Felt Liverpool lacked a leader in the game yesterday…
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See first paragraph of Mascott’s post
I thought he was excellent in that first half last night. I gave him my final vote. He was a big reason why we controlled the midfield for much of that first half, with his pressure and ball control both excellent.
As you would expect from a 19yo, its a lot to expect him to perform like that over 90 mins against a seasoned Spurs midfield. But then the rest of the team didn’t either.
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It looks like he’s nailed down a starting slot now , even when everyone else is fit. He’s miles ahead of Hendo on yesterday’s performances.
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If everyone is fit do you think he starts against a top side in a 3 man midfield?
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Yes. Him, Thiago, and Fab is the three, unless Keita is fit ( 
) then he would replace Harvey.
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Bulking for what? He hardly had any issues with physicality against his opponents on the wings, who tend to be smaller than him anyway. And I definitely see an issue with his recovery pace and stamina. Trent was never the lockdown defender but previously hw would win enough duels to ensure a solid defensive effort. That’s not happening now.
And even if we had a prime Hendo and Gini, it wouldn’t help it if Trent is losing his one duels when he is back in the RB position in good time to face an attacker.
Looks like a combination of physical inability (possibly brought on by weight gain?) and mental fatigue
Wasn’t it against United? I remember there being a lot of crying about how they were missing Varane or Maguire, probably the former.
We were literally playing our 7th and 8th choice centre-backs.
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Phew! Thank God, a much needed win for the teams.
Well done Redmen.
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I think it tends to be forgotten that he played the 3rd most minutes of last season. I have a feeling that if you look up how much he’s played in the last few seasons, it’s unsurprising that he looks just physically and mentally burnt out at the moment. Robertson was looking pretty similar until his most recent injury, and Tsimikas taking minutes off him.
The best thing that could happen is that he gets left out of the World Cup squad, and gets a full month’s break.
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With the injuries Southgate facing got a feeling he will take Trent but not play him…
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He will put even more weight on sitting on the subs bench for so long
Our best 11 always has Henderson in it.
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On the Trent thing, someone who goes the game says Trent is constantly being given those gels we saw Hendo gave him yesterday. Wonder if he’s not fit, he did return very quickly from his injury.
Yep…I asked yesterday if he was ill…is he diabetic…just diagnosed???who knows…we proably never know…
Very nice win away at Spurs. They are a good team and will be eyeing a top four spot for themselves. This season we have been out of sorts, losing to just about anyone at any level, and there has been no rhyme or reason to it.
We beat Man City, Napoli and Spurs, yet lost to Forest, Leeds and loads others. It’s a head scratcher, but probably indicative of a team that is mentally fatigued, and definitely blighted by injuries and in need of a reshuffle, especially in the middle of the park.
So with all that said, get in! Great first half, then dug deep against a Spurs team who came back at us, roared on by their crowd. If we were at our best, we win more comfortably. But we are well short of that, so the three points is all the more pleasing.
Elliott is nearing first choice status by the week. Get some younger legs alongside him - Bellingham and Caicedo, and he will go from strength to strength. Right now he is integrating into a midfield that has some older players who are off form or fading, athletically.
Trent is a bit of a conundrum. He is so good on the ball, but he is a bit below his level defensively this year. It’s fair comment to say that. We have defended him against outsiders, because they don’t know like we know - Trent is encouraged to get up the pitch, and get assists, so there’s always a bit more room in behind. We all know that, but usually we mitigate that weakness.
This season the midfield isn’t offering the same sort of cover, and Trent is below his best too. It happens. I hope he doesn’t get picked for England so he can have a good rest, do a bit of training and regroup. But I suspect Southgate will pick him, to sit on the bench, with others going down injured.
Anyway, three points away at Spurs. That’s always very good.
Another three points against Southampton then hopefully some sort of regroup, to plot for the rest of the season after the World Cup.
Top four is very much up for grabs. As is the CL and any other of the cups too, though the domestic cups might depend on the draw, and how we are deploying our squad resources in this strange season.
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Except when it doesn’t.
As was Virgil. It was at that point I realized it was supposed to be 5 at the back because with trent’s positioning it hadnt been clear to me that was what we were doing.
I think that’s a stretch. We can accept that we’re never going to go a place like [whatever that stadium is called now] and dominate for 90 mins, but that doesn’t mean we can just generalize the second half, and last 30 minutes, as jus a bog standard version of that dynamic. Spurs upped their game, and we hung on more through luck than judgement. We looked far more like a scared lower table side desperate for the final whistle to blow than a well operating, steady top side confidently riding out a storm. But then that’s because we’re really closer to the former right now. Hopefully we’ll take confidence from it and kick on so that the next time this happens we can be more confident in managing it and play through it like the team we should be, but that doesnt mean what we saw in the second half was a reflection of a side playing well, one that has got over the hump, or a reflection of what a good team is forced to do to win away against another good team.
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