re: tOfficial Liverpool 2020/2021 Thread: Champions of England

quote:

---

I think the thing about their countering is just Klopp refusing to change his system even without starting caliber CB’s

---

This is the point I was skirting.

quote:

---

I don’t really see how leaving out Thiago and Firmino means we were trying to play for possession

---

The team choice he went with today meant a different style of midfield play with less creativity.

Jota is not a Bobby replacement. Our system can be shut down if we play our normal three or if we replace one of the three. Granted, we had a few moments where we should have scored, but for the most part we only truly deserved the one goal.

Gini in the side means the ball will be going backward a lot. Love him, but that is something he tends to do a ton of. Great for keeping the ball, bad for creativity. Keita in the side means both picking up the ball and some bad giveaways in tough spots. Him being in the side with not much playing time lately tells me either Klopp is banking on finishing Top 4 and resting players, or he honestly thought that this was a good idea re: Gini/Keita. (The 40’ sub tells me it was the latter.)

The way we play, if we don’t get runs into the box by the midfielders we are well and truly screwed. That’s why teams have crowded the center of the park against us this year. They know that if they give us possession and crowd the center, the likes of Hendo/Gini aren’t going to make runs to support our style of play. Everyone not named Gini/Hendo have been either injured or are second choice.

Now Hendo is injured, we play Thiago as an 8, and when Jota is on he is in a roaming 10 spot. Makes supporting runs, the back lines can’t handle it, and then we have goals. It’s like witchcraft, only this is actually real and tangible for us all to see and know.

It makes no sense to not start both Firmino and Jota if they are both healthy. Thiago and Fabs as well. That means we will have tough decisions when Hendo is back for that other midfield spot.