the 1st names on the team sheet for Arne.
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Yeah, I will keep saying it until everyone blocks me for being boring, but when you listen to what Slot said at the beginning of the season of the main area we need to do better and has repeated numerous times since, he could have been talking about Dom specifically. Slot thinks we need to get better at picking the time to try something challenging, be more willing to take additional passes to create better openings before forcing it, and overall protect the ball better, and those were comments right off the scouring report for him when we bought him - incredible athlete, massively talented, but turns over possession quite a lot. The relevance of those potential downsides were downplayed for the RB sides he played on and for us when thinking about buying him because all those sides encouraged that sort final third risk taking and were happy to put it at the feet of someone so talented and who would work so hard to try to win it back if it didnt come off.
That Slot is aware of this area of the team in general and would have known Dom’s game and STILL made him a key cog in the side tells us a lot about how much he still offers to the side. If he is doing this well this early with this adaptation still to do we are in a very good position.
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So modest I told him not to mention mine.
Dom scored both goals, the second a penalty, as Hungary won 2-0 away against Bosnia and Herzegovina.
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https://x.com/AnythingLFC_/status/1846599004424962518
https://www.instagram.com/p/DBMU9ngtAxw/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igsh=ZDNlZDc0MzIxNw==
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He’s dead to me
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I don’t know how many yellow cards he’s racked up and whether he may go over the limit, but if he has a few, we really should appeal his yellow card tonight, if that’s even possible.
To give a yellow card when he kicks it on the millisecond that the ref blows the whistle is insane.
I think everyone watching and in the crowd knew a free kick was coming , but if players have it drilled into them that they must play to the whistle, then so must the ref. Szobo was kicking it away. Fact. But he didn’t kick it away after the whistle.
Of all the egregious decisions that the ref made last night, this for me was the worst.
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Pressing really well this season, he’s putting in some shift.
But on the ball, so many little basic mistakes yesterday. It was like the game by passed him in that aspect.
A year ago, he had that “it’s the kind of guy who walks into a room and his d.ck has already been there for two minutes” level of confidence.
Now it seems like he struggles even with his first touch sometimes, calming the ball down, playing positive passes, taking risks, shots, etc.
I know in Jota and Nunez in this change of structure we don’t have great linking up options, but still… we will need more from our starting #10 or basically our second striker.
The truth is always somewhere in between. He’s surely better than this on the ball, but maybe his ceiling isn’t as high or he’s not as complete as he first seemed.
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Good for him but with Hungary he’s a big fish in a small pond. He’s used to playing in a team that’s set up specifically to complement his strengths. Here he’s just a cog in the Big Red Machine. Perhaps he still has yet to come to terms with that reality?
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Funny thing, he never looks like that for Hungary in qualifiers/Nations League but he looked jaded during Euros, even if he was still their key player. Everything that happens there, goes through him because he’s their main man, while he’s a just a cogwheel in Liverpool’s gear, albeit a really hard working one.
I looked at his performance yesterday and I thought “so, this is what Mascherano would have looked like as an advanced midfielder”. He was everywhere, covering every bit of space but it’s like his focus becomes completely lost when he’s about to make a split-second decision when he’s on the ball, so a few promising positions he took went to waste.
I noticed that he tends to lose high balls around the centre, the ones that look like they are his but he then tries to bump them into a teammate’s path, only for them to go towards the opponent - to me, that suggests that it’s the lack of focus rather than a technical issue because he usually strikes the ball cleanly. That lack of focus could be down to fatigue (like Robertson, he plays every damn second he’s available for his country, even if it’s a meaningless game).
I hope Elliott returns soon, so he can simultaneously give Szoboszlai some time to rest and also a kick up the arse.
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