Chiesa too.
Post Match EPL Sunderland (H) 1-1 Wednesday 3rd Dec - 20:15
- Thread starter dee
- Start date
- Latest activity Latest activity:
With every game it's starting to look like Slot doesn't know how to get the best out of this team tactically and psychologically.
Also we lack balance in midfield desperately Klopp got away with a shit midfield because he was able to use Trent to be the covert midfielder for so many years. Now Trent has gone our midfield which seems to consist of 23 converted number 8's is killing us. Can we invest in proper DMs again. Tired of seeing a midfield full of wannabe number 8's.
Also we lack balance in midfield desperately Klopp got away with a shit midfield because he was able to use Trent to be the covert midfielder for so many years. Now Trent has gone our midfield which seems to consist of 23 converted number 8's is killing us. Can we invest in proper DMs again. Tired of seeing a midfield full of wannabe number 8's.
Yeah but sorry, after the way we've performed over the past 2-3 months then we really needed a re-set and a 'back to basics' performance (West Ham) that was duplicated here in a 'safety first' mentality. The confidence that is clearly lacking in this team now (no surprise at all), and the deja vu every time we go behind, is paralysing. You can see it clearly in Konate and Virgil.
If we tighten up the defence first at least that gives us a base to work from - and Gomez has performed well in that regard (though he was far too high up the pitch in the 1st Half leaving a massive RM gap that meant it was difficult to progress the ball - if we were going to play a FB high then it should have been Robbo, instead Robbo sat back) as can be seen from both West Ham and yesterday, the defence has given up relatively few chances (regardless of the quality of the opposition).
Confidence is the killer at the moment. I was fine with the team put out. Szobo in his proper position, Salah off the pitch, Gomez at RB.
I'll also say that we really need some luck to go our way too. That was a horrible deflection (it doesn't matter that VvD gave the ball away or that he stood off - it was still a wicked deflection) for their goal. It's often been that way recently, unlucky or wasteful in attack when we should have scored and then a bit of luck going against us to concede.
I should make an xG thread - yes I know some here hate it and whilst it's imperfect it is an indicator of sorts - because for weeks we seem to be underperforming our xG whilst the opposition are overperforming theirs. For weeks I seen us having the superior xG only for the results to not reflect the supposed superior goal threat. Seemingly a failure from both our forwards and defence then to live up to the xG.
I think I want Slot gone, simply because I believe he's lost this team, however he isn't responsible per se (one can debate it's due to tactics or mismanagement) for some of the incomprehensible misses and defensive errors that basically, or likely, come down to a lack of confidence.
And yet Gravy was the best DM in the PL last season.
I don't think a team that generally dominates possession needs an out and out destroyer - Rice isn't that at Arsenal for example, neither is Rodri at City, and those are the best two teams in the PL at the moment. I believe it's the fact that Gravy seems to be (whether by design or accident) pushing further forward this season that may be making us more porous.
That's seven levels up from idiot head, or whatever it was someone got the boot for a few weeks ago.Mods - he called me a "tit" !!!!
The League champions with a £450M cherry on top and we're shite. And have been for 90% of 2025.
A competent manager would be getting a better tune out of these players.
That said, our £450M hasn't been well spent. Nice to see Wirtz improving and getting involved but, £100M, you're having a laugh. Isak doesn't fit our team and should be (well) below Ekitike in the pecking order.
Macca and Gakpo need taking out of the team. Macca is embarrassing to watch at times, bordering on geriatric.
There's no spirit in this team. The players look like strangers.
Defo Slot out. ASAP. We must be able to entice Klopp away from Trivago and whatever other shite he's involved in.
A competent manager would be getting a better tune out of these players.
That said, our £450M hasn't been well spent. Nice to see Wirtz improving and getting involved but, £100M, you're having a laugh. Isak doesn't fit our team and should be (well) below Ekitike in the pecking order.
