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Maguire and Holding are terrible, but Thiago Silva at 45 will be better than Joe Gomez is. He’s miles ahead.
Gomez has been dreadful for 3 years and Matip has looked poor for the last 12 months. With Konate’s injury history and Van Dijk’s decline it’s definitely an area of concern.
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Rather in the center, but often, he’d find himself in space on the left. Mo’s 4-4 came from such a situation. Nunez showed outstanding class and awareness to put in the assist for Mo.
His first goal came from a through ball from Mo, he runned from the left to the right in front of the keeper, took the ball and smashed it in the net. A remarkable display of agility and technique. His second goal came from a through ball right towards the center, which he expertly converted after disposing of his defender.
I give him a 10/10 for his 45 minutes today. If he can translate that kind of form into the season proper, he’ll give us a lot of joy.
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A lot of slagging of Joe, when Joel was far worse.
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The bottom line is that our defense is gone to shit since last season and we are seeing no improvement. LFC are making the same mistake with Gomez and Matip like they did with Ox and Keita.
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Who has Cheaty? That should be the benchmark, not Chelsea or Newcastle.
They are giving Ake a new and improved contract:
https://twitter.com/FabrizioRomano/status/1683730392451350531?s=20
While they are also involved in buying Gvardiol …
If Liverpool are making a mistake, it’s in regard to the entire defence and not just Gomez and Matip. It’s not like van Dijk and Konate are exuding confidence. All four of them need to lift their game considerably. 6 goals conceded to two 2nd tier teams is not a good sign, preseason or not.
If they keep performing like this, then this time next year we’ll be talking about a defence overhaul with another season down the drain.
Looking at the Fürth game, the first choice defence didn’t concede. In the second half our 3rd choice keeper, 2nd choice left back, a 2nd choice centre back playing alongside an academy player, another 2nd choice centre back playing at right back, and another academy player at DM conceded 4 goals.
The aim of the game was to make sure that all our players have had a runout. Clearly we do need to to strengthen at the back but that is more about adding depth and options.
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Van Dijk hasn’t been the same since Pickford assaulted him. He’s definitely lost a yard of pace since that injury.
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The only thing I’ve gleaned from our two friendlies thus far is how very meh/garbage are back-up players are. The first team starters are fine but it’s a squad game, and certain areas, particularly the defensive unit (that’s a defensive midfielder-inclusive DU I’m talking) is thin on reliability and quality if you take away the usual suspects. Klopp can’t have been impressed, even if it’s early days.