25 Apr 2024 08:12:24
That was a dog ugly performance and it seemed like all they wanted to do was pass between each other at the back again. I seriously could not watch much more of that type of football and I agree that the nutty professor Lijnders has something to do with this awful style of football. Next season will be a breath of fresh air without him.

Klopp is great, but has let someone else sour his thoughts and it shows. That was the opposite of heavy metal football that seems to be a distant memory. But a good memory at least. I look forward to a improved style of football next year with excitement. I am sure we might get a forward who could Slot the ball in the back of the net also ??.

1.) 25 Apr 2024
25 Apr 2024 08:22:00
Ljinders should have been sacked after releasing his book - nothing about that was in anybody’s interest except his own. The less said about his tactical ideas the better.

2.) 25 Apr 2024
25 Apr 2024 08:25:54
You are missing a very important point about midfielders. Our midfeidlers cannot run forward with the ball nor they can dribble to take a man. Everton played a low block and there was hardly any gaps. In such cases you either need your wide players to hit the byline or your central midfielders to run with the ball. Gravenberch for all his issues could do it.
Usually in klopp's whatever system the LCM is tasked to do this (keita / wijnaldum / thiago) Jones simply cannot. and Szobo is asked to play a DM rather than an ACM today.

3.) 25 Apr 2024
25 Apr 2024 08:31:27
More scout spout.

4.) 25 Apr 2024
25 Apr 2024 08:44:23
Exactly, Flash. How can the players do all these things the "Chief Scout" is going on about without even being ready to fight, scrap and earn the right to compete in a Merseyside derby. No matter how much ability you have, if you are not up for it the way Everton was, whatever qualities you have or don't have, won't matter. That is is the fundamentals of sport. No guts. No glory, all your ability be damned.

5.) 25 Apr 2024
25 Apr 2024 08:51:34
I don't think we won anything playing heavy metal (cringe) football. We scored and conceded a lot of goals and it was thought to be unsustainable.
We became more pragmatic and won the League and CL. The midfield were disciplined but could win the ball and hold onto it. The front three could win the ball high up the field and create goals or break from our half and score goals.
We also had two very creative fullbacks one of whom had a terrific engine.
That team inevitably broke but let's not kid ourselves that it was the heavy metal side that Klopp had earlier in his Liverpool career.

6.) 25 Apr 2024
25 Apr 2024 09:26:46
We reached the CL final twice and won the league playing heavy metal football, and had one bad season in between, what have we done since shifting to this possession based, inverted fullback nonsense? A league cup. I know which I’d rather win, I know which system would suit our players, and I know which system I’d rather watch.

7.) 25 Apr 2024
25 Apr 2024 10:07:13
There’s 2 things I’ve noticed since the Man Utd game in particular.

Firstly we are scared to give the ball away so always play safe to the point where the forward players have stopped making runs because they know they won’t get the ball.

Secondly we are not winning the ball back quickly enough when we lose it.

We have been playing with fear and that has made us very twitchy on the ball and very passive off it. The defence drop too early which makes us way too open to press effectively and even when we do we are so passive that we lose pretty much every tackle.

Added to that we are so tense and fearful that we miss pretty much every chance we do create. People will point to Nunez and Salah and rightly so but it’s everyone. Robbo actually missed the ball completely when presented with a chance, Szob used to have a rocket on his right boot but scuffs every shot now, VVD has had numerous free headers and either misses the target or heads it to the keeper, Diaz, Jones, MacAllister they have all forgotten how to hit a clean strike. Trent tried to reach the kop end goal from Goodison with a couple of his efforts last night.

The criticism they are all getting is warranted, the performances have not been good enough but writing these players off as not good enough is extremely knee jerk and shows a total lack of understanding of human and sports psychology.

It’s not that they are not good enough, they have just realised the enormity of what they could achieve and they’ve frozen with the fear of failure. It happens every day in every sport and these players will be stronger for having these type of experiences.

I’m disappointed just like everyone else but I appreciate what Klopp and the players have put in this season to give us a trophy and a title challenge. It’s all gone a bit wrong but we dust ourselves down and we go again.

8.) 25 Apr 2024
25 Apr 2024 10:09:07
We didn't win the League and CL final playing heavy metal football, Seano.
The season we won the League we would selectively press but could also be quite conservative. Henderson, Milner and Wijnaldum would just sit in front of the back four knowing the front three could always get a goal with our fullbacks often supplying them.
Think back to the CL win. It was a boring game. We got an early goal and sat in with the intention of not conceding.
It was not heavy metal football.

9.) 25 Apr 2024
25 Apr 2024 11:41:42
Beekeeper is right in my opinion. Too many of our midfielders and forwards look scared to carry the ball so we're not committing any of the opposition players. If you don't run at teams and make them step out to meet you, all you end up doing is passing it around in front of a banked up defence and midfield. Macca and Endo don't have the pace, but Szoboszlai and Jones are just scared to take a hit in my opinion after their injuries. Diaz drops in and does it but he lacks end product. Elliott, Gakpo and Gravenberch made a huge difference against Fulham without even playing that well purely because they were willing to take the ball under pressure, then turn and run at people. Elliott running at Wan-Bissaka saved us in the United draw.

Unless you are extremely well drilled in passing patterns like City and Arsenal are, you can't pass your way through the midfield. You have to use the width, which we can't do with Trent tucked infield and Robertson not only unable to beat the first man with a cross, but twice last night dropping total air shots and missing the ball entirely.

No width and a badly implemented slow build up tactic is costing us. Eliott, Gakpo, Diaz and Gravenberch running at people is pretty much all we have right now which is extremely worrying. They should all be starting every game between now and the end of the season. And personally I'd be putting Danns up top with those 4 supplying him because Salah and Nunez have blown enough games for us this month.

10.) 25 Apr 2024
25 Apr 2024 12:03:31
Beckers, that's what hitting a wall get you. U lack the confidence to try things hence cos you bare so scared to screw up, you eithe rplay it safe or play the extra pass in attack which can look like you passing the buck and then, nothing happens. The lack of confidence in the team leads to lack of certainty and belief hence, a distinct lack of fight vs Everton.

11.) 25 Apr 2024
25 Apr 2024 12:06:35
Seano, I'm with Rigsby here. We won the PL and CL playing pragmatic football meaning, we did not press high like demons from the off. We would gradually grow into the game and slowly pin the oppo. back and once we did that esp. vs low block teams, we started to choke the life out of them cos they could NEVER get out of their final third. In fact, we beat Spurs playing that way in the CL final.

IMO, Heavy metal footie, is what killed us in the 17/ 18 season when our legs were finished going into the CL final esp. cos we did not have anywhere near as deep as a squad like we did in 21/ 22 when we went and nearly won everything.