well that is true but leeds coughed up in positions where they had little to no cover, they started chasing and lost heavily. at 0-2 the pundits were talking go chase the game and at 1-5 they were talking about garcia telling them to not chase it LOL. compare and contrast to bournemouth to got one chance on the break at 0-0 and took it against us. (see that free header we gave leeds) . imagine what leeds might have done and what little space there might have been if they got that goal. thats whats happening to us. We are playing in fornt of all these sides and then making an error and lettnig gaol in and we simply can't then break sides defending down. Leeds beat us at home 1-0. they socred first. thats literally it. same for forest at theirs. they socred first we could do nothing. Here against leeds we again played in front of them for a long time then they make a bad error and have no cover. its WHERE the error is made. A lot of the time we are mkaing the errors in the same places we want opponents to. in the last line or where theres no cover as we've all gone on gambling. We seem to be happy to play side to side then back again without ever taking a risk to break the line wide or get behind where the risk of a break away is far less. If i were managing LFC i would not be focused on shifting trent about and more on getting behind teams and turning them cos really its us not making good chances and playing in fornt of these types of sdies that hurt our season badly Man utd loss (deserved, we were run off park, thats another issue) Arsneal loss (deserved, errors in tracking and not defending) Forest (could not score, absolutely awful) leeds (could not score, absolutely awful) Brentford (bullied off the park) Brighton (spanked, couldn't keep up) wolves (head down rank defending, throwing in goals, dominated possession and couldn't take chances) Bournemouth (dominated, let them score, couldn't take a chance) City (deserved spanking, lost our heads and gave up after they socred) We have not been good agasint the top sides AWAY but we've cocked the season up in games we should and do DOMINATE but let a simple goal in and then cannot score. I count 4 really really poor results that should be draws. thats 4 of the 9 points back if we simply defended adequately rather than leave gaps. If we could SCORE then its 12 points and we are on 59 points and sitting pretty in 3rd pretending nothing is really wrong. We don't have layers to the defence but we are as bad going forwards that we can't really create and take a chance against heavily defensive sides.
maybe so but we need to have penetration of the opponents lines. yes sides figure stuff out that is a good point. in the end we have to break the lines and thats whats missing in the attack. Leeds left gaps at 0-1. they just fell apart as darwinism said. Its a relief they did and we didn't wobble at 2-1.
So with all of that in mind Say we only bring in two quality midfielders do you believe we can challenge for top 4 I do I don’t think we are that far away (keep saying it) Tbh if we don’t get injuries I believe we can challenge for title I had us down for 5th this season based on things already discussed However I do think next year we will be much much improved
I'll throw my thoughts in. Alisson TAA Konate VVD Robbo Fabinho New New Salah Gakpo Nunez We clearly need 2 midfielders and I'm hoping one is Mount. After that do we then have the right cover and mix of youth and experience? I think we do. Kelleher Gomez/Ramsay Matip New Tsimikas Bajetic Hendo Thiago/Jones/Carvalho Elliott Jota Diaz The 2nd team has issues Elliott is better in Midfield or as an attacking midfielder and it leaves us with no natural right sided attacker to cover Salah same at CB Matip getting on and Gomez has had issues there. It's not bad for a 2nd team though and has a good mix. If we have the money I'd like 2 CM 1 up and coming CB and someone to challenge Salah.
if we solve the goals for (diaz, jota, nunez, gakpo need to step up from this season in fitness and contributions) the step from absolute midtable (8th) for a side like ours need not be massive. If we list all the brain numbing and frustrating games that we have seen that are 0-1 or 0-0 alone where a bit better goal scoring or even just a bit more balance in the side would have helped then we'd be FIRMLY 3rd. The step to competing for the title again however is massive. All the issues we have inter relate imo, the lack of legs in pressing, the gaps between attack and defence (either cbs too deep at times or too far apart or midfielders too high up but not getting near ball etc) the missing of the target constantly by forwards etc. Some is fitness, some is confidence, some is coaches over complicating the game. the midfield can only be sorted by new players. The forwards need to stay fit and work on getting in behind and getting shots on target. the defence needs to be resolved by taking a step back off the attacking complications and having the side focus on getting good shape quickly and putting a good clearance or tackle in. the basics. I think we can get 4th Look at last year: Bottom half teams games Games played 20 Goals scored 54 Goal conceded 8 Games won 19 Games drawn 1 Games lost 0 Win ratio 95% Draw ratio 5% Loss ratio 0% Goals per game 2.70 Goals conceded per game 0.40 We absolutely destroyed the bottom half teams last year. Look at this year so far. Games played 16 Goals scored 26 Goal conceded 10 Games won 7 Games drawn 5 Games lost 4 Win ratio 44% Draw ratio 31% Loss ratio 25% Goals per game 1.63 Goals conceded per game 0.63 We have managed to lose 4 games to the bottom half and draw 5 (Chelsea included ) we have only actually conceded 0.63 goals per game over all and thats actuall up doe to one horrid game against palace. Our goals for is 1.63 but actually that's massively inflated by Bournemouth game Take out bournemouth and our goal scoring is 1.13 goals per game against the bottom half. that's IMO the difference. The top half games are different story but if you beat that bottom 10 sides home and away you will be up there. We just need more goals and a proper midfield moving the ball fast will help that.
