When a team drops into a low block the idea is to deny space in behind and therefore very little space for those runs or for Trent’s passes.
However, he was very good at turnovers by us in then releasing players in behind but at the moment we don’t have players up field to pass to as we are so fearful of conceding we get everyone back and we still concede.
as an attacking unit, particularily against Burnley and Arsenal, and revolving around Wirtz, i think they are very flexible and rotate through areas really really well…
i assume you mean in defensive phases, which defending strict zones is feasible and the accepted practice barring certain situatons…
can you clarify what you mean?
Saw someone posting this somewhere else…drawing a parallel with Szoboszlai’s missed pen.
Just watching redmentv originals on YT.
One of the the things that came up is that teams don’t fear us!
Why do they feel confident to push forward and to commit players more, especially as games go on?
Fitness or lack of is one reason, but for me it is our lack of pace in our front players and the ability to break at pace and the way we defend.
In our pomp we had Mo, Sadio, Diaz and even Darwin, who would probably run offside, leading the break, then we had Bobby to pick a pass or lay one on a plate, Hendo, Gini with great engines to also get involved and lets not forget Trent who could with one pass open up a team when they get too adventurous.
Now teams don’t fear over committing against us, I can’t actually remember the last breakaway goal we scored?
Our pacy players are Frimpong, Ekitike and Szob, Isak would be in there if he was fit, however, with dropping deeper and being passive in the way we defend, we very rarely have the opportunity to break, we did have one against Burnley, where Flo woefully underhit his pass to Szob, who otherwise would have been through on goal.
We need to have a mindset change in the way we play and need to stop being passive defensively and need to be pro active in winning the ball and then when it’s on we need to commit to trying to hit the opposition early and hard to make them fear us.
This mindset change needs and this comes from Arne, we need to get back to when teams feared getting a corner and then being worried about us scoring, from their corner or from us winning possession and countering with pace and purpose.
Sad to say I wasnt suprised by the result or how we played. I have got used to the consequences of Slots coaching. I hate the “chuckle brothers” to me to you, pointless slow passing (which Slot calls control) whilst the opposition uses the time to get their low block sorted.
The only thing that really suprised and shocked me was how slow Alison was getting down to attempt to stop their goal.Very poor by his usual standards.
After we had brought in Ekitike, Frimpong, Kerkez and Wirtz, I thought we had done a good job to address the enforced departure of Trent, and to solidify some positions where we were a bit short and needed some more depth , given that some players were getting older (ie. Salah, Robertson). Kelleher’s departure was unavoidable, but we had already moved for Mamardashvili. All good until then.
I had problems though with how we were chasing some unenforced departures without looking to assure enough depth: Diaz, Quansah, Tsimikas, Elliot, Nunez. All players who played their part in last season’s triumph, and would be handy to have around right now. Also, allowing roughly ten members of the squad to leave while replacing them with roughly ten new faces, is bound to produce instability. What we did wasn’t reinforcing the squad from a position of strength, but reboot half of the squad within one single transfer window. Add to this Jota’s tragic death and you get instability —> lack of consistency —> lack of confidence —> lack of results. That is our current predicament, and the nasty injuries to Leoni, Bradley and Isak haven’t helped.
As I said before, we have quality players, and will get out of this, but possibly not before next season.
Just seen over the 2 games with Burnley we had 59 shots and scored two…one being a last min pen.
As shit as weve been thats not on slot. That stat is horrific.
I’ve noticed both with him and Mara that they seem not to be coming to claim stuff. It’s a distinct change I’ve noticed and that certainly has been coached but I don’t see why.
I’ve gone on about Quansah at length, but so really think that was a good move for all parties. It only looks shit because we didn’t get Guehi, and Konate’s form fell off a cliff. From Quansah’s point of view, he is at a really pivotal point in his development and he needs regular week in week out football at a good level at a club where he can get the mistakes out of his game, which he wasn’t going to get here. I believe that he is going to go on to be a really great centre back and I think he will be back at Liverpool this summer or next, and that was always the plan.
Tsimikas, well, we signed a new left back. He wasn’t getting a game. We were right to move him on, and I’m quite interested that it’s not a loan for a player who I would have thought would have suitors. Wouldn’t be surprised if Robbo goes this summer, and Kostas comes back.
Elliott, again not getting games, and a move was the right thing for him.
Nunez, was anyone suggesting we keep Nunez around after signing Ekitike and Isak? Possibly there is an argument that we don’t get Isak, keep Darwin, and use the money elsewhere, but I honesty think he had burned out everyone’s head. His team mates, the coaches, the fans and possibly his own.
Diaz, this is the one that everyone will point to as a mistake, and I tend to agree - but I don’t think the mistake was necessarily selling him, it was not replacing him. We got sold a bit of a lemon that Rio was ready to be a first team player, but we’ve seen little from him, leaving Gakpo more or less unchallenged in that role. On Diaz we should remember that Slot wasn’t even playing him as a winger in the second half of the season, and we have absolutely no idea how firm Diaz was about wanting to move.
Biggest error was not seeking a Diaz type replacement as for Nunez the guy wasn’t the captain chaos he wasn’t even chaos. He looked worse than most of our plodding play this season. Utterly zero point keeping him.
Still think they had no intention of selling him. They were offered £40m and the money men thought this is to good to turn down. The mistake is not spending the £40m on Guehe or at least getting him in first.
Amateur hour relying on Konate and Gomez and the latter should’ve been moved on ages ago.
Yes its unfortunate what happened to Leoni but were we expecting him to play 30+ games at 18?
I actually think the biggest error was at CB. And if we don’t get in 2 CB by the end of the summer then we’ll compound the error.
The whole Diaz, Quansah, Guehi, Nunez, Alonso conversation is getting extremely repetitive. Long posts by the same people regurgitating the same old stuff over and over again won’t change a thing.
My two penny worth is that I always expected it to be a transition season given all the changes. Calls for Slot to be sacked are crazy. I fully expect him to be here this time next season…
Yep
Done to death in numerous threads. Add in Harvey Elliot and the same thing happens.
Despite being worse than Hodgson, Slot has us 4th in PL, almost qualified for knock outs in CL, still in FA Cup, and the longest unbeaten record in Europe.
It’s not a small sample either.
I do have my doubts with Arne, but there seem a few that are wanting him to fail, whereas I am willing him to succeed, I like that we aren’t a sacking club
There are fans who want Slot to fail because they want Alonso appointed, while he’s still available.
Exactly where I’m at. It’s been hard to watch at times and there are legitimate concerns, critique and doubts. But some of the negativity about Slot here and elsewhere is massively overstated and sometimes just plain nasty
Those aren’t real fans IMO
Everyone has an opinion Joe.
Contrary, bizarre, ill thought out, all just opinions. I think wanting Slot out is an opinion, but wanting the team to lose to facilitate that is treachery.
My view is support the team. Everyone involved, Slot and all should be given the opportunity to turn a poor season around
Hopefully last night is a watershed moment in the season.