Topic: Team Analysis: Jürgen Klopp’s Liverpool Tactics (*)

[Smellytrabs]

WTF its starting already, I really do despair..........these lot deserve the Owl back.

Indeed. Twats by me in the Kop towards the end of Rafa's days were openly calling for Hodgson to become manager. Well the stupid fuckers got what they asked for and it put the club back years. Same nob-ends today saying Klopp is a shit manager. Divs.

[SerbianScouser]

Matter of days till we see the best front 3 in the league play for us again. Lallana and Gini behind them and we'll be back to our best again in no time. Can't wait.

[Machae]

The three teams above us all have one thing when it comes to breaking down teams that park the bus whether it's Costa, Kane or Giroud they have someone who will hurt you if you try and defend your six yard box.

Yes, definitely need a strong guy up there. Someone not afraid to get stuck in and win a few against the big no nonsense defenders. Not a Plan B or Caroll/Benteke type but one who can be quite mobile too. Just seems we are too one dimensional at the moment with our current options too similar in their style of play.

Lukaku does it perfectly and wouldn't mind someone in his mould.

[mattD]

Indeed. Twats by me in the Kop towards the end of Rafa's days were openly calling for Hodgson to become manager. Well the stupid fuckers got what they asked for and it put the club back years. Same nob-ends today saying Klopp is a shit manager. Divs.

I hope those c*nts were given a permanent ban from Anfield.

[newrosswaterford]

The three teams above us all have one thing when it comes to breaking down teams that park the bus whether it's Costa, Kane or Giroud they have someone who will hurt you if you try and defend your six yard box.

I love Klopp but his 4-3-3 reminds me of when Rafa asked McPartland, Segura and Borrell to come up with the blueprint for the future they came up with 4-3-3 but Rafa insisted that to be really effective in this League it had to be 4-2-3-1 with a big man upfront.

Imagine a Torres in his pomp in this side. It would alleviate the problems when the keeper kicks long and we lose 20 out of 24 against City and 18 out of 27 whilst giving us an added dimension against park the bus teams.

Agree with this. However We are a team of piano carriers, with one piano player. Our midfield needs a piano player. We cannot continue making chances from just pressing the ball. We need a bit of craft or guile. Once we have that we can them tell if our forwards can use that or not.

Like the europa final last year, today we looking like a team lacking coaching. It is easy to claim we haven't moved the ball quickly enough but that happens when the team isn't sure of the purpose.

[jooneyisdagod]

I understand the point you're making which is partly valid - but pace very rarely breaks down a team that sits deep and plays with 2 banks of four...

Sorry, but that's just not the case. In fact, just look at Liverpool with and without Mane to see how breaking a team down with pace works. Pacey dribblers can and do beat one or two players in quick succession and force other players to come towards them to close the space down. We just don't have that without Mane.

[clinical]

Be interesting to see us copy Chelsea's formation. Could work.

[mrantarctica]

Be interesting to see us copy Chelsea's formation. Could work.

Not sure that it is a question of shape. Their players are the best in the league in their respective positions across the park. It says it all if people like Ivanovic, Terry, Fabregas and Willian are on their bench.

[Severely]

I'll be extremely interested to see if it does turn out to be a matter of personnel. Our current inability to deal with low blocks seems to be because of two key factors - a lack of pace and width on the wings, and a lack of penetration and trickery through the middle. The return of Mane should restore balance to the side, both through the attributes that he brings, but also in allowing Lallana to be played in midfield again. He and Coutinho are probably the only players in the side with the ability to take advantage of Wijnaldum's strength and movement. He creates space, which Lallana then takes advantage of with his ability to carry the ball forwards, thus creating more space for the forwards.

I'm hopeful we'll see immediate improvement. If we don't, I'm afraid Klopp might have to reconsider his formation and tactics.

[Flinstone]

When do we start to question the job he's doing?

