And then the goal following that in the next match, which was also with his right foot.
The point is that he needs to get that more in
Thoroughly enjoyed that. Thank you for sharing. Mo’s herky jerky dribbling style is super effective and must be scary as hell for defenders to face because it makes them commit to tackles and when they get done, they have no way of recovering.
Had forgot it was Jones that got the assist for that!
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Finally, 5 forwards are our top 5 scorers so far this season.
Hopefully now they all maintain that, also getting more numbers from the likes of Szobo and Jones, who are mainly our #10’s.
Yeah, but FSG out!
MacAlister would have been a great buy at 3 times the cost. Getting to the front of the line to get him, and being able to do it so (comparatively) cheaply, is looking like on of the best deals we’ve ever done. He fits what this team is trying to do so well and with such quality.
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Thats another example of FSG penny pinching we should have waited till he cost 3 times as much to make Transfer winner people happy.
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Thought I would resurrect this thread during the international break.
A late goal in Paris.
Darwin and then two penalties against Southampton.
Nothing in the return leg at Anfield.
Stoppage time goal at Wembley.
Is it just tiredness that is to blame for our lack of goals of late? Or is there something more fundamentally wrong? Will Arne be able to solve the problem for the final push to the title?
Or is it simply that all our players are crap?
Answers on a postcard to the usual address.
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For me it is down to us not playing as the manager wants us to, we have, in too many games, gone long too often and we don’t have the players for it.
When we have played through feet and vertical passes we have created chances.
Also, our forwards aren’t beating their man atm.
Not entirely linked to our attack, but…
2 goals in the last 5 finals, out of which one from open play…
Isn’t good enough.
Of course being there and winning it is most important, but when you look at it, before Chiesa’s goal last night, you have to go back to Bobby’s goal against Flamengo for the last one from open play. And that was extra time. Before that, go back to Mane’s goal against Chelsea in regular time (the other one was also in extra time).
Yesterday we had deeper issues than just the attack though, arriving there was a big (or the biggest) problem for us in the first place.
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This 1000%
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They nullified our main (only?) goal threat, and our 2nd best attacker was injured.
We appear to have massive tactical problems. These problems finish by us not having a midfield in any situation. That means we rely completely on individual exploits of our defense, goalkeeper and forwards. The only firm players we have at the moment are our goalkeepers and bench warmers.
We have to sort out what our tactics are.
That cannot be true, as we are 12 points clear in the league. Or are you saying that Arne’s tactics have now been sussed by opposition managers, and he is incapable of changing them? 
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I’m saying we have transitioned into appearing to be a rabble in comparison to what we were doing before x-mas.
We still have good players who manage to keep us moving forward.
It often looks like we are playing 604 or 505.
We didn’t have these formations before appearing before.
Slot quite openly said in press conferences before Christmas that regardless of who was playing number 9, we weren’t creating opportunities for them or getting them into the game.
I don’t think that has really got any better as the season has gone on.
I wonder if that’s because Salah is essentially our 9 but on the right wing and everyone works to support him?
Is it part of a bigger plan or just something we’re struggling with?
What sort of number 9 does he ideally want? I’ve genuinely no idea what style of striker is his preference other than that we started the season with Jota over Nunez.
This is what happens when you don’t have a consistent goal scorer in the squad besides an ageing Salah and even less of a creative spark. Grav can play on the half turn and progress the ball to a certain area but he’s not Zidane, Mac will occasionally pick out a defence splitting pass but it’s not enough and Szobo doesn’t really do much of anything bar run about really fast fouling people. Jota doesn’t have a creative bone in his body - he looks mentally and physically out of sorts, Darwin can do bits in spells but against a low block we may aswell be playing with 10. Diaz on his game is brilliant but too often he flatters to deceive, Gakpo the same and Jones is Jones…takes him 20 seconds to see a pass and another 40 to play it.
But the issue doesn’t stop there, the personnel is only half the problem. Our football is just bland, slow and boring, how can you adapt from playing 100MPH to playing at 5 a side pace. The first halves have needed addressing for 2 years now and haven’t. It also doesn’t help when you go 3 transfer windows doing nothing to improve the squad.
Or maybe this is a team having its last dance together? At times it feels more like the end of a cycle than it felt this time last year.
Some players have put in years of hard work for Klopp and some players have been overused by Slot. It certainly looks like the likes of Gravenberch, Mac Allister and Szoboszlai are sometimes running on fumes. Maybe Slot doesn’t quite trust their replacement.
I expect that a combination of Slot having a full year to get accustomed to the league and to get to know his players and a good summer window will go a long way towards getting this attack firing and not relying on Salah.
I’m more worried that the team looks spent at the end of the March two years in a row than the lack of goals, to be honest. Now it’s about digging in and making those league points count.
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I think Jota starting regularly shows Slot wants another linking player at CF, as Jota is usually good at the intricate side of the game, but unfortunately he’s so out of form its hard to watch.
Gakpo getting fit would really help out the overall shape and allow our three best forwards to all be on the field at the same time.