Liverpool FC Forum

[damjan193]

To be clear, by "attack" I don't mean (just) our front three but our attacking play overall. What exactly is going on with us? Last season we had one of the best and most fluid attacks in the league (and in the world), while in this season, with the same players, we are no where near the standards we set last season. So what is the problem? Is it just a blip, or is it something more serious?

[Lallana in Pyjamas]

It’s just a drop in form - they will find their feet , nothing needs to be “fixed” . It happens - players go through these stages - it’s been 3 tough games and the front three have just been below par - they are the three best attackers and will find their form

[electrum]

I'd like to think it's a blip but we are now 10 games into the season....that's  a b---l-----i------p   and way too long.

Is it possible that the weight of expectation and every single media outlet making it a 2 horse race (maybe 3 now with Chelsea) has affected the front three?  Maybe that's why everything isn't flowing because they feel that they have to score every time they get the ball and we are seeing scuffed efforts, poor decision making etc.

Something is definitely off as 1 player having a dip in form is normal, 2 attacking players at the same time can happen occasionally I guess- - but all 3 ? That's improbable..

[damjan193]

Well there are a few points that could be discussed about our ineffective attack.

1. The front three itself. It's obviously not firing on all cylinders, missing chances, bad decision making etc. They might be feeding off scraps at times but even when they do get the ball they're not doing much good with it. Sturridge might be our best forward at the moment and that says a lot. So is it just a dip in form, or maybe teams have learned how to play against us? Should we change our starters more regularly? Or is it not our forwards fault at all? Which brings me to my next point.

2. The midfield. I might be in a minority when I say that I like our midfield but even I can't deny that our midfield is not creative enough. I'm a big fan of Gini and Milner but neither of them is particularly creative or a threat to the oppo's goal. I believe that in order for our system to work we need industrial players, so if we want more creativity it can't come at the price of work rate, we need a player that is able to be both. IMO Keita was supposed to be that player but so far he's been slow to impress. So what could we do right now with the players we have available to improve our midfield attacking wise, but at the same time without disrupting it's work-rate and such?

3. And finally, fatigue. I know we went through a difficult run of games, but against both City and Napoli the players looked tired, and it's only October! We lacked that half a yard today IMO and that contributed a lot to our ineffectiveness going forward. IMO Klopp needs to rotate more often, especially considering our demanding style of play.

[ycsatbjywtbiastkamb]

In many ways playing with 3 strikers is a luxury, it certainly puts a lot of pressure on the CM's behind them who have a hell of a lot of ground to cover. Don't get me wrong If those 3 forwards are causing havoc and are dragging oppo defenders/midfielders all over the place then the system is very effective, if they aren't causing havoc though the midfielders are right up against it.I don't think it's any coincidence that our forwards are miss-firing and our midfielders look dead on their feet when we are barely out of September.
It might be worth playing with 2 forwards for a bit to help the MF out.


                                             Salah.       Mane

                                                  Shaquiri

                                      Keita.                    Gini

                                                  Fabinho

                     Robbo.         VVD.              Gomez.         Trent

                                                  Alisson

[Lallana in Pyjamas]

In many ways playing with 3 strikers is a luxury, it certainly puts a lot of pressure on the CM's behind them who have a hell of a lot of ground to cover. Don't get me wrong If those 3 forwards are causing havoc and are dragging oppo defenders/midfielders all over the place then the system is very effective, if they aren't causing havoc though the midfielders are right up against it.I don't think it's any coincidence that our forwards are miss-firing and our midfielders look dead on their feet when we are barely out of September.
It might be worth playing with 2 forwards for a bit to help the MF out.


                                             Salah.       Mane

                                                  Shaquiri

                                      Keita.                    Gini

                                                  Fabinho

                     Robbo.         VVD.              Gomez.         Trent

                                                  Alisson

So you put two wide men through the middle supported by a wide man behind them and leave out the best “false 9” in Europe ?!

The team has just had an intense period of games over a short period and come through unbeaten in the league. It’s not time to throw the bath water out and certainly not with a formation that doesn’t suit the players we have

Klopp bought the players he did to fit the system and formation he wants to play- why on Earth would he look to change that ?

[aCe']

Everyone sounding a bit like a broken record here. We haven't been brilliant yet we sit undefeated and joint top after 8 games having played Leicester, Tottenham, Chelsea (away) and City (home).We're still integrating the likes of Fabinho, Keita, Shaqiri into the squad and have Lallana to finally come back into the squad.

