re: OFFICIAL LFC 16/17 Season Long Thread - Piss off, Gunners!!

At least we have another Viking on our back line again. On the Milner issue, I think if everything stays the same he will get a shot at LB......I bet he would have started at LB if fit.

I am not nearly as down on Moreno as a lot of you.

On the penalty, if he makes better contact with the ball and it goes 6 rows deep in the stands, no chance its a penalty. So his aggressiveness hurts him there. His aggressiveness also led to him saving a really high chance of a goal earlier in the game when he went left to right to block a chance from the 6 yard box. I mean, you have to live with his aggressiveness and the pluses and minuses it gives - this wasn't his "kick my leg out behind me to trip the guy" stupid penalty that he did last year.

1st goal - I think of him as 3rd at fault for it. 1st, Lallana loses possession in the middle of our half - something he did several times in the first half and almost lead to Arsenal goals several times. Arsenal had several guys forward, and Moreno was moving forward to be part of our counter. That has obviously been a role of his under Klopp for pretty much his entire time here. Once the ball is lost, Klavan follows the wrong runner (there were already two other Liverpool defenders in the direction they were running and he has to know that Moreno's job is to get forward and provide width on Cou's attacking side) and most importantly drop 5 yards deeper than any other defender, playing three potential Arsenal players onside. Moreno does well to try to catch up. People may say he should not burst forward with the Arsenal guys there, but that's precisely when he should burst forward, to create and overload for easy chances on the counter.

How we can vilify a guy for playing his role exactly as he's intended is hard to figure out. Yes, he had a poor game overall, but I don't see the goal as his fault. And goals 2 and 3 both game from the right side.

Other thoughts -

Absent goal 1, I thought Klavan was rock solid. His aerial presence was good. His clearences were good. He looked composed, confident, and generally exactly the type of CB presence (starting on first options off the bench) we need. His biggest weakness - I didn't see anything from his game that both Lovren and Sakho bring (more on that on my Lovren thoughts), but that may come in time as he gets used to the system and players.

Lovren - had a few shaky communication moments with Mignolet, but looked pretty decent. Had to get out to defend Sanchez a few times on his own out wide with Clynne upfield and did well. Watch Cou's second goal again - after all of the passing around, Lovren's fake out side to Clynne pulls the arsenal defense out of shape for just a couple of steps and allows him to play a ball into Wij(?) that pretty much cretes the opening for the goal - yes Clyne still has a lot of work to do. This is what Lovren and Sakho bring that many Cbs don't - incisive passes that open up defenses and create chances.

Hendo - should not be a holding midfield against any top team, and maybe never again at all - I feel like we got away with one yesterday. His runs towards the ball too often to be the guy protecting the back four. He must only play as one of the running CMs in front of the CDM.

Cou - master game and he pretty much single handedly turned the game around against a top team - this is what you count on your best player doing. Scored two and set up another.

Mane - geez. If he can be consistent, we've got ourselves exactly what we needed. Speed, power, determination, and composure. I think his technical ability could still use some work, but damn, that goal was beautiful - if it didn't bring you out of your chair screaming, nothing will.

Overall, definitely a game of two halves - Lallana said that Klopps half time talk really helped and one of the things he told Adam and Wij was to use the space and width - they were playing too tight in the first half. you can see the difference that made.

So nice and refreshing to have a coach make little adjustments that really pay off rather than tinkering for no reason with no effect.

3 huge points away to Arsenal - by far the most impressive win (i.e. opponent stature and location ) of the weekend.

quote:

---

On the penalty, if he makes better contact with the ball and it goes 6 rows deep in the stands, no chance its a penalty.

---

I don't know. That was still a bad tackle, even if he did get a lot of the ball.

quote:

---

I don't know. That was still a bad tackle, even if he did get a lot of the ball.

---

That too. No reason he had to be that out of control and wreckless on a ball he was clearly getting to first

quote:

---

That too. No reason he had to be that out of control and wreckless on a ball he was clearly getting to first

---

yeah, he should have been able to make contact and poke it out... no need to try and clear into the upper deck..

quote:

---

That said, Moreno is a LB. Not a LWB. Not a LM. He's an auxiliary attacker on the counter. He doesn't need to shoot up the pitch that far and that early.

---

That's the issue - we have no idea if that's true. He's not playing good as a LB as you understand or want that role to be. Personally, I believe Klopp is pushing him to attack more than the role you see him as - that's based upon not only how he's playing his role, but also how Klopp hasn't even sniffed at bringing in another first team LB this window. Moreno is clearly doing what Klopp wants to a certain extent.

If Lallana doesn't lose possession, we have numbers going forward and a counter opportunity. Moreno provides the width since Cou really can't.

Entirely possible that I'm wrong - but Klopp has pretty well proven to be a bit ruthless this window - if Moreno was performing his role poorly, I think we would have seen a first team player linked there at least. Thus, I have to believe that Moreno is behaving close to what Klopp defines the role as.

Hell, Emre Can can be that guy. Grujic has loads of potential as well. I'm not as concerned with the future of that position as many seem to be. I'd just as soon see Can and Grujic take some lumps along the way (though can has proven to be much better than serviceable) while we're out of Europe. I think he can be one of the best in the world at that position one day.

Moreno is garbage but that goal is 100% on Lallana.

quote:

---

Don't get me wrong, I like both Can and Grujic, but I've seen people begging for another DM

---

I think we need one... I just don't think it's Can's natural position, but he shows promise..

Nothing I've ever seen or heard about Grujic suggests he's a DM..

Another interesting link is with Paredes... more of a controller/DLP.. but the kid is class..

High five me, I'll be running the other way.