High hopes for Bradders but Gakpo turns 26 in a few weeks, so what you see is what you get.
Hopefully Szobo's play improves with the introduction of a proper right back.
Trent, Salah and VVD
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Hopefully Szobo's play improves with the introduction of a proper right back.
Which is fair enough, but all strikers have drop offs. Look at haaland. Thing is the rest of the team haven't supported salah when he's had that drop in form. He's been carrying the team for half a season and when he's gotten tired no one else has stepped up. You can't expect him to deliver all season.
I don't expect him to deliver all season, but this is the season defining time. We need him to be at his best now.
But I blame Slot for that more than Salah.
Every time I read someone saying ‘Mo’s been carrying the team’ I think of how many players around him (Szobo, Grav, the right back) have to exhaust themselves over ac season carrying his defensive workload.. and how the expectation on the other flank on someone like Diaz is to both run himself into the ground and score / assist…and how other sides can just target our right hand side at will (and do so).
Like Modo I’m glad on balance he’s signed, but I’m concerned enough that a declining Mo might not prove worth the overall net negative on other important players in the system over the course of a long season. Personality aside, there a whiff of late career Ronaldo about it all to me.
That is deffo a potential risk. It wouldn't be good optics for him or us (understandable though).
I'm happy he's staying.
I feel though we need to ensure the team is more balanced.
Keep it more balanced, and we'll be fine (not sure what that means though in terms of league finish etc).
Yup, the team defensively is set up to ensure he has minimal defensive responsibilities ... as he's our best attacking talent.
I have an idea, I bet you and the rest of the fans have the same idea. The name of the action or process starts with an "R".
Nah not having that ! The stats show that the RW is our most oft utilised attacking outlet and that his passes inside are the most made in attack. He doesn't do that alone.
Szobo is almost always there supporting him. Trent is usually just behind him and whoever is at CF (Jota, Nunez, Diaz) is often an outlet for him too - just look at the assists he's received from them on his way to 27 goals. Bradley at RB should see more support and over-lapping too (if Slot permits it).
OK some (a lot) of this comes down to him not just tactics ! He often lacks control and his passing goes astray, he's out-muscled and the past 2 seasons he's been out-paced too.
Maybe not for Gakpo - if he were to become the main LW outlet he'd deffo have more G+A. I think the ceiling is higher but he needs to work back more (as Diaz + Nunez do).
Well for me I'd like to see him moved inside and a real winger with pace take his place at RW. We know he has the goal scoring stats (best xG in the PL I think I saw recently) to make the most of it and his ability to pick a pass is now more Bobby-like.
To play him like as a false 9?
Not a bad idea, but I'm not sure if it suits him.
Haven’t we been here before? Maybe I’m wrong, but my impression is that Salah often dips a bit in the final third of the season. We overstate the decline, talk about selling him, and then bang, he's back next year as one of the most productive forwards in Europe.
I’m not saying the drop-off isn’t real or that the club doesn’t need to adapt, but I wouldn’t read too much into these last few months as proof he’s in sharp decline. We can’t all agree that Slot has overplayed most of the squad and then ignore how that might affect someone who fasts every year, plays AFCON every other January, and is operating within a football calendar that, frankly, everyone apart from the bean-counters admits is far too intense. We should not be as reliant on him, but that's a sidebar. Now that we are, the extension means we have a regular source of goals and assists whilst we reduce our dependency on his numbers. Personally, I'm delighted the story continues.
I’m not saying the drop-off isn’t real or that the club doesn’t need to adapt, but I wouldn’t read too much into these last few months as proof he’s in sharp decline. We can’t all agree that Slot has overplayed most of the squad and then ignore how that might affect someone who fasts every year, plays AFCON every other January, and is operating within a football calendar that, frankly, everyone apart from the bean-counters admits is far too intense. We should not be as reliant on him, but that's a sidebar. Now that we are, the extension means we have a regular source of goals and assists whilst we reduce our dependency on his numbers. Personally, I'm delighted the story continues.
Part of the problem is that the manager and player need to agree that he doesn't play 90 mins every match. He seems to have too much power for a player, and we have 2 successive managers who have been reluctant to hook him in games.
I'd be surprised if this wasn't the stance of almost all posters here ...
Now that I can wholeheartedly cheer…Virgil literally carries, organises, leads, symbolises our whole defensive line whilst also authoritatively - without ego - exercising his captain duties. No one is pulled out of shape to cover him, no one has to work harder than him to compensate…moreover he tends to cover for others (Robbo) etc galloping forwards. His form is also consistently brilliant, especially since he simply cannot afford to go missing in ANY game.
He’s a truly elite player that requires no special circumstances around him to bring out his best…like Mo used to be really.
Agreed. Part of that is we've never provided proper back up or competition for the role, which will have to change over this contract. Klopp chose to invest in other areas and Slot has inherited Elliott and probably had Chiesa lumbered on him because FSG sniffed a profit.
True. I think an audit would show that Mo's agent has been paying Jurgen and Arne a bonus every time he plays 90 mins
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