Pep Lijnders is back

[RedReet]

3-Box-3 is a Louis Van Gaal Ajax speciality, they won the champions league with one of the great Ajax teams using that formation in 1995

Van Der Saar

Reiziger Blind Frank De Boer
Rijkaard David’s
Seedorf Litmanen
Overmars Ronald De Boer George

(My mind is full of useless info)

Pep L spoke of using that when in our u-23 team and tried a variation when he bombed at Nijmegen. For me it’s so not a Klopp way of playing and more of a galaxy brain **** to get Trent more on the ball….. we win the lot with Trent at RB and now his assists are way down on what they used to be ffs

I don’t like it - we always look unbalanced and it causes so much stress on Konate. The worst thing is when Trent doesn’t play they shoehorn Joe Gomez into midfield and he struggles badly

Stick to what worked and just improve the players who couldn’t run anymore

I felt Gomez played well when Trent was out and that we tweaked the setup slightly to allow him to play as a more orthodox RB.

Are you not slightly encouraged that we are starting to control games a bit more to go along with the good results? Do you not think we are improving and Trent looking a bit better defensively, even if his attacking output has dropped?

[rudedog]

3-Box-3 is a Louis Van Gaal Ajax speciality, they won the champions league with one of the great Ajax teams using that formation in 1995

Van Der Saar

Reiziger Blind Frank De Boer
Rijkaard David’s
Seedorf Litmanen
Overmars Ronald De Boer George

(My mind is full of useless info)

Pep L spoke of using that when in our u-23 team and tried a variation when he bombed at Nijmegen. For me it’s so not a Klopp way of playing and more of a galaxy brain **** to get Trent more on the ball….. we win the lot with Trent at RB and now his assists are way down on what they used to be ffs

I don’t like it - we always look unbalanced and it causes so much stress on Konate. The worst thing is when Trent doesn’t play they shoehorn Joe Gomez into midfield and he struggles badly

Stick to what worked and just improve the players who couldn’t run anymore

Galaxy brain? This is what happens when you listen to too much of the Anfield Index

[Irishnev]

I felt Gomez played well when Trent was out and that we tweaked the setup slightly to allow him to play as a more orthodox RB.

Are you not slightly encouraged that we are starting to control games a bit more to go along with the good results? Do you not think we are improving and Trent looking a bit better defensively, even if his attacking output has dropped?

I’d prefer Gomez at LCB or someone more suited to CB if we continue playing with Trent inverted. I’m more optimistic simply because we have better players who can run which means out midfield is more functional but…..we are still stressed down our right channel v often and Mac gets overrun from time to time. Let’s see when we play City, they are the ones who ruthlessly expose gaps and structural weaknesses. That will be a proper benchmark to where we are at

Galaxy brain? This is what happens when you listen to too much of the Anfield Index

I really like AI under pressure, Dan Kennett is great value and that term resonates with me

[RedReet]

I’d prefer Gomez at LCB or someone more suited to CB if we continue playing with Trent inverted. I’m more optimistic simply because we have better players who can run which means out midfield is more functional but…..we are still stressed down our right channel v often and Mac gets overrun from time to time. Let’s see when we play City, they are the ones who ruthlessly expose gaps and structural weaknesses. That will be a proper benchmark to where we are at



I really like AI under pressure, Dan Kennett is great value and that term resonates with me

Completely agree about City which is why it's such a shame the match is when it is as there will be mitigating circumstances and regardless of the result, ultimately inconclusive.

[Liverpool]

I thought it worked last season but its totally blunting Trent this year imo.

I'd like to see the old 433 with this new midfield

[rudedog]

I thought it worked last season but its totally blunting Trent this year imo.

I'd like to see the old 433 with this new midfield

Trent is blunted as Szoboslai and Salah are providing much more chances for the team now. I don’t think the old 433 was sustainable and was burning players out, probably why we would have one great season and then be ****e the season after.

[Liverpool]

Trent is blunted as Szoboslai and Salah are providing much more chances for the team now. I don’t think the old 433 was sustainable and was burning players out, probably why we would have one great season and then be ****e the season after.

but I think we should be able to swtich between the two during games, Everton second half for example, it needed to change so mix it up where the space is

Still think its mad to stop your most creative player

[RedReet]

I thought it worked last season but its totally blunting Trent this year imo.

I'd like to see the old 433 with this new midfield

Surely then that restricts what we get from our midfielders if their main job is to cover for our FB's like Henderson and Gini did so well? Szobo in particular won't be nearly as effective if constantly covering for Trent and also with Mo moving further infield and Trent out wide, it will crowd the areas he's often finding himself in.

Agree that Trent isn't impacting the games anything like last year, but does he need to if we are getting so much creativity from our midfield? Obviously you could argue why play him there at all then if we don't need his creativity, but is the Villa performance the perfect example of how this system is supposed to work and something we can build upon?

