UEFA Champions & Europa League Football Thread ** spoilers ** [6th - 8th September 2022]

Since the first game of the season it's been clear that the balance of our midfield is killing us. We tried to do the same thing at the start of last season and it didn't work then but we managed to pick up some results but it's really not worked this season. We play a high line and with our fullbacks pushed forwards and you can only do that with a solid midfield but our midfield is wide open and in pretty much every game the opponent has been one pass away from a clear attack.

I mentioned at HT that it's incredibly harsh on him but Elliott can't keep playing as one of our midfield 3, certainly not as high and wide as he's playing now. We've got to get back to our old conservative midfield. It's not just to protect our defense and allow us to push up the pitch but to also allow us to keep sides pinned back and build pressure. At our best we smother teams and don't let them out of their half but now we're losing the ball in their 18 yard box and within seconds they're having an attempt on our goal. Thankfully Klopp seemed to hint that we need to make a change to how we're playing and more importantly, we've got a few players now available that can help us make those changes.
 
I get that you need to get back to a conservative midfield, but can you realistically do that with the midfielders you have, ageing and injury prone. Milner is finished, he's had a shocker in the last two games especially. Ox, Henderson and Thiago all seem to be getting injured all the time.

The squad seems to need to injection of youth like Bellingham/Ramsey(Villa) or to find the next camavinga/Touchemani. I am guessing that'll be the plan for Pool in January or summer though.
 
JamesH85 said:
I get that you need to get back to a conservative midfield, but can you realistically do that with the midfielders you have, ageing and injury prone. Milner is finished, he's had a shocker in the last two games especially. Ox, Henderson and Thiago all seem to be getting injured all the time.

The squad seems to need to injection of youth like Bellingham/Ramsey(Villa) or to find the next camavinga/Touchemani. I am guessing that'll be the plan for Pool in January or summer though.
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The problem they'll find is if result keep going this way (not winning), prices are going to be sky high as selling clubs will know they're desperate!
 
CliffyG said:
Pretty sure not long ago a few members on here were saying he'd walk into any of the other top sides. Least he's better at defending than Trent, never seen someone get beaten so easily so many times.
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Weird people thought he was really good when he played really good :D
VVD had the best season we've seen from a CB, now more than just Pepe could dribble past him (And retain possession afterwards!)
 
He was very decent at the start of the 18/19 season alongside VVD, in fact it was arguably our best CB pairing in all of the past 4-5 years but the problem for him has been since breaking his leg half way through that season, he's never really got back into the side for an extended period. The following season he played a few games but it was a few games here or there (or covering at RB). Unfortunately more bad luck with injuries and Matip and more recently Konate's form have meant he's been 4th choice and prevented him from playing.

Maybe it's with a slight benefit of hindsight but from his point of view he probably should have moved on this summer in search of regular football. In terms of minutes played, he's played the equivalent of 12 games in the PL and CL in the past 2 seasons combined - expecting him to be at the level he was 4 years ago with that amount of football is a bit much. He really needs to go somewhere and play week in week out to get back to his best, if he can after all the injuries.
 
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