Playing like Champions

[Nineteenx]

I think there's been a bit of confusion among our players as to what this actually means, since winning the league there has been a lot of fannying around attempted fancy flicks that never seem to come off and an foul smelling air of complacency, they've not been playing like Champions at all.

To me playing like Champions means first and foremost playing with the same intensity, hunger, desire, work ethic and absolute beligerance in doing all those things and having an unshakable resolute determination that you will NOT be beaten and nothing less than a win in every single game is good enough.

I feel it is incredibly important to not start with the fancy flicks, showboating, over playing and over complicating of things uneccessarily and to never lose sight of what made you Champions and look to improve on doing the things that made you Champions even better rather than trying to do different things.

For me what made us Champions was first and foremost an incredible hunger and desire and work ethic, an attitude that we will never be beaten and no game or situation was ever lost or beyond being won and an absolutely incredible press, never ever letting the opposition having the ball easy and never ever having time on it when they did get possession.

Play wise and why I don't like all the fancy flicks and over playing we've seen since we won the League, the press came first and foremost, we weren't and aren't an all singing all dancing expansive football side, but what we do is devastatingly effective.

We test teams in every imaginable way, switch balls to release or find our full backs and forwards on either side of the pitch in space are an absolutely essential part of our game, to find those players of the quality they are in isolation, in space or in a position in which the LCM RCM LB or RB will quickly be in support of them so we can play a ball they can chest or head or lay off to one of those other players first time before making their runs in behind is so so important to our continued success.

The other crucial part of our game in combination with our press is the constant runs in behind and playing those long balls over the top of opposition defences, even when they're camping on their 18 yard line and playing them to such a level of quality that we either find the forwards run or the ball is so near perfect the defender can only half clear it and we win any second balls and quickly form and attack form there or quickly work it to one of our full backs to put an early ball into the box with the oppositions line slightly disturbed and our forwards able to take positions to make their second runs escaping their markers attentions while their focus is on where the half cleared ball will go.

For me together with our set pieces and Trent's right to left switches to find Robbo making runs in advance of our midfield and forwards at times (Robbo needs to start returning that favour at times) they are all the things that made us Champions and I feel it is incredibly important we do not lose sight of that

[teesred]

Agree to a point. The charity game was sloppy in the first half, second to everything and like you say smacked of complacency and too many players basicallyn not being on it. Hopefully it changes come the first game. If complacency is there it will be a wake up call very early on.

[Insidious]

I think I saw the fancy flicks as you put it through a different lens.

The typical crosses from wide weren't yielding results, so more centralised and channel-oriented give-and-goes were being attempted to try and create via a different outlet.

Could very well be wrong but that's how I perceived it.

[CCTV]

I think we have to blame Klopp and the owners tbh.

This group has achieved alot and aims to win more titles.
A sense of stagnation likely underlines the boredom within the group and as a result they are trying these flicks n shit to bring a new dimension to our attack in the absence of some shiny new attackers and challenges.
Should be practising 4231 with Mbappe and developing an understanding with his new colleagues.

Pity the lads tbh, done so much for the club and now the club dont seem to be matching their ambition and drive to succeed.
These lads have gone to the proverbial well so often, fought for every point, ran the hard miles etc etc
and now they see edwards and co sitting on their arses, feet up and doddling. Klopp needs to get into these offices and run the riot act and get edwards and co back in shape and on top of their game.

[redebreck]

I think we have to blame Klopp and the owners tbh.

This group has achieved alot and aims to win more titles.
A sense of stagnation likely underlines the boredom within the group and as a result they are trying these flicks n shit to bring a new dimension to our attack in the absence of some shiny new attackers and challenges.
Should be practising 4231 with Mbappe and developing an understanding with his new colleagues.

Pity the lads tbh, done so much for the club and now the club dont seem to be matching their ambition and drive to succeed.
These lads have gone to the proverbial well so often, fought for every point, ran the hard miles etc etc
and now they see edwards and co sitting on their arses, feet up and doddling. Klopp needs to get into these offices and run the riot act and get edwards and co back in shape and on top of their game.

+1

[Steveo]

I think we have to blame Klopp and the owners tbh.

This group has achieved alot and aims to win more titles.
A sense of stagnation likely underlines the boredom within the group and as a result they are trying these flicks n shit to bring a new dimension to our attack in the absence of some shiny new attackers and challenges.
Should be practising 4231 with Mbappe and developing an understanding with his new colleagues.

Pity the lads tbh, done so much for the club and now the club dont seem to be matching their ambition and drive to succeed.
These lads have gone to the proverbial well so often, fought for every point, ran the hard miles etc etc
and now they see edwards and co sitting on their arses, feet up and doddling. Klopp needs to get into these offices and run the riot act and get edwards and co back in shape and on top of their game.

Agree with this.

Klopp is not going to make any waves though because he will have been well aware of the job before he took it and does love trying to compete against all odds. Probably listens to Phil Collins a lot.

[teesred]

Agree with this.

Klopp is not going to make any waves though because he will have been well aware of the job before he took it and does love trying to compete against all odds. Probably listens to Phil Collins a lot.

Haha. I wonder what his favourite Phil Collins album. Would be?
My guess would be......"but seriously".

[RedNoodle]

This smacks of a similar situation to that when we failed to spot and take advantage of the opportunities that presented themselves when the big tv and marketing money came into the game. When an opportunity presents itself you should always take full advantage of it, especially when you can be sure that some of your competitors certainly would/will.

[CCTV]

Agree with this.

Klopp is not going to make any waves though because he will have been well aware of the job before he took it and does love trying to compete against all odds. Probably listens to Phil Collins a lot.

There are no waves to make ;)

Klopp is in his 5th summer window and has not had the same level of investment (net spend) in his squad as in the 5 seasons before he arrived.

By my estimates (using transfermarkt) he would have to net spend £123.13 million to break even with the 11/12 to 15/16 era of net spend.

Net spend totals:

The Klopp years -2016/17 to 20/21 season
£72.61 million

The Pre-Klopp era -11/12 to 15/16
£195.74

[Steveo]

Haha. I wonder what his favourite Phil Collins album. Would be?
My guess would be......"but seriously".

Could be tees.... It always felt like a dodgy album name to me ‘But Seriously’ just one ‘t’ away from a world of trouble back the late 1980’s.. :D

[skyebo]

We will never compete financially with City United and Chelsea. I don't get the obsession about how much other clubs are spending. I would have thought winning the big trophies without the need to try and outspend your rivals would be classed as a success. This squad is the best we have had for many a year, so i don't feel the need to disrupt it, apart from bringing the odd few in. It's not how much you spend, it's how you spend it that counts. Most of Klopp's buys have been a success, i trust him to keep it that way, whether he breaks the bank to get a player or he doesn't.

