Liverpool FC Forum

by **damjan193** » Sat May 05, 2018 2:09 pm

Kenny Kan » Fri May 04, 2018 4:52 am wrote:This team (barring the Citeh game), don't look comfortable sitting back generally. It's like we we caught in two minds and like Klopp said the defense dropped deeper than he'd have liked which made our midfielders having to cover way more ground than he'd have liked.

Well that was a very contradictory statement from him then. It's natural for your players to defend deep when you replace one of your midfielders or attackers for Klavan or any other defender. I've never seen that sort of sub to work for Klopp thus far and I always get nervous when I see it happen. In fact, I think we've dropped points on a few occasions because of it. I don't understand why he does that when It's obvious it never works.

by **damjan193** » Sat May 05, 2018 2:27 pm

woof woof ! » Fri May 04, 2018 5:01 pm wrote:
ycsatbjywtbiastkamb » Fri May 04, 2018 10:14 am wrote:We had a lot of joy with the early ball over the top in the first leg at Anfield and I think it went to the players heads, they seemed to automatically assume that the same tactic would work again. At Anfield though Roma played with 3 at the back, on Wednesday they changed formation.
The game just illustrated the lack of game intelligence in our midfield for me, the direct approach was clearly not working in fact all it was doing was giving the ball back cheaply to Roma yet for some bizarre reason we kept on flogging the same dead horse.
Where was the on field leadership? Why didn't someone say 'look these are building a head of steam up here and they are eating into our lead but if they haven't got the ball they can't score".

The game just illustrated the lack of game intelligence in our midfield for me

I'm with you on that Yakka .

I would add that given the players we have, tactically our only options seems to be a "Blitzkrieg" attack or a "Dig In" defence.

Our Midfield is "workman like" i.e. fairly solid and very hard working , unfortunately there is a desperate lack of creativity .

I'm not sure that tactically a 3 man midfield will allow us to include a creative player that can be given the freedom to roam and express himself.

Perhaps more flexibility needs to be included in our approach to to some games, a flexibility that would allow us to put a bit more flair into our midfield without surrendering our defensive ability ?

It's a hard one.

First of all we'd need a player who could see and thread a pass, i.e, a Gerrard, Alonso or Coutinho

If we had that , for some games only I'm wondering about the pro's and cons of 3-5-2 formation

E.G. (if all fit)

...................................Karius

......................Lovren.....Virgil......Matip

TAA........Oxlade......... ??creator? ...... ......Lallana .... Robertson

.......................Salah ...............Firmino

some subs ? a GK, Klavan (or another CB), Milner, Henderson, Wijnaldum, Mane,

I would never play that, that's basically sacrificing one of our fab 3 for another defender, and if there's anything that deserves the most credit for us reaching the final, it's the front three. I'd keep the current formation intact.

However, I do agree with both you and yakka on the highlighted parts. The midfield desperately needs more creativity and intelligence, but we have to make sure that the work rate stays the same. A Xabi Alonso type of player would slot nicely in our 3 man midfield, a player that has creativity but is also hard working and defensively sound. Closest to that sort of player we've been linked with is Jorginho, and although the fact that he comes from the Italian league raises some concern, he's definitely the player I'd make top priority for the summer transfer window.

by **woof woof !** » Sat May 05, 2018 5:49 pm

Understand what you're saying Damjan. I'm just tossing around a few ideas for an alternative formation for some games where due to lack of creativity in midfield our 4-3-3 doesn't cut it.

Don't know much about this Jorginho fella you've mentioned BUT assuming he's got the what we need and with Keita arriving next season how would a 3-4-3 look for some games ?

e.g.

.....................................................Karius.

..................................Loveren.........Virgil...........Matip.

...............TAA.................Jorginho................Keita..................Robertson.

.....................Salah.......................Firmino...................Mane.

Subs. GK(?) Clyne, Gomez, Milner, Henderson, Lallana, Striker (Ings, Woodburn, Solanke, or another ?)

If nothing else we've finally got some experience and versatility on the bench

by **Ghost of Shankly** » Sun May 06, 2018 11:18 pm

woof woof ! » Sat May 05, 2018 5:49 pm wrote:
Don't know much about this Jorginho fella

.....................................................Karius.

..................................Loveren.........Virgil...........Matip.

...............TAA.................Jorginho................Keita..................Robertson.

.....................Salah.......................Firmino...................Mane.

I've seen a lot of highlights of Jorginho.. He sits deep, and plays balls forward to the attackers with great assists, balls overhead etc. He IS NOT much of a goalscorer though. He's a good link man from the defence to attack, but I think we need more goal scorers from midfield, like Alonso, Gerrard etc. Currently, there isn't any... Milner, Hendo, Can, Wjnaldum, Oxlade-chamberlain, Lallana etc.. None of them are regular goalscorers etc.
I personally would go for Thomas Lemar in the summer for 70-80m. He's 22, his slick passing and the way he shifts his feet would fit perfectly into our style of play, plus he can score goals.

Then my Team next Season would be..

Karius
TAA Matip VVD Robertson
Wjnaldum
Keita Lemar
Salah firmino Mane

That line up, is a massive improvement on this Season.

by **Reg** » Mon May 07, 2018 1:53 am

Jorginho is supposed to be going to Citeh.

I don't know who we need but we need to clear out 5 to make room for 5 quality replacements. Solanke to Wolves, Ings to Burnley.

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