Yet, we had Coutinho (used between two positions) for a while in Klopp’s early period and he recently said he had a few ideas how to make it work with Coutinho, Salah, Mane and Firmino. We’ll never know how it would’ve panned out.
Klopp is gone and football is a bit more than just having pace on the sides and lunging long balls to those zones.
Depends on the balance of players around him - but much of what makes him stand out as a player is other players doing what they should be anyway even without him in the team - either getting the ball up the pitch quicker and/or making runs into space, instead of just being static.
You can always watch Germany in the WC.
Agreed but looking at the team that Slot said he’s trying to emulate,…PSG who are arguably the most complete team in the world…three hard running, combative yet skilful midfielders, two marauding fullbacks who could sprint for days, a fearsome, versatile front 3.
That’s a Klopp team.
Curious team, definitely plays worse than the sum of their parts.
His defensive stats are quite. good, so no issues there, it is the shape behind our forwards that is non effective.
Liverpool was Klopp’s and PSG is Enrique’s. And I could see no issues having someone like Wirtz playing for PSG in the way they do. It wasn’t very clear how they would build their attack once they bought Kvaratskhelia, but they’ve used some of their forwards a bit everywhere. Ramos is their only natural striker and he’s not even first choice.
Wasn’t that the same with us? Salah, Firmino, Mané weren’t pure strikers. Sturridge, Origi, and then Jota were. And they usually came off the bench
I don’t see the same principles of play, especially in possession. We were a more direct side with mainly different kind of midfielders and also our forwards weren’t quite the same.
Maybe it’s me trying to judge Flo with the prism of the previous successful era.
I guess part of it is because I see no rhyme nor reason with how we are looking to use him.
Wirtz in isolation I can see perfectly a way or two how we could use him (all of the mentioned sides would have him on paper), it’s all the moves we did last summer and imagining that lot even minus Salah in a few months that I have no clear idea what they had in mind as they were assembling it.
We bought big, we bought some real quality, but it wasn’t assembled with enough sense. Along with other issues.
if you buy a £116m play maker - thats what you build your team around.
And what happens when he’s injured?
Then we shift to building our team around a £125m striker. Then to a £79m striker.
Perhaps @Walshy07 could have said focal point.
In any case it helps limited players, like Gakpo, to have such a player. You tell them ‘if you get bogged down pass to him’. The focal point then controls pace and orientation. Wirtz is ideal for that imo.
Of course Macca is/was seen like this even if more vertical dependant?
Wirtz imo just increases our technical and tactical side.
We don’t have fast wingers anyway. We have inside forwards who need outlets when they go down the Cody sac. Sure Salah is/was a special player that got us through a lot. Rio is special as well however still needs the easy out at times.
It’s the way that the full backs over lap that changes. They are given more options on run timing. Help the inside forward or wait for the bail out option. Makes your attack much more threatening imo. Particularly when talking about Gakpo.
The problem seems to be our manager is stuck in a rut that he obstinately decides to haul himself out of.
So far the results from ditching a structure that has been working well for a decade to insert a few big money signings have been speaking for themselves this season.
Liverpool has been repeatedly outran, out-pressed, outgunned this season. We used to be the fastest team not long ago and Continental teams that normally play slower pace football feared us because we were way too fast.
We need to up the pace and intensity of our game plan, and to do so you need fast wide players, because our inside forwards are not fast enough and not skilled enough with the ball to take on defenders right in the centre. Attacking full-backs and fast wide players overloading the wings, especially the right wing, has been our trademark plays for a decade.
You do know what an inside forward is, don’t you?
What fast wingers have we had? Yes it’s an English model however it’s never worked.
I’m sorry I haven’t the time to discuss this but will come back later.
Hey @Flobs - don’t forget Mark (one-trick) Walters :0)
Oh shit! He played for Rangers when I was at Uni in Aberdeen. I’ll never forget him. A very courageous player as were Rangers at the time.