Good read as usual, Mark. The one thing Slot has been commenting on is how often they face a low block.That's a challenge the Reds struggled with under Klopp, and my hope is they are working on unlocking the low block more in practice given it's become a quite common tactic.
Adding a 4th forward certainly helped last night. While I don't suspect that's something that will be done to start a game, it gave the Reds a great shot at claiming all 3 points if not for some fine goalkeeping from Matz Sels.
Thanks El Duderino! I think we can setup with a similar shape to when we had 4 forwards in the second half but just play one of Elliot/Szoboszlai instead of a 4th traditional forward.
We've also seen good deep runs for midfield that can break down low blocks. It's really about doing that from the start of games, getting ahead and .managing the game from there.
If I were to steelman the counterpoint, I'd argue that 'yes, it is really difficult to find weaknesses in Forest.' They have a perfect blend of tactics and personnel to execute them which means they are exactly where they deserve to be league-wise. Recovering a draw at their place is therefore a decent outcome.
However, this doesn't account for other matches. I appreciated how you clearly showed there's a trend of Slot's Liverpool starting slow in attack. Seems like a feature rather than a bug, and definitely one worth stamping out.
I would hope that with time and Slot building a team that's much more his in terms of personnel and even approach, Liverpool would build an array of attacking patterns they could deploy reflexively in different game states against different opposition set-ups. Familiarity could mean the players can problem-solve quicker in real-time without needing 15 minutes with Slot in the dressing room to recalibrate. I think this speaks to how difficult it can be for coaches to instil their philosophy deeply without the training time; reason to hope that with another summer, Slot and the team can kick on another level.
But all things considered, Liverpool being where they are with clear room to grow is quite exciting. Thanks for writing this, Mark: you've managed to both excite me and temper the excitement with realism. Slot is quite good at doing this too, come to think of it...
Forest are really well drilled defensively but everything we did gave them encouragement. I don't actually think it's the idea of Liverpool starting slow. I think we don't have a good enough plan going into some games and are just figuring out mid-game how to break opponents down. The long-range shots that I referred to are often a symptom of this.
I love your point about "problem-solve quicker in real-time" though, back this massively and training time is also a big deal as you say.
Liverpool are second half FC indeed. Is there a xGD chart Mark? Also it also seems like players need help in adjusting performance in-game which probably gets distilled in the half time chat. Is that down to perhaps a leadership vacuum in midfield? maybe all of the first choice midfielders being very young maybe is a reason? It will come with time I suppose as long as the chances against can be kept tight.
Good read as usual, Mark. The one thing Slot has been commenting on is how often they face a low block.That's a challenge the Reds struggled with under Klopp, and my hope is they are working on unlocking the low block more in practice given it's become a quite common tactic.
Adding a 4th forward certainly helped last night. While I don't suspect that's something that will be done to start a game, it gave the Reds a great shot at claiming all 3 points if not for some fine goalkeeping from Matz Sels.
Thanks El Duderino! I think we can setup with a similar shape to when we had 4 forwards in the second half but just play one of Elliot/Szoboszlai instead of a 4th traditional forward.
We've also seen good deep runs for midfield that can break down low blocks. It's really about doing that from the start of games, getting ahead and .managing the game from there.
This is such a valid point and well articulated.
If I were to steelman the counterpoint, I'd argue that 'yes, it is really difficult to find weaknesses in Forest.' They have a perfect blend of tactics and personnel to execute them which means they are exactly where they deserve to be league-wise. Recovering a draw at their place is therefore a decent outcome.
However, this doesn't account for other matches. I appreciated how you clearly showed there's a trend of Slot's Liverpool starting slow in attack. Seems like a feature rather than a bug, and definitely one worth stamping out.
I would hope that with time and Slot building a team that's much more his in terms of personnel and even approach, Liverpool would build an array of attacking patterns they could deploy reflexively in different game states against different opposition set-ups. Familiarity could mean the players can problem-solve quicker in real-time without needing 15 minutes with Slot in the dressing room to recalibrate. I think this speaks to how difficult it can be for coaches to instil their philosophy deeply without the training time; reason to hope that with another summer, Slot and the team can kick on another level.
But all things considered, Liverpool being where they are with clear room to grow is quite exciting. Thanks for writing this, Mark: you've managed to both excite me and temper the excitement with realism. Slot is quite good at doing this too, come to think of it...
Thanks Josh!
Forest are really well drilled defensively but everything we did gave them encouragement. I don't actually think it's the idea of Liverpool starting slow. I think we don't have a good enough plan going into some games and are just figuring out mid-game how to break opponents down. The long-range shots that I referred to are often a symptom of this.
I love your point about "problem-solve quicker in real-time" though, back this massively and training time is also a big deal as you say.
Liverpool are second half FC indeed. Is there a xGD chart Mark? Also it also seems like players need help in adjusting performance in-game which probably gets distilled in the half time chat. Is that down to perhaps a leadership vacuum in midfield? maybe all of the first choice midfielders being very young maybe is a reason? It will come with time I suppose as long as the chances against can be kept tight.