That's how u do it. Nice breakdown from Frimpong to Grav

Wirtz! With his first goal now

hoosierAG said:

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Broken record so far. Slow meaningless possession with no idea what to do against a low block. And so bad at corners.

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Maccas corners are so wasteful. Miss Sboz

Yeah wasn't a great half from a fluidity standpoint, more of just great plays by great players. I still don't think we have enough guys who are willing to make runs or pull the trigger on passing for those runs, but I'll take it right now.

Gosh we are so soft lol

Another goal conceded by a corner. Ridiculous

We wouldn't want to make it an easy match….

Would definitely not be the Liverpool way!

Ekitike having a rough game. Just really really sloppy.

So sloppy. Horrid second half again. Struggled to hold on against 9 man spurs and now the same with the hapless wolves at home.

In games like this you need pace and we don't have any.

This is awful lol

I know we are short handed, but there just continues to be real problems here. Wolves just dominating us in the second half and we are fortunate to be up. Holding on for dear life. No idea what happens at half but Slot is getting it wrong way too often.

Can not score more than 2 to save our lives.

He hit the post twice and found Wirtz for the first goal. Wasn't a 10/10 performance, but he did not have a bad game

I think it's being shorthanded, but also short handed and not having the right subs off the bench. Again, this team has absolutely zero pace from CB on up, and teams know that. We get tired and sloppy and working the ball all the way up the field in the second half is much harder. Plus we have no real outlets.

I think we could really use a CB (obviously), midfielder and winger with some pace to help get teams off of us in second halves.

Sorry I added really sloppy as a point about the whole team not Ekitike in particular, although he had his good and bad moments.

Man, I can be negative Nancy with the best of them, but pretty much everything I have seen or read about us recently is "we still aren't good enough" or still "Slot out". I know it hasn't been pretty by any means, but we are back in the top four and have seemingly stopped the endless bleeding that we were doing a month ago and in October. I still think a lot of this is strictly because we don't have good squad depth at the moment.

Slot finally switched formations to something we have more of and do best, we got better, but it's still a little iffy. That to me is more the players that he available (or not available) than anything. I do wonder long-term about Slot and what his vision is, because I don't think we're going to be that active in January, but I am happy with our current rebound.

Monday morning thoughts on the weekend as we look forward to a New Year's Day encounter with Leeds:

An unimpressive win that should have been way more comfortable than it was. Wolves were there for the taking based on their season and we made it a difficult outing for ourselves. An alarming trend that needs to change soon. Wolves are on pace to be the worst team in EPL history and we had to grind out a result. At home. But at this stage in our current season, we do not have the luxury to be that picky and we will gladly take all 3 points on offer.

GK: Alisson was Alisson. Does what he is supposed to do when called upon. Just extremely reliable. Goal conceded not really his fault. Otherwise, he did not have much to do.

RB: Frimpong got the start and was somewhat decent. If we are expecting him to be TAA, we will be very disappointed in him. He is a shifty player that relies on his pace to find space. He doesn't have the vision of Trent nor does he have his array of passing skills. But he does fly up and down that right side. Had a great pull back for the first goal. This was also only his 5th start in the last 11 games. Need him to stay fit.
Conor Bradley I thought was fantastic. Had a match-saving tackle on Arias to preserve our lead and ultimately the win. Just a great energetic performance from the Northern Irishman. He is the first choice RB imo. We also desperately need him to stay fit.

CB: Konate is having, what I think, is his worst season in a Liverpool shirt. Got outmuscled for the Wolves goal as set-pieces continue to be our Achilles' heel. How our 6'4" centreback was outjumped is beyond me. I think the moment that really embodies his season was the pass he tried to make to VvD in the 1st half. He was all alone, under no pressure, and gives the most pathetic excuse for a pass that the Wolves attacker nearly pounced on. Had it not been for VvD almost anticipating the mistake and rectifying it before the situation got too out of hand, we could have been in more trouble. Konate is in a "contract year" where his deal expires in June. Reports are that Liverpool are still hopeful to tie down his signature (my gut says only bc they have a significant amount of money invested in him bc his performances have not merited it as of late). Because, otherwise, I am not too bothered if he leaves on a free. Would suck from a PSR perspective (or whatever metric they're using next season) but from an on-field perspective, meh...
VvD is what he is at this point in his career. He has lost a step or two in terms of pace but he is still a great CB that is now having to rely on his intelligence and positioning to bail him out. Luckily, he has that in abundance and is still the leader of this defence and this team.