When knobs like you piss of from this site

[Garnier]

Be interesting to see us copy Chelsea's formation. Could work.

I remember when Brendan tried it in 2014-15 . The side went on a very good run (December-March) and brought the most stable defensive run we had for years. Eventually, Rodgers binned it after defeats to Manchester United (Juan Mata double/Gerrard sent off) and Arsenal (4-1 defeat),reverting to a back four.
He tried to bring it back once things went pear-shaped early 2015-16, but it was too late and he got sacked.

---------------Simon-------
------Emre-----Skrtel----Sakho
Markovic--Hendo--Allen---Moreno
----------Lallana-------Coutinho
--------------Raheem Sterling----

The thing is, do we have the personell to play 3 at the back? Is the pressing game going to adapt well to a change in formation? I'm no tactics man, but it is indeed a good discussion to have and consider. I am myself not a fan of 3 at the back and imediatelly associate the image of playing a back three to a pragmatic approach to games, short term mentality, not the bigger picture, although there are managers like Antonio Conte that favour the use of this system in the long run, rather than stumbling upon it to get yourself out of a mess/get a few results.

[mrantarctica]

The thing is, do we have the personell to play 3 at the back?

I just don't think it'll solve the problems that we have. Let's say we play 3 at the back, like we did largely for the 2nd half against Wolves. We'd still be reliant on our wing backs in staying wide, giving us some width and giving us some quality in the final third. Who do we have in the squad that can play those roles and bring that ? On Milner perhaps has anywhere near the required quality in terms of attack and defending. Clyne is a sturdy defender but very limited going forward - that's obvious already, and it'll be highlighted even more as a wingback. He'd probably be better off as the RCB (like Azpilicueta). Moreno can't defend or attack and shouldn't be in the team in any position. Then there's the young lads who clearly aren't ready. Why would you ask them to play in an unfamiliar position when they aren't quite up to the grade even in their best position? You might suggest that perhaps Mane could be our Victor Moses, but why give up a good thing? Mane was doing just fine as part of a front three, it seems silly to mess that up and then ask our best attacker to perform more defensively, when our issue is that we cant score enough goals at the present.

I imagine we'd pair Firmino with probably Sturridge, and play Coutinho in behind. Where does Mane go, if not at Wingback. If Mane is up front with Firmino as a wide attacker, then what's the point of having wing backs when you've already got Mane providing the width? Then there's the problem of Lallana. At the moment, he combines extremely well with Coutinho, Firmino and Mane in the advanced areas. If he occupied that CM role then we'd be asking yet another very accomplished attacking player to be doing more defensive duties - makes no sense. A CM pairing of Hendo and Lallana just wouldn't provide the necessary shielding for the back 3. We'd be constantly overrun in midfield. Yes, you could play Can, Gini or Lucas alongside Hendo but then there's still the problem of accomodating Lallana or Mane somewhere. For me, it ends up with the side being very unbalanced.

I think a better solution is to stick to the system that we had when we were winning plenty, make a few tweaks in terms of encouraging a bit more off the ball movement and pressing, and see whether we can replicate what we had. Ultimately, we'll need to bring in a number of signings across the pitch to provide enough depth to contest more than 1 competition at a time.

[glasgowred17]

We can talk about strategy and tactics and all that stuff, but at the end of the day, we need more creative players in the middle of the park to create chances. Lallana is the only creative midfielder we have. Henderson is good at playing long diagonals and picking the players making runs, but he is not someone we can't rust to break down tight defences. Gini works hard, but again can't be trusted to create chances. And a team that sits back makes our press basically meaningless. Arsenal put 5 past Southampton who sat deep last night, cause they are overloaded with creative midfielders. We have been lacking a good pool of creative midfielders for a long long time and it shows every now and then when we play against teams who sit back and defend. 

