A bit of weird problem here. The long balls aren't an issue... until they are an issue.
I guess if we see Villa and City doing it to the Reds in the next week then we'll know every team will try it.
I saw Fabian Hurzeler say this about defending them ahead of Brighton's game with Man United:
"When the long ball is played, there are two things that are very important: that you try to win the second ball, and that, if you don't win the second ball, you have good positioning for the third ball. Make sure that, with your last line, you always cover the inner line, so when they try to flick the ball, especially with [Benjamin] Sesko, you can defend against the deep runs from [Matheus] Cunha, from [Bryan] Mbuemo, from [Mason] Mount."
When Liverpool press high and commit numbers forward, the long pass becomes the most efficient countermeasure; not elegant, but brutally logical.
The real concern, however, isn’t one tactical flaw, but a kind of systemic fragility of a team that bends to whatever shape the opposition chooses to impose.
A bit of weird problem here. The long balls aren't an issue... until they are an issue.
I guess if we see Villa and City doing it to the Reds in the next week then we'll know every team will try it.
I saw Fabian Hurzeler say this about defending them ahead of Brighton's game with Man United:
"When the long ball is played, there are two things that are very important: that you try to win the second ball, and that, if you don't win the second ball, you have good positioning for the third ball. Make sure that, with your last line, you always cover the inner line, so when they try to flick the ball, especially with [Benjamin] Sesko, you can defend against the deep runs from [Matheus] Cunha, from [Bryan] Mbuemo, from [Mason] Mount."
Hopefully Arne has also read it ;-)
When Liverpool press high and commit numbers forward, the long pass becomes the most efficient countermeasure; not elegant, but brutally logical.
The real concern, however, isn’t one tactical flaw, but a kind of systemic fragility of a team that bends to whatever shape the opposition chooses to impose.
I'd take draw at this stage, from a match where we don't go a goal down and have a mad scramble to try to get back on equal terms.
It's not a big ask, you'd imagine, but we seem to need a kick in the behind to realise we're playing a competitive game of football these days.
That was a very short honeymoon for Slot, unfortunately