Clough famously said that if god had intended us to play football in the clouds he would have put grass up there. With that in mind, did anyone notice our deliberate tactic of lumping the ball up and going for second balls last night?
I think we would have wanted to play more football that we did but it was effective in nullifying City's attack. Even City seemed to come with a gameplan of punting balls in midfield to avoid the press. Both managers wary of the strength of the teams on the deck no doubt.
It's good to see we have a manager at the club who has more than just plan A. In 13/14 I felt like we could never shut up shop and win ugly. We always had to outscore opposition. Which brings me to my next point...
I think it's about time our defence gets the respect it deserves. Yeah we're always likely to pull a Liverpool and see a repeat of Bournemouth but so are other sides and we're right in the mix in terms of goals conceeded. In games against the top 7, we've conceeded 5 goals, 3 of those coming against Arsenal and had 3 clean sheets.
Good first half of the season. We need to keep improving and finish strongly.
Klopp's change of tactics
posted on 1/1/17
I think it was more to do with us having to play games thick and fast. We don't have the legs to play our pressing game every game
posted on 1/1/17
I don't think we were playing long ball. The majority of our good work still came on the deck.
I think city had thr most of the game possession wise, so our long passes were more clearances than actual lump it at a centre forward Bolton style passes.
posted on 1/1/17
I was a bit disappointed that we struggled to retain the ball more in fact that was the reason we didn't make a better fist of the game in terms of chances created and goals scored.
At this stage who cares though as we won the game. But there is still lots of room for improvement if we are to have a chance of winning the big prize.
posted on 1/1/17
I noticed it. To Igor's point, it wasn't non-stop and the only tactic, but we did look for a lot of first time lucky long balls. I kind of thought we mainly did it under pressure though.
As a guess the tactics seemed to be "play it out from the back but if you're under pressure don't risk losing the ball, try your luck over the top instead"
posted on 1/1/17
We did appear to change tactics in the second half last night, probably with the Sunderland match in mind. It wasn't so much long ball but we did get rid from defence at the first opportunity instead of trying to play out. Klopp new trying to play possession against City would be suicide basically. Fair enough really.
posted on 1/1/17
5
posted on 1/1/17
City are a pressing side also now, so we were getting it forward quicker from the keeper than normal because of that, to avoid those panicky situations that frustrate the crowd. It also suits Mignolet who is not great with his feet.
Our passing was poor though yesterday. Luckily there's was worse for much of the match.
I am hoping a few changes tomorrow will see us more fluent again. Sunderland are terrible and we should be able to put them away, but these big games are always easier mentally for the struggling clubs as their is no expectation on them.
posted on 1/1/17
I would have loved to have seen this game at another time of the season. Klopp got it right,city didn't threaten at all. Without the surrounding fixtures this would have been a more entertaining game for the neutrals.
posted on 2/1/17
Spit on reallly, i think how the game played out made us change are style, which was good to see, as you neex to be able to adapt.
I also think the game came at a really awkward time for us, i think klopp new that to drop points at this stage would have done a lot if damage.
You only have to look at UTD last few fixtures, weve gad city and everton leading upto the gectic xmas fixtures and still sit 2nd.
Think klopp has used his experience in keeping us in the hunt