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Football: A Blizzard of Games


polishgenius

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I could accept us not buying a centre back now if the reason is we have plans for someone specific in the summer who isn't available at the moment, but who knows if that's the case or not?

Really we need someone good enough to become 2nd choice, so we don't have to rely on Matip or Gomez staying fit.

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I am not sure if a fresh CB will fit in all that much better than the young kids (assuming we aren't going for a Virgil level defender), specially considering Liverpool's super high line and just the typical settle in period. Our CBs haven't really been the main problem as was mentioned, its our front 3 who look super inconsistent in the final pass/shooting phase. If anything, we need Jota fit and back in ASAP.

I didn't think the overall performance was that bad. Certainly not as bad as the 1 shot on goal makes it look. They worked so hard to create really dangerous situations, only to fluff that final pass or pass instead of shoot. You can definitely see the team lost its patience and tried too many low percentage crosses. They need to go back to being patient, even if it ends up being endless backwards and sideways.

What makes me really sad is that we completely lost our counterattacking edge. Liverpool arguably had the best counterattack in England (if not Europe) the last few seasons. Every counterattack seems to lead to a goal. Now we constantly fluff it. There was 2-3 good counterattacks where it was almost 1v1 with goalie and both Mane and Salah fluffed it.

The only silver lining is that they still managed to find space and open up packed defense (a lot more energetic one at that, credit to Southampton). Now they need to get their cool back in front of goal. Make the right decisions in that final phase of play.

edit: If Liverpool do sign an emergency CB, it will most likely be a short term loan for Lovren as he can slot in almost immediately.

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7 minutes ago, The Winged Shadow said:

I didn't think the overall performance was that bad. Certainly not as bad as the 1 shot on goal makes it look. They worked so hard to create really dangerous situations, only to fluff that final pass or pass instead of shoot. You can definitely see the team lost its patience and tried too many low percentage crosses. They need to go back to being patient, even if it ends up being endless backwards and sideways.

I disagree with that. You could say that about the Newcastle game which was basically a failure to put away several very presentable chances but they never really looked liked scoring against Southampton. It's definitely concerning.

9 minutes ago, The Winged Shadow said:

edit: If Liverpool do sign an emergency CB, it will most likely be a short term loan for Lovren as he can slot in almost immediately.

Not a bad idea actually. I don't think Edwards and FSG will be inclined to make an expensive January signing to fill a short term injury hole and I'm not sure a cheap January signing will make a big difference but that might work if Lovren's available.

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I doubt Zenit would agree to a loan. Lovren is undisputed first choice there and has been captaining the side in a few games as well.

 

Liverpool's recent issues have been unexpected though. Their defence has held up remarkably well considering but their finishing and sometimes incisiveness in the final third has been lacking which was not something many would have predicted.

It's good for the league though that Liverpool appear to be regressing to the mean (for this season at least) - there were many games over the past 2 seasons where they didn't play well and should have dropped points but ended up winning anyway.

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Yeah I'm sorry but the idea that Liverpool are gonna get Lovren on loan is hilariously presumptuous. That might have worked ten years ago when the Russian league ran over summer and he wouldn't be playing till March. Now, and especially with Covid? No chance.

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29 minutes ago, Consigliere said:

Liverpool's recent issues have been unexpected though. Their defence has held up remarkably well considering but their finishing and sometimes incisiveness in the final third has been lacking which was not something many would have predicted.

I think a big part of the problem is over the last couple of seasons our plan in attack has been to slowly grind teams down in possession and if it looks like that isn't working go back to the old Klopp gameplan and crank up the intensity. Playing high intensity, high pressing football isn't really an option this year (if you look at the stats pretty much everyone's pressing has dropped off dramatically). That means if our attacking players are a bit off their best (like now) it's a big problem.

ETA: One of the interesting things about last season was Liverpool didn't really put up particularly impressive xg numbers for a team as dominant as they were before lockdown. When you broke down the game into different states (level, Liverpool a goal in front, behind etc) though they absolutely battered teams when they needed a goal. That's what feels like the real change this year.

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10 minutes ago, Consigliere said:

If I'm not mistaken, the Russian league starts up again towards the end of Feb or beginning of March.

 

26th Feb so closer to what the old league start date would have been than I thought but I still can't imagine them wanting him to play during a mid-season break.

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24 minutes ago, polishgenius said:

 

26th Feb so closer to what the old league start date would have been than I thought but I still can't imagine them wanting him to play during a mid-season break.

It doesn't make sense for Zenit to agree to a loan now when their league starts up again in 7 weeks. It'd be a different case if Lovren was a bit part player there but he's been an integral part of the team. Zenit will also want to secure CL football and are leading by just 4 points and only the league winners are guaranteed qualification. 

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