It was a needed change at the time because teams had adapted to how good we were with such a defined game plan by giving us a LOT of the ball and largely refused to shift out of their defensive shape once they started attacking. We needed to become better at using it and capable of breaking down defenses that were not out of position. No one plays like this against anymore. Most teams are content to actually take us on. There is now value again in returning to the side we evolved away from.
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Testify brother Limie.
Bajcetic, Caicedo, Bellingham.
Itās the future, coming soon to a team in red!
When Thiago gets it right he is undroppable.
All Iām saying is heās out of form atm.
I get replies to that imply itās all Fabs fault that Thiago can not accelerate the game without losing possession and for the past 2 games.
Itās clear the whole team is struggling, as we havenāt a tactic in any area or situation, however get the passing, movement and positioning right we would do better.
We also have to look at age and Thiago was surely a short term investment.
Whatās worrying me is our pass complition has dropped and Thiago is a major culprit here. He slows the game down then tries to force a verticle pass, thatās nuts!
We need a DM, I say it every season and get shot down! 
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Yes, this absolutely clear to anyone with eyes that our midfield is absolutely stuffed. It needs replacing across the board. Ox, Milner, Keita all gone in the summer, Henderson and Fabinho both shot to shit and get run worth a damn anymore and Thiago has never run. Elliot is not a CM (nor a winger either, I still canāt see how he fits into this team). Thatās 6 players we need replacements/backups for. How is this a surprise for you? Our midfield has been dominated in every match this season.
Itās not a surprise to me. I was posting it last summer and was shot down in flames for my trouble.
What I was referring to was the idea that we should replace our entire mf immediately. Usually there is a period of transition. Thatās all.
There was a similar point on the Anfield Wrap and I agree with it. That our recruitment looks a lot like weāre expecting the pattern to remain that teams are going to sit of us and invite us to break down a low block.
Whatās actually happened is that teams have decided to have a go at us, and they are finding a lot of joy because our midfield is just not set up for a battle anymore.
Manchester City, although they are riding it out better than we are, have experienced the same thing.
The irony is that if we recruit a midfield of battlers and go back to the old template, teams might start sitting off again and weāre back to where we were - dominating games but lacking the creativity to break down a deep defence.
In this context, you can see why the club are willing to bet the farm on Jude Bellingham - he can tick both boxes.
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Weāve gone from full on Motorhead to Aled Jones.
No-oneās scared of us any more.
For the last few seasons Iāve approached games expecting us to win, handsomely. Now I approach games hoping we wont lose.
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I reckon we do actually have enough midfielders who would be battlers, theyāre just not often fit. Iām looking specifically at Henderson, Jones, and KeĆÆta at a stretch. Milner is a good option for the every now and then as well.
I think this is why of all positions, midfield tends to be where we accumulate the most players.
As long they can keep storming true our midfield noting will change in that expectation
Liverpool and Wolves will meet again in a replay at Molineux in the week commencing January 16ā¦
Agree no one should be untouchable and the midfield is the area that needs the most work.
For me and how we have played in the past our midfielders need to be all rounders where they can play a variety of ways as they do tend to interchange quite a lot during the game.
We also need them to work hard and need replacements to come on around the 60 - 70 minute mark to give us fresh legs.
With regards to Thiago, he is currently playing left side in our midfield, whereas I would like to see him as our 6, less running to do and is trusted on the ball more than Fab, also the passing options from the 6 position is far more varied which would suit Thiago more.
To summarise we need more competition and need to be able to rotate the midfielders without loss of quality.
I disagree with the idea of DM we need a controlling 6 who is a good allrounder but he must have PACE!!!
I see the appeal of Thiago in the 6 role. Deep lying playmaker, vision, and ability to hit the passes. If the two 8s ahead of him were Caicedo and Bellingham, it would have the lot.
I would be more than happy with that.
The issue is the blend. Right now itās getting overrun, as we can all see.
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I said something similar to a mate the other night. If you go at City or us you will get joy, the difference is that City are far better at keeping possession and as a result are exposed less.
Also, they usually have 3 players back and quite narrow so its harder to play balls in between the channels.
Fabinho being off form really affects our game, in the past if he had the odd off game it didnāt hurt us usually due to the rest of the players being in form.
My issue at the moment is that we do not seem to be learning from our mistakes. We had the WC break to work on the areas where we were being exposed, yet we come back and nothing has changed.
First game back against a physical and talented Man City we start with 3 teenagers all very slight in frame, 2 of them in midfield and then a 36/37 year old at right back. So we lacked physicality in the main area of the game and then pace when the ball got turned over.
Just how I see it, give him players that can run for him and who he has confidence of giving the ball to
I worry we are in that terrible situation where when you try to address one weakness you create another and just keep pushing them around the pitch.
I mentioned it one of the other threads recently, but when everyone ahead of him is doing their job defensively one of the only out balls left is a ball pumped down the line. The way the team collectively moves to create that situations sees the DM shift over into the FB role and so is more often than not tasked with winning that ball. That is why Klopp has tended to prefer a DM who is CB adjacent in their strengths rather than a ground covering monster. At Dortmund he had one of the Bender boys (fnar) who was a 6 footer comfortable playing CB, and why he moved for Fabs.
Essentially dropping him back there might be an option with an adjusted approach, but if weāre doing it with a view to getting two sets of legs in front of him who can restore the pressing game weāre cutting one off one of the legs of the game before we even start.
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With our midfield out of sorts and things looking pretty bleak atm,i donāt see why we canāt try out Trent in that position for a trial period,itās supposedly his preferred natural position.
It canāt be any worse than playing Elliott there,whoās not a midfielder,I think it would strengthen our right handside of the pitch for now,just slip Gomez in at RB and weād have a defensive minded RB with a ball playing RCM in Trent and Salah ahead of him.
Other than a bad experiment for England, Trent hasnāt played in midfield since he was about 16 years old in the youth team. Itās far less his natural position than simply the one he played as a kid because he was better than everyone else. As soon as they started him on his first team readiness path, they moved him to RB because that was what he most suited in senior football.
If we were going to some old fashioned 2 lines of 4 4-2, heād be worth sticking at RM with Gomez behind him. But CM is not only a pretty specialized position at this level in this era, but it negates most of what heās good at.
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