[Mark79]

Trent is blunted as Szoboslai and Salah are providing much more chances for the team now. I don’t think the old 433 was sustainable and was burning players out, probably why we would have one great season and then be ****e the season after.

We had consecutive outstanding seasons in 2018/19 and 2019/20, with a very good one before them in 2017/18. 2020/21 was going strong until Xmas and then the enormous injury list eventually took its toll in 6 disastrous weeks. Then outstanding again in 2021/22 before the burnout season in 2022/23

It wasn’t the 433 that caused the eventual burnout, it was playing the same players relentlessly and falling to regenerate the team, particularly midfield.

[Liverpool]

Surely then that restricts what we get from our midfielders if their main job is to cover for our FB's like Henderson and Gini did so well? Szobo in particular won't be nearly as effective if constantly covering for Trent and also with Mo moving further infield and Trent out wide, it will crowd the areas he's often finding himself in.

Agree that Trent isn't impacting the games anything like last year, but does he need to if we are getting so much creativity from our midfield? Obviously you could argue why play him there at all then if we don't need his creativity, but is the Villa performance the perfect example of how this system is supposed to work and something we can build upon?

I think anything in our own half or slightly in theirs, there is no need for cover for a full back to stand at full back where the space is.

I thought Villa were **** when we played them so wouldnt hold too much stock in that game, but if memory serves some of Trents best moments came from wide that day in the first half

[RedReet]

Villa were in great form going into that game and generally have been excellent this season, Newcastle aside, so think it's doing us a huge disservice putting that performance down to Villa being poor. I think we're still the only team Villa haven't scored against this year and that was without VVD and Konate.

I've shared the same concerns that people raise about this formation and part of me feels a bit like when we were playing well under Rodgers, that as good as we are, a good team or a good manager will catch us out. So far it hasn't happened though, so at what stage do you give in and say maybe this will work? We've been here before with the every good result was because the opposition was poor and results are only papering over the cracks. I expected us to challenge City this year, purely because our forward line is so good and I expected us to outscore our opponents, but I've been encouraged recently by how solid we've started to look in certain games.

[dom9]

I think the system is working well.

Reasons why:

1. We are scoring ****loads of goals and missing a lot of chances. We are creating really well.
2. We are not conceding many goals and the ones we have conceded have often been due to individual brainfarts rather than the system. The clean sheets are coming more often now.
3. In the past 2-3 years we were caught with a long ball over the top too often and conceded a lot from those. Once a couple of teams worked it out, everyone was at it. It doesn't seem to happen at all now. Even when we have 10 men in the opposition half and a three man defence. And that is down to the press, the players and the system preventing that long ball from being played.

[Charly]

I think we need to judge it against City and Arsenal, as we have the players to beat all of the teams we have played, regardless of system.

Ultimately, if we beat Real Madrid in the next 3 CL finals, I think we can call him a genius

[Liverpool]

3. In the past 2-3 years we were caught with a long ball over the top too often and conceded a lot from those. Once a couple of teams worked it out, everyone was at it. It doesn't seem to happen at all now. Even when we have 10 men in the opposition half and a three man defence. And that is down to the press, the players and the system preventing that long ball from being played.

I put that down to having the legs to press from the front again, much more difficult to make those passes.

Listening to the some of the forest stuff post Sunday slagging their manager off, I reckon no matter what he had done he comes away with a defeat but hindsight of should have tried the other thing and it might have worked.

With our current squad we have more ways to play successfully than last year by a mile

[frank the tank]

Villa were in great form going into that game and generally have been excellent this season, Newcastle aside, so think it's doing us a huge disservice putting that performance down to Villa being poor. I think we're still the only team Villa haven't scored against this year and that was without VVD and Konate.

I've shared the same concerns that people raise about this formation and part of me feels a bit like when we were playing well under Rodgers, that as good as we are, a good team or a good manager will catch us out. So far it hasn't happened though, so at what stage do you give in and say maybe this will work? We've been here before with the every good result was because the opposition was poor and results are only papering over the cracks. I expected us to challenge City this year, purely because our forward line is so good and I expected us to outscore our opponents, but I've been encouraged recently by how solid we've started to look in certain games.

Good post.

I think the Premier league can be deceiving. Last season we dropped so many points against the bottom teams. Sorting that out should make us shoe ins for top 4. Already with Szoboaslai and other additions, o can see us being so much more effective at breaking down teams that put 10 men behind the ball. That is amazing.

I still think we are a defensive midfielder and maybe 2 defenders away from being a top top team and squad - and the potential to be as good as our all conquering team. This season though, you just never know. The fact that we are in the europa could help us in a big way. I also like the fact that it allows us to get miles on the clock on players like Jones, Endo, Elliot and hopefully over the next few weeks and months Bajcetic, Doak and a few others will also benefit.

The new system has been ok and certainly helped us out of a big hole last season. But the way the new signings have been integrated into our style of play has been really brilliant and surely that is down to Ljinders and the rest of the coaching staff too