LB: Kerkez is the one I struggle with the most. He was such a great player for Bournemouth but has been just so inconsistent with us so far this season. He is tireless and relentless when going forward and is pretty average in defending. He has benefitted from Gakpo being out of the side as Gakpo largely ignores him every time he overlaps him. For me, Robertson needs to be rotated in here more and I home we see him Thursday.

CM: We used 4 midfielders again which has brought some stability to our side amidst all the injuries, suspensions, fitness issues, etc. we have struggled with this season. Gravenberch is still one of the first names on the teamsheet for me. Had a superb start to the season, but has somewhat regressed to the mean in recent weeks. His goal was sublime in picking out his spot.
Curtis Jones is now the first name on Slot's teamsheet. Just controlled the tempo and pace of the game. He still holds on to the ball a tad too long for my liking but there is no doubting his ability to control that midfield when called upon. For me, it is now Grav, Jones, and Szoboszlai as the names to make the core of our midfield.
Florian Wirtz FINALLY got his goal and you could see the relief on his face. He was superb. His footwork is undeniable and I think will eventually make good on the investment Liverpool have made on him. Just taking him a little while to settle in. He reminds me of Coutinho. And if he hits the heights that Coutinho did while he was at Liverpool, then we will be just fine. He was MOTM for me (with Ekitike a close second).

FW: Chiesa finally got a start. Still frustrating to only get 60 mins out of him, but I think he will be happy with getting the time he did. Now did he capitalize on his opportunity? Of that I'm not sure. He is usually the spark of energy we need when he comes off the bench and it is hard to do that when you are asked to start. I still really like him as a player. He tracks back wonderfully and can be a very useful player. I just don't understand why Slot seems to hate him so much.
Ekitike continues to impress me. The way he is able to glide on the pitch is magnificent. Just see his entire contribution to the Wirtz goal for reference. He also hit the post twice. I think he had a pretty solid game.

I would give top marks to Bradley, Jones, Wirtz, and Ekitike. The rest of the team not named Alisson needed to step up, especially in the second half. We were a second half team last season, but this season we just look flat after halftime each game. Games we should control, we are being overrun. How Wolves had more than 55% possession for any 10 min stretch is unacceptable. We missed Szoboszlai's energy. But we shouldn't have to rely on him to beat this Wolves side.

That being said, we did finish the year with a 7 game unbeaten run, picking up 5 wins (should have been 6 had we not conceded at the last minute to Leeds). And after all we've been through this season and with our terrible patch of form, we are still in a CL spot. Our goals for the season have obviously changed, so I think we would be happy with a top 4 EPL finish, a deep CL run, and a deep FA cup run. If we win any silverware this season, it will be a miracle.

As long as Arsenal doesn't win the league....

Spot on. First guys on the team sheet the rest of the season to me are VVD, Szbo, Ekitike, Grav, Jones and Wirtz. I think if those 6 guys are playing essentially every game from here on out we'll be okay. May not be title contending or CL contending, but we'll have a chance to finish top four.

I really like what we've seen from Frimpong going forward. His width and willingness to put the ball in the box has been sorely missed, and tbh it makes a lot of sense with us playing so many midfielders. Slide that ball back to a midfielder crashing the box and boom, goal. I love Bradley too, just needs to stay healthy. Kerkez needs to continue to take a page out of this book, because he an Frimpong are in some ways the same player.

Konate is an absolute freaking whirl wind. Looks like a top 10 CB in Europe one game then a bum off the street the next. He's doing his best Darwin Nunez impersonation right now.

One of the ideas to help ward off end of games and second halves is to get Mac Allister off the field and get wider. Mac Allister just isn't it anymore in a league that becomes more and more NFL/NBA light by the year. The athletes are world class and you MUST be able to handle yourself out their athletically and he just can't. I think Mac might be the worst on the entire team (either him or Endo).

The set piece coach was fired. Considering we have the worst set piece defense in the EPL this season, it's been coming. Every time we defend a corner or free kick, if it's not instantly cleared, I assume the ball is going in the back of the net.

joemeister said:

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The set piece coach was fired. Considering we have the worst set piece defense in the EPL this season, it's been coming. Every time we defend a corner or free kick, if it's not instantly cleared, I assume the ball is going in the back of the net.

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Worst +/- for set pieces In Europe's top 5 I think.

Hallelujah

Arsenal get away with crimes in the box, but if go up to catch the ball you gotta get hands on it.

Villa suck again.