[CCTV]

We will never compete financially with City United and Chelsea. I don't get the obsession about how much other clubs are spending. I would have thought winning the big trophies without the need to try and outspend your rivals would be classed as a success. This squad is the best we have had for many a year, so i don't feel the need to disrupt it, apart from bringing the odd few in. It's not how much you spend, it's how you spend it that counts. Most of Klopp's buys have been a success, i trust him to keep it that way, whether he breaks the bank to get a player or he doesn't.

Thats all very reasonable Skyebo, id just say that it would be wonderful to see Klopp given the same levels of investment as in the years before he arrived.
This would mean hed have 123 million to spend now to merely match those 5 years pre-klopp.
Given weve posted profits over recent seasons it would also leave us ffp compliant too.

Not looking for man city or psg spending power, just looking for the club to provide the same level of investment as they provided to Br mostly and kenny.
Given Klopps record, top4s, european finals and most importantly titles, it would seem reasonable that he should have the same level of investment in his squad as those years prior to his arrival.
Income and profits have risen splendidly since.

[Steveo]

@ skyebo - agree with your logic. But on one point.... Why should we never be able to compete financially with United? If we give up on that - surely that would just be pure defeatist...? I would hope they are precisely the target in our sights.

@CC - Look at you eh - coming in here and making all that sense - it really isn’t cool. :D

Totally agree with you BTW

[skyebo]

@ skyebo - agree with your logic. But on one point.... Why should we never be able to compete financially with United? If we give up on that - surely that would just be pure defeatist...? I would hope they are precisely the target in our sights.

@CC - Look at you eh - coming in here and making all that sense - it really isn’t cool. :D

Totally agree with you BTW

Because they are much richer than we are, and always have been, even before the premier league was formed and sky pumped in all the money.

[Steveo]

Because they are much richer than we are, and always have been, even before the premier league was formed and sky pumped in all the money.

Not sure they were much richer than us prior to Sky and the Division one/Premier League rebrand but I may well be wrong.

Either way we must be able to catch them on that front as they did us with titles.?

[CCTV]

Not sure they were much richer than us prior to Sky and the Division one/Premier League rebrand but I may well be wrong.

Either way we must be able to catch them on that front as they did us with titles.?

Their getting CL football is a spanner in the works for that goal of ours. The last reviews by deloitte iirc had us and/or city potentially overtaking them in the next few seasons, CL football and unknown at that time for them.
Later stages or lifting the CL is pivotal for us in overtaking them in terms of income.

[Nineteenx]

What I find a little annoying is that there is plenty of room for improvement to evolve what we already do and I feel we should be working relentlessly as ever at that, rather than alter our style of play

One of our greatest strengths is our press, there are several players who can get an awful lot better at it and that needs to be worked on

I said last season I expected more goals from our full backs and that was a key area in which we could improve offensively, it did happen to a large degree albeit without the end product from our full backs, Robbo in particular on too many occassions, something which with practice and hard work will obviously improve.

We can work on Robbo and Trent making those runs between the opposition full back and CB when Mane, Mo, Bobby or one of our midfielders get the ball wide stretching the opposition defence and finding their runs in those positions and they both need to work on their end product, we did this really well down our left last season with Robbo being released this way several times, but his finishing, final ball and decision making isn't yet where it needs to be, in truth he could and should have scored or assisted in excess of 10 goals from those positions.

The other most urgent and obvious thing we can work on to improve hugely on what we do already is the switch balls, centre to left or right, right to left and left to right and balls over the top. Given how we play there is an incredible dearth of players in our squad with the ability to play these balls with the required level of quality. It is NOT a difficult technique to play these types of ball and as it is a technique issue then there is no legitimate reason with hard work and the continually striving for improvement and evolution from all our lads we shouldn't see a quantum leap of improvement in all our players ability to play these balls

If we can do just those things, we will be a far more devastating and dangerous team than we already are

[Nineteenx]

I think there's been a bit of confusion among our players as to what this actually means, since winning the league there has been a lot of fannying around attempted fancy flicks that never seem to come off and an foul smelling air of complacency, they've not been playing like Champions at all.

To me playing like Champions means first and foremost playing with the same intensity, hunger, desire, work ethic and absolute beligerance in doing all those things and having an unshakable resolute determination that you will NOT be beaten and nothing less than a win in every single game is good enough.

I feel it is incredibly important to not start with the fancy flicks, showboating, over playing and over complicating of things uneccessarily and to never lose sight of what made you Champions and look to improve on doing the things that made you Champions even better rather than trying to do different things.

For me what made us Champions was first and foremost an incredible hunger and desire and work ethic, an attitude that we will never be beaten and no game or situation was ever lost or beyond being won and an absolutely incredible press, never ever letting the opposition having the ball easy and never ever having time on it when they did get possession.

Play wise and why I don't like all the fancy flicks and over playing we've seen since we won the League, the press came first and foremost, we weren't and aren't an all singing all dancing expansive football side, but what we do is devastatingly effective.

We test teams in every imaginable way, switch balls to release or find our full backs and forwards on either side of the pitch in space are an absolutely essential part of our game, to find those players of the quality they are in isolation, in space or in a position in which the LCM RCM LB or RB will quickly be in support of them so we can play a ball they can chest or head or lay off to one of those other players first time before making their runs in behind is so so important to our continued success.

The other crucial part of our game in combination with our press is the constant runs in behind and playing those long balls over the top of opposition defences, even when they're camping on their 18 yard line and playing them to such a level of quality that we either find the forwards run or the ball is so near perfect the defender can only half clear it and we win any second balls and quickly form and attack form there or quickly work it to one of our full backs to put an early ball into the box with the oppositions line slightly disturbed and our forwards able to take positions to make their second runs escaping their markers attentions while their focus is on where the half cleared ball will go.

For me together with our set pieces and Trent's right to left switches to find Robbo making runs in advance of our midfield and forwards at times (Robbo needs to start returning that favour at times) they are all the things that made us Champions and I feel it is incredibly important we do not lose sight of that

Bump

[fagin]

We will never compete financially with City United and Chelsea. I don't get the obsession about how much other clubs are spending. I would have thought winning the big trophies without the need to try and outspend your rivals would be classed as a success. This squad is the best we have had for many a year, so i don't feel the need to disrupt it, apart from bringing the odd few in. It's not how much you spend, it's how you spend it that counts. Most of Klopp's buys have been a success, i trust him to keep it that way, whether he breaks the bank to get a player or he doesn't.

