Not surprising — this is not exactly a golden age of central defenders we're living through right now.
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The 2022-2023 Football Thread
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Just rewatched the Liverpool - Man City match, and immediately a few things became clear. Gomez had a fantastic game and Virgil looked improved over recent performances. Milner coped very well at right back - in a very different role from what Trent is asked to do, mind you - and Robertson's injury layoff has provided some much-needed rest. Collectively this means 'Pool were able to put out a strong and high-energy defensive unit, markedly better than the tired, patched up crew we've seen of late.
Another key factor was the presence of both Fabinho and Thiago - Liverpool's best midfield pairing.
Alisson's assist on Salah's goal was fantastic. And it distills the essence of Klopp's approach. Liverpool neither parked the bus nor tried to pass it into the net. It was pure Klopp - work hard, harry the opponent the whole match, and focus on winning the transitions.
Man City's biggest weakness is that you can get behind their defense, who are often pushing up or playing high. Man City are more likely to score on most teams so often that weakness is not often obvious, but Liverpool, when playing to their potential, are a team that have the capacity to exploit that weakness. You could argue Liverpool often win these games with 'longballs', but it's not a hopeful punt in the general direction of goal, it's an accurate pass on to a runner who also generally has support to overload the opposition.
As for the VAR'd Man City goal, Haaland was yanking hard on Fabinho's shirt as the latter was trying to control the ball, and then subsequently kicked the ball out of Alisson's hands. If the shoe were on the other foot I'd be just as upset as Man City fans, but if I put my objectivity hat on I really think that goal should indeed have been disallowed. It was a very tight match. Man City were not at their best and still nearly won it.
On the downside for 'Pool, Jota, who had a really good match, looks to have picked up a significant hamstring injury. And Nunez is still choosing the wrong option in front of goal too often, in spite of his obvious talent. Jury's still out.
I'm still checked out of the league campaign, but I'll take a win over Man City any day.
But nobody wants to hear any of that that...people just want to see one of the world's flashiest players hoist a glittering trophy every year. And that's fine*.
*as long as we accept the asterisks.
Another key factor was the presence of both Fabinho and Thiago - Liverpool's best midfield pairing.
Alisson's assist on Salah's goal was fantastic. And it distills the essence of Klopp's approach. Liverpool neither parked the bus nor tried to pass it into the net. It was pure Klopp - work hard, harry the opponent the whole match, and focus on winning the transitions.
Man City's biggest weakness is that you can get behind their defense, who are often pushing up or playing high. Man City are more likely to score on most teams so often that weakness is not often obvious, but Liverpool, when playing to their potential, are a team that have the capacity to exploit that weakness. You could argue Liverpool often win these games with 'longballs', but it's not a hopeful punt in the general direction of goal, it's an accurate pass on to a runner who also generally has support to overload the opposition.
As for the VAR'd Man City goal, Haaland was yanking hard on Fabinho's shirt as the latter was trying to control the ball, and then subsequently kicked the ball out of Alisson's hands. If the shoe were on the other foot I'd be just as upset as Man City fans, but if I put my objectivity hat on I really think that goal should indeed have been disallowed. It was a very tight match. Man City were not at their best and still nearly won it.
On the downside for 'Pool, Jota, who had a really good match, looks to have picked up a significant hamstring injury. And Nunez is still choosing the wrong option in front of goal too often, in spite of his obvious talent. Jury's still out.
I'm still checked out of the league campaign, but I'll take a win over Man City any day.
Convicted blackmailer and patron of underage prostitutes....good footballer though.
Quite true. Though we all know the award is biased towards attacking players. I don't see that as a problem with how the Ballon d'Or is awarded; it's really just a problem with the idea of there being a 'best' player. Human society always has a need for lists of who/what is 'best' even though it's truly an unresolvable question without adding asterisks. In order to clearly establish a 'best' you have to narrow the metrics, which inherently (and generally arbitrary) excludes complicating factors and counterarguments. And that doesn't even account for the reality that having the best player is, in itself, little guarantee of success in what is firmly a team sport. Benzema is surrounded by world-class players, inflating his numbers artificially over excellent players in lesser teams.
But nobody wants to hear any of that that...people just want to see one of the world's flashiest players hoist a glittering trophy every year. And that's fine*.
*as long as we accept the asterisks.
What struck me about the game as distinctly not Klopp like was the route one attack on goal. Not saying you should do that all the time, but during a game you need to be able to change it up occasionally and try something different. Klopp tends to have one game plan per game.
Agree Gomez and Virgil played much better. Lousy timing from my point of view. We play you tomorrow!
The long pass has been part of Klopp's style since day one. But when he first arrived at Liverpool, several players who are the main providers of such passes (Alisson, Virgil, Trent, for example) were either not yet on the books or hadn't broken into the first team yet.
Klopp has employed a more possession-oriented approach, especially against teams that sit deep, but against Man City sending runners in behind with accurate long passes has proven by far the most successful tactic. It's rarely possible to dominate the midfield against Man City, so the best thing to do is to bypass it.
Just as Trent takes constant criticism for being an attack-minded defender, Man City's entire defense is asked to play high up the pitch and that is the team's single biggest weakness.
Unfortunately the modern game frowns on route one football. But I’m not sure why. Seeing the central defender pass to the left back who passes back to the goalkeeper isn’t very entertaining is it? Sometimes you have to play to your strengths and change things up in a game.
Brighton stay above Liverpool (for now) with a point against Forest (0-0) and Palace have shot up to 10th with a win against Wolves (2-1)
You'd have to think if something doesn't change soon for Forest, they'll be heading back down pretty quickly.
