Premier League 2020-2021 (Part II)

[uncleben]

Continued from here.

Click to read more...

 

[spintheblackcircle]

Start with a bang

 

[YNWA14]

Souness made some good points about Liverpool's play recently. As much as van Dijk, Gomez and Robertson looked almost perfect in the past defensively a lot of the reason they were able to be so calm, collected and efficient at the back was because of the graft of the midfield. The midfield has, frankly, been pretty poor and completely bypassed in recent games. I wouldn't say the whole blame is on them at all, it's a team game, but they're offering next to no protection to the back line but people want to build a statue of Fabinho who, if he isn't winning the ball back up high, has often been passed like a pylon en route to the goal, and his recovery speed is not great. Wijnaldum has been lazy as **** since the new season started and frankly I'd rather see Jones starting over him. Keita has been exciting going forward as well but doesn't really put in a shift the other way. The midfield is really missing that energy and workrate it had that made Liverpool tick for so long. You saw a lot more of the pressure against Chelsea and Arsenal, but for all the talk about the lack of skill and ability in Liverpool's midfield for years they've been so very important, especially Hendo.

Anyway, hopefully Thiago and Hendo are both fully fit and starting again soon especially with Alisson out for a while. The whole team has been disjointed. Sorry for the rant.

 

[hatterson]

Souness made some good points about Liverpool's play recently. As much as van Dijk, Gomez and Robertson looked almost perfect in the past defensively a lot of the reason they were able to be so calm, collected and efficient at the back was because of the graft of the midfield. The midfield has, frankly, been pretty poor and completely bypassed in recent games. I wouldn't say the whole blame is on them at all, it's a team game, but they're offering next to no protection to the back line but people want to build a statue of Fabinho who, if he isn't winning the ball back up high, has often been passed like a pylon en route to the goal, and his recovery speed is not great. Wijnaldum has been lazy as **** since the new season started and frankly I'd rather see Jones starting over him. Keita has been exciting going forward as well but doesn't really put in a shift the other way. The midfield is really missing that energy and workrate it had that made Liverpool tick for so long. You saw a lot more of the pressure against Chelsea and Arsenal, but for all the talk about the lack of skill and ability in Liverpool's midfield for years they've been so very important, especially Hendo.

Anyway, hopefully Thiago and Hendo are both fully fit and starting again soon especially with Alisson out for a while. The whole team has been disjointed. Sorry for the rant.

I'd say TAA also essentially not existing on his own side of half has also thrown the rest of the defensive line off. Gomez is basically covering half the field which also causes VVD to have to move out of position.

TAA has obviously never been amazing defensively, but he's also not been this irrelevant either.

 

[Stray Wasp]

Souness made some good points about Liverpool's play recently. As much as van Dijk, Gomez and Robertson looked almost perfect in the past defensively a lot of the reason they were able to be so calm, collected and efficient at the back was because of the graft of the midfield. The midfield has, frankly, been pretty poor and completely bypassed in recent games. I wouldn't say the whole blame is on them at all, it's a team game, but they're offering next to no protection to the back line but people want to build a statue of Fabinho who, if he isn't winning the ball back up high, has often been passed like a pylon en route to the goal, and his recovery speed is not great. Wijnaldum has been lazy as **** since the new season started and frankly I'd rather see Jones starting over him. Keita has been exciting going forward as well but doesn't really put in a shift the other way. The midfield is really missing that energy and workrate it had that made Liverpool tick for so long. You saw a lot more of the pressure against Chelsea and Arsenal, but for all the talk about the lack of skill and ability in Liverpool's midfield for years they've been so very important, especially Hendo.

Anyway, hopefully Thiago and Hendo are both fully fit and starting again soon especially with Alisson out for a while. The whole team has been disjointed. Sorry for the rant.

Tempting as it is to say that Souness making some good points likely heralds the apocalypse, I think the sport is in an era where if your midfield doesn't provide protection, no defender, no matter how good, is safe.

 

[YNWA14]

I'd say TAA also essentially not existing on his own side of half has also thrown the rest of the defensive line off. Gomez is basically covering half the field which also causes VVD to have to move out of position.

TAA has obviously never been amazing defensively, but he's also not been this irrelevant either.

Yep, and I feel like in the past a lot more you would see the midfielders covering back for Trent and Robertson, and that insulation just doesn't seem to be there anymore. I know that Liverpool hold a high line, and that they want to win the ball high up the field, but the reality is that when teams are attacking Liverpool the way that they have been they need that extra support from the midfield to cover for guys like Trent, Robbo, etc. pushing high up. Right now it's basically Gomez and van Dijk marooned and trying to do the defensive work of two phases of play which also puts a ton of pressure on the keeper. Gomez certainly has had his faults since the COVID break (and before, as no player is perfect, but especially since then) but so have most of the players on the team. Unfortunately the way that Liverpool play the defence looks more egregious in this respect because they're left on their own so much without support, or they're having to rush back to cover for the non-existent defending from the flanks.

