Leicester City v Liverpool Match Thread
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If you're a defender, you position yourself to block off the crossing option, and then his cowardice kicks in, and he plays backwards.
On the odd occasion (Boro), he'll try and do his kick and run move, and put in a decent cross. But like you said, he's not very good at crossing anyway (in general).
My problem is we have many of these type of players who individually aren't the problem, but collectively they are.
We have 11 positions to fill in this team and whilst Clyne isn't the weakest of our 11, he isn't playing at a level he should be.
His ability, if we want to win the league, he should be one our weakest players, not better ones.
I think the impact Zlatan has had at United shows we need someone with real championship winning experience and demand for success. There's not one player in our team who seems to expect anything from anyone else.
Muller has fallen out of favour at Bayern - we should try and get him in.
Muller has fallen out of favour at Bayern - we should try and get him in.
Agreed. In fact I've been saying it all season, he infuriates me.
Cowardly is exactly the right adjective re Clyne. He's nowhere near the quality required once he passes the halfway line and with our set-up we need fullbacks to offer at the very least courage going forwards.
Add that to an increasingly laboured Milner on the other flank and we've fuck all to offer out wide.
I've just watched Klopps post match interview and he seems surprised at the performance and lost as to what to do about it. I was angry throughout the game about the way the team played and his part in it but i couldn't help feeling a bit sorry for him watching the interview. He genuinely doesn't look like he's got an answer to teams playing deep against us and if he has got ideas then he can't transmit them to the team well enough.
It's no good only being able to play against teams that give you space and let you play as half the teams in this league won't do that and we struggle like fuck against them. We can't match their aggression and defensive organisation with our skill when we haven't got the space to play in. It often leaves us with the only option of going wide where we have full backs who can't cross a ball very well and strikers that can't compete in the air well enough from the crossing anyway, the fact that too often in these games we hardly have anyone in the box only compounds the problem.
He's had three transfer windows now and the team is still defending badly like we did under rodgers and our attacking prowess of the first three months of the season has all but disappeared. It's all gone a bit shit hasn't it?
It's no good only being able to play against teams that give you space and let you play as half the teams in this league won't do that and we struggle like fuck against them. We can't match their aggression and defensive organisation with our skill when we haven't got the space to play in. It often leaves us with the only option of going wide where we have full backs who can't cross a ball very well and strikers that can't compete in the air well enough from the crossing anyway, the fact that too often in these games we hardly have anyone in the box only compounds the problem.
He's had three transfer windows now and the team is still defending badly like we did under rodgers and our attacking prowess of the first three months of the season has all but disappeared. It's all gone a bit shit hasn't it?
Good job we threw away the cups to concentrate on the league.
If you really think he's smiling because he's happy about the loss then you really are simple
He certainly isn't making it easy for himself.
Yes he damn well is. He's not THE problem - that would be easy if we only had one big problem - but he sure as hell is ONE problem.
There's a maddening incoherence on both flanks. For one thing: we have no one who is a reliably powerful presence in the box and who can head the ball well. So why so many crosses anyway? But if that's your strategy, as it appears to be via Milner on the left, then why NOT do it on the right? Mane gets the ball on the right and either looks for a really dubious one-two into the area, where he then forgets what next he wanted to do, or he passes back. That's Mane, the player with 'pace'. It's not exactly scary pace, is it, when you avoid using it in such areas? So the pattern seems to be: look for Coutinho to go on a run and a shot, otherwise wait for Milner to cross it high over everyone's head, or let Clyne pass it back or run towards the centre of the area, before which he'll fall down, think twice about the whole thing and backtrack, or hit the ball into a defender's shins.
They were doubts when he joined us. At this point they are all but confirmed. He can't break down teams that don't attack us, our defensive organisation is non existent and his pressing game cannot be sustained over a season in English football.
The question now is whether or not he has the capacity to change because at this point we are looking at Rodgers 2.0
Surprisingly positive. Before he went to Glasgow it was more often Rodgers 0.2.
