Dennis Praet

[bfox]

8 minutes ago, SemperEadem said:

Thought he was our best player at Anfield.

He was definitely one of the more confident on the ball. Wasn't phased by the occasion. 

[Stuntman_Mike]

I love how he keeps things ticking and uses the ball so well. His twisting and turning on the ball is near on top shelf smut.

[st albans fox]

Impressed (and a little surprised) when he chased back first half and caught the Liverpool player on the half way line .... whilst he doesn’t have an explosive burst of pace, he clearly has a good speed once he’s going 

[lgfualol]

Wish that shot went in. Great player.

[Tanya]

I'm a huge fan of Mendy because I love players who do simple things really well. But I feel like Praet is a 10000 per cent Mendy upgrade. Not only is he a decent tackler, he is comfortable on the ball and can play concise, intelligent passes and possesses a goal threat (something Mendy, God bless him, did not). He also frees up Wilf a little too.

 

Terrific signing.  

[Stadt]

Dreamboat 

[Ric Flair]

Love the bloke, my only concern is how do we deal with Praet, Tielemans and Maddison. To play all 3 is then the dreaded diamond which we are yet to truly master and if we want to play 4-1-4-1 to actually register a decent amount of shots and score goals then it means dropping either Praet or dare I say it Tielemans. I think Youri has been decent in the last few weeks but many think he's still failing to impress, whatever the outcome it's a great position to be in and I applaud Rodgers for being insistent that we needed another dynamic central midfielder.

[Deeg67]

2 hours ago, Tanya said:

I'm a huge fan of Mendy because I love players who do simple things really well. But I feel like Praet is a 10000 per cent Mendy upgrade. Not only is he a decent tackler, he is comfortable on the ball and can play concise, intelligent passes and possesses a goal threat (something Mendy, God bless him, did not). He also frees up Wilf a little too.

 

Terrific signing.  

A true box-to-box player.  Needs to be in the lineup card every week.

[weller54]

1 hour ago, Ric Flair said:

Love the bloke, my only concern is how do we deal with Praet, Tielemans and Maddison. To play all 3 is then the dreaded diamond which we are yet to truly master and if we want to play 4-1-4-1 to actually register a decent amount of shots and score goals then it means dropping either Praet or dare I say it Tielemans. I think Youri has been decent in the last few weeks but many think he's still failing to impress, whatever the outcome it's a great position to be in and I applaud Rodgers for being insistent that we needed another dynamic central midfielder.

Will lessen the pain when Maddison goes. 

[Blue ROI]

2 hours ago, Tanya said:

I'm a huge fan of Mendy because I love players who do simple things really well. But I feel like Praet is a 10000 per cent Mendy upgrade. Not only is he a decent tackler, he is comfortable on the ball and can play concise, intelligent passes and possesses a goal threat (something Mendy, God bless him, did not). He also frees up Wilf a little too.

 

Terrific signing.  

A fan of his too but Praet has probably sealed Mendy's departure from the club.

 

Like a combination of Drinkwater and Kante.

[StriderHiryu]

1 hour ago, Ric Flair said:

Love the bloke, my only concