AND Germany ! Don't forget them too (4-0) !
"I told you how good they are."
- Thread starter Farkmaster
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There are a couple of points here Mark - firstly I am FAR from the only one disagreeing with the gist of the opening post - far.
Two - Farky literally even goes as far as to emphasise he is complaining about TWO games - he says it in the opening sentence of his post, nothing about 'big picture' it was about those two games. Now what YOU infer from that isn't necessarily the sentiment that came across, it's your take, and the fact others also disagreed shows that either it was a miscommunication or indeed, as he stated - just about those two games. Though he does, TBF, say he doesn't want it to become a habit.
Later on he, and others, go on to expand on not wanting it to become a trend (or if it will be a standard tactic vs powerful teams) but that wasn't really the gist of the OP which is what people were discussing in the main. It has of course moved on from there.
And if you want to talk about Big Picture how are you and a few others not considering Slot's fronting the media comments with what's said behind closed doors - as I've already mentioned above.
If you want to talk about posters who bury their heads in miserable shit-pits of their own making let's talk about how we're winning the PL and likely the LC (it would be a surprise to lose) and yet some on here were only looking at the negatives without considering the reality, by the numbers and poo pooing my posts on it - yet you want to slate me for that too, well I was bloody right wasn't I. The CL is an entirely different kettle of fish but we've got a good chance, as do others.
I think there’s probably a big difference between what Slot tells the team and what they believe and what he tells the media.
I think he’s smart enough to be complimentary enough to not give the opposition any added incentive to beat us, but also deflect attention away from us.
The way I look at it is most teams have a “right” style or structure and no style or structure is without weakness no matter how good it is (case in point is PSG).
What we’re seeing is the same sort of variance in style we’ve always seen, but in the EPL more teams with better players able to execute their game plan well enough to hurt any team.
I’d compare our result against PSG to Forests victory at Anfield.
Where I think Slot is a little different to other managers, is that he’s got the team playing numerous different styles - we can press high or drop into a low block if we have to.l, we can go at teams or we can counter attack.
PSG absolutely wrecked Man City because City couldn’t cope with them defensively (and they couldn’t cope with us either).
It’s not as if we’ll drop into a low block against Southampton.
There are drawbacks - like we become that cliche of “jack of all trades, master of none”, so we probably don’t dominate as much as we could from time to time and we still have it in us to be sloppy as fuck (which we were against PSG in posession).
I don’t think it’s a cause for concern though.
I don't know if I get to have an opinion, but marks reading of my post is accurate.
My "worry" isn't the game itself but more what some of what slot said indicated about how he might approach these sorts of games in general.
Also, while I'm certainly capable, and am, a miserably negative cunt sometimes, this post wasn't that either. If we want to counterpunch away from home, I'm fine with that. I'm fine with the idea that counterpunching didn't happen due to a failure of execution and not intent. I hope that is the case. It is just that belief and intent matters, to keep with the boxing analogy, everyone has seen a fight where when you begin there's clearly a boxer looking to lure a more skilled boxer in and pick a shot, but eventually the boxer just gets so tired that eventually they're just covering up and getting through rounds. We do not want to rely on that.
Again, we aren't rocky, we are Liverpool. This game was having a punchers chance. We aren't a puncher. Sure, shit games by our forwards mean no outlets, but that's not something any of the forwards we pick are good at. It's the worst part of Salahs game. Diaz is ok at it but his form is up and down. None are quite fast enough to keep the defense honest. The approach was wrong. If we are losing in midfield and being dominated, I don't think we can rely on long balls with that selection, and we may as well have done the forwardless play again anyway to get an extra body. So maybe a bad setup and bad execution. That's all, great bad day at the office, as I've said.
All I'm asking was whether the premise of that approach in terms of attitude is something worth considering over the long term. It's interesting to me because I just don't really know this manager or totally get his team, still. It is a lot more multifaceted, so it relies a lot on what he thinks of the teams we are approaching, and what he thinks we can and can't do against them dictating our spproach. It's not going to be perfect. Stop strawmanning discussions around any of that to be hysterical negativity. When I'm hysterically negative you'll know.
