Euro 2020

[Steveo]

Even Murphy praised them. It was brutal, the final stats for possession must be outrageous.
Spain looked good but look like they are missing that killer instinct up too.
I've never rated Morata. He should have buried that first half chance.

85% possession…

Spain really do need a striker to be fair. But they play the right way. Sadly there are teams who are simply prepared to do whatever it takes to take a point.

[Nineteenx]

Robertson has the shot of a Sunday league centre back never mind a premier league left back. Still will likely score more than 0 after 50 caps…

It's why I've been banging on about him needing to practice his damned shooting for 3 seasons, people talk about what we need as a team, Jurgen talks about developing players through coaching them, yet, how we play at our best could be echelons higher if we'd just further developed our full backs and they'd further developed their own games and work had been put into Fab's often catastrophic urges to go charging to wherever the ball is, when positioning is crucially important when you play as high a risk high pressing and counter pressing game as we do

[Steveo]

I have no idea what you're referring to Steveo (well I do) but what you're talking about in this post is a million miles away from what I'm talking about, Guardiola revitalised CIty and reached his first Champions League final doing exactly what I'm talking about, because even he's learnt you need all the elements I believe you do in the modern game, I can't remember the last time a team of ballers that you fantasize about actually won anything

And you think England have the players to deploy what Guardiola wants?

And Guardiola has a weaker side now than he had 2 years ago. What you are talking about changes with the wind.

Top level football is fluid - it does not follow a rigid template and ultimately requires the best players and the best managers for it to be successful over a long and sustained period of time. Stop believing that what worked last season is the answer for next year. It never was.

You sir are trying to make out you know the game which you spend an inordinate amount of time talking about BUT crucially NOT playing:

Klopp himself is no football genius - he is riddled with blind spots and a lack of the highest quality eye BUT he can inspire and develop like nobody else and has a Pied piper like quality to get people onboard.

Tactics only count for so much buddy.

[Steveo]

It's why I've been banging on about him needing to practice his damned shooting for 3 seasons, people talk about what we need as a team, Jurgen talks about developing players through coaching them, yet, how we play at our best could be echelons higher if we'd just further developed our full backs and they'd further developed their own games and work had been put into Fab's often catastrophic urges to go charging to wherever the ball is, when positioning is crucially important when you play as high a risk high pressing and counter pressing game as we do

He hasn’t got the ability - he is never going to be a good finisher 19 - you can’t teach that to a pro of 27. End of story. He is what he is. A bit like Henderson really. Limited in technique but capable of raising his game though incredible work ethic - with Klopp at his back he can be a very potent weapon.

Take that manager away and he is half the player. He played well today - but sadly his shooting is between poor and dreadful.

[Nineteenx]

Top level football is fluid - it does not follow a rigid template and ultimately requires the best players and the best managers for it to be successful over a long and sustained period of time. Stop believing that what worked last season is the answer for next year. It never was.

Perhaps you suffer from a severe deficiency of reading and comprehension skills Steveo, I've never believed that in my entire life, I've always insisted entirely the contrary to that, that you need to keep adding to, improving and evolving on what has made you successful, given my combination of conditions it is in every fibre of me to constantly look for development, improvement and evolution

Is there significant room for improvement on how we play and in how we use and develop some of the incredible players we have? Yes, 1000 time yes, that's what I've been banging on about for the last 3 seasons

Is there a need to ditch so much of what made us incredibly successful or any of it as part of that evolution? No, not at all, it is about progression, development and evolution, adding further strings to the bow of what made you successful and more ways to break down and unlock teams through possession and through being incredibly direct when it is on to do so

Probably LFCs greatest manager of all time and our most successful knew this only too well

"It's not about the long ball or the short ball it's about the right ball"

But as expected Steveo tihnks he knows a thing or 2 more about this game than Bob

[Steveo]

Agree with much of the above - but at times it doesn’t sound ( to me at least ) like that is what you are saying.

As for progression - we hoovered points up in 2019 and 2020 but we’re not all that dominant in too many of the games for my liking. Instead needing rather too many last gasp goals and freak occurrences to get them.

IMO the league was very skewed with a very weak Chelsea - Arsenal and United. The points hauls were fantastic but we could make like far easier for ourselves long term by adding some more quality - like belatedly Thiago.

That is the minimum level I expect is to be after from summer 2019 onwards.

As for the Champions League. 2019 win is all about grit and miracles. We get out of the group… How? We get past Barca by 4 goals to 0…? How? Extremely even game where Barca dominated the ball - everything we hit goes in the net. Then the final - that very nice penalty making life a hell of a lot easier.

It’s great but don’t use it as a template - it isn’t Bob Paisleys Liverpool / not by a long long shot.

[Nineteenx]

He hasn’t got the ability - he is never going to be a good finisher 19 - you can’t teach that to a pro of 27. End of story. He is what he is. A bit like Henderson really. Limited in technique but capable of raising his game though incredible work ethic - with Klopp at his back he can be a very potent weapon.

Take that manager away and he is half the player. He played well today - but sadly his shooting is between poor and dreadful.

I quote your post and raise you the curious case of Joao Cancelo who from being incredibly poor and looking like another waste of 50m on a full back from Guardiola, he developed this season to do all the things I have been banging on for 3 seasons about Jurgen and the players themselves to develop Robbo and Trent to do, Cancelo is 27

[Steveo]

You mean he had a poor first season at City and had a better second season…?

Not quite the same as Robbo becoming Marcelo is it??

You have seen how Robbo runs right?

Seen how he shapes to shoot..? Seen how scared he is to shoot? You have seen his best mate. That’s it - bombing down the wing an pinging in some great balls - incredible work rate - some Marcellus tracking back and interceptions - work rate is totally off the charts - a fantastic player to have… but you have seen as good as it gets.

[Nineteenx]

You mean he had a poor first season at City and had a better second season…?

Not quite the same as Robbo becoming Marcelo is it??

You have seen how Robbo runs right?

Seen how he shaped to shoot..? You have seen his best mate. That’s it.

You're wrong on this one Steveo, it just takes time, practice, studying of good technique of striking the ball and the touch used to set it to shoot and to practice those things

Having been usurped in the team by Fabinho, Captain fantastic, at the ripe old age of 29, studied what it was Jurgen preferred Fabinho to him for, studied our other players and how he could help them more and developed some fabulous medium to long range pin point passing and switches that none of us had seen from him prior to that, perhaps you dislike and knock Hendo because he comprehensively disproved your theory that players over a certain age can't evolve and improve on their game and technique, how Hendo plays those passes uses a completely new technique (to him) he worked on and developed

[Nineteenx]

Also, who's talking about Robbo becoming Marcelo, what I'm talking about is working on his first touch to set set the ball to strike it and his shooting and finishing technique and his technique for putting in more and better crosses early from deep inside left or outside left positions (the very best position to be found in space to deliver quality crosses against PTB teams), his decision making in doing both those things and his decision making in when to play the percentages by shooting across the keeper low and hard to where our players are he'll hardly ever find with his attempted short balls into the centre of a packed penalty area when he has a shot on