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West Ham (H) 12 August

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Agree on that number 8. I think the refs will wise up to him pretty quickly, but he's got skillz as well as being a diving bastard.

Arnautovic is very skillful, but he just walks about and doesn't track back at all. Pure Berbatov behaviour, must frustrate the shit out of any modern manager trying to play a pressing game. You can see why Stoke fans must have been so frustrated seeing him and Shaqiri on the pitch doing fuck all, when if they worked hard they could both be top class.
 
LMG said:
keita looked like he knows exactly when to hold the ball and when to release the ball. nothing wrong with dribbling while your wide options move into position

robertson's crossing was not an issue last season, IMO
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It wasn't. We could have finished them better though !
 
That midfield trio was epic. I'm starting to get excited about Gini again. Put Fabinho or Hendo in the DM and rotate Gini & Milner in with Keita for that trio. It will be superb.

I think with all players fit (excl. Ox) my preferred starting three would be:

---------Hendo-------
---Milner------Keita---

Watching Naby was just delightful. He is going to be a cracking footballer and his preference to play down the left will be epic with Robertson and Mane down that side too.
 
Brizzle said:
That midfield trio was epic. I'm starting to get excited about Gini again. Put Fabinho or Hendo in the DM and rotate Gini & Milner in with Keita for that trio. It will be superb.

I think with all players fit (excl. Ox) my preferred starting three would be:

---------Hendo-------
---Milner------Keita---

Watching Naby was just delightful. He is going to be a cracking footballer and his preference to play down the left will be epic with Robertson and Mane down that side too.
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Yeah, that left-sided triangle with Keita, Mane and Robbo has bore fruit immediately. And to be fair, the Salah, Arnold and Milner triangle on the right wasn't too shabby either.
 
doctor_mac said:
Yeah, that left-sided triangle with Keita, Mane and Robbo has bore fruit immediately. And to be fair, the Salah, Arnold and Milner triangle on the right wasn't too shabby either.
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As I mentioned elsewhere the double/triple teaming vs Salah is leaving space inside and it was clear that our midfielders (esp. Gini early on) were running into that hole. That is going to be a fruitful tactic.

Naby is going to score goals, sooner rather than later, and Mane looks like the 2018/19 model is going to be an improved version. If Mo and Bobby can get anywhere near last seasons figures we won't have to worry about not hitting last seasons' goal tally.

I'm looking forward to Fabinho ousting Hendo from DM. In pre-season he already showed the potential to be an upgrade, if he can maintain consistency and adapt quickly to the PL. He's far more progressive combined with a better defensive brain. Although yesterday was interesting as Gini, Milner and Naby seemed to share defensive duties. The average position only influenced by Naby going to LW after Mane's substitution.

gmUhFzVl.png
 
Frogfish said:
As I mentioned elsewhere the double/triple teaming vs Salah is leaving space inside and it was clear that our midfielders (esp. Gini early on) were running into that hole. That is going to be a fruitful tactic.

Naby is going to score goals, sooner rather than later, and Mane looks like the 2018/19 model is going to be an improved version. If Mo and Bobby can get anywhere near last seasons figures we won't have to worry about not hitting last seasons' goal tally.

I'm looking forward to Fabinho ousting Hendo from DM. In pre-season he already showed the potential to be an upgrade, if he can maintain consistency and adapt quickly to the PL. He's far more progressive combined with a better defensive brain. Although yesterday was interesting as Gini, Milner and Naby seemed to share defensive duties. The average position only influenced by Naby going to LW after Mane's substitution.

gmUhFzVl.png
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This also shows how Firmino played very deep for most of the game. If this is not an early-season aberration, perhaps an argument can be made that he's actually playing as a #10 and Mane and Salah are our striker partnership.
 
rurikbird said:
This also shows how Firmino played very deep for most of the game. If this is not an early-season aberration, perhaps an argument can be made that he's actually playing as a #10 and Mane and Salah are our striker partnership.
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I don't think it's an aberration at all. I think some matches we'll see it looking more like three upfront, but a lot of the time this makes sense because so many teams are going to focus so much on Salah (not sure how much came across watching on TV but he often had three players around him when we pushed up).

