This I agree with. At times it felt like I was the only one clapping in my area. But during some hesitant passages of play you could clearly see and hear some riled up reds. That wasn’t fair on the players.
I was telling my neighbour that if that first shot from Isak goes in I recon we win the game comfortably. A lot of it is confidence. The team will get there
It’s becoming normal to claim that our midfielders are poor and can’t pass.
Yet the same midfielders won the PL two years ago.
And even in a bad season outplayed the Arsenal MF over the two games
Before the season kicked off we reasonably assumed we would be a work in progress. New manager, some new players, and all of them trying to learn his ways. So now that we are showing that we are a work in progress I’m going to keep a sense of perspective.
We will improve as the season goes, but it won’t be nice and linear. There will be some iffy stuff to endure as well, and today was probably one of those.
We were ponderous in our play, and perhaps a good win against Atletico is a factor in that?
Like everyone else I am concerned about our midfield. The balance isn’t right and there are far too many holes, and far too many duels being lost. The passing is largely safe - neither forward, or quick enough.
I would like to see MacAllister and Nyoni, but that would be a big call for Iraola to make, with a lot of wages on the bench if Szobo and Grav were both there. Still, if it is based on form, I’ve not really seen anything from Szobo or Grav that makes me want to play them.
We were resolute enough to not concede, which is a small point to be thankful for. Araujo is solid, Jacquet is settling nicely… these are the main plus points.
Two teams look head and shoulders above the rest on the evidence so far - Arsenal and Man City. I don’t think we will be troubling them in a title fight (though after just a few games you can never say never). But hopefully we will get our act together and improve along the way, sufficient to finish in the CL spots and hopefully with some silverware.
Progress is not a straight line. Games like this will happen and we have to understand that without getting completely disheartened or piling on one or two players each time.
We have very good players. The thing is, the entire league has very good players. Years of even newly promoted teams being able to spend £100m in a transfer window has created the deepest Premier League I’ve seen since I started watching in the mid-90s.
It’s no coincidence that English teams have dominated the Conference League in particular since it started.
Ipswich may go down this season, but they’d probably finish upper mid-table in most leagues around Europe.So we need our players to be talented but also full of confidence and physically at their best every single game, otherwise you’ll get days like today.
We’re building something. Bumps like today are going to happen. It would help if Anfield going fans could up the atmosphere a bit but I understand after last season it’s hard to get going when watching us can be really frustrating at times.
This is our main problem. Breaking up a functional system to fit Wirtz in has caused immense damage. A midfield three in a 4-3-3 formation would have been far harder to get cut through like butter.
Should have properly replaced Diaz, TAA and Fabinho plus buying one or two new off-ball pressing monsters (Jota/Nunez profile) instead of tossing out money for Wirtz, Isak and Frimpong (a wingback).
We currently have a much better squad than Klopp’s first few seasons. But it’s a new team. With a new manager. It will take time to get used to each other and their coach. We’ve already seen improvements. Yes today was a bit blah but it’s part of the growing process.
We tried something different with Wirtz and Isak. Let’s give it a proper go before we bin them off.