Quite true but why do we need to judge ourselves on the ability to spend what others are spending it makes no sense its what you buy for the money and what you get for it from the signing as you say.
Look at 2 of the teams we've played this season 1st Leeds no way should we have beaten them we had to sink to penalties to do it.
Then today we are steamrolled by another club that just survived the drop by 1 point.Did either of these teams say we should be spending like ManU ManC or Chelsea no they are minnows and deal with players we and the top teams wouldn't be bothered with yet they have produced teams that can play at the same level as the big teams possibly because their managers have built "Teams".
Tottenham we laughed at on here because of Mourinho yet with their tight budget they seem to have made a few good signings enough to put 6 past ManU.
Too early in the season yet to make predictions myself i'm glad we were beaten if we had to be and early in the season to be able to adjust not by 7 but to be quite honest although we won the League last season it became a borefest and from what's happening in the 1st few weeks this season i don't believe there's going to be an out an out runaway Champion it's looking like a very competitive league this time around which makes for more exciting games......Just my opinion !

[dicko1969]

Scapegoats
Gomez won the league and Bobby won us a world club and Adrian a super cup.

But there were 11 players +3 subs out there today.

Summed up as Sloppy and complacent.

Getting found out after 2 to 3 years playing high octane football.

The high line is such a risk that teams are getting 4 or 5 big chances.

Alisson saved us x2 v Arsenal.
Adrian too v Villa.

This team is on its 4th year of a cycle more or less.

97 points 99 points , 2 champions league finals. It has peaked now expect a downturn in performances and results.

Luckily only 3 points for a win but a big hit for the GD.

Alisson Mané Thiago Matip and Henderson back soon hopefully.

[redebreck]

Scapegoats
Gomez won the league and Bobby won us a world club and Adrian a super cup.

But there were 11 players +3 subs out there today.

Summed up as Sloppy and complacent.

Getting found out after 2 to 3 years playing high octane football.

The high line is such a risk that teams are getting 4 or 5 big chances.

Alisson saved us x2 v Arsenal.
Adrian too v Villa.

This team is on its 4th year of a cycle more or less.

97 points 99 points , 2 champions league finals. It has peaked now expect a downturn in performances and results.

Luckily only 3 points for a win but a big hit for the GD.

Alisson Mané Thiago Matip and Henderson back soon hopefully.

It's the high line that found us out IMO.
Villa found a way to punish us.
Other Premier sides, and others, will analyse the Villa game to FLICK, and try to emulate what they achieved.

Some intense coaching, which may entail doing away with the high line, will be needed to prevent a repeat.

[TheDOC1979]

Having the mentality of "expecting our form to drop off" after two good seasons is probably the most uninspiring thing to say. Why have that mentality and accept our form to drop off?

Bloody hell!

[Nineteenx]

Scapegoats
Gomez won the league and Bobby won us a world club and Adrian a super cup.

But there were 11 players +3 subs out there today.

Summed up as Sloppy and complacent.

Getting found out after 2 to 3 years playing high octane football.

The high line is such a risk that teams are getting 4 or 5 big chances.

Alisson saved us x2 v Arsenal.
Adrian too v Villa.

This team is on its 4th year of a cycle more or less.

97 points 99 points , 2 champions league finals. It has peaked now expect a downturn in performances and results.

Luckily only 3 points for a win but a big hit for the GD.

Alisson Mané Thiago Matip and Henderson back soon hopefully.

For me the high line isn't any issue at all as long as we have the right personnel in midfield and up front doing the pressing and counter pressing

Trying to play through teams rather than use the switches because we don't have either Henderson or Thiago at CM to play them as none of our other midfielders can does increase the risk

My Fabinho thing is very simple, he does have very bad lapses in the press and allows it to break down, and be broken all too easily making very basic mistakes and being entirely honest about it, as I wish others here could be, the midfield of Fabinho, Gini plus any other that isn't Henderson got found out and exploited from January 2019 onwards and was only fixed by bringing Henderson in from HT in that Southampton game onwards.

Teams weren't just targeting Trent, they were targeting Fabinho also as a way of releasing players in behind Trent, finding players in behind Fabinho to then release a wide runner in behind Trent and all Villa did was brutally expose a weakness in our midfield with Fabinho in the centre that in truth was exposed and had become an achiles heal for us a very long time ago.

I could illustrate with various scenarios of what Fabinho does to allow our press to be broken so easily

I think people under estimate or simply don't appreciate the importance of the switches to how we play, I see most here talk about more attacking midfielders and trying to play through teams.

It's not just finding our full backs, forwards or LCM or RCM advanced in space on the opposite side to create a new point of attack

The effect it has is it disrupts the positioning of the opposition, it takes them out of positions they will have worked on trying to be in to try and create a transition to break our press, it also makes them look and move toward the area the switch has gone to and takes their attention away from the movement of our other players momentarily, and allows our players to all move and adjust their positions to be in better counter press positions and positions to win second balls and stop any potential counters AND make attacking runs beyond players that they simply do not see coming

The effect of the switch balls is absolutely monumental and priceless and vastly under appreciated

[Nineteenx]

I think there's been a bit of confusion among our players as to what this actually means, since winning the league there has been a lot of fannying around attempted fancy flicks that never seem to come off and an foul smelling air of complacency, they've not been playing like Champions at all.

To me playing like Champions means first and foremost playing with the same intensity, hunger, desire, work ethic and absolute beligerance in doing all those things and having an unshakable resolute determination that you will NOT be beaten and nothing less than a win in every single game is good enough.

I feel it is incredibly important to not start with the fancy flicks, showboating, over playing and over complicating of things uneccessarily and to never lose sight of what made you Champions and look to improve on doing the things that made you Champions even better rather than trying to do different things.

For me what made us Champions was first and foremost an incredible hunger and desire and work ethic, an attitude that we will never be beaten and no game or situation was ever lost or beyond being won and an absolutely incredible press, never ever letting the opposition having the ball easy and never ever having time on it when they did get possession.

Play wise and why I don't like all the fancy flicks and over playing we've seen since we won the League, the press came first and foremost, we weren't and aren't an all singing all dancing expansive football side, but what we do is devastatingly effective.

We test teams in every imaginable way, switch balls to release or find our full backs and forwards on either side of the pitch in space are an absolutely essential part of our game, to find those players of the quality they are in isolation, in space or in a position in which the LCM RCM LB or RB will quickly be in support of them so we can play a ball they can chest or head or lay off to one of those other players first time before making their runs in behind is so so important to our continued success.

The other crucial part of our game in combination with our press is the constant runs in behind and playing those long balls over the top of opposition defences, even when they're camping on their 18 yard line and playing them to such a level of quality that we either find the forwards run or the ball is so near perfect the defender can only half clear it and we win any second balls and quickly form and attack form there or quickly work it to one of our full backs to put an early ball into the box with the oppositions line slightly disturbed and our forwards able to take positions to make their second runs escaping their markers attentions while their focus is on where the half cleared ball will go.

