21 Mar 2016 03:26:55
Putting aside Skrtel's shambolic display, something seemed pretty obvious in attack: Firmino was very much missed.
People have lately been raving about Coutinho-- and he has, indeed, produced some magic for us lately no doubt-- but I think we saw today how important Firmino is to our attack overall-- he brings both a structure, fluidity, and a creativity to our attacking game, either as a 10 or a false 9 who drops deep.
Firmino also tends to drop deeper than Coutinho (or others occupying the no 10), to help with build-up, often using his excellent vision to start counters with great outlet passes.
Today, we really looked out of ideas in the final third, by the 2nd half.
This was exacerbated once Sturridge came off and it was Origi/ Benteke leading the line.
Benteke was his usual self-- disrupting the rhythm and flow of our attack and missing clear chances. And Origi, I love him, and he works hard out there, but he's not a very creative attacker, either. He's pacy and direct, but certainly not a leader in this sense. More of a complimentary attacker to others who coordinate/ create.
In other words, wee need Firmino back, ASAP.
21 Mar 2016 04:04:54
I'm sorry if any of u guys already shared this on previous posts, but again, did any of u guys or eds know why lovren is being subbed?
Not blaming Skrtel entirely for the loss, but things seem started to get messy all over after the 2nd half started. I thought Lovren and Sakho was doing ok in the first half.
{Ed001's Note - Lovren was struggling, but that was more because of the huge hole in midfield than anything else, I could see the thinking though. The crowd and Southampton team were screaming for everything regarding him and it was almost certain he would have ended up getting sent off. The problem was that Skrtel is never the answer, for one, secondly that we never plugged that huge gap in midfield.
Without Firmino pressing back into midfield, there was a big gap there, which Allen kept losing discipline and charging forward to try and fill, leaving Can alone. Can is indisciplined too, so we were often left with no one there, so they were getting at our defence. If Hendo, Lucas or Stewart had played, they would have stayed deeper and protected it better.}
21 Mar 2016 04:20:10
Thanks Ed01. Another thing I noticed was, there were a few occasions where I saw Sakho covering the right hand side, and I thought he was more of a left cb, without seeing much of Skrtel on the right during that occasions.
Im no expert in analyzing games, or a master tactician, but do u think it's normal for it to be like that? Or maybe it was a clear evidence of Skrtel not covering his area?
Yes I don't like Skrtel. But again, I think the loss was not entirely because of him, if not some part of it.
Thanks.
{Ed001's Note - that was a major issue, that Sakho was covering a huge hole left by the combination of an absent midfield and Skrtel being caught out.}
21 Mar 2016 04:35:47
Thanks. When u said something about pressing back, I noticed Sturridge dropped deep for lots of time. Was he actually being assigned the similar role of Firmino, as u mentioned above?
{Ed001's Note - no, he always does that.}
21 Mar 2016 04:54:43
Oh. Btw, thanks a lot Ed01 for the replies.
{Ed001's Note - welcome mate.}
21 Mar 2016 05:48:06
Skrtel was part of the problem. But even with Skrtel playing, i thought if we had probably taken out may Sturridge after the penalty mignolet saved, and replaced with a midfield we probably wouldn't have conceded 3. we needed that extra man to gain more control in the midfield especially as we were already 2 nil up. It was more than just Skrtel that costed us the game.
Klopp and co learn would have plenty to learn from this game as we didn't counter the turnaround from Southampton in the second half, they were evidently threatening but we didn't change anything.
21 Mar 2016 06:15:09
Fear of Red
We miss 3 Men midfield which brings stability to our side. But unfortunately it also means you drop an attacker for a CM.
21 Mar 2016 06:34:27
Not sure Y people are quickly forgetting Lovren who was terrible in the first half left no choice for Klopp for a sub. What about the penalty incident in the 3rd min? Skrtel might be poor but that doesn't take anything away from away from the fact how poor Lovren is against pacy players?
21 Mar 2016 06:40:54
It wasn't just Skrtel or Lovren, Can and Flanno were both culpable for the first and third goals.
21 Mar 2016 06:49:08
personally i think all 3 of sakho, lovren and skrtel historically struggle with pace. it was just the right side being where skrtel and lovren played yesterday were exploited more often by southampton.
and as ron said it was more than just either lovren and skrtel in that game.