Our style of play

[danperkins]

This thread is pretty relevant at the moment, I have no idea what we are trying to do. Totally blunt, slow, no tempo, no aggression, no press, no width and the players look so lost. I mentioned a few times that we just look so uncomfortable as a team. This is on Slot, he is under pressure and he is not making good decisions and has to sort that ASAP.

[baitman]

Pressing is a lost art.
When we are in possession there is no forward of sideways movement to give options for a pass.

[BobTheCharmer]

I stand by my observations last season that we didn't play well in a lot of games but kept coming away with 3 points. Eventually it catches up with you. It's just when you win, it's always glossed over. You forget and enjoy the 3 points. This season we are regressing and I don't see how we suddenly play well again. When did we last put in a full 90 minutes? Spurs? Hardly much against a team as open as they used to play. It's been a struggle for a large period of 2025.

The first liverpool boss to get such large amounts of money to spend and we're worse than before!

[peterbread]

Del

[peterbread]

I don’t know how worthwhile this post is but I’ve been going over it in my head for a couple of days and tonights game has me wanting vent and get it out of the system so to speak. Tactics aren’t an area I honestly know a lot about but thought I’d put it out there for a bit of a discussion.

What area of the pitch do others think is the problem area?

I still think it comes back to the attack both in how they defend and attack.

The press isn’t working and it’s leaving the midfield and defence exposed and it’s lacking the work rate it previously had. They aren’t pressing as a team. You could see Dom getting very frustrated in the first half when others weren’t going with him.

Then when the team has the ball there is no movement to get the ball forward. Others might not agree but I thought both Jones and Wirtz made a difference. They were constantly on the move trying to get things going. The team desperately needs Alexis to find his form.

I’d like to see Dom move into one of the wide roles. Maybe on the left with Wirtz in the 10. Let them interchange a bit especially without the ball. Dom can cover that central position defensively and he’s the type of aggressive player the team needs to drive forward in attack. He’s got plenty of history playing wide and doing it successfully before Liverpool.

Chiesa and Frimpong on the right to change it up and give the team something different. More pace and the ability to take on the defence.

Maybe Gomez at RB to play more narrow and have a three in defence with the ball but still more than capable of getting forward too at time so a bit more balance with width from the fullback but plenty of cover. Let Kerkez attack and offer width on the left like we’ve seen him provide at Bournemouth. Then one of Frimpong and Chiesa on the right. Then you can have a box in midfield of Wirtz and Dom with Gravenberch and one of Jones or Alexis behind them.

Plenty of flexibility to change it up in the game with and without the ball. You could have a flat 4 4 2 or 4 4 1 when defending. And a 3 2 4 1 with the ball. I don’t know if it would work but it’s kind of fun to go through these types of things.

[Catrin]

For me the issues are...
1) the press doesn't have the organisation or the intensity so the opposition's defenders are too comfortable playing the ball into their midfield.
2) Last season we relied quite heavily on long diags from Virgil to Mo and worldies from Trent to Mo, Nunez/Diaz and Dom. The former became predictable (and I do think Mo is saving himself for Afcon) and the latter.....Conor can't hit those worldies so he is being pressed without fear. The opposition are coming forward without fear of the ball being pinged past them.
3) The movement from the front four is poor. If Grav, Macca or Conor can get the ball to one of them too often they don't have a good option to pass to. Then they lose the ball or try passes that are riskier or where the recipient can't do anything with it.

[Charly]

Our countrrpress and high press seems to be broken

Other teams are pressing us high and we cant cope..Konate is really struggling. The fullbacks ddont seem to know what to do.

The midfield from last year is being deployed in defence, and thr bscups cant impose themselves physically

Slot is quick to change things that are not working, but he needs to find something that works from the start

[BG1973]

Worrying times but we have a good squad so looking forward to seeing how we develop.

[Exiled_red]

I agree about the lack of movement when we have the ball and pressing when we don't. The pressing issue is something you might expect when bringing in a few new players in attacking areas, you need to press as a team and the new guys need to learn the triggers etc. The lack of movement is perhaps more worrying because it is for me at least less expected you would hope that these guys would have good movement off the ball and be making runs even if they weren't found by passes (again because building up the understanding takes time).

These also factor into the lack of our ability to control games, last season we were able to control games even when we weren't playing well we just don't seem able to do this for extended spells.

There has also been some really poor defending, all of Konate, Kerkez and Bradley have struggled at various points and all three have been taken off when on yellows through fear they would do something stupid and get sent off.

You would think at this point we would be trying to get players used to their roles in the system, I appreciate that we want the ability to change between different systems and styles of play but we really need to get players particularly new players used to their roles and for me at the moment there are too many changes and people aren't able to build up the key relationships with people around them. E.g. Szoboszlai playing as an 8, a 10 a RB, Wirtz playing as a 10 or from the left ... As I say having flexibility is great but players need to build up relationships and that is made harder by constantly moving people around. I commented on this in the match thread but how are we expecting to control midfield if we have taken two of our best midfielders and played them in defence?