For me together with our set pieces and Trent's right to left switches to find Robbo making runs in advance of our midfield and forwards at times (Robbo needs to start returning that favour at times) they are all the things that made us Champions and I feel it is incredibly important we do not lose sight of that

There we go, you want to be Arsenal under Wenger in his later years, or Pep at City last season, give up doing all of the above and overplay, play too laboured tappy tappy trying to play through teams abandoning all that made you so successful and formidable

[Kev0909]

Oh fuck off why don't you be the manager??

ever thought of trying to apply for a lower league team??

Maybe you should take over klopp i'm sure we'd win the league

[teesred]

Quoting your own posts!
For fucks sake.

[Nineteenx]

Quoting your own posts!
For fucks sake.

Worth quoting too, well worth it

BUMP

I do know a thing or two about this game Steveo, called it from the outset of this season

UAE FC played like Champions today, played like last season's Champions to be precise

I see some blaming Thiago, it's not on him, we started the overplaying and fancy Dan flicks before he was available to play, long before

UAE FC are actually a joy to watch, they really remind me of us when we won 4 trophies, playing switches, playing direct and early when it's on, when a player has the opportunity to be very direct from a good pass or an opposition error, doing exactly that, see the difference between Foden with Alisson's error and Mane with Ederson's error

UAE FC right now are what we should aspire to and what our evolution should have looked like, keeping our direct style so our ability at it and the relationships built up over 3 seasons playing like that didn't deteriorate and playing Thiago as the more attacking of the 3 mids, prompting new movement and greater variation of runs from the forwards and full backs with his array of passing

[ianlfc]

Let's be honest, City played like champions. I wonder will Man Utd hand over the title they won 2 weeks ago ?

[Nineteenx]

Let's be honest, City played like champions. I wonder will Man Utd hand over the title they won 2 weeks ago ?

They played like us the last 2 seasons with the additional midfield creativity we bought Thiago for, I thought to compliment our direct style and offer us more in possession taking 3 or 4 opposition players out of the game with one pass when we were playing possession football with a 2-0 plus lead and teams who were parking the bus HAD to belatedly come out and try and press us and for his variation of passing at the more attacking midfielder of our 3 to prompt and develop new and greater variation of movement and runs from our forwards and full backs when playing our normal direct game

[teesred]

They played like us the last 2 seasons with the additional midfield creativity we bought Thiago for, I thought to compliment our direct style and offer us more in possession taking 3 or 4 opposition players out of the game with one pass when we were playing possession football with a 2-0 plus lead and teams who were parking the bus HAD to belatedly come out and try and press us and for his variation of passing at the more attacking midfielder of our 3 to prompt and develop new and greater variation of movement and runs from our forwards and full backs when playing our normal direct game

When the first 11 is available maybe thats when the passing game starts to work?
Its clearly not working now and is costing us.
It might not be a bad thing if Thiago starts being used less frequently.

[Nineteenx]

When the first 11 is available maybe thats when the passing game starts to work?
Its clearly not working now and is costing us.
It might not be a bad thing if Thiago starts being used less frequently.

Tees I posted this thread on 1st September, strongly warning against ditching our direct style and rather building on that with Thiago as the more attacking mid of our 3 to prompt and develop new variation of movement, It's not Thiago that's the issue, we started the passy passy tappy tappy overplaying crap at the end of last season and were very obviously trying to play like that and ditched our direct style that won us four trophies all the time he was out

[eggy81]

Tees I posted this thread on 1st September, strongly warning against ditching our direct style and rather building on that with Thiago as the more attacking mid of our 3 to prompt and develop new variation of movement, It's not Thiago that's the issue, we started the passy passy tappy tappy overplaying crap at the end of last season and were very obviously trying to play like that and ditched our direct style that won us four trophies all the time he was out

To me it’s not just tactical. It’s mental. The amount of quick passes to supporting players on the gallop that we turn down now in favour of recycled possession is unbelievable. The polar opposite of our successful periods.

[miller0863]

Yep, continually stop and check back instead of pressing forward. We have become so easy to play against surely the coaching staff and manager can see it’s just not working

[Nineteenx]

To me it’s not just tactical. It’s mental. The amount of quick passes to supporting players on the gallop that we turn down now in favour of recycled possession is unbelievable. The polar opposite of our successful periods.

It absolutely IS tactical, they are being told to play like that, to try and develop a tappy tappy passing game, in Trent's recent interview with Sky he gave the game away totally "We changed quite a lot this season, probably too much"

[eggy81]

It absolutely IS tactical, they are being told to play like that, to try and develop a tappy tappy passing game, in Trent's recent interview with Sky he gave the game away totally "We changed quite a lot this season, probably too much"

Yes. That quote absolutely illustrates it.

[Nineteenx]

Yep, continually stop and check back instead of pressing forward. We have become so easy to play against surely the coaching staff and manager can see it’s just not working

They've fucked up royally, it isn't working, it was clear it wasn't working when we started with that crap at the end of last season, why the fucking hell would you ditch what won you four trophies almost entirely, play all your best players out of form and break down all the relationships built through playing a certain way over the last four seasons? It is absolutely fucking ridiculous

You bring Thiago in, play him as the more attacking midfielder of the 3 as one of our 3 always operates and build up greater variety of movement and ways to break teams down and gradually build that up over time naturally while retaining and still using all your ability at being direct

We should revert to our direct approach for the rest of the season a do what we should have done in the first place and save possession tappy tappy for when we have a 2-0 plus lead, the opposition HAVE to come and press and at that point shift Thiago to CM where he can play his passes that take 3 or 4 players out of the game to create another goal, those brilliant passes he makes from deep don't work against park the bus sides, they are specifically suited for use against sides that are pressing you and trying to attack you, but his other passing can played as our more attacking midfielder,

[boom-klopp]

we are a well oiled machine which functions with all its parts working in harmony.

robbo and trent both have stopped assisting to the levels of the past two seasons.

robbo has vvd behind him and fab to his left as well as mane all covering and pressing when he attacks. total confidence which means freedom.

the opposite flank, trent has gomez with his pace covering and hendo to his side. even salad covers and all press. again, total confidence and freedom.

take the whole cb pairing away and the knock on effect is felt right across both flanks.

then you have the lower defensive line and the midfield pushes back resulting in an ineffective geggenpress.

we are not a team like city reliant on individuals but individuals reliant on the system to help them.

when that system breaks down, you’re going to struggle.

it’s a shit deal we have got but it is what it is.

