There's actually a decent England side available if we a more proactive manager, just CB that's a bit dodgy.
Yeah, in fairness they are well dodgy if left exposed. If I were not too busy bashing england fans and their manager I could be engaged in a civilised conversation about genuine english talent like mount and foden in midfield. Saka I think is an absolute gem of a player as well. You only need one holding type player there if you can get the guys who can play on the half turn and pass it to stop wandering off forward. In the end this is what I really dont get sometimes, thiago is a midfielder. Hes not a defensive midfielder, hes not an attacking midfielder. He is a proper do it all midfielder. Why do we push the likes of alli and foden miles forward close to goal when their talent says they can make the passes for lads like saka and sancho? Every time klopp gets his hands on a player with vision and ability he make a midfielder. Harvey elliott is a right winger! Not any more. Bang in the thick of it. Why do others push players like Fabregas further on? (Wenger) alli? (Pochettino) etc. Klopps england might look like Anyone but pickford Trent gomez stones (only option) chilwell Foden Rice mount Sancho sterling saka Wide.men free, running behind. Sterling as far from goal as possible Full backs charging on. No slab headed park the bus cb. No fat headed shaw (what's the story with him again. Ballooned over short summer) No desperate loaf full backs. No headless chickens like phillips
I think he'd go for a Ings or Bamford in there; a player that can bag a goal but works hard and creates for the wide men.
Could be wrong but I reckon all three above him had played more games too, all of them were in and around the first team at 16-17yrs old.
Because in this country, fans and media think goals and assists are the only metric that midfielders and attackers should be judged on. It's why Thiago is constantly criticised because his game is all about build up, covering and creating space.
and shooting and he scored a header even if the assist was offside. Top top midfielder. I simply don't get the ignoring half the game. then we end up with rice and phillips as "holding" players and dont trust mount and foden to do the job.
Pressing chart vs Leeds - pressing was quite low because we were just so dominant all throughout. please log in to view this image
Individual pressing numbers vs Leeds - Jota was the standout... Thiago didn't press much in terms of volume but out of his 15 presses, 7 of those are deemed as high value presses i.e. leading to winning back possession / turnovers / leading to shots. Incredible. please log in to view this image
See this is the problem with these is that the press is more than making tackles. its about cutting off lines of passing and restricting options. Leeds couldn't even get close to us. they then whacked it at bamford and we took it off them. Milan didn't whack it at anyone se we have to complete the tackles. Same system different end results. Same missed chances
Sigh. the final objective of a press is to either a) tackle and win the ball high up to make a chance. (ideal) b) make an interception to win the ball high up (ideal) c) see the opposition kick the ball away to us (we take this but not ideal as ball is in our half) d) see the opposition put the ball out (again we take it but its the worse possible as they are set) Pressing needs to shut the options down for an opponent to the point where the player receiving the ball is wide, or facing the wrong way or just plain becoming chum in the water. the end result is to get the ball and go. this is what i mean. Leeds couldn't even get out, all they could do is drive it at bamford, they just didn't have the skills to pass it round us. Ac milan has more skills but they were utterly shocked by the intensity of what we delivered to them. they were arguing with each other but they kept trying to play round us.
Im not sure what your trying to prove? Your first comment seem to suggest that someone has said the performance against Leeds was bad because we pressed less compared to Ac where we pressed more?
the comment was "pressing was quite low because we were just so dominant all throughout." I am just highlighting that pressing is a bit more complicated than that.
MITO? Argue with himself? Surely not? I actually agree with him here though. The reason we were so dominant against Milan is because we pressed so high and it was constant pressure. We had a lot of the ball because they couldn't get out. That chart doesn't reflect that.