[WillG.LFC]

Not sure that it is a question of shape. Their players are the best in the league in their respective positions across the park. It says it all if people like Ivanovic, Terry, Fabregas and Willian are on their bench.

moses isn't the best wing back neither is alonso. Chelsea have found a formation that gets the best out of luis by giving him 2 cb covering and enables them to bomb forward with matic and that other guy whose name I've forgot to cover. Teams are used to playing against certain formations, 3 at the back seems to confuse oppositions rythym similar to boxers not being used to fighting left handers.

it could be a short term fix but if klopp is having us play this way as the clubs identity we might have to put up with occasional dips in form till the squad has more players that can play it

[jacdaniel]

Does anyone know how Klopp conditions the players fitness?

Under Rodgers, the players always hit peak fitness for the 2nd half of the season.  When we challenged for the title, we had to grind out a lot of results early in the season before we started playing fantastic.

I am wondering if maybe Klopp tried the complete opposite?  First 3 games were away from home this season, all our most difficult away games in the first half of the season.  He also would have known that with no Europe we'd only have 1 game a week from February onwards.

If you think about it... we started the season really well.  Form dropped a little in November and December and then dropped further in January.
But with 1 game a week from now on we can probably gain some fitness back and finish strong.

[WillG.LFC]

Does anyone know how Klopp conditions the players fitness?

Under Rodgers, the players always hit peak fitness for the 2nd half of the season.  When we challenged for the title, we had to grind out a lot of results early in the season before we started playing fantastic.

I am wondering if maybe Klopp tried the complete opposite?  First 3 games were away from home this season, all our most difficult away games in the first half of the season.  He also would have known that with no Europe we'd only have 1 game a week from February onwards.

If you think about it... we started the season really well.  Form dropped a little in November and December and then dropped further in January.
But with 1 game a week from now on we can probably gain some fitness back and finish strong.

I think their styles are opposite. Rodgers liked death by football retaining possession and making the opposition run more. Klopp likes his teams to harrass the opposition and cover more ground than they do. Why I think Rodgers had better second halves as the players had less milage. Once klopp has more depth to players that can do this system we should be more suited to sustaining it.

[Len1]

Matter of days till we see the best front 3 in the league play for us again. Lallana and Gini behind them and we'll be back to our best again in no time. Can't wait.

I think you'r right and one game a week will allow the strongest 11 to play regularly. It will be interesting to see which goalkeeper now gets the nod for the rest of the season.

[DPB RED]

With just the league to concentrate on will give Klopp more time to work on our formation.
I really believe we need to do something to improve our effectiveness at corners both attacking and defending them. It is clear Milners delivery is not working and we need different options.

[mrantarctica]

moses isn't the best wing back neither is alonso. Chelsea have found a formation that gets the best out of luis by giving him 2 cb covering and enables them to bomb forward with matic and that other guy whose name I've forgot to cover. Teams are used to playing against certain formations, 3 at the back seems to confuse oppositions rythym similar to boxers not being used to fighting left handers.

it could be a short term fix but if klopp is having us play this way as the clubs identity we might have to put up with occasional dips in form till the squad has more players that can play it

Moses and Alonso have shown by their form that they're the in-form wing backs in the league. That might have come somewhat unexpectedly but nobody can doubt that they are in excellent form and producing results. They have the abilities needed to fit within their system.

We might be able to adopt such a similar system but we don't have the players that fit into it. We can put square pegs in round holes and make it resemble something close to similar but ultimately I don't think it'll be effective IMHO. We're better off working specifically on the areas where we are poor which will be common to any system that we play namely ; movement off the ball, risk taking, improving the gap between the lines, and playing the game at about 100% more tempo.

[bodhisattva]

Ive thought about 3 at the back and I don't think it makes the most of our strengths, unless you played a midfield 3 of Henderson, Lallana and Coutinho it's very difficult to fit
Mane into the team because he's not really a wingback and we badly need his pace. You could play him as a striker but then where does Firmino play?