[Nineteenx]

Dropping our direct play almost entirely and overplaying and trying to play through teams with pick the lock football when all our movement and positioning and automation of doing things was built up and focused through being so direct and we don't have the midfielders or time built movement to play pick the lock football but were devastatingly effective at smashing down doors with a sledgehammer is as big a reason for our dramatic loss of form as VAR and our injuries

[teesred]

Has it been deliberately dropped? If so why are we persevering with it when it's having such disastrous consequences? You'd think we would atleast try and go back to being direct with what we've got in an attempt to stop this malaise.

[Nineteenx]

Has it been deliberately dropped? If so why are we persevering with it when it's having such disastrous consequences? You'd think we would atleast try and go back to being direct with what we've got in an attempt to stop this malaise.

We've got no-one in the middle of the park to play those more direct playmaking passes now Hendo's out and no-one at CB either now Virgil, Matip and Hendo are out, unless he brings Davies in and has Trent and Robbo play more switches and attempt those balls over the top

[CCTV]

Maybe playing like underdogs might be more appropriate given circumstances

[Nineteenx]

I think there's been a bit of confusion among our players as to what this actually means, since winning the league there has been a lot of fannying around attempted fancy flicks that never seem to come off and an foul smelling air of complacency, they've not been playing like Champions at all.

To me playing like Champions means first and foremost playing with the same intensity, hunger, desire, work ethic and absolute beligerance in doing all those things and having an unshakable resolute determination that you will NOT be beaten and nothing less than a win in every single game is good enough.

I feel it is incredibly important to not start with the fancy flicks, showboating, over playing and over complicating of things uneccessarily and to never lose sight of what made you Champions and look to improve on doing the things that made you Champions even better rather than trying to do different things.

For me what made us Champions was first and foremost an incredible hunger and desire and work ethic, an attitude that we will never be beaten and no game or situation was ever lost or beyond being won and an absolutely incredible press, never ever letting the opposition having the ball easy and never ever having time on it when they did get possession.

Play wise and why I don't like all the fancy flicks and over playing we've seen since we won the League, the press came first and foremost, we weren't and aren't an all singing all dancing expansive football side, but what we do is devastatingly effective.

We test teams in every imaginable way, switch balls to release or find our full backs and forwards on either side of the pitch in space are an absolutely essential part of our game, to find those players of the quality they are in isolation, in space or in a position in which the LCM RCM LB or RB will quickly be in support of them so we can play a ball they can chest or head or lay off to one of those other players first time before making their runs in behind is so so important to our continued success.

The other crucial part of our game in combination with our press is the constant runs in behind and playing those long balls over the top of opposition defences, even when they're camping on their 18 yard line and playing them to such a level of quality that we either find the forwards run or the ball is so near perfect the defender can only half clear it and we win any second balls and quickly form and attack form there or quickly work it to one of our full backs to put an early ball into the box with the oppositions line slightly disturbed and our forwards able to take positions to make their second runs escaping their markers attentions while their focus is on where the half cleared ball will go.

For me together with our set pieces and Trent's right to left switches to find Robbo making runs in advance of our midfield and forwards at times (Robbo needs to start returning that favour at times) they are all the things that made us Champions and I feel it is incredibly important we do not lose sight of that

I 100% stand by this post and believe it is especially relevant after todays game and was after the City game at the Etihad, sure add a bit of cuteness over time, add more midfielders with passing ability to play the right type of passes for our forwards and full backs of the required quality for fucks sake and then let the passing game side of it evolve naturally, trying to force tappy crappy, unnecessarily overplaying and forgetting to do what made us Champions League winners and Premier League Champions in games like today isn't evolution

[Daffydd]

Playing like champions doesn't mean we always win every match.

And it certainly doesn't mean crying when we draw or giving up.

[Nineteenx]

Playing like champions doesn't mean we always win every match.

And it certainly doesn't mean crying when we draw or giving up.

I'm not giving up, but for me there's been too much trying to prove a point in a few games, about signings, about how we approach games against certain sides, and that trying to prove a point has cost points, and although last season's loss of all our senior Cbs did put a spanner in the works, for me we've not made a good job of our evolution from where we were in 18-20 and our overall strengths then that should have been built on not ditched

And before anyone says it I'm getting bored of the look where we are line, we have a squad with strength in depth for the first time this season that has enabled us to try for both domestic cups, with the players we have, if we were still in a position where we had to play pretty much our best 11-14 players every game, you'd expect us to be high on the list of favourites and challenging for the Premier League and Champions League and just not challenge for the domestic cups

Are we as good as we were at our peak in 18-20 not even fucking close, not even close, we just have a stronger squad now, current best 11 plays 19-20 best 11 all players fit, current best 11 gets trounced

[teesred]

"bored of the look where we are line".
Spot the irony competition, all entries in by 3pm today.

[LEGS]

We probably arent as good for a start our forwards are all older and have lost a yard.

Van Djik is not the same since injury either.

We might lose but we dont get hammered that is mad talk.

We were 14 points behind at christmas so we have pulled it back you think we are the best but the league table says otherwise, City are the team to beat at the minute.

We are in two more cup finals imagine supporting Southampton/Wolves they dont have much to enjoy really we do it could be worse the owl could be manager !

[Nineteenx]

you think we are the best but the league table says otherwise, City are the team to beat at the minute.

Take away their 4 points they got for 2 wrong VAR handball calls and give us our 2 for the first Spurs game non pen and who is the best really - Or tell me where you think those 3 very wrong, even by Mr Refs Association Gallagher's verdict decisions have been evened out elsewhere

[LEGS]

Take away their 4 points they got for 2 wrong VAR handball calls and give us our 2 for the first Spurs game non pen and who is the best really - Or tell me where you think those 3 very wrong, even by Mr Refs Association Gallagher's verdict decisions have been evened out elsewhere

No idea its not worth worrying about as I cant change it.

You have been saying we need to take refs and VAR out of it which you do to some degree but if you get a few dodgy decisions ie Spurs away you are going to be angry.

Oil clubs are up to no good imo we all know this and it will get worse with Newcastle as they make City look paupers.

[Nineteenx]

No idea its not worth worrying about as I cant change it.

You have been saying we need to take refs and VAR out of it which you do to some degree but if you get a few dodgy decisions ie Spurs away you are going to be angry.

Oil clubs are up to no good imo we all know this and it will get worse with Newcastle as they make City look paupers.

I CANNOT see how those 2 handball decisions, both unquestionably wrong, no doubt, were given as they were unless 'up to no good' now includes bribing officials

[LEGS]

I CANNOT see how those 2 handball decisions, both unquestionably wrong, no doubt, were given as they were unless 'up to no good' now includes bribing officials

VAR should work but it kind of can have the reverse effect too if you have an idiot/cheat in control it can/does change a result.

[Nineteenx]

VAR should work but it kind of can have the reverse effect too if you have an idiot/cheat in control it can/does change a result.

