Liverpool Banter Archive October 06 2016

06 Oct 2016 23:45:15
How do you rate our midfield as a defending unit, especially going forward in the season? I believe that what we are doing works for us, and it proves we don't necessarily need a dedicated DM to just sit in front of the back 4. I can't think of one game (perhaps apart from the first 45 against Arsenal) when our midfield has been comprehensively overrun.

07 Oct 2016 00:06:39
The way we are at the min mate we're doing the job, I also don't believe we need a DM . we're going to have slip ups of course but overall we're doing excellent. I have no complaints.

07 Oct 2016 01:58:23
the point is the score more goals than the other side. the way the side is set up allows us to do that. Burnley is a weird game, the game plan worked but ball wold not go in. So far, the game plan has not really failed, possibly didn't function well against Swansea only.

07 Oct 2016 06:25:57
Henderson currently plays that role and he has been good so far. But I still believe we need a special player in that position, someone who sits there are dictate the game from the back. Henderson should play a lot more up the pitch very much like dembele did at Spurs.

07 Oct 2016 09:05:50
Burnley was just they got a great goal a minute in and allowed them to completely sit back and put in what was a great defensive performance. I think people over reacted with us being poor while it was more burnleys great execution of a game plan which nullified us to a large extent.

07 Oct 2016 09:39:20
Yeah I think half of it with Burnley is we didn't expect it, we underestimated them and failed doing so. which worried me when it came to the Hull game, but look what we did to them, better yet to Swansea, the main thing is we learnt from the mistakes we made at Burnley.

07 Oct 2016 10:56:09
The Burnley game wasn't really down to great tactics or defending by them. We just lacked a bit of finesse in the final third and were unlucky. Coutinho blazed everything over the bar - if one of them goes in it completely changes the game - just one of them days unfortunately. I'm confident we can crack open any park-the-bus teams, Mane is the key in that though because he can stretch a defence from a standing start and open up their shape.

07 Oct 2016 17:50:31
Burnley park the bus when they play a big team at home, regardless of who it is Why do I know this? They did the same thing to Arsenal and almost got a point until the breakthough happened. That is the way Burnley play, end of. The difference was they got a goal early and packed it in. It didn`t help that we made poor decisions in the final third which helped them as well. At 2-0, it was a lost cause even with 45 mins left. As for the way we play, Klopp used bender and Kehl at BVB as DM`s when he was there in the beginning. he then put in a DLP in the name of Nuri Sahin who was fantastic in that role (not a DM) when they won the league in 2011 and Sahin was Player of the Year. He is doing the same thing with Hendo as in a midfield launch pad for attacks and defending. A specialist DM who only preaks up play, can`t do what hendo does as Hendo is a DM with AM skills, greta engine, good positioning enough defensive qualities and has goals in him. A specialist DM cannot do any of the above and it is perfect for our system. This is why Masche could not usurp Busquets at Barcelona till this day as he is not a specialist DM. he is a DLP.

08 Oct 2016 08:53:23
Hamilton

Busquets is no DLP and he has / had Xavi / Rakitic starting an attack. Alonso did that deep lying role alongside Vidal and Khadiera at their respective clubs. Hendo is not first clas in his passing range hence we saw majority backpass to lovren against Swansea.
Gerrard could pass the ball but couldn't break up an attack hence we conceded plenty 2 years ago.
There are players who are special and who could do both the roles.

08 Oct 2016 17:34:21
If Lucas does leave during the winter break or the summer, I would be happier with a dedicated DM in the squad. There's a large diversity of team styles that have to be played across the EPL, the Cups and Europe, and a DM wil be needed against certain teams. I'm not suggesting we change our current style, but rather that we be prepared for any kind of team and style that we have to face. I know Stewart is there, but we need a notch better still.

06 Oct 2016 16:50:04
Saw an interesting stat the other day,

Liverpool have conceded the least shots out of any EPL team this season.

Obviously we are still conceding goals but the above suggests that it is not down to bad defending but to many silly individual player errors.

It will only be a matter of time before we start keeping clean sheets.

06 Oct 2016 17:12:02
I don't think it's easy to interpret stats like you have.

We are conceding less shots probably because we are attacking for most of the game. That doesn't mean there's nothing wrong with our defending.
All goals conceded are down to errors one way or another.

It's an interesting stat, but that's all it is IMO.

06 Oct 2016 17:44:48
im with ron here, and it also means that u don't need that many chances to score against us.

bt i think (hope) that it will improve. if anything we have improved a lot under klopp.

06 Oct 2016 17:55:04
Sure but we do leave ourselves open to many counter attacks? We are just very sufficient at getting back to clear danger. We also defend from the front.

Our set piece defending may not be there yet but is much better compared to last season. We were one of the worst teams when it came to defending set pieces last season.

Overall we are defending much better than what we were last season so the stat of conceding the least goals sort of ways up to the way we are improving as a defensive unit.

06 Oct 2016 18:02:33
Sorry meant conceding the least shots.

06 Oct 2016 21:07:12
Individual errors from past 4 good years? One of the main problem is our zonal marking on corners. So easy to score against us.

06 Oct 2016 21:12:39
Anything team let goals in I would not worry. I would if we can't score.

06 Oct 2016 23:08:15
Yeah end of the day we're scoring, even if we don't get a clean sheet all season i wouldn't be bothered to have 1 scored against us if we go and score 3+ which is becoming a regular thing at the moment.

06 Oct 2016 23:49:41
Yes, that is as others have said, open to interpretation. A very solid defence might "concede" a lot of shots as teams resort to taking pot shots from 20yards as they can't get through the defence. I take your point though, out of interest what is the shots to goals conceded ratio?

07 Oct 2016 18:00:58
To me, it is not open to interpretation. You can find one or a collection of individual errors for most of the goals we have conceded this season. Vs Arsenal, Moreno for being out of position (don`t care who lost the ball first as it his his job to stay tight to the high defensive line just like the other defenders) for the first, Lallana surely for their second (for preventing Clyne from putting a challenge on to the Ox) and arguable Mingo for the third for not anticipating the bounce proactively. Vs Burnley, Clyne for the first (passing to the opposition) and Lovren and Klavan for the second (for not putting in a challenge to stop Gray outside the box) . Vs Spurs, it was a collection of Lallana and Mingo. Vs LC, it was a collection of Lucas and Mingo (mostly mingo for passing to lucas for no reason) . vs Chelsea, a collection of Hendo, Lallana and Matip. Vs Hull, collectively poor defending. And vs Swansea, it was Hendo first for switching off and forgetting his man (he had Fer man to man, per Alan Shearer`s analysis on MOTD which was spot on) and Lovren for not getting goalside of Van der Horn for the flick to Fer for the goal. This was also present last season as it seems like no matter how great we play, somebody will eventually screw up. That is the frustrating thing and that is what needs to change.