2025/26 Season

[Buzzo]

Lest we forget.

https://youtube.com/shorts/43UCa_bsXIQ?si=QAg5xkdWFUpgQqng

[Sus]

Interesting.

https://tomkinstimes.substack.com/p/...near-as-bad-as

Thanks for sharing - interesting indeed

I haven’t read Tomkins for a while and have forgotten just how long his articles are, and this from a guy who share articles from the Athletic

[memzey]

There is so much more to it all than we sometimes realise or think about and it’s hard to know what’s going on and to judge it all properly.

Lots of changes to the squad, the loss of Jota and what impact it’s having not only the previous squad but the new players and how they’ve settled into that environment and what changes the manager has made to the system. Add in a few injuries at a bad time and a loss of confidence and it’s all hitting at one time.

We all hope he comes through it and if he can manage his first difficult spell in his career under this pressure it will bode very well for the future. Let’s hope he’s got what it takes. It’s way too early to make rash decisions about his future.

^^This^^

[peterbread]

There is so much more to it all than we sometimes realise or think about and it’s hard to know what’s going on and to judge it all properly.

Lots of changes to the squad, the loss of Jota and what impact it’s having not only the previous squad but the new players and how they’ve settled into that environment and what changes the manager has made to the system. Add in a few injuries at a bad time and a loss of confidence and it’s all hitting at one time.

We all hope he comes through it and if he can manage his first difficult spell in his career under this pressure it will bode very well for the future. Let’s hope he’s got what it takes. It’s way too early to make rash decisions about his future.

[Buzzo]

Interesting.

https://tomkinstimes.substack.com/p/this-run-is-nowhere-near-as-bad-as

[BigChief]

Truth is we are caught somewhere between 2 teams this season, Last season our team was built around Salah as the creative/goalscoring force. Surely the long term plan for 'next season' was to build the team around Wirtz as the creative force and Isak as the goalscorer, at the moment we are stuck somewhere between the team we were and the team we want to be, the new players haven't settled and the old players have lost form, but we are trying to keep everyone happy and it isn't working.

[Buzzo]

The same midfield is there as last season who worked hard. This season only Dom works hard while the other two do very little.

Grav has been decent to be fair, but either injury or suspensions have meant he has had limited time on the pitch. The change in his role within the team is a bit more puzzling. Injuries have meant the team pretty much has picked itself.

[Exiled_red]

I'd slightly correct that, because I think last season we were built around Salah and TAA, with the rest of the team a pressing machine and feeding off the crumbs. I think you are right about the long term plan too. What gets me though is it looks to me like the attitude of the players is that "we can outscore our opponents so let's focus on scoring" - and I see that as completely wrong and resulting in the midfield often being too far up the pitch and too close to each other and players generally taking up positions that are too advanced and easy to defend against.

I was meaning it is probably the case to a first approximation,obviously there are more subleties to it but I think it is generally the case. With regards to outscoring teams on paper our attack is strong but in the PL we have only scored more than 1 goal in a game 4 times out of 9 games, so there might be some over confidence in that approach even putting aside the huge defensive issues

[fidget]

I don’t see a lack of effort or giving a **** among the players.

Just a lot of disfunction in the team setup and a critical drop off in form in some key players.

They delivered the league title last season and it was largely the same players going again game after game every 3 or 4 days. Then they were hit by a tragedy in preseason, which seems to be getting overlooked or forgotten about already.

Labelling them cunts or crying about their bank accounts can get in the bin imo.

This place is crazy at times.

[Paul12]

Truth is we are caught somewhere between 2 teams this season, Last season our team was built around Salah as the creative/goalscoring force. Surely the long term plan for 'next season' was to build the team around Wirtz as the creative force and Isak as the goalscorer, at the moment we are stuck somewhere between the team we were and the team we want to be, the new players haven't settled and the old players have lost form, but we are trying to keep everyone happy and it isn't working.

I'd slightly correct that, because I think last season we were built around Salah and TAA, with the rest of the team a pressing machine and feeding off the crumbs. I think you are right about the long term plan too. What gets me though is it looks to me like the attitude of the players is that "we can outscore our opponents so let's focus on scoring" - and I see that as completely wrong and resulting in the midfield often being too far up the pitch and too close to each other and players generally taking up positions that are too advanced and easy to defend against.

[vlahka]

The same midfield is there as last season who worked hard. This season only Dom works hard while the other two do very little.

[Irishnev]

I’m sure Slot knows all of that but they lack the basics of aggression and strength. Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard….. we are seeing this

[vlahka]

Edwards and co should be getting in slots face. They're all about analytics and numbers and they should easily be able to show him what hes doing wrong, ie zero midfield, zero press, stupid high line with slow defenders. Why are we allowing this? When fans start to leave before the game is up you should know by then that they've noticed things arent going to change and dont want to see this version of liverpool. Go back or go. You dont need 4-5 attackers lined up across the oppositions penalty box waiting for a pass from a ****ing defender.

[Exiled_red]

I cant see what he is trying to.do though.

Not compete physically?

No pressing?

Big gaps beteen the midfield and defence?

These were the keystones of our title win.

What are we trying to become, because we just look tactically naive in a tough physical league. We can become peak Barca without grift and hardwork. Teams are not going to pay us rrspect and give us additional space to play are gsme.

None of this is by design, getting the triggers for pressing right is a big thing as is making sure the team does it as a unit.The physically compact thing and space between defence and midfield are about people learning their positions and relationships with one another. Not that it has been perfect when he has been in there but we badly miss Gravenberch in midfield

[calvoboy]

Truth is we are caught somewhere between 2 teams this season, Last season our team was built around Salah as the creative/goalscoring force. Surely the long term plan for 'next season' was to build the team around Wirtz as the creative force and Isak as the goalscorer, at the moment we are stuck somewhere between the team we were and the team we want to be, the new players haven't settled and the old players have lost form, but we are trying to keep everyone happy and it isn't working.

I think this is mostly right.

I also think that we've been pretty similar all season. We won a few earlier in the season that we probably didn't deserve to. We've lost a couple recently that we probably didn't deserve to either.

There's too much talent in the squad for us not to get it right eventually. There are some terribly out of form players who keep getting their pick though, and the manager seems far too reluctant to make changes when things aren't working compared with how he operated last year.