Rory Fitzgerald

I have a very simplistic outlook on the team. Do we ping/fire the balls quickly into the forward players like we saw a fair amount of against Norwich & Burnley. No languishing on the ball when we were deep. The risk was that the balls don't stick but the trade off is that we get more space and buy a few seconds before they get "set". Jota makes sense in that approach and that approach makes sense against the inferior teams. Also doesn't make sense playing Thiago or Henderson in those games. Chelsea players will be up our ar$e$ if we play those balls, so higher probability of it not sticking. Firimino will come more to the ball and shorter passes have more certainty of the ball sticking. Low block from Chelsea is not a worry. If you are asking Firmino to come to the ball, he'll carry a Chelsea player with him and then look to get runners behind him. If he is coming to the ball, he'll want to see Fabinho, Thiago and Henderson as options if he cannot get turned. I think it comes down to an approach. If Firmino comes in, I can see Thiago coming in. Playing a shorter game than the 1st two games. Guardiola tried to beat Chelsea with shorter passing sequences after identifying that balls over 20 yards putting the ball at risk of a defender getting in front to rob it and/or zero time on the ball. I am guessing that we are protecting the ball more - Firmino comes in, Thiago comes in. Ideally Fabinho comes in and Henderson. Firmino's movement to attract a defender and create a pocket for VVD/TAA to put a direct long ball into with Mane or Salah making a run. The knock on effect, if we can control it a bit more in midfield, is that when Chelsea win it back then they do so in their half and are a bit deeper. Let them ping Lukaku from distance (longer ball, harder to control) as it increases our defenders chance to read it. But if we lose more balls in midfield and they get more accurate balls to Lukaku (short ball, easier to control) with less time for our defenders to reset, then that suits Lukaku. Its a very narrow & simplistic view but that's how I have been thinking about it. Keep the ball more and change the players to play that style.

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No, didn't see that. I haven't looked at the game back to see if happened again - given Elliott's a natural wide player and Trent has an eye for a pass, interesting to see them swap in that moment. I dont think I pick up on any of that without it ending in a goal. That's the stuff that interests me, what has Klopp pre-programmed into them on the training pitch to execute on match day that we don't pick up on.

A few screen shots to see why TAA was in the position he was for the 2nd goal. Takes the ball from the keeper, shifts forward, sprays it wide, decides are focused on the left without threat to his area and decides to hold his position it seems ...... and Elliott dropped him to give the wide option. These are the things I am not sure I see without it being a goal to highlight it.

Our 3 goals at Turf Moor at the end of last season all came from balls being behind the right back from our left channel. Brighton's 2 goals and best other chance came from similar interactions but on the right side. I wonder if we are looking to play in those areas through the build up and stay away from the central areas until the last phase of play and Elliot is the kind of player you'd think would like to run on to passes like below rather than sitting back in pockets to offer a passing option.

Agitating - you scoundrel I was merely observing that Burnley have an unhealthy aversion to playing a few passes through the middle so we could probably play 1 in there and even 5 forwards, if we had a 5th

Brighton was a killer for me. I remember that game with their missed penalty and Salah's offside goal and Connolly getting through at the start of the 2nd half..........and then to get Jota's goal, it felt like a huge 0-1 win away from home, I was gutted with the pen at the end. Fulham was a dogs dinner from the 1st whistle, classic case of not being ready for the opposition and the energy they can bring. I am not sure we expected to be honest but there was no reaction to it. That draw felt like a bonus on the day despite us getting a bit better after the penalty. City gave us a sniff at Christmas and I was praying for a win against Brighton (at home) on the Wed/Thurs just before City in order to give us a realistic crack at the "arm wrestle" had we gone on to beat City at Anfield but those 2 back-to-backs nailed it. In the same context, I am seeing Burnley at home on Saturday before Chelsea in a microcosm of that dynamic - please beat Burnley so that we can go into Chelsea with a cracking at nailing them and that will be some opening 3 games.

