Match Day Thread Liverpool v Palace - League Cup Last 16

Midfield has been an issue for years except last season where Gravenberch had an amazing season.

Somehow the balance was about right for just over half of the season and that was good enough to win the league, but there's no getting away from the fact that Gravenberch is not an orthodox 6.

The way that Slot seems to want to set up would demand almost two 6s, unless we can find someone as good as Rodri or Zubimendi.

 

Plenty of players.

Manager refuses to use quite a few still.

Hes made it crystal clear he wanted endo and gomez gone. Endo shrugged at him and pointed at his contract so imo he will rather lose that play endo.

He wanted gomez gone but failed to get guehi. Hes now willing to stick Szoboszlai rb rather than pick gomez at all.

You can go through the side like that but the issues are clear.

Gravenberch shoved forward, scored and assisted but the door is wide open at the back.

Macallister not fit or not willing. I dont know what that is.

No cover at these classic 6/8 type roles as he refuses to play endo and then refused to look beyond jones.

This is a massive issue in our line up. We are getting absolutely walked through.

Then you look at bradley and see a kid being actively destroyed mentally. He's biggest asset is agression and running. Every pass is backwards. He doesn't know to go or not go.

You look then at kerkez who has the same issue but if he does make a tackle knows he will be subbed. Hes on his own against 2 just like bradley but getting pelted with abuse. He cant play his natural game as theres no.midfield to cover a run forward.

Klopp would take this squad and within 2 weeks have it functional. He would.

433 with 3 genuine cms stick wirtz as false.9 or lw and either go for Ekitike lw or cf.

Macca left
Gravenberch genuine 6
Szoboszlai right.

Bomb on those full backs

Nobody seems to know where thry are meant to be any more and slot isn't sorting it (yet)

its getting worse and Worse as more sides get more confidence to just go for it.

A full block of 4 with 0 points return is absolutely title ending. Forget that. We are not chasing 4th with all the rest.

How we fix this is pure and simple. Harder work, put a foot in, win the ball.

If you lose it go win it back aggressively.

Agression doesn't mean sliding in from 10 yards away studs up. It means getting in there nice and tight and not backing off.

 

stop using language like that

 

I’m in total agreement with this
We got rid of too many this summer
Diaz wanted out - fine
Jota - terrible - nothing anyone could do

we should not have let Nunez go imho
I am no fan of Elliot but I prefer him to Jones
I prefer Hendo to Elliot and Jones to have in and around the squad

the new players were always going to need time
And the old ones need time to grieve

this season will be in the most a write off - they need our support this year

 

I agree with the sentiment regarding supporting the team, but I think it's way too early to go writing the season off.

 

support the team, yes

zero chance of retaining our title though. I won’t write off Europe just yet but it needs to show improvement quickly.

 

Wasn’t it Alan Hansen who said you can’t win the league in October but you can’t lose it. I think we have shown that it’s possible to do that

 

Can lose it I mean

 

Nobody can know the future but.many many people were desperate to tell us even 5 points was decisive last year.

The gap is 7. There is no indication it is not going to get bigger. 0/12 points is nothing short of disastrous for us.

However standards dictate you dont give up and you push every game.

Secretly though, 70 points is what we need now and really get more out of the cups.

Hiwever lfc standards were not followed last year once the title was won. Some here have pointed that out as a massive mistake on slots part. I have not followed that line as I said as much last season and as usual got torn into for being negative.

I do not believe that laxity last season ran into this par se. I believe day 1 in preseason we were being ran through so imo whatever it is as a root cause its not been resolved in 4 months of work.

People singling out players are not wrong be they media or whatever but its about all 11 on the park doing the right things or not.

Its fairly clear its gone badly wrong mentally. Im looking back to brighton and Brentford absolutely hammering us under klopp when the wheels came off for fabinho and Henderson etc. We are miles off the standards expected in every way amd have to find the means to get thst back with 2 games a week.

I believe its time to select an 11 and stick with it as much as injury allows and just work on it in games.

