Supremolad

12 hours ago, piphomer said:

 

Got anyone in mind? Andre?

Unfortunately, it seems that deal is dead in the water. Saw some quotes from today mentioning that he'd prefer Barcelona or Madrid.

I won't mind having Palhinha from Fulham. I think he has the highest success rate in tackles. Mobile, aggressive, no nonsense DM but also can play a bit. No coincidence that Bayern were bent on signing him in the summer but the paperwork didn't go through. Only issue is his age. He is 28. And because we already have Endo who is 30, it's likely the club would be looking for a younger DM.

1 hour ago, dave u said:

Endo was our best player in this game. That's the extent of the praise I've given him! I'm not saying he starts every game or we don't need to sign a six, I'm saying he played well against United and deserves credit for that.

 

As for Dom, I said in the report his last good game was Forest. The thing I remember from that game was him making those surging runs outside of Mo as we ran them ragged down that side. Not seen it since, not necessarily because he isn't making the runs but because the quality hasn't been there when he has.

Correct. Endo does deserve credit when due.

I still think we definitely need to buy a top class, very mobile and physically robust number 6. Doing so would free Mac Allister to be used further forward. In some of these games against low block teams, we really need his vision and cleverness on the ball. This league title is there to be won and I believe signing that top class number 6 in January would make us favourites.

6 minutes ago, Section_31 said:

I still can't figure out what our system is or is going to be. We haven't had a clear one since Mane, Bobby and Salah were firing on all cylinders.

 

We've got quality players but it feels like we're getting by on flashes of individual brilliance, which was "the liverpool way" for most of the last 30 years. 

The system we use in most games  has been clear for the last 8 months or so. And it has helped us win more points than any other team in that period.

I guess a disappointing draw at home to Man Utd is a very efficient eraser of memories though.

Trent is often being pushed into midfield because Szobozlai's form has really fallen off a cliff. 4 of the top 5 teams in the league are using slight variations of this inverted full back system and are winning many more games than the 16 other teams. That says something. The system is good but some of our personnel are currently not executing it very well for us due to varying factors. 

Our 3 box 3 system requires the number 8 on the right to make runs out wide when Salah is cutting in. That player should be providing the width and offering themselves for combination play with the wide forward. Henderson did it decently while he was at the club. Szobozlai was doing it perfectly for the first couple months. He isn't doing so any longer. Hence he keeps getting subbed or moved over to the left, and Klopp then pushes Trent into midfield with Gomez coming on as RB.

6 hours ago, etho said:

Absolutely agree what we’re doing tactically isn’t helping him or any of our forwards at the moment

 

The only person our tactical set up seems to be absolutely benefitting is enabling Trent to live out his childhood dream of being Stevie G

What we are doing tactically now is basically what we've been doing tactically for 8 months or so this year. And up to a few weeks ago, there were lots of praise for our front five for the goals and assists they were providing consistently. In fact, we were on track for 100 goal contributions from all of them as mentioned a few times on a couple TLW podcast episodes.

What has happened over the past few weeks isn't about the system blunting them. This same system enabled them score loads and make assists. Problems have arisen through Jota's injury (he is our best converter of chances), Nunez's confidence being shattered since that open goal miss at Luton, Salah going off the boil a bit and Diaz being meh.

5 hours ago, A_S said:

Thought he was OK. 

Yes he was. He has been mostly alright in recent weeks. He is relatively good on the ball too. Overall though, you just sense there is a lack of physicality and mobility in him which can be exploited by opponents.

Would really like for us to buy a top class DM in January. A mobile, aggressive, strong player who can do the DM duty and free Mac Allister to play further forward as the 8.

3 hours ago, Pidge said:

Where's this free scoring side you mention?

We are the 3rd highest scoring team in the league. In fact we have scored more than the team on top of the league.

It's churlish to believe we dont score many. And even worse to excuse Nunez's contribution of 4 goals to our total of 36 because we supposedly aren't free scoring. Yesterday was the first time we have to failed to score all season.

And let's not forget, one of our best efforts was from Trent yesterday, when he ran through the midfield to take a low shot which missed only by a couple inches. Him playing the hybrid position isn't and wasn't the problem yesterday.

We had our front 3 failing to complete 5 yard passes and looking lost. Szobozlai, our supposed new Steven Gerrard, has been off the boil for weeks and went to new depths of ineptitude yesterday. Nunez hasnt scored in 10 appearances. And even though, Trent didnt have a stellar game, he was better than all the aforementioned. And he has been a major factor in helping us on a great run of results since we switched to this system.

People only see what they want to see. Yes, his attitude to defending was questionable last season. To be fair, the whole team was shambolic for good parts of last season.

But it's bollocks to still claim he isnt arsed with defending. He might not always be very good at it but he has showed many examples of "arsed" defending this season. There was one in the Europa where he raced back to the goal line and prevented a guaranteed goal. And yesterday, after Garnacho got in past him, he raced back and got a toe on the ball just before the shot was taken. So many more examples which people like to ignore because they only look out for the times he gets skinned (which happens to all fullbacks).

3 hours ago, Pete said:

A night out with Owen and Shearer would cure the worst case of insomnia.  

 

To be fair, Shearer has showed in recent years that he has a bit of personality and good humour. He doesn't show it often on MoTD, but on those podcasts he has with Lineker he is usually a very good listen.

Owen on the other hand is extremely dull, the king of blandness. That's why it's no surprise that when they were looking for an ex-pro to front PGMOL's propaganda show on Sky, he was their ideal choice.

