Liverpool 2022/23: We Go Again

[67YAZ]

I’d pull one of the forwards and drop into a 4-4-2, but I’m a Sunday Leaguer on a couch and Klopp has his system and his system only.

We’ve seen some 4-4Diamond-2 this season with Bobby at the 10. I don’t know that there’s anyone else in the squad who can play both ways like that role requires.

A flatter 4-4-2 with the fullback overlapping the wide mids would provide a solid central block in defense and transition, but probably makes retaining possession and attacking through the middle more difficult. Probably ends up with a million crosses towards Darwin…

we haven’t seen the 4-2-3-1 yet this season (i think). But given the options, we’d probably have Keita at the 10 in front of Baj and Hendo. But now we’re just shuffling deck chairs on the titanic.

 

[Mighty Joe Young]

Welcome back Fabinho ! Nice to see him released from whatever witness protection program he was in.

LFC weren’t great against Everton but adequate I guess. Too nervous especially in the first half. The breakaway goal really settled them down. Much better in defence …

The set pieces still seemed an issue. Hopefully VVD’s imminent return will solidify that obvious issue.

Excellent games from the forwards … Salah was buzzing from the hop, Nunez is a dervish and I’m really starting to like what I see from Gapko. He’s terrific at dribbling when he gets going.

 

[PedroSpecialK]

The breakaway goal was also preceded by Tarkowski's header off the post.

Three points is great and all, but that was hardly convincing. Glad Bajcetic got a strong derby performance under his belt

 

[67YAZ]

I really like what we saw from Gakpo in the false nine - getting ball deeper and pushing forward, making good plays and stressing the defense. He also found some space in the channels in possession. He’ll never press and cover ground like Bobby, but he can offer a more robust playmaking.

 

[SocrManiac]

The margins in this sport, man. From 0-1 to 1-0 in a single fast break. I’m glad I was wrong about today. Wasn’t far off going the other way, but this club has needed some luck.

 

[OCST]

Liverpool won that game on their physicality. The midfield has looked so old and tired but Gakpo and the other kid were great. More than anything it was Salah remembering he has pace , and Darwin. Maybe he can’t finish but holy hell he’s a big, fast dude. I’m disappointed that we just let these guys run wild, literally. Coleman can still be effective as a backup in spot duty with his nous, but he and Myko got torched all night.

 

[67YAZ]

So Madrid on Tuesday - set up to counter and pray that they aren’t sharp in finishing?

 

[SocrManiac]

And wrap Alisson in bubble wrap between matches.

 

[Auger34]

Apparently Nunez has a shoulder injury that needs to be examined. Could miss time. Year seems cursed

 

[SocrManiac]

It wasn’t another pulled hamstring or random ligament injury. That makes it somehow better.

 

[Mighty Joe Young]

It wasn’t another pulled hamstring or random ligament injury. That makes it somehow better.

Small mercies I guess.

I think Pope’s idiocy actually helped Newcastle. LFC seemed to slip into sleepy mode. I bet Klopp rips them after that performance. Defensively they were terrible. I figured with VVD back, defending their corners would improve .. actually looked like they got worse. Still, a win is a win , especially against a direct competitor on the road.

Things seem to be slipping for the Magpies. Losing Guimaraes was huge and now Pope is gone for three games.

 

[67YAZ]

Darwin training today. They def need his physicality and harassment against the Madrid backline.

 

[OCST]

Darwin training today. They def need his physicality and harassment against the Madrid backline.

I hadn’t watched him much and only knew the bad finishing numbers. He is a terror. He doesn’t need to score to rip a defense to shreds.

 

[67YAZ]

Kroos & Tchouameni are staying behind in Madrid due to illness.

Also watch out for Trent getting a yellow - he's one away from a suspension.

 

[67YAZ]

LFC gets the Swiss Ramble treatment focused on the valuation and potential sale price of the club. I kind of skimmed the 2k words on various valuation models, but the data are always fascinating.

 

[67YAZ]

Finally some good news - Konate back in training.

 

[Mighty Joe Young]

Finally some good news - Konate back in training.

Anything that gets Gomez out of the lineup is a good thing.

 

[Mighty Joe Young]

What a difference Konate makes to this team. Wolves didn’t get a sniff. Even Fabinho responded with a good game. Bring on ManU !

 

[SocrManiac]

Should change the thread title to some variant of LiVARpool.

Mo knocking over Moutinho and Sa with one small response to being manhandled was a perfect encapsulation of Wolves. So happy to put these guys behind us.

 

[Mighty Joe Young]

This is interesting - Jerry Cardinale - one of the owners - thinks that a prime motivation for selling a share in the club comes down to Mike Gordon wanting to retire.


FSG motivation for Liverpool 'sale' talk as Mike Gordon admission made
https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/fsg-motivation-liverpool-sale-talk-26376377?utm_source=app

 

[67YAZ]

Reliable source saying that Bobby informed Klopp that he won’t renew. On the one hand, a healthy Jota and Gakpo provide two contrasting, highly effective options at the 9.

