Trent Alexander-Arnold

[Doc_Piptorious]

Personally speaking Trent is our most creative player and we have to find a spot for him. I think hes up there with the most creative players in the league but playing him at right back always felt like a compromise.

We got away with it because the lads in front of him and to the side of him were giving him a lot of protection and now that henderson's legs arent what they used to be and the defence is creaking trent has been badly exposed for what he is - a poor defensive player.

Either we move trent into another more forward position to suit his qualities or we bring in another top quality defensive midfielder to cover his spaces which would allow him to attack.

as a defender his net contribution is what he gives us balanced against what he gives the opposition.

Playing with a back four, the obvious (says me from the comfort of my chair lol) solution would be a mobile number 8 type at RCM. That lad I rarely mention would be ideal as he attacks and defends in equal measures and is tenacious when his team does not have the ball. Plus when he was in the same team as Hakimi he covered very well when Hakimi attacked from the RB slot.

I reckon TAA would be a lot worse off in a RCM or CM role. If we think he is losing runners on the flank, what would happen if he was in the RCM role and meant to be watching for runners going at our RB as well as runners through the middle? If he is currently getting bypassed whilst he is the right back, then I do not want to see him with the RCM's responsibility of backing a RB when we are on the back foot either.

Think at the moment our lack of mobility, physicality and tenacity in the middle kills us whether we play with a 433 or a 424/4231.

TAA goes forward and our inability to cover leaves us exposed and TAA is adding to that by not adapting to our weakness in the middle. So he plays his usual game we get killed on our right.

So to my non expert eyes the problem is both tactical and personnel in nature.

So now we are seeing Klopp trying to find a way to get around having a weak/less effective RCM in the 433 by pretty much getting rid of the RCM slot and trying to overload the attack by using four attackers up front instead of three.

But all that seems to be doing is seeing us with four attackers plus two full backs in advanced positions instead of the three attackers and two full backs we had doing most of the attacking and we are another man short again when countered. So our right sided issue is even worse as there is not even a token body there as we have six dedicated attacked sitting really high when a counter is sprung instead of five.

Was thinking this morning, and basing this on the players we currently have available and their Qualities, if switching to three CBs and using wingbacks might be the way to go between now and the international break in November.

Basically instead of adding one to the attack, add one to the back line and go 523/353 depending on whether we are on the front foot or back foot.


Daz---------------Nunez--------------Salah
-----------------------------------------------
--↑---------Thiago-------Fabinho---------↑--
Tsimikas---------------------------------TAA
--↓-----------------------------------------↓
--------Konate----VVD----Gomez----------
-----------------Alisson--------------------



I just put Konate and Gomez either side of VVD as both have serious pace. Could mix and match Matip in there instead of Gomez or even ahead of VVD. Could go with a trio of VVD - Matip - Konate.

It also, in theory, could allow VVD to go into a sweeper role for passages of play.

The two full backs can then shuttle up and down, especially TAA as if he gets by passed the RCB can go into the right hand space and still have two other CBs waiting behind instead of their being one left behind as is the case now.

We still have three attackers up front as normal, and we still have two full backs attacking. We just are putting an insurance policy in at the back because we are being overran at times down the right regardless of whether we play two or three in the middle right now. So if we are going to get overrun there anyway, why not have an extra defender at the back to give our back line a fighting chance of stopping at attack better or at least a better chance of slowing the attack enough so that players can get back from the two CM slots.


Not saying it is an amazing idea or one for the long term, but it is a formation that on paper (well on screen anyway :P ) that appears to allow us to get some of our better players (at this point it is at CB where we seem to have a lot of mobile physical guys capable of doing the job) all on the pitch at the same time and also maybe make us a tad less soft at the beack, especially when facing a break/counter.

[Tribute]

Playing with a back four, the obvious (says me from the comfort of my chair lol) solution would be a mobile number 8 type at RCM. That lad I rarely mention would be ideal as he attacks and defends in equal measures and is tenacious when his team does not have the ball. Plus when he was in the same team as Hakimi he covered very well when Hakimi attacked from the RB slot.

I reckon TAA would be a lot worse off in a RCM or CM role. If we think he is losing runners on the flank, what would happen if he was in the RCM role and meant to be watching for runners going at our RB as well as runners through the middle? If he is currently getting bypassed whilst he is the right back, then I do not want to see him with the RCM's responsibility of backing a RB when we are on the back foot either.

Think at the moment our lack of mobility, physicality and tenacity in the middle kills us whether we play with a 433 or a 424/4231.

TAA goes forward and our inability to cover leaves us exposed and TAA is adding to that by not adapting to our weakness in the middle. So he plays his usual game we get killed on our right.

So to my non expert eyes the problem is both tactical and personnel in nature.

So now we are seeing Klopp trying to find a way to get around having a weak/less effective RCM in the 433 by pretty much getting rid of the RCM slot and trying to overload the attack by using four attackers up front instead of three.

But all that seems to be doing is seeing us with four attackers plus two full backs in advanced positions instead of the three attackers and two full backs we had doing most of the attacking and we are another man short again when countered. So our right sided issue is even worse as there is not even a token body there as we have six dedicated attacked sitting really high when a counter is sprung instead of five.

Was thinking this morning, and basing this on the players we currently have available and their Qualities, if switching to three CBs and using wingbacks might be the way to go between now and the international break in November.

Basically instead of adding one to the attack, add one to the back line and go 523/353 depending on whether we are on the front foot or back foot.


