Our style of play

[baitman]

I didnt watch it but I have a mate who is a Saints fan who goes home and away

He said Arsenal moved the ball much more quickly than us, he was very critical of our laborious sterile passing

highlights here; http://lasthl.com/southampton-vs-ars...-match-fa-cup/

cant find full match.

[Lecter]

highlights here; http://lasthl.com/southampton-vs-ars...-match-fa-cup/

cant find full match.

Lots of pace about Arsenals play and passing even in those highlights

We arent nearly as quick as that.... at the moment

[baitman]

hull away...

[nicked from the klopp thread]
...We are so slow and ponderous on the ball, it's infuriating and easy to set us against. The worst for me is how slowly the defence is to release the ball into the forward areas, they are all terrified on the ball. Mig to Lovren, Lovren to Klavan or Matip, Matip to Clyne, Clyne back to Mig, Mig to Milner etc etc and by the time Henderson or Wini get the ball there are 2 banks or 4 infront of them or at that stage we have given the ball away. I wouldn't exactly say our midfielders are quick to release to ball either, mostly goes side to side.

For me though, I do think we get into great positions in the wide areas. Clyne and Milner both have amazing engines and get up into great positions but Clyne's crossing more than often really disappointing, 2 assists this season and only 2 last season. For a guy that gets up the pitch so well, his end product is just not there. I like Clyne as a defender but attacking wise, it just doesn't happen for him. Milner's crossing is one the best aspects of his game but lately he can't even beat the first man, looks exhausted. Teams know he'll inevitably cut back inside to his right foot so it's easy to close him down & he has no pace either. Sure we have zero aerial threat in the box anyways if the ball does make it in.

I don't know if Klopp's tactics have been found out or whether he just doesn't have the personnel to pull off what he wants, maybe a bit of both but whatever it is it is not working and we need to change something.

it doesnt matter how fast our full backs/wingers are if they have a packed team to play through and two lines of four/five.
the main issue is our team fannying around at the back taking several passes to wait until there is movement from a team mate between the lines until they make a cross.

when opposition teams lose possession they are not pressing the ball like we like to do but instead they cover the free man so removing our midfielders passing options. this then means the ball will go back and forwards a few times before we can find a gap.

we are too scared to lose possession. there is very little movement for our midfielders to have a passing option [other midfielders and forwards]. man city and arsenal manage to do this and are better able to break down the teams that get behind the ball.

our full backs might get forward with the ball but often fail to cross, but they are looking to thread a ball through a packed area and often there are too few runners and these are easily picked up by big lump defenders.

yesterday i watching us fire a thousand corners into the hull box but that could have still been going on until now and we still wouldnt have scored...
pinging high balls into a packed box hoping to hit a midget on the head when big lump defenders are smashing them all over the place is an exercise in futility and i have to question our tactics and lack of variation here.

i have previously mentioned that klopps system has been found out and we look lost at sea. to say teams are playing anti football and not coming to play is naive and borderline stupid. it may not be obviously good football but if hull beat us 2-0 and only have two breaks and shots on goal [just as an example] then its clinical and highlights our piss poor defending and tactics.
going gung ho and being oblivious to what we leave at the back.
its blatantly obvious that they can easily play a long ball 40 yard pass and expose our mediocre cover.

lucas hasnt the pace to get back, matip was wrong sided and a one on one with mig is often a sure fire goal.
the two defenders were side by side and a ball that passes one of them then passes both. if they were 5-10 yards apart with one deeper than the other then one is favourite to get the ball no matter how deep the hoof if...
this is happening too often for it to be considered a lucky break by these 'smaller' teams...

[Exiled_red]

I think alot of the better sides in recent years have been taking the approach that more possession = winning games, look at us under Rodgers (and probably before), the amount of possession is largely irrelevant if a large proportion of it is in your own half or passing the ball around under little pressure, similarly having a large amount of possession in the middle and final third is meaningless if there are 11 opposition players behind the ball and you can't break them down. You need to be able to use the possession to create chances and we haven't been doing that. If you look at the last 10 games I would imagine that the Chelsea and Man Utd games aside we have probably had somewhere between 65 and 80% possession in most of them and we have barely created a chance. I'd rather have less possession, let the opposition team play a less compressed game and allow us to have some space to play in.

[danperkins]

I think alot of the better sides in recent years have been taking the approach that more possession = winning games, look at us under Rodgers (and probably before), the amount of possession is largely irrelevant if a large proportion of it is in your own half or passing the ball around under little pressure, similarly having a large amount of possession in the middle and final third is meaningless if there are 11 opposition players behind the ball and you can't break them down. You need to be able to use the possession to create chances and we haven't been doing that. If you look at the last 10 games I would imagine that the Chelsea and Man Utd games aside we have probably had somewhere between 65 and 80% possession in most of them and we have barely created a chance. I'd rather have less possession, let the opposition team play a less compressed game and allow us to have some space to play in.

spot on mate. Possession is the wrong areas is irrelevant if you are not doing anything with it. Infuriating the amount of passing that goes on between our GK, CB's and CM and we get nowhere with it most of the time.

