Our style of play

[Charly]

You summed it up perfectly in the second post of the summer transfer window 2022 thread.

Lol...

Well if Klopp does leave, I *HUMBLY* submit myself as the obvious replacement.

After they realise I dont have a ****ing clue and get kicked out the second week, I will probably have made enough money to live comfortably for a decade.

[el matador]

When we won the champions league we signed Sepp Van den Berg…….. strengthen from a position of strength

As much as I admire Fenway sports they also have a some things to answer for. The lack of investment when we were dominant is negligent.

[danperkins]

It needed strengthening during Wijnaldum's last season. But we lost him and brought in Thiago... and left it at that. We broke our own back there.

[baitman]

You’re right mate. Gini put out a lot of fires for us and it’s sad that he felt undervalued. Whenever he was in the team it gave us a lot of defensive security in both offensive and defensive situations.

We made the midfield more expansive but less secure.

We let Wijnaldum go at the right time, he'd been **** for almost the full season before.
The mistake was not replacing him a year earlier, and then some others too.

[Exiled_red]

It needed strengthening during Wijnaldum's last season. But we lost him and brought in Thiago... and left it at that. We broke our own back there.

We needed to be ruthless in moving people on who can't get on the pitch, it's no use saying Ox offers something different if he can get back to where he was before his injury or if Naby could play like the player we thought we were getting he'll be top class. that's never going to happen. Milner has been a good servant but should have retired in the summer. Jones and Elliott are youngsters that were going to need time to develop. We've been left with Henderson who should have been transitioned into a squad player role, Thiago who is a great player but not a long term option to build your side around and Fabinho all 3 of whom have injury issues to some extent. We essentially came into the season relying on those 3 plus Milner and Elliott which was madness. Arthur Melo was a panic signing and I wouldn't be surprised if he barely plays for us even if he recovers from his injury

Ox and Keita need to leave, Milner should retire, Henderson eeds transitioning into the role Milner played last few years, that leaves a midfield of Fabinho, Thiago, Elliott and Jones with Henderson being the experienced head to see games out and starting relatively infrequently. When you look at our midfield like that it's terrifying. There are fairly big question marks over Jones, Elliott is looking promising but is still fairly unproven, Thiago is key but your heart is in your mouth anytime he goes down and Fabinho's form has plummeted. Is it any wonder we're in trouble. And that's before you look at other problems elsewhere in the side....

[Harv]

We let Wijnaldum go at the right time, he'd been **** for almost the full season before.
The mistake was not replacing him a year earlier, and then some others too.

No he hadn't

[Harv]

If what we're playing is Pep Ljinders game plan then god help us if he's next in line when Klopp leaves.

Slow, ****e build up play when all our attackers want the play played quickly and gaping holes at the back. Awful, timid football with zero passion or fire.

[danperkins]

We needed to be ruthless in moving people on who can't get on the pitch, it's no use saying Ox offers something different if he can get back to where he was before his injury or if Naby could play like the player we thought we were getting he'll be top class. that's never going to happen. Milner has been a good servant but should have retired in the summer. Jones and Elliott are youngsters that were going to need time to develop. We've been left with Henderson who should have been transitioned into a squad player role, Thiago who is a great player but not a long term option to build your side around and Fabinho all 3 of whom have injury issues to some extent. We essentially came into the season relying on those 3 plus Milner and Elliott which was madness. Arthur Melo was a panic signing and I wouldn't be surprised if he barely plays for us even if he recovers from his injury

Ox and Keita need to leave, Milner should retire, Henderson eeds transitioning into the role Milner played last few years, that leaves a midfield of Fabinho, Thiago, Elliott and Jones with Henderson being the experienced head to see games out and starting relatively infrequently. When you look at our midfield like that it's terrifying. There are fairly big question marks over Jones, Elliott is looking promising but is still fairly unproven, Thiago is key but your heart is in your mouth anytime he goes down and Fabinho's form has plummeted. Is it any wonder we're in trouble. And that's before you look at other problems elsewhere in the side....

[S-RED]

We let Wijnaldum go at the right time, he'd been **** for almost the full season before.
The mistake was not replacing him a year earlier, and then some others too.

??? Not at all, he was the glue for that season; the only reason his form dipped at the end, was that we biined him off in prefernce to bumper/extended deals for Henderson, Millie, the tea lady

[Corndog]

The team is in a transition.

It’s so hard to transition without losing something.

The gamble on Nunez at the expense of a CM looks like the wrong one in hindsight.

[Exiled_red]

The team is in a transition.

It’s so hard to transition without losing something.

The gamble on Nunez at the expense of a CM looks like the wrong one in hindsight.

To be honest I don't think the issues we are having now are more to do with decline than transition.

