Liverpool FC Forum

Apparently we haven’t got a game until next month now.  Nothing worse than going into an extended break off the back of a crappy result

Not a great result but a better performance than Anfield.

One thing that was glaringly obvious is that our pressing game ( and it's no where near where it should be) is not suited to the quality on the ball that the RM players have...even the defenders can skip past / turn their man and move forward.

What's concerning is that we have no Plan B and never have had under Klopp.

There are now two types of opponent that can give us problems. The first is the majority that we face - namely a low block and the counter or hoof the ball towards our RB position which is usually vacant as we press high up the pitch.

The second are RM type teams who have the skill to play around the press and cut through us with ease. As already mentioned if it wasn't for the best Keeper in the world it could well have been 9-2 on aggregate.

On a separate note TAA is not the answer at RB.. after 260 games or  so it is clear that he doesn't have the skill set or motivation (it seems) to play at RB.

I would prefer him in a Beckham type role on  the right  with Gomez (who needs upgrading) behind him for now.

When all are fit (if only!!) I'd  be interested to see how we do with this setup.

                 Allison

Gomez     Konate    VVD   Robbo

  TAA          Fab     Hendo /Thiago if fit
   

     Mo         Nunez         Diaz

Yeah I’d move Trent into MF myself, he’s going to be burnt out by the time he’s 27 if he stays at RB which would be a waste of a rare talent.
As a MF he’d be in a position to have more pops at goal from distance which is something we don’t do enough imo especially when we are struggling to break teams down. Anything can happen when you have a go from distance  eg deflections , keepers palming shots into path of one of our players etc.
I’d give that young Scottish lad a run at RB.

He’s definitely a talented footballer and a great striker of the ball, does he have the game intelligence to play midfield though? You would think yes. However they tried it for England and I was under the impression it wasn’t that successful. Also while we have been in a midfield crisis, Klopp never went for that option once, probably telling.

TAA's value was playing an attacking role in ADDITION to one of the best midfield's in the country: we swamped the midfield/forward midfield area using high skill sets and fitness playing the pressing game. You can't expect the same from an aging midfield with no press and unless Fab is fit and fast enough in front of VVD and Konate to cover.

kazza » Fri Mar 17, 2023 4:48 am wrote:He’s definitely a talented footballer and a great striker of the ball, does he have the game intelligence to play midfield though? You would think yes. However they tried it for England and I was under the impression it wasn’t that successful. Also while we have been in a midfield crisis, Klopp never went for that option once, probably telling.

To be fair Kaz one game for England probably doesn’t represent the best indicator, wasn’t he a CM when he was coming through the ranks as a kid? Surely he must have some sort of idea how to play centrally if CM was seen as his natural position back then.In fact didn’t Gerrard single him out in his book as one to watch for the future when he was doing a bit of coaching here? That was when Trent was a CM. As Electrum points out as well as good as he is technically as a RB he deffo constitutes a weakness in our back line and a weakness other teams constantly try to exploit.

A weakness because he's caught out being upfield pressing or because he's a bad tackler and therefore shouldn't be a defender. From what I see he's usual caught out of position rather than making defending mistakes.

It's another case of square peg and round hole. The lad is a good player and has done extremely well. It's just that the team isn't playing well through various reasons and his position gets targeted as our main weakness. Bit disappointed in him the other night though as Vinicius just stripped him over and over and made him look out of his depth.

Something isn't right with him this season though. It can't be burnout as he is still quite young. Is he not happy playing RB anymore or does he want to move on ? He has made quite a name for himself on top of winning everything so behind it all he might fancy a new challenge.

He is fabulous when we are on the front foot, piling forward and pressurising the opposition and a huge part of the team. Problem is we've struggled to match the intensity and pressure we build for the 90 mins this season and this is where the opposition can start asking more questions of TAA and a lot of the times he won't have the answers because his defending is not nearly good enough.

Someone like Vinicius will give most RB/RWB's in the world a lot of trouble but obviously if you have major deficiencies defensively, it's very likely he'll end up tearing you a new one.

He switches off too much for me, it’s not even that he gets caught upfield, that can happen, it’s the amount of goals we concede when he’s in position.  How many times has someone ghosted in behind him or out jumped him at the far post? Heck Madrids goal last year in Paris was like that.
He’s a fabulously gifted footballer who is an assist machine from wide area’s but imo he’s not now nor will he ever be a natural defender, he just hasn’t got that proverbial little forest animals instinct for sniffing out danger that all the best defenders have had, half the time he only realises there was someone behind him when the balls on its way into the net.
At the end of the day he’s a terrific footballer who’s already a legend at 24 for being a part of the team that won our first title in 30 years, he’s a future club captain no doubt and will retire a modern club icon like Gerrard or Fowler or Owen or Carragher etc. it’s just that all the while he plays RB we will have an Achilles Heel and any idea”s of having a watertight defence will be pie-in-the-sky. Play him in midfield, that’s my tuppence-worth.

We have had a solid world class defensive unit with him as a right back, so there was a way.

You are right about him switching off and not sniffing out danger enough though. I remember Rashford making a couple of moves on him that led to goals. In one particular match, he made the move (basically healed with his left to lay it on to his right while leaving Trent in the dust) and made Trent look foolish, he then switched sides and came against Virgil and tried the same move and got completely stuffed. The fact that Rashford did that same move on Trent a number of times says something. As I said before, he is an exceptional striker of the ball and has a great engine, I just don’t feel his is slick enough or has the discipline to play midfield. I think the fact that he has never played midfield for a Klopp team says a lot.

Agree with Yakka, does he exude any kind of authority like a prime defender (see VVD in recent years) e.g. R Carlos, Cafu etc? NO

And he is reactive rather than proactive as pointed out.

Maybe he doesn't have the skill set to be a CM but a Right sided midfielder ? I think he can excel there.

kazza » Sat Mar 18, 2023 5:59 pm wrote:We have had a solid world class defensive unit with him as a right back, so there was a way.

You are right about him switching off and not sniffing out danger enough though. I remember Rashford making a couple of moves on him that led to goals. In one particular match, he made the move (basically healed with his left to lay it on to his right while leaving Trent in the dust) and made Trent look foolish, he then switched sides and came against Virgil and tried the same move and got completely stuffed. The fact that Rashford did that same move on Trent a number of times says something. As I said before, he is an exceptional striker of the ball and has a great engine, I just don’t feel his is slick enough or has the discipline to play midfield. I think the fact that he has never played midfield for a Klopp team says a lot.

It wasn’t a solid world class defensive unit mate, our back 4 has always had glaring structural weaknesses but we had the best CB and keeper on the face of the planet holding everything together. That version of Virgil hasn’t existed since Pickford recklessly launched himself at the big fella”s knee.