Yeah, kick/rush is one way of looking at it. But given it was what we were trying all the time in the 1st half, it got me thinking that it was by design and not a reaction to being under pressure. Like the first few minutes, Norwich had all the ball and kept it well but it was mostly (good) passing around their defenders and midfielders. Liverpool never did that, it was always trying to get the ball forward - never inviting Norwich to pressure on a short pass. I thought we'd control the game alot more and pin Norwich back with alot of retained possession but we seem to bin that off and take the riskier passes. I'll try catch the 2nd half as you say and see what the "control" looked like and whether that was lower risk passing and more blanket pressure.

I didn't see the 2nd half but interested in your thoughts. For the 1st half, I thought our play & passing tried to be purposeful, incisive, direct/penetrating at times, but mainly tried to find players in space quickly even if it was a long pass and needed to be 'punched' into the receivers feet. From the 1st half, there was very few moments of intricate passing, or people dropping off or coming short to the ball. The players seemed to hold positions at a distance from the ball and trusted the man on the ball to find them with the right weight off pass. The ball did a lot of the work from what I saw.

Absolutely Chewie, maybe no harm that there is a sense that a newly promoted teams can ride the wave of a home crowd in an evening game. It won't change any sense of approach from us of course, but it will give a feel that if Norwich are trying to smash us with pressure on the back of adrenaline & fans, that we need to win back the arm wrestle pretty quickly. In that sense, I was set on Matip at RCB and marginal in seeing Gomez ahead of VVD at LCB, purely as VVD will play more games this season and probably Gomez less, so give Gomez the initial games as VVD scales up. But against the back drop of a potential pressure game - then there is a material difference in the cross-field clips (never feels like a long ball "smash") that Van Dijk can pick out, and the right side is TAA and Salah, so a really strong side to find a switch. I was 55/45 on Gomez taking LCB over VVD to ease VVD in, but he is a different kind of pressure valve if we feel there is a pressure splurge from a newly promoted home team with an evening game.

Nice name-drop for Harvey Elliot !

Glad you got to the last sentence Sammy though, so I'll take that

Do you think Robbo's absence creates a new decision for LCB ? Unlikely you can (maybe not "can" but "want") put Konate at LCB beside him. So is that Konate RCB and Matip LCB ? I think Matip goes RCB and I think he starts Gomez at LCB (a marginal call over VVD). Gomez might not get loads of games this season (might not), so give him the game now if its a marginal call over VVD assuming both being at the same fitness/recovery moment. When you are introducing Konate, do it with the best possible partner - VVD. Maybe its a case that VVD starts playing more consistently when Robbo is back and you introduce Konate then after a few games. Up until then its a mix of Matip, Gomez and minutes for VVD. Could be well over thinking this because if Gomez and Konate were injured, we'd be flinging VVD in.

Alisson TAA Matip Gomez Tsimikas Keita Fabinho Milner Salah Firmino Mane

I thought that when Jorginho missed his penalty to win it, that we were into the 6th peno takers and it was all even. I figured it out quickly that Saka needed to score and England were still at risk. But yeah, I lost my bearings too around that moment.

I was looking at the subs pattern. Saka came on for Trippier at 70 and then Hendo on at 74 for Rice. They were the 1st two subs so I don't think pens were in the mind at that stage, more about game management. His last 3 subs were between 99-120 mins and I think you can maybe read more into those.

Taking Henderson off was (I think) the right thing to do - genuinely - and then even more so as a Liverpool fan. He's a senior player and would put his hand up for a 1-5 penalty so you need to be sure he's a high-probability goal scorer. Otherwise, if he's sitting at 6-11 and they lose then he gets fingers pointed at him. I was delighted to see him coming off, because if he takes a pen and scores then that's the expected (limited amount of praise, unless they win), but if he sits at 8 or 9 - or steps up between 1-5 and misses, then he'll get slaughtered. I was delighted he wasn't on the pitch as it avoided any kind of conversation and any criticism is at the manager for taking him off. Edit: I say the above in the context that if he was still on the pitch and he picked up the ball then I'd fear the worst and, given I have seen England lose pens in 90 and 96, then I know how long that baggage follows you around