What I want, if City fail to slip up, or rather, if their remaining opposition all fail to turn up and try everything they can to make life as difficult as possible for them as they do against us, is to win all our remaining games and for Jurgen to make the point ahead of their Wolves game that Wolves might be looking for revenge as they lost the reverse fixture 1-0 to a penalty awarded for handball, that turned out not to be handball, and to then say he's still waiting for Mike RIley's apology for that decision and the one not to award a penalty to the bitters, as those 2 decisions were incorrect and have decided the title

It needs saying even if City do slip up, you can't have 2 decisions like that with the use of VAR decide or nearly decide a title, I'd like a huge deal made out of it to stop that happening again, as there's no excuse for it, it's obviously deliberate

[Nineteenx]

I think one element that is missing and different from 19-20 is the lack of the accidental playmaker at No6 and a lack of patience and probing against sides who set up like Tottenham - To my recollection we got the breakthrough goal in 6 or more games against PTB teams from a quickly up and down ball over the top of defences camped on their own 18 yard box from Hendo or Virgil (he got 2 assists like that)

It was never the Modric type probing people usually associate with playmaking, accidental or otherwise, to me it was knocking it about, moving it left to right while our players moved into great counter press positions to win any second ball, rather than charging about as frenetically as they did v Spurs, and our forwards getting into position to run off the back off the fullback and/or CB for the pass and when they were set, Hendo would play that ball, or lay if back to Virgil to, and if it was defended, we almost always won the second ball and often scored from those positions too

[Nineteenx]

Just a quick bump before I disappear for a bit, this is what made us successful, people running the show need to have a serious look at how much of that they ditched in an ill advised alleged evolution of our play and how it was more successful than what their failed idea of evolution has delivered and address it this summer

I think there's been a bit of confusion among our players as to what this actually means, since winning the league there has been a lot of fannying around attempted fancy flicks that never seem to come off and an foul smelling air of complacency, they've not been playing like Champions at all.

To me playing like Champions means first and foremost playing with the same intensity, hunger, desire, work ethic and absolute beligerance in doing all those things and having an unshakable resolute determination that you will NOT be beaten and nothing less than a win in every single game is good enough.

I feel it is incredibly important to not start with the fancy flicks, showboating, over playing and over complicating of things uneccessarily and to never lose sight of what made you Champions and look to improve on doing the things that made you Champions even better rather than trying to do different things.

For me what made us Champions was first and foremost an incredible hunger and desire and work ethic, an attitude that we will never be beaten and no game or situation was ever lost or beyond being won and an absolutely incredible press, never ever letting the opposition having the ball easy and never ever having time on it when they did get possession.

Play wise and why I don't like all the fancy flicks and over playing we've seen since we won the League, the press came first and foremost, we weren't and aren't an all singing all dancing expansive football side, but what we do is devastatingly effective.

We test teams in every imaginable way, switch balls to release or find our full backs and forwards on either side of the pitch in space are an absolutely essential part of our game, to find those players of the quality they are in isolation, in space or in a position in which the LCM RCM LB or RB will quickly be in support of them so we can play a ball they can chest or head or lay off to one of those other players first time before making their runs in behind is so so important to our continued success.

The other crucial part of our game in combination with our press is the constant runs in behind and playing those long balls over the top of opposition defences, even when they're camping on their 18 yard line and playing them to such a level of quality that we either find the forwards run or the ball is so near perfect the defender can only half clear it and we win any second balls and quickly form and attack form there or quickly work it to one of our full backs to put an early ball into the box with the oppositions line slightly disturbed and our forwards able to take positions to make their second runs escaping their markers attentions while their focus is on where the half cleared ball will go.

For me together with our set pieces and Trent's right to left switches to find Robbo making runs in advance of our midfield and forwards at times (Robbo needs to start returning that favour at times) they are all the things that made us Champions and I feel it is incredibly important we do not lose sight of that

[scientificred]

Just a quick bump before I disappear for a bit, this is what made us successful, people running the show need to have a serious look at how much of that they ditched in an ill advised alleged evolution of our play and how it was more successful than what their failed idea of evolution has delivered and address it this summer

I think there's been a bit of confusion among our players as to what this actually means, since winning the league there has been a lot of fannying around attempted fancy flicks that never seem to come off and an foul smelling air of complacency, they've not been playing like Champions at all.

To me playing like Champions means first and foremost playing with the same intensity, hunger, desire, work ethic and absolute beligerance in doing all those things and having an unshakable resolute determination that you will NOT be beaten and nothing less than a win in every single game is good enough.

I feel it is incredibly important to not start with the fancy flicks, showboating, over playing and over complicating of things uneccessarily and to never lose sight of what made you Champions and look to improve on doing the things that made you Champions even better rather than trying to do different things.

For me what made us Champions was first and foremost an incredible hunger and desire and work ethic, an attitude that we will never be beaten and no game or situation was ever lost or beyond being won and an absolutely incredible press, never ever letting the opposition having the ball easy and never ever having time on it when they did get possession.

Play wise and why I don't like all the fancy flicks and over playing we've seen since we won the League, the press came first and foremost, we weren't and aren't an all singing all dancing expansive football side, but what we do is devastatingly effective.

We test teams in every imaginable way, switch balls to release or find our full backs and forwards on either side of the pitch in space are an absolutely essential part of our game, to find those players of the quality they are in isolation, in space or in a position in which the LCM RCM LB or RB will quickly be in support of them so we can play a ball they can chest or head or lay off to one of those other players first time before making their runs in behind is so so important to our continued success.

The other crucial part of our game in combination with our press is the constant runs in behind and playing those long balls over the top of opposition defences, even when they're camping on their 18 yard line and playing them to such a level of quality that we either find the forwards run or the ball is so near perfect the defender can only half clear it and we win any second balls and quickly form and attack form there or quickly work it to one of our full backs to put an early ball into the box with the oppositions line slightly disturbed and our forwards able to take positions to make their second runs escaping their markers attentions while their focus is on where the half cleared ball will go.

For me together with our set pieces and Trent's right to left switches to find Robbo making runs in advance of our midfield and forwards at times (Robbo needs to start returning that favour at times) they are all the things that made us Champions and I feel it is incredibly important we do not lose sight of that
Have a good summer and a good break 19x!
We will miss you!
Hope you come back for next season in fine fettle!

[huyrob]

I agree with your bump.
Let’s enjoy what we have experienced and feel calm that Jurgen is with us for longer than we may have expected.
19x enjoy your break , watch us on rewind ,winning the 2 cups, forget var, remember Ali’s header and be ready to entertain and educate us next season. Best wishes.

