Nice piece Josh. I watched the Mo Salah interview with Gary Neville and he said he’s noticed he’s receiving less and less space, often being double teamed and has mentioned that to Arne. I wonder if the Frimpong signing is a way of distracting the opposition and creating space for Mo?
One of the many interesting things about Slot is that he has said publicly that part of his aim is to keep Liverpool unpredictable, so it is difficult for other teams to counter them. Frimpong seems to chime with that for me.
The unresolved question for me so far is how Liverpool are going to progress the ball up the pitch. Gravenberch, Bradley, Frimpong, Robertson and (TBC) Kerkez are carriers. Virgil is a passer, Mac Allister is a passer. Konate is not a reliable progresser of the ball. Who is going to step into the passer void once Trent goes?
It wouldn’t shock me to see us go for someone like Wharton, unless by some miracle the Wirtz thing actually comes off.
I also think an underdiscussed aspect of the Frimpong deal, aside from his merits as a player, is the comparatively low price. Liverpool have more or less immediately covered for the loss of Trent in terms of having a replacement body, while keeping the powder dry for splurges elsewhere. Smart.
Very much agree. I’ve been thinking about a piece on that. When Trent announced his departure, everyone focused on the creativity void but it’s always been more of a progression thing for me. He can drop the ball anywhere on the pitch. Will be interesting to follow.
The main reason for looking at data is to remove bias. Subconscious and Emotional bias.
And one of the biggest ones Ian Graham talked about was body language.. how a player looks.
Eg Dom Szoboslai is a sexy footballer, he can really shoot, hit one, everyone sees it, everyone says it.
Apart from Dom is not good at scoring. He’s not actually very good at shooting. He’s just damn sexy when he does it. Macca is much better at shooting, or Elliot. Just not as sexy.
Likewise… body language in running style.. and defending style.
So people became overly obsessed that our right back couldn’t defend, didn’t like defending, because of the body language.
And now people obsess about a right back having to defend.
When in reality, it didn’t make that much difference, and actually attacking is much more important.
Graham says this loads in his book. It’s kind of the whole point.
What do KDB, TAA and Adam Wharton have in common? Pass completion of 75-80%.
People obsess about the wrong things.
Losing TAA we need serious threat to replace him.
Getting a defensive RB would make the team worse, and frankly, I don’t beleive there is a top class/world class/absolutely elite attacking RB who defends better than TAA anyway… just a couple who are quicker.
It’s not about “finally being about to get a RB who can defend”… it’s about the threat and creativity we are losing.
🤷♂️ our RB’s defence was never that much of an issue.
Nice one Josh. I think this move mirrors what you said a while back about just buying the best players instead of buying for a system. Slot is more of a generalist manager and will make the ingredients work together, and this feels like a case of literally just buying the best, most offensive fullback out there to replace the best, most offensive fullback that’s leaving
Brilliant piece Josh. Do you envisage a time where Bradley and Frimpong occupy the right side, especially when Salah is rested or next season at AFCON (and assuming Bradley can get over his injuries concerns). I have spoken with people before too about Salah maybe in his advancing years playing in a more central attacking midfield role role - he certainly has the qualities to do that. I think it's a very intriguing signing.
Love this analysis, Josh. Will definitely add some extra intrigue to LFC's preseason games and smart of the club to get him in ASAP so they can get a full summer to work him in. Would be more worried about this kind of transfer for the reasons you laid out if the deal was completed in like August instead.
It was a treat reading your piece just after finishing the video of Pythagoras in Boots on Frimpong.
Like you, it felt strange but obvious.
Liverpool needed a homegrown player this summer, because all other potential targets are non-homegrown. And Frimpong makes a serious shopping in that sense. A homegrown flyer.
And from social media, it seems pretty obvious that, we are also wrapping up Kerkez pretty soon.
Both of these hiring and also the "connection" with Writz makes it look, Liverpool will seriously change the way they play next season. And back 3 now doesn't feel like out of question at all.
And last 10 matches totally showed that teams were able to gang up against Salah and our right side was almost static because of that (apart from some world class through passes from the King). Frimpong occupying the right hand-side while Salah becomes the make-shift second striker looks very interesting on paper.
It means that Liverpool still lacks a better finisher and a creative passer on the final third.
Which brings up the question of bringing Writz on the table, and he teaming up with Salah as Second Striker. Two creative players working together to feed a better finisher than the current ones.
