Football News: Hoffenheim v Liverpool Match Review - A Liverpool Perspective
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Hoffenheim v Liverpool
In the afternoon before the game Ed004 had asked me if I was looking forward to the match and I said no, European footie bores the pants off me. Last night was far from boring though! That just shows what can happen when you have two managers going for a win, instead of looking to grind out a result. Nagelsmann had clearly done his homework, which he is renowned for, he had looked at how we play and found a number of weak spots he could exploit. It did help that the ref was awful and made a string of poor decisions favouring the home side, though I am putting that down to poor refereeing rather than a bias of any kind, as he never got the chance to give those kind of decisions our way. Highly experienced he may be, but he had a stinker last night.
Nagelsmann had spotted how our press is badly done and that we vacate the midfield to press without anyone covering in behind and exploited it. When they were in possession, they played a variant of 3-3-4, meaning every defender had a man to mark and there was no free player at the back. Normally when the press happens, the defence will push up too and close down the space, but they could not do so as they were being forced back by a line of Hoffenheim players with pace to get in behind. For some reason we did not spot what was happening and no instructions were given to the midfielders for one of them to hold and provide some cover. Instead we had them all chasing around pressing, leaving a huge gap, which no one from the defence could come out to cover.
It did lead to an entertaining game, as both teams were left short at the back and in danger of conceding. It is just lucky for us that our attacking players are of higher quality than their attacking players. If we had swapped Gnabry for Mane, for instance, Mane would have destroyed us without even needing the blatant dive to create a chance. Gnabry, on the other hand, was not good enough to punish us and clearly lacks a heart of any kind at all. At one point, right at the start of the game, he got a ball to chase and bottled it because Mignolet was coming out. It was not a 50-50 situation at all, when you can understand a little tricky winger pulling out when coming up against a 6 foot 4 keeper barrelling out. That was his ball to take, but he feared he would get caught by Migs so bottled it completely and just left it.
Last night made me wonder if 'the Brain' (Zelkjo Buvac) is overrated. I can understand Peter Krawietz being unable to provide the analysis to help much, as Nagelsmann does change things around a lot. So his identifier of the weaknesses at the back and in midfield, which led us to press quite so high, even when it was not on, were out of date by the time the game kicked off. That is where Buvac should step in and see what the issue is. If I can see what is going wrong, Buvac should be able to, especially with all the technology available to him, and should be able to come up with adjustments on the fly. It would not have taken much of a change to tell, for instance, Can to drop when we lose possession and play a sweeper role as cover for the back four. The press did have some good moments, but it also created every single one of theirs.
I do like the high press, but there are times and places for everything, this was the time and place for the press to change, to leave it for the forwards while the midfield protected the defence. Luckily Hoffenheim were not good enough to take advantage of all the chances they got, even when the referee was helping them out by awarding them free kicks for non-existent fouls on many of their attacks. However, we should not be relying on luck, it catches you out eventually.
Klopp - We won, so it is difficult to say he got things wrong, but we were lucky to have won at the end of the day. His substitutions are still bizarre, he clearly does not trust the players on the bench to have an impact, even when one who would have been on the bench but for an injury to Clyne has made such a major impact with the goal. The fact that he continues to persist with Lovren is a worry. I get that Gomez is young and will make mistakes, such as the one for the 3rd goal against Watford, but Lovren is making mistakes, so what is the difference? The difference, in my opinion, is that Gomez is young enough to learn from them and quick enough to recover some of his mistakes. I suppose it is difficult though, as Matip is also playing extremely poorly alongside Lovren and Gomez would ideally play on the right side of the defence.
There are some clear issues with Klopp and the coaching staff at games, there is Klopp, mini-Klopp, Buvac, Krawietz and others sat in the dugout, we have analysts watching the game too, yet none of them seem to be able to tweak the way we play during a game to cover our weaknesses. Nor, in fact, do we seem able to spot opposition weaknesses and capitalise on them by aiming at them. Last night Mane ran their right sided centre half ragged but no instruction came out from the bench to the midfield and defence to look to play the ball to him if possible first and foremost. The ball was as often going to Salah, who was not having the same amount of joy, though he did manage to get in behind the centre of the 3 by making diagonal runs. Again we did not exploit that enough either.
It seemed the only real instruction that was used, and should have been abandoned as it was not working, was the holding of a high line on free kicks. I can only assume it was meant to give Mignolet time and space, but he was not coming out for anything, so it was pointless and just put us in danger of an own goal as the whole defence were chasing back towards goal as they were trying to clear it. There are some very real problems at Liverpool, ones which could be easily solved by an overhaul of the tactical staff and coaching staff. Even the best managers are not perfect, they need right hand men who can provide strengths to compliment the weak areas. Right now, we seem to have a bunch of people with the exact same tactical weaknesses.
I am sure some of it will clear up as the players are drilled and throw off the summer rustiness, but some of this is issues that have dogged the team for years. A lot of the problems pre-date Klopp and have never been addressed. It is time that was changed. In this era of robotic players, afraid to make on-pitch decisions themselves, the backroom staff is the key to everything.
Mignolet - Did well on the penalty, though I will never understand why he did not catch the ball, it was hit with all the power of the chips they used in the warm up to practice catching. Also did well to spot the ball played through for Gnabry and was decisive about dealing with it. Decisiveness is a quality needed in a keeper, even if they sometimes make the wrong decisions, at least the defence know what is going on. If a keeper dithers, then it leads to panic, as no one knows what he will do.
