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53 years since we last played Frankfurt winning 2-0 on aggregate in the UEFA Cup 1st round. Keegan and Hughes with the first leg goals.
Frankfurt currently lie seventh in the Bundesliga and started the season off with a bang with three straight wins but their form has quickly dipped since then (sounds familiar!) winning two from their last seven including a 5-1 tonking at Atletico Madrid in their last European match. They do know where the back of the net is but concede a lot too (perfectly matched!). Players to watch out for are Burkardt (expect him to score) and Koch at the back from set-pieces.
Looking like both our number sixes are out in Grav and Endo so here goes:
Mama, Frimpong, Konate, VVD, Robbo, Jones, Szobo, Gakpo, Wirtz, and Ekitike and Mo.
Absolutely no clue as to the result. Could be anything.
Narrow away win.
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Fair shout on that team. I’d drop Salah not sure who to play, Chiesa? Frimpong? Probably Frimpong.
To be honest not bothered about who plays, I just want plays to play to their strength. None of this vacate the central area and fullbacks invert into it nonsense. Have good shape, proper roles, good defensive organisation and movement with tempo. Don’t just stand in a frigging static line when attacking.
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That would pretty much the team id plump for Rob.
MacA is miles off it and needs to be benched until he regains form. Sub appearances and domestic games will have to do for him at the min IMO as we cant keep giving him starts at the expense of 3 points.
Slot needs to trust the other players.Endo trained today so perhaps available from the bench.
Slot also needs to sort out the structure because at the min it isnt working.
Midfielders cant vacate the midfield and still expect to control the game._____________________________
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Chiesa is in form so fully deserves a chance instead of mo or gakpo for me
Play players who have actually shown a bit of form in eitike and chiesa. Give robbo a chance.
Echo what threeps and ginger say
Stop the rot. Draw isnt a bad result.
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Chiese stats show he is massively contributing with limited game time. Brings enthusiasm and huge energy. He deserves to start games. He deserves a chance now
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Why spend an astronomical £340m on Wirtz, Ekitike and Isak if you’re not going to play all of them in every big game, if fit? And why play Szoboszlai at right-back, after spending £35m on Frimpong plus having Northern Ireland captain, Bradley in the wings?
Who actually thought these transfer dealings through?
The hallmark of the truly great managers is the ability to overcome big setbacks, Slot now has to show us that he belongs in this category by fully turning this slump around. And he needs to go back to basics, instead of trying to be too clever with his formations.
Liverpool’s biggest weakness is easy to see, basically conceding the first goal in most games. Simply lob in, or throw, a long ball or run at the defence at speed, and they just can’t handle it, like happened on Sunday.
So time to totally focus, get our act together, and convincingly win this game, with a clean sheet.
Marmadashvilli
Bradley Konaté Van Dijk Robbo
Jones Szoboszlai
Ekitike Wirtz Gakpo
Isak_____________________________
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Btw I’m dropping Salah as he’s completely off-form, while Frimpong might start instead of Bradley, as he played for five seasons in Bundesliga.
Play Wirtz in his natural No. 10 position, with an attack of Ekitike, Isak and Gakpo, which is quite adventurous.
After all, what’s the point of spending £80m on Ekitike and keeping him on the bench? He’s good enough to start as a No. 9 for any PL team (except City with Haaland) and I hope he was not bought with the intention of just being backup to Isak, because that won’t work out, and he won’t accept it either.
As to what formation we’ll play, that’s up to Slot to decide, and that’s why he’s paid the big money.
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“And why play Szoboszlai at right-back, after spending £35m on Frimpong plus having Northern Ireland captain, Bradley in the wings?”
Because Slot wants him to invert into the space our midfields have vacated (so press the opposition back) and that isnt Bradley’s game at all. Almost like Trent, but without the passing threat (but still much better than any other option at RB).
“Who actually thought these transfer dealings through?”
I made my point earlier that its starting to look like stat based transfers with no regard to how they will actually play.
Anyway, my team. Dont care if Slot wont play it (he wont), but FM 26 is out soon and this is how I’m going!
