Liverpool v Porto Match Thread CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
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Perfect home performance really. Completely controlled the second half and barely gave them a sniff. Heart monitor was on casual, which has been rare this season. Cheers Reds!
Any win will rattle City, this is good.
I haven't seen every game he's played but from what I've seen the deeper the starting midfield position the more effective he is.
Yeh I've said this before. Middle of the midfield is where he best sits..
He needs to be playing with the ball in view in front of him to be effective, playing with the ball behind him as can happen as a AM not ideal for him at all
He's good when he's got space to run into, yeah, but it just seems like he spends quite a bit of time holding back.
Whether that's down to him or instructions from Klopp it's hard to say but it'd be interesting to see him getting involved more further up the pitch as Henderson was doing more frequently.
Yeah, Keita offers zero defensively, and if Henderson doesn't sit, we certainly do look porous.
It's like I said a few days ago, the midfield just isn't quite there, regardless of formation or who plays. Tonight you could confidently say that all three of them had decent games, but weirdly it still didn't seem great as a unit.
I thought he was off balance from being pulled back actually.
I also thought Salah was nowhere near good enough this game with the amount of ball he had.
Agreed. I think Keita can improve his defensive side cos he can actually tackle & block well on occasion, but he's still positionally not there. His positioning going forwards is miles better than when he arrived so I have no doubt it will come, but it means I doubt he'll play him in games where we need to stay solid at the back this season.
We desperately miss Hendo as a defensive shield as much as we seem to need his impetus going forward.
It's not just positionally, he's been knocked off the ball twice in the last two games with really weak body strength.
But I do think Fabinho and Henderson is a viable solid platform (I do like big, mobile aggressive central midfielders) that could work if Henderson gets a better balance between sitting and getting around the pitch.
But we all know that Henderson's mobility and ability to press higher up suits his game and is also where he wants to play, so it's still a work in progress, and we saw at times tonight (and also against Southampton) that Fabinho can't play at his best if he is left alone as the sole DM, and can struggle
Agree again. Made a post earlier in the thread about Keita mentioning him struggling with the pace & aggression side of his game. He is winning more 50/50s though, just not consistently, so it's improving, albeit maddeningly so.
He has the same build & height as Mane (as any commentator will tell you) so it doesn't unduly worry me long term, but short term it's abother reason he won't play against certain sides, despite his improvement in other areas.
Mane's got titanium bones though. He's like Sterling or Kante; small and wiry but also fucking impossible to knock over
Nah. Their player didn't even wince. Salah was off balance and his foot needed to come down at some point. There was no deliberate action to stamp.
Not sure why he is still playing. We talk about Keita having weak upper body strength, Studge has been worse, and he has had 10 odds season playing in the league. He is so easily brushed off the ball now it's unreal. He doesn't keep possession well and turns like he's 50.
I don't see the point of him tbh.
I think it's harsh to say Keita offers "zero" defensively; I liked his pressing today and he made an important tackle or clearance on several occasions. It's true that he loses the ball too often to be relied on as one of the midfield pair, but I think his upper body strength will get better with time, as it did with Salah and Firmino, and hopefully he will cut out the silly passing mistakes. His future is definitely as a deep-lying midfielder, not as AM, so now he has to work to bring the defensive side of his game up to par.
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This is a good observation:
Basically Hendo played in the attacking CM position today – the Milner role, whereas Keita was playing more of a Wijnaldum role. There are clearly kinks to be worked out in this set up, but overall I think this is exactly the way to go. In that game against Bournemouth Wijnaldum also played the attacking CM with Keita further back. The upside of Keita is that he has enough talent to be a goal threat even when playing in a defensive position.
Funny tidbit from Jurgen:
Basically Hendo played in the attacking CM position today – the Milner role, whereas Keita was playing more of a Wijnaldum role. There are clearly kinks to be worked out in this set up, but overall I think this is exactly the way to go. In that game against Bournemouth Wijnaldum also played the attacking CM with Keita further back. The upside of Keita is that he has enough talent to be a goal threat even when playing in a defensive position.
Funny tidbit from Jurgen:
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Matip straight back in for Lovren on Sunday.
Great night all round.
The double stays alive.
Great that City lost that winning run.
Doubt will creep in.
Great night all round.
The double stays alive.
Great that City lost that winning run.
Doubt will creep in.
Even on this picture you can see that Salah's full weight is on the other leg. He was reaching for the ball (and found Danilo's leg instead), not throwing himself and all his weight into a tackle – superficially it looks similar, but totally different context, intention and result, IMO.
In fact it was Danilo who went for the tackle studs up, and was lucky not to hit Salah.
He seemed really slow too. Attackers seemed to run him down very quickly.
I think that's a little harsh, he was sharp enough to make some really important challenges, and he did improve from a bad start.
I ageee that he was on the front foot at times and made some important challenges, but got turned a few times way to easy. And was out of position a fair few times when they ran in behind us. Virgil had the rest of the line push up and Lovren dropped down to follow the attacker. A recepie for conceding goals.
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