Liverpool 3 Nottingham Forest 0 (Oct 29 2023)

[tlw content]

 

We’re making these games look routine again now. I didn’t think for one second that we wouldn’t win this, because it’s at Anfield. We’re back in that place now where a home game is almost a guaranteed three points. Had we been playing Forest away then I’d have been open to the possibility we might drop points, but not at Anfield.

 

We had to do this without Luis Diaz though. Just a truly horrific situation which I’m not going to dwell on because we don’t know how it’s going to play out. Hopefully it all works out but this must have been such a tough day for his team-mates. They have to just get on with it and I dunno, maybe playing the match is a good thing for them because they can focus on something else.

 

They’ll all be feeling it, especially those he’s closest to. I suppose having a game to play helps them feel like they’re doing something to help. Win the game, send him a message of support and just hope for the best.

 

We’re lucky in the sense that we have a ready made replacement for him in Jota. Completely different types of player, but Jota is scoring pretty much every time he starts now after that mad drought he had when he came back from injury. The front five are scoring at a ridiculous rate this season, averaging two goals a game. My money is on that going up rather than down as the season progresses. Darwin might average two a game on his own once he gets a proper run of games.

 

The midfield has been the big plus for us this season though. We knew the forwards would score goals. They scored goals last season even when we were shite. But the midfield was an issue. Not the only issue, but we knew it needed rebuilding and it has been.

 

For what I think was the first time this season we started with our entirely new midfield. Macca, Dom and Ryan. For all the gnashing of teeth and wailing about our summer activity (some of it certainly justified) we’ve completely rebuilt the midfield and it’s been quite seamless really. No period of transition, we’ve just brought in new, young players, and we’ve immediately been ace. Hell of a job, despite the debacles with Bellingham, Caicedo and Lavia.

 

The midfield really impressed in this game. Gravenberch was fairly quiet, certainly in comparison to the other night when he was brilliant, but the balance of the midfield looked really good. We’ll have Curtis back now too, so Klopp has a tricky decision to make. It will get even trickier if he adds Andre in January and frees Mac Allister up to play in the role he was bought for. All of a sudden our weakness has become a strength.

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[halewood pete]

Great report Dave."all of a sudden, our weakness has become a strength "Fabulous. 

[Razoray]

Excellent, positive report again.

 

Didn’t our 3 new midfielders start in the derby also?

Totally agree on looking at the table and seeing Spurs on top but they'll find their Spurs feet soon enough with their upcoming run of games. Even if just the Diaz goal was allowed, and all the other shit calls occurred, and we drew 2-2, we'd be top and Spurs would be 4th on goal difference. That would be more reflective of the season so far. 

 

I thought about this since it was discussed on the pod. Maybe Trent isn't exposed as much on the right anymore because we have more control now, so teams don't break on us as much, and when they do, we have an extra man further up, to stop it, or at least, slow it down. When we are set defensively, Trent can defend. It's when he is/we are scrambling that we look porous. Trent also seems to be conserving energy in the current formation, so isn't defening when wrecked.

[Barnesey]

For me, the minute’s applause was all about charlton - we did kenwright on Thursday. But I guess I’m of an older generation…

[King Kenny 86]

Love "Routine wins" getting the big wins Wasn't a problem last season routine was.

They are what title challenges are built on

[RedHeadedRed]

Two right foot finishes from Mo in a row  don't know if that has happened before. He usually just uses it for standing on.

[Supremolad]

7 hours ago, Razoray said:

 

I thought about this since it was discussed on the pod. Maybe Trent isn't exposed as much on the right anymore because we have more control now, so teams don't break on us as much, and when they do, we have an extra man further up, to stop it, or at least, slow it down. When we are set defensively, Trent can defend. It's when he is/we are scrambling that we look porous. Trent also seems to be conserving energy in the current formation, so isn't defening when wrecked.

Brilliant point and it is one I have alluded to a few times on here when people think this hybrid system isn't the best option currently. It's not a perfect system. No system is. But we've played around 25 games in all comps with it and lost only once through a robbery. That says a lot.

 

We simply have more control in the middle now with Trent drifting in there. It limits the number of times we get broken through the middle, which is what was happening a lot in the previous version of the 433.  Of course, we cant dismiss the energy of Jones and Dom in there as a factor too.

 

City started using this 3223 system for the same reason. Rodri is great but they still needed Stones (previously Zinchenko) drifting to the middle to help limit teams breaking on them too often. Arsenal have been using Zinchenko similarly. Trent in this system won't get many assists but we would generally be more secure in most games since we wont be relying on only Mac Allister in defensive transition.

[dave u]

Maybe when the one man wrecking machine Andre is in there we can get Trent back out wide occasionally without being short in the middle.

[dylstar]

57 minutes ago, dave u said:

Maybe when the one man wrecking machine Andre is in there we can get Trent back out wide occasionally without being short in the middle.

Andre and Endo....

[Jordy Brouwer]

Too right about the fact that we looked like we'd score from every corner.