Having the ability to play it forwards from slightly deeper without having to worry about being caught offside thanks to that trio backing off around Salah & push up the pitch in numbers just makes more sense & adds more flexibility.

Fuck, if you're in that West ham side you surround Salah to try to keep him quiet, & then have Mane constantly drifting outside, then inside, then dropping deep & making runs, you have Robbo crossing balls, all of the midfielders playing short passes, sometimes give & go to burst into space, other times dragging your midfield all over the shop patiently, opening up the entire middle of the pitch, then switching the play to the outside again, Firmino drifting in & back out to worry about, Keita & Milner always showing for a pass & looking like there's four of them on the pitch instead of two of them, with Keita harassing players like Mascherano, & Milner at the age of 56 or something looking more like Beckham in a his pomp every match with pinpoint crosses & passes from anywhere & everywhere.

I'm surprised any of them actually came out for the second half. I think I'd have just taken my boots off & fucked off to the pub.
 
Btw, I thought Mane was fucking superb.

He was constantly helping Keita positionally (verbally & by actually pointing) cos Keita is a bit like Stevie in that he will rampage all over the pitch showing for the ball when we have it & chasing down their players when they do, so he was shepherding him into areas of the pitch at times. Great to see.

On top of that he knew full well that their players were shit scared of him when he had it at his feet. That moment when he held the ball at the edge of the area at the kop end & just stopped was brilliant. It felt like their defender just froze, he knew he couldn't commit cos he'd get skinned, & knew he couldn't back off or try to change the angle for the same reason. So Mane just stood looking at him, I could almost see the beads of sweat rolling down the defenders face from the upper centenary.

Says a lot that we had so many good performances this weekend that he's not a shoe in for MOTM, for most sides he would have been. Fuck, for a lot of Liverpool sides in the recent past it could have been.

He could well be our top scorer this season IMO.
 
Yeah, I heard on TAW that Mane was 80-1 for the golden boot before kickoff this season. Just checked and he's around 18-1 now. Another boat has been missed.
 
FoxForceFive said:
I don't think it's an aberration at all. I think some matches we'll see it looking more like three upfront, but a lot of the time this makes sense because so many teams are going to focus so much on Salah (not sure how much came across watching on TV but he often had three players around him when we pushed up)...............
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I've mentioned this 3 or 4 times by now, I think I talk to myself at times ! As I said, he takes 2-3 players every time and it leaves gaps we are going to exploit, Gini and Milly were rampaging into that gap vs West Ham but any of our midfielders could do that and I think it will be a deliberate Klopp tactic this season.
 
doctor_mac said:
Yeah, I heard on TAW that Mane was 80-1 for the golden boot before kickoff this season. Just checked and he's around 18-1 now. Another boat has been missed.
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Maybe someone has bet a £100 (or AUS $) on this and will end up telling everyone they predicted it. Only to then cash out on Boxing Day because their missus wants a new kitchen.
 
Frogfish said:
I've mentioned this 3 or 4 times by now, I think I talk to myself at times ! As I said, he takes 2-3 players every time and it leaves gaps we are going to exploit, Gini and Milly were rampaging into that gap vs West Ham but any of our midfielders could do that and I think it will be a deliberate Klopp tactic this season.
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Nope, I remember reading it repeatedly & nodding my head. I didn't remember who posted it (I rarely do tbh).

Sunday bore that out though, so worth explaining why it could see a change to our shape at certain times in some matches.

Find it hard to believe the better sides will focus so much on him, at the expense tmof their own shape & space in front of their back line, so we could see a very flexible approach depending on the opposition.
 
FoxForceFive said:
Nope, I remember reading it repeatedly & nodding my head. I didn't remember who posted it (I rarely do tbh).

Sunday bore that out though, so worth explaining why it could see a change to our shape at certain times in some matches.

Find it hard to believe the better sides will focus so much on him, at the expense tmof their own shape & space in front of their back line, so we could see a very flexible approach depending on the opposition.
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Best of both worlds, if they think they can handle him 1 on 1 it gives Mo the opportunity to skin them, if they double/triple team him then it leaves gaps in their defence we can exploit if we are fast enough (and we are).
 
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