Ekitike should be back now I would think?
1 Like
Yeah? Great news, as he’s our best forward right now. 
Slot said that it shouldn’t be long, but since the games are coming fast, he couldn’t make it. I think he should be back in the next game or two.
I wonder what’s up with Danns’ injury, where’s he at.
Jayden Danns supposedly working on grass now, and expected to resume full training soon.
1 Like
No shots on target and obviously lacked a better final pass/shot, but it looked better tonight with two false #9’s rather than Gakpo up top.
We were compact and it gave us a nice cage of 4 players through the centre, good for defensive duties and also a lot of passing options.
2 Likes
The answer, get our attackers FIT!
1 Like
The tail end of Rafa’s reign with us I suppose?
Yes, final months.
1 Like
And yet we were closest to scoring.
1 Like
Rebuilding the wings, that’s the only answer.
Salah and Gakpo are fucking killing us. Problem is their competition for places are Chiesa and Ngumoha.
3 Likes
Nah!
Just cut them off.
Flo and Hugo up top.
Play 3 at the back.
Have Kerkez and Frimpong running down the wings.
3 Likes
If that is the case then we need more depth of platers that can play in a front 2. It also means Rio will have to go or keep as an option just to mix things up in game.
We’d need a couple of CB’s more than strikers…
But I don’t think we’re changing the formation to 3 at the back this summer whether Slot stays, Xabi comes in or someone like Amorim.
It will possibly be part of the decision as well, if it comes to it (it was reportedly one of the topics when they were looking at Amorim).
2 Likes
We need to fix our build-up. I think it’s our biggest issue now, and our rest defense systems.
In attack, Frimpong is our best winger right now imo, because he’s the only one who can actually beat opponents. And that’s a problem because he’s not really someone who could become a vital part of attackers, so a new attacker who’s good at dribbling is a must. Right now I don’t know why Slot doesn’t keep playing Wirtz as LW, Ekitike in the middle, and playing Jones in midfield . Playing both Gakpo and Salah is obviously killing our attacking flow. Salah surely needs to be replaced, while Gakpo could be a useful sub only.
2 Likes
I was referring to the need of CB’s in case we would change our formation to 3 at the back (but I don’t think we will).
Yeah, build up will be part of points to improve over the next weeks and months, definitely in pre-season. That can be done with current players and also getting more quality from new ones.
Jacquet might prove to be better on the ball than Konate, we’ll see what else we do in defence and deepest midfield zone.
And yeah it does seem like wingers might be also high on the agenda, though if Salah leaves and who replaces him will also depend on how we will view the roles of Wirtz & Szoboszlai and Ekitike & Isak going forward. And that will also depend on who the head coach is.
We tried a few different things in last months.
Playing with two wingers, playing with one winger and one additional player coming inside off the sides, playing without wingers at all, square shape a few times, diamond shape once, etc.
Now we saw Gakpo tucking inside a lot almost as that 4th midfielder (like when Wirtz plays off the sides, but plays inside when he does), we didn’t really play with two wingers positioned so high.
I agree that Jones should’ve started more games.
There’s not a million things we can change with the players available, but it’s not like Slot didn’t try different things.
I remember Klopp played him as left midfielder vs Chelsea one time and we looked so bad in that game too. He stays too far from the opponents’ box when we have the ball, and too high up when we don’t have possession. I think Gakpo’s just suited for a simple game, and his best attributes are shooting and making runs. Playing him too far from the opponents’ box makes him duck out of the game.
1 Like
I remember we did it in a game away at Real in 22/23. I think it was Fabinho, Bajcetic and Gakpo that night in a 4-3-3. Obviously it wasn’t good, that wasn’t a good Liverpool side or period of the season.
I think Gakpo tucking inside that much is just temporary, us trying to protect the centre in order to let Salah stay very high in his role.
He remains a winger.
Having high-paced wingers will massively improve our counters. Currently only Ekitike is fast enough (barely) to make runs in counters to catch with long passes. Salah has lost his pace while Gakpo is never fast enough.
Even if Trent stayed, his passing would have suffered because nobody in our current squad can run to chase his passes.