Jump to content
  • Sign up for free and receive a month's subscription

    You are viewing this page as a guest. That means you are either a member who has not logged in, or you have not yet registered with us. Signing up for an account only takes a minute and it means you will no longer see this annoying box! It will also allow you to get involved with our friendly(ish!) community and take part in the discussions on our forums. And because we're feeling generous, if you sign up for a free account we will give you a month's free trial access to our subscriber only content with no obligation to commit. Register an account and then send a private message to @dave u and he'll hook you up with a subscription.

Where do we go from here?


Scott_M
 Share

Recommended Posts

We can complain that Pickford is a short armed like cunt all we want (which he is), the VAR ref is a gormless prick (again, which he is) and The Ev are a dirty, dirty set of bastards (which they are), we could / should have bought in the summer (debatable) but none of that changes the fact that this is the hand we’ll been dealt now at least until January. 
 

So what do we do? Do we change formation? Do we drop the high line? Do we try and protect the centre backs a bit more?

 

IMO, Fabinho has just become the most important player in the squad. Obviously, Matip & Gomez’s injury records are poor, and Gomez’s form has been below par for a while now (although he was good yesterday). Either through form or fitness, they won’t be able to play every game together, so Fabinho is going to have to fill in a lot. When he plays in midfield, I assume he’s going to have to do more shielding of the centre backs.
 

Also, IMO, I wouldn’t drop the high line. One of the reasons it works so well because of VVD & Gomez’s recovery pace but to be fair to him, Matip has rarely been caught out from it. If Gomez remains fit and well, I see no reason to change it, to be honest. 

Defending cross balls and set pieces will obviously be harder for us going forwards, Virgs head was like a magnet to the ball at times, especially last minutes when we were under pressure. We’ll have to work on that. 
 

Although I’d never ever want us to be in this situation given the obvious concerns, maybe there are a couple of positives?

 

Refocus - The whole squad now can’t rely on VVD to bail us out on occasions. We have to stick together now and if we’re going to keep the high line (which I assume we will), it relies on everybody playing their pressing part. 
 

Mentality - Citeh more or less have up last season when Laporte was injured. I don’t feel like we’d do the same. Following on from the above point, I’d hope we show our monstrous side again, rather than the somewhat laxness we’ve shown since we won the title. We need more leaders to step up now. 
 

Other sides open up more - Suppose this could be good or bad, but I’d assume other sides will fancy their chances more when VVD isn’t about. I’d hope we’d get a bit more freedom to play. I do appreciate that teams could easily rely on set pieces more and us every opportunity to pump the ball into the box. 

Return of the Red Arrows - If we’re not going to keep sides out, will we rely on just throwing every at sides and hope to outscore them. 
 

 

Obviously the loss of Virg is devastating, it can’t be dressed up any other way. But personally, I don’t think it’s the death nail

in our title and European chances so will fear. 

  • Upvote 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, Bobby Hundreds said:

NULL and VOID.... talkin bout human lives!! No fans, people dying, people feeling sick, business closing, economy dying on its arse, Brexit, fucking Reece Mogg has spawned 6 kids, 15 quid a game, our pets heads are falling off! NULL AND VOID!

Said it to a few bluenoses today. If they care about the greater good of society, then football should be stopped for the next 8-9 months. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Losing VVD is huge. No doubt about it. It impacts us massively.

 

However, I think there's a lot of defeatism going on that isn't warranted.

 

We won the league by 18 points last year after picking up 99 points. The year before we picked up 97 points.

 

We're not getting anywhere near that now, obviously. Does that mean we can't win the title though? No, it doesn't.

 

It means it's going to be a lot harder and that it's going to be much closer this year than it was last. But all the other top teams are flawed and overall we've still got the best eleven even without Virgil.

 

If we lose another centre back for any length of time, or if Alisson gets injured again, then yeah we're in trouble. As of now though, attack is the best form of defence and we need to get back to dominating games and scoring loads, especially as clean sheets will be hard to come by and no doubt we'll have a few of those mad ones where we concede four.

 

If we get back to that style of attacking football, we'll be fine, especially if we can get to January and then get someone in.

  • Upvote 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm generally pessimistic but, for me, we're still favourites for the league and one of the favourites for the Champions League. Thiago looks like a game changer in the midfield, Jota looks promising too. Fabinho played well at CB against Chelsea. We've got a much stronger squad overall than last season. For example, Origi doesn't even make the bench at the minute. I actually thought we were excellent against Everton, bar some ludicrous luck and a couple of lapses. We've got a good run of league fixtures coming up too, so a good opportunity to build a bit of momentum. 

  • Upvote 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

You score 7, we’ll score 8.

This time we win the title by one point, from City, with the Ev fifth, on goal difference, from Wolves.

Want to see them humiliated in the Europa League next season.

Champions league, get as far as knocking City out and getting the bald fraud the sack, then go out and concentrate on winning the title again.

Let the kids loose in the FA cup and see how it goes. Ordinarily I’d say it’s a shiny thing and we should go all out to win it, but this season I’m prepared to make an exception.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Contrary to opinion, I wouldn't go all high press, high intensity, super attacking like we were playing 3 years ago. Not in a season when the games are close together and we need to conserve fitness.

 

I'd go more defensive, counter attacking and manage as many games as we can. We can absolutely play that way, especially with Salah and Mané's pace up top and the biggest problem we have, van Dijk or not, has been at the back. We just need to be more solid.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Is there another back 4 in the league you would swap Trent, Gomez, Matip and Robertson for? Maybe I'm blinded by red tinted glasses but I can't think of one. Stick Alisson behind them and its definitely the best in the league. Stick Fab, Thiago and Hendo in front of them and its the best in Europe. Stick Sadio, Bobby and Mo in front of them and its the best team in the world. Stick Klopp in charge of it and we can all relax.

  • Upvote 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Was halfway through a post when I saw No 2's so will shorten.

 

Alisson, TAA, Robbo, Thiago, Mo and Sadio are all top 3 in their positions in Europe , and any other 5 we pick are top 5 / top 10, so I have no intention of wimping out on these guys because we have had a setback.

  • Upvote 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

4-2-3-1 makes sense. Less reliant on the full-backs to provide width. Less pressure on The struggling Bobby to score goals. The defence is protected by two holding mids as opposed to just one.

 

Alisson; Trent, Fabinho, Gomez, Robertson; Henderson, Thiago; Mane, Firmino, Jota; Salah

 

  • Upvote 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...