On the other hand, Bobby is a legend and one of my all time favorites. At his peak, he was annually leading the EPL in sprints, scoring no look goals, and and somehow covering ground from box to box with class and force. I don’t know what Brendan Rodgers saw in Bobby when the transfer happened, but Firmino was the perfect player for Klopp.

 

[Mighty Joe Young]

Reliable source saying that Bobby informed Klopp that he won’t renew. On the one hand, a healthy Jota and Gakpo provide two contrasting, highly effective options at the 9.

On the other hand, Bobby is a legend and one of my all time favorites. At his peak, he was annually leading the EPL in sprints, scoring no look goals, and and somehow covering ground from box to box with class and force. I don’t know what Brendan Rodgers saw in Bobby when the transfer happened, but Firmino was the perfect player for Klopp.

Guessing he still wants to play a lot - which wasn’t going to happen given reasonable forward health.

Nice write ups from The Athletic …

https://theathletic.com/4271731/2023/03/03/roberto-firmino-liverpool-departure/?source=user_shared_article


https://theathletic.com/4272580/2023/03/03/roberto-firmino-liverpool-leaving/?source=user_shared_article

 

[67YAZ]

Guessing he still wants to play a lot - which wasn’t going to happen given reasonable forward health.

Nice write ups from The Athletic …

https://theathletic.com/4271731/2023/03/03/roberto-firmino-liverpool-departure/?source=user_shared_article


https://theathletic.com/4272580/2023/03/03/roberto-firmino-liverpool-leaving/?source=user_shared_article

LOL from that second article:

Then-manager Brendan Rodgers had his doubts about the Brazilian. He wanted Aston Villa’s Christian Benteke to be the focal point of his attack and it was a compromise that both men were signed in that window.

Senior recruitment figures Michael Edwards, Dave Fallows and Barry Hunter pushed hard for Firmino.

Could always see that Rodgers didn’t rate him. But it was brilliant luck that Bobby was here for the Klopp revolution.

 

[SoxFanInCali]

Yeah, this one is getting saved on the DVR for a while.

 

[67YAZ]

 

[Nick Kaufman]

That is insane.

 

[SoxFanInCali]

Obligatory Goldbridge reaction footage.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUh_hLGvlWM

 

[SocrManiac]

Lots of positives yesterday, but you can’t let an opponent have a match like this.

 

[Mighty Joe Young]

View attachment 61948
Lots of positives yesterday, but you can’t let an opponent have a match like this.

He certainly had himself a game for the ages.

Was thinking about that article you referenced claiming Grealish and Fernandes were at opposite ends of the likeability spectrum amongst players. Grealish, being English gets a head start I guess. He’s a diver for sure but , as his main skill is drawing fouls he takes a ton of punishment and doesn’t really whine excessively. Whereas Fernandes is an even worse diver but spends the entire game whining to officials, his teammates , the opposition players and to the fans. Maybe it’s the excessive whining that puts off players. Diving would seem to be rather low on the negativity scale (blame the South Americans and the Italians)

 

[Nick Kaufman]

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-fb3Gr5hxo

 

[MiracleOfO2704]

Obligatory Goldbridge reaction footage.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUh_hLGvlWM

And for fun, here’s a compilation with added Flying Pig, Alice Abrahams, RNA_dec, and Saeed!

View: https://youtu.be/m-gUdXI-zc0

 

[Mighty Joe Young]

And for fun, here’s a compilation with added Flying Pig, Alice Abrahams, RNA_dec, and Saeed!

View: https://youtu.be/m-gUdXI-zc0

Now that was fun. It’s striking how shocked they all were … even after being waxed last year. Football memories are short.

 

[SocrManiac]

How’s this for a stat?

“A reminder that under Jürgen Klopp, Liverpool have lost more Premier League games against sides starting the day in the relegation zone (12) than teams starting the day in the Champions League places (10). #LFC #BOULIV”

This is absolutely not okay. There are strong arguments to be made that this is where Liverpool have lost titles the past few years. Klopp praised his sides for being “mentality monsters,” but against lower competition they regularly revert to mentality mice.

After starting brightly, the same cracks opened again. The midfield couldn’t be bothered to contribute, VVD couldn’t catch second gear, Trent is so far beyond being a liability that I don’t even know what to call him, and Elliott just gets bullied like a kid on a playground. It’s awful to watch.

Fabinho didn’t regress like the rest, and his movement looked good. He had an utter howler of a pass at one point, but it didn’t spring a counter like TAA’s square ball to hell.

Systemically, Klopp can’t rally his troops against the bottom half of the table. They circled this date on the calendar as a rest day. How does this keep happening?

 

[Mighty Joe Young]

How’s this for a stat?

“A reminder that under Jürgen Klopp, Liverpool have lost more Premier League games against sides starting the day in the relegation zone (12) than teams starting the day in the Champions League places (10). #LFC #BOULIV”

This is absolutely not okay. There are strong arguments to be made that this is where Liverpool have lost titles the past few years. Klopp praised his sides for being “mentality monsters,” but against lower competition they regularly revert to mentality mice.

