I’ve been less than complimentary about Hurzuler. But he came in with a good solid plan against Liverpool.
The problem is that teams like Brighton aren’t able to sustain the pressure for much more than a half. Thats a personnel problem. It was the case with De Zerbi and Potter too.
Shooting their…shot…too early?
Premature…scoring?
Saw Ibou walking off with his left arm injured. Any updates on this injury?
It can’t be overstated how important these 3 point may turn out. We win and go top, Arsenal lose, City lose, Everton lose. What more could a Liverpool fan want? Well apart from both United and Chelsea to somehow lose tomorrow, a better first half.
That was an abomination. Brighton played fantastically well, but we never showed up. No intensity, no concentration, nothing. It was as if we were playing a different sport. Once we started playing actual football in the second 45, we got the better of them. Slot’s risk with the subs paid off, we got a bit lucky with Mac Allister not getting a 2nd yellow and Salah as usual came up with the goods. Shoutout to Joe Gomez as well, he’s been excellent when called upon. Hopefully, he won’t have to fill in for Konate for more than these 45 minutes though.
Their bench seemed overly attacking and I felt they were planning a Forest.
It ended up being us bringing the lads on and getting the win.
Probably stole Klopp’s “Run or I will kill you” speech…
Also we had the toughest match on paper today when compared to Arsenal and City. I know Newcastle are tough to beat at their home but Arsenal were simply dire AF.
Arne is not Klopp. I’m sure he has his own ways of motivating the team.
Our record against them is indeed not great. However as I said we are both under new bosses.
Has to be said that the League cup match before gave Herzeler a very good chance to plan their tactics for this match.
Thats something slot needs to do more of too. The first half was the worst I’ve seen Liverpool play under Slot. Even worse than the forest game.
I slated Trent during the game and rightly so, but the last 10/15 mins he stepped up defensively and was helped by Joe, shutting down their left side
Great comeback, but we have a few problems at hand.
We start with the bad
The initial structure of the team was problematic. Brighton sliced the team apart in the middle for the first half. The CMs are too far apart from each other due to them needing to support their FB especially TAA. When LFC has the ball, they cleverly surround Gravenburch and Macca, forcing Kelleher to spread a long ball or to the Wingers where they will be in immense pressure, ceding possession time after time as Kelleher’s distribution by the feet can be really erratic. That is also why Kelleher is not trusted to be the “third” CB to break the opposition press. A better team would have destroyed the team in the first half.
TAA’s first half. It was horrible. Mitoma ran several rings around him. When TAA had the ball, the passes were so undercooked that led to several emergencies at the back. He has to understand that in his current form, he ain’t gonna start for the best teams in Spain. All his passes need not be hollywood passes. He should be good enough to recognise when the switch is on and not on. Keep it simple until the opportunity arises.
Alexis Macca was struggling all day long but still did enough to get himself forward with a header that was just 10 CM from the goal post. Hopefully, we can see the real him soon!
The AM position. Szoboszlai is a hard runner, no doubt. However, that particular position is important offensively. His passes needs to be pin-point and clever. I will be surprised if Szoboszlai completed at least half of his final third passes. I wouldn’t be surprised if we are looking for an AM who is probably of a slightly lower work rate but can caress the ball like how KDB does it.
Konate’s injury. He is by far our best CB after VVD or even sometimes better than VVD. His pace and strength will be crucial in covering for TAA when he fucks up defensively and for offensive corners. I am curious how Gomez and Quansah are gonna replicate that consistently. FSG needs to back Arne Slot on finding a CB of a similar profile.
And now, for the good.
The decision to flood with 4 attackers and switching out Macca for a in-form Jones against a flagging brighton CMs and defence was nothing short of genius. Gakpo, Salah, Nunez and Diaz can be very hard to deal with when they run with the ball.
Once the team got the goal, subs came on again to stem the flow by getting ball-winners in Endo and Bradley.
Nunez. Granted he didn’t score or assist today, but his presence on the field fully exemplified what is needed for a CF. He was a menace to the opposition defence and created spaces for shots on goal. The equaliser came as when he occupies one CB and the GK fullying expect him to make contact with the ball, but Nunez didn’t make any contact to change the trajectory of the ball from Gakpo. This left the GK rooted to the spot. A better finishing would see Nunez score today as well.
Gomez, Jones, Diaz and Endo who all came on as subs in the game gave the team the foundations to win the game. Gomez performed admirably well by effectively tackling the opposition which Gravenburch and Macca didn’t do very well. Jones provided a sweet assist for Salah. Diaz keep the ball well and draw fouls from the opposition as the AM well enough. Endo decided to be the Asian Javier Mascherano by going in hard on tackles.
If the scouting team is able to find a AM that can effectively rotate with Szoboszlai, a CB that has the attributes to be VVD MKII but younger and a similar cover for Ryan Gravenburch, Arne Slot could go very far with the team if FSG decides to back the scouting team to the hilt.
I think the umpiring for this match was good.
Not because we won the game and that Mac was lucky to not get a second yellow but He let the game flow for both the sides.
There is a good youtube video from redment TV re teams working out our 4 2 4 press and playing through it, fortunately Arne, then wins the 2nd half tactical battle.
Although I do feel we are too impatient in the 1st half of games playing to long and also trying to hit killer passes rather than keeping possession
Yeah. We are falling into the trap of trying those killer passes.
A bit of calm controlled posession at that time would have had us maintain our composure and then deflate Brighton.
Brighton made us play their game in the first half. That shouldn’t be happening with too much regularity.
Its also the game I’ve felt most the absence of a Zubimendi caliber player in the anchor position.
Our press was not right and Brighton were brilliant in how they played thru it. Was compounded by Macca having an average performance for the 2nd straight game…
Really have to credit Szobo for the 2hf comeback. He set the tone for the intensity needed without the ball.
Starting to worry a bit for TAA. But it has to be said that he really stepped up in the 2hf.
Very good result…
I know the goal came from his side and some will even debate whether he could’ve got out quicker to close the space, maybe.
Still thought he was massive for us today.
I think there are some games against some teams where we will have to start endo and grav as 2 6s and any other midfielder as a 8.
Brighton probably might be one of them.
It might be more close to a Klopp tactic there but we need the stability in the midfield that a 3 person midfield gives us opposed to a Soboszlai playing as 10 and is getting overrun in the midfield.
Against some teams.
That goal, as brilliant a play as it was had an unintentional slight touch from Welbeck to reach the player with our players completely out of position. Even a slightly firmer touch by him would have had us not being caught out.
Just very fine margins that but football does provide that
Brilliant goal by Brighton though but could have easily amounted to nothing