Originally Posted by
Insidious
In the 13/14 and 15/16 season we conceded 50 goals in the League campaign - I haven't gone through every season with a tooth comb, but I would have a calculated guess at those being our worst seasons for goals conceded.
We have conceded 22 goals from 17 matches now - we're on target to be very close to our worst in the defensive sense.
Certain solutions are staring us in the face, namely to buy energetic midfielders and (sorry Harvey) probably bin picking Elliott as a centre-mid for a bit.
But until we do those things (which we should!) what would you personally want to see? Play the midfield three as narrow as possible rather than being more expansive? Drop the back-line deeper? Encourage Robertson not to bomb on and have Gomez over Trent? Change formation?
What of the back line? Despite some recent hiccups, Matip has looked the superior centre-back to me a lot ever since Van Dijk was so cruelly assaulted by Pickford. Would anyone try a Matip and Konate partnership for a few games?
Did we look any more solid in the second half when Klopp went with Matip and Konate and took off Virgil?
It's hard to tell decisively as we were all over them in the first 10-15 minutes until we scored, which means they didn't really test our defense as they sat back and tried to soak the pressure and preserve their lead.
But then we did concede, and while that was more Konate's fault than anything Matip did (Virgil could have done), we still looked shaky anytime Brentford got a sniff of an attack.
I'm not sure it would solve anything necessarily (since I think our defensive problems now are more the result of what's happening (or not) just ahead of them in the midfield), but I wouldn't be against going on a few games run to see how it shakes out.
I don't believe Klopp would ever take that kind of a punt though.
As for the other positions, I'm always a YES for playing Gomez more on the right flank in place of Trent, just for more defensive solidity.
Gomez is oddly a more solid and reliable rightback than he is a Centerback and his more natural position.
And he's also a more solid defender overall than Trent is, by a country mile, even though you're definitely sacrificing our attacking strength from the flanks by doing that.
I just feel like right now we need to button up at the back more than worry about what we're losing going forward.
At the end of the day, none of this will matter if we don't fix the middle of the park issues in midfield - whether it be bringing in new personnel or changing our formations and tactics*.
Oh, and that's a definite YES to binning Elliot as a starting center-mid (and I love the lad, but still.....)
(*Speaking of which, it might not be a bad idea to consider re-thinking some of our tactical staples like the high-line defense (from which we've been caught out several times this season), playing out from the back (and being more direct instead) and attempting to pass the other team to death and pass our way to goals)
'I got told there's an English phrase, 'You don't win trophies with kids'. I didn't know that' ... - Jurgen Klopp
Stone-Cold Savage!
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