That’s interesting … hmmm
The one thing not to do was concede early and we did. Hopefully the international break is enough time for Hugo and Alisson. Though let’s see what Georgi can do.
2 Likes
It seems like the squad right now feels like square pegs in round holes.
The players brought in like Isak , Ekitike, Frimpong and Wirtz mainly are not the pressing and high intensity type players.
They probably don’t completely match our playing style of gegenpress since Klopps days.
Diaz was probably a player we ended up selling one too many. The team which looked to have immense pace and can play at 100mph… suddenly looks like a 10mph slow bicycle. This team can do it for 20-30 min max.
Our pressing from the front is what helped our defense always. Now, only Salah has that type of pressing …that is too limited with age, which allows teams to easily bypass the play from our front 3. Too much chopping and changing of midfield 3 isn’t helping either. Dom needs to be in the middle, it sends out a wrong message , when both the RBs are fit. Most teams have already figured out since that Newcastle game in the carabao cup final, that if you play balls over the top…Liverpool’s midfield is lightweight to win second balls.
If Slot is willing to compromise for now and feels the need to get back to basics of a pressing team first..then this is how we should setup :
Chiesa Isak Salah
Dom
Macca Grav
Robbo Virg Ibou Frimpong
Subs: change to 4-2-1-3 Ekitike (isak),Wirtz(Dom), kerkhez, Endo(Grav),Gakpo(Chiesa)
We need to press from the front. Chiesa can be the pressing monster Diaz was for us last season and can interchange with Isak on the left in a floating role. Adding Isak over only because he has league experience.
Slot needs to get that midfield 3 of Dom, macca and grav back. Please stop experimenting Dom as RB.
Robbo has to start for 50-60 min …to keep that stability in defence. It always starts from the back and we need to prioritise stability at the back before integrating Kerkhez.
On the contrary though, If Slot wants to remain focussed on the future and play like palace second half and build on a system to integrate new signings…then our team especially in Away games has to be this…
Isak Salah
Dom
Macca Endo Grav
Kerkhez Virg Ibou Frimpong
Subs: Gakpo(Isak), Chiesa/Ekitike(Endo), Dom(Wirtz)
)and Robbo(Kerkhez)
Inclusion of Endo is to add a bit of steel for first 45 mins against teams away from home and a possibility of winning those second balls… with Dom dropping off out of possession to be the extra man in midfield.Once teams tire out at 60-65…make 4 subs
To be in favoured 433 formation
Gakpo Chiesa salah
Wirtz
Macca Grav
Robbo Virg Ibou Gomez
Late sub at 80 min Gomez for Frimpong to add experience and stability in the final 10 min.
I thought of diamond the other day…but it might not work in our case because we will end up having 2 types of players going thru one system and our full backs will never overlap, whereas in the above 2 scenarios…the players complement the system.
Sorry for the long post…but Slot has some head scratching to do…we need to find the best system which works for our squad and most importantly, add that unpredictability in our play, which opponents get scared off.
I am very positive this is a small blip and we will sort it out soon. Calls for questioning the manager already are absolute daft. Slot is darn good and he has proven that…he has a vision and I am sure he will get this right…I know people are impatient watching our lead go away…but it’s 6 games in…title is not decided or won now…all that matters is that when it’s 5-6 games to go…we are there or thereabouts. I am not convinced Arsenal is any good to take this title by storm and they will have serious squad harmony issues soon with that bloated squad.
And even if our lead gets wiped off in the next few games…let’s not stop believing!!
1 Like
Also ignore Carragher. He’s really becoming a big arsehole. I don’t remember any knee jerk reactions this drastic from him when Jurgen had his fallow periods
2 Likes
When it comes down to the knockout stage, a seeding system is designed so the better teams go deeper, though obviously there is always the chance for an upset. This would be in keeping with the way lots of sports run their competitions.
Last year we were excellent in the league stage and finished top. Lots of other teams stumbled along and went through by the skin of their teeth. Our reward for being excellent was to face the eventual champions as they were rising up. It was desperately unlucky to catch them so soon.
If we want to keep a larger element of luck, which would give outcomes like last season, then the case for no seedings is strengthened.
If we want to reward good play, and if we want to reward treating the league phase seriously, and finishing as high up as possible, I don’t see any problem with a seeding system.
As for entitlement and making money, I think the competition as a whole started to veer into that territory many years ago. As you know, back in the day it was only for champions. Coefficients were not part of the equation. And the strength of your domestic league didn’t especially factor into it, so we didn’t have a situation where there were 6 teams in the competition from England, for example.
Not a hill I’ll die on. It’s just a preference. I would prefer seedings for the knockout stages, to reduce the element of blind luck.
I can live with the random draw, and having to beat whoever is put before you.
2 Likes
I have seen the performance of that ref several times, including our matches in Champions League before. He has always been bloody awful. Just like last night, he loves to have the whistle against his lips at all times.
3 Likes
I’d suggest benching Mo and Macca would help add more energy.