Daz---------------Nunez--------------Salah
-----------------------------------------------
--↑---------Thiago-------Fabinho---------↑--
Tsimikas---------------------------------TAA
--↓-----------------------------------------↓
--------Konate----VVD----Gomez----------
-----------------Alisson--------------------



I just put Konate and Gomez either side of VVD as both have serious pace. Could mix and match Matip in there instead of Gomez or even ahead of VVD. Could go with a trio of VVD - Matip - Konate.

It also, in theory, could allow VVD to go into a sweeper role for passages of play.

The two full backs can then shuttle up and down, especially TAA as if he gets by passed the RCB can go into the right hand space and still have two other CBs waiting behind instead of their being one left behind as is the case now.

We still have three attackers up front as normal, and we still have two full backs attacking. We just are putting an insurance policy in at the back because we are being overran at times down the right regardless of whether we play two or three in the middle right now. So if we are going to get overrun there anyway, why not have an extra defender at the back to give our back line a fighting chance of stopping at attack better or at least a better chance of slowing the attack enough so that players can get back from the two CM slots.


Not saying it is an amazing idea or one for the long term, but it is a formation that on paper (well on screen anyway :P ) that appears to allow us to get some of our better players (at this point it is at CB where we seem to have a lot of mobile physical guys capable of doing the job) all on the pitch at the same time and also maybe make us a tad less soft at the beack, especially when facing a break/counter.

We have to play back into form, and for me, this is the best approach to do that with the players we have available. Feels more solid than the 4-3-2-1 and it's defensively we need to stop shipping three goals a game, so if we can start with this formation and get a few wins under our belt, hell, maybe even a clean sheet or two... we can switch it up to 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3 when players back from injury allow...

We lose a bit of creativity from midfield, but essentially we're utilising the strongest parts of both Tsimikas/Trent's game with more attacking options and fitness to increase intensity...

[Fosterbloke]

Knowing **** all about tactics I will offer my opinion regardless -

How about TAA is deployed in a role much like Gerrard was during the Rodger's tenure? His range of passing is about the same plus he can bring more athleticism to the team, and see the whole game in front of him while not being burdened with as much defensive responsibility.

[Norbs]

He doesn't have the aggression, tackling ability, speed of thought or shooting ability of Gerrard though

[BigChief]

He doesn't have the aggression, tackling ability, speed of thought or shooting ability of Gerrard though

Or positional discipline when the opposition are setting traps.

[el matador]

He doesn't have the aggression, tackling ability, speed of thought or shooting ability of Gerrard though

Football has changed a bit since Stevie’s day. Trent doesn’t have Gerrard’s aggression nor tackling but his passing and shooting are on point with huge potential to improve.

[el matador]

Or positional discipline when the opposition are setting traps.

Gerrard wasnt that strong on positional discipline. He was all over the pitch and often left plenty of gaps. I think that’s why Benitez didn’t trust him in midfield. But what we would give to have him in the team now.

[Doc_Piptorious]

Gerrard wasnt that strong on positional discipline. He was all over the pitch and often left plenty of gaps. I think that’s why Benitez didn’t trust him in midfield. But what we would give to have him in the team now.

Yeah but for a chunk of his time he had one of Hamann, Sissoko or peak Mascherano as the DM behind him along with peak Alonso there.

So guys who could read the game well enough to cover gaps or had the physicality and mobility to react to breaks, or both qualities in the case of Masch.

Plus you really only had Gerrard going everywhere and leaving the gap back then and we had a rock steady guy like Finnan sitting at RB so our back line stayed both deep and intact.

Right now for various reasons we do not have two CMs able to properly cover the gaps being created by two positions and not the one of the Gerrard era.

[frank the tank]

I think jacos 3 cb formation would have been brilliant if trent wasnt injured

****

[Doc_Piptorious]

I think jacos 3 cb formation would have been brilliant if trent wasnt injured

****

If Matip was fit we could still have done it with Gomez in the RWB and Jota replacing Diaz.


Think we are getting close to bare bones again now wth personnel, so reverting back to three in the middle makes more sense to me atm when we are playing stronger teams or pretty much in general in the EPL.

[Venton]

Watching the highlights of the Napoli match again today and Trent in general played really well offensively (some lovely balls to Salah down the right) and ok defensively but I was reminded of one moment that boiled my piss when he turned his back on the Napoli forward's shot and just stuck his leg out to the side to try and block it. That's pretty basic stuff. Luckily Alisson held it but he's an infuriating mix at time is our Trent.

[BigChief]

Watching the highlights of the Napoli match again today and Trent in general played really well offensively (some lovely balls to Salah down the right) and ok defensively but I was reminded of one moment that boiled my piss when he turned his back on the Napoli forward's shot and just stuck his leg out to the side to try and block it. That's pretty basic stuff. Luckily Alisson held it but he's an infuriating mix at time is our Trent.

You could see Alisson quietly boiling inside with that defending too. But not going into outburst mode knowing Trent's confidence would completely collapse.

[Rafa Justice]

Get Trent into midfield and Ramsey at RB if needs be. Need a defender who can look like they want to defend, let alone actually do it.

[SB]

Get Trent into midfield and Ramsey at RB if needs be. Need a defender who can look like they want to defend, let alone actually do it.

It’d be interesting wouldn’t it.

[Rafa Justice]

It’d be interesting wouldn’t it.

Drop Trent altogether tbf. Absolutely lazy as **** and can't concentrate for ****. Cost us the CL final and a goal most games he plays.