I think the agreement with Ward Prowse is that we will sign the entire Soton first team squad at a wholesale price.
I donât get the âElliot is not midfielder â shit. Put him in front line just expose his weakness more. At his age Fabinho was fucking backup rightback, Henderson, Gini, Milner was winger. And all of them was much more physical gifted than him.
Midfielder always need more time to learn their games, especially with physical limited like Elliot. He maybe wonât make up here, but his best trails is clearly game intelligent and passing vision- key element for play maker -the only role he can be become top player. Top top player like Modric only made his first move to Spurs when he was 3 year older than Elliott right now.
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What people are forgetting is that more teams are actually prepared to play against us rather than sitting back.
Which is also leading opposition teams pressing us and that is where Fab is also struggling as he doesnât really assist us in breaking the press and playing through the lines.
Another issue is that when teams are sitting back and soaking up pressure, when they get chance they are prepared to break at speed with numbers and that is where Fabâs pace and lack of game reading is killing us
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This is why the reduced output of our fab 3 up front - Mané leaving, Salah tanking after his Egypt losing AFCON+WC qualifier and Firmino injuries has such a big impact.
Itâs not on one team to decide who wins or loses. If a team believes there is no hope going into a match, they probably will have none. If they have identified weaknesses in the other team and have a good plan to exploit them, then they have at least a chance.
Our old front 3 were renowned as the best front 3 in the world at the time. Teams would therefore play us cautiously knowing any turnover would be severely punished. Now teams are going at us balls-to-the-wall knowing we are comparatively speaking impotent up forward, that Trent is a weakness deep in defence, mostly through his lack of concentration, and Hendo and Fab are now both traffic cones. Itâs not surprising teams came at us more when we were playing away where their home fans have an expectation to get something from a match.
This all comes back to teams respecting opponents too much as well. There is a (deserved) lack of respect for us, while there is way too much respect for City, so much so that most teams donât probe their weaknesses.
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Even at our very best, teams tested us more than they do with City. Its almost like you might get some joy playing a whirlwind but you get fuck all playing a machine.
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Agree, although you were a little harsher on our players than me lol
FIFY
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Itâs like Coutinho, not quite a midfielder in our 4-3-3, not quite a forward. Something in between and team needed to compensate for his deficiencies when he played
Brilliant when he was on it, mind. Just not in that system
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So, if Mac plays mainly on the left, how does the midfield look next season?
It looks like one of Thuram or Kone will be the No6, but who plays on the right?
Will Trent become an orthodox midfielder?
Will we be able to line up without Hendo or Fab starting?
What will Jonesâ role be?
Please answer in short, easy to understand sentences as my brain is small.
Mac allister /Jones LMF
Fabinho/Bajcetic CMF
???/Hendo RMF
I think we stick to the box-midfield.
Mac / Curtis ----- Thuram / Elliot / Hendo
Fab / Kone / Thiago ---- Trent
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Huh?
Part of the attraction of Mac Allister (as Klopp notes) is his flexibility in midfield. He can do a bit of everything.
Initially I think he is going to be looked at for the position Hendo has had on the right of the front two midfielders, but the ability to plug in anywhere and do a 7/10 job makes him really useful to us.
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Donât forget Bajcetic too, he will be one of the options.
I think we will stick to the box midfield too, with Trent getting on the ball a lot when in midfield.
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So, something like:
Kone/Thuram
Mac Jones
Mac Jones
?
Could go with
Mac allister/Jones/Thiago
Thuram/Fabinho/Bajcetic
Veiga/Hendo/Elliott
Means buying another 2 though but the 3 weâve used most till now could easily be phased out over the next year or 2.
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Its how we look when Trent comes inside as a mid despite starting in the RB position.
The LCM and RCM shift further up (almost as attacking mids), and the no. 6 moves a bit to the side to make room for Trent and you have a âboxâ shape.
Then you ideally want to have 3 defenders behind, preferably pacey ones who can cover for Trentâs position like Konate did.
I just donât understand who is where in your post. Sorry!
To me, I would think of it as the traditional 4-3-3 weâve played under Klopp, morphing into a 3-2-2-3, where the 2âs attain a box-like shape.
With the success we had the late run this past season, and with Klopp and Pep still around, thinking we will see quite a bit of this. Adding both Kone and Thuram would provide loads of flexibility among all four of those âboxâ positions⊠not to mention some much needed athleticism and youth.
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What Madrid has just pulled off is a CLASSIC model for evolving your midfield.
Valverde
Camavinga
Tchoumeni
Bellingham
This is a midfield that can play for the next 8-10yrs.
And its an important lesson for Liverpool to learn.
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