That was a pleasant way to start the campaign. Pretty stress free, and there are a lot of positives. Allison - what a keeper. Didn't have much to do but when called upon, he does what is needed. A brilliant triple save towards the end to preserve the clean sheet. Kostas - started very brightly but a lot of his errors came when he was tired, which was surprisingly quite early. Needs to get used to the pace and intensity of the PL but overall, he was good and I think he is a more than capable back up to Robbo. We just need someone similar for the right side. Trent - I love him. He is a proper footballer and I think he is getting better and better all the time. His style of passing is always evolving. First, he was able to cross, then able to ping long passes, and now he's drilling passes across the floor. He is also able to dribble with the ball more now as well. He is arguably our biggest attacking threat and he is only 23 years old. This kid is destined for big things. Matip and VVD - it was so reassuring to have them at the back to clear any high balls. That aerial presence is crucial. Matip was classy as ever, such an underrated defender. VVD wasn't at his best but we shouldn't expect him to be. He will get sharper with more mins. His long passing is also crucial to our build up play. The midfield was disappointing as it lacked any real control until Fabinho came on. Naby was the pick of the bunch - that's not to say it was a show stopping performance but it was a quietly efficient game. He was outstanding from a defensive perspective (Gini esque) and he was also able to create a couple of chances. Just hope he can stay fit. Milner is just too slow to be playing in the PL - give him 10-15 mins at the end of the game but it's quite painful to watch him play/ He did improve in the second half though. And Ox - he needs to be sold IMO. Fabinho came on and we look a different beast. We get the control in midfield and we squeeze the pitch and the opposition and suffocate them. Salah is just something else. We need to give him that new contract ASAP. Glad to see Mane looking sharp again - he was electric and direct. Jota is an absolute gunman in front of goal but I was disappointed with his all-round play. Hopefully he can develop that further. And then Bobby came on a looked veer lively. Took his goal nicely but more importantly, his link up play was excellent. That's the Bobby I want to see!
All in all - it was great seeing us play the way we did because it resembled our peak performances of 2018-2020. Moreso once Fab came on, we played the high line, we cut out any high balls, we were able to ping the ball from defence and stretch and isolate Norwich defenders, and our midfield played high and was able to suffocate Norwich, and sustain long periods of pressure. Need to give VVD mins where possible to get him back to full sharpness, same with Kostas. And we can't use that midfield again but I'm sure we dont have to. Fabinho will be starting matches again, and Thiago and Hendo will be back soon. Hopefully, we will be adding Saul to the ranks as well.
Personally think Keita and Chamberlain have had their chances. Both extremely injury prone and neither that effective. I can see us having a midfield crisis this year much like the defensive one of last season if we don't sign another midfielder.
fab hendo thiago keita ox milner jones eliott 8 players for 3 places. Shouldn’t be an issue in terms of having none available. Could even then go 4231 if struggling like last season where only had 2 midfielders and played Jota firm Salah mane all together.
I'd like a forward myself. Its patently obvious the forwards are aging so if there is one then get one. If offered one of the two its be forward not cm. As per above play 4231 if you like and get jota in there with firmino at a 10 if we are that short we cannot get 3 warm bodies out of 8 Anyway it doesn't matter cos really we will get neither by the sound of it. I
Tricky thing is in Jan when we lose Salah and mane to afcon. leaves Jota firmino and Eliott/ox? Not great options. Be nice to have another player who can cover both wide positions and is maybe 22/23 so can develop alongside mane/Salah over the next couple years.
Woukdnt say fab or Hendo are particularly injury prone? But even so, chance of 5 of those being injured at same time is rare. Obviously could happen but you can’t have 15 central midfielders jist on odd chsnce you get 10 injuries.
Looks like we could lose Allison, Fabinho, and Firmino for a Brazil game. If so we will be without them when we play Utd!
yes exactly. Not really buy for ACON but add in that to thier ages and ORIGI and it does become something that IMO is a higher want than a CM when theres 8.
I read that the players away at AFCON will only miss two league games. It would be nice to add another forward.
"Varying degree" - they've both had plenty of injuries whilst with us but they're not at the Ox or Keita level
Really? I guess there’s an fa cup game they’ll miss and it maybe over the small winter break where only play once in 2 weeks?
Bobby's goal was the 49th scored by a substitute under Klopp since he arrived at Liverpool, more than any other PL side in that time period.
Lots of positives to take from the game. Defence did well (Alisson ) and all four forwards looked on it. Salah tried his very best to get Mané on the score sheet which was nice to see. And shout out to Solid, an emphatic debut.
was only half watching the game live as had people round and watched motd highlights but seems like Salah was very unselfish today. First assist was a **** touch so won’t give him that but second one for Bobby, woukdnt have been a surprise to see him take a touch to try engineer a shooting position. Sounds like throughout the game he was looking for passes a lot more. Wonder if anything’s been said over the summer in training as were times in last couple years that him and mane were a bit too greedy in the wrong areas.