If you have Maguire, Rice, Phillips, Kane as a spine but can play a mix James/Saka and Shaw/Sterling down the sides in a 3-4-3 against a team that prefers to go through the middle with Kroos/Gundogan/Muller/Havertz, then he needs to be going down the sides of the Germans. I wont say whose heatmap this is as it sounds disrespectful but it was a team that went to Old Trafford this year. Their better players were full backs and wide players, whereas their CMs were more functional. I dont think England's spine lends itself very well to being savvy in possession, but all their young energetic talented and creative players are wider players. I'd prefer to see Saka at LWB, James at RWB and then play Sterling and someone else and keep running at the Germans down the tram lines and switching the play. The more England try to go through the middle with football, I think the more it suits the players that the Germans have in their.

Great goals from Pogba with just that 1 shot - honoured with about 5 different celebrations

I dont have any particular fancy for either of these teams but if Jota can go home and De Bruyne can stay playing then that swings it for - throw in the unlikeable players that Portugal have and thats about the extent of the criteria for me in deciding who I want to win.

Prepared a 2nd part of the look at Germany, this time them on the ball.

Ah, fair enough, I only saw the blurb on Twitter - it is a great opportunity. I've been looking to see how the game might pan out based on the 3 group games. The Germans have played better teams and gone out and dominated the ball in all 3 games - so in that sense and with Rice and Phillips - I dont see England attempting to drive Germany back but more a case of using the wide players, wide channels and space/pace to hurt Germany in moments and be clinical. But then rely on their defensive shape to resist whatever Germany try to do with their 60 to 65% + possession.

I've done partial preview of England vs Germany - looking at Germany without the ball i.e. what England will broadly (not exactly) be facing when they have possession. I will put up something tomorrow on what England can likely expect when Germany will be on the ball.

Southgate's biggest question is mentality/approach, then players, then formation. The Germans have gone 1-0 down in each of their 3 games - but in general - they've been good enough to control games with Rudiger/Hummels/Ginter/Kroos/Gundogen as the platform and let the full backs provide the width so the attacking 3 can play closer together infield. Southgate needs to decide if he's going to challenge that back 5 because if he doesn't, the German's will have no problem getting into England's half with little pressure and then trying to pick their moments to attack. If he's going to try challenge higher than Portugal or France did, he'll need alot of support for Kane because Kane wont do it himself - he'll only spend the energy if he thinks there is a chance to win it back. I think that gameplan would suit Rice & Phillips better to let them charge around and try win the ball back through pressure rather than sit 30 yards deeper and close off spaces and intercept passes. The issues is that he needs Maguire to play a high line for that game - so not sure he'll do that as its not been Southgate's game so far, its not Kane's game and its not Maguire's game. If he accepts that the Germans will get to the halfway line easy enough, then the back 5 will match Germany's front "five" with 2 sets of wing backs and 3 CBs facing the possibility of 3 attackers if they are behind the DMs. I am fascinated by this game, I think the approach of the Germans is clear. Kroos and Gundogan will be taking balls off the CBs and taking responsibility to keep possession and not rely on WBs to be deeper to give them options wider of them. The 2 English midfielders will not be given that responsibility. I struggle to see how/where they face opposition to bringing the ball out because Kane wont put pressure on and Rice/Phillips wont be allowed join that high up, and I am not sure how close Sterling/Saka will get to Kane. I think England will go very strong in the first 15-20mins and then the Germans will win the arm wrestle and control the game. England haven't conceded yet and if they get their fast players on a break against Rudiger and Hummels then they can do damage. Kane wont be phased collecting balls deep against Kroos and Gundogan. But I don't see England having any dominance - except the opening 20mins possibly and from there it could be a counter attacking gameplan. I know England are being touted as favourites but I think thats overlooking that Germany have played 2 of the best teams in the competition and still got through scoring 6 goals whereas England have not really got going and scored 2 goals. Big defensive performance needed and then take the chances when the come.

I'm going to take a guess at Henderson's hand signal there on the sideline that he's telling Walker to forward and he'll cover the right hand channel when he does. Henderson has just then gone over to Saka to give him instructions before the game kicks off. He's come on with a plan for the right hand side.