Bradley must be close to 6 ft surely. And then we’ve got VVD, Konate, Grav and Ekitike. With Ali as well, that’s decent height in the box. With Saka out you’d think Rice will be on set pieces which removes some of their height from the box too.

If we get caught at a set piece it’ll likely be not tracking movement rather then height imo.

comment by Szoboss (U6997)
posted 43 minutes ago
Bradley must be close to 6 ft surely. And then we’ve got VVD, Konate, Grav and Ekitike. With Ali as well, that’s decent height in the box. With Saka out you’d think Rice will be on set pieces which removes some of their height from the box too.

If we get caught at a set piece it’ll likely be not tracking movement rather then height imo.
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Good point re Rice, he’s normally in there causing chaos.
I think Bradley will start and Gomez will come on for the last 20.
It wouldn’t surprise me to see Wirtz in a false 9 position with Hugo left and Salah right so we can get dom, grav, macca in midfield.

We’ll see.

Rice is the one who delivers the set pieces. He is never in the box.

comment by (K̇ash) - 20+6 - Free Palestine 🇵🇸 Resistance is Existence (U1108)
posted less than a minute ago
Rice is the one who delivers the set pieces. He is never in the box.
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Saka also takes corners when playing.

comment by The Assassin😎 AKA Pranks☺️ (U22336)
posted 3 minutes ago
comment by (K̇ash) - 20+6 - Free Palestine 🇵🇸 Resistance is Existence (U1108)
posted less than a minute ago
Rice is the one who delivers the set pieces. He is never in the box.
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Saka also takes corners when playing.
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Yep he does. They do inswingers. Probably be Odegaard or Madueke who will replace the Saka corner

Is Odegaard fit to start? Thought he was out.

So much of this good play comes off the left side:

https://youtu.be/jrI_Dcsmdxo?si=mfxOEjmZPjIIw104

I think our defensive balance goes a long way to getting sorted if we can find a way to get Wirtz and Szob into the team as well as our standard midfield two.

Wirtz, Isak, Salah as a front three with license to drift inside, and have Szob or Kerkez fill that gap out wide.

As a 10 I just feel like don’t have the right midfielders to really get the best from him. Plus the tenacity and energy of the PL makes it very very tough for a number 10 to thrive. Szob had to do much legwork to make the balance work last year in that position, not sure we’re getting the best from our 116m man if we ask him to do the same.

I didn’t realise we were asking him to do the same job as Szob did. I know he’s covering a lot of ground, but from what I see that’s more to do with finding space as opposed to ‘doing the donkey work’ role that Szob fulfilled.

We’re not seeing Wirtz at his best yet because he’s still settling in and adjusting to the pace of the league. Slot has brought him in for this role and it just needs some patience, rather than deciding it’s not working after a couple of games.

comment by Terminator1 (U1863)
posted 12 minutes ago
I didn’t realise we were asking him to do the same job as Szob did. I know he’s covering a lot of ground, but from what I see that’s more to do with finding space as opposed to ‘doing the donkey work’ role that Szob fulfilled.

We’re not seeing Wirtz at his best yet because he’s still settling in and adjusting to the pace of the league. Slot has brought him in for this role and it just needs some patience, rather than deciding it’s not working after a couple of games.
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I agree with you on that and I also think some of our other players need to trust wirtz a little more. 1 thing I noticed against newcastle was the amount of times he showed for the ball but the pass wouldnt come.

Now granted om many of these occassions the spaces was tight but 1 of wirtzs best attributes is his ability to take the ball in tight spaces and turn on it. The back 4 need to become more confident in just punching it into him. It will come though with more time on the pitch.

Not concerned about wirts running stats. Thats just his game. He covered more ground than just about everyone while at leverkusen too.

Szob put in a crazy amount of miles on the counter press in games last season, and was vital to the team finding some balance.

His ability on the ball isn’t a patch on Wirtz’s but his energy and pressing was vital for us as people continually say on here.

So with Szob no longer in that role, do we have to find a new way to play or do we ask Wirtz to do that pressing work?

Unless you have two DMs sitting behind Wirtz to break up play which we currently don’t have, I think we will always be quite open playing him in the 10.

Wirtz is a brilliant presser and covers a huge amount of distance. The issue atm is doing it as a unit.

Woltemade complete. Things will escalate now surely

fkin hell, how have i got 3/4 injured in each of my ff teams, this is why i dont put Liverpool players in there. not really be tracking it much tbh, not really watched much footy since the restart either.

comment by Peter O'Hanraha-hanrahan (U1217)
posted 20 minutes ago
Woltemade complete. Things will escalate now surely
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Have to say, very exciting window, lot of players signed im curious to see in the prem and this one can be added to the list.

The return of Trent a day before bonfire night and then we have City away.

comment by Inbefore (U20589)
posted about an hour ago
comment by Peter O'Hanraha-hanrahan (U1217)
posted 20 minutes ago
Woltemade complete. Things will escalate now surely
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Have to say, very exciting window, lot of players signed im curious to see in the prem and this one can be added to the list.
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It’s going to have to if it’s going to get done, only 50 odd hours of the window left.

Would like to think he would have a few contacts….

Jan Aage Fjørtoft 🇳🇴
@JanAageFjortoft
Re: Alexander Isak

Understand Isak - deal is done!

Newcastle away at Leeds tonight, so nothing expected before that I am told.

Fee will be £130m

Isak to Liverpool likely to happen very soon

Yeah Jan definitely has good contacts, exciting. Also this from Sacha:

Sacha Tavoleiri
🔴🦅 #NUFC and #LFC now in advanced talks for Alexander Isak!

🤝 As explained from Friday night to Saturday, the Reds have made an offer likely to convince the Magpies management.

🇸🇪 Sunday expected to be the day of the announcement of a full agreement.

⏳ Matter of time.

Will be a nice boost before the big game

comment by (K̇ash) - 20+6 - Free Palestine 🇵🇸 Resistance is Existence (U1108)
posted 23 minutes ago
Will be a nice boost before the big game
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And gives gakpo and ekitike a bit of motivation to perform

🗣️ As of lunchtime, talks between Liverpool & Newcastle yet to resume

💰 When they do, as is expected, Liverpool’s second offer for Alexander Isak is likely to be in region of £120m

⚫️ NUFC still pushing for second striker. Wissa & Larsen not expected to play for clubs today

I choose not to believe this. He works for The Daily Mail.



Dominic King
@DominicKing_DM
❌ Liverpool HAVE NOT agreed a £130m deal with Newcastle for Aleksander Isak.

The clubs aren’t in talks and it’s misleading to suggest they are.
The only deal Liverpool may complete before Monday is Kostas Tsimikas to Roma; significant chance there won’t be any arrivals.

Yeah that’s just a pile of absolute Shiite from Dom King, he’s taking the piiiss with the last sentence. Rubbish journalism.

I’m believing the Newcastle and Liverpool journos have been briefed to told to shut things down until after the match this evening. Aligns with what the neutral journos are saying.

comment by Neo (U9135)
posted 26 minutes ago
Yeah that’s just a pile of absolute Shiite from Dom King, he’s taking the piiiss with the last sentence. Rubbish journalism.

I’m believing the Newcastle and Liverpool journos have been briefed to told to shut things down until after the match this evening. Aligns with what the neutral journos are saying.
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Yeah, this would have been everywhere if there was any truth to it.