If you look at the side that won the league:

Alisson, TAA, Gomez, VVD, Robertson, Henderson, Fabinho, Wijnaldum, Salah, Firmino, Mane

Everyone in that side was under 30 most at the peak ~26-28 age range

We are now 3 years on from that the only changes we have made are
Matip for Gomez
Thiago for Wijnaldum
Diaz for Mane
and possibly Nunez for Firmino

Matip is older than Gomez, Thiago and Wijnaldum are about the same age, the only positions we have reduced the age of the squad in are in bringing in Diaz and Nunez everywhere else the side is 3 years older. I get that we don't want to transition too quickly but I would argue that the decline in team performance is coming more from the drop off of players than did so well for us when we won the league, rather than the likes of Diaz, Nunez or Jota not being at the level of the likes of Mane or Firmino.

[Tribute]

To be honest I don't think the issues we are having now are more to do with decline than transition.

If you look at the side that won the league:

Alisson, TAA, Gomez, VVD, Robertson, Henderson, Fabinho, Wijnaldum, Salah, Firmino, Mane

Everyone in that side was under 30 most at the peak ~26-28 age range

We are now 3 years on from that the only changes we have made are
Matip for Gomez
Thiago for Wijnaldum
Diaz for Mane
and possibly Nunez for Firmino

Matip is older than Gomez, Thiago and Wijnaldum are about the same age, the only positions we have reduced the age of the squad in are in bringing in Diaz and Nunez everywhere else the side is 3 years older. I get that we don't want to transition too quickly but I would argue that the decline in team performance is coming more from the drop off of players than did so well for us when we won the league, rather than the likes of Diaz, Nunez or Jota not being at the level of the likes of Mane or Firmino.

...an ageing team slows down together, so not entirely unexpected that we are feeling it this season after playing every possible game we could play last season.

We're also bedding in a couple of new players and everyone is getting used to this new system. Mane and Gini, along with all the other first teamers were experienced in our patterns of play and at times, we were almost telepathic between each other.

Diaz has (so far) been a very good replacement for Sadio, albeit he needs to score a few more, but that will come. Nunez has only started a handful of games and unfortunately comes into an off form, injury-hit side - unlike Haaland where he's become the tap-in/target man for a consistent Citeh side who continue to play as a well-drilled, ruthless unit.

Our problem is lack of investment from when we were winning trophies - FSG (probably wrongly) assumed we would stay at that intensity level for ages without needing much investment/rejuvenation. We're now experiencing that dip in form as a collective, due to age and fitness/intensity... with a couple of high energy newbies... At the same time, many of the top 6 have invested heavily in new talent while we've stood relatively still.

We needed a top class midfielder, maybe two, in the summer and should have just gone all out for Bellingham at whatever the cost... or had a list of five or six backup double combos that would be same price for one Bellingham... but would have given us the numbers in midfield to keep up the intensity.

That lack of energy is what's putting more pressure on the back four... mistakes are creeping in, TAA side is constantly being targeted and over-run... and it's creating a self-fulfilling crisis of confidence throughout the whole team.

Never thought I'd see so many first teamers literally fall of a cliff in terms of performance, energy and game management nous/know-how. Weird as ****.
We look like a Brendog team prior to his sacking...

[Doc_Piptorious]

...an ageing team slows down together, so not entirely unexpected that we are feeling it this season after playing every possible game we could play last season.

We're also bedding in a couple of new players and everyone is getting used to this new system. Mane and Gini, along with all the other first teamers were experienced in our patterns of play and at times, we were almost telepathic between each other.

Diaz has (so far) been a very good replacement for Sadio, albeit he needs to score a few more, but that will come. Nunez has only started a handful of games and unfortunately comes into an off form, injury-hit side - unlike Haaland where he's become the tap-in/target man for a consistent Citeh side who continue to play as a well-drilled, ruthless unit.

Our problem is lack of investment from when we were winning trophies - FSG (probably wrongly) assumed we would stay at that intensity level for ages without needing much investment/rejuvenation. We're now experiencing that dip in form as a collective, due to age and fitness/intensity... with a couple of high energy newbies... At the same time, many of the top 6 have invested heavily in new talent while we've stood relatively still.

We needed a top class midfielder, maybe two, in the summer and should have just gone all out for Bellingham at whatever the cost... or had a list of five or six backup double combos that would be same price for one Bellingham... but would have given us the numbers in midfield to keep up the intensity.

That lack of energy is what's putting more pressure on the back four... mistakes are creeping in, TAA side is constantly being targeted and over-run... and it's creating a self-fulfilling crisis of confidence throughout the whole team.

Never thought I'd see so many first teamers literally fall of a cliff in terms of performance, energy and game management nous/know-how. Weird as ****.
We look like a Brendog team prior to his sacking...

The first season Souness was in charge maybe? Last three or four months of Kenny's first spell as gaffer too (plus the months after he stepped down that ended that season), though that and Souness' first season ran together.

The second half of Souness' first season was an utter nightmare.

[kev776]

3-4-3 against City

------Gomez - Matip- VVD

Hendo--Fabinho--Thiago--Tsimikas

-----Salah--Darwin--Jota

[Charly]

Surely Konate over Gomez?

Id play Nunez left and Firmino centre