That’s harsh on Isak. He was the 2nd best CF after Haaland in the league. He didn’t get a preseason and is currently injured. He will be just fine.
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I don’t think that is a problem, and the two of them alternating 60/30 splits is ideal. There is also the option of Ekitke doing bits off the left.
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That’s why I think we could sign 1 winger instead of 2, if Salah is leaving.
And then we could combine playing with 2 “classic” wingers, 1 or 0 (depending also on who’s up top, if it’s a front 1 or 2).
But first let’s see who is our head coach.
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Why must we only play 1? Why can we not play both up front together?
We’ve got a number of talent young strikers coming through the academy, so there is no reason to play both if that is what Arne wants to do going forward.
Didn’t know where to post this, but since it’s an attacking element, gonna put it here.
Wanted to have a quick look at the stats of other penalty takers, apart from Salah. He will probably remain our first choice while he’s here and then next season we’re gonna need a new one. Of course, there could be new players and some of the current other ones might leave.
I’m only taking into account their total senior careers.
Mac Allister: 12-1 (2-0 for Liverpool) = 92.3%
Szoboszlai: 19-2 (1-1 for Liverpool) = 90.4%
Isak: 19-6 = 76%
Gakpo: 9-1 = 90%
Wirtz: 6-2 = 75%
Endo: 7-0 = 100%
Chiesa: 2-1 = 66%
Ekitike: 2-3 = 40%
80% is generally viewed as a limit under which you shouldn’t be.
Guess the new taker could be one of from the top 3 on the list, though that also has to do with who will be a regular starter and that is connected with some other topics…
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There you go, one rare similarity between Ekitike and Torres.
They’re not for penalties.
(Torres was 30-12, 71.4%).
I suppose this is one of those specialisms that will need to be honed on the training pitch. Given that there are only two that have taken them for us (outside of shoot-outs) there isn’t much data there, but the Endo figure is interesting.
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Of course, the new taker means also added homework, analysing opponent’s goalkeepers, etc. Some want that responsibility, some don’t.
There is interesting things to be taken out of even smaller simple stats like this, then there’s also technique, variety, mentality, penalties in big moments, etc.
Endo’s stats are there simply to respect him. His penalties were all taken from 2012 to 2015, 4 of which in Japan’s second tier. Possibly won’t be here next season and even if he is, highly unlikely that he’d be a regular starter.
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Maca has always been solid. Of course, he may not be on the pitch as much moving forward…or even at all if we move him on.
I would’ve rather that the club succeeded in finding another offensive player and sold Gakpo, which would’ve been a quality sale, objectivelly speaking. Because while Ekitike is out, you’d still have alternatives to backup/compete with Isak.
It’s gonna take a lot now for Gakpo to stay here long term. If Barcola proves his class in his position, Gakpo will remain on the market and probably leave soon. But next time, who knows what sort of offer we get…
The only thing I want from Gakpo and I can say that the signs with that are positive, is that he’s professional and gives it his all. I have no doubt he will do this. And there’s always a chance to turn things around. It’s not a minimal one, but the plan surely is to have Barcola as one of our key players off the left.
Generally also, I prefer Gakpo when he plays with certain sporting anger. Maybe he reacts best when he has a point to prove and serious competition in his position.
Now, positions wise, it’s not ideal of course.
Out of our current players, at the moment, Gakpo could be best suited to backup/compete with Isak. Because of his experience here also. But we also have the case of Munoz and Barcola all being able to do a job there. It depends also what Iraola likes, as they are all different.
We also have sometimes pleasant surprises like when Slot invented Gakpo on the left with Diaz up top, our best attacking combination (along with Salah, of course) in our title winning season.
For now, I prefer Munoz on the right. He seems to be very hard working, but needs a bit of polishing also. The rest, it might depend on a combination of quality, form, style, understanding between players and the opponent on the day.
I could see basically all wingers being used on both sides, perhaps someone like Barcola, again if he proves his worth relatively quickly, being mainly in his best position.
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Didn’t like Iraola putting Barcola on the right and Ngumoha on the left last night. Ngumoha improved (or finally got going) at the start of the second half. Would’ve preferred the opposite.
Why Barcola had a couple of very good opportunities to score from the right.
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I wanted him in his best position, this early in his time here and with his strongest foot open towards the game. Ngumoha struggled in that first half.
Playing on the right, Barcola had more space compared to Rio, who had 2- 3 players to beat when he received the ball, so he may have struggled. We have seen Rio struggle more on the right.
So, for me, very happy that Barcola had several great opportunities to score from the right
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Iraola has admitted getting the tactics wrong I think the second half confirms that in the first half things weren’t right.
Still yes it seemed a strange choice. You don’t see much of the ball on the right as things are do you?
Szoboszlai really struggles to get the ball out there.
I thought Rio had far more of the ball throughout the game on the left than Barcola!
In fact they seemed lopsided defensively to their right and their left appeared more open and that’s why Barcola had the best chances had he had the space to run into.
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I think Simeone was expecting Barcola to play on the left… hence he overloaded that side - only to find young Rio was playing that side
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And he didn’t have the nous to change it, although some were a little harsh on Rio, he did very well against 3 defenders, kept them honest and kept being aggressive, which I love and defenders hate.
He also won us lots of corners but the less said about them the better, especially the short ones we took 
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They were better prepared than us.
Loading our left is normal if you have analysed our recent games. We’re lopsided and use that side disproportionately.
I don’t think Athletico cared who was where they just analysed how we have been playing.
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We’ve now seen snippets of all 4 wide players on both flanks, this was clearly an intention from Iray from the start. He says what he means and he means what he says, they need to be comfortable playing both sides.
Although for development purposes refraining Rio from playing on the right as much would be best.
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