Fresh from attending the latest LFC press conference, Mo Stewart is here to break down what Arne Slot has to say and deliver his top takeaways. Tune in to hear Mo ask Liverpool's head coach a question
As for Chelsea, and Arsenal, I'd still like us to do the right thing and put our strongest side out. Palace did the honourable thing and played a relatively strong side at Arsenal, even though they had a cup semi days later, and respect to them for doing that. We owe it to the likes of Newcastle and Aston Villa to put our strongest side out. It's a question of ethics.
There is plenty of time to give 'fringe' players starts against Brighton and Palace, which are both complete dead rubbers and we could put out 'Plymouth' teams against them both.
James McConnell looked razor sharp in training and it'd be lovely to see him get a start.
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Chelsea the first game. The prequel! Not en enjoyable watch. They passed through us with ease and it was noticeable how fluid they were. I remember Veiga coming on and looking very accomplished on the ball and dangerous in terms of finding space, and then they loaned him out to Juventus because they'd bought so many players. What a luxury to have.
I don't have your memory for pressing patterns but they did cut through us with ease and that may have been the game that decided it for me that Slot going with four pressing doesn't work; you need to go all in with five or six (and a very high line), or just don't bother with the high press and drop off and win the ball further back, which Slot did seem to decide would be the best approach and the league table perhaps supports it. Let's be honest, Salah is terrible at pressing, he makes no attempt to tackle players, so if one of your high pressers doesn't engage in it properly, it's futile. The knock-on is that if our high press is easily bypassed, Macca can then get dragged into a position way too high for his recovery pace (or lack of). He was pretty much the most bypassed midfielder in world football last season (as was Trent), statistically, which is disastrous in terms of counters. It was noticeable from the FBRef stats that Slot has cut this easily bypassable factor down significantly, either by dropping Macca deeper or just drumming it into his head not to go chasing the ball higher up the pitch and then getting caught 10 yards too high up the pitch.
It's a new game and we can play new tactics. Don't press high. Sit back, pounce, counter.
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Transfers.
I don't mind excitement about players coming in, but LFC fan content providers really need to cut out the barely disguised glee at players leaving. 'This is Huddersfield' had a day off on Monday and then by Tuesday close of business they had Jota and Doak out of the door.
The players have just won the league. How about showing them the respect they deserve until the trophy parade is over before starting up the "Everyone must go!" conveyor belt...
Not a go at you, Mo. But it is a go at the massive proportion of our fanbase, and 'journalists' ('content' providers) who are more interested in transfers (and monetisation thereof: 'content') than what happens on the pitch. And yes 'content' is a euphemism there.
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Macca.
That was me going on about Macca's passing numbers being down. Just something I noticed on FBRef and I thought it noteworthy.
Good riposte of yours. Well considered and backed up. Good discussion.
Yes, the position change. I hadn't really considered that. Clearly going to be a big factor in Macca's volume of passes having plummeted this season.
Anyway it was never meant to be a takedown of Macca, who I love as a player. More an observation that Slot's promise to Curtis that midfield would be the star of the show from now on hasn't been in evidence this season. I don't mind the midfield not being the star of the show, but I do if Slot's idea is that it SHOULD be, and then we see the Chelsea game at Anfield where we got penned back and ended up booting the ball up the pitch, Manchester City similar, PSG running rings round us and us hardly able to string two passes together.
I would love to see Macca even more involved in play than he is. I don't feel like the midfield works as our midfields have worked together in the past, the midfielders working as a unit. We used to pass the ball around midfield. Now we seem to pass the ball around defence, which is obviously defensively sounder as we're less likely to cough up possession with a misplaced pass, but it is duller to watch without doubt. So it was lovely to see a shackles off midfield performance against Spurs where Ryan and Macca and Dom went out and shone.
All three of those players got a 10/10 as signings from me when we secured them, and I'm not prone to getting overexcited about players and dishing out 10s left right and centre, but I still feel we can get more out of them than we have. Our midfield still doesn't make sense to me, and yet we've won the league with a big points total (whether final or 'final minus four') despite Ryan not being a natural '6', Macca not being a natural '8' or even '6/8 hybrid', and Dom not being a natural midfielder at all having played in the forward line before joining.
So I would like to see a rejig – not necessarily a permanent rejig but certainly one that we can use as a variation in our armoury – to see Macca at 10, Ryan at 8, which means signing some sort of '6' so that when the music stops in the game of midfield musical chairs, what we see makes more sense than what it does currently. And yet, and yet, I know: league title.