[worldpanel]

A much needed summer break for the forum, as well as LFC
We were just a little tired in the final third. Too many games, and their keeper had a blinder. It happens.
Fuck we were good this year.
Onwards next season chaps.
Mrs worldpanel and I hoping to get to the UK in the summer

[Nineteenx]

There are a lot of things that used to happen that were integral to our success and our identity that no longer happen

Summer 2018- Summer 2020 Liverpool with the added quality in depth of this season would have walked the league and the Champions League final this season, that team with our current strength in depth would have sealed the quadruple this season no problems

Our proposed and attempted evolution has been devolution

[Steveo]

Double-oh-fekin-bollox


https://youtu.be/lEjEGbAFzJU

[vin]

Mrs worldpanel and I hoping to get to the UK in the summer

Why? Is it's awful here!

[Nineteenx]

Further to my original post on this

The press and counter press isn't anywhere near the levels it was at its best

Part of that was we regularly won possession, including quickly regaining it, in the opposition half from where we'd play very quickly and directly to create chances on goal

We were quite direct, we did try and play through sides, but we also had regular variation between our attempts to play through to reverting to being direct, medium to longer balls over the top and diagonals and we always had runs in behind

We had switches from Trent and Hendo to find Mane and Robbo on our left, in time and space and isolation quite a lot, and these were played after our attempts to play through had condensed most other players into an area

At our very best aside from Hendo playing the switches and medium to long balls over the top from No6 and also regularly feeding Trent and Virgil for them to join in making the play, we didn't have a playmaker or a player trying to act as one, and our ability of several players to suddenly create something from different positions and situations together with our press and counter press made us almost impossible to successfully defend against for 90 minutes and meant we gave precious little away in opportunities for successful or dangerous counters

A lot of the above is now missing, as I said it was in grave danger of disappearing from our game when we began trying to be tappy crappy and overplay early last season

I don't understand why and how we have got our attempted evolution so badly wrong, there was room for plenty of evolution to our game without ditching everything that made us Premier League and Champions League winners. it was noticeable that our overplaying and not making runs in behind, our numerous players making the play from different areas in different ways, our ability to be devastatingly direct and our ability on the counter got progressively worse the harder Thiago tried to dominate with the ball

Not having a designated playmaker and having 3 or players who can find our forwards and full backs and release them, being very direct was one of our greatest strengths and weapons to breaking sides down in combination with our bets pressing and counter pressing and winning the second ball if the first wasn't successful and playing quick and direct from a new position of attack - stopping doing all of that has even started to have a hugely detrimental effect on our once feared counter attacking ability

We did used to score from many of them, occasionally ballsing them up with the finish or final pass, but playing quickly, accurately and being devastatingly direct in those situations seems to have deserted us almost entirely, because we're not practicing all the elements of doing that throughout games as we used to, and if you stop practicing something, your ability to do it rapidly diminishes

Hate to say it again, but City have adopted a lot of what made us so much better than them in 19-20, they have gone from "Don't shoot Vinny" overly tappy crappy to being more direct at times always making deliberate use of variation and the press and counter press they employ is very much as ours used to be, whether being direct or tappy crappy, aside from one, sometimes 2 forwards making runs in behind, they don't get ahead of the ball or the opposition player that could lead a counter while they are attacking until the attack requires their involvement and they can do so without leaving themselves very open to being easily countered

People need to have a rethink

[scientificred]

Time for me to take a summer break. Hopefully the transfer team and Jürgen get what they want. Maybe there will even be a new pm or Labour party leader (or both) when i return for the start of next season.
Have a good summer everyone!

[redebreck]

Agree with a lot of the ideas in this thread. My own personal issue is with our wingbacks, or others, no longer going to the bye-line and cutting the ball back into the six yard box. I've noticed Robbo in particular has stopped doing this, something that hasbeen effective in the past.

[LFC-DPG]

Agree with a lot of the ideas in this thread. My own personal issue is with our wingbacks, or others, no longer going to the bye-line and cutting the ball back into the six yard box. I've noticed Robbo in particular has stopped doing this, something that hasbeen effective in the past.

Probably because we’ve only ever got one player in the box

[Nineteenx]

Probably because we’ve only ever got one player in the box

That isn't strictly accurate, we often have a few in there, who fail to coordinate their runs with one another, often all making the same runs, it's why I made the 'playing the percentages' thread, because when we get in similar positions to those Redebreck is talking about, we often put a ball in blind instead of picking a pass that's on. or we'll try and force a pass that is never on, when because we often have 3 all taking up similar positions and making the same movements, a low driven shot across the keeper anyone of them might bundle in any parry off is our best course of action

[Nineteenx]

Bump, it's all still there, what needs to be done, pressing and counter pressing to the incredible levels we reached, those levels ensuring we won the vast majority of all second balls, creating new points of attack they weren't set for and couldn't legislate for trumps the tappy crappy possession game

Teams are doing to us now what we used to do to other teams still trying to fashion a passing game who weren't all that in the press, what we should have done is improved and added to what we were already doing, have 3 midfielders as brilliant at pressing and counter pressing but with the ability to play the switches and attempted balls over the top to release our forwards and full backs in isolation or in combination, giving us absolutely everything we needed to further develop, tweak and enhance the play of our full backs and forwards in combination

It was all there, and we threw it all away trying to adopt some fantasy Man City in the season we handed them their arse style possession game that our brilliant manager has zero track record in adopting - It's a real mess now, it's a long road to get back to where we were to do what should have been done in the first place


I think there's been a bit of confusion among our players as to what this actually means, since winning the league there has been a lot of fannying around attempted fancy flicks that never seem to come off and an foul smelling air of complacency, they've not been playing like Champions at all.

To me playing like Champions means first and foremost playing with the same intensity, hunger, desire, work ethic and absolute beligerance in doing all those things and having an unshakable resolute determination that you will NOT be beaten and nothing less than a win in every single game is good enough.

I feel it is incredibly important to not start with the fancy flicks, showboating, over playing and over complicating of things uneccessarily and to never lose sight of what made you Champions and look to improve on doing the things that made you Champions even better rather than trying to do different things.

For me what made us Champions was first and foremost an incredible hunger and desire and work ethic, an attitude that we will never be beaten and no game or situation was ever lost or beyond being won and an absolutely incredible press, never ever letting the opposition having the ball easy and never ever having time on it when they did get possession.

Play wise and why I don't like all the fancy flicks and over playing we've seen since we won the League, the press came first and foremost, we weren't and aren't an all singing all dancing expansive football side, but what we do is devastatingly effective.

We test teams in every imaginable way, switch balls to release or find our full backs and forwards on either side of the pitch in space are an absolutely essential part of our game, to find those players of the quality they are in isolation, in space or in a position in which the LCM RCM LB or RB will quickly be in support of them so we can play a ball they can chest or head or lay off to one of those other players first time before making their runs in behind is so so important to our continued success.

