so some ppl think Davies is the solution, and you say he shouldn't even be in our squad, and is definitely the worst in the league even though you've never seen him play? to you directly - wtf did Philips do wrong today? you say he is one of the 2 worst CBs in the league? why?
I don’t have a solution. If there was a solution surely Jurgen Klopp would have found it. As I said above, I think our centerback situation is now the worst in the entire league. It’s the reason we are shit at the moment. Nothing we suggest is going to fix that.
ffs guys, I'm as pissed off as any of you but let's stop shitting on players and writing off players who don't deserve it.
Does anyone really think Davies is the solution? I'd play Phillips and Kabak who were fine. Klopp will play - Fabinho and Kabak.
if you mean our CB injury situation - 100% agree. if you're talking about the quality of our 6th/7th choice CB's. I completely disagree. I don't even know who the 5th choice CB is for any other team - and most of their fans don't either. our problem today, and recently, is lack of SCORING, not poor defending, or weak midfield.
of course they do, they haven't seen him play! * right on. right on. * I'm not saying he's crap. I have no clue. I just don't assume he's the response we need for CB.
I interpreted Spekes comment as either/or Phillips-Davies partnered with Kabak. Agree Phillips hasn’t done much wrong. The question is who does Klopp see as the best two out of three. We haven’t seen Davies so who knows?
It does have a knock on effect Sam. Full backs are less adventurous. More importantly, haven’t had Henderson or Fabinho anchoring the MF. Wijnaldum does an ok job and is fine for the occasional game, but he is not the same. With Henderson or Fabinho, I think we win the ball back a few times more per game while the opposition is in transition. This leads to one or two more good opportunities to score against a disorganized defence. H/F also likely deny the opposition one or two good situations per game. At this level, those small differences can potentially make a goal or two difference per game.
Phillips did nothing wrong. He’s played well. My point, is that pundits and commentators are asking the question what is wrong with Liverpool? The answer is painfully obvious. We are arguing over which CB would be best. The one who is 20 years old and was conceding goals for fun in the Bundesliga, the one who has only ever played in the Championship, or the one who we were so sure we were going to sell to the Championship that we didn’t even bother putting him in the Champions League squad. It’s not just that we are have to accept a lower standard than Virgil Van Dijk. We are now fielding players who are arguably below the level of the Premier League.
I think I’m doing the opposite. I’m defending our players who are being called the worst champions ever by pointing out the absurdity of our injury situation, which completely explains why we are where we are.
I actually agree with all of that, Suss. The options facing Klopp are both stark and hardly encouraging . A partnership of Davies/Williams is probably a Championship level partnership but that's where we're down to. I readily admit that the options available are not good , definitely not guaranteed to spark a massive turn around either. The team is stuck in a rut where any side that sits deep is able to stop us scoring while at the same time they've been able to find ways to nick a goal at our end . Similarly with Bobby who is not been effective at all versus packed defences for a while now . I'm up for giving him a rest and trying something different. To be honest I'm not confident there is any true solution to our woes until we get most of our injured guys back playing and who knows if that will actually happen anytime soon this season. Injuries have crushed us , destroyed the teams rhythm and chemistry . However, to stick with what isn't working doesn't seem to make a lot of sense either so perhaps why not try and shake up the lineup a bit and see what happens?
of course our mf would benefit from a fit and healthy Hendo or Fab in there. maybe one other Prem team wouldn't say that. but man ... today TAA and Robbo spent more time near their pen area than ours. we had 15 shots. I'll say this till my keyboard blows up. our problem is not taking our chances.
Yep we're in a tough place at cb , Sam . I thought Kabak did okay against RB midweek but today not so steady. It's too soon to write him off but the jury is still out on him for me but I would like a look at Davies to see if he offers any more than Kabak. We know what we get with Williams. He's a steady defensive minded cb who offers very little else going forward . In any other season he'd be nowhere near our first team , same goes for Davies and probably Kabak too but this is not a normal season.
Suss I have huge respect for your posts and your insight (I really mean that) but these have me scratching my head, and nowhere did you mention the media when posting them:
We definitely have problems taking chances though I don't think we're creating many actual good chances either and that is part of the problem. Teams sit deep against us , we control the majority of possession but when we get into the final third it all breaks down into too many crosses that get easily picked off coz our forwards are short and our attempts at dribbling thru don't work either. Add to that that not many of our guys hit good long range efforts too often. I think currently we have problems up front with lack of scoring, problems in mf with our slow tempo build ups which allow teams to get their 10 men behind the ball. WE miss the likes of Fab and Hendo forcing those important turnovers which often result on goals for us. We have problems in def too . Those guys I cannot blame coz they're doing their best . At this level when a team is missing its many of its best players I think the knock on effect goes thru the entire team.
Rhys did very well for a kid for a few games, then got dropped. Philips comes in and does a fine, no-nonsense CB job each time, and gets dropped. Kabak has been spotty, but he is younger than Rhys and is still earning where the men's room is at the AXA and what his team-mates nicknames are. as you have pointed out many times, speke, Klopp sees these guys in training all week. if he's not selecting Kabak instead of Davies there is presumably a reason for that. Davies might be great, I have no idea. but playing musical CB's is not the way to go imo. pick 2 CBs and let them build some kind of understanding. (until one or both get crocked of course)
teams sit deep - yep. prior to the West Ham wonder goal, when did we last see a breakaway of any type? but parked buses aren't a new thing are they? I don't think the midfield was slow today at all. as I mentioned at HT, Thiago imo moved the ball faster than I've seen him so far - lots of one-touch passes. we led in every single stat, but although we got close repeatedly we didn't put it away. Prickford making 3-4 great saves didn't help of course.
I want a settled back four too ,Sam and I really don't care which two of Kabak, Davies or Phillips play regularly together though I'd like to have a look at Davies . And I just would rather see cb's there with Fab and Hendo back in mf. Of course Klopp gets to decide who plays not us but this is a chat site for us to toss opinions and ideas about the team around.
I will agree that was certainly true today. But over a longer period of time, over the course of 10 plus games, the missing MF pieces has an effect on the points return.
He was the best of our midfielders by quite a bit. And, yet again, after he departs we fall apart and lose.
I love Bobby. I wanted us to sign him the season before we actually did. But I've been banging this drum all season (and even in the summer) - he needs to be replaced.