Great piece again! I would love to see you do something on why or why not Frimpong could be the replacement for Salah. I have seen that mentioned enough times to be curious.
Also, I saw someone talk about how Frimpong can and has played RB/RWB, Midfield, and RW. Then, I saw something similar about positional versatility with Wirtz or another target. Do you think players like this are the new "advantage" Liverpool have identified in the market, even though it feels a little obvious?
I’m not as high as most people on the Frimpong replacing Salah thing. He’s very much being signed as a FB in my book, but we’ll see. Temporary backup at best. No chance he’s the successor.
Good article. Looks like we are going for width and pace on both flanks. As you point out that will require a new challenge for our midfield players and probably even who we look to play upfront to replace Nunez. Do you think our current preferred midfield rotation of Macca, Grav, Dom, and Curtis have the skills set? My one big doubt is Grav’s passing range. Wirtz, or someone similar, make sense as that person can fulfil a variety of tactical options across the forward line and midfield. But I’m now wondering if we might be looking at someone like Sesco, simply because of his aerial ability to complement the attacking width next year.
I think the CB thing is maybe more situational, as slot has used it, chasing games. Because you then negate the Gravenberch turn because he’s not in those positions to receive..
No, not for me. The back three is strictly a thing for when we have possession. So if Guehi occupied the role, that means he’d be deployed in midfield at times when defending. You don’t want that.
Nice piece Josh. I watched the Mo Salah interview with Gary Neville and he said he’s noticed he’s receiving less and less space, often being double teamed and has mentioned that to Arne. I wonder if the Frimpong signing is a way of distracting the opposition and creating space for Mo?
Is that something worth considering?
It’s a great shout. I haven’t watched the full interview yet. Underlapping and overlapping is how to unlock inside forwards, for sure.
One of the many interesting things about Slot is that he has said publicly that part of his aim is to keep Liverpool unpredictable, so it is difficult for other teams to counter them. Frimpong seems to chime with that for me.
The unresolved question for me so far is how Liverpool are going to progress the ball up the pitch. Gravenberch, Bradley, Frimpong, Robertson and (TBC) Kerkez are carriers. Virgil is a passer, Mac Allister is a passer. Konate is not a reliable progresser of the ball. Who is going to step into the passer void once Trent goes?
It wouldn’t shock me to see us go for someone like Wharton, unless by some miracle the Wirtz thing actually comes off.
I also think an underdiscussed aspect of the Frimpong deal, aside from his merits as a player, is the comparatively low price. Liverpool have more or less immediately covered for the loss of Trent in terms of having a replacement body, while keeping the powder dry for splurges elsewhere. Smart.
Very much agree. I’ve been thinking about a piece on that. When Trent announced his departure, everyone focused on the creativity void but it’s always been more of a progression thing for me. He can drop the ball anywhere on the pitch. Will be interesting to follow.
I agree entirely.. there’s the threat, then the ball progression.
Could be we look to patterns of play and the pre season to work on those.
Or could be with both fullbacks playing high we look for a passing 6 again..
Thing with Wharton is that he has like 4.5/3.5 years left on his deal, and the price for 6’s between epl teams is kind of firmly set at 100m+
Yeah, could be expensive. Possibly it’s not the summer for it. Maybe next year, although I suspect someone else will have snapped him up by then.
I’m with you though, if you push the fullbacks both up then another passing 6 is the obvious position to try and fill that void in ball progression
The main reason for looking at data is to remove bias. Subconscious and Emotional bias.
And one of the biggest ones Ian Graham talked about was body language.. how a player looks.
Eg Dom Szoboslai is a sexy footballer, he can really shoot, hit one, everyone sees it, everyone says it.
Apart from Dom is not good at scoring. He’s not actually very good at shooting. He’s just damn sexy when he does it. Macca is much better at shooting, or Elliot. Just not as sexy.
Likewise… body language in running style.. and defending style.
So people became overly obsessed that our right back couldn’t defend, didn’t like defending, because of the body language.
And now people obsess about a right back having to defend.
When in reality, it didn’t make that much difference, and actually attacking is much more important.
Graham says this loads in his book. It’s kind of the whole point.
What do KDB, TAA and Adam Wharton have in common? Pass completion of 75-80%.
People obsess about the wrong things.
Losing TAA we need serious threat to replace him.
Getting a defensive RB would make the team worse, and frankly, I don’t beleive there is a top class/world class/absolutely elite attacking RB who defends better than TAA anyway… just a couple who are quicker.
