Love to see how we are planning our tactics and attacking vulnerabilities, great job spotting it and pointing it out to us Josh!
I am working on a new "theory of midfield by numbers". I think if you are playing a midfield 3 you are best when the preferred positional alignment of the players adds up to 22-24. I.e., playing with a 6, an 8, and a 10 gets you 24. Playing with three 8s like we did against Everton got us to 24 and we looked very balanced. (I know Gravenberch has been amazing this year, but that dude is an 8 and an amazing one at that, not a 6. While Szobo played "10" last year, but he never had the output as a 10 because he is also a dang fine 8!). Two 6s and a 10 gets you to 22. LFC used to play with Fabinho = 6, Hendo = 8 and Gini = 8 for a very solid 22.
If you get higher or lower than that you have to change other positions to "balance" your team back out. For example - We have played with two 8s and a 10 most of the season and at 26 we seem to be out of balance with too much attack. This could possibly work if we put Joe G in at one of the fullbacks and had him sit back a bit more, but we have looked out of balance when we have our fullbacks bombing forward. Whereas Arsenal consistently play with two 6s and an 8 to be at 20 and then have fullbacks who stay back and they look unbalanced in their fear of going forward. A couple of years ago, when DeBruyne was hurt Pep played with a 6 (Rodri) and two 10s (Foden and Silva) but he balanced things out by always playing 3-4 centerbacks (Stones, Ake, Akanji, Dias) and had Walker stay back.
I think our team looked incredibly balanced and frankly scary for the first half Saturday. I think we either got tired or we just took our foot off the gas a bit too much in the second half. I REALLY want Wirtz to work as the 10, I just think its going to be tough to keep forcing Grav as an 8 into that 6 hole and not looked a bit unbalanced without some sort of adjustments elsewhere. However, I would way rather my team spend a lot of money and watch them attack all day with two 8s and a 10 and two fullbacks bombing forward than an Arsenal who had a higher net spend just to play with two 6s, an 8, and four centerbacks at home!
The way Gravenberch has advanced into the right half-space/inside channel in the Atlético and Everton games has got me thinking about Liverpool's triangles on the right. I feel the Salah-Szobo-Trent trio needs replacing to get the most out of Salah.
Ofc we know Salah-Szobo-Bradley can work well enough to. But Gravenberch has so much flair that I wonder if a Salah-Grav-Bradley combo could work well at times. As Josh notes, all three were involved in some way in making the space for the first goal. I'm not saying Grav should play #10, just that rotations which get him forward could be potent.
Spot on, Josh. Also, on the flip side of Grealish, when he attacks, I thought it looked like Bradley had been told not to make a challenge. Grealish is never shy about pulling out a swan dive if a defender's boot comes within a folded Echo of his miniscule shin pads. Bradley never gave him that chance, and he was left trying to count on his fingers the number of times he should have been fouled but wasn't. Quality player for sure, but well neutralised by simple strategies on Saturday.
Great analysis and well presented, thanks. I'm still trying to understand why Liverpool dropped off so badly in the second half if anyone has any thoughts ?
Six Premier League sides played Champions League games midweek, Liverpool are the only ones that won. Chelsea lost and City, Arsenal, Newcastle, and Spurs all drew. The demands of midweek UCL games this early in the year greatly impact the League. ManU do not beat Chelsea if the Blues did not just have to travel to Munich Wednesday!
3 games a week easy shout innit but Diogo and starting a week later in training, who knows, weighs heavy on the Heart. Physically as well, we can't worry though lad, 5 points clear. Lots a Love YNWA and Up the Reds
Great spot Josh. That’s why I’m subscribed here
This sort of stuff literally changes how o watch the game. I love it. Thanks Josh.
Me too!
Love to see how we are planning our tactics and attacking vulnerabilities, great job spotting it and pointing it out to us Josh!