I feel bad for criticising a keeper who saved a penalty, but overall he was poor and is just not commanding the box. The high line at free kicks should have allowed him to take charge, but it just left him rooted to the line while panic set in amongst the rest of the team. What happened to him between the end of the season and now? He looked like it had all clicked for him at the tail end of the season and his performances were breeding confidence in the team. Now Migs just looks like Migs again.
Alexander-Arnold - the lad is growing in confidence visibly as a player and overall had a good game, scoring a great free kick, taking all the corners on the right but made one horrendous mistake (in partnership with Matip) by just holding his arm in the air and appealing for an offside. Play to the whistle Trent lad, play to the damn whistle! Save the appeals for afterwards, first play the ball, then complain if you really feel you have to after the ball is dead. The lad offers a genuine threat going forward, is capable defensively, other than the mistake, you would have to say it would be a huge mistake if he does not keep his place when Clyne is fit.
Matip - another stinker for Matip. Matip wants to play as a spare man mopping up and he just goes to pieces when put under pressure having to man mark a player. His incredibly basic error on the Hoffenheim goal, completely misreading the flight of the ball, was key to them scoring. If we are going to continue to play the same way as we currently do, the centre backs are going to need to be replaced.
Lovren - what can I say about Lovren? The man can clearly defend but he is just so thoughtless and rash. It undermines all the good he does at times because he makes such stupid errors. Lovren is a highly experienced footballer, international experience too, so why can he not learn to stay calm and take a look round before committing himself to a needless challenge in the midfield area. He should be leading that backline. Lovren should be the one, on the pitch, seeing that there is no spare man and so looking to hold up the attacker or drop off to cut off the pass and making himself a spare man and calling a midfielder over. Instead he throws himself in wholeheartedly and leaves a huge yawning gap.
Moreno - last night I actually felt sorry for Moreno. The lad is a failed winger turned attacking wing/full back, not that good defensively as he has never really had much coaching in that side of the game. Last night he was being asked to be a defender and to man mark one player while covering over for when Lovren threw himself in and left another man free. So, while he did not have the best of games, I personally will not judge him on it, as he was being asked too much of.
Henderson - played a couple of good passes, made a good forward run but never got the ball but, other than those signs of improvement, he still looks rusty. I also, much as I am loath to do so as I like Hendo a lot, have to question him as a captain. Not that I think it should be changed, I mean in reference to that one performance, he did not do a captain's duty in a lot of regards. Henderson did manage to stop the protests against decision after ridiculous decision boiling over and ending up with a similar situation to Chelsea at the weekend, which was good captaincy but his reading of the game and decision making was lacking last night.
As the captain, he should be spotting the overloads defensively and either dropping himself in to provide cover or getting someone else to do so. If he feels unable to do that, as the robots are not allowed to veer from their tactical instructions, then he should have been diving over to the sidelines at every break in play to ask for new instructions and to tell them what was going wrong. Clearly he is not up to speed yet, the energy and enthusiasm was missing last night, hopefully it is just a case of clearing out the cobwebs by playing games though.
Wijnaldum - the usual Wijnaldum performance, plenty of effort, a few flashes of skill and strength, little end product and a lot of being caught upfield while the opposition attack. He has the engine to get back, so it is not usually so much of a problem, but Hoffenheim were set up to exploit the gaps left by the midfield pressing high and breaking forward.
Can - once again, as he has been since the tail end of last season, Can was the best of the midfield trio. They struggled to cope with him at all, in fact he could have made the high press work if not for Hoffenheim players winning soft free kicks each time he went near them. He is such a physically imposing specimen that they could not cope with him and he was bullying them, the ref clearly felt sorry for them! Far from an excellent performance, the silly booking could come back to bite him in the arse for instance, but he was the best of the trio in midfield.
Salah - decent performance, though he struggled up against his marker, when he made his diagonal runs in to the space behind the centre of the defensive trio he was a real danger. Should really have scored at least one though.
Firmino - a good game but not his best. Still the creative fulcrum of the team and showed some lovely stuff last night, but he was being forced too deep at times to help out the midfield. Still lacks that bit of composure in front of goal that would make him a top class striker.
Mane - by a country mile the best player on the pitch. Tore the first right sided centre back a new one, so they took him off and the replacement did no better. The only issue for me was that we did not just look to him enough. Every time one of our players received the ball, they should have been looking to play him in first and only made a different pass if it was not on. He was the difference between the two teams.
Subs:
Milner - in the 63rd minute I admit I groaned seeing that Milner was coming on to replace Henderson. Central midfield is just not his position, in my opinion. He did make me eat my words by fluking the second goal, as his cross deflected off Nordtveit and into the back of the net. His energy and workrate did help. However, I saw nothing to suggest he is a good choice to come into the centre of midfield. For me he either replaces a winger or a fullback, but should be nowhere near the centre the way we play. That is not really a slight on him. His desire to get involved is a good thing, his willingness to run all over the pitch to be a part of things is also a good thing. The problem we have is that none of the rest of the team have the sense to fill the gaps left centrally, so his hard work and effort leaves us needlessly exposed. How I long for the days when players could think for themselves and cover gaps when they arose!
Solanke - he was brought on in the 84th minute in place of Firmino, who had run himself into the ground for the cause. It was too late for him to have any real effect on the game. In fact he barely got a touch.
Grujic - even less chance to have an effect, as he was swapped in for MOTM Sadio Mane in the 89th minute. Poor lad just ends up chasing around like mad trying desperately to make an impression.
Written by Tris Burke August 16 2017 06:26:13