[danperkins]

hull away...



it doesnt matter how fast our full backs/wingers are if they have a packed team to play through and two lines of four/five.
the main issue is our team fannying around at the back taking several passes to wait until there is movement from a team mate between the lines until they make a cross.

when opposition teams lose possession they are not pressing the ball like we like to do but instead they cover the free man so removing our midfielders passing options. this then means the ball will go back and forwards a few times before we can find a gap.

we are too scared to lose possession. there is very little movement for our midfielders to have a passing option [other midfielders and forwards]. man city and arsenal manage to do this and are better able to break down the teams that get behind the ball.

our full backs might get forward with the ball but often fail to cross, but they are looking to thread a ball through a packed area and often there are too few runners and these are easily picked up by big lump defenders.

yesterday i watching us fire a thousand corners into the hull box but that could have still been going on until now and we still wouldnt have scored...
pinging high balls into a packed box hoping to hit a midget on the head when big lump defenders are smashing them all over the place is an exercise in futility and i have to question our tactics and lack of variation here.

i have previously mentioned that klopps system has been found out and we look lost at sea. to say teams are playing anti football and not coming to play is naive and borderline stupid. it may not be obviously good football but if hull beat us 2-0 and only have two breaks and shots on goal [just as an example] then its clinical and highlights our piss poor defending and tactics.
going gung ho and being oblivious to what we leave at the back.
its blatantly obvious that they can easily play a long ball 40 yard pass and expose our mediocre cover.

lucas hasnt the pace to get back, matip was wrong sided and a one on one with mig is often a sure fire goal.
the two defenders were side by side and a ball that passes one of them then passes both. if they were 5-10 yards apart with one deeper than the other then one is favourite to get the ball no matter how deep the hoof if...
this is happening too often for it to be considered a lucky break by these 'smaller' teams...

yeah with all of this mate. People going on about anti football or hoof ball, sure whatever ****ing works isn't it. If we played hoof ball or more direct and we were winning we wouldn't give a ****.

[Fredo]

It's not the Liverpool way to hoof the ball.

[danperkins]

The LFC way used to be winning things.

[Lecter]

It's not the Liverpool way to hoof the ball.

"Its not about the long ball or the short ball, its about the right ball."

[Corndog]

The midfielders and forwards aren't passing and moving as quickly or creatively as they were at the beginning of the season, that's the problem.

[Irishnev]

I think alot of the better sides in recent years have been taking the approach that more possession = winning games, look at us under Rodgers (and probably before), the amount of possession is largely irrelevant if a large proportion of it is in your own half or passing the ball around under little pressure, similarly having a large amount of possession in the middle and final third is meaningless if there are 11 opposition players behind the ball and you can't break them down. You need to be able to use the possession to create chances and we haven't been doing that. If you look at the last 10 games I would imagine that the Chelsea and Man Utd games aside we have probably had somewhere between 65 and 80% possession in most of them and we have barely created a chance. I'd rather have less possession, let the opposition team play a less compressed game and allow us to have some space to play in.

Barca and the tiki-taka football being the best point on this but they have Messi, Iniesta and other world class players at various stages of their success. Leicester showed last year that possession doesn't matter a **** if you are set up to exploit your strengths i.e. Kante nicking the ball, Vardy chasing the ball over the top and Mahrez conjuring magic tricks.

The best teams are built on a solid defence and we haven't had one of those for years, added to that we still have players like Lucas, Mignolet & Lovren getting a game so that tells it own story.

Klopp has shown his loyalty to players now he needs to show us he is ruthless by binning off the dead wood in the squad. Above all else he needs to buy players to make a proper defence that lines up for the majority of our games next year - we rarely put out the same back 4 & GK in two consecutive games!

[danperkins]

Barca and the tiki-taka football being the best point on this but they have Messi, Iniesta and other world class players at various stages of their success. Leicester showed last year that possession doesn't matter a **** if you are set up to exploit your strengths i.e. Kante nicking the ball, Vardy chasing the ball over the top and Mahrez conjuring magic tricks.

The best teams are built on a solid defence and we haven't had one of those for years, added to that we still have players like Lucas, Mignolet & Lovren getting a game so that tells it own story.

Klopp has shown his loyalty to players now he needs to show us he is ruthless by binning off the dead wood in the squad. Above all else he needs to buy players to make a proper defence that lines up for the majority of our games next year - we rarely put out the same back 4 & GK in two consecutive games!

ridiculous amount of chopping and changing at the back and in goal. Both are ****e keepers but just stick with one ffs.

Liverpool have been struggling for years to sort out the GK, CB & LB situation and still the positions are not boxed off. Milner has done a fantastic job at LB but it's ridiculous having him there long term... poor ****er is absolutely exhausted aswell. Mig should have been gone in the summer, instead we give him a new contract. Matip looks the real deal when fit but Lovren & Klavan are clearly not the answer.

No wonder we are ****ing atrocious at the back with the sub standard dross we have there & playing players out of position.

[Buzzo]

Though I wouldn't normally advocate the formation I wonder if we shouldn't look at Conte and how he fixed Chelseas early season problems? We could look to match that formation - we only lack the Diego Costa type of forward to hold the ball up.

One thing is for sure - we need to look at or at least try something different.

[danperkins]

Though I wouldn't normally advocate the formation I wonder if we shouldn't look at Conte and how he fixed Chelseas early season problems? We could look to match that formation - we only lack the Diego Costa type of forward to hold the ball up.

One thing is for sure - we need to look at or at least try something different.

he has to change something because we are doing the same stuff every week and it's clearly not working.

[gratziani]

I think people are forgetting how well we have played and coped with against the top six this season where most teams have not created anything against us and are scared of us in fact.

The system needs a tweak when we play the **** teams at the bottom , losing to Swansea ,Hull and drawing with Sunderland tells it's own story right there , 1 point from 9 against teams in the bottom three where a full house pretty much guarantees Champions League and a tilt at the title.

The three in midfield needs changing in these games, Would we look more in control with a 4 4 2 ? with what we have at our disposal or the 4 2 3 1

Or a dedicated player in front of our two centre backs who need protection against counter attacking teams.