I am working on a new "theory of midfield by numbers". I think if you are playing a midfield 3 you are best when the preferred positional alignment of the players adds up to 22-24. I.e., playing with a 6, an 8, and a 10 gets you 24. Playing with three 8s like we did against Everton got us to 24 and we looked very balanced. (I know Gravenberch has been amazing this year, but that dude is an 8 and an amazing one at that, not a 6. While Szobo played "10" last year, but he never had the output as a 10 because he is also a dang fine 8!). Two 6s and a 10 gets you to 22. LFC used to play with Fabinho = 6, Hendo = 8 and Gini = 8 for a very solid 22.
If you get higher or lower than that you have to change other positions to "balance" your team back out. For example - We have played with two 8s and a 10 most of the season and at 26 we seem to be out of balance with too much attack. This could possibly work if we put Joe G in at one of the fullbacks and had him sit back a bit more, but we have looked out of balance when we have our fullbacks bombing forward. Whereas Arsenal consistently play with two 6s and an 8 to be at 20 and then have fullbacks who stay back and they look unbalanced in their fear of going forward. A couple of years ago, when DeBruyne was hurt Pep played with a 6 (Rodri) and two 10s (Foden and Silva) but he balanced things out by always playing 3-4 centerbacks (Stones, Ake, Akanji, Dias) and had Walker stay back.
I think our team looked incredibly balanced and frankly scary for the first half Saturday. I think we either got tired or we just took our foot off the gas a bit too much in the second half. I REALLY want Wirtz to work as the 10, I just think its going to be tough to keep forcing Grav as an 8 into that 6 hole and not looked a bit unbalanced without some sort of adjustments elsewhere. However, I would way rather my team spend a lot of money and watch them attack all day with two 8s and a 10 and two fullbacks bombing forward than an Arsenal who had a higher net spend just to play with two 6s, an 8, and four centerbacks at home!
The way Gravenberch has advanced into the right half-space/inside channel in the Atlético and Everton games has got me thinking about Liverpool's triangles on the right. I feel the Salah-Szobo-Trent trio needs replacing to get the most out of Salah.
Ofc we know Salah-Szobo-Bradley can work well enough to. But Gravenberch has so much flair that I wonder if a Salah-Grav-Bradley combo could work well at times. As Josh notes, all three were involved in some way in making the space for the first goal. I'm not saying Grav should play #10, just that rotations which get him forward could be potent.
Spot on, Josh. Also, on the flip side of Grealish, when he attacks, I thought it looked like Bradley had been told not to make a challenge. Grealish is never shy about pulling out a swan dive if a defender's boot comes within a folded Echo of his miniscule shin pads. Bradley never gave him that chance, and he was left trying to count on his fingers the number of times he should have been fouled but wasn't. Quality player for sure, but well neutralised by simple strategies on Saturday.
Great analysis and well presented, thanks. I'm still trying to understand why Liverpool dropped off so badly in the second half if anyone has any thoughts ?
They got tired, nothing more complicated than that. Sunday-Wednesday-early Saturday, plus lack of conditioning this early in the season.
Six Premier League sides played Champions League games midweek, Liverpool are the only ones that won. Chelsea lost and City, Arsenal, Newcastle, and Spurs all drew. The demands of midweek UCL games this early in the year greatly impact the League. ManU do not beat Chelsea if the Blues did not just have to travel to Munich Wednesday!
3 games a week easy shout innit but Diogo and starting a week later in training, who knows, weighs heavy on the Heart. Physically as well, we can't worry though lad, 5 points clear. Lots a Love YNWA and Up the Reds
Shows how ruthless this Liverpool team is. Incredible.
The art of any manager is knowing what to expect, and it is an Art, the art of any manager how to react to what he doesn't expect pure Art!
The sketch lines have been drawn by Arne and he has the full squad to colour it in. Lovin it!
I look forward to your superb and fascinating analysis, which is always spot on. Keep up the great work, Josh!
Fantastic insight, Josh! I haven’t seen this highlighted anywhere and I missed it Totally, thanks!