I’m worried about our defending as a team - I think some problems have been building up and Jurgen couldn’t fully address them last season because of the relentless pursuit of City and the quadruple. Working on the fundamentals for the long-term and pursuing results here and now can often be at odds and it looks like some of these unaddressed flaws have become somewhat ingrained and thus harder to fix.
One fundamental problem is that Alisson’s and Virgil’s excellence in the last line of defence has made our midfielders a bit lazy or skewed the balance toward pushing too many men forward recklessly and relying on the individual brilliance at the back to rescue us time and time again - which means Alli and Virge have to produce 9/10 or 10/10 performances consistently just to keep opponents at bay - this is not sustainable. Take our midfield and put them in front of Maguire and De Gea and so many issues will start to become apparent.
The 2nd and related problem is that we simply don’t have a reliable ball-winner in midfield besides Fabinho - so when he’s off his game or if the opposition can figure out how to bypass him, we’re invariably exposed. And 3rd, unfortunately it has to be said, is Trent - in the type of game where one mistake can be decisive, he is often the weak link. I’m pretty sure managers like Rafa or Mourinho would not trust him to play at RB in certain games and would have instead opted for another system where he has fewer defensive responsibilities.
I’m sure Klopp sees all this, but figuring out the solution while the season is under way won’t be easy. This is something that won’t be solved with one player purchase or a tactical switch - these things are more fundamental and will require lots of work on several fronts to be put right.
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