Luton (A) - Sun 5th Nov 2023 (4:30pm)

[VERBAL DIARRHEA]

The Trent ‘ thing ‘ is offering more problems and no real solutions for me, we should buy a right back and use Trent in midfield or tell him to learn how to defend properly.

[Scott_M]

7 minutes ago, VERBAL DIARRHEA said:

The Trent ‘ thing ‘ is offering more problems and no real solutions for me, we should buy a right back and use Trent in midfield or tell him to learn how to defend properly.

I’ve no issues with it as it being one of a number of selective tactics we can use to be less predictable etc it shouldn’t be a default tactic from the first whistle.

[dave u]

10 hours ago, Red74 said:

City put 5 past these mugs who defend with 11 behind the ball and all they do is either go outside of them and pass the ball across the box for a simple tap in, or have runners carrying the ball right through them to either score or get a pen.

 

We’ll carry on playing the ball in front of them all game with winger’s on the wrong foot wearing dr Martens and give them an easy out instead.

 

 

This is how I felt watching that. We would have got away with it with better finishing but we're making it unnecessarily difficult for ourselves. Having no width from either full back in a game like that is asking for trouble.

[etho]

The fucking Trent thing is baffling. I get in some games him being inside makes us harder to counter and helps play through the lines. But in others it's a complete waste of time. Go out on the fucking touchline and stretch the game, let Mo then be able to be on the right side of the box, and force them to have to defend the width of the pitch rather than the penalty area. 

[TheRedMachine]

I still can't believe that Nunez miss. Everything else is an aside to me. Score that and we win comfortably. 

[skend04]

4 minutes ago, TheRedMachine said:

I still can't believe that Nunez miss. Everything else is an aside to me. Score that and we win comfortably. 

 

Don't worry, Salah and Nunez contriving to miss sitters did happen. As well as the performance, bar Gravenberch, being the worst for a long time.

[magicrat]

Still livid about that fuck fest yesterday.

All so avoidable if Nunez had done even a fraction of the job he is paid to do or if Klopp had set them up like every other manager has done this season to run down the sides . Why Salah took the day off is also baffling 

[gkmacca]

Cruyff had a nice idea when sometimes playing teams that were as negative as Luton. He'd have his team start the same way - just act as if to say, 'Come on, then, attack us, we're just parking the bus, too'. It short circuited the other team by presenting them with a mirror image. After about fifteen minutes they'd completely lost their way and then Cruyff's team would snap into action and batter them. I've always liked that because it destroys the idea that there's something really clever about playing that way, just like Carra and Co were raving about yesterday.

[clangers]

2 hours ago, VERBAL DIARRHEA said:

The Trent ‘ thing ‘ is offering more problems and no real solutions for me, we should buy a right back and use Trent in midfield or tell him to learn how to defend properly.

We're just trying to accommodate a defender who can't actually defend because once in a while he can play a killer pass from midfield. Is that really worth corrupting our whole shape?

 

Time for us move on from Nunez and get some value out of him whilst we still can. We can't spend £65 million rising to £85 million on a striker whose basic game is fundamentally flawed. He intrinsically cannot score open goals. Let's not spend our time doubling down on our mistakes. We'll be waiting years for the finished article that won't ever come good. It's like waiting year after year for  Keita to develop into a productive and reliable midfielder.  

[Funkasy]

I know the feelings for Nunez after missing sitters two games in a row, but hes 24 and can still become very prolific. Dont give up. 

[VERBAL DIARRHEA]

8 minutes ago, clangers said:

We're just trying to accommodate a defender who can't actually defend because once in a while he can play a killer pass from midfield. Is that really worth corrupting our whole shape?

 

Time for us move on from Nunez and get some value out of him whilst we still can. We can't spend £65 million rising to £85 million on a striker whose basic game is fundamentally flawed. He intrinsically cannot score open goals. Let's not spend our time doubling down on our mistakes. We'll be waiting years for the finished article that won't ever come good. It's like waiting year after year for  Keita to develop into a productive and reliable midfielder.  

Agree on Trent and Nunez is frustrating but there will be well more to come from him, someone needs to have a word.

[skend04]

1 minute ago, clangers said:

We're just trying to accommodate a defender who can't actually defend because once in a while he can play a killer pass from midfield. Is that really worth corrupting our whole shape?

 

Time for us move on from Nunez and get some value out of him whilst we still can. We can't spend £65 million rising to £85 million on a striker whose basic game is fundamentally flawed. He intrinsically cannot score open goals. Let's not spend our time doubling down on our mistakes. We'll be waiting years for the finished article that won't ever come good. It's like waiting year after year for  Keita to develop into a productive and reliable midfielder.  

 

What??

 

He's been involved in 12 goals this season, whilst only starting 5 matches. The miss was a shocker but some right knee-jerking going on here today.

 

I might just bump the Klopp thread and ask for him to be replaced because I'm sick of the shit football we're playing this year and the respect he gave to a team that is just cannon fodder.