I too had us for 5th this year. (Although now I think 6th is more realistic) I too think we will get top 4 next year. We won't win the league next year no matter who we sign. It takes a while for a team to gel to get good enough to challenge that high, but top four is definitely a reasonable expectation. Especially without the pressures of a real European tournament.
The numbers really don't lie folks. The better teams are cutting the **** out of our defence. Our GPG is 1.6 goals conceded this season. That people running through us. (brighton, Arsenal, city, brentford, utd once) Better sides break the poor press and exploit the gaps we are leaving. these sides also leave more space so our goals per game in scoring is 1.93 not adjusted for manutd. its 1.5 with an adjustment so again its DOWN compared to what we were able to do. IMO its about being solid enough but carrying real threat up top and from midfield. This is why i harp on about getting shots on target or just not playing in front of sides. Getting jota, nunez and diaz fit is the first job imo. If we can get 40 goals form there and gakpo can replace bobbys goals imo we will be ok. The midfield needs to be able to make that pressing work and advance the ball. My god we'd still be there since feburary at selhurst park and not score it was that depressing to watch us go sidewas and back, sideways and back. Remember: everton 0-0 (lampards everton btw) Chelsea 0-0 Forest 0-1 Leeds 0-1 Chelsea 0-0 (desperate potter sacking side, still were better team!!!) wolves 0-3 (we dominate the ****ing thing absolute dire defending early) Palace 0-0 Bournemouth 0-1 Its a litany of games with majority of possession where we struggle to break a solid shape down and just concede silly goals. fix even 50% of those and we are in 4th.
Said for a while that honestly think that a couple midfielders into this team sorts it out. Now not to say we suddenly challenge for the title and get back to where we were, but some energy in that midfield will make it more difficult to get through us down the middle. Konate despite his **** up yesterday has been brilliant for us and can only see him getting better. Forwards look after themselves. Gakpo will have 6 months under his belt and a pre season. Nunez will have a season and Jota will hopefully be fit. Diaz will be back to offer more unpredictability up top. As love says, maybe missing someone wide right for Salah but think diaz will prob play there bit more and can even move Jota over there as he is comfortable on both left and right foot.
Think that’s where we’ve missed diaz. Not so much goals or assists but his ability to go past a player 1v1. Only player that ca rewlly do it. Salah at times with his dribbling maybe but that’s more running at them with pace. Diaz can square someone up, stop them then go past them and suddenly that opens space, draws a player from somewhere else out of position and creates an overload or freeman somewhere.
yeah, and we miss players running in to passes from Bobby as well. gakpo doesn't produce those. we will have to adapt where the get in found these mass defences and how we get goals. shots to draw blockers people willing to risk losing it by trying to beat someone bodies in the box to score from crosses. better set piece and goal threats in the box. (the delivery to vvd, konate, fabinho, nunez, gakpo should be generating loads of goals but its not) this pass it up, turn pass back **** doesn't force any tackles, any blocks. it just forces people to shuffle laterally across and stand up. at some point when a winger gets it they have to try run at someone, get a corner, throw or beat them. that's the kind of good risk we need. not tiki taki Barca bollocks round the back til we **** it up ourselves.
I still think we need at least 3 midfielders. if we only sign two, they would need to both be ready made superstars which I cant really see.
we are linked to over 40 cms. very few are ready made to go in the prem. gravenberch for example is nowhere near ready.
Good post. Disagree on two things about midfielders, hoping one isn't Mount and Elliott isn't better in midfield. You can't coach speed otherwise he could be Salah's understudy.
I'd be inclined to agree. He's raw, hugely talented but there are concerns over attitude ... he'd be one for the future but we need players who are more experienced in my opinion. Macallister or Caicedo as the LCM. Ugarte as the DM Jude as the RCM Thanks
Not entirely true. Prob a ceiling but can def improve someone’s speed with coaching. Technique, right exercises to increase power in the legs and core etc
Lots of people not keen on Mount but he's always impressed me and I'd love to see Klopp get hold of him and make him the player he should be.
He can run, he can shoot and has good feet. Out of favour right now but over the last few years he's been one of the better players in the PL.
You can see how he was improving there and 11 goals 10 assists from midfield would be brilliant for us. Something has gone wrong for him this season but if we can get him at a good price I'd back Klopp to get him playing again.
