I don't fully buy the 'bad subs' 'game management' stuff today. Feels like hindsight analysis.

When watching the game for the hour Jota was on the pitch I thought our press was an absolute mess. And the space between our lines was awful. There were times someone would spin a
forward and then have 40 yards of space between them and the next player in our shape. One of the things I loved about Dortmund was assymetry. They didn't have flat lines anywhere in their shape other than the defence. But today we often ended up in a 424 with the two having an
absolute OCEAN to fill. And that isn't an inherent problem with this formation - plenty of sides including Klopp in the past have played 4231 and it is an excellent and compact shape for pressing. Today it was a mess.

Jota was excellent when we had the ball in making and
finding space. His execution though when he got on the ball wasn't good and - I don't want to blame him entirely for our poor press but it was the same as Madrid where he was the main culprit. Disjointed, full of holes, isolated from the rest of the team shape. Didn't make sense.
Once the change was made it was much better. For the first time in the whole match we controlled the game. Thiago was outstanding today but the 20 minutes after Jota came off he really shone. Nobody got near him.

It took Jones a while to get up to speed - he hasn't played much
lately. He was over-running the ball a few times etc. We did miss Thiago but maybe there is a reason he could only do 80 minutes?

It noticeable how many things we do that just look like tired minds. Slow to react. Slow to move up the pitch for offsides (Robbo). Hospital balls
by underweighting passes - literally so many of these today. Gini who is excellent at helping us retain the ball was actually the worst for it. I can only put that down to tiredness?

Something I noticed though that I haven't seen many talk about is width.
There was a moment really early on (maybe 7th minute) where Gini turns out and tries to play in Trent. But Trent is behind him on the right. He passes it elsewhere instead, then gets Trents attention and signals for him to be higher and wider.
Another moment in the match Thiago shouted to grab everyone's attention and was doing and 'opening box' signal with has hands. Essentially saying we are all too narrow. And when you watch it, back you see so many times where the two wide forwards have narrowed but the full backs
have either narrowed also or stayed deep so we end up with no width. How many times did you see Trent really narrow picking up the ball in positions you expect the midfielders to today? In comparison, how many times did you see him get down the right flank? Image
And I am not saying this is the reason we didn't win. In fact we were very good today in getting the ball into the forwards, into dangerous spaces and creating chances - the finishing was just off.

It was just a noticeable departure from what we saw in the past from our full
backs and based on the fact both our midfielders were having a pop at them for it, suggests it wasn't a change they have been working on. So it's weird.
I don't even think we were under huge pressure at the end. They scored - it was disallowed, but the impact of them scoring mentally seemed to have done the damage. All the tiredness they were ignoring to get over the line seemed to just catch up.
I thought Ali was good. Kabak was our best defender. Thiago our best midfielder (and probably motm). Thought Bobby was amazing even though he had a few sloppy passes. Mo's goal was probably the goal of the season - but he should have had 1 or 2 more. Jota & Mane both struggled.
Anyway just some random thoughts on the match as I wasn't able to live tweet about it.

We are making top 4 hard for us. Probably need a win next weekend. Let's see if we can do something there.

What did you guys think overall?


Actually checked, they didn't have a shot from when Jota came off until near the 90th minute. We just got nervy at the end and seemed to mentally collapse when they scored.

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More from @babuyagu

27 Apr
Thiago created 0 big chances from open play for Bayern last season.

If you think Liverpool's data analysis and scouting teams sat down and picked him out as a player that would 'solve creativity' then you have zero understanding of football.
Thiago is a controller. He helps teams impose the will on the opponent by winning the battle in midfield - keeping the ball away from the opponent, forcing the opponent to surrender the ball if they get it.
He is also a ball progressor. His numbers stand out in terms of moving his team up the pitch and getting the ball into the final 3rd where your more creative players and finishers take over.
Read 13 tweets
26 Apr
I don't know how to quantify what a deep-lying playmaker does.

Playmaker implies creativity.

So assists then?

He has no assists, he must be shit at being a deep-lying playmaker.

He didn't have many last season either. He has always been shit then.

The highest rated
deep-lying playmakers of all time don't have many assists either (Alonso, Pirlo, etc).

So they are all shit then too.

You see people fall into similar traps ALL THE TIME on here. Even people who are usually very good at using data.

From @CraqueStats radar launch article 👇 Image


To help anybody struggling with the Thiago conundrum. This is what you need for a functioning midfield. Which of these functions do you think Thiago excelled in at Bayern? Which of the 3 players is he most similar to?
Read 5 tweets
26 Apr
This is something that came up in a podcast that became redundant as we finished recording as the English clubs pulled out.

We are seeing it as greed but for those 12 clubs it is survival. They are looking for solutions to serious financial problems which the death of FFP will
only exacerbate and instead of UEFA doing anything to solve it - they are talking punitively. What will that really do? How does that solve ANY problem?

Meanwhile Bordeaux go into administration, many other teams will follow and the sole focus remains on 'those 12 bastards'.
As a society, as are experts at being distracted into focusing on symptoms rather than the problem.

Greed and corruption is a cancer in the game. The ESL is a symptom of that - a group wanting to collectively solve the problems unique to them. Because the model in football is
Read 13 tweets
25 Apr
Assuming our budget for a forward is in the Jota price range this summer, who do you think might be on our shortlist.

I have seen Daka, Vlahovic, Pedro Neto (pre-injury) and Raphinha linked. Any others that the media have mentioned or that you think might fit the bill?
Btw please don't make a list of 14 players we could sell to raise the money to sign Mbappe.


As a Betis fan, I gotta hate :D

Didn't know we had been linked. Interesting one.
Read 4 tweets
25 Apr
Why is it that the big sports media accounts start every article or tweet with

"last week 12 billionaires tried to wreck/destroy/steal football for no reason than their own greed".

Honest question, if I asked your assessment of football 2 weeks ago what would it be?
IMO, it's shite.

FIFA & UEFA are corrupt governing bodies profiteering off of it.

The 2018 & 2022 World Cup votes were awarded purely based on corruption and bribes - as proven by guilty pleas in court. The suits to replace those guilty pleading suits did nothing to reverse
the illegal awarding of these world cups - because they are complicit. This despite 6500 and counting slaves dying to get the Qatar world cup ready - in a country where homosexuality is illegal and punishable by death.
Read 13 tweets
25 Apr
Klopp should voice his opinion on this. Until it goes against the mob. Then he is no longer allowed to voice his opinion because he is 'tone deaf' and should 'read the room'.
It was the same shit with Hendo in the program notes.

*Yes, Hendo spoke up about the owners. FSGOut!!! They are worse than people who chop up dissenting journalists*

"In my first hand experience, the owners are good people and good for the club"

*Read the room Hendo FFS!*
It will never cease to amaze me that a mob will always assume it is right and any information or voice that goes against it is wrong. Even when their dumb mob mentality brings us Brexit.
Read 4 tweets

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