Weirdly, the first goal doesn’t bother me. Genuine mistake, it happens.
Leeds second goal however still boils my piss 2 days on. It had all the hallmarks of a side that collectively doesn’t give fuck. I know that isn’t the case but we shouldn’t be conceding goals like that.
Aye, in lots of what’s they are the more frustrating one. With the first you address it in 20 seconds the next day and it’s sorted. With the second it’s a collective of maybe 6 players who none of whom make an obvious mistake, but none of whom do enough either. Those are a lot harder to resolve on the training ground.
We can’t have it both ways. We can’t complain about the age of the midfield and lament not giving Gini a massive contract. It was always going to be a choice between him and Hendo, in terms of who got the contract.
Of bigger concern to me is that I don’t really understand our midfield strategy. What midfield do we want? What also goes under the radar is that Lallana departed, and he was another who could be relied on to the energy and press in midfielder.
Look at the players we’ve bought or brought through since we signed Fabinho - Thiago, Elliot, Jones, Carvalho (at a push), and Bajcetic. They are all fine players, but I don’t think there is a high energy pressing workhorse in amongst that group.
And we still seem like the rest of the team naturally needs energy and work rate from midfield when Klopp has not signed a player of that nature since, ironically, Gini.
I don’t think this has occurred to me, but nobody at LFC has clicked on to this. I’d love to know what’s going on.
Personally, I think there are two options available to Klopp. Either he commits to the 4231 (which probably means buying a right back, moving Trent to midfield, and getting in another midfielder) or he goes back to his 433 (which means buying two workhorse midfielders, and redeploying Elliott as a forward)
Personally I’d take the first option.
I think we need to be careful with stuff like this. The first is definitely true, but the second is really problematic - because it totally contradicts what makes Jurgen so special. It’s like saying I really like Mourinho, but he needs to give his players more attacking freedom. It’s just totally antithetical to his ethos.
The biggest reason why we have an ageing team, with some players given chances beyond what they deserve, and a lack of new players coming in, is largely because Jurgen shows incredible loyalty to his boys. He cultivates a tightly-knit group of players who will work incredibly hard for him and each other. It’s one of the main reasons why players adore him, want to play for him, and are reluctant to leave. As long as players are willing to work hard and give him their all, he will show them loyalty. He stepped in to get Henderson his contract despite (if rumours are to be believed) the analytics staff warning against it. He won’t accept a new player if their is someone already in that role, and he certainly won’t adopt any Mourinho shithousery to get rid of one.
I’m a bit embarrassed even saying this, because Jurgen has forgotten more about football than I’ll ever know. But the question I think Klopp now has to answer is can he do what Ferguson did for years at Utd? Can he continually evolve a side to keep it at the top for years? Can he look a player in the face and tell him he is done at LFC? We know he can build a great sides - he showed that at Dortmund and Liverpool - but can he keep a side great?
If you look at a player like Milner, although he has gradually been demoted from absolute key player and mainstay in the team to an influential squad player, I can’t say that he has ever disappointed me. Even now, his performances are often excellent. Klopp’s faith in him is deserved imo.
Lallana on the other hand departed at some point, Sturridge too for instance. Not because of a lack of loyalty, but because he had probably a discussion under four eyes with them, and told them that their time was up and their role would be very limited from then on. Countless players have already departed the club since he arrived, so it’s not as if he has blind faith in everyone. Look at what happened to Karius, one of his own signings.
I’m sure that he has that ruthless streak about him (ie. kicking Sakho out of the club), it’s just that his manners are more often than not smoother and more humane than Ferguson’s at the time. He manages to keep mutual respect and friendship with the players who depart, and that’s a rare quality, but certainly not something which should be used as a stick to beat him with.
Interesting observation from seeing something on twitter just now. The chance that Berghaus missed early in the Ajax game was very similar to Leeds’ winner. A player under the pressure in the left corner manages to split a double team. The ball eventually makes it way somewhat hopefully into the box and splits the gap between the too deep CBs and too (whatever) CMs and the ball finds it way to a midfielder on the box free to get off a shot.
wtf