My thanks again to Finn.
All chest beating aside, Klopp and the Dippers have a very decent squad and are using it to good effect………. however they were not that good yesterday!
Frankly we saw two top sides vying for who could best lose a match through slack, burned out complacency on the one hand and appalling finishing on the other. We could have lost 5-1 OR perhaps unbelievably, we could have won 2-0 ……. as it stood the result flattered us.
So why is this happening? It’s easy to point fingers at a couple of players especially in our midfield; certainly slack give-aways created chances for Liverpool resulting in the corner and second goal (plus a whole heap of missed chances) and but does the problem lie there entirely?
Harry Kane
Without doubt Kane is currently burned out and needs a rest not just physically, but from the pressure of the being Harry Kane. Right now he does not chase decisively, the 50-50 balls he used to win are now 70-30 for the defender and he does not make a ‘back’ as a target man to hold and lay off to players moving forward.
Most importantly though, he makes no runs neither forward or from deep – he’s just not creating opportunities to receive the ball from his midfield.
As a result I think our midfield has no outlet other than Moura and he’d finding his feet – a pony looking for a second trick perhaps. However this does not excuse the midfield – they get paid a shedload of money to focus for 95 minutes and like paying top whack to Clapton, you’re not doing so to get a load of bum notes!
Frankly picking Harry right now is agreeing to start with 10 men.
Formation
We have used the 3 at the back with flying wing backs switching in/out with a back four effectively, but when you do this the whole team has to come along. We did half of one and half of the other yesterday – flying wingbacks but only two central defenders – where was Dier? He should have dropped into a back three!
The other problem with the flying wingbacks is they need to have someone to cross to – with Harry showing all the movement of a stalking chameleon, where/who do the backs cross to?
Selection
Sadly the team selected itself, but that goes to show the parsity of our squad. There is no-one to relieve Kane, no hit-the-ground-running back-up for Dembele or Wanyama.
Underlying cause
There is only one – we do not have a robust enough a squad to consistently compete at this level. ALL the sides who do, regularly strengthen their squads to maintain altitude – we try to glide on thermals.
Not spending and signing at least two top quality midfield players to back up/replace Dembele and Wanyama was criminal in its negligence – not supporting Kane by signing someone who can share some of the playing and psychological load is just insane.
Harry Kane is one of the world’s top players – a thoroughbred that we utilise like a ? carthorse!
We knew about the World Cup, we knew most of our first team was going, but we made no plans to deal with the after effects. As someone said earlier, we could have spent a year ago but did not, we should have spent this summer but did not – as a result we ARE spent! Legoverlass said:
“Liverpool are a club with owners who when they bought the club did so in the knowledge that real success has to come on the football pitch. That is the primary business objective of owning a football club because if you get that right then the rest follows.”
So right, but I’d add that Tottenham are a club with owners who seem to believe that the primary business objective is the business, and that the football is just a vehicle, a ‘reason’ as opposed to a ‘raison d’etre’…… there’s the rub.
