Liverpool FC Forum

Again conceding by a nothing ball over the top.

I think we will see a lot of goals this season, both ends of the pitch 

Got to say,  in all the pre season games defensively we've been shocking . 

Despite all the potential flair up front if we don't get our defence sorted it's going to be another hard season to swallow.

Love Jurgen to bits BUT find myself increasingly questioning the tactics he employs

I’m not sure I like this Trent hybrid role, causes too much disruption. We need to get back to a 433 and have Trent as a right back… all dependent on getting a quality defensive midfielder. I think that way we will be tighter at the back. We have so much attacking talent, we need to work on keeping clean sheets. I do like our new midfielders though as they have the quality to unlock tight defenses, we just need  that defensive midfielder that can snuff out the counter attacks And stop us getting caught out cold.

Pre season review

I think we are ok on all positions from a squad point of view except defense, where our starters are much better than our subs.


I think both Allison and Kelleher are both outstanding, would be happy with either in goal.

Defensively I worry about injuries as our starters are much better than our subs. Konate has looked more suspect than I’ve seen him, probably because he has to cover for Trent when he shifts to midfield (why I don’t like it). If we had to rely on Matip and Gomez, I’d be worried. Koumitio looks a good prospect and I feel better about Gomez as RB if Trent is not playing, not so happy with him as CB. Tsimikas is pone to mistakes so a big gap between him and AR who I think should have been captain. I hope we can still bring in one solid defender.

Midfield, although we need at least one defensive midfielder, we look better than we have ever looked under Klopp. I think the two bought are quality and will only get better as they play together. We seriously need at least one very good defensive midfielder, our success depends on it, it seems a glaring hole. Attacking midfield we are set and have some real talent, I don’t think we will have trouble unlocking tight defenses. Look forward to seeing Bajcetic improving. I just don’t want to see an attacking midfielder like Jones, Mac Allister or Thiago play defensive midfielder.

In attack we look very strong. I think Gakpo and Jota will have good seasons. I don’t think we will have to rely on Salah so much, I feel he may not get 20 goals in the Prem this year, a first for him but we may not need it. I think Nunez will be hot and cold but Diaz looks like he wants to have a breakout season. On the youngsters I like Doak, he looks a real fighter.

I did notice that whenever Klopp made wholesale changes to the team, we kept our intensity. So we do have hungry players in the squad and that can only be a good thing. We went from being an old team last year to a young one this year, trick is to challenge and not transition. Still have a very obvious hole in the team and I sure hope we fill it.

We need at least one defensive midfielder and one defender and I think we would be right there. Focus need to be about clean sheets as the teams that win the PL always do it around a world class defense. Conceding 50 goals is not going to do it.

That's it now till we start the new campaign on Sunday 

Preseason games are all about fitness but I do think the quality of opposition was poor.  Bayern was the only decent competition that we faced. A lot was made about preseason not being right last year so surely we did it right this year.

Defensively still suspect imo. That ball over the top just opens us clean up. Having a proper DM will go some way to tightening it up and we should go back to a flat 4. Sign a RB and push Trent into mid or just play him at RB.  I

I do think the midfield might struggle a bit. Szob looks decent but think he will take a while to find his feet in the prem. It's a new mid for us and if we don't sign a DM I can see that being rotated as well so again not perfect.

We definitely have that explosive look about us going forward. The pace is frightening. Gakpo improved and Jota has been looking really good so far. Mo still doing the same thing which is a good thing. Diaz is looking fit and sharp but still a lot of wasted end product. Nunez still looks like he will begin this season like he ended last year on the bench.

Despite what my head says my heart always hopes we get off to a good start. If we can get to the 1st international break unbeaten it will start building confidence.

Can't fooking wait for it 

woof woof ! » Tue Aug 08, 2023 3:26 am wrote:Got to say,  in all the pre season games defensively we've been shocking . 

Despite all the potential flair up front if we don't get our defence sorted it's going to be another hard season to swallow.

Love Jurgen to bits BUT find myself increasingly questioning the tactics he employs

Did we not learn from the Lovren-Škrtel era?

Highlights:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=beYsBj1 ... iverpoolFC

So Klopp got his way and had a couple of weeks in Europe to do the real hard work of building a physical base before we went to Singapore for the commercial tour. Apart from an injury to Bradley, it seems we’ve come out unscathed. And with Bajcetic and Thiago reportedly returning to light training with the group this week we are in pretty good shape.

For the final 10 games of last season we moved to this new system with Trent as the inverted fullback. We improved but it didn’t look fully stable. If I’m honest I’m a little disappointed that it didn’t start looking better over pre-season considering the time we’ve had to work on it. Our defensive strategy is based on two primary pillars. (1) Take care of the ball and don’t give it away cheaply to the opposition, and (2) counter press like hell when we lose it. I don’t think we’re doing either particularly well. When we lose the ball we never seem to be in a good position to counter press. Something isn’t right with the shape. And despite being great on the ball when he’s in midfield, I don’t think Trent plays the double pivot very well. He often drifts away from the DM and doesn’t then drift back to hold the space. We could have Beckenbauer and Maldini at the back and I still think we’d be conceding some of these cheap goals over the top. Still a lot of work for Klopp and the coaching team to do on the training field over the next few weeks.

Player wise, Bradley and Tsimikas looked pretty good playing as inverted fullbacks so it’s good to know we potentially have options other than Trent. Quansah didn’t put a foot wrong and looked like he has some good fundamentals. I hope he gets some minutes for us in the EL group stages and domestic cups.

Mac Allister looks classy on the ball and super intelligent, if not lacking a bit in athleticism. He was our best player in the final friendly and I think he’ll fit in seamlessly and make us better from day 1. Szoboszlai looks a great athlete with dangerous set pieces and long-range shooting. But I thought he looked a little lost at times over pre-season. So I think he’ll take some time to get up to speed with our tactics and the league. Bobby Clark looks ready to play mens football and looks quite useful. Another one who hopefully sees game time in the EL group stages and domestic cups. Elliott looked very confident and this new box midfield suits him much better than the traditional 4-3-3.

We have some serious options up top and you can make an argument for any 2 from Gakpo, Diaz, Nunez, and Jota, joining Salah in attack. I’d definitely have Salah on the right, and as it stands Nunez on the bench, but I’m torn between the other 3. Doak looks a real talent. He’s got a bit of the Damian Duff about him and just glides past players like they are not there. Just needs to be a little more composed at the final stage. He’s a strong lad too. Again I hope he gets game time in the EL group stages and domestic cups but he could be a real weapon off the bench in the league against tired legs.

Can’t wait for the season to start. Seems like an eternity since we last played a real game!