Everton vs Liverpool - Premier League (19/20 - Game 30)

[danperkins]

Jurgen likes versatile players who can plug many gaps but without them being a natural it that position it can affect their performance. Taki doesn’t seem to be a wide player and neither does Ox tbh and it showed last night in a competitive game.

Forward cover is a must - we have said that time and again because a prolonged injury to Mo or Mane and we struggle. Back up left back is also high on the list of improvements. If the AFCON is on next year a forward line of Bobby, Divock and Taki isn’t inspiring

I found that game really odd, not just in terms of there being no fans there and that affecting the game and the way that we played, I think that Everton were happy with a draw and without the crowd to roar them forward they were more comfortable sitting back and sticking to that game plan, yes they had a couple of really good chances towards the end, but I think that the point holds.

As I feared we don't tend to do well after a break, we are a team that thrives on momentum and we have lost that and I think without crowds there it will be more difficult for us to get back to playing at that higher pace for 90mins.

Obviously Salah and Robertson were huge misses for us, the left side looked totally disjointed particularly when Gomez was playing at LB (I've said before he really isn't a fullback). But that side did have more of the play than the right did, for the first half TAA was really out there on his own with no support, Henderson was trying to get involved do there a bit but that was it.

To be honest I found some of the decisions Klopp made a bit odd. IMO it made sense for him to play Keita in midfield as someone who would get forward with Firmino and Minamino both looking to drop deep, so that we have an extra forward thinking player. It really occurred to me last night that Minamino is a back up to Bobby rather than Mane or Salah. and I don't really think that the two can play together in a front three, maybe one of them can drop into midfield for some games I don't know. I found it odd that Klopp started both Firmino and Minamino but neither of them finished the game. Ox came on in the front three which really doesn't suit him and I don't really think that he did much at all in the game. When Origi came on I wasn't sure where he was supposed to be playing, both him and Mane seemed to be spending a lot of time out on the left. I also don't think that the number of changes helped (it was good that we had them as we picked up a couple of injuries) but it felt that there was no cohesion in the side for probably the last quarter of the game.

The biggest thing that I took out of this game is that we need to sort out how we play when certain players are missing. Robertson was a huge miss, and while Milner has been a decent stop gap, we really need someone who is a natural LB to come in, Milner's knowledge of the game is decent enough and I think hides so things, but when Gomez at LB we really lost something. Similarly we need to figure out a way of playing when we don't have the regular front three. We obviously aren't going to have the same quality in back up as we have in the first 11 but hardly any of the backups are even similar in style to the players that they are replacing (even if they are nowhere near the same level). Minamino looks a replacement for Bobby, but Origi and Brewster (ok he's out on loan at the moment) are both central strikers, if we are sticking with them going forward we need to find a way of playing that works. I wonder if we will keep Wilson because he is in terms of style the closest to a replacement of the wide forwards.

agree with everything said. When one either of the fullbacks are absent, our game suffers. Milner & Gomez defensively will do a job but we need like for like replacements as we rely on the attacking width of our fullbacks so much.

Mini is a strange one, just looks so lost and out of place. I did think he was a replacement for Bobby and welcomed the signing as imo Bobby has been below his best this season especially in 2020. For some reason Mini, Ox and Origi all seem to be played out of their natural positions. I'm not really sure what the thinking behind is but Ox always has looked more comfortable centrally even if he is very inconsistent. Origi imo could be a real handful if played centrally & Minamino clearly is not cut out to play a wide role & time will tell if he is cut out for the prem. IMO not really doing him any favours by playing him out of position.

I think that's what makes losing out on Werner so gutting. He is perfect competition for Bobby who really does need to score more goals. One thing that is glaring is that almost every time Salah doesn't play you can see just how much we miss him. He is a brilliant footballer and still under rated imo.