My "worry" isn't the game itself but more what some of what slot said indicated about how he might approach these sorts of games in general.
Also, while I'm certainly capable, and am, a miserably negative cunt sometimes, this post wasn't that either. If we want to counterpunch away from home, I'm fine with that. I'm fine with the idea that counterpunching didn't happen due to a failure of execution and not intent. I hope that is the case. It is just that belief and intent matters, to keep with the boxing analogy, everyone has seen a fight where when you begin there's clearly a boxer looking to lure a more skilled boxer in and pick a shot, but eventually the boxer just gets so tired that eventually they're just covering up and getting through rounds. We do not want to rely on that.
Again, we aren't rocky, we are Liverpool. This game was having a punchers chance. We aren't a puncher. Sure, shit games by our forwards mean no outlets, but that's not something any of the forwards we pick are good at. It's the worst part of Salahs game. Diaz is ok at it but his form is up and down. None are quite fast enough to keep the defense honest. The approach was wrong. If we are losing in midfield and being dominated, I don't think we can rely on long balls with that selection, and we may as well have done the forwardless play again anyway to get an extra body. So maybe a bad setup and bad execution. That's all, great bad day at the office, as I've said.
All I'm asking was whether the premise of that approach in terms of attitude is something worth considering over the long term. It's interesting to me because I just don't really know this manager or totally get his team, still. It is a lot more multifaceted, so it relies a lot on what he thinks of the teams we are approaching, and what he thinks we can and can't do against them dictating our spproach. It's not going to be perfect. Stop strawmanning discussions around any of that to be hysterical negativity. When I'm hysterically negative you'll know.
I'm guessing that people and Farky are concerned because the gods were the reason we won yesterday, and he's afraid it could happen again and we would lose miserably - if we don't learn from it. Konate's probable red, that miss over the bar, the Var goal, and other chances that they should have scored (at least 5).
How does a team that is lauded as the best in England and in Europe get shown up so badly? Are PSG that good? That much better than us?
Because if they are that good and we open up an Anfield they will score a hatful. And if we play a low block at anfield, we might concede half a hatful based on the other night. Perhaps and hopefully we were just bad for one night and the gulf will vanish at anfield, because if not, right now, I would be putting my money on PSG if I was a neutral.
How does a team that is lauded as the best in England and in Europe get shown up so badly? Are PSG that good? That much better than us?
Because if they are that good and we open up an Anfield they will score a hatful. And if we play a low block at anfield, we might concede half a hatful based on the other night. Perhaps and hopefully we were just bad for one night and the gulf will vanish at anfield, because if not, right now, I would be putting my money on PSG if I was a neutral.
My hunch is he actually feels a bit irritated at having to play like that. I think he's pragmatic enough that he'll do it when he has to, but Dutch enough that it bothers him. I thought he looked annoyed after the PSG game.
You'd get good odds then as the % odds of victory in the tie are : Liverpool to progress in 90 mins 44%, extra time 24% and PSG 32% in 90 mins.
And score at least 5? That's hyperbolic to say the least. Their xG was 2.10 (or the Advanced xG being 2.67 from shots on target - meaning they hit the target more than they should have from those positions) vs 0.32, so by the stats they should have won 2-0. That however doesn't take into consideration the quality of the GK ... and we have the best in the world.
BTW we had an xG of 2.19 in the final against Real in 2022 and guess what?
Take a look at OPTA's shot analysis here, it's worth a deep dive if these things interest you :
https://theanalyst.com/eu/2025/03/psg-liverpool-stats-champions-league
Basically their best chance in the 2nd half has only a 6% chance of going in. Their best chances by far came in the first half (40%, 29%, 22% and 17% chance of scoring from those positions), yet still, individually, none of them were expected to score from those positions, it's just by compounding do you see that the odds of at least 1 or 2 going in should have happened.
So what they are saying is that the shots comparison is a little misleading to say the least, yes PSG should have won by the numbers but nothing like 5-0.
Fai enough. Let's say 2.5 -0 🤣 - and that Konate challenge really could have been a goal or more if you factor in the 10 man possibility for the rest of the game. I get the stats and love the insights they bring, but there was some pretty good chances that were not converted due to luck or Ali, or their own errors. I do trust me own eyes as well.
