I agree.
And I think we are still a work in progress for the season. And I still think we will right the ship and win stuff with this team. We are in a spluttering start and still leading the pack. One loss, albeit a bad day and a few inspired moments.
When this side with all its new components starts to gel, then we can decide on hust how good we are.
Glad to see that you are seeing the same thing too!
You couldn’t resist, could you?
VVD, Gravenberch and Salah were our worst players yesterday. Putting aside the tactics.
A captain is there to lead and help out as much as possible we didn’t get that. Also needs to show some urgency during play rather than frustration afterwards.
Our coaching staff have a lot of work to do as it seems they have quite a lot wrong. An example is Konaté hé shouldn’t be getting into those tight marking situations against the type of players CP have, it’s not the first time we’ve seen this.
The whole team needs lessons on how to slow the opposition down when they get the ball. The opposition get though so quickly, like a very hot knife through warm butter.
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Gravenberch? Van Dijk?
Worse than Konate?
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At which point does this become a real concern? Looking at it with a cool head, it’s probably just a question of time with such quality players. However, the in part unnecessary upheaval of the squad which became champions last season was always going to hurt us at some point. I’m really surprised that we managed to make such a great start results-wise with such a reshuffled first team, which is of course a huge positive in such difficult circumstances.
There have been valid points raised in this thread about some weird tactical instructions as well, ie. keeping Salah out wide all the time, wtf?
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Christmas? I’m not sure. At the moment, the constant international breaks don’t help. But I am seeing individual players going up and down in form. Kerkez is a good example. He looks confident one game and then a complete liability the next.
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I meant the game in Paris where we won 1-0. Ali had the game of his life and YES I did watch it.
Do feel a lot of this is quite reactionary
Good chance Isak isn’t here without doing what he did. We’ve bought him with a view to leading the line for five years, not the first five games of the season.
Six months ago people were saying Robertson was done and Kerkez was probably the best left back in the league.
Frimpong, well I kind of had that concern before we bought him.
Wirtz was the best player in the Bundesliga. New manager, new system, new teammates, new country and dropped into a side where no one is performing. Far too early to judge.
Agree on Mac. He needs a break but not exactly his fault he’s being over played.
People were saying not to worry about Trent leaving as Bradley would step in. Did have my concerns but he’s still young and keeps picking up niggles. Shown he has the talent, now needs the consistency.
Konate I’m inclined to agree but Gomez was also shocking against Southampton.
My take on all this is that if you have the majority of your team underperforming then it’s less about the individuals and more about the manager, the motivation, the cohesion and the tactical approach.
Maybe teams were starting to work out how to play against us back end of last year and it wasn’t just us taking our foot off the gas. Perhaps it was too much change in the summer and he’s struggling to make it gel. But collectively the team looks disjointed and whilst some individuals are still putting in okay performances if the team is looking that bad it’s not an individual player issue.
Hopefully this is the wake-up call needed.
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Watched the game on and off yesterday. We played pretty similar to how we have played from the start of the season and the out come I’d put down to, “If you live by the sword you’ll die by the sword”.
The fullbacks will struggle as they continue to find their balance with their wing forwards and likewise Wirtz needs to find his balance within the team. Right now Wirtz is a bit handicapped by the hangover from the old system - where the middle was more of battering ram than a fine scalpel. We are so used to our wing forwards applying the incisive thrust.
The team was always going to have teething problems and I’d still give it till Christmas before feeling too concerned. If we are at the top or within sight of the top by Christmas we will be in a very strong position - we will only get stronger…
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No just CP they did the same against us not so long ago on a neutral venue!
So a little reactionary. 
I fucking hate losing. I hate losing with the last kick of the match. I hate us being crap. I hate watching my favourite players looking useless. I hate the trainer looking clueless. I hate all the moaning and bitching and fingerpointing afterwards. I hate suddenly remembering it all on an otherwise pleasant Sunday afternoon. I hate the way it makes me long for the next match while also dreading it.
I just hate it.
Luckily, being a Liverpool fan, I don’t have to experience it too often 
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If we look at it tactically, rather than blaming individuals, our biggest problem is getting the ball out from the back. This causes problems further up the pitch.
Our double pivot isn’t doing its job and CP absolutely dominated them by putting a little press on VVD and Konatè. The problem is Mc Alistair and Gravenberch don’t find the angles, Jones is better at this however against CP when he came on he struggled for a while to find the space.
Other teams are going to pick up on this and then we will be in big trouble. The coaching team has to work on this. We no longer have TAA so the short term solution could be playing Szoboszlai at right back coming central when we have the ball.
We get frustrated then try forcing it by going direct to Wirtz and yesterday Szoboszlai (who isn’t performant that far up). It becomes easy put 3 players on Wirtz and the opposition stops us.
Anyway Isak didn’t see the ball all through the first half and it wasn’t his fault (ok Ekitikè would come back and get involved however he shouldn’t need to).
Food for thought.
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Fair play 
Lot of hand wringing over losing to the team second in the table but clearly we’ve got issues. And we really weren’t all that convincing from April onwards last year, Spurs game aside.
Personally I think it’s more likely adjusting to a lot of new players and that was always the worry after a summer with that much change.
Need Slot to go back to the drawing board, be a bit more pragmatic and up the tempo a bit to impose ourselves on games more early on. Basically the first 40 minutes of the Everton game but keep it up for an hour or until we get a third or fourth goal and the game is put to bed. We’ve shown what we can do, we just seem to only do it in very short bursts.
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19 other teams would choose to be in our position.
I’m pissed off, but this league is ours to lose.
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Fact is the first 55 minutes and a none silly pass against Everton will see off most sides
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I think it’s far too easy to blame the new players now. Who are they supposed to look to and lean on if the established veterans aren’t setting the tone and leading the way?
Salah and Gakpo should exude security up front, our midfield should still be solid, and our two defenders should be reliable. That would help our newcomers immensely, but for some reason, that’s not the case (yet?).
Only Alisson, Szobo, Ryan and Virgil. seem to still be “the same old players.” I’d like to add Robbo as well, but unfortunately, he plays too rarely. Salah is almost invisible right now, Alexis looks like a shadow of himself. The less we talk about Konate the better, and I have no idea where the uncertainty is coming from—perhaps a tactical adjustment or a mental issue—but speculation won’t get us anywhere.
In any case, Slot and his coaching staff have a lot to do to restore security and confidence. Then it will be easier for the new signings to find their place within the team and their game.
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If so, can we vote for more than 3?
Wirtz has not been great by any means, clearly struggling with the situation, didn’t look good for Germany as well (bar a nice free kick), but the ‘drifting around’/floating complaints - that’s part of his game, previously that was seen as one of his strengths. Obviously not clicking at all with the rest of the team atm, but I’d rather not see him lose that. Need to find ways to use that better.
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Just reading an article and Howard Webb…has looked at the ‘offside:scream:
’ not given yesterday…and says quite clearly…Palace player is off…we knew it, he knew it, and a few others knew it…so why didn’t the ref know it…or VAR agree…because it was better that Palace won…and we gave up a few points…
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