We ain’t selling Wirtz, though, are we? We’d take a significant hair cut. Szobo is much more marketable at this point. But I get your point on Dom being more useful in a 4-3-3.
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Slot has a limited track record so it’s difficult to tell whether what he did with a previous team is his vision of football or simply his vision for what was right for that team. At minimum though we can say is that the scouting report on his Feyenoord side gave a pretty obvious vision for how to use both Wirtz and Dom in a typical 4-3-3 in ways they were both suited to.
In contrast to the idea that has surfaced this season that “Slotball needs two fast wider forwards for his football to work” that was not how his Feyenoord side was set up. The pattern there was one of asymmetry of his wide players, one staying wide and the other (typically on the left) pinching in to make a second striker, and just as importantly pack the middle of the pitch with bodies helping out the pressing game when we lose the ball. This is notably very similar to how we set up with Phil on the LW in Klopp’s first great front 3 and was why so many people assumed the Diaz move was done to make way for Wirtz to play there. That was how we would increase our control of games especially in the final third. In that sort of 4-3-3 there is not just plenty of room for both of them in the side but obvious roles for them both in which they’d be expected to thrive.
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Nwaneri. Just throwing out a new name. He looked a really good player breaking through at Arsenal. Great shot. Strong. Skill. Adds to the home grown group.
Not sure how much Arsenal would want, but he looks a good player to me.
I would be stunned if they were willing to let him go. He might go somewhere this year on loan again because despite him being around for a while he is still very young. But much like the Klopp kids, the first team success he had last year meant going back into the reserves was not what he needed for his development so they loaned him out.
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I’m particularly looking forward to Gakpo finally getting a proper chance to play.
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Would any other coach have got them to perform to that level?
Jurgen understood players and what they offered to the team and he put them in positions and tactical setups that made the team better than the sum of its parts and as I said, Jurgen was the one that bought these players.
I do agree that we need to add to our midfield, but selling all 3 for new shiny toys, nope, Macca is the one I would let go, if any. Realistically we need more players not one out one in.
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That was part of Jurgen’s genius. Something I thought Slot had the way he used Grav but sadly that turned out to be a flash in the pan.
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Yeah, Jurgen was special.
With Grav though, rather than build on and encourage what he did last year, both Slot and Grav said that Slot has encouraged him to go forward more, which is why, for me, his defensive side has suffered dramatically
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Like she he goes in the run, who is suppressing to hold the fort? Macca can’t
Yet Macca is the one and his recovery runs look like they are in treacle.
The setup of our midfield tactically has been bordering on criminal this season, especially defensively, whether it is the supposed high press, mid block or low block. They look lost in all 3, the direction from the coach has to be the issue or they should have been dropped.
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Macca has been poor by his standards but his defensive contribution has never been about the speed of recovery but more about the reading of the game and positioning…
And then over committing and getting beaten and left for dead.
But I do agree he needs to be in a tight defensive unit not with large open spaces as he just doesn’t have the physical attributes 1 v 1
Not you, but I think we are all influenced by the idea of DM being about the physically dominant player crunching tackles all over the field
If Macca and Grav could be melded into one player, would be one hell of a number 6, tenacity, skill on the turn, pace and passing.
Apart from Milly neither Gini nor Hendo were particularly were really good tacklers but they would work as a unit to shepherd the opposition players in to traps so we could win the ball back and launch our counter attacks.
We just don’t have the current shape or plan tactically that allows us to do this.
Klopp once gave an interview about our defensive system without the ball and he started by describing the front trio…
He ended by saying that if one of the segments gets out of shape, the entire structure collapses.
For me atm I don’t see a structure in place for it to collapse, when our forwards have tried to press there is no structure to support the press and when it is beaten our front players get despondent with what is happening behind them and then stop committing to it and it becomes a vicious circle.
I know you disagree but this is all about the coaching and lack of committment to the press from Arne.
Its not so much that I disagree, but that i don’t have enough information to make a definitive conclusion.
What we all have is the evidence of our eyes.
But we also have a benchmark, complete with all the metrics. A BM from less than one year ago…
The why and the time frame is the issue for me.
A coach doesn’t simply forget how to set up a team in under 6 months..
What do the stats say, would Kayode be a good long term option for right back? He seems like a good player in the making, an all-rounder in his role. I’m asking because I’m seeing quite a few links with Dumfries recently, meaning that club might be looking for a new right back.
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Seeing as we played midfielders there for half the season, it seems likely.
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