Beating our pressing game. Who to worry about?

[niallers]

It's early days but it's clear to see that we're the most intense team in the league at the moment,especially when it comes to work rate and pressing,counter pressing. Most teams,including the bigger teams haven't worked us out yet or have but haven't the players to hurt us.

I remember one of the experts said that guardiola beat klopps press by going long to Lewandowski and picking up the 2nd ball which was very effective.

Now a lot of teams in the league have this option but bayern have far better players to execute that plan. It wasn't aimless balls like we've to face in this league.

So, who do we worry about? United have the big swede to hit and whether we like it or not, some other good players to play off him. City don't have a target man, but have brilliant technical players to beat our press. So, how do we react when a team beats it by whatever means? Do we have a plan b to counter the counter?

Fairly long winded but I'm bored and have far too much time on my hands to contemplate such things.

[jimmycase]

As Jock Stein used to say, let them worry about us. Someone might stop us by parking the bus and getting a lucky break or someone might beat us by being better than us on the day.

 

it'll be great if we win the league but Im along for the ride with Klopp and the boys whatever.

[lifetime fan]

Only side I'd worry about in the league is City.

 

Think we might only beat them by 4.

[ZonkoVille77]

We still lack concentration the the back so I don't think it will be any great masterplan that will win out. We'll more than likely loose to lapses of concentration than someone out thinking Klopp. City will be worried about our pace on the break but we have the same problem with them. With Shitcoat at Utd I think they'll try play a more physical game and aim to get our places sent off, Mane is a model to get sent off against them.

 

In summary. I haven't a fucking clue.

[Harry Squatter]

Everton might because according to Dave Prentice they invented the pressing game 30 years ago and would probably know how to deal with it.

[3 Stacks]

I think the acquisition of Matip is huge for the pressing game in the sense that the teams who decide to go long will now have to consistently beat a 6"4 lanky bastard in the air time and time in order to get any sort of foothold in the game and that will very rarely happen.

 

I think the worry is when we come up against sides with an extremely aerially dominant centre forward (like Swansea do for example with Llorente) or against really hard working sides who will match our hunger in the middle of the park, like Spurs. 

 

Other than that I think United and City would cause us problems. United because they are a massive side who can hoof it to Zlatan, Pogba and Fellaini and City because they have the quality to pass it around us and Guardiola has experience in beating Klopp.

[liverpoolsno9]

Burnley or most of the teams in the bottom half. I'm not getting carried away, nor do I think we've solved our problems of playing against the 'smaller' teams just because we knocked 5 in v Hull. Let's see what the next few games hold before getting cocky.

[Preston Red]

Cunts like Watford are good at fucking shit up. The shit cunts.

[Paco]

Palace

[Section_31]

Tiredness. Unsustainable for the length of a season with a squad this size.

[Iceman]

That's the main reason we need depth. With our system we will do well early on but it will be hard to finish as strongly without personnel who can come in and plug the gaps.

[Rick Sanchez C-137]

Tiredness. Unsustainable for the length of a season with a squad this size.

This kind of hinges on our success in the cups. These players are top athletes and should be able to handle one high intensity 90 mins a week easily, IMO.

[Cardie]

Tiredness. Unsustainable for the length of a season with a squad this size.

We have the ball the majority of the games we play so the pressing only happens on short bursts.

[stringvest]

My biggest concern has been our lack of an approach to beat teams defending deep and denying us the space to play through them. We have seen dozens of games where we repeatedly run into blind alleys and lose the ball cheaply, or resort to blazing the ball over the bar through ridiculous pot shots from 30 yards out. Now weve had a game where we scored heavily against a team we expected to park the bus, but we were given a lot more space than a truly organised team might offer.

 

Im not convinced we've solved this one yet, but the next half dozen games will tell us.

[Ronnie Whelan]

We need to worry about the Watfords and the Palaces. They have good players and are the kind of places that are a graveyard for a title challenge.

 

Btw, while City have been great, they haven't yet been really challenged bar the Mancs away. The Spurs game will tell us alot about them. If they win that they deserve to be considered title favourites. They have some huge players like Aguero,kompany and De Bruyne who have bad injury records.

 

At the moment,it looks like City to edge us,spurs,arsenal and united but it's a very long season.

[El Rojo]

I agree that fatigue might be our biggest threat. The work the players are putting in is phenomenal.

 

We couldn't sustain this approach with the current squad and 10/12 European games added to the calendar. Maybe that (and the lack of a Klopp pre-season) are mitigating circumstances in how flat we were in the Europa League Final.

 

We'll be in Europe next season, which will change everything again.  

[rubble-rouser]

Teams that can go full alehouse - 

 

Palace, 

West Ham (in form) 

United

 

Seriously expect United to go repeatedly De-Gea-Zlatan in a fortnight 

[William Morris]

As well as the points already made about Man U, I fully expect Mourinho to have them in game destroying mode when they play at Anfield.

Liverpool like to get straight on to the front foot and make a fast start. Don't let them, time waste from the first minute, feign injury, break the game up constantly, make it stop start, don't let Liverpool gain any kind of momentum.

Does this remind anyone of a certain Liverpool v Chelsea game?

[Babb'sBurstNad]

I'm not sure we've faced a side that's shown good, fast wide players yet who're up to speed. Whilst lumping the ball to someone like Lukaku or Benteke seems an obvious threat as an out ball, I still feel there's space to exploit behind our fullbacks, and that teams may work out how to draw Milner out of position. Palace, with the pace of Townsend running off Benteke could hurt us.

 

Frankly, it's the home games I think we've more chance of losing against certain sides. Arsenal, Utd, Watford etc. are all more likely to look to counter at speed. That's where I think our defensive organisation still looks a bit shaky. City and Spurs won't sit back though, so those games become more about who can press and do something with the ball than any true tactical battle of wits. If City beat us, it'll be because they take their chances so clinically.

[skend04]

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[Gym Beglin]

There's only one way to beat a team like us or City, and that's to tire us out by keeping the ball.

 

Or getting a corner.

[aRdja]

At this stage, Swansea.

[109_ultra]

The only two ways that I can think of beating it (if we are at our best of course!) is by

 

1) doing it better - fight fire with fire if you like, much like Dortmund did in the first half at Anfield last season. It then becomes a case of who takes their chances, or another way, who has the better strikers.

 

In the premier league I can only think of Spurs who might on their day be able to outwork us, but even then we've ran further in both Klopp's games against Pochettino; or

 

2) being ridiculously good in possession and passing around the first wave of press in your own third, probably needing a ball playing keeper and centre halves; meaning probably only city and arsenal have it in their locker to do. Even then though I'm liking those odds that we might pick their pocket once which is alls it could take.

 

Otherwise it's really a case of hoping you catch us on an off day. Nobody will set out to "do a Burnley" and shut up shop if they have any serious designs of beating us, sure they might get lucky once in a while but in the grand scheme it's surrendering the initiative to us to go and win the game.

 

In a nutshell it's hard as fuck to play against when executed correctly

[kalasoma]

In the MNF interview with Carra, Klopp mentioned something about there being a player who gives the signal to switch play or press. Did I get this right or am I imagining it? If he actually said something about this, then I guess one way to beat our pressing game is to watch the guy who is calling our plays?

[Section_31]

There's only one way to beat a team like us or City, and that's to tire us out by keeping the ball.

 

Or getting a corner.