Liverpool v Ajax (H) CL

[red g]

Fabinho has not been great in midfield, and tta has been awful. Could this be a game to reprise fabinho at right back?.

[RedReet]

Fabinho has not been great in midfield, and tta has been awful. Could this be a game to reprise fabinho at right back?.

I don't think moving our best midfielder is the solution to our midfield problems, regardless of how he's playing.

[calvoboy]

Fabinho has not been great in midfield, and tta has been awful. Could this be a game to reprise fabinho at right back?.

I think so much of it all stems from our unbalanced midfield due to injuries. Trent has been awful at least in part because he's been hopelessly exposed having Gomez alongside him and not having Hendo in midfield who covers so well for him. Fabinho has not been great since he's been back, in part because he's been exposed by not having someone with legs alongside him, and having Harvey as a young kid in front.

So I think it's time to keep the faith, trust that form is temporary but class is permanent, and that with Matip and Thiago back in the team alongside VVD and Fabinho we'll suddenly look a whole lot better.

Ally, TAA, Matip, VVD, Tsimi, Fab, Thiago, Elliott, Diaz, Nunez, Salah

FWIW I think the minute's silence will be impeccably observed too. I'm glad we're playing a foreign team because I could just imagine if we were playing someone like West Ham they'd start singing the anthem after the silence and THEN you'd hear the boos.

[Fierce]

I think so much of it all stems from our unbalanced midfield due to injuries. Trent has been awful at least in part because he's been hopelessly exposed having Gomez alongside him and not having Hendo in midfield who covers so well for him. Fabinho has not been great since he's been back, in part because he's been exposed by not having someone with legs alongside him, and having Harvey as a young kid in front.

So I think it's time to keep the faith, trust that form is temporary but class is permanent, and that with Matip and Thiago back in the team alongside VVD and Fabinho we'll suddenly look a whole lot better.

Ally, TAA, Matip, VVD, Tsimi, Fab, Thiago, Elliott, Diaz, Nunez, Salah

This is what I'm clinging to also

I just don't believe that the players are 'tired' or have suddenly forgotten how to play football

The blindingly obvious differentiator this season is the quite staggering amount of injuries and how disruptive its been

[Shaggy]

Fabinho has not been great in midfield, and tta has been awful. Could this be a game to reprise fabinho at right back?.

Trent T'Alexander Arnold

[Pablo]

Fabinho has not been great in midfield, and tta has been awful. Could this be a game to reprise fabinho at right back?.

Yeah he looks shattered as it is. Asking him to play at fullback is literally going to break him.

[Doc_Piptorious]

Yeah he looks shattered as it is. Asking him to play at fullback is literally going to break him.

Easiest way to help Fabinho is to not put him into a midfield trio where he ends up being the only guy having to do all the defending and closing down.


Get Thiago back in on a regular basis or Thiago and Arthur with Fabinho and we will see a difference in Fabinho's play and also in how we look as a team imo.

[Charly]

Not sure who can play his role if we move him out or rest him. He is litterally the only ball winner in the squad. Thiago and Melo can press, but not tackle. And they are bith realky short and wint give much protection from longer balls coming in.

[Fierce]

Easiest way to help Fabinho is to not put him into a midfield trio where he ends up being the only guy having to do all the defending and closing down.


Get Thiago back in on a regular basis or Thiago and Arthur with Fabinho and we will see a difference in Fabinho's play and also in how we look as a team imo.

Jordan Henderson

He is apparently absolutely ****, yet is somehow absolutely integral to the way we play. Bizarre I know

Even if he's not the player he was 5 years ago, there's no-one that can do what he does right now

Yes, we can do better/younger; but right now, he's vital

[Venton]

Not sure who can play his role if we move him out or rest him. He is litterally the only ball winner in the squad. Thiago and Melo can press, but not tackle. And they are bith realky short and wint give much protection from longer balls coming in.

It's a bit weird that we only seem to have one of what is generally accepted to be a must have player these days. Henderson can slot in at a pinch but it's a really dynamic role. We never replaced Gini.

[wiw]

It's a bit weird that we only seem to have one of what is generally accepted to be a must have player these days. Henderson can slot in at a pinch but it's a really dynamic role. We never replaced Gini.

It's weird, we used to be this pressing machine and now we can't seem to get near anyone. Remember when we'd lose the ball and hound the other team until we got it back? Now we concede It's depressing

[Irishnev]

Easiest way to help Fabinho is to not put him into a midfield trio where he ends up being the only guy having to do all the defending and closing down.


