Kalidou Koulibaly

[BringBackSwales]

Laporte is not an experienced CB, he can't be the leader of a back-line.

we bought Laporte at 23 but Stones failed so time to change it up.

lol

You use lol when something is funny, not when something is manic gibberish

 

[Delphacito]

Depends how you set up, dippers have 2 DM in most matches, we have one, thats the exposure shes talking about..

They actually only have Fabinho as the DM while Wijnaldum and Henderson pushes forward. Fabinho often drops back in between the CB too during build up.

 

[Ezzy]

They actually only have Fabinho as the DM while Wijnaldum and Henderson pushes forward. Fabinho often drops back in between the CB too during build up.

But only in a "supporting" role.

they play pretty much like our Inverted Full-backs do. Mostly focusing on helping the DM prevent counter-attacks through the middle & helping the defense.

Occasionally they also rotate to push forward like walker sometimes does. They all never/rarely focus on short incisive passing thru the middle.

 

[Delphacito]

But only in a "supporting" role.

they play pretty much like our Inverted Full-backs do. Mostly focusing on helping the DM prevent counter-attacks through the middle & helping the defense.

Occasionally they also rotate to push forward like walker sometimes does. They all never/rarely focus on short incisive passing thru the middle.

I don’t disagree with that. The point I was making was that the way they set up isn’t too different than whatevery body else is doing. He’s amazing for Liverpool, would’ve been amazing for us as well.

 

[Delphacito]

A lot is made of him as the ball does't even get to their CB's most times because of their pressing. It starts with their front 3 closing down and the midfield 3 defending. Most teams can't play thru though them and just try to go over the top. So the pace of Van Dijk and Gomez is there to get to the ball first and Van Dijk can deal with most #9's in the air. BTW we showed what can happen when you can play through their press. However, he was what was needed against most teams. They were 25 points behind us playing with Lovren.

No one player can fix the team’s problems. Liverpool didn’t stop conceding until they got Alisson to replace Mignolet. But Van Dijk is a huge part of their defense, supported by other players in their team.

It’s the same thing if we have KDB creating a million chances in a game but Wilfried Bony upfront couldn’t score for the life of him. Does that make Kev overrated then? Of course not.

The dippers tend overrate their players to hell but Van Dijk is world class, there’s no denying that.

 

[Ezzy]

I don’t disagree with that. The point I was making was that the way they set up isn’t too different than whatevery body else is doing. He’s amazing for Liverpool, would’ve been amazing for us as well.

Most top teams, except the rags, don't set up like that though.

Liverpool focus on defensive solidarity first & create exclusively from the full-backs(and false 9).

So even in transitions or during counters, the LFC defense is rarely exposed as much as most top teams would be.

Van Dijk's a master at passive defending & has a good long ball, which is perfect for Klopp's style of play.

Be passive in transitions & within seconds he'll have numerous bodies around him to help deal with the threat.

The guy knows what his strength & weaknesses are.

 

[ctid1894]

No one player can fix the team’s problems. Liverpool didn’t stop conceding until they got Alisson to replace Mignolet. But Van Dijk is a huge part of their defense, supported by other players in their team.

It’s the same thing if we have KDB creating a million chances in a game but Wilfried Bony upfront couldn’t score for the life of him. Does that make Kev overrated then? Of course not.

The dippers tend overrate their players to hell but Van Dijk is world class, there’s no denying that.

Otamendi would look top class in that Liverpool team instead of VVD. The intensity and aggression of their forwards and midfielders is unreal, it means the CB's have one job in 95% of games; to stop strikers getting in behind the defence.

At City we want our CB's not only to stop strikers getting in behind but we also expect them to be aggressive as part of our pressing which requires more tactical awareness, intelligence and decision making skills. That's why the players who succeed are players like Kompany, Laporte and Garcia. Even Fernandinho has the intelligence as a defensive midfielder to look very good at CB.

Stones and Otamendi are only capable when we're pressing with intensity and aggression and they only have one job to do. When our intensity and aggression levels drop, they're fucked because they suddenly have to engage their brain and for all intents and purposes they're lacking in that department compared to our expectation levels. They're both very good players and would be very good players in 99% of teams because they wouldn't be required to do as much decision making.

 

[Burtonblue]

Man, I don't think we realise how unbelievable a signing this would be. One of the best CBs in the world, making 4 consecutive appearances in the Serie A TOTS. Offensively, having him in the box would help us tremendously for corners and defensively, he's got the pace, strength and aerial ability to snuff out the inevitable counter attacks. Genuinely see us as being formidable in Europe if we get it overturned.

I agree
He’s at least as good as VVD and would be our most significant signing if it were to happen

 

[OliMCFC]

That's why we have Fernandinho to help the young lads for the next 12 months minimum.

Fernandinho is also 35 and not a natural CB. We need more than 12 months from a natural CB. I want Fernandinho around, but he should be transitioning into coaching in my view and playing less and less, preserve his energy

 

[waspish]

We should make Fernandinho one of our coaches.