Comparisons between managers are notoriously difficult given the number of variables involved and it's not as though Rodgers is the only gung go manager who doesn't have a clue how to set up a defence. That said they do seem to share a lot of traits, Rodgers went down the 'punchers path' so to speak, and came to believe that there was simply no way an opponent could live with his attacking onslaught. Klopp is starting to show signs of the same fatal flaw.
Must be time for another avatar change then.
Exciting times for you.
One difference between them, if we believe all the reports, is that whereas Rodgers was a loner, Klopp really does involve his two assistants in the decision making process, which makes it even more exasperating. What are all three thinking?
Well that was a bit shit no.
Every armchair fan could see that coming and we still fell into their trap.
It's surely apparent to even the most stubborn of fan now that we don't have the best attacking team in the land and we need serious reinforcements in the final 3rd.
I won't even start on how shit and nieve our defense was.
Every armchair fan could see that coming and we still fell into their trap.
It's surely apparent to even the most stubborn of fan now that we don't have the best attacking team in the land and we need serious reinforcements in the final 3rd.
I won't even start on how shit and nieve our defense was.
The issue with the defence started with Lucas. Leicester had one tactic and it worked perfectly because we were obviously going to be exposed to pace. I understand that Ragnar isn't the fastest either but fuck me Lucas looked like he was stuck in mud everytime Vardy or Mahrez ran at him ... even the inexperienced Gomez would have been far far better because they wouldn't have been able to simply run around him.
In midfield nothing was happening. A virtual total lack of creativity. A footballing desert.
Up front we simply don't learn that 5-6 players trying to play half a dozen slick tippy tappy passes is hardly ever going to get you past a well organised 8-9 man defence when you are that badly out-numbered. Our goal was the perfect example of that as Can (who was otherwise shite again) drove forward, beat a couple of players on his own and that opened up the defence who hadn't got back and re-organised, something that playing 50 passes back and forth in front of them allowed them to do time and time again.
Far too many players were absent in mind and spirit ; Coutinho was awful, Lallana, Firmino, Milner, Wijnaldum, Can, Clyne (I've always thought him a very solid FB but his lack of attacking nouse is now clearly obvious, AA is a far better attacking option for matches of this nature). On the plus side I actually enjoyed Mignolet playing sweeper, he must have taken Diamox, and I can't see how he can be blamed for any of the goals. In fact only Matip (2 poor passes aside) and Mignolet can be absolved from the pile of shite.
In midfield nothing was happening. A virtual total lack of creativity. A footballing desert.
Up front we simply don't learn that 5-6 players trying to play half a dozen slick tippy tappy passes is hardly ever going to get you past a well organised 8-9 man defence when you are that badly out-numbered. Our goal was the perfect example of that as Can (who was otherwise shite again) drove forward, beat a couple of players on his own and that opened up the defence who hadn't got back and re-organised, something that playing 50 passes back and forth in front of them allowed them to do time and time again.
Far too many players were absent in mind and spirit ; Coutinho was awful, Lallana, Firmino, Milner, Wijnaldum, Can, Clyne (I've always thought him a very solid FB but his lack of attacking nouse is now clearly obvious, AA is a far better attacking option for matches of this nature). On the plus side I actually enjoyed Mignolet playing sweeper, he must have taken Diamox, and I can't see how he can be blamed for any of the goals. In fact only Matip (2 poor passes aside) and Mignolet can be absolved from the pile of shite.
No it didn't.
It started with us setting up like that.
We have no player with the pace to handle Vardy over that distance so the solution wasn't to play someone other than Lucas. It was to not set up with such a high line.
Like there was an option when Leicester sat so deep ? Which we knew was going to happen. Did you want the team spread over the whole pitch just to accommodate Lucas' lack of pace ? As I said, the issue in defence started with playing Lucas. Jesus there was even one instance when Vardy ran around him in just 5m - in our own penalty area !!
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