I think the 4-3-3 makes the best use of the players we have at the moment when everyone is fit and on form, in that formation Matip, Lallana and Firmino are the key in their
respective parts of the team and for the last few months how many games have they played in their best positions?

In that team you can also see a couple of areas which could be improved to make us an even better team and I think that's where the focus should be.

[RedSince86]

Bizarre how some fans are questioning our manager,no fan in summer thought we were going to win the title and our natural aim was to get back into the top 4 and go on from there,right now we are in a good position in 3rd place 1 point behind 2nd,teams around us have european commitments and FA cup runs to deal with.

Now we are out of both cups,we will from now onwards be playing 1 game a week and will see the return of that heavy metal style football that decimated teams with ease,Mane Coutinho and Matip back and the players well rested between games i see us solidifying top 4 spot easily.

[Lasardine]

Couldn't disagree more.  We already have players with dribbling ability in Coutinho, Firmino, Lallana, and Mane.  What we're missing at the moment, and what has changed from earlier in the season, is movement off the ball and midfielders running past our front 3.

They don't dribble, they usually just make half a yard to get a shot or pass away. Coutinho shimmies inside, Lallana cruyff turns and Firmino has a variation. Their dribbling is rarely taking them directly towards goal or towards a chance being created, especially because of the amount of defenders they're up against. What we need is someone with pace, and someone who can stretch the play to open up spaces inside. Mane is important, but it's the profile of player that is equally as important. The problem with becoming a team reliant on a system is that each player, although perhaps not a stand out player like Suarez, if they are lost, the system becomes disrupted and hence is no different to relying on a few individuals. The players who come in to replace injured players do not have the same profiles and we are yet to find a solution that compensates for a lack of alternatives.

One other problem is that because Henderson and Can are so regressive in their touches, Coutinho takes it upon himself to become the playmaker for the team and get things going forward. As a result we have limited amount of players in the final third - Henderson, Can, Coutinho etc. are just passing it between each other side to side, Sturridge isn't as mobile as he once was, everyone wants it central and they want it ball to feet. We're too one dimensional without Mane. We have so many players looking to be central yet we also don't have a midfield to break lines with their passing - Henderson always passes to the full backs, avoiding Coutinho. So when it goes out wide, there's also no one in the box because they're all within the border of middle/final third. Hence it goes back side to side.

[kingz]

We scored 3 vs bournemouth, 2 vs Sunderland 2 vs West Ham and 2 vs Swansea. It's enough to win. Its not a tactics issue,  a better goalkeeper and the West Ham and Burnemouth turns into wins.. A better DM than Lucas to help Henderson and defender who is great 1v1 unlike Klavan who is not used to play for a team so open and the chances against us will be limited .. Midfielder with a vision like Fabregas and Eriksen to help us create more chances against teams defending deep because actually our movement is great its just we dont make the final pass at the right time which is something Klopp talked about .. I am excited about our future with Klopp and have no doubt he will get the right players we need to move forward..

[Lasardine]

I think their styles are opposite. Rodgers liked death by football retaining possession and making the opposition run more. Klopp likes his teams to harrass the opposition and cover more ground than they do. Why I think Rodgers had better second halves as the players had less milage. Once klopp has more depth to players that can do this system we should be more suited to sustaining it.

Only when we don't have the ball. But he wants the ball more often than not. It's a common myth to say he's not a possession based manager because of "gegenpressing" but gegenpressing is countering the counter, looking to win the ball back straight after losing possession in order to monopolise the ball. Only in some games has Klopp decided to concede possession, such as Man City home, Man Utd away.

[andy07]

Through fortune or misfortune depending on your perspective we now have 16 matches remaining.

Only 3 in each of February and March.
Full squad available.
Plenty of time for rest,
Plenty of time on the training ground.
First choice eleven should be available for every match unless further injuries occur.

To me this will be the acid test of what Klopp can achieve.

