I've been wanting to start this thread for some time now. I think it's appropriate to do so now.
Sometimes I wonder what the team is exactly doing at Melwood. Unless we are privy to what goes on with the team, we really do not have a clue on what they do everyday.
If they are having fun and games playing head tennis and five aside games, I'll be worried. To me Melwood is a place where the team puts in all the hard work. It's the place where mistakes can be made and rectified, formations/selections experimented, passing and positioning refined. Problems are addressed. If any fancy/risky decision needs to be validated, Melwood is the place.
As with any musical, exam or concert, match day is performance day. And Melwood is where the preparations are made. And when you have only 90 minutes, that's all the time you have to unleash all your preparations. Any top student would tell us how much time they invested in studying for their exams. Any musician would tell us that they have been practising on their instrument all their lives. Even Tiger Woods needs swing coaching. Execution has to be crisp, precise, well drilled on match day. I don't think players have time to think in the modern game, which is why training and being well drilled is so important.
At the moment, we do not look like a well drilled team. Some players look lost, misplace passes, do not know where to find their team mates or position themselves. It's like a bunch of strangers playing together all over again. Players aside, does the coaching team make the players practice passage of play over and over again till everybody clicks? Or do they leave things as they are match after match? Are individual mistakes taken seriously and addressed or just left alone? Are recent matches analysed over and over again and with the players involved? Is every poor pass, shot, tackle addressed in training or left alone?
Garbage in, garbage out. For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. They way we are playing right now suggests to me that there is insufficient work put in at Melwood. Or standards required by the coaching staff has declined to the extent that an average or poor pass, tackle or shot is in fact accepted. Which means on the big stage, this is the level of execution we will produce.
What's the team's attitude in training? How intense is training? I think Luis was there to push players into playing at a high level and this high intensity training looks to have relaxed. There are some assumptions here, but I think we haven't trained enough hours to look confident and well drilled. If anyone has some colour on the quality of the training, do let the rest of us know.
Finally, it's a pitfall for any footballer or coaching staff to think that they've made it when they sign for Liverpool Football Club. In fact all of us would expect them to put in even more work after they've signed. I believe Andy Carroll and Stewart Downing were those guilty of thinking they have achieved that level necessary for them to stop refining their craft. Which means they start to take training and matches lightly, enjoy their status as Liverpool FC footballers as they await their fat pay check on pay day. I could be wrong but I'm sure there are a few of such players on the team.
What do you think they are doing at Melwood?
What sort of attitude do you think each individual player has towards their job and career with Liverpool Football Club?
I for now think Dejan Lovren and Simon Mignolet are taking their work too lightly at the moment. And for the boss, he has room to improve execution (drills such as defending corners, closing down, fast break, passing/positioning etc.). Confidence comes by having the ability to execute. Execution comes by putting in the hours, similar to top students, musicians, singers, magician, any top performer or athelete.
Logged