Good piece that, Mo.
As for Chelsea, and Arsenal, I'd still like us to do the right thing and put our strongest side out. Palace did the honourable thing and played a relatively strong side at Arsenal, even though they had a cup semi days later, and respect to them for doing that. We owe it to the likes of Newcastle and Aston Villa to put our strongest side out. It's a question of ethics.
There is plenty of time to give 'fringe' players starts against Brighton and Palace, which are both complete dead rubbers and we could put out 'Plymouth' teams against them both.
James McConnell looked razor sharp in training and it'd be lovely to see him get a start.
–––
Chelsea the first game. The prequel! Not en enjoyable watch. They passed through us with ease and it was noticeable how fluid they were. I remember Veiga coming on and looking very accomplished on the ball and dangerous in terms of finding space, and then they loaned him out to Juventus because they'd bought so many players. What a luxury to have.
I don't have your memory for pressing patterns but they did cut through us with ease and that may have been the game that decided it for me that Slot going with four pressing doesn't work; you need to go all in with five or six (and a very high line), or just don't bother with the high press and drop off and win the ball further back, which Slot did seem to decide would be the best approach and the league table perhaps supports it. Let's be honest, Salah is terrible at pressing, he makes no attempt to tackle players, so if one of your high pressers doesn't engage in it properly, it's futile. The knock-on is that if our high press is easily bypassed, Macca can then get dragged into a position way too high for his recovery pace (or lack of). He was pretty much the most bypassed midfielder in world football last season (as was Trent), statistically, which is disastrous in terms of counters. It was noticeable from the FBRef stats that Slot has cut this easily bypassable factor down significantly, either by dropping Macca deeper or just drumming it into his head not to go chasing the ball higher up the pitch and then getting caught 10 yards too high up the pitch.
It's a new game and we can play new tactics. Don't press high. Sit back, pounce, counter.
–––
Transfers.
I don't mind excitement about players coming in, but LFC fan content providers really need to cut out the barely disguised glee at players leaving. 'This is Huddersfield' had a day off on Monday and then by Tuesday close of business they had Jota and Doak out of the door.
The players have just won the league. How about showing them the respect they deserve until the trophy parade is over before starting up the "Everyone must go!" conveyor belt...
Not a go at you, Mo. But it is a go at the massive proportion of our fanbase, and 'journalists' ('content' providers) who are more interested in transfers (and monetisation thereof: 'content') than what happens on the pitch. And yes 'content' is a euphemism there.
---
Macca.
That was me going on about Macca's passing numbers being down. Just something I noticed on FBRef and I thought it noteworthy.
Good riposte of yours. Well considered and backed up. Good discussion.
Yes, the position change. I hadn't really considered that. Clearly going to be a big factor in Macca's volume of passes having plummeted this season.
Anyway it was never meant to be a takedown of Macca, who I love as a player. More an observation that Slot's promise to Curtis that midfield would be the star of the show from now on hasn't been in evidence this season. I don't mind the midfield not being the star of the show, but I do if Slot's idea is that it SHOULD be, and then we see the Chelsea game at Anfield where we got penned back and ended up booting the ball up the pitch, Manchester City similar, PSG running rings round us and us hardly able to string two passes together.
I would love to see Macca even more involved in play than he is. I don't feel like the midfield works as our midfields have worked together in the past, the midfielders working as a unit. We used to pass the ball around midfield. Now we seem to pass the ball around defence, which is obviously defensively sounder as we're less likely to cough up possession with a misplaced pass, but it is duller to watch without doubt. So it was lovely to see a shackles off midfield performance against Spurs where Ryan and Macca and Dom went out and shone.
All three of those players got a 10/10 as signings from me when we secured them, and I'm not prone to getting overexcited about players and dishing out 10s left right and centre, but I still feel we can get more out of them than we have. Our midfield still doesn't make sense to me, and yet we've won the league with a big points total (whether final or 'final minus four') despite Ryan not being a natural '6', Macca not being a natural '8' or even '6/8 hybrid', and Dom not being a natural midfielder at all having played in the forward line before joining.
So I would like to see a rejig – not necessarily a permanent rejig but certainly one that we can use as a variation in our armoury – to see Macca at 10, Ryan at 8, which means signing some sort of '6' so that when the music stops in the game of midfield musical chairs, what we see makes more sense than what it does currently. And yet, and yet, I know: league title.