My preference for the next 3-5 games:
Gakpo, Ekitike, Chiesa;
Wirtz, Dom;
Grav;
Kerkez, Virg, Ibou; Frimpong
- Ibou is out of form but I’d only bring in JoGo if it was felt he would be able to play 3-5 PL games in a row as we need a bit of consistency there. We are dangerously short at CB and its a big concern.
- Isak needs to build up fitness and should be more impactful from the bench until this happens.
- Mo deserves to be benched and, brilliant pro that he is, I think it may help him come back more fired up which would help us ascertain whether he still has the physicality we need.
- Robbo should also feature from the bench and if he fairs better than Kerkez then he gets the opportunity to start. Kerkez needs a reminder its not bournemouth and he needs to show he can handle the pressure
- Frimpong also deserves a run at RB with the expectation that Conor Bradley will take his place unless he is error free and adds something going forward.
They might not be at their historical best, but going to Turkey is rarely a stroll in the park for us.
3 Likes
Or for other teams - I think they have lost 3 in 16 CL games at home.
2 Likes
13 Likes
You lost me when you said Mo is the only one pressing, Mo has never been the best at pressing, Sadio and Bobby were our best as was Diaz
2 Likes
Great clip. Wirtz has the tools we need and when he clicks with the others a bit more, it is going to get better and better. I’m not concerned about him, at all.
8 Likes
No problem, But, I never stated Mo is the only one pressing. I clearly stated he is the only attacker remaining from Klopps era , who knows a thing about counter-pressing and I also mentioned it’s getting limited with age further.
There is no debate about Mane/Bobby being our best presser. Just quoting it here again…
Our pressing from the front is what helped our defense always. Now, only Salah has that type of pressing …that is too limited with age, which allows teams to easily bypass the play from our front 3.
Cheers
2 Likes
Wirtz makes incisive passes and movements like that in every game. That clip also doesn’t show you how often he finds pockets of space that don’t get exploited by his teammates.
But, what the highlights won’t show you is him giving up the ball needlessly and getting run over physically, and that’s what everyone focuses on. It’s a fair critique, but it’s also a fraction of the whole picture.
3 Likes
No problem 
1 Like
That was in the twenty minute spell I was talking about when he seemed to be growing in confidence. And then Slot moved him.
1 Like
That guy Eddie Gibbs again saying it how it is…
The referee was abysmal, no question. He indulged Galatasaray’s cynicism, let the ball disappear from the game for minutes on end and rewarded the theatre of contact. It was a farce of officiating, the kind that poisons football and insults the occasion. But that is no shield for Liverpool.
This performance in Istanbul was worse than the surrender at Palace. At least that had the look of a side out of rhythm. This felt like a team without memory. No recognition of what a tough European night demands. No signs of Champions League experience, no instinct for survival. Just misplaced passes, heavy touches, slack positioning and a visible absence of urgency. The noise around them was feral, yes, but that’s the game at this level. You do not make it to this stage if you cannot perform through chaos.
Arne Slot got it badly wrong. Szoboszlai at full-back now seems like a misunderstanding of the assignment. Leaving Salah on the bench may have made tactical sense in a vacuum, but this was no vacuum. The atmosphere was volcanic, the tie delicately poised, the stakes enormous. He misread the tone, the tempo, the need.
Even the talented ones shrank. Wirtz, Konaté, Gravenberch, all stuck between gears. There was no response to the penalty, no injection of tempo, no shape to the attack. At times, it looked like they were passing for passing’s sake, counting seconds rather than chances.
Liverpool are top of the Premier League, but the performances do not speak to a team prepared to stay there. You cannot paper over this one. Too many errors. Too little fight. Too little sense of occasion.
Add in the injuries to Alisson and Ekitike, perhaps the only players to walk off the pitch with any credit, and we see far too many cracks appearing beneath the surface for our liking.
This was not just a bad night. This was a team forgetting what they are supposed to be.
7 Likes
There’s no great insight in any of that, just what most of the fanbase have been saying themselves.
He’s right about the referee letting Galatasaray take the piss feigning injury etc but the rest is just waffle, the simple fact is we are a fucking bog average team atm and it’s it’s been a steady decline since early on this year. Key players being hopelessly out of form isn’t helping. I didn’t see any lack of effort last night, just a continuation of the dross we’ve been serving up for months minus the moment of inspiration from someone to bail us out.
Carragher is a prick and I don’t like him at all but what he said is correct, Slot needs to find the right 11 and coach a system of playing into them. That’s his job.
1 Like
Hey Jaffod - don’t take this the wrong way - but do you ever talk about things you are happy about?
1 Like
Jaffod’s been saying the same for months even when we were playing well for at least 50 minutes per game.
If we had been playing like these last two for 10 months we wouldn’t have won the title. Also you have to be 2 up to concede 2.
4 Likes
I’m looking for excuses, I guess …….
lads need a bit of time to play together in a system that may be new to what they are normally used to. I’ve said this before that in the old days, new lads were slowly integrated into the system, but nowadays the players are not given the time to integrate. Because they cost a lot of money, they are expected to perform as they did before being surrounded by, new players, new system, new surroundings and we need to understand that they are human too. These players have played about a dozen times and not the same members together, so methinks they need a decent run of games to get into the system of playing together.
2 Likes