Macca and Gakpo need taking out of the team. Macca is embarrassing to watch at times, bordering on geriatric.
There's no spirit in this team. The players look like strangers.
Defo Slot out. ASAP. We must be able to entice Klopp away from Trivago and whatever other shite he's involved in.
Spot on.
Gakpo is a weird one because a goal and assist pushed him to MOTM against West Ham, and when we're not playing well, goal involvements become ever more important. But on days like today he's just part of the problem. He's never really fitted or integrated in lots of ways. He wasn't a Klopp style winger, and seemed to be part of that period we're Ljinders and Klopp were evolving the side, with the likes of Thiago, to be more effective against a low block rather than the pace and directness we saw from Mane and Salah. The issue now is we've lost all that pace and directness throughout the team, which shines a glaring spotlight on Gakpos limitations. Now we've got a player taking too much touches, compressing the space, being able to be negated by the defender with ease, and it's a huge part of why the team looks stifled. Beyond that he's not great at having any real connection with the left back. They don't over lap him either by instruction or they just know Gakpo will cut it and twat it at a defenders calf anyway. He takes too much touches to do give and go stuff that a player with his lack of pace and acceleration really need to be impactful when a defender has their number.
Basically I agree he should be shunted out of the team for Chiesa. He's part of the problem.
Gakpo is a weird one because a goal and assist pushed him to MOTM against West Ham, and when we're not playing well, goal involvements become ever more important. But on days like today he's just part of the problem. He's never really fitted or integrated in lots of ways. He wasn't a Klopp style winger, and seemed to be part of that period we're Ljinders and Klopp were evolving the side, with the likes of Thiago, to be more effective against a low block rather than the pace and directness we saw from Mane and Salah. The issue now is we've lost all that pace and directness throughout the team, which shines a glaring spotlight on Gakpos limitations. Now we've got a player taking too much touches, compressing the space, being able to be negated by the defender with ease, and it's a huge part of why the team looks stifled. Beyond that he's not great at having any real connection with the left back. They don't over lap him either by instruction or they just know Gakpo will cut it and twat it at a defenders calf anyway. He takes too much touches to do give and go stuff that a player with his lack of pace and acceleration really need to be impactful when a defender has their number.
Basically I agree he should be shunted out of the team for Chiesa. He's part of the problem.
There's a difference between a back to basics performance, and that crippling, petrified timid set up last night. As I said in my rant, and their manager confirmed it in the clip above, Sunderland couldn't believe how much time and space they had and how little we attacked. I understand it away against West Ham. But that last night was a clear instruction not to attack in the first half. Survive the first 45 and get in at half time. At home. Against fucking Sunderland. There's back to basics, and then there's shitting your undies.
As for luck, xG and all of that, I'm not sure, but I'd wager Sunderland's xG was higher than ours. Don't forget they had one cleared off the line. Our goal was a spawny deflection that was going wide. What exactly did we create? Even our last home win, which was a bit better... 2-0 against Villa. The goals? A fuck up from their keeper and a handy deflection from a speculative long range shot. We're getting everything we deserve. We hardly create anything. Last night was the most egregious example of it though. He wasn't interested in us scoring at all.
It's not as if we're peppering teams and they're hitting us last minute on the counter. If you allow teams to gain in confidence, move the ball slowly without intent, don't show any desire to win the ball back, it's a matter of time before you get punished at this level. You're piling the pressure on your defensive players in particular, and eventually they're gonna crack. Meanwhile, you're starving your attacking players of service and draining their belief.
The man is a fucking cowardly fraud.
More than anything, what got to me last night was that it was all so fucking dull. Devoid of any entertainment value. From the first whistle it was like we thought we were 4-0 up and needed to preserve our legs for a tough run of fixtures up ahead.
And when you look at the goals we've scored recently, none of them seem to come from any discernible pattern of play, they're almost accidental.
