As long as we score 3 goals at least a match I don’t give a monkeys for who way or when!
Don’t jinx it 
Right now I think Jota will score more than Diaz.
With Díaz and Diogo out and Salah more effective closer to goal we might see Kostas as a LM in the 4-4-2 or Harvey as a RW in the 4-3-3.
Only Cheaty is allowed to field 12 players 
It was a long day.
1 Like
FIFY
1 Like
We don’t have a crystal clear option on the left anymore, but we have a few different options.
Let’s assume that we’re going to continue 4-4-2 for the short future, let’s say in the remaining 9 games until the WC. Of course, nobody blocks us from going back to 4-3-3 here and there. It’s not such a massive change.
Obviously Carvalho springs to mind first, since he’s a combining right footed player who can play on the left of a midfield ‘4’.
Elliott came on the left against Arsenal I think. Obviously he’s better on the right and central-righ, but it’s not impossible that he gets game time on the side where we have less options now.
It’s not Bobby’s best position, but he used to also cover the left side of a 4-3-3 in the 16/17 season, to allow either Sturridge or Origi up top. But he will be needed to partner either Salah or Nunez up top to link the game.
Other options include the likes of players coming back, Jones, Ox, possibly Nunez. But Nunez I think only if we’re playing 4-3-3 and we have Bobby central. Like Origi sometimes used to do, to very mixed success at best.
I don’t think we’ll use backup full backs from the start at wide positions, only to close the game here and there in the final stages of games.
I think the main answer is simple - Mo Salah central… Last 2 games he’s scored 4 goals!
1 Like
So simple but so obvious. Having one of the world’s best goalscorers over the past 5 years playing like an old fashioned right sided midfielder was a terrible tactical oversight.
Play Elliot, Trent, Diaz, Carvalho, Ox or whoever else in that position if we want that player to stay wide. Salah needs to be playing in the width of the 18 yard box, not getting chalk on his boots.
2 Likes
Seems like it’s natural progression of goalscoring wide players these days… Thing is, unlike C. Ronaldo or Mane, for example, I don’t think that Salah can lead the line on his own, especially as opponents will easily flood him and he’s not one to play with his back to goal as space will almost certainly be denied to him. Playing him next to a fast, tall unit like Nunez, though, someone who can keep defenders busy with his direct running (though I haven’t been impressed by his ability to hold up the ball)… Klopp might be onto something there. Small sample, though, but this experiment might last for a few more games if there are no more injuries, I guess.
1 Like
Except our attack hasn’t been a problem during the Klopp era.
You missed the important part.
Mo central.
Becker kicks long to Mo 
I’m not sure Ronaldo can or ever has done that either!
I’m not saying Salah has to be at centre forward from now on, but in this 442? Yeah, that’s better than him playing as a right midfielder. Opponents will flood him wherever he is on the pitch but he can usually find space at some point throughout the 90 minutes, and surely we want him doing that in and around the box rather than on the touchline?
We’ve got loads of players in the squad that could theoretically do a decent job as that right winger, but we haven’t got a goalscorer as good as Salah, it’s a waste of his abilities getting him to do the donkey work out there.
Also, after seeing him against Palace when we went down to 10 men, I’m not sure we aren’t wasting Diaz by playing him out wide either, but that’s a different conversation!
1 Like
In those “medium position” maps that were shown at the end of PL matches last season, Salah has always been our farthest forward player and his position always seemed closer to the middle than to the byline. I blindly guessed Klopp’s system yesterday but I honestly wouldn’t have many issues with him persisting with it IF that can get the best out of Salah and Nunez at the same time. Given how we defend this season, if we’re going to think about qualifying for CL next season, I think we’ll have to focus on outscoring opposition rather than trying to nick a goal and control the game.
I’m still not sure how it happened that Salah was so often left isolated on the flank and with so few touches inside the box. I guess that’s one of the main reasons why we are where we are at the moment.
I wonder if a change to 4-4-2 would have a positive impact on Trent as well. Guardiola sometimes plays a variation of the system and it suits Cancelo perfectly, for example. I wouldn’t want to see Trent that high up the pitch but having a player ahead of him who’s not entirely devoted to attacking might help him play his natural game and not think about the space left behind.
As for Diaz… He’s no Mane, and I think he’s still trying to find his identity in this team. He’s not a good finisher and he might never improve in that aspect but he’s still an excellent dribbler with astonishing work rate - I actually thought after last night’s game that that if Klopp decided to stick with 4-4-2 for a while, he’d be perfect for right wing role and that he’d work well with Trent. 4-4-2 with wingers on their natural sides, I feel dirty for thinking about it…
I disagree re Diaz, he could be a fairly regular goalscorer if played into better areas. He strikes the ball very well and is suprisingly good in the air. More importantly though his dribbling ability would be more damaging in those areas.
I think he’s basically good enough to play anywhere in this 442 though, left, right or centre forward. Trent could be incredibly good in the right midfield role too, in the same way that Beckham or Gerrard were.
2 Likes
I don’t see Salah up top centrally under Klopp “long term” (I mean while there are both here together).
I don’t think the player wants it, I don’t think the manager wants it. There have been quotes on that as well in fact.
4-4-2 proved/proves to be a good solution here & there when we have issues.
We will probably go back to 4-3-3 at some point in the next weeks or *months (maybe more possibly with 9 games to go, *some time after the WC).
Even if we do change our main formation, I don’t think Salah’s main position will change. He’s not a number 9, he’s not a proper winger either. He had drops of form playing a little bit more inside or a little bit more outside, not a massive difference for someone who is often branded one of the world’s best players.
He’s best in between, like Ronaldo in last years or Mbappe recently. All of them are best when they are given certain freedom and released in spaces between defenders.
How our attack evolves with a move like Nunez last summer, that’s for people who made those decisions and who are working on it on the training pitch to solve. Maybe our attack includes Nunez being a protagonist in it, maybe it doesn’t. Maybe he survives here long enough to have another manager in charge, maybe he doesn’t.
Having scored 8 in 2 games, I think the answer is clear.
We play Rangers and Shitty every week 
It was interesting seeing our left sided player in the middle ‘4’ last night playing very much inside (even more than usually when it’s a 4-3-3), especially when we were in possession. Carvalho popping up very central. But also in some pressing moments. Trent played deeper than Tsimikas (not unusual in the last year or two), who pushed forward more. Of course it’s not the ideal scenario for Salah, though in my opinion he should still perform, but the team’s situation and needs comes first. As long as we’re getting results and getting our consistency back, but having some players out, they should all just do what’s asked.
1 Like
Yep it was sad to see Salah back out wide but I accepted that was probably more circumstance than anything else… Nunez and Bobby would and have been terrible when played out wide, and Salah isn’t terrible he just isn’t at his best position.
Ideally we’d be rotating Salah, Nunez and Bobby for the “2” in the 442 and having the likes of Jones, Elliot and Carvalho playing the wide midfielder roles as we get through this period of more injuries. Elliot was great as the right sided midfielder v’s City.
Nunez - Salah
Jones - Thiago - Henderson - Elliot
Is a solid 442 set up.