09 Feb 2023 12:44:04
A question for the eds
If in the summer (a big IF) we sign midfielders of the calibre of bellingham, nunes etc do you see us going back to the high intensity press or will we continue with the current plan, in just that we'll have better/ suitable personnel to implement it.
Thanks for all your hardwork and time?.

{Ed001's Note - I would hope we would go back to the press, but we seem stuck with this way of playing.}

1.) 09 Feb 2023
09 Feb 2023 16:03:27
Out of interest what is the current way of playing? Lol.

2.) 09 Feb 2023
09 Feb 2023 16:19:20
The Athletic described it as a 'Mid block' whereby we wait until the opposition move it into midfield and try to spring a pressing trap on them.

Personally, I think the approach is 'concede first, then try and chase the game and then concede again on the break'.

3.) 09 Feb 2023
09 Feb 2023 17:29:47
Spot on, SR. Not sure even the mid-block crap is even working cos it seems based on what Im watching, we don't press AT ALL. Mid Block, Full Block or Low Block.

As ED01 said, hopefully we go back to the press cos the way we are playing now is sucking the life out of my football life.

4.) 09 Feb 2023
09 Feb 2023 18:03:39
First time ever I agree with SR and Oli.
The Donut Formation mixed with our style of play
(the Crosby beach) it’s just football suicide.
At least we’re not playing weekend so they can’t ruin another ?.

5.) 09 Feb 2023
09 Feb 2023 19:13:57
I haven’t watched us in a few weeks because it’s really not good for my mental health atm lol seriously tho.

But it looked like we were moving back to pressing from the front. has this not been the case the last few weeks?

6.) 09 Feb 2023
09 Feb 2023 20:01:58
Can we just end the season now and send all players on a long hoilday.

7.) 09 Feb 2023
09 Feb 2023 20:03:53
I think we do try to press from the front but the players we have available don’t know how to do it properly. How often do you see Nunez chasing around and they just have an easy pass out every time?

This then means the defenders can get their head up and pass it into midfield which makes it harder for our midfielders to press so they get pulled about which leads to gaps all over the place.

I’d expect that to improve once Bobby, Jota and Diaz are back.

8.) 09 Feb 2023
09 Feb 2023 20:05:38
Being honest, I thought we were trying to move back to a high press, just not successfully thus far. It was certainly far more on display the past few weeks than earlier in the season.

I noticed the "mid block" maybe against Brighton in the FA Cup whereby there did seem to be a tactical decision to leave their defenders have it and then set about them as soon as it transitioned into the midfield. But that's it, other than that we have gone after teams. Just not successfully.

9.) 09 Feb 2023
09 Feb 2023 20:28:33
Genuinely never noticed this mid block even once. I see hendo go a bit rogue from time to time but I think that’s an attempt to get others to do it. But I’ve not seen any midblock at all. I agree with 001 here, I think we changed tactics and now can’t get back to them, probably because as BP says, the players we have just aren’t able to do it, as they’ve never done it …nunez, gakpo, keita …etc.

10.) 09 Feb 2023
09 Feb 2023 23:44:55
Everyone is doing what we used to do now. Arsenal most successfully. Klopp (Pep? ) Is trying to evolve again with a new system to counter it. Definitely a work in progress but if successful it could separate us from the pack for years to come. We've got a lot of players with specific skill sets suited to the old system who now have to sink or swim. We've also got the Elliott, Carvalho and Bajcetic growing up in it. Also would explain why we're waiting for very specific types for midfield. It's a transition year. CL final and top 4 will still be a success.

11.) 10 Feb 2023
09 Feb 2023 23:43:34
Really curious ED1, what do you think is our playing style these days? You say that Pep love possesion football, but we don't seem to be able to string more than 10 passes together. So possesion football seems not it.

Klopp organised pressing is the way we play before. But it seems these days, our pressing are so disorganised and messy. It almost non existent. So what is exactly our tactical and playing style these days?

{Ed001's Note - that is down to coaches not getting the message across.}

12.) 10 Feb 2023
10 Feb 2023 02:36:26
Billy that's an interesting take, not thought of it like that before. I hope you're right!

CL final and Top 4 I'd bite your hands off. Can't see either
happening though, and I am a glass half full kinda guy. Let's see.

A success would be either of those things happening next season- I guess is what you meant. I agree.

13.) 10 Feb 2023
10 Feb 2023 04:58:00
playing the " mid block" against brighton is not necesarily a bad idea. Watching an analysis of Brighton and it seems like they are setup to invite a full press as they are geared to use that as a trigger to promote the ball into more dangerous places. Very interesting approach. Problem is that to defend against this you need your front 3 to be blocking channels to make it harder to do this and then they need to instantly drop to press their midfield. Which we did really poorly.