Bottom line, if they are that good, what do we do at Anfield. and since when do we get dictated to like this.
if that's all it is, brilliant. And I agree.
He certainly thought we didn't use the moments he wanted us to get counters from.
Im glad if he was annoyed, he should be. If you can learn from mistakes and not be punished by them, that's ideal.
View: https://x.com/nocontextfooty/status/1897731292269347288?t=ebAw7VJvXQ4g-4sFAt6J0w&s=19
Just dropping this here and then ... Taking my leave...
Regardless it’s a mitigating factor this season that this still isn’t a Slot team. Which is why we probably are setting up a bit different or going against his beliefs in certain games.
It’s working, most of the time, but I’m guessing he isn’t satisfied.
I think it was Fabio that said this, a little while back: "As we were finding spaces for attack, the tactics were correct but the personnel let slot down."
And I think that's the key here... I understand Farky's point, but I also don't think that we set out to play THAT deep and be THAT reliant on the world's best keeper. I think the fact was that, other than Virgil, Ibou and Trent, EVERYBODY ELSE was mostly utter shite (though I think Szobo and Jota did some good things, and ran themselves ragged), and that resulted in the performance that we saw. Even as atrocious as we were at maintaining any kind of possession, we still created several chances to put an attacker in behind them, we just always fucked up the pass.
I don't actually think we approached the Cheats game and this one with the same mindset... Against them, we planned to sit very deep, relatively unconcerned about their ability to hurt us, and destroy them on the break. Against PSG, I think we were planning on having more possession and playing a far more balanced tactic, but the utter failure of our midfield and forwards to do anything right for 87 minutes dictated that that couldn't happen.
We were lucky, yes. But not because the strategy included a little luck... Because more than half our players forgot how to play. I do expect a far batter, more balanced performance on Wednesday next. We can't be that bad, twice. We just can't.
Scary thing is, we could play far better, but still lose by 2... This thing is far from over.
And I think that's the key here... I understand Farky's point, but I also don't think that we set out to play THAT deep and be THAT reliant on the world's best keeper. I think the fact was that, other than Virgil, Ibou and Trent, EVERYBODY ELSE was mostly utter shite (though I think Szobo and Jota did some good things, and ran themselves ragged), and that resulted in the performance that we saw. Even as atrocious as we were at maintaining any kind of possession, we still created several chances to put an attacker in behind them, we just always fucked up the pass.
I don't actually think we approached the Cheats game and this one with the same mindset... Against them, we planned to sit very deep, relatively unconcerned about their ability to hurt us, and destroy them on the break. Against PSG, I think we were planning on having more possession and playing a far more balanced tactic, but the utter failure of our midfield and forwards to do anything right for 87 minutes dictated that that couldn't happen.
We were lucky, yes. But not because the strategy included a little luck... Because more than half our players forgot how to play. I do expect a far batter, more balanced performance on Wednesday next. We can't be that bad, twice. We just can't.
Scary thing is, we could play far better, but still lose by 2... This thing is far from over.
Maybe it's an age thing but a 0-1 result in European away legs was always a good result regardless of display.
And the key maxim is it's better to be lucky than good. Scrappy one-nils all the way for me.
There is something majestic about scoring a late winner in a game where we have been off form.
I laughed at the thought that we may feel inferior, I'm sure Mo and Virgil (not forgetting our World Cup winning midfielder) always take to the field feeling worried about the opposition!
And the key maxim is it's better to be lucky than good. Scrappy one-nils all the way for me.
There is something majestic about scoring a late winner in a game where we have been off form.
I laughed at the thought that we may feel inferior, I'm sure Mo and Virgil (not forgetting our World Cup winning midfielder) always take to the field feeling worried about the opposition!
I forget whether it was Allison or slot who said our plan was to sit deep but not that deep, and that was my understanding, it's just a possible outcome if you go to sit deep that you never get into the game and get any rhythm. I mean every approach has its downsides. We play expansively and do as badly at it, and we'd be out of the competition at this point essentially.