It’s not about “finally being about to get a RB who can defend”… it’s about the threat and creativity we are losing.
🤷♂️ our RB’s defence was never that much of an issue.
… it just looked like one
Nice one Josh. I think this move mirrors what you said a while back about just buying the best players instead of buying for a system. Slot is more of a generalist manager and will make the ingredients work together, and this feels like a case of literally just buying the best, most offensive fullback out there to replace the best, most offensive fullback that’s leaving
Great as always Josh
Very interesting analysis Josh! Intrigued now to see how we play him along with Bradley.
Brilliant piece Josh. Do you envisage a time where Bradley and Frimpong occupy the right side, especially when Salah is rested or next season at AFCON (and assuming Bradley can get over his injuries concerns). I have spoken with people before too about Salah maybe in his advancing years playing in a more central attacking midfield role role - he certainly has the qualities to do that. I think it's a very intriguing signing.
Thanks John. Only AFCON, and even then it still feels like a stretch. Unlikely for me.
I hope Frimpong works out better than Ziege, who was bought to play left-back but was really a wing-back.
Love this analysis, Josh. Will definitely add some extra intrigue to LFC's preseason games and smart of the club to get him in ASAP so they can get a full summer to work him in. Would be more worried about this kind of transfer for the reasons you laid out if the deal was completed in like August instead.
It was a treat reading your piece just after finishing the video of Pythagoras in Boots on Frimpong.
Like you, it felt strange but obvious.
Liverpool needed a homegrown player this summer, because all other potential targets are non-homegrown. And Frimpong makes a serious shopping in that sense. A homegrown flyer.
And from social media, it seems pretty obvious that, we are also wrapping up Kerkez pretty soon.
Both of these hiring and also the "connection" with Writz makes it look, Liverpool will seriously change the way they play next season. And back 3 now doesn't feel like out of question at all.
And last 10 matches totally showed that teams were able to gang up against Salah and our right side was almost static because of that (apart from some world class through passes from the King). Frimpong occupying the right hand-side while Salah becomes the make-shift second striker looks very interesting on paper.
It means that Liverpool still lacks a better finisher and a creative passer on the final third.
Which brings up the question of bringing Writz on the table, and he teaming up with Salah as Second Striker. Two creative players working together to feed a better finisher than the current ones.
Great piece again! I would love to see you do something on why or why not Frimpong could be the replacement for Salah. I have seen that mentioned enough times to be curious.
Also, I saw someone talk about how Frimpong can and has played RB/RWB, Midfield, and RW. Then, I saw something similar about positional versatility with Wirtz or another target. Do you think players like this are the new "advantage" Liverpool have identified in the market, even though it feels a little obvious?
I’m not as high as most people on the Frimpong replacing Salah thing. He’s very much being signed as a FB in my book, but we’ll see. Temporary backup at best. No chance he’s the successor.
Great analysis 👏🏾👏🏾
Good article. Looks like we are going for width and pace on both flanks. As you point out that will require a new challenge for our midfield players and probably even who we look to play upfront to replace Nunez. Do you think our current preferred midfield rotation of Macca, Grav, Dom, and Curtis have the skills set? My one big doubt is Grav’s passing range. Wirtz, or someone similar, make sense as that person can fulfil a variety of tactical options across the forward line and midfield. But I’m now wondering if we might be looking at someone like Sesco, simply because of his aerial ability to complement the attacking width next year.
This is a good point, but I tend to think Grav has the highest ceiling of any of our midfielders.
The dude is 22 and it’s his first real top level season playing 90mins.
He definitely can pass.. it’s just the turn and run seems more instinctive.
Slot has talked about focusing on gravs passing, particularly one touch more to release players quickly, and decision making.
But yeah I could also see why someone like wertz as an upgrade on dom would look great for that playmaking ability
Thank you for the reply.
Agree. He’s still young, and suspect his passing range and patterns from deep is something they will work on in preseason.
One thing I like about him, is his defensive ability in the backline. The height he provides there is comforting.
I can see a scenario where he becomes a CB. I don’t think it will happen, but he has many of the skills and competences required.
I think the CB thing is maybe more situational, as slot has used it, chasing games. Because you then negate the Gravenberch turn because he’s not in those positions to receive..
Can you see Guehi in a Gravenberch role from the Arsenal game where he dropped between 2 CBs?
No, not for me. The back three is strictly a thing for when we have possession. So if Guehi occupied the role, that means he’d be deployed in midfield at times when defending. You don’t want that.