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.

Midfield creativity


Recommended Posts

His signing made sense at the time, I think. We were regularly finding ourselves camped outside the opposition's box, struggling to create chances, and I assume the thinking was he'd be able to offer something different. Obviously that's not really been the case this season because everything's completely gone to shit, so I'm still vaguely interested to see how he'd look in a more settled team. I also wouldn't be too arsed if we just cut our losses, either, though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

One thing is for sure, this team can't be fixed with sell to buy. We've let a world class team get old together, and now there are about 4/5 new players needed to keep them at the level they were at. Fuck about for another season and we'll drop off even further.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Duff Man said:

Yep, agree with all that. And it's difficult because much of it revolves around form and fitness, which are issues that may fix themselves, but also may not.

 

For me, I'd focus on replacing/keeping Gini; replacing one of Gomez/Matip; and replacing Bobby.

I think it is fair to say that we can't or won't solve it all in one summer window - so i'd imagine Klopp has his priorities set, just down to whether the owners will back him - and that could get dicey if no top 4.

 

The areas you shout are fair shouts.

 

We need to have 4 proper senior centre halves and preferably ones who can stay fit, so yeah a big area for work and agree on midfield and Bobby.

 

I don't have much confidence we will achieve those things though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

13 hours ago, 3 Stacks said:

Well, we don't particularly seek it out, or play a style that is conducive to it. 

When we had the two fastest CBs in football covering for us, we allowed one of our midfielders (as well as both fullbacks) to go beyond our false 9, creating a lot of havoc in the box. These days the midfielders are needed to cover for our super-slow CBs, which also means we win less of the ball further up the field.

  • Upvote 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Keita is probably one of the worst signings we have ever made, Thiago is a card away from being sent off virtually every game, Bobby sadly has lost his mojo and tries to rely on Brazilian flicks when just playing the game would work better, Mane just seems to have gone back into his lazy mode of not giving a shite, Salah is turning into Sterling, one goal/decent bit of play for a dozen plus attempts, and is well shy of a tackle, how many times does he lose a ball through not wanting to get involved.

we are relying on Trent and Robbo to do all the work, while the rest just seem to bimble about.

Injuries aside, we are 5 to 6 players short of a top team at the moment.

We need to spend, but more importantly, we need to sell, and sell big, ie get rid of the dross collecting wages for no effort.

I personally cant fault Milner, he is one of the few who puts a shift in and works his arse off no matter what.

 

 

  • Upvote 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 minutes ago, MOGLET said:

Keita is probably one of the worst signings we have ever made, Thiago is a card away from being sent off virtually every game, Bobby sadly has lost his mojo and tries to rely on Brazilian flicks when just playing the game would work better, Mane just seems to have gone back into his lazy mode of not giving a shite, Salah is turning into Sterling, one goal/decent bit of play for a dozen plus attempts, and is well shy of a tackle, how many times does he lose a ball through not wanting to get involved.

we are relying on Trent and Robbo to do all the work, while the rest just seem to bimble about.

Injuries aside, we are 5 to 6 players short of a top team at the moment.

We need to spend, but more importantly, we need to sell, and sell big, ie get rid of the dross collecting wages for no effort.

I personally cant fault Milner, he is one of the few who puts a shift in and works his arse off no matter what.

 

 

Great post.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, El Rojo said:

In the few seasons before this disaster, largely the same personnel in midfield led us to a league and a European Cup, and could easily have had one more of each. 

 

Arguably - and this is not to disparage our midfield - that was because often our most effective attacking play missed out our midfield and went straight from back to front.  Our defence was quick to spot any opportunity for a quick counter attack.  

 

In addition, we were much more effective in the press because our back line and midfield were routinely playing 15-20 metres nearer the opposition goal than in this season, because we had pace, strength and great technique.  This meant our midfield and attack had less ground to cover to press the opposition's back line effectively.  Our FBs would more readily and fluently attack knowing they had Henderson and Fabinho ready to cover should they lose the ball in advanced positions.  

 

All of this had an energising effect on the attacking players, as they believed they would see more of the ball in advanced positions, and the effort they would invest in the press would not be wasted, as everyone else would be working to close others down.  

  • Upvote 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have the utmost faith in Sadio being boss again, he’s still had some absolutely magic in the past few months, the goal against palace, his performance against Spurs, goals in both legs vs Leipzig. He was decent last night, had Valverde beaten all ends up, just lacking that bit of confidence and arrogance that’s there when he’s at his best.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

27 minutes ago, dockers_strike said:

I dont get how any player loses confidence playing in empty stadiums. There isnt 50000 fans on their back if they fuck up a pass.

 

Fuck knows what their confidence would be like with 50000 on and turning in performances as we have seen.

50'000 fans singing your name kind of gives most people a boost mate. I know people have buzzed off us saying it but we have absolutely missed the fans more than most. 

  • Upvote 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Coutinho has been shit for years and doesn't even play the same position. Why are we still talking about him? You'd think winning all we've won after replacing him and him turning to shit would have eradicated him from people's minds, but it seems like he'd need to have his right foot amputated or something for that to happen.

  • Upvote 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, stringvest said:

Arguably - and this is not to disparage our midfield - that was because often our most effective attacking play missed out our midfield and went straight from back to front.  Our defence was quick to spot any opportunity for a quick counter attack.  

 

In addition, we were much more effective in the press because our back line and midfield were routinely playing 15-20 metres nearer the opposition goal than in this season, because we had pace, strength and great technique.  This meant our midfield and attack had less ground to cover to press the opposition's back line effectively.  Our FBs would more readily and fluently attack knowing they had Henderson and Fabinho ready to cover should they lose the ball in advanced positions.  

 

All of this had an energising effect on the attacking players, as they believed they would see more of the ball in advanced positions, and the effort they would invest in the press would not be wasted, as everyone else would be working to close others down.  

Good post, broheim. They were never much of a creative force, but particularly in Europe, Henderson/Milner/Wijnaldum and later Fabinho absolutely hounded and bullied the opposition almost into submission. The Roma semi at Anfield was a spectacular example. As you say, they provided a brilliant platform for everybody else to do their own job. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, Lee909 said:

Honestly I'd happily swap Thiago for Coutinho. Won't happen but he would have been the type that could have opened them up yesterday or at least got his shots on target. 

Coutinho is a busted flush.  Even the clubs in the Premier had him sussed a year before he left.

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...