I dont think we should, or will, make any drastic changes but Klopp will certainly be looking at ways to change things around in-game when we struggle to create chances. A move to a diamond with 2 upfront seems the most logical choice. I'm also sure Shaqiri will see more minutes against the smaller sides.

[only me]

In many ways playing with 3 strikers is a luxury, it certainly puts a lot of pressure on the CM's behind them who have a hell of a lot of ground to cover. Don't get me wrong If those 3 forwards are causing havoc and are dragging oppo defenders/midfielders all over the place then the system is very effective, if they aren't causing havoc though the midfielders are right up against it.I don't think it's any coincidence that our forwards are miss-firing and our midfielders look dead on their feet when we are barely out of September.
It might be worth playing with 2 forwards for a bit to help the MF out.


                                             Salah.       Mane

                                                  Shaquiri

                                      Keita.                    Gini

                                                  Fabinho

                     Robbo.         VVD.              Gomez.         Trent

                                                  Alisson

So you put two wide men through the middle supported by a wide man behind them and leave out the best “false 9” in Europe ?!

The team has just had an intense period of games over a short period and come through unbeaten in the league. It’s not time to throw the bath water out and certainly not with a formation that doesn’t suit the players we have

Klopp bought the players he did to fit the system and formation he wants to play- why on Earth would he look to change that ?

Because it's not working...Because that is why we signed new players..To offer options..To replace sub performing players..You can always revert..Bobby has been a none-factor in the recent games..Hendo offers us nothing in moving the ball forward..It's not a dramatic change..

[ycsatbjywtbiastkamb]

In many ways playing with 3 strikers is a luxury, it certainly puts a lot of pressure on the CM's behind them who have a hell of a lot of ground to cover. Don't get me wrong If those 3 forwards are causing havoc and are dragging oppo defenders/midfielders all over the place then the system is very effective, if they aren't causing havoc though the midfielders are right up against it.I don't think it's any coincidence that our forwards are miss-firing and our midfielders look dead on their feet when we are barely out of September.
It might be worth playing with 2 forwards for a bit to help the MF out.


                                             Salah.       Mane

                                                  Shaquiri

                                      Keita.                    Gini

                                                  Fabinho

                     Robbo.         VVD.              Gomez.         Trent

                                                  Alisson

So you put two wide men through the middle supported by a wide man behind them and leave out the best “false 9” in Europe ?!

The team has just had an intense period of games over a short period and come through unbeaten in the league. It’s not time to throw the bath water out and certainly not with a formation that doesn’t suit the players we have

Klopp bought the players he did to fit the system and formation he wants to play- why on Earth would he look to change that ?

Salah and Mane have never been the type of wide men who hug the touchline like say Ian Callaghan and Peter Thompson, in fact Mane played through the middle for Southampton. Both have pace and make clever runs so they could easily lead the line. Players can play in different positions you know and make a success of it, Ray Kennedy won the double with Arsenal as a target man CF but Bob Paisley converted him into a left sided midfielder where he was a revelation, no doubt if you were alive back then you'd be whinging your @rse off about that too.
I'm throwing suggestions into the hat because 1) this is a football discussion forum and 2) what we are currently doing is not working.

[ycsatbjywtbiastkamb]

Because it's not working...Because that is why we signed new players..To offer options..To replace sub performing players..You can always revert..Bobby has been a none-factor in the recent games..Hendo offers us nothing in moving the ball forward..It's not a dramatic change..

Our last 4 games reads W0 L2 D2, even more concerning is that we only scored 2 goals in those 4 games and one of those was a wonder strike which came out of nowhere. We have barely created a decent chance in our last 3 games.

[RED BEERGOGGLES]

In many ways playing with 3 strikers is a luxury, it certainly puts a lot of pressure on the CM's behind them who have a hell of a lot of ground to cover. Don't get me wrong If those 3 forwards are causing havoc and are dragging oppo defenders/midfielders all over the place then the system is very effective, if they aren't causing havoc though the midfielders are right up against it.I don't think it's any coincidence that our forwards are miss-firing and our midfielders look dead on their feet when we are barely out of September.
It might be worth playing with 2 forwards for a bit to help the MF out.


                                             Salah.      Shaqiri

                                                  Firmino

                                      Keita.                    Gini

                                                  Fabinho

                     Robbo.         VVD.              Gomez.         Trent

                                                  Alisson

I think the formation would suit us but I'd go with dropping Mane for Shaqiri and playing Firmino in the hole ,Mane doesn't even look for the pass to Salah anymore and if that's having an effect on us as an attacking unit then he needs to sit it out until he's ready to contribute to a team game. Last season Mane would release the ball quickly and find Salah or Firmino ,this season he invariably runs with the ball for way too long and more often than not fails to find the killer pass that made us so effective last season.

