Our style of play

[BG1973]

Prepare to be dissapoinited then I would say.

Elliot will come back and that's about it I presume.

[Mark79]

This is not so much of a style of play thing but a squad issue, I am looking at the squad and feeling there aren't alot of players in there who can play a full 90 mins (or 100+ however long football games really are these days...). It feels like our struggles in later parts of games are due to not having the ability to have 11 players who can go for 90mins or subs of sufficient quality to bring on as replacements. I don't think this is due to the way we play as there intensity of our play has dropped over the last couple of years, but I am wondering about fitness and so on, perhaps partly due to what happened in preseason and players coming in who aren't used to the league, plus the usual injuries and niggles.

It feels to me that the likes of Ekitike, Wirtz, Frimpong, and before his injury Isak all needed to be replaced between 60 and 80mins as they were knackered, Isak perhaps due to his short pre-season the others less so. MacAllister hasn't looked on it fitness wise this season, Jones perhaps because he hasn't been used to playing full games back to back, then there are the guys who pick up injuries (Bradle Konate etc who need easing back, on top of trying to give players breaks and rest because of the amount they have played. It feels to me that we probably need to be making 4 or 5 subs a game, but we don't have the numbers to avoid a drop off in quality and worry about burnout or injuries to key players as the season progresses. I really feel we need a number of additions in this window.

It’s not due to the players, or how we play. It’s down to our training methods under this coaching team. Our training is now focused on tactical principles, rather than the intense fitness work we had under Klopp/Kornmayer.

The thinking being that if we don’t run them so hard in training, then it relieves the likelihood of fatigue related issues and helps with availability across the season.

The cost as we’re finding this season, is that our players are struggling to match the intensity required for 90 mins in the PL.

[Paul12]

...Our training is now focused on tactical principles, rather than the intense fitness work we had under Klopp/Kornmayer....

Are you basing this assertion on what you see on the pitch, or something else?

[Mark79]

Are you basing this assertion on what you see on the pitch, or something else?

Just on what’s out there. This things aren’t classified. Listening to pods/reading articles by people who work in sports science, who have knowledge on common practices and are able to identify and evidence what they see from how we use our players and how they perform.

Ruben Peeters methods are common knowledge too and of course we’re not unique in having this approach to training and physical performance. I also remember reading Feyenoord/Eredivisie followers talking about Slot’s preferred methods and how he compares with Klopp.

There was also Slot’s interview with Sander Westerveld, which touched on it but didn’t go in to detail.

[Buzzo]

We don’t currently have a style of play or identity.

[peterbread]

Overly controlled and scared to lose the ball would be my first thought.

[Exiled_red]

We don’t currently have a style of play or identity.

[baitman]

All those coaches alongside slot, all jumping up to hi 5 each other when we score, but sitting their under a cloak of invisibility the rest of the time.
A bunch of yes men, this feels like the end of rodgers again...
Maybe slots contract renewal has been pulled, and we will find another guy.
It may mean we dont give him money to spend, or maybe the other guys will take the buying responsibilities over for now.

[Paul12]

At least now the players are working hard for each other again. Now we need to defend set pieces and second balls better, do better with our own set pieces, be better at defending transitions when we are trying to move the ball forward quickly, and have some ideas about how to tackle a low block.

[Slinky Skills]

At least now the players are working hard for each other again. Now we need to defend set pieces and second balls better, do better with our own set pieces, be better at defending transitions when we are trying to move the ball forward quickly, and have some ideas about how to tackle a low block.

So not much to work on then lol

[SB]

At least we kept a clean sheet.

[badpiggy]

I'd say Kerkez would cheerfully strangle Gakpo give the chance. Unless he was trying to bluff the Leeds defence by making runs into space, pointing to where he was running and shouting directions to Gakpo.

[baitman]

Very disappointed with the whole team and game management.
Wirtz has been such a let down. Does he really bring anything more than Harvey Elliot was giving us...

[danperkins]

Very disappointed with the whole team and game management.
Wirtz has been such a let down. Does he really bring anything more than Harvey Elliot was giving us...

So far no, not at all unfortunately.

[RoadEnd]

"Every single game we play it is hard work, it is two teams quite close to each other. We are mainly the team that are probably better than the other team but not enough; we are constantly within this 20 per cent difference and if you are inside this 20 per cent difference then going to the floor or not means a lot for the result. I will keep pushing and the players will keep pushing to get to a situation where we are more than that 20 per cent, we can make the difference bigger and then hopefully we are finding a moment when we can fly through the season. But for the first 19 games it has been constantly a battle, close to each other, sometimes a bit lucky, sometimes a bit unlucky season."


Well that solves it then.