The other crucial part of our game in combination with our press is the constant runs in behind and playing those long balls over the top of opposition defences, even when they're camping on their 18 yard line and playing them to such a level of quality that we either find the forwards run or the ball is so near perfect the defender can only half clear it and we win any second balls and quickly form and attack form there or quickly work it to one of our full backs to put an early ball into the box with the oppositions line slightly disturbed and our forwards able to take positions to make their second runs escaping their markers attentions while their focus is on where the half cleared ball will go.

For me together with our set pieces and Trent's right to left switches to find Robbo making runs in advance of our midfield and forwards at times (Robbo needs to start returning that favour at times) they are all the things that made us Champions and I feel it is incredibly important we do not lose sight of that

[Insidious]

There will be solutions.

- Players will gradually re-integrate after their absences.
- Jota will bolster the attacking depth when back.
- Diaz will likely gradually learn to cut inside into the spaces between right-back and centre-back more akin to what Mane used to, rather than staying wide.
- Carvalho will get games soon enough as he has shown desire to run at defenders.
- Núñez will cause defenders a problem.
- There will be games where Van Dijk, Konate and Núñez are all on, which help help us when attacking and defending set pieces.
- We'll find a tactical tweak to ensure opposition getting in behind Trent isn't as overwhelming a problem.
- Firmino will get less games in time which (no disrespect to him) should make our attack feel more potent.
- Some players will enter spells of form again and give others a lift.
- 19 League games per season take place at Anfield and those inside the ground can up their game when the lads need it.
- Having Núñez or Jota on the pitch should give Salah more room to operate.

Problems require solutions. We can find some, for sure. There will be opportunities for several individuals to "step up" this season and at least a couple of them should manage to do so, even if it's inconsistently at times.

Focus on ourselves. The rest is noise for quite some time yet. If we were 10 points off the Champion's League spots with 10 games to go it's a much bigger problem.

35 League games left - let's get a positive result at the weekend and go from there.

[Nineteenx]

I think there's been a bit of confusion among our players as to what this actually means, since winning the league there has been a lot of fannying around attempted fancy flicks that never seem to come off and an foul smelling air of complacency, they've not been playing like Champions at all.

To me playing like Champions means first and foremost playing with the same intensity, hunger, desire, work ethic and absolute beligerance in doing all those things and having an unshakable resolute determination that you will NOT be beaten and nothing less than a win in every single game is good enough.

I feel it is incredibly important to not start with the fancy flicks, showboating, over playing and over complicating of things uneccessarily and to never lose sight of what made you Champions and look to improve on doing the things that made you Champions even better rather than trying to do different things.

For me what made us Champions was first and foremost an incredible hunger and desire and work ethic, an attitude that we will never be beaten and no game or situation was ever lost or beyond being won and an absolutely incredible press, never ever letting the opposition having the ball easy and never ever having time on it when they did get possession.

Play wise and why I don't like all the fancy flicks and over playing we've seen since we won the League, the press came first and foremost, we weren't and aren't an all singing all dancing expansive football side, but what we do is devastatingly effective.

We test teams in every imaginable way, switch balls to release or find our full backs and forwards on either side of the pitch in space are an absolutely essential part of our game, to find those players of the quality they are in isolation, in space or in a position in which the LCM RCM LB or RB will quickly be in support of them so we can play a ball they can chest or head or lay off to one of those other players first time before making their runs in behind is so so important to our continued success.

The other crucial part of our game in combination with our press is the constant runs in behind and playing those long balls over the top of opposition defences, even when they're camping on their 18 yard line and playing them to such a level of quality that we either find the forwards run or the ball is so near perfect the defender can only half clear it and we win any second balls and quickly form and attack form there or quickly work it to one of our full backs to put an early ball into the box with the oppositions line slightly disturbed and our forwards able to take positions to make their second runs escaping their markers attentions while their focus is on where the half cleared ball will go.

For me together with our set pieces and Trent's right to left switches to find Robbo making runs in advance of our midfield and forwards at times (Robbo needs to start returning that favour at times) they are all the things that made us Champions and I feel it is incredibly important we do not lose sight of that

Well, although Jurgen and his coaching staff broke down and laid to waste a hell of a lot of the brilliant automation and direct play that was so integral to our being so brilliant in pursuit of something, an ideal, none of them have any track record of success with and this group of players don't have the skill sets to play, so far tonight looks a decent start at trying to get some of what Jurgen laid to waste working for us again

[justme]

applauded you were right again

[Nineteenx]

Bump, well, posted in 2020, it's all in here

[Nineteenx]

I’ve never lost site if this

I think there's been a bit of confusion among our players as to what this actually means, since winning the league there has been a lot of fannying around attempted fancy flicks that never seem to come off and an foul smelling air of complacency, they've not been playing like Champions at all.

To me playing like Champions means first and foremost playing with the same intensity, hunger, desire, work ethic and absolute beligerance in doing all those things and having an unshakable resolute determination that you will NOT be beaten and nothing less than a win in every single game is good enough.

I feel it is incredibly important to not start with the fancy flicks, showboating, over playing and over complicating of things uneccessarily and to never lose sight of what made you Champions and look to improve on doing the things that made you Champions even better rather than trying to do different things.

For me what made us Champions was first and foremost an incredible hunger and desire and work ethic, an attitude that we will never be beaten and no game or situation was ever lost or beyond being won and an absolutely incredible press, never ever letting the opposition having the ball easy and never ever having time on it when they did get possession.

Play wise and why I don't like all the fancy flicks and over playing we've seen since we won the League, the press came first and foremost, we weren't and aren't an all singing all dancing expansive football side, but what we do is devastatingly effective.

We test teams in every imaginable way, switch balls to release or find our full backs and forwards on either side of the pitch in space are an absolutely essential part of our game, to find those players of the quality they are in isolation, in space or in a position in which the LCM RCM LB or RB will quickly be in support of them so we can play a ball they can chest or head or lay off to one of those other players first time before making their runs in behind is so so important to our continued success.

The other crucial part of our game in combination with our press is the constant runs in behind and playing those long balls over the top of opposition defences, even when they're camping on their 18 yard line and playing them to such a level of quality that we either find the forwards run or the ball is so near perfect the defender can only half clear it and we win any second balls and quickly form and attack form there or quickly work it to one of our full backs to put an early ball into the box with the oppositions line slightly disturbed and our forwards able to take positions to make their second runs escaping their markers attentions while their focus is on where the half cleared ball will go.

For me together with our set pieces and Trent's right to left switches to find Robbo making runs in advance of our midfield and forwards at times (Robbo needs to start returning that favour at times) they are all the things that made us Champions and I feel it is incredibly important we do not lose sight of that