[Lallana in Pyjamas]

In many ways playing with 3 strikers is a luxury, it certainly puts a lot of pressure on the CM's behind them who have a hell of a lot of ground to cover. Don't get me wrong If those 3 forwards are causing havoc and are dragging oppo defenders/midfielders all over the place then the system is very effective, if they aren't causing havoc though the midfielders are right up against it.I don't think it's any coincidence that our forwards are miss-firing and our midfielders look dead on their feet when we are barely out of September.
It might be worth playing with 2 forwards for a bit to help the MF out.


                                             Salah.       Mane

                                                  Shaquiri

                                      Keita.                    Gini

                                                  Fabinho

                     Robbo.         VVD.              Gomez.         Trent

                                                  Alisson

So you put two wide men through the middle supported by a wide man behind them and leave out the best “false 9” in Europe ?!

The team has just had an intense period of games over a short period and come through unbeaten in the league. It’s not time to throw the bath water out and certainly not with a formation that doesn’t suit the players we have

Klopp bought the players he did to fit the system and formation he wants to play- why on Earth would he look to change that ?

Because it's not working...Because that is why we signed new players..To offer options..To replace sub performing players..You can always revert..Bobby has been a none-factor in the recent games..Hendo offers us nothing in moving the ball forward..It's not a dramatic change..

Not working ?

We are still unbeaten in the league , sitting top of it , just played three of our rivals with games away from home and come through it unbeaten and with 5 points on the board. I could understand all the negative hysteria and demands for change if we were struggling mid table but we aren’t.

We have just had a very tough phase and got through it. - now onto games that will give the players more confidence and goals - long way to go in this season , the overrating right now it’s bit silly

[Lallana in Pyjamas]

In many ways playing with 3 strikers is a luxury, it certainly puts a lot of pressure on the CM's behind them who have a hell of a lot of ground to cover. Don't get me wrong If those 3 forwards are causing havoc and are dragging oppo defenders/midfielders all over the place then the system is very effective, if they aren't causing havoc though the midfielders are right up against it.I don't think it's any coincidence that our forwards are miss-firing and our midfielders look dead on their feet when we are barely out of September.
It might be worth playing with 2 forwards for a bit to help the MF out.


                                             Salah.       Mane

                                                  Shaquiri

                                      Keita.                    Gini

                                                  Fabinho

                     Robbo.         VVD.              Gomez.         Trent

                                                  Alisson

So you put two wide men through the middle supported by a wide man behind them and leave out the best “false 9” in Europe ?!

The team has just had an intense period of games over a short period and come through unbeaten in the league. It’s not time to throw the bath water out and certainly not with a formation that doesn’t suit the players we have

Klopp bought the players he did to fit the system and formation he wants to play- why on Earth would he look to change that ?

Salah and Mane have never been the type of wide men who hug the touchline like say Ian Callaghan and Peter Thompson, in fact Mane played through the middle for Southampton. Both have pace and make clever runs so they could easily lead the line. Players can play in different positions you know and make a success of it, Ray Kennedy won the double with Arsenal as a target man CF but Bob Paisley converted him into a left sided midfielder where he was a revelation, no doubt if you were alive back then you'd be whinging your @rse off about that too.
I'm throwing suggestions into the hat because 1) this is a football discussion forum and 2) what we are currently doing is not working.

Why are you going on about days gone by - zero relevance to the game now.

And not working ? Have you seen the table ? Have you seen the games we have had to play - we just battled through a tough period in the league and came through unbeaten.

What did people expect from City and Chelsea ( the only two teams we dropped points against) ?

[UvS xR4GEx]

I personally think we're setting up too negative..  it's like we're setting up to not conceed goals and it's taking away from our attack. None of the 3 midfielders are allowed to go much further than the halfway line and when they do they hurry back.. once we get the ball to the front 3 they have zero options, and Mane and Salah are not great at holding the ball up so they keep losing possession.

[Ghost of Shankly]

It's very simple why our attack is failing and we are playing garbage...

1. Our Midfield is bang average,
2. Our forwards are squandering tonnes of chances and need shooting practice.
3. Our manager is slow to change it if we are not playing well. Shaqiri and Sturridge and Fabinho should all get more game time to turn it around.

SIMPLES !!!!!!!!!