[mrantarctica]

Only when we don't have the ball. But he wants the ball more often than not. It's a common myth to say he's not a possession based manager because of "gegenpressing" but gegenpressing is countering the counter, looking to win the ball back straight after losing possession in order to monopolise the ball. Only in some games has Klopp decided to concede possession, such as Man City home, Man Utd away.

Quite correct.

Unfortunately the Gegenpressin has fallen off completely because that's exactly where we keep losing games - on the counterattack. Most seem to be pointing to our crowded fixture schedule, and that the players are too knackered to press or work hard once we've lost the ball. It's a feature that all of Red Nose's teams had in the late 90's. They would work extremely hard to get it back as soon as they lost the ball. We have been doing it on occasion, but of late we give the ball away in extremely vulnerable positions and then don't do everything to recover it or snuff out a counter early on before they build up any speed.

On the ball, we still have to demonstrate some clever movement and passing combinations. You don't create space by simply knocking it side-side and then hoping a gap will open up. It requires players injecting themselves into advanced areas in a coordinated way. For example, we often see Coutinho or Lallana receive the ball high up the pitch in a relatively wide area but then the overlapping run by the fullback is either WAY too slow in coming, or that even if they make the overlapping run, the NEXT player hasn't thought about moving into a space to receive it (e.g. Origi, Sturridge, Firmino). It's this kind of layered movement that provides the ball carrier options. In those circumstances, the defenders are too busy worrying about 2-3 players running in a coordinated way, and that may just be enough time for the ball carrier to get away from his marker and fire a shot, or allow one of these moving players enough time to get a shot in at goal.

In a way, these are like set routines that occur from common structures or situations in open play. We don't seem to have rehearsed our lines all that much, or built our understanding between players. It IS hard when there are so many changes, but all the same - we should be doing better with our movement. It's worse than a school team at the moment.

[Lasardine]

Quite correct.

Unfortunately the Gegenpressin has fallen off completely because that's exactly where we keep losing games - on the counterattack. Most seem to be pointing to our crowded fixture schedule, and that the players are too knackered to press or work hard once we've lost the ball. It's a feature that all of Red Nose's teams had in the late 90's. They would work extremely hard to get it back as soon as they lost the ball. We have been doing it on occasion, but of late we give the ball away in extremely vulnerable positions and then don't do everything to recover it or snuff out a counter early on before they build up any speed.

On the ball, we still have to demonstrate some clever movement and passing combinations. You don't create space by simply knocking it side-side and then hoping a gap will open up. It requires players injecting themselves into advanced areas in a coordinated way. For example, we often see Coutinho or Lallana receive the ball high up the pitch in a relatively wide area but then the overlapping run by the fullback is either WAY too slow in coming, or that even if they make the overlapping run, the NEXT player hasn't thought about moving into a space to receive it (e.g. Origi, Sturridge, Firmino). It's this kind of layered movement that provides the ball carrier options. In those circumstances, the defenders are too busy worrying about 2-3 players running in a coordinated way, and that may just be enough time for the ball carrier to get away from his marker and fire a shot, or allow one of these moving players enough time to get a shot in at goal.

In a way, these are like set routines that occur from common structures or situations in open play. We don't seem to have rehearsed our lines all that much, or built our understanding between players. It IS hard when there are so many changes, but all the same - we should be doing better with our movement. It's worse than a school team at the moment.

Is it not down to Klopp to either 1) utilise his squad that he constantly praises 2) build a better squad to cope with the high intensity and demands of the system? It worries me he isn't seeing this. We were running record distances over the Christmas period, 121km vs Stoke, 118km vs City - it's absolutely crazy yet he was willing to go unchanged vs Sunderland. Has to rotate or You might say a lack of experience but he was here last Winter and we know how bad injuries got at that point, we also started to dip in form. It's worrying it's the second January in a row we have struggled immensely. I for one am glad we are out of the cup competitions (come at me) because we do not have the strength in depth nor quality to attack on all fronts. Top four has to be the priority.