Couple things we could previously say about Nunez - "his movement is elite and he is really good at timing runs". Generally he wasnt caught offside often. But he has now been caught offside so many times this past few weeks and I reckon it's because his confidence is gone. Mentally he's fucked - he's going so early on runs because he just wants to get through on goal as quickly as possible. Rather than having a thought or bending his runs like he usually did.

Yesterday was the first time I got genuinely worried about Nunez this season. 8 appearances without a goal and a severe dip in confidence. I found myself hoping Jota is back very soon. Because with Salah going off to the AFCON and Diaz still flattering to deceive, Jota would be our only credible source of goals early next year.

Very good article. It's true we were actually poor in this one at Palace. I still dont believe we were shite at Sheffield United though. That was a bog standard forgettable win away to a poor side who battled physically all through but actually barely created any chances against us. Such games tend to be scrappy and we won many in similar fashion in the title challenging seasons.

People just tend to forget because many of those wins are forgettable. City for example often have scrappy forgettable wins too (like against Luton today and Sheffield Utd earlier in the season) But many people believe City just roll over every bottom half opponent by 3 or 4 goals (they don't).

At this point, I reckon we could be Champions come May, and people would still be debating this inverted fullback system as an issue. Same way many fans criticised the functional, non creative midfield set up in previous title challenging seasons because we were not having convincing wins every week. 

13 minutes ago, Rushies tash said:

He is fucking immense. 

 

 

Incredible reflexes.

On 06/11/2023 at 17:34, Supremolad said:

Klopp might not always get his subs right, but again this is evidence he is better than most managers out there. These numbers don't even include the times his subs provide crucial assists, like Harvey did for Diaz. I reckon there are many of those assists too.

There have been a couple additions to this in the past couple weeks, including today's sub coming up with the winner. Great use of subs continues to be a factor in Kloppage time. Top work.

Some really short memories here. "We don't blow teams away anymore", "we are not playing great", "our style is like Houllier era". Fucking hell.

We won 10 straight home games with a mimimum two goal margin for the first time ever in our history. Had a few 3 goal and 4 goal winning margin this season in various games. In a 38 game season, we aren't going to blow teams away every week. Even financially doped City often have more than a few single goal wins. Check their results in title winning seasons.

Anyway, paraphrasing Shankly "here we are with massive problems at the top of the league". I'll take that.

1 hour ago, dave u said:

I take back what I said about this game.

 

Today is somehow even worse so far!

And still ended with 3 pts and top of the league. 

It's a big reactionary shout for a fan to say they don't like watching these Reds play in a season which has been miles better than what was offered last season.

In a season with new exciting players contributing to some excellent performances and great wins despite the amount of outrageous shite thrown their way like 4 red cards within the first 7 games, bullshit decisions like an extra game ban for the captain, a blatant robbery at Spurs in addition to other dodgy decisons in other games. Add injuries to 1st choice goalie, 1st choice LB, 2nd choice CB out for the season, our 2nd top scorer injured, a player having his father kidnapped etc.

All of that and we are a win away from being top of the league on Saturday afternoon. Won the Europa group and also have a league cup qfinal. If all of this with the context applied isnt enough to elicit some happiness, then I guess it's truly time to just pack it in watching Liverpool and football.

This period of the season is when we need to manage energy levels. Beat Sheffield Utd with minimum fuss while not playing too well and move on. Uninspiring? True but I'd rather have the 3pts in such a forgettable game and I'll take another uninspiring 3pts at Palace right now. That's what title challenges are built on in this mad run of games over Christmas.

Our top performances would come at home when we face Utd and Arsenal.

It wasnt a great performance from the team but the gloom is a bit much. I didnt go into this game expecting us to just roll them over. Sheffield Utd might be crap but they do put up a good fight occasionally. City only won with a late winner there. Spurs and Utd only managed tight wins over them too.

And for all the fretting over our dropped points at Luton, they scored 3 times against Arsenal and were a few seconds away from taking a point. Not sure where this assumption is coming from that we would perform to a high standard at away grounds every time against the shite teams. Even at our absolute peak in the title winning season with our fabled flying fullbacks providing width, we only managed a lucky one nil at Sheffield Utd. And we definitely had some other scrappy wins away at shit teams too.

We've always had more than a few of this type of away games even at our absolute peak. Even when we had width with fullbacks bombing on, we didnt comfortably beat teams away from home everytime. In fact in the title winning season, didn't we just manage to sneak a lucky one nil win at Sheffield Utd through a goalkeeping howler?

It's true we didnt play well but I believe it is being overblown here. Just because they are crap doesnt mean they would always roll over. City only managed a late winner there. Spurs and Utd only managed tight wins over them too. And we simply cant discount that those players yesterday were all giving extra effort because of their new manager.

Had another decent game vs Sheffield United. We do need to be thinking of bringing in a younger, more mobile, physically dominant DM in January though. Japan are likely to go far in the Asian Cup and he would clock up more miles there. 

I like how balanced and rational these reports usually are. As rightly pointed out, the criticism of Kelleher and Nunez has been over the top these past couple days. I'm with you on Mount Darwin or whatever you'd like to name the hill, Dave.

I also appreciate the love you showed to Kostas. Another player who until recently was suffering excessive abuse for the cardinal sin of not being Robertson.

Still don't understand the people who want us to fuck off the inverted full back system. Would they we rather go back to the 433 which had been worked out by opponents? The merits of the 3 box 3 system are clear to see. It was discussed in that video I posted here in the thread.

Sure, occasionally we would get exposed because every system has weaknesses, but this current system has been our most balanced since that dreadful run earlier in the year. Evidenced by the results we've picked since we started using it.