After starting brightly, the same cracks opened again. The midfield couldn’t be bothered to contribute, VVD couldn’t catch second gear, Trent is so far beyond being a liability that I don’t even know what to call him, and Elliott just gets bullied like a kid on a playground. It’s awful to watch.

Fabinho didn’t regress like the rest, and his movement looked good. He had an utter howler of a pass at one point, but it didn’t spring a counter like TAA’s square ball to hell.

Systemically, Klopp can’t rally his troops against the bottom half of the table. They circled this date on the calendar as a rest day. How does this keep happening?

I think Klopp (or the team) got their tactics wrong. The opening twenty minutes featured lots of crosses from wide - including four or five corners in a row. But as Trent’s game started to deteriorate they seemed to switch to trying to weave their way down the middle. Bournemouth packed the centre of the pitch and Liverpool couldn’t produce anything. Maybe it’s a confidence thing for AA. If he gets off to a good start he gets better. But the converse seems to happen as well - he makes a mistake or two and things just get worse and worse.

I also couldn’t understand why their intensity level dropped precipitously - they went completely to sleep.

Elliot is a conundrum - he can look fantastic but if asked to be a box-to-box guy he just doesn’t have the physical tools right now. Maybe an off-season putting on 20 pounds of muscle would help. Oddly enough the other yougun - Carvalho - has the same (even worse) issue .

If Liverpool have the transfer window we hope (Bellingham and another box to box mid, a CB and maybe a young fullback ) I just don’t see a path to regular playing time for Elliot or Carvalho.

 

[candylandriots]

 

[OCST]

The guy at the pet store we’ve gone to for 25 years is Egyptian and a huge Liverpool fan. He’s a really sweet guy. I came in with my dog just after the game. Usually he’s smiling and joking and makes a fuss over the dog. Not yesterday. As soon as I walked in, holy crap I thought I’d interrupted a sailor in a whorehouse, the stream of cursing I got hit with.The store has a storage mezzanine and he was up there, so I couldn’t see him, but he saw me and just let it rip. It almost knocked me over.

 

[Mighty Joe Young]

Adding injury to insult - Bajcetic will miss the remainder of this woeful season with an abductor injury.


Liverpool midfielder Stefan Bajcetic out for rest of season
https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/stefan-bajcetic-liverpool-injury-breaking-26485522?utm_source=app

 

[SocrManiac]

What do you even say to that? At what point is it no longer bad luck and coincidences?

 

[Zososoxfan]

Obligatory Goldbridge reaction footage.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUh_hLGvlWM

I cahn't speak! I cahn't speak LOL

 

[Mighty Joe Young]

What do you even say to that? At what point is it no longer bad luck and coincidences?

Well, if the stories about back room friction between the physio and medical sectors are true that would be where I’d start pointing fingers. This club is not run by idiots - as such they have to be aware that this years injury plague is not a fluke.

 

[67YAZ]

 

[SocrManiac]

Let's just hope the guys don't hug him too hard. Can't have any cracked ribs or strained obliques.

 

[Auger34]

Paul Joyce has reported that Liverpool are out of the race to sign Bellingham. FSG is getting torn apart on twitter

 

[67YAZ]

That’s disappointing, but it’s also true that Liverpool need a bunch of new weapons this summer, not a silver bullet.

My fan-brain says this is a savvy negotiating move - let Dortmund know you’re willing to walk away.

My realistic brain says ‘Pool are paying £50m for Nunes and Bellingham ends up at Madrid for £100m.

 

[Morgan's Magic Snowplow]

My realistic brain says ‘Pool are paying £50m for Nunes and Bellingham ends up at Madrid for £100m.

It could certainly be Madrid but going to City to replace Gundogan seems very plausible as well.

 

[67YAZ]

It could certainly be Madrid but going to City to replace Gundogan seems very plausible as well.

City is my pessimistic brain.

ManU is my “fuck me” brain. A new owner looking to make big splash?

 

[Morgan's Magic Snowplow]

City is my pessimistic brain.

ManU is my “fuck me” brain. A new owner looking to make big splash?

Lol, I like how you're thinking.

What does galaxy brain believe?

 

[67YAZ]

Lol, I like how you're thinking.

What does galaxy brain believe?

Decides to go by Jude and signs for AFC Richmond.

 

[Auger34]

That’s disappointing, but it’s also true that Liverpool need a bunch of new weapons this summer, not a silver bullet.

My fan-brain says this is a savvy negotiating move - let Dortmund know you’re willing to walk away.

My realistic brain says ‘Pool are paying £50m for Nunes and Bellingham ends up at Madrid for £100m.

I’ve seen some people speculate that Bellingham signs a one year extension at Dortmund. That would be ideal for Liverpool.

Rumors are that Mount is their new top target and that they’ve “cooled” on Nunes

Other names consistently brought up are Moises Caicedo, Alexis Mac Allister, and Ryan Gravernberch.

Definitely need to sign 2-3 of those 4

 

[SocrManiac]

What is going to fix Salah’s finishing, or are we content Gakpo, Jota, and Darwin will get it together?

VVD has been somewhere between mortal and bad. Is Konate the answer?

The midfield is a disaster, but outside of Alisson the rest of the side isn’t much better.