That was my point exactly last night. We have abandoned the high press and let teams walk through us. Once they are playing around our box the outcome is inevitable. When we get possession we play slow controlled passing back and sideways. There is nothing to suggest that we have a proper plan to win games and progress. It’s a mess of epic proportion and falls entirely on the management. We have to make a change and quickly
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Its still not good enough. Its not the draw, its the manner of it. We played badly. At one nil down I thought here we go again. We were lucky not to lose. Chiesa should never be last man back. Never. He chased a lost cause and got lucky. A better striker scores that.
Regarding Salah, the tactical experts can decimate this take, but we had loads more energy with him on the pitch. It looked like we might create someting. Wirtz moving to the left nullified him a bit, but Salah was better than what was on the pitch earlier. We have a problem with Isak. Ekitike shows so much more, Isak is like the expensive tea set that you have to use because you paid too much for it.
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Do ex pros count too. Ive not seen one pundit suggest the game was anything other than lethargic slow tempo and disappointing.
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Ekitike runs around but offered little when he came on. Hes part of the systematic problems everything is in slow motion.
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Yeah I have never seen a footballer at any level do that!!! Fuck me!
I thought it was the opposite actually. I thought the gaps started appearing when he arrived.
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The Not Good Enough Crowd must have been fucking insufferable 1990-2020.
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I think you’re both right. Salah definitely offered more threat than Gakpo, but the change negatively affected our overall shape. Which is the Salah conundrum in a nutshell
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Sunderland are good currently, but on first sight, a draw at Anfield in these special circumstances isn’t great.
At second sight though (I didn’t watch the game) the stats seem to tell another story:
What I read from the stats (couldn’t watch the game) is that we were dominant, but couldn’t put the freaking ball into the net. 1.46xG for us against 0.46 for Sunderland, with a lot of possession, a huge lot of shots, but not on target. Honestly, for all the hype around Wirtz and Isak, I find this really disappointing.
Give me back Nunez, Diaz and Elliot please. At least, they ran their hearts out for the team and gave their all (and scored goals).
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Somethings not right. We weren’t great against West Ham but it should’ve given us confidence but it hasn’t.
Isak touched the ball 15 times last night and 15 times against Forest.
We bought a forward who thrives on crosses but wed rather go left and right and back again.
Chiesa brought on the get a goal ends ups saving us at the other end. Its just a mess at the moment.
I like Slot but he has £116m world-class player and £125m world class finisher and cannot get them into the game as much as they should be - although Wirtz been better of late - i honestly think he’s clueless on how to get the team built around these 2.
Taking off your £125m striker (unless in the Red Zone) when you need a goal seems madness to me.
Leeds just became a lot harder as they just beat Chelsea and remember these 15 points (Across all comps) v Forest, PSV, West Ham, Sunderland and Leeds could now be 4, 5 or 7.
Its just not good enough as 3 of those were at home.
I just dont see Slot working this out. Does Salah going to Afcon help him? Im not so sure.
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It’s not all on Salah, it’s the players we have brought in as well. They do not gel. Salah has been brilliant but a lot of that was how Klopp developed the shape and attack of Liverpool. Arne doesn’t seem to have that vision or ability to create a potent strike force. IMO I think it’s the team spirit that has evaporated. Whether that’s down to personality or language, who knows. What we do know was that Klopps personality brought people together. Irresistible force of nature. Most of the time I struggle to see any sign of team training that shows these players understand each other and want to create chances.
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I’ll be blunt: he hasn’t a clue about that, at least for the time being. And don’t forget how weak we have become at the back too, and our midfield hasn’t covered itself in glory either.
How a manager who convincingly won us the league with a clear game plan becomes so clueless is really beyond me. Of course, there might be influencing factors we don’t see as fans.
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That isn’t particularly a one off. The low xG for Sunderland is largely down to most of their shots being at the keeper. The one they scored took a fortuitous deflection, although it was as a result of the ball being stupidly given away.
Most of our chances were into a packed box, and our goal took a fortunate deflection.
Looking good on paper hasn’t really been a problem. It’s rather like the old Brian Clough quote, “We had a good team on paper. Unfortunately, the game was played on grass.”
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Arne Slow, na na na na na…
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Not knowing what to do with Wirtz is the issue.
I could be wrong (or maybe I just misunderstood you), but whether or not the shot ends up at the keeper shouldn’t really factor into xG?
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Xg is based on quality of chance top.
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Not on the quality of the shot though (except for body part). To take a simple, extreme example that eliminates all other factors, xG for a penalty in the PL should be the same whether or not the shot ends up being a rocket into the corner or straight at the GK. At least that’s how I’ve always understood it.
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Ah lads
We won’t win the league on xG.
Its another fucking metric to judge poor play.
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But the position of the keeper does, as it narrows the availability angles. You can have a low xG, because the keeper is doing their job, but a goal is still scored because of factors outside the keeper’s control.
I remember reading that half of all goals rely on some sort of luck (deflections, rebounds etc) which makes a bit of a nonsense of the whole stat.
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