[McrRed]

Is it not down to Klopp to either 1) utilise his squad that he constantly praises 2) build a better squad to cope with the high intensity and demands of the system? It worries me he isn't seeing this. We were running record distances over the Christmas period, 121km vs Stoke, 118km vs City - it's absolutely crazy yet he was willing to go unchanged vs Sunderland. Has to rotate or You might say a lack of experience but he was here last Winter and we know how bad injuries got at that point, we also started to dip in form. It's worrying it's the second January in a row we have struggled immensely. I for one am glad we are out of the cup competitions (come at me) because we do not have the strength in depth nor quality to attack on all fronts. Top four has to be the priority.

You think he doesn't see it?
Klopp is patience personified. Would he have liked to have won all the games in January? Sure. But he's been willing to see what the squad can do in that time.
Everyone is fixated on the results...but for a couple of offsides and some finishing that didn't go our way we'd be in a lot healthier position in both league and cups. I'm not saying that's necessarily fair or not, just that thems the rubs.
He always intended to spend this summer...He said so ages ago so if he's the footballing genius we lauded how come he's not falling over backwards to get a pacy wide man and a central defender? I'll tell you. Because for whatever reason, now's not the time.

Last autumn we were playing well. The team in the league and the most exciting. That lineup hasn't played since. Let that sink in. Not once.
Injury.  Mourinho's brown envelope to FIFA. You name it but that team is only just coming back to fitness. With any luck it'll all click right away. If not, it'll take a little while (and the crybabies will whine for their points and their results and their just deserts) but either way it will happen and the lack of congestion makes it likely it's sooner rather than later. Here's hoping anyway.

[jckliew]

Was reminded that Rodgers never lost 3 games in a row at Anfield.
And the last time this happened, was in the early 1900s.  Pressure is really on to avoid an unwanted stat.

[youll never walk alone it]

To be honest its not just the fact we lost 3 in a row its the manner of the defeats, quietly confident for tonight  though then lose at hull thats us, but its a ride we mostly enjoy.

[beardsleyismessimk1]

However, if Liverpool beat Chelsea, their points tally of 48 will equal the club record after 23 matches of a Premier League season (from 2008-09).

[Trump's tiny tiny hands]

Firmino as a 9 has worked and will continue to work with our preferred front three and the likes of Lallana breaking from midfield - we share the goals around. But then, as we have seen and have talked about plenty, if one or two players aren't available we don't have much left in the squad to keep playing the same way and don't have the creativity in midfield to play one/two actual strikers.

[SerbianScouser]

We are so, so , so , so gonna start crushing teams now that we are complete and fully healthy.

But we have to move Lallana back in Can's place and we have to have our CMs drop deep to get the ball because Mignolet's long balls are killing us. We can't allow him to launch incessant long balls and give him the passing option.

[Haggis36]

Seems allergic to an early, positive sub, doesn't he? Feels like we take forever to make changes when it isn't working (and hasn't been for a loooong time) and consistently chucking on attackers with less than 5 minutes to try and win games - what are they supposed to do with a handful of touches of the ball?

[Geezer08]

I feel extremely upbeat after yesterday, a game we should have won.

There is so many positives if you want to see it.

I honestly believe Klopp is doing a tremendous piece of work and getting the best out of our current squad.

He is a victim of his own succcess and the fantastic start we had to the season. But people some people seem to forgot:

- Klopp inherited a squad poorly balanced due to 4-5 years of mismanagement.
- Klopp hasnt been in charge a full season yet.
- He has been here for two transfers window and earning money.
- While all his acqusitions have more or less been a success(Wijnaldum, Mane, Manninger, Matip, Karius, etc)
- We are playing basically without a left footed in our starting XI
- So far we have only been beaten once in 16 games against other top 6 six teams.
- Managers are afraid of the progress we are making (Conte celebrated a draw like he won the champions league yesterday)

We are challenging for the tite in a season people would be extremely satisfied with a top 4 finish.