This reminds me a lot of early days under Klopp where they were just bombing forward with the fullbacks and had no cover so the centrebacks were getting isolated and shit on all the time (Lovren especially) but as soon as he became a bit more pragmatic and the midfield offered more protection to the backline (while bringing in van Dijk) Lovren all of a sudden turned into a stud and they had the best defensive record going. I dunno, it seems like we're reverting more to that style of play again and if it's the case we're going to ship a lot of goals and frankly our offensive structure isn't good enough to consistently play that way, IMO.

 

[Savant]

Start with a bang

They better this year. Year three Mourinho going to be a doozy. But yeah I think they are better than United and Chelsea right now for sure. Probably better than Arsenal.

 

[S E P H]

Start with a bang

Lol, "an open year". Liverpool loses a fluke game and everything is now deemed open by pundits, we'll see but I am not sure and I've been one of the more vocal blokes on here that they'll lose and draw a lot more games this season. I had Man City winning the league, but that was before they reduced their funds for Koulibaly and before KFC bought Thiago. Liverpool should win the league again sadly, even if it might be a close race to the rest of the pack this time around.

 

[Fro]

They better this year. Year three Mourinho going to be a doozy. But yeah I think they are better than United and Chelsea right now for sure. Probably better than Arsenal.

I was told the same about Year 3 under Tortorella...ppl adjust...can Mo? We'll see...but those players are buying into Jose, and if Bale plays anywhere near his previous level...theres not many reasons they can't make some noise

 

[spintheblackcircle]

They better this year. Year three Mourinho going to be a doozy. But yeah I think they are better than United and Chelsea right now for sure. Probably better than Arsenal.

He has had 3 bad 3rd years and 1 great one, he won the CL at Porto in year 3, so it's not like he hasn't done it before.

.....but every Spurs fan would take a typical Jose 2nd year with multiple trophies, and if he actually burned the new stadium down in year 3, they would still put up a statue of him in front of the next one they build.

 

[Live in the Now]

Shaqiri has COVID and now I’m convinced our whole team has it. Would certainly explain the last performance because nothing else does. Our players are going to spread it to their international teammates and everyone’s going to get it.

I also think that when Alisson was in doubt for the Arsenal match, it was COVID related and they thought he might test positive.

 

[Chimaera]

Yeah the question is more who doesn’t have it.

realistically they need to lockdown everyone.

 

[Chimaera]

International duty right now is the dumbest thing possible.

Greedy FAs gotta get their cut I guess.

 

[YNWA14]

Yeah the question is more who doesn’t have it.

realistically they need to lockdown everyone.

That doesn't seem very realistic at all.

 

[Savant]

Shaqiri has COVID and now I’m convinced our whole team has it. Would certainly explain the last performance because nothing else does. Our players are going to spread it to their international teammates and everyone’s going to get it.

I also think that when Alisson was in doubt for the Arsenal match, it was COVID related and they thought he might test positive.

I haven’t wanted to say this for obvious reasons, but was certainly thinking it. I think this is their 7th positive.

 

[robertmac43]

What is the testing strategy for the Prem? Is it weekly or daily mandatory tests, or can the players do what they want?

 

[John Price]

poor gunnersaurus

 

[hatterson]

But yea, Ozil is the bad guy for not taking a pay cut.

 

[robertmac43]

#FreeOzil

 

[Duchene2MacKinnon]

Came here to post that. Those billionaires smh. Ozil wins this round.

 

[phisherman]

If there are no fans and the mascot can't do any in person appearances due to physical distancing then why should they keep him on the payroll?

It sucks and it's great that Ozil is going to cover the guy's salary but it doesn't make sense to keep him on the payroll.

 

[hatterson]

If there are no fans and the mascot can't do any in person appearances due to physical distancing then why should they keep him on the payroll?

It sucks and it's great that Ozil is going to cover the guy's salary but it doesn't make sense to keep him on the payroll.

Because the reason the owners asked the players to take a pay cut was so they didn't have to lay anyone off.

Some of the players agree and then the owners sacked a bunch of people anyway and continue to do it.

 

[bleedblue1223]

And that's why the players shouldn't have agreed to a pay cut without a guarantee on how those funds would be used. This is why Ozil was always in the right in this situation.

 

[Duchene2MacKinnon]

If there are no fans and the mascot can't do any in person appearances due to physical distancing then why should they keep him on the payroll?

It sucks and it's great that Ozil is going to cover the guy's salary but it doesn't make sense to keep him on the payroll.

Fans will come back at some point, are you just going to hire another person after.... You saved about 20K nicely done. Totally worth it and fixed Kroenke's finances. Must've been a slow year at Walmart.

 

[phisherman]

Because the reason the owners asked the players to take a pay cut was so they didn't have to lay anyone off.

Some of the players agree and then the owners sacked a bunch of people anyway and continue to do it.

Can you find a quote that specifically says that?