Thanks for this really interesting post, Nineteenx. I would say my mind works very far from the autism spectrum and so it's fascinating for me to see how differently we are reading the situation. I have done a little study of autism and its mental traits so I recognise completely the features of football tactics and play that you are responding to as being classic. I could say that I have never considered the possibility that people see football this way but that's not strictly true. The fiercest arguments I have with other people - whether its about football, God, politics or Covid - seem to have an aspect of this dividing line at the heart of them.
So, I'll describe two things that I have seen happening this year that have affected our football, which are not accounted for in the mechanics, as you characterise it, for what it's worth.
Firstly I'll say that I don't think the mechanics have been affected that much. I see the same patterns forming themselves in our play, the same dominance and penetration, but with the other critical ingredients missing. Obviously the loss of Van Djik has affected our capability (mechanically), but that is secondary in my opinion - we have enough talent to cope, we just don't have enough of these other things.
1) confidence
Here, Van Djik's loss has affected us greatly. How much? Is it possible to measure or observe all the ways in which his absence has undermined our play? Every time we lose the ball, I can imagine in the minds of our players the fear that Van Djik is no longer standing behind them.
You also made a good argument earlier in the season about how cumulative VAR decisions affect confidence - just the feeling that things won't go our way starts to eat into the minds of our players. The point is, that's what I can actually see when I am watching the play. The mechanics look good enough. The last two games we've lost leads in games we dominated and should have been comfortably ahead in. That couldn't happen when we felt we were invincible.
An injury crisis, unfair results like Everton, further bad results, and suddenly the team can't remember how it used to win. The mechanics are in place to still make us look like the better team but there is no confidence. We cut open the defence and Sadio Mané can't remember how to hit the back of the net.
So, I would say the confidence comes first. In order for our system to work mechanically, the team needs to be brimming with confidence.
I would also say that it's hard to tell if we're tired - one criticism of Klopp seems to be that he over-trains or overworks the players. It could be a factor but it could just be confidence.
2) belief
There's no fans in the stadium. What then are we playing for exactly? I've talked to ex players and they all say the crowd lifted them when they were down. Anfield breeds the most insane support in this league. It's impossible to quantify how it affects our success.
In my opinion, get the mechanics in place and our crowd ensures that we can beat Man City over and over again, even if they are better than us on some other level. Rafa took a severely under-equipped team and organised it enough for the belief to flood into it, right through the knockout stages of the European Cup.
One of the reasons I've been arguing against the 'underinvestment' crowd is because I think they are destroying the very magic we need for success. The mechanics are in place, now is the time to support. But we can't, thanks to the politicians.
Does anyone remember what this feels like?
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