There is so many positive things if you choose to see it, yes nobody is perfect and klopp is maybe a bit conservative with his subs.

But in the overall scheme we are progressing so fast, just fasten your seatbelt, becuase given our support and optimism, Klopp will take us on a fantastics joy ride!

[Coolie High]

Seems allergic to an early, positive sub, doesn't he? Feels like we take forever to make changes when it isn't working (and hasn't been for a loooong time) and consistently chucking on attackers with less than 5 minutes to try and win games - what are they supposed to do with a handful of touches of the ball?

Agree imo Ferguson would have thrown both strikers on the bench on with 15-20mins to go, don't know why he didn't do so.

[El Lobo]

Firmino as a 9 has worked and will continue to work with our preferred front three and the likes of Lallana breaking from midfield - we share the goals around. But then, as we have seen and have talked about plenty, if one or two players aren't available we don't have much left in the squad to keep playing the same way and don't have the creativity in midfield to play one/two actual strikers.

We need better than Firmino there, unless we're going to find a way of fitting him into the side with a top class striker.

We've seen in this bad run, we just can't afford to carry someone who is so ineffective anywhere other than through the middle.....but is completely unreliable when played through the middle. Any good striker scores at least one of his chances last night, same against Southampton. Against these sides when chances are at a premium we need our main striker to be clinical, and he just isn't. Its the same as the goalkeeper situation, Mignolet is a good pro and will make good saves and have good games but time and again he's made silly mistakes which have cost us goals, momentum and points and made a comfortable game much more difficult. Same with Firmino, he misses simple chances which he really should be scoring and it costs us points. Just those two games, he scores those simple late chances and we're 4 points better off, Chelsea are 1 point worse off and we're smack bang in a title race. As it is, we're not. We need better.

[Funky_Gibbons]

Going to be interesting to see where Firmino ends up playing. I agree he isn't clinical enough to play that 'false 9' position on-going but he needs be central.

If we get a 20+ goal a season striker I wonder whether we'll go more 4-2-3-1 with Firmino behind where he's played well before. Would probably mean Lallana losing his place though and we know Klopp is a fan.

[plura]

Going to be interesting to see where Firmino ends up playing. I agree he isn't clinical enough to play that 'false 9' position on-going but he needs be central.

If we get a 20+ goal a season striker I wonder whether we'll go more 4-2-3-1 with Firmino behind where he's played well before. Would probably mean Lallana losing his place though and we know Klopp is a fan.

If that scenario do happen I think it will more often than not end up looking very good for us then. Players will get injured, rested or unavailable for other reasons. And we know that Firmino could play the role you've mentioned and as a striker. Same goes for Lallana with various roles. This is a 'problem' I'm hoping we'll get to experience sooner rather than later.

[alonsoisared]

Say we do go on a great run of form now that we are back to a game a week, what does that say for our chances next season with european football back? Im not sure we will really have learnt anything about this team that we didnt already know; capable of absolute brilliance and also of absolute calamity. Yes we will hopefully strengthen the squad but how many more players will we need?

So far Klopp has done a really good job but there still are questions. He doesnt seem able to change a game with subs; if chasing a goal we whack all the attackers on and hope, or stick a centre half up front. When games turn and start slipping away from us when plan A isnt working we never seem to have a back up. So when we arent totally blowing teams away we are struggling. Have we been conditioned to be in peak fitness for the first 3 months and now the players are out on their feet? Can we cope with an even busier schedule next year?

He is the very best man for the job but I feel hes still learning the league and football in this country. There have been obvious positives this season and are still well placed to enter next season in the champions league. I just feel that we need a massive summer if we want to challenge for the title. 4 or 5 players needed and as we know it is never that straightforward, usually if you bring in 5 maybe 2 or 3 proves a success, and its never easy to fit so many new ones in.

Overall, massive positives so far but also a few major questions. If Jurgen can get those things right then we are in for a brilliant few years.