Brighton (A) Premier League - 14/1/23 - 15:00

[Red74]

3 minutes ago, Moo said:

You didn't think we needed to replace Mane? I think you're probably in a minority there.

I've been saying for at least 3 years about the midfield so I'm under no illusions there but would never suggest that we didn't need a replacement for Mane.

Diaz replaced Mane

[joe_fishfish]

We could have spent the Nunez money more wisely, imo. Not getting into the Nunez debate here, but if we knew what the budget was and the needs of the squad, we should have been looking at a midfield option as well as a forward.

[Moo]

5 minutes ago, Red74 said:

Diaz replaced Mane

He didn't, he arrived while Mane was still here and they played loads together. But I get why you'd say that.

To put it a different way, would you have been happy going in to this season with Salah, Jota, Firmino, and Diaz for the three forward positions?

[joe_fishfish]

And again this window, if we had only £40m to spend, midfield was a more pressing issue than left wing.

[johnsusername]

Mane was one of the best players in the world. Diaz is a solid winger. 

[Moo]

1 minute ago, joe_fishfish said:

We could have spent the Nunez money more wisely, imo. Not getting into the Nunez debate here, but if we knew what the budget was and the needs of the squad, we should have been looking at a midfield option as well as a forward.

 

Oh I don't disagree, but it comes back to budget.

Like I said, we didn't have another Coutinho to cash in on.

[Code]

We missed Nunez yesterday, that’s always something. 

[El Rojo]

7 minutes ago, joe_fishfish said:

And again this window, if we had only £40m to spend, midfield was a more pressing issue than left wing.

Yeah. The Gakpo thing was a pleasant surprise, but it was very much on the assumption that a midfielder will follow. It makes an awful lot less sense of that doesn’t happen. Wouldn’t be surprised to see an uninspiring Arthur Melo type move. 

[VladimirIlyich]

Klopp has decided,based on what he knows he has available,that the best form of defence is attack. Its what he did when he arrived so has worked before. As for midfielders,if Liverpool try to buy anybody the selling club double or triple their price and FSG refuse to pay it. Can't blame Klopp under these circumstances,in my opinion.

[Section_31]

Mane wanted to leave so that's a moot point IMO, Diaz is boss and is a big loss. Sallah has simply stopped playing. Maybe the Mane rivalry was driving him on but he strangely no longer seems to give a fuck. You can't really pin that on anyone except him.

 

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, the problems mostly begin and end in midfield, the rest is window dressing.

 

Nunez fluffing the odd chance isn't what led us here, what led us here is that our entire system of playing is built around high octane pressing when we don't have the ball and we no longer have any ability in the middle of the park to do it.

 

We have a championship level midfield. Going into a match completely outgunned against a club the size of Brighton is proof of how badly that area of the pitch has been neglected.

[El Rojo]

Just now, Code said:

We missed Nunez yesterday, that’s always something. 

We missed him big time.

 

You’vel been a big Salah defender over the last year. What’s happened to him? It’s sad to watch at this stage. I wouldn’t back him against most defenders in a one-on-one. Seemed to be getting back to his best around the time of the City game. 

[stringvest]

18 minutes ago, Red74 said:

Diaz replaced Mane

 

yep, but he's not even half the player, so we didn't do so well there.

[VladimirIlyich]

2 minutes ago, El Rojo said:

We missed him big time.

 

You’vel been a big Salah defender over the last year. What’s happened to him? It’s sad to watch at this stage. I wouldn’t back him against most defenders in a one-on-one. Seemed to be getting back to his best around the time of the City game. 

He's isolated without Nunez and the oppos stick two or three men on him. Gakpo was lost yesterday OC was absolutely abysmal again therefore nullifying Salah's threat.

[Red74]

17 minutes ago, Moo said:

He didn't, he arrived while Mane was still here and they played loads together. But I get why you'd say that.

To put it a different way, would you have been happy going in to this season with Salah, Jota, Firmino, and Diaz for the three forward positions?

If the midfield would have been addressed properly defo. 

[Red74]

FWIW I don’t think Diaz suits us. No doubt he’s a good player but his goals and assist returns were a bit of a disappointment to me. The Thiago of the wings

[KMD7]

1 hour ago, redheart said:

in the last 10 premier league games City have 19 points and we have 21

Wow. 

[Code]

33 minutes ago, El Rojo said:

We missed him big time.

 

You’vel been a big Salah defender over the last year. What’s happened to him? It’s sad to watch at this stage. I wouldn’t back him against most defenders in a one-on-one. Seemed to be getting back to his best around the time of the City game. 

Yes we missed him big time, that was my point.

 

For the first time he’s been out, I missed him.

 

When it comes to Salah, he need movement around him, yesterday he got the ball mostly in our own half and with his back to their goal.

 

The last few games we have played I don’t think we have moved and played as a unit. The attack is isolated, the midfield is isolated and the defense is isolated. 

 

We need to narrow down the space between our lines both going forward and backwards, this is the reason the press is not working. 
 

It’s a systematic flaw at the moment, but it’s not helped by our pedestrian midfield, but the midfield is not the only reason, we have too many attacking players out injured.

 

We have built our game around our attackers getting the goals, our midfielders hardly ever contribute, when we miss so many potential goal scorers, it’s obviously affecting our game and the opposition can concentrate on the few we have left. 
 

 

 

[clockspeed]

32 minutes ago, Code said:

We missed Nunez yesterday, that’s always something. 

Was thinking that myself . Those waiting for Bobby to come back to save our season have short memories. 

[Carra_is_legend]

We don't have 21 points from last 10. We lost to Forest, Leeds, Brentford and Brighton. 

 

And we were fortunate against Leicester and Villa. 

 

We are shite.

[Joey8FrogsLegs]

38 minutes ago, Section_31 said:

Mane wanted to leave so that's a moot point IMO, Diaz is boss and is a big loss. Sallah has simply stopped playing. Maybe the Mane rivalry was driving him on but he strangely no longer seems to give a fuck. You can't really pin that on anyone except him.

 

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, the problems mostly begin and end in midfield, the rest is window dressing.

 

Nunez fluffing the odd chance isn't what led us here, what led us here is that our entire system of playing is built around high octane pressing when we don't have the ball and we no longer have any ability in the middle of the park to do it.

 

We have a championship level midfield. Going into a match completely outgunned against a club the size of Brighton is proof of how badly that area of the pitch has been neglected.

The parts in bold are spot on, and can not be repeated often enough. 
 

Only thing I would like to add is that the front three is a vital part of the pressing too. And there may be issues there as well, especially now with all the injuries. But the midfield is the pressing issue and needs to be dealt with. 

[Funkasy]

The biggest problem Klopp has made for himself is to not replacing keita and oxlade while running the others into the ground. Now that the burned out players are waning, oxlade and keita are still here contributing fuck all five fucking years later. 

[sir roger]

Being carved apart by Lewis Dunk is not a good optic.

[VERBAL DIARRHEA]

15 hours ago, liverpoolsno9 said:

Thank you, Grasshopper. 

Wax on, wax off.

[Code]

The table for our last 10 games. 
 

 

[Bobby Hundreds]

Fucking united I despise them.