Defending

[Elite]

Our collective defence this season has been very poor, we are shipping goals for fun, losing leads and it's going to cost us any chance of winning the league if it isn't sorted.

 

How does Jürgen fix it?

[an tha]

Not even sure its so much that we defend the situations we have to badly....more a case of the situations we end up having to defend are so critical and hard because we are too fucking open....We need to stop more or less every attack we face being one where we are stretched to fuck.

 

We lose ball and we are far too often are facing 2 or 3 bearing down ontoutnumbered defenders who are trying to catch up/cover huge gaps.

 

We need to look at being less easy to counter and not leaving so much space.

 

Citeh dominate games, have similar possession stats to us, but they play with a bit more control and don't get countered in same way we do, where it is nearly always a critical situation when we lose ball/miss place a pass in midfield.

 

We are too open - and decent teams are able to exploit that.

[Jordy Brouwer]

Drop us back 5 yards.

[Strontium]

To paraphrase Gandhi, Liverpool defending would be a good idea.

[J-V]

Currently it's like Klopp's first Season.

[Einch]

Yep. Work to do. 

[3 Stacks]

Generally, we're defending how Klopp wants the team to defend. In a high risk way. 

 

It's an oxymoron but I think the problem is at the same time, a lack of turnover in the team and a lack of continuity.

 

Meaning we haven't introduced enough fresh legs into the team, which you need to defend in that way, and at the same time, we have a bunch of players who are injured a lot who when they come back, aren't sharp enough. And that's a perpetual cycle. 

[Jordy Brouwer]

FSG need to show they are still invested in us and get their fucking chequebook out. They owe it to us after the super league shite. 

[an tha]

2 minutes ago, 3 Stacks said:

Generally, we're defending how Klopp wants the team to defend. In a high risk way. 

 

It's an oxymoron but I think the problem is at the same time, a lack of turnover in the team and a lack of continuity.

 

Meaning we haven't introduced enough fresh legs into the team, which you need to defend in that way, and at the same time, we have a bunch of players who are injured a lot who when they come back, aren't sharp enough. And that's a perpetual cycle. 

Comes down to the old saying then 'dress for the body you have, not the body you wish you had'

 

That is on Klopp to 1. Notice and 2. Fix

[El Rojo]

Wijnaldum was just about ever-present in every midfield combination we had during the last brilliant few seasons. We’re far too easy to play through. He’s been a huge loss. 

[Creator Supreme]

Comes back to lack of investment in the squad! Can't keep expecting the same players to pull miracles out of the bag season after season.

 

Consolidate when you're at the top, continuous small but effective changes to the squad, not bargain basement best guesses or injury prone has beens (hello Thiago)!

 

We had the opportunity to put down a marker for at least the next 5 years in 2020, and due to FSG being as tight as a gnats chuff (and in a small part down to Klopp towing the party line) and we've thrown it away!

 

We're back to 2016-17 levels, and that's where we'll stay now.

 

We may win the odd cup before Klopp goes but the Prem and CL are impossibilities!

 

Once he's gone, it's going to be Chelsea, City, Newcastle and anybody else being used for sportwashing cleaning the silverware up between them, we'll be also rans.

[Paulie Dangerously]

Defending for the two corner goals was shit. We knew exactly where the ball was going. In the mixer in and around the 6 yard box. 

 

The 2nd was the worst for me. Running right through us. Pathetic. 

[SlugTrail]

I for one thing we should bin Klopp of and bring in George Graham. 

 

For far too long have we been in the shadow of our neighbours in bloo, we need to rise up from our mid table mediocrity.

[3 Stacks]

5 minutes ago, Creator Supreme said:

Comes back to lack of investment in the squad! Can't keep expecting the same players to pull miracles out of the bag season after season.

 

Consolidate when you're at the top, continuous small but effective changes to the squad, not bargain basement best guesses or injury prone has beens (hello Thiago)!

 

We had the opportunity to put down a marker for at least the next 5 years in 2020, and due to FSG being as tight as a gnats chuff (and in a small part down to Klopp towing the party line) and we've thrown it away!

 

We're back to 2016-17 levels, and that's where we'll stay now.

 

We may win the odd cup before Klopp goes but the Prem and CL are impossibilities!

 

Once he's gone, it's going to be Chelsea, City, Newcastle and anybody else being used for sportwashing cleaning the silverware up between them, we'll be also rans.

Some of it is definitely we haven't renewed the squad well enough. It's difficult to keep playing such a high energy, collective defensive style year on year with mostly the same players who are getting older and 3 out of 4 of your CB's with bad injury pasts.

[johnsusername]

Get big Nat back in. 

[chrisbonnie]

i fear that midget armed fuck Pickford has ruined the best defender of a generation......

[Daisy]

11 minutes ago, El Rojo said:

Wijnaldum was just about ever-present in every midfield combination we had during the last brilliant few seasons. We’re far too easy to play through. He’s been a huge loss. 

Correct and was obvious as early as the Chelsea game.

[J-V]

4 minutes ago, chrisbonnie said:

i fear that midget armed fuck Pickford has ruined the best defender of a generation......

He was our only Defender that defended today.

[TheHowieLama]

12 minutes ago, Creator Supreme said:

Comes back to lack of investment in the squad!

Outowned. Again.

[Curly]

This Matip bringing the ball out needs to stop. It doesn’t work and it leaves gaps.

 

Teams are completely allowing it now, if not actually encouraging it - he wanders 20 yards up the pitch, the opposition concertina with our lads, and he plays an easy pass which doesn’t penetrate and actually makes it harder to move the ball in the next stage. Fab then drops in, but a few yards higher, Trent can’t roam as freely and van Dijk has to pull across or hold his tracking, which he did a few times today. 
 

It isn’t working. Stop it now

[Tony Moanero]

Cunt plate.

[Creator Supreme]

2 minutes ago, TheHowieLama said:

Outowned. Again.

I'm not asking for City level of investment, just investment in decent players!

[VERBAL DIARRHEA]

Our set up is predictable and we haven’t got the players to play it the way it should be played. That said today was unacceptable and signings must be made.

Trent bombing on is a huge asset but also leaves us open to the ale house teams in particular. Might have been a game for Philips after the fact, you cannot plan for the keeper today though.

[Aventus]

The problem is further up the pitch for me, our fullbacks losing possession, caught out of position, midfielders having to move out of position to cover the wings, creates space through the middle. Gives the opposition a free run at our defence which continues to ply a high line despite it being ineffective when the midfielders aren't pressing in the middle. 

 

It needs sorting very soon, because the season could slip away if this carries on. 

[Aventus]

2 minutes ago, VERBAL DIARRHEA said:

Our set up is predictable and we haven’t got the players to play it the way it should be played. That said today was unacceptable and signings must be made.

Trent bombing on is a huge asset but also leaves us open to the ale house teams in particular. Might have been a game for Philips after the fact, you cannot plan for the keeper today though.

Trent bombing on down the wing is great, but he's been spending too much time in the middle of the pitch lately. Without trent on the right Henderson is covering his RB duties, and Salah is having to move further right too to receive the ball because there's nobody else there. It's effectively taking Mo away from the goal and out of the game.

 

It might just be a case of Jurgen trying something new to help break down tough defences, but the experiment isn't working.