Jim Boardman and Jay Reid return for another episode of Scouser Tommies, reflecting on a less than wanted shift in Liverpool’s early-season fortune. One goal wins have turned into one goal defeats, is it time to panic?
The "efficient" wins that took the Reds to the top of the table came largely through late goals and narrow margins, which we all accepted because we were on the right side of it. Now the scales seem to have tipped completely the other way. But given they weren’t tipped too far our way before this run, will it really take much to bring them back?.
The discussion centres on Liverpool's issues with both tactics and players, and a number of compounding factors: integrating new players, adopting a more complicated style of play with a "natural number 10," and injuries and circumstances that have seen constant rotation, especially at right-back. As Jay points out, this has created a defensive domino effect where opposition teams easily target the fullbacks, and with the tendency for those players to drift infield the vulnerabilities it brings. Add to this the times we see central midfielders all pushing forward at once, with no natural defensive anchor to "mind the shop", it seems trouble isn’t ever going to be far away. As discussed, the team is leaving itself "a little bit too open and a bit vulnerable," and may need to revert to the "basics" of a solid, traditional back four, at least for a while.
When talking about full backs there comes a question that isn’t so easy to answer. Has Mohamed Salah’s new role of not being so involved defensively become a problem of its own? Does it leave Arne with some serious rethinking to do? Jim asks if the Egyptian King is becoming a luxury the team can no longer afford, noting that his apparent agreement with the boss to preserve his longevity by doing less helping out at the back puts too much of a burden on the right-back and midfield to cover for him. Jay Reid agrees, calling it a 'luxury tax' the team can’t afford to pay without the returns we saw last season. They debate if Salah should be dropped for the sake of team balance, though the ultimate conclusion is that Slot needs to implement tactical tweaks that acknowledge and compensate for Salah’s role, rather than taking him out of the starting lineup entirely. At least for now.
Whilst much of the discussion revolves around Liverpool’s inability to find the net enough times to win a game, the worries at the back that have been hanging over the club since long before Slot arrived once again come to mind. The hosts criticize the club's failure in the transfer market to secure a much-needed back-up centre-back to allow the manager to rotate his best defenders, maybe avoiding some of the injury worries of previous campaigns. The situation is made worse by the long-term injury to young Leoni and the worries about the fitness of both Ibou and Joe Gomez, all of which leaves Liverpool dangerously short of quality options for two positions. Again. Jay argues the club needs to get over its perceived snobbery and sign a simple, "nuts and bolts" defender - citing Ragnar Klavan as the historic example of a player who can come in, do the basic job of heading and kicking, and allow key players like Van Dijk and Konaté to be rested and rotated.
Tough a week as it’s been, it’s not just looking at the league table and remembering we are actually second, one point off top, that cheers us up. That, of course, is because there is always Everton. We do have sympathy with them for the ridiculous prices of food at their new home down by the docks, and the lack of infrastructure to get to and from it, but maybe just accepting that ketchup is meant to be Red and that it won’t kill you, would keep the prices down a little bit at least. As for the rat...