 

Slot came in last season and everyone expected a transition season, a drop off. Most would have been happy with fourth. We won the league. How did we win the league? By sticking with an already established squad and methods. Now, the squad as been developed and we're seeing the changes that were expected to happen last season. But because Slot won the league in his first year, expectations have gone through the roof. Yes we spent a lot in the summer, but we were still outspent by others too. Things take time, the squad needs to settle and find some rhythm/form. It'll come.

I do share a concern about the massive hole in midfield though, Slot seems to keep ignoring it.

 

It is i think an interesting one.

Nobody expected the team to win 11 draw 1 and lose just 1 in the first 13 last year and honestly the title was done.

The form then was 7-7-0 which wasnt title winning form and maybe something we should have paid more attention to long term. We couldn't keep that clean sheet or lead.

We then cantered to the title, lost to psg and looked tired. Arsenal fell apart.

Really the start to the season gave slot great kudos and time and it won the title by Christmas due to not really having a challenger.

Since we won the title the side has looked ****. We dismissed it and I got told how dare I even bring it up. Enjoy the party etc etc.

Its fine to enjoy the party when thr party is on. The party doesn't run for months before the trophy is handed out. Nobody wanted to hear aboit the issues.

Now we had a great start. Good fight but again couldn't defend worth a damn but fought to get late goals and win.

Finally the wheels have come off and we have injuries all over too.

Slots credentials and credibility are in question as a result. That massive hope where sides can run into all day is stark and just dropping wirtz wont close it.

Tactically im sure handing this squad to any number of managers would see a change in formation or emphasis and more use of the top talent.

I hair on at this bit of you've two top top 10s and 2/3 really attacking full backs it seems.madness not to find a way to exploit it.

4222 for me seems logical. 2 6s holding and let those full backs go. Just bomb on and let the 10s press up top. With the strikers (we have no wide pace so call the 4 forwards strikers and be done with it.)

Go 343 if you must but close the gaps.

 

Yeah totally agree with this, the thing that's really concerning is that we don't 'stick with it' and learn the system or whatever he's trying to do.

It's like Robbo said - we're just throwing everyone forward and it goes chaotic. We're not getting any cohesion from that. You can lose games but see progress, we're not doing that right now as it's panic stations and silly decisions too early for me.

 

The swing has been crazy. We were 5 pts ahead of Arsenal at one point, now we're 7 behind!

 

0/12 v 12/12

One club on relegation form, one on title winning form.

 

I said earlier in the season that I was puzzled by the change in tactics to last season. At the beginning of the last one we all noted how measured we were compared with the rather more cavalier attitude under Klopp - and it brought us the title. This season it all seems to have gone out of the window and we're so gung-ho at times we're making Klopp look more like Mourinho in comparison.
It's a strange transformation, and so far isn't coming off at all.

On a side note, it'll be interesting to see if Arsenal can manage to bottle it again, given that we've been so bad and City are still not back up to speed.

 

Anything can happen but there is so far no evidence of either club changing that much.

I'd take 2 points average right now and 70 points and move on. A cup would be ideal.

 

We've only really gone gung ho when we've been behind (usually early) and tbh, it worked initially as we got a goal or two back (e.g. Palace, Chelsea, Utd, Brentford), but then left us exposed to the oppo scoring again and winning.

 

Yeah - but even so there seemed to be more emphasis on going forward, which is one reason we went behind in the first place. We just seemed to be more structured last season.

 

that’s because as fans we watch football for enjoyment. And the ultimate enjoyment is seeing your team win the title. As fans, that’s all that matters and once title was won you just enjoyed it for what it is.

Why as fans would you worry about anything else, especially as it’s stuff you can’t control. Yes if you worked for the club should have long term vision in mind and make sure prepared for next season etc, but as fans we have no control over that so why worry about things out of our control when in the grands scheme, we had already achieved the goal and given fans what wanted to celebrate.

 

You enjoy it when its done and when the cups picked up.

You dont need to piss all over anyone looking at games and seeing clear issues.