[Bobby Hundreds]

Nunez is still a highly exciting prospect going forwards but he needs to spend an hour each day practicing shots a 3 year old could bury. 

 

Biggest issue is Klopps tactics against the shit teams rather than  create space we just condense it. Its so stupid. Ball hit forward to the corner, its passed backwards and then passed sidewards the player then passes it forwards again to complete the triangle who then passes it backwards who passes it sideways who switches to the other side of the pitch who passes it back to the left back who passes it to Alisson. Rinse and repeat for 90 minutes.

[etho]

It's not that he can't bury a tap in, of course he can. It's about calming down and concentration in those moments. He plays so much of the game at breakneck speed with his pace and movement and instinctive shots (and assists), it's about calming down and concentrating in the moment before executing the easy things. He'll get there 

[Fowlers God]

I will be honest; that game was on Klopp. 

 

The wrong subs were made; Szoboslai coming off when should have been MacAlister. 

 

Nunez should have been off 2nd half with Jota moving inside and Diaz coming on sooner than he did on the left. 

 

Gomez was good defensively but we didnt need that today. They played with x1 striker and we had x 3 defenders at all times; Gomez; VVD and Konate on him. Tsimikas must have felt hard done by. 

 

And we had no width at all. Trent was being a DM alongside MacAlister. Gomez went back to VVD every pass and no one was on the right until Harvey came on. 

 

The problem was an easy fix but we carried on trying to thread balls through the centre of the park and Barkley had the Middle of the pitch covered. 

 

We bought Nunez to be that plan B but didnt use his strenths in the air. 

 

I havent seen the Stats but I would presume VVD and Konate had more complete passes between them both than all of the other players combined. 

[Scott_M]

Not that it matters and is mostly a box ticking exercise, it’s poor we haven’t had an apology from Luton yet for their supporters chants. 

[Fowlers God]

46 minutes ago, Scott_M said:

Not that it matters and is mostly a box ticking exercise, it’s poor we haven’t had an apology from Luton yet for their supporters chants. 

 

Started before the game had even started and cameras were on. 

 

But after going 1-0 up and after every rendition of God Save our King it rang like a racist chorus. 

 

Horrible fans; Horrible club; horrible stadium; horrible result. 

[BeefStroganoff]

Too much accommodation in the side to try and make things work in defence and midfield. The Trent issue needs to be sorted and Endo needs to come in for Mac Allister before we destroy his confidence.

[gkmacca]

Yes, I think Trent is going backwards in terms of mentality - he started very disciplined and focussed but now he swaggers about like he's been given the licence to do whatever the hell he wants. He did hit two or three gorgeous long passes yesterday but he also persists in overhitting diagonal balls over the defence and out of touch, and he keeps drifting off to the left seemingly on a whim. And Konate is looking shattered whenever he plays in the same team.

 

The whole game was painful to watch. Presumably we would have trained on a pitch measured out the same as Luton's - that's what we used to do when they were last in the same division - but we didn't play like we had. I must say I can't remember a team have so much luck in one game - every single rebound seemed to land at the feet of one or other of their players, but we were depressingly thick in our decision-making. 

[liverpoolsno9]

Reckon we should start Matip in these games ahead of Konate, just for his ability to bring it out of defence, more of a threat at set pieces too. TBH,  I’d start Matip in most games before Konate. I don’t rate him as much as most of our fans seem to do, he does something stupid every fucking game.

[TheHowieLama]

Gerrard used to be world class in midfield and would still get flak for the couple Stevie Me passes.

Trent is barely average "in midfield" this season.

[etho]

5 minutes ago, liverpoolsno9 said:

Reckon we should start Matip in these games ahead of Konate, just for his ability to bring it out of defence, more of a threat at set pieces too. TBH,  I’d start Matip in most games before Konate. I don’t rate him as much as most of our fans seem to do, he does something stupid every fucking game.

 

Don't know, Konate looked pretty good when he decided to just run through the entire Luton side in the first 10-15. Thought we were gonna steam roller them at that point 

[Scott_M]

FA contact Luton for their “observations” on tragedy chanting. 

[Red74]

5 hours ago, gkmacca said:

Cruyff had a nice idea when sometimes playing teams that were as negative as Luton. He'd have his team start the same way - just act as if to say, 'Come on, then, attack us, we're just parking the bus, too'. It short circuited the other team by presenting them with a mirror image. After about fifteen minutes they'd completely lost their way and then Cruyff's team would snap into action and batter them. I've always liked that because it destroys the idea that there's something really clever about playing that way, just like Carra and Co were raving about yesterday.

We have all the players here for us to set up to be a brilliant counter attacking team yet we persist with this high line that negates all our strengths. Esp against the garbage in this league who are more than happy to sit back for an easy point
 

 

[VERBAL DIARRHEA]

34 minutes ago, Red74 said:

We have all the players here for us to set up to be a brilliant counter attacking team yet we persist with this high line that negates all our strengths. Esp against the garbage in this league who are more than happy to sit back for an easy point
 

 

4231.