To an optimist, you'd have said we had Sunderland pinned back for most of the second half last night, but the reality is we just kept shifting the ball from side to side, occasionally backwards via the centre halves, but if I'm a Sunderland fan, I wouldn't have been concerned when I should have been bricking it and awaiting the inevitable. It's like the last days of Houllier.
We've become too used to our wingers creating and scoring the goals themselves and have no idea how to play with a centre forward any more. If the full-backs don't overlap then no-one is getting a ball into the box, especially not with inverted wingers. I'm unconvinced about Isak but he was isolated again. If we're going to play him then we need a pattern of play to create chances for him, and we don't have that right now. If we don't have that pattern of play then we might as well go with a false nine as play a striker.
It feels more and more to me like Edwards and Hughes have bought these players thinking Slot would know how to get the best out of them but he doesn't. And if he'd been in charge of the recruitment he probably wouldn't have bought them. We spent £200m on two strikers when we won the league last year pretty much without one - Nunez barely played, Diogo was a more mobile forward (and out of form for much of the season, seemingly carrying an injury).
That's why I think a manager change is necessary and inevitable. We can't undo the summer window, so we need someone who can work with what we've got, and the next guy in needs to be someone who knows how to get the best out of Isak and Ekitike, and he needs to be in post soon before we fall too far behind the Champions League places.
And when you look at the goals we've scored recently, none of them seem to come from any discernible pattern of play, they're almost accidental.
To an optimist, you'd have said we had Sunderland pinned back for most of the second half last night, but the reality is we just kept shifting the ball from side to side, occasionally backwards via the centre halves, but if I'm a Sunderland fan, I wouldn't have been concerned when I should have been bricking it and awaiting the inevitable. It's like the last days of Houllier.
We've become too used to our wingers creating and scoring the goals themselves and have no idea how to play with a centre forward any more. If the full-backs don't overlap then no-one is getting a ball into the box, especially not with inverted wingers. I'm unconvinced about Isak but he was isolated again. If we're going to play him then we need a pattern of play to create chances for him, and we don't have that right now. If we don't have that pattern of play then we might as well go with a false nine as play a striker.
It feels more and more to me like Edwards and Hughes have bought these players thinking Slot would know how to get the best out of them but he doesn't. And if he'd been in charge of the recruitment he probably wouldn't have bought them. We spent £200m on two strikers when we won the league last year pretty much without one - Nunez barely played, Diogo was a more mobile forward (and out of form for much of the season, seemingly carrying an injury).
That's why I think a manager change is necessary and inevitable. We can't undo the summer window, so we need someone who can work with what we've got, and the next guy in needs to be someone who knows how to get the best out of Isak and Ekitike, and he needs to be in post soon before we fall too far behind the Champions League places.
Well yeah but that's not how it works. There's no such thing as average. A shot from 25m is always going to be barely anything whereas something in the 6 yd box is generally going to be much higher.
We had 1.46 (23 shots) to their 0.42 (9 shots) yesterday. They created SFA and only scored from a massively deflected shot (Ali almost messed up for one easily savable shot tipped on to the bar and the other header that hit the post was the outside edge - Macca thumped the post). But this seems to be the norm of late surely the xG has to work in your favour sometimes.
None of this is detracting from the key issues (manager and lack of confidence) however it is still perplexing.
We had 1.46 (23 shots) to their 0.42 (9 shots) yesterday. They created SFA and only scored from a massively deflected shot (Ali almost messed up for one easily savable shot tipped on to the bar and the other header that hit the post was the outside edge - Macca thumped the post).
Yep. The first half mostly bored me to death.
Indeed. The lack of a clear pattern is more than disconcerting.
As Fabio said, cumulative xG is a load of shite. We're not creating clear cut opportunities
And our goal wasn't a massively deflected shot?
We might have actually created some real chances if we bothered to venture over the halfway line in the first half.
So infuriating what this tippy tappy hot potato bollox..
Half the anfield crowd fell asleep in the first half. Quite literally..
Similar threads
