I’ve been thinking for a while about how to structure this thread because I wanted to cover #Nyoni’s impact both in possession and out of possession. There’s simply too much material to fit into one thread without making it exhausting to read, so I decided to split it into separate parts. Long tactical threads can be difficult to get through, and I don’t want this one to feel like a chore. This part will focus on how Trey Nyoni leaves his mark on the team in possession - how he creates freedom for the full-backs, manipulates the opposition press, and facilitates ball progression through different variations and mechanisms. Let’s get into it🧵#LFC

🗣️ “When Jürgen Klopp arrived at Liverpool, he wanted to change the team’s training times. Most of us had trained in the mornings throughout our entire careers. Klopp, however, believed that if the team played most of its matches in the evening, our training should reflect that. The reaction? Complaints. ‘The players started coming in and feeling like they were in a daze.’ A few of them approached me and asked, ‘Can’t we do this earlier?’ As captain, Jordan Henderson knocked on Klopp’s office door. ‘A few of the players aren’t happy with these late training sessions. Is there any chance we could train in the morning?’ Klopp looked surprised. ‘Who said that? Who’s complaining about it?’ Henderson refused to give him any names. After thinking for a moment, Klopp told him to pass on a message: if anyone had a problem with the training times, they should come and tell him directly. Henderson passed the message on to the dressing room. How many players went to speak to the manager about it? None. Not a single one even tried. This anecdote is a masterclass in dealing with complaints: acknowledge the complaint, but don’t indulge it. Encourage people to take responsibility. Much of the noise disappears when accountability is required. Research supports this idea. On average, we complain around 11 times a day, with three of those complaints happening before we even leave the house. We spend around 20 minutes a day complaining, which adds up to approximately 77 hours a year. That’s more than an entire weekend! Complaining is mentally exhausting. Studies show that people who complain constantly feel more drained than those with a more positive outlook. When people work in groups, bonding often happens through shared complaining. According to research, a group can complain as many as 50 times in a single hour! ~ Professor Damian Hughes

Some coaches build teams, while others build armies. Jürgen belongs to the latter category. He commands his fortress like a general, and his Spartans are ready to follow him into battle and die for him if he so much as lifts a finger. You can be a genius, but you won’t achieve anything if you can’t build a family bond within the group. An exceptional master of mentality 🎥@FathalliMo

Maybe it’s because we play in a slightly different way than the safer ball retention associated with positional play, where the ball circulates in small spaces. We tend to play a high-risk game (high reward, high cost). Tomorrow I’ll try to post a thread here about IP and the concepts Iraola uses. Our long balls from the GK/CBs have a lot of value because of the intent behind them #LFC

I really like Iraola’s principles and intentions in possession, despite some of the comments I’ve seen following the #BOU game. It’s a multidimensional and genuinely interesting approach, built around a more direct style of play. The main issue was the technical execution from the players - particularly Wirtz. Perhaps I’ll put together a thread looking specifically at #LFC’s possession game

I’ve been thinking about certain aspects of Liverpool’s game at the start of the season, particularly the use of a medium/low block at the expense of a less frequent high defensive line. At first glance, these lower defensive concepts may seem relatively simple to implement, but I think they are also an integral part of developing an effective pressing game. They sharpen players’ defensive instincts, awareness and ability to react under pressure - especially when the intention is to use a delayed, trap-based press. In the first phase of such a press, you are essentially defending zonally, which is very similar to the principles of a medium block. The collective behaviours and the socio-affective work between players are largely based on the same principles; the main difference is simply the height at which the entire structure operates. That raises the question: why did we start by working in deeper areas rather than immediately building towards the kind of defensive model Iraola ultimately wants to implement? It seems to be connected to some underlying issues with the basic foundations of defending. Iraola appears to understand that these elements are interdependent, so his priority is to develop defensive instincts and habits in the players before moving towards more advanced structures. Those structures are often considerably more demanding and, when they fail, the consequences can be much more damaging - something we have struggled with for a second season. The idea seems to be one of incremental progression: building connections and trust between players, sharpening emotional self-control, establishing consistent behaviours within reference zones, and working both in macro- and micro-groups. Over time, this could naturally develop into a different defensive model, where the principles that have already been established are simply transferred to a higher starting position. In other words, the objective may not be to teach an entirely new way of defending, but to reproduce behaviours that have already become instinctive at a different height on the pitch. If we add to this the ongoing assessment of individual profiles and player combinations in order to find the right structural and personnel balance - an area where there is still plenty to understand - as well as the issues surrounding transitions after losing the ball, then I think this idea has a fair amount of grounding in what we are actually seeing. For now, it is something worth continuing to observe: whether the behaviours developed in the lower block eventually become the foundation for a more aggressive, higher defensive model, rather than representing a change in direction in itself #LFC

Some really good things from #Nyoni defensively today. He has a great sense of positioning, knowing when to step in and cut out passes or get across to block crosses. He provides good cover out wide and looks incredibly composed when defending. Sooner or later, he’s going to force his way into the starting XI #LFC