You'd have to think if something doesn't change soon for Forest, they'll be heading back down pretty quickly.
It's a canned response people have to any long pass. Ever since Tiki-Taka fell out of fashion, I'd argue that direct play is very much back in vogue. Even Pep has altered his style away from the mesmeric short passing game to something more balanced.
The stereotypical 'Route One' team uses flat banks of defenders and midfielders with one or two loitering forwards chasing down the odd hopeful punt. No fun to watch. But even the richest teams still can, and do, use long, accurate passes as a means to bypass the opposition - especially when coupled with a counter press that catches the opponent in transition. There is a big difference between an accurate long pass and a hopeful punt, especially when the whole team counterattacks as a unit.
I think it depends on your personnel, too. If you have someone who has speed and finishing ability, route-one can be a handy way to pick up a few wins. Especially on the road as a counter-attacking team.
If all you have is cart-horses...pass-back is about all you can hope for.
Two games into the new A-League season and whilst we don't yet have a win, Wellington Phoenix are thus far unbeaten.
Melbourne City have started where they left off - at the top.
As have Perth Glory and Brisbane Roar - at the bottom.
The only really noticeable deviation from last season's end-of-year form is Western United, who finished 3rd.
Melbourne City have started where they left off - at the top.
As have Perth Glory and Brisbane Roar - at the bottom.
The only really noticeable deviation from last season's end-of-year form is Western United, who finished 3rd.
Predictably, the Super League is brewing again. There is a cabal of powerful football men who have fixated on this project and intend to make it happen at all costs.
They have clearly deemed the failure of the previous attempt to have been caused by a popular reaction to the 'closed shop' model, so this time around they are planning to propose some sort of promotion/relegation model. This is clever, because they know from experience that the elite level of European football is already a closed shop in all but name, so they aren't really offering anything substantially different than their last proposal.
I hate the concept, fans need to rise up and kill it again when it appears - but I fear this monster is never going to go away and at some point the pressure to create it will become irresistible.
They have clearly deemed the failure of the previous attempt to have been caused by a popular reaction to the 'closed shop' model, so this time around they are planning to propose some sort of promotion/relegation model. This is clever, because they know from experience that the elite level of European football is already a closed shop in all but name, so they aren't really offering anything substantially different than their last proposal.
I hate the concept, fans need to rise up and kill it again when it appears - but I fear this monster is never going to go away and at some point the pressure to create it will become irresistible.
James Milner is a beast. What a game hes had.
I can see Everton giving Frank Lampard his marching orders soon.
I can see Everton giving Frank Lampard his marching orders soon.
Tight match against West Ham, 1-0 at full time belies the number of chances from both sides. Gomez was excellent against Man City but did give up a penalty here. Alisson has a pretty good penalty save record but still, you typically expect to concede when a PK is awarded.
An 'OK' performance by the Reds against a solid West Ham team who felt a little light in the finishing department.
An 'OK' performance by the Reds against a solid West Ham team who felt a little light in the finishing department.
Started in 2005.
Looks quite different now to what it did back then.
There's been a few clubs hit the proverbial wall and others that lost their licences for either mismanagement or not "meeting metrics" etc.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A-League_Men
It's a bit odd too, as the Wellington Phoenix are from NZ and therefore in the Oceania Confederation, which makes them ineligible for either the OFC or AFC Champions Leagues. The A-League is an Asia Confederation competition.
Basically, if WPX won the A-League, they'd get a trophy and the second-placed team would get ACL games.
Really good performance by United against Spurs. If they could just tighten up their finishing, they could really be on to something. Ten Hag coached rings around Conte today and Lisandro kept Harry Kane in his pocket all game.
Of course it's going to be all about Ronaldo stalking down the tunnel well before FT. You're a legend and all, but you need to go.
Of course it's going to be all about Ronaldo stalking down the tunnel well before FT. You're a legend and all, but you need to go.
As Shearer said Bruno was back to his best with Ronaldo not playing.
There is an interesting parallel between Conte's Spurs and previous Post-Ferg iterations of Man Utd, like the Mourinho and OGS eras where they had some success employing a style that was not to the fans' liking. But at the end of the day only major silverware could quell that unrest, and it never came...leading to a falling out.
Conte's style is already the subject of complaints from some Spurs fans, and unless he wins trophies that dissatisfaction will grow and eventually be his undoing.
This is Spurs we're talking about here. Perennial dust-gatherers.
Not surprised we lost. Our finishing is always just lacking a bit. We create chances but don’t convert them.
Obviously missing the pen was disappointing. We miss Mark Noble!
Having to name 3 goalkeepers again is a worry about our strength in depth.
Current word on Ronaldo is he refused to come on as a sub before leaving OT before FT. He will be left out of the squad to face Chelsea, and frankly should never be part of another match squad for United ever again. Leave him in limbo-land until the next transfer window — releasing him now gives him exactly what he wants.
So far I think ETH has handled the situation perfectly. If United didn't have a shortage of strikers due to Martial being injuries, this would have and should have happened much sooner.
I'm sure many people will gloss over this part of his United legacy, but for me he's permanently tainted goods.
So far I think ETH has handled the situation perfectly. If United didn't have a shortage of strikers due to Martial being injuries, this would have and should have happened much sooner.
I'm sure many people will gloss over this part of his United legacy, but for me he's permanently tainted goods.
Agree. Leave him to rot in the reserves. Hope he clears off to the States soon. Then we can hear a lot less about him over here.
I think he is done. Legend status doesnt mean you are guaranteed a start.
Some legends are happy to support their club as they transition to a later stage in their career. Others need to find a smaller club or league to carry on being a legend.
But trying to undermine the manager and acting like a spoilt child is never the right move.