Get Thiago back in on a regular basis or Thiago and Arthur with Fabinho and we will see a difference in Fabinho's play and also in how we look as a team imo.

This

I get the need for radical ideas but Fabinho should play at right back in an absolute emergency where we don’t weaken the midfield. He us our best midfielder but is suffering from the dysfunction around his. He’s doing the work if 3 people right now and failing

[Doc_Piptorious]

Jordan Henderson

He is apparently absolutely ****, yet is somehow absolutely integral to the way we play. Bizarre I know

Even if he's not the player he was 5 years ago, there's no-one that can do what he does right now

Yes, we can do better/younger; but right now, he's vital

Henderson is not ****, not even a little bit, but he is no longer vital at least not in a being able to rely on him two games a week kind of way imo. Maybe not even in a 90 minutes a week every week kind of way, again imo.

Some years ago we had nobody that did for us what Henderson did game after game. Problem is that Henderson can no longer do what he used to do, not on a regular basis anyway. He needs to become the Milner of the squad and be used in a way where he can give his all when on the pitch and know that he will have lots of recovery time afterward imo.


Thiago reads the game in a manner that Henderson never will, and in Arthur we have younger legs attached to a player who reads the game pretty well.

Neither will be as vocal as Henderson on the pitch, but if they can anticipate play well enough then they do not need to be vocal. Neither Thiago nor Arthur are high energy chase the play and using physicality/speed to plug gaps for 90 minutes kind of players, but then again neither is Henderson anymore.

Right now we need smarts on the pitch. Guys who can read the game. In Fabinho and Thiago we have two of the best in the game at that, and in Arthur we have a guy who has been more than decent at it throughout his career.

My feeling is that we should be looking for some sort of stability in the middle and let that stability bleed into both the attack and back line ahead and behind that midfield.

If Thiago is fit, then he starts every PL game and any important CL game. Rest him in the domestic cups. Same for Fabinho. If fit then he goes into every PL and CL game.

Henderson and Arthur I would be using as the third CM when fit and also as the cover for Thiago and Fabinho.

Anyone else that is a defined CM be it Keita, Jones, Milner etc, we do not reply upon or expect much of for varius reasons, but if fit we rotate them in and out for domestic cup games or to give one of the main four a break.

Elliot and Carvalho I would use as attacking subs or in the domestic games but rarely as CM and rarely as a RCM or LCM and not as the RCM AND LCM in the same game.

Is all just opinion of course, but really do think we need to get back to being "simply" stable and solid as a unit, being efficient, before we can even think of having expectations of being a fluid crushing machine.

We seem, or at least it appears that way to the eyes of a footy fan, to have lost track of a lot of the basics on and off of the pitch. The whys are going to be nothing but conjecture on forums like this, but we can certainly see the result of those unknown whys and throw in our own speculative takes like above.

Get the basics, the simple things, right again, and I genunely think if we can do that soon that a tilt at the title is still not beyond us this season.

We have had an awful start to the season by our recent standards. Really awful, but the one club that is the one to beat for the title is also looking a little shakey at times without having the sort of injury list or collective form drop we are going through. If we are no worse off in terms of points behind City come the start of the Sportswash world cup, then we might have another very exciting second half of a season to enjoy.

[RichC]

Not sure who can play his role if we move him out or rest him. He is litterally the only ball winner in the squad. Thiago and Melo can press, but not tackle. And they are bith realky short and wint give much protection from longer balls coming in.

Thiago made 6 tackles in 28 minutes against Napoli, I think it's a misconception he can't tackle.

I'd be moving Harv out at the moment, not any fault of his tbh but I think our right is disjointed at the moment and where most of the issues have been coming from us far this season.

[labourRed]

Thiago made 6 tackles in 28 minutes against Napoli, I think it's a misconception he can't tackle.

I'd be moving Harv out at the moment, not any fault of his tbh but I think our right is disjointed at the moment and where most of the issues have been coming from us far this season.

I agree obviously on the Thiago front but also Elliot.

Its a shame for Elliot as the rest of the team are subpar, but not winning the ball back in midfield is a massive issue, no more so pointedly than vs Everton when we played Elliot and Carvalho.

I'm not sure we have the players for a midfield three anymore but no point in putting two kids in there who are better at attacking than facing their own goal.

We may see Elliot and Carvalho pushed into the forward three later games where tactical responsibility is a lesser concern.