I mean, it could be, likely is, utter bollocks. It’s just what a few people seem to be suggesting.
The thought the 3/4 games he played in before his injury last season were at RF .
Agreed
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Agreed. Trent tends to lack awareness at times. I feel like I’ve seen half a dozen moments this season where he’s ball watching and has allowed an opponent to sneak past him on the back post. Some of that is a product of poor positioning on his part, and some of that is the product of some disarray on the backline when our midfield is bypassed too easily.
But I’m not sure if moving him to the midfield will solve any problems. My sense is that if Klopp fancied him as a midfielder in the long run, you would have seen the club trying to transition him there already.
For me he is a major weakness for us on crosses and the opposition know it by overloading his position and putting crosses into that area. He also is for me a pretty poor header of the ball
Came on for Keïta against Norwich with Firmino, Mané, and Salah all still on the pitch, not really clear based on the substitions. Other midfielders on the pitch were Fabinho and Oxlade-Chamberlain.
Started as a midfielder against Burnley (Henderson, Keïta, Elliott).
Started as a midfielder against Chelsea (Fabinho, Henderson, Elliott).
Started as a midfielder against Leeds (Fabinho, Thiago, Elliott).
After injury, came on for Curtis Jones against Leicester, with Salah, Jota, and Diaz still on the pitch. Midfielders on the pitch were Fabinho and Thiago.
Started as a midfielder against Southampton (Milner, Jones, Elliott), coming off for Origi. Minamino, Jota, and Firmno started.
In the Champions League after injury, started as a midfielder (Fabinho, Thiago, Elliott).
I listed all the other players where I wasn’t sure if we were playing with 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1, but I’m fairly certain he almost always played as a midfielder.
EDIT: Based on reading lineups off Transfermarkt.
What about a 19 year old, pleeeeeease.
I like this guy and honestly I think he could be good for us, but then I had thought of some other CM who would be good for us and bombed at other teams. But maybe there are different measures, but playing 8 games last season and this season half for a total of 24 matches and 2000 minutes, is not exactly enough to say proven in the PL, yet.
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Perhaps but certainly less risk than bringing in a Keita type from another league. There’s no such thing as a risk free player. Caicedo at least has shown he can hang in the premier league which is a huge plus. Can he flop here or be injured all the time? Of course. But so can anyone. I have no idea how he will fare here, but I think he is quality and the type of player we need at the moment. It’s a bonus he has PL experience.
What is a Keïta type?
Gini was jus dominant… decline started when he left… man these were them days!!.. LFC LETS GO!!
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A 50M midfield talent from Germany or similar with apparent upside but with questions about whether they can adapt to the pace and physical nature of the premier league
I loved Gini while he was with us, and was sad to see him go, but it’s not right to say that our decline started with his departure. Remember how last season went: we were two games away from winning the whole lot.
So, I feel that our current decline this season must have something to do with our midfield among other issues (mostly injuries happening all over the pitch), but definitely not with Gini’s departure.
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I think the point that even as we were closing in on a quadruple last year, it felt a bit less stable. More of a high wire act. Towards the end we were conceding a lot, and we’d clearly sacrificed some midfield dominance for a more creative edge to midfield. That has been doubled down on this season, and teams are now just cutting through with ease.
However alongside Gini, Hendo and Fab I think you also have to include Firmino and Sadio. Those lads pressed from the front and by the time the ball made it into midfield, there was already an element of miscontrol to the opposition’s possession that the midfielders could leap on.
That’s how the Gegenpress works. Each press makes it harder to retain possession until something gives. When Bobby and Sadio pressed the defence, possession might not be won until three or four passes down the line, but because of the constant harrassing and pressure each pass becomes progressively more difficult/risky until we can snatch it back. A lot of those midfield turnovers in the clip can be traced back to the attackers forcing the defender into a pass he didn’t really want to play.
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I take your point, but football is weird like that. There is so much momentum and muscle memory that success coming to an end doesnt necessarily come at the same time as a key decision that led to that fall off. Sometimes it can be as simple as Alonso going out and his replacement not being up to stuff and the team suffering. But sometimes it can a case of a too short a perspective - buying an already aged RVP who was great for a year but, especially when coupled with Rooney’s rapid decline, left them uncompetitive in the subsequent years. Sometimes it can be that your longer term planning didnt work as hoped and you have been unable to change course.
It was not wrong per se to let Gini go. It was not even wrong to think that in the short term a midfield with Hendo and Thiago both the wrong side of 30 could thrive in the short term. But is undeniable that the midfield Gini was a part of worked better than the current version and the overall transition has not been managed well.
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If the current midfielders went through the season with little to no injuries, and we won or came close to winning the league (something like…say…2021/22) would you then apologise to FSG?
I am trying to highlight that injuries/winning the league/everything in football changes like the rolling in and out of the tide. Fans love to tell everyone that will listen how bad they have it when things aren’t going perfectly, but conveniently leave out the good times, especially when there is a motive to try and get even more investment from owners. Whether that is Chelsea, United, Liverpool fans. We could legitimately go on and be a threat for the league next season without a change in this squad. The quality is still there, whether you choose to see it.
With the Gini departure, from a financial planning point of view, I think it’s completely within FSGs right to say to Klopp that Hendo is over thirty, Thiago is over thirty, Milner is well over thirty, so you can’t have Gini on 140k a week for three years as well.
Similar to the attack - We’re happy to put Mo on 350k a week until he is 35, but we can’t do the same with Sadio. It’s one or the other.
Football clubs do that kind of balancing all the time. Even the big ones.
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I do think it would be beneficial to commit one way or the other at this moment in time we seem to a be a mess of formations, a mess of ideas on the way forward and a mess in the market (if you take much of it with more than a pinch of salt).
Apologise to FSG for what? I haven’t done anything yet.
My stance is clear, I’m fine at the moment…could better but I’m fine…something I’ll be far from should we not sign a midfielder by 1st September (something I’ve said I don’t think will happen)
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