Marma (although I dont think he is suited at all to us)
Konate VvD (either would be dropped if we had a better option)
Frimpong Grav Robbo (could be Kerkez or Bradley, same roles as wing backs, Grav as a half back)
Szlob Jones (would be MacA but I feel he needs dropping, both supporting the wings if needs be)
Wirtz Chiesa (narrow)
Ekitke (not drop deep so much as not much space, but to wonder laterally to move the defence. Isak could also play this, but I think he is still miles off fitness and needs his time to be managed better)._____________________________
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I don’t have any major problem with Salah not starting this game however it wouldn’t be for Ekitike who has never played wide right ever in his career.
There are at least 2 other players who have played there who I would choose ahead of him.
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“Because Slot wants him to invert into the space our midfields have vacated (so press the opposition back) and that isnt Bradley’s game at all.”
And there lies the big problem. Our midfield suffers and becomes unbalanced from losing Szoboszlai if he plays at right-back. Szoboszlai playing in midfield or as a false 10 last season was instrumental in us winning the league. Only Bradley or Frimpong must play at right-back (or Gomez, Endo in lesser competitions).
It is pointless for us to use Szoboszlai at right-back when both Bradley and Frimpong are fit. Why did we pay for £35m for Frimpong then? Szoboszlai must play in midfield only, except if the other right-backs are injured, sent off or on a yellow card etc.
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“I made my point earlier that its starting to look like stat based transfers with no regard to how they will actually play.”
It’s got nothing to do with stats.
It just appears (so far) to be a huge transfer blunder by Richard Hughes to sign two very expensive No. 9’s to compete for just one place. Imagine when we signed Darwin Núñez for around £80m, it’s like then going to buy Harry Kane as our No. 1 striker for £125m – Totally Ridiculous.
Did Hughes really expect Ekitike, who is good enough to start every game for us, to stay on the bench as backup to Isak? Or does Slot plan to play Ekitike and Isak together, because one thing is for sure, Ekitike is far too good, and far too expensive to not be a regular starter for Liverpool.
And I was always 100% against us signing Isak, despite the hype, clamour and demand from several fans over here, and online, for him. After signing Ekitike, we should instead have spent up to say £50m on a young, upcoming versatile attacker instead, who would provide backup to, or even compete with, Gakpo and Salah.
Now it’s up to Slot to solve the problem of how to use both Ekitike and Isak on the pitch in every game.
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He is known, like Edwards, to use a stat/analytical based system to identify transfer targets.
Or how do you explain what is clearly something you are not happy with?
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I know we need stability but nobody seems to be suggesting Gomez at Centre back rather than Konate. Any reason why? Konate hasn’t done anything been pretty inconsistent this year.
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Slot doesn’t need to figure out how to get Isak and Ekitike on the pitch for every game.
We’re likely to play a 50/60+ game season.
There’s plenty of games and mins for both.
Particularly when he get into the depths of playing 3 games a week._____________________________
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Ekitike was bought due to his flexibility too and can play left attack. We lost Diaz and Nunez also played there on occasion so the signing of BOTH Ekitike and Isak makes total sense to me.
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I don’t buy he was bought for his versatility.
If we were to buy a player for their versatility we’d have wanted to see significant amounts of games of that player playing multiple positions decently before spending £70mil on them.
He’s only played 6 times in a position other than striker.
That’s not to say he won’t go to play other positions for us in the future.
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I agree Ginger. I thought he was able to play across the front when we signed him but I’ve not seen or read anything tk suggest he is anything other than a no 9, one who can drop deep however.
So what was the plan with his signing knowing we were going strong for Isak too? Yes there will be games for both but there will always be a hierarchy and I’m sure Ekitike will not remain happy playing second fiddle to Isak.
This again points to my theory that we signed players based on being analytically the best available without really consulting the coach on how we will use them.
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Main thing for me tonight is that I want to see the players go to war tonight. 100% focus, win all duels, fight 90+10. That’s my expectations that Slot can instill that in the team.
If they do that, we should easily win with our quality.Chiesa should be in the starting xi.
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Could be something to that Threeps it at the min we’ll have to wait and see.
I’m happy to have 2 number 9s so that if one gets injured/out of form we still have back up OR with the 3 games a week a schedule they can interchange.
I also wanted another left sided attacker or at least someone who could play both their and right sided.
Chiesa is there but seemingly doesn’t have the managers faith._____________________________
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