Liverpool thread 2020/21

[jayfx]

And your thoughts on the king of Egypt's dive!

It's easy to forget about the dive after that result but, out of curiosity, did VAR even look at it?

 

[VOOMER]

I'll say their slump isn't down to injuries. Their slump has began since the COVID restart, when they stuttered to the title. At that point, there were no notable injuries to their squad but they already started to look mentally fatigued.

I do think they need to refresh the squad, either on a personnel-basis or tactically. It isn't something exclusive to Liverpool, I believe every club needs to do that every 3-4 years, more-so if you're near/at the top. The players need fresh ideas. It doesn't even have to be huge radical changes, but subtle tactical adjustments can be beneficial. It becomes even more prevalent if the other teams around you start 'figuring you out'.

For us, we introduced Foden as a mainstay in the first 11, added Cancelo's dynamism, playing with a false 9, all whilst playing a more conservative approach.

I wonder if Klopp can come up with something new. He left Dortmund after Dortmund started showing similar signs. He did switch up from a more intensive and reactive Gegenpress system, to a more patient, possession-based system after his first year with Liverpool. At this point, without Jota (or arguably Keita), there isn't enough quality off his bench to offer the squad fresher ideas.

Its that 66% of the squad having asthma, that's the problem.

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[jimharri]

Wouldn't surprise me if they were being serious!

 

[Manchester_lalala]

... and Zinchenko's shoulder tap.

He needs knocking out that ****. I can’t stand cheating and he’s probably the worst for it. I’m surprised a defender on the recieving end of a Salah dive hasn’t lost it with him.

 

[big phil]

//Honestly, the FSG approach is logical in any other business then football, when you compete against owners like Man City who treat their clubs as vehicles for sports washing. It's a bloody fact that absent their corrupt capital, we win in 13/14, we win in 18/19. Am I sad we did not reload when the iron was hot? Yes, but I also hate that we have to compete against that lot and their ill-gotten gains.//

How is their capital corrupt?

 

[BlueMoonRisin’]

Game is on again on LFC TV, just incase you want to watch and hear the commentator crying like a baby: )

 

[Roachy]

He needs knocking out that ****. I can’t stand cheating and he’s probably the worst for it. I’m surprised a defender on the recieving end of a Salah dive hasn’t lost it with him.

It's really pissing me off now this falling to the floor with the slightest contact. Needs clamping down on, starting with the refs. I would like to think managers would be having words, but it's obviously being encouraged at the two shit stain clubs, Manure and Red scouse shite.

 

[Alan Harper's Tash]

Wouldn't surprise me if they were being serious!

Flip reverse their “logic” and they haven’t won a PL trophy for 31 years with fans.

 

[JRockBlues]

I'm sure it was nice for Klipperty being compared to Shankly yesterday. Shame it was with the result being the 3rd consecutive defeat at home since 1963.

 

[TonyM]

My question is, does he have a Plan B? It's all gegenpressing, Firmino as a sort of false 9, full-backs getting high up the field, pinning opposition wide players back and pinging accurate crosses in. It works, in the same way Ferguson's tactics worked, because they had the right players who were very good at playing the system.

Gegenpressing is a hard tactic to counter; you have to be exceptionally good to play your way out of it & even we struggle to do it. But you can't do it for 90 minutes, as the history of our games there have shown.

In 2019/20 we were 2 down within 15 minutes;
In 2017/18 we went behind inside 10 minutes;
In the CL game we were 2 down in 20 minutes;
In 2016/17 we went behind inside 10 minutes.

Generally we've looked the stronger in the last 20 minutes of those games but it was also a characteristic of those games that we'd completely go to pieces for 10 or 15 minutes.

Pep has adapted (although not always effectively) and though we weren't comfortable in that first half, we got through it. Having changed things in the second we took the game to them, with the outcome that they (and their keeper particularly) went to pieces under our pressure.

I'm dubious whether Flopp can make the fundamental changes required to his system to get them back on track. He hasn't got the tactical flexibility that Pep has shown throughout his career. If the brute force gegenpressing approach
doesn't work, is there. anything else in Flopp's cupboard? I suspect the answer is no.

Does it need a Plan B though? Maybe they just need to deal with fallow years, e.g. 2 years challenging, 2 years rebuilding, 2 years challenging, 2 years rebuilding, etc.

IMO ( and I could be wrong - almost certainly am) if Kopp stays 10 years he'll have 3 or 4 very strong teams, and 1 or 2 that'll win the league/CL. In the other years they might win the odd Cup.

Do they have the patience though? Does he?