[kingfunk]

Why are we not pressing like we did last season? I don’t mean the odd game off, I mean across the board. The energy, the bite, the aggression, it’s all a bit toned down. Previously, we’d smother teams from the first whistle. You could see it coming a mile away, one loose touch from the opposition and boom, three red shirts flying in to win it back. It made us feel unstoppable. This season, it’s like we’re half a second slower, or waiting for a signal that never comes.
I know Slot wants more control and structure, and to be fair, you can see what he’s trying to do. When it clicks, it looks smart, more organised, less chaotic, more possession based. But there’s something missing from the chaos that used to define us. That manic, full throttle edge where we’d hunt as a unit and force mistakes out of pure will. Now it feels like we’re choosing when to go, and sometimes we just don’t.
Maybe it’s a fitness thing, maybe the new lads are still getting used to the system, or maybe Slot’s trying to keep us fresher over a long season. It makes sense logically, but emotionally it’s hard to watch. You see glimmers here and there, a press from Szobo, an aggressive challenge in midfield, but it never consistently ignites like before.
And look, I’m not slating Slot. The football has its moments, and we’re still creating chances. But there’s something about that relentless press that made us feel like Liverpool. The crowd used to feed off it. Every time we pinned a team in, Anfield came alive. I just hope this is a transition phase and not a permanent change, because when we’re pressing ‘the Liverpool way’, there’s not a many teams in the world that could live with us.

[Kenneth]

I'm sure there are lots of elements to it, but playing our best presser at right back seems pretty bloody stupid. And our player of the year, let's change his role, that's a great idea.

[BG1973]

Why are we not pressing like we did last season? I don’t mean the odd game off, I mean across the board. The energy, the bite, the aggression, it’s all a bit toned down. Previously, we’d smother teams from the first whistle. You could see it coming a mile away, one loose touch from the opposition and boom, three red shirts flying in to win it back. It made us feel unstoppable. This season, it’s like we’re half a second slower, or waiting for a signal that never comes.
I know Slot wants more control and structure, and to be fair, you can see what he’s trying to do. When it clicks, it looks smart, more organised, less chaotic, more possession based. But there’s something missing from the chaos that used to define us. That manic, full throttle edge where we’d hunt as a unit and force mistakes out of pure will. Now it feels like we’re choosing when to go, and sometimes we just don’t.
Maybe it’s a fitness thing, maybe the new lads are still getting used to the system, or maybe Slot’s trying to keep us fresher over a long season. It makes sense logically, but emotionally it’s hard to watch. You see glimmers here and there, a press from Szobo, an aggressive challenge in midfield, but it never consistently ignites like before.
And look, I’m not slating Slot. The football has its moments, and we’re still creating chances. But there’s something about that relentless press that made us feel like Liverpool. The crowd used to feed off it. Every time we pinned a team in, Anfield came alive. I just hope this is a transition phase and not a permanent change, because when we’re pressing ‘the Liverpool way’, there’s not a many teams in the world that could live with us.

Agree completely. Would say though its hard to do that against teams that want to sit back which has been a lot so far this season.

We look like a team without an identity at the minute.

[kingfunk]

Agree completely. Would say though its hard to do that against teams that want to sit back which has been a lot so far this season.

We look like a team without an identity at the minute.

It’s definitely tougher to press against teams that sit deep and don’t give you any space to trigger the press. But even then, we used to force them into mistakes through sheer tempo and intensity. Right now it feels like we’re neither pressing high nor sitting compact, just kind of stuck in between. Totally agree about the identity part. We don’t seem sure whether we’re a possession side or a pressing side, and that uncertainty is showing.

[vlahka]

I absolutely believe its Slots decision with the pressing. We always play about 20min and then drop off massively for a long time. And then we pick up in the last 15min. He's game managing, thinking this is the best way to avoid tired players and injuries. I mean why else wouldnt you use Chiesa when he's accomplishing more than 3/4 of the team whenever he gets on. He plays the high line hoping for offside calls so our team isnt chasing opposition players. He's happy to pass about in defense for ages thinking this will tire out the other attacking players who chase it. He wont change.

[kemm1]

I absolutely believe its Slots decision with the pressing. We always play about 20min and then drop off massively for a long time. And then we pick up in the last 15min. He's game managing, thinking this is the best way to avoid tired players and injuries. I mean why else wouldnt you use Chiesa when he's accomplishing more than 3/4 of the team whenever he gets on. He plays the high line hoping for offside calls so our team isnt chasing opposition players. He's happy to pass about in defense for ages thinking this will tire out the other attacking players who chase it. He wont change.

Salah throws our defensive and high press balance off. We also have two wide players (Salah and Gakpo) that can't consistently beat a man so don't open up space for others, they regularly lose the ball and here comes the counter.....plus we have no natural DM.