Arsenal vs Liverpool

Fair enough

Great to start with a win and get the three points from the Emirates. I thought our game was a bit clueless at times, but I guess that can be forgiven in the first match. Mané's goal was sublime, if he can do that every few games I will have to eat my words about his transfer.

What a great game to watch! Had the pleasure of watching it with my buddy who's a hardcore Arsenal fan.

My takeaways:

- Mané is a very impressive player. Strong on the ball. Faster than basically everyone. Two footed. Can dribble and pick out a pass. Looks a class signing.
- Coutinho was clinical tonight but didn't seem too involved otherwise. Obviously the goals were great but I'd like to see him (and the rest of the team) running at such an inexperienced defence more. Still, had some great touches.
- Moreno is the worst fullback in the league and I wouldn't have him on my coed rec team.
- Wijnaldum was pretty quiet in the first half but got a bit more involved and picked out a great pass to Lallana in the second. Also his close control, touch and ability to play short passes in tight spaces is very noticeable. He's also got final product. He's going to be good for us, but needs to play in a 4-3-3 with a DM behind him.
- Klavan and Lovren were very good together. Unlucky deflection off Lovren for one goal after 3 players failed to stop Ox, but otherwise they were very good.
- Moreno is shit.
- Firmino looked a bit off the pace but still had some very nice skills, touches and passes.
- Lallana looks great in that midfield role as opposed to further up the pitch. Hope he gets more looks beside Wijnaldum with Can behind them.

Anyway, exhilarating game. They shouldn't have sat back so much after the 4th goal but a win is a win. On to the next!

The biggest positive outside the points is how many bodies we get forward when attacking. 5 guys in the box every opportunity Gonna score so many goals ffs. Did the same against Barca.

Don't call me James wrote:The biggest positive outside the points is how many bodies we get forward when attacking. 5 guys in the box every opportunity  Gonna score so many goals ffs.  Did the same against Barca.

I think that was one the biggest neagtives from Rodgers system.
But now, except one DM, almsot all other attackers and midfielders are in and around the box.

Edited

Helmer wrote:

Don't call me James wrote:The biggest positive outside the points is how many bodies we get forward when attacking. 5 guys in the box every opportunity Gonna score so many goals ffs. Did the same against Barca.

I think that was one the biggest neagtives from Rodgers system. Except one DM, almsot all other attackers and midfielders are in and around the box.

Helmer stuck in the past much?

Don't call me James wrote:The biggest positive outside the points is how many bodies we get forward when attacking. 5 guys in the box every opportunity Gonna score so many goals ffs. Did the same against Barca.

A massive factor to why SAF was successful was because of this.

We're attacking as a team / in patterns now. It's brilliant.

Clyne also had a shocker (wasn't actually discussed here). Which is surprising, really.

Regardless 3 points at the Emirates is massive. Would also like to see how our defence sits when Matip / Sakho / Karius are back, with Can or Lucas offering protection.

I'm excited for Karius to be back but I'm not sure why people are calling for Lovren to be replaced. He's been very good under Klopp, and Klopp clearly likes him quite a bit even making him captain in pre-season.

All exaggerations/banter/past arguments aside, what do you think about Henderson's status and future in your team, @curtinho ?

Hapless_Hans wrote:All exaggerations/banter/past arguments aside, what do you think about Henderson's status and future in your team, @curtinho ?

I think it's tough. Lallana's transition to midfield looks really good on him right now. Henderson is great at closing down space, switching the play, making late runs and crossing (and he obviously has a phenomenal workrate on the field). The thing is Lallana also brings a high work rate, and he closes down pretty hard as well but his technical ability is on a higher level, he's two footed, and while he doesn't have the crossing/switching or long passing ability of Henderson he makes up for that and I think more with his ability to move the ball up the field and his incisiveness in the final third. He's not productive enough IMO when he's playing as one of the front 3 but from midfield he could be exceptional.

Meanwhile on the other side I think that Wijnaldum and Grujic offer something different and should be pillars on that side. Wijnaldum is great at getting into open space, has probably the best close control on the team, very smart with his passing, great first touch and really nice end product. On top of it he's got the ability to dribble or break into space when necessary.

All this to say I think that Henderson is looking at a back-up role for our squad moving forward. I think he's a very good player but as it is set up now Lallana and Wijnaldum just bring better attributes to the midfield in most cases. I think he's a very good depth player to have though especially with Lallana's fitness concerns and the possibility of injury (and fixture congestion).

Red Alert wrote:Clyne also had a shocker (wasn't actually discussed here). Which is surprising, really.

I would'nt blame Clyne that much. He hasn't had the best pre season firstly that would account for the shit passes. It was the first match of the season and i know 2 goals came from his side but Henderson and Wijnaldum rarely offered any help to Clyne and Lovren's side of defence.
Mane was not really interested in defending either which is why they attacked from the left and Ox had so much space in between Clyne and Lovren to score that fluky.

He'll be his assured self once we have a DM and Klopp sorts out the right winger's attitude while defending.

The only mistake Clyne made was not showing Ox more towards the byline and not letting him cut.

But it's not his fault he got beaten. He was left in an island 1v1 vs Ox and Lallana came to help very late. His presence actually hurt Clyne's chances of defending that 1v1 instead of helping it as he delegated some responsibility to Lallana when he was him coming.

The dumb throwing and causing the freekick were stupid but not exactly the cause of the goal. The delivery was very good. I guess the most we could have done was hope that one of ours got a head on it and headed it out.

I'm just saying Clyne was responsible for more goals than Moreno against Arsenal. You can't claim it's not fair he wasn't getting support from Mane when Coutinho did not help at all. He had a poor game, I'm not calling for his head. He was probably our best defender/player last season. Just thought I'd say it since nobody else would.