06 Jan 2025 14:24:35
Hi Eds, I was reading Phil McNulty's comments about TAA on BBC this morning. He basically said he doesn't think Trent is a natural midfielder and therefore 'the coach must then weigh up his defensive weaknesses against his attacking qualities - and and they have not done too badly so far this season. ' Whilst I agree I do remember when Slot was at Feyenoord they generally played with a back 3. Slot has inherited a back 4 and has been astute and pragmatic but I do wonder when Slot really puts his stamp on the team if a back 3 formation would benefit TAA?
I also thought it interesting that Amorin has shoe horned the team he inherited into his formation of choice, with a back 3, whilst Slot has taken the opposite approach. Thanks.
{Ed001's Note - possibly, really depends on how it is set up. It is not as simple as saying he would have less defending to do.}
06 Jan 2025 14:33:56
Slot never played a back three at feyenoord as far as I can remember? One of the reasons he was hired was because his formation and approach was sufficiently close to klopp’s.
06 Jan 2025 14:51:03
I thought the same, Patrick. My understanding, with Slot, was one of the reasons we went for him was his playing style wasn't dissimilar to Klopp's. Maybe I'm wrong.
06 Jan 2025 15:25:58
Weren’t we also told that slots wingers never cut inside and get to the byline for cut backs where our centre forwards would score loads.
I reckon Slot would be the first to admit that this is the best squad he’s ever worked with so I’m sure we will see lots of differences from what he did at Feyenoord.
06 Jan 2025 15:29:38
Also, I think Trent has been a lot better defending this season esp. at the start shutting down the likes of Sancho, Rafa Leal, and a few more. Now (and Ed01 can chime in on this), I think Trent's defending has suffered a bit since he has been asked (it appears) to do a lot more pressing higher up while inverting a bit more into the half space to create a lot more than he was earlier in the season.
Also and people forget this: Just like it was under Klopp, Mane did a lot more defending helping out Robbo than Salah did for you guessed it, Trent. Hence why Hendo and Fab had to go in there and cover for him, same thing Konate, Grav and other mid's are doing now when picked.
Now if you have Salah not tracking back (by design) enuff with Kokante and the mid's not able to cover the gabs along with Konate in addition to the targeted overloads from the oppo. (there were 4 Utd players on that rght side for Martinez's goal) then, we will struggle as a team, not just Trent who is not great defensively either. Good, not great.
06 Jan 2025 15:44:14
I saw a Feyenoord team with Slot as manager play with a back 3 but I think what makes Slot interesting is his flexibility with formation as I've read he used 4-2-3-1 at Feyenoord and Alkmaar as well as 3-3-2-3 at Feyenoord with the goalkeeper playing as a sort of CB when in possession. I don't actually know if he has a preferred formation or not and I might/ probably be wrong in saying he generally played with a back 3 at Feyenoord. All I really meant was would a back 3 help to bring out the best in TAA.
06 Jan 2025 15:54:08
Arne should have copied what Amorim did right away with Rashford, he axed him from every squad, we all saw the results of that axing yesterday, Rashford will be gone ASAP.
Arne "bottled it" big time, and now has player power back at Anfield, LFC had similar years ago with Three World Class Players Keegan, Rush, Souness they were booted out of the club without their feet touching the ground. Roger Hunt threw his shirt at the dug out once in front of Shankly after being substituted, he was gone before he reached the dressing room.
There can only be one man in charge of a football club, Ferguson did the same to three world class players Beckham, Stam, Ronaldo.
Player Power If ye don't cut it out with a Scalpel spreads like a Cancer throughout the Club.
Over to you Arne "AGAIN", show everyone who is actually in charge at Anfield, like Shankly, Paisley and Fagan did, and also Kenny when he showed Torres the door also.
{Ed001's Note - Rush and Keegan were never problems like that. Shankly almost begged Keegan to stay but he wanted the money. Souness forced his way out - again for more money. Rush was booted out, but not because of player power, he was never a problem, it was just the club wanted the money.}
06 Jan 2025 16:01:12
I read loads of tactical analysis stuff on Slot at Feyenoord when he first agreed to come, and many reports claimed that he would have Geertruida invert into midfield, which often left 3 players at the back. However I don't think he ever played with a standard back 3, with wing backs. Certainly none of the Dutch analysts implied that anyway.
At Liverpool we do see it morph into a back 3 at times with Robbo and Trent playing a lot more conservatively than they ever did under Klopp, and only really getting forward one at a time. Trent also hasn't been going as narrow as he did in the last few seasons when he has drifted forward either, he's actually been staying wide most of the time.
Someone said it above, but Slot's got a different team here at Liverpool and he's also not really been able to mould it in his image much so far because we've only signed one player, and Chiesa has barely kicked a ball. Slot's done a very good job of continuing on from the job Klopp had done instead of trying to tear everything down too quickly.
We're top of the league and have lost 1 game out of about 30 attempts so Slot's clearly getting most things right so far. Trent clearly can defend contrary to the hyperbole I read daily, but he's had an absolute mare at the worst possible time. In the highest profile league game of the season mere days after Real Madrid bid for him and right in the middle of contract negotiations, he's dropped his worst performance for years. It couldn't have been timed any better for the media, or any worse for Trent and the club. The headlines write themselves. The contract stuff needs to be sorted in the next few days as a matter of urgency or it's going to get toxic, because too many people will fall for what the media print.
06 Jan 2025 16:26:08
Sorry, pressed send too soon.
I meant to say that it seems nothing will calm the this thing down cos the ITK's, anti-Trent agenda merchants whether in the media, online or both will feed of this concocted circus for as long as it takes. When you have Sky running blatant hit pieces on Trent after the game with video clips of how badly he played then, you know it's going to be a long day.
Personally, I would advise Trent (he a lot smarter than me, clearly) that till things get clearer, to just keep his head down, speak to nobody about anything and focus on improving his all round game and playing a lot better every time he steps on the pitch. Cos these are the only things he can control, IMO.
06 Jan 2025 16:19:35
"Arne "bottled it" big time".
I have no idea what this means.
06 Jan 2025 16:21:17
Spot on, MKS. It's a drip, drip, drip situation and the worst thing is that it seems nothing will calm down the medi.
06 Jan 2025 16:38:00
This time last week I didn't think I'd be reading that Slot should be copying what Amorim does ?.
Rashford might be being protected so that they can sell him. I don't think we'll sell TAA and he's helped us to be top of the League. If TAA had been consistently poor perhaps we wouldn't be where we are and he should be dropped but that's not the case.
Shankly wasn't manager when Keegan was sold but I think he wanted the challenge and the money. I believe tax reasons were a big part of Souness leaving. Didn't his wife come into some money and he wanted to go abroad?
06 Jan 2025 18:32:33
I read the Heysel had a bearing on Liverpool selling Rush to Juventus.
{Ed001's Note - and Shanks was manager when Keegan was sold, it was all done before he quit and Paisley came in. Shanks spent the previous season trying to convince Keegan to stay, as they wanted to put him alongside Dalglish. That move was already in motion too, before Shanks quit. But Keegan was adamant he wanted to leave.}
06 Jan 2025 18:40:18
Good to see a poster blaming Salah and Konate for Trent being so bad. God forbid the guy gets an ounce of blame on here for a woeful performance.
06 Jan 2025 19:02:16
Mcgoveb show me where I blamed anyone for that matter for Trent's poor performance.
06 Jan 2025 19:07:07
Shankly quit in 1974 and Keegan left in 1977. Was Keegan sold in 1974?
{Ed001's Note - sorry, you are right, I was getting mixed up, it was Paisley who begged him to stay. God I am getting old making stupid mistakes like that.}
06 Jan 2025 19:20:12
I've a fair few years on you, Ed, hang in there, mate!
{Ed001's Note - I don't know what I was thinking, how can you get Paisley and Shanks mixed up? It is not like I have not heard the story a hundred times about Keegan leaving, as he was my uncle's fave player and he still hasn't got over it!}
06 Jan 2025 19:38:49
He was my favourite player too. My first favourite player I suppose. My uncle used to take me up the Albion in the early 70s and tried to force me into liking Jeff Astle, but I was having none of it.
{Ed025's Note - i actually named my first son after him Rome, i was working on the roads in town then and he was going to Wembley by train but was invited into our works caravan for a cup of tea, he came and sat with us for about half an hour talking about football and asking about our families etc, he was such a nice guy mate..
06 Jan 2025 20:14:03
That's a beautiful story, Ed025. Thank you for sharing it my friend.
{Ed025's Note - he was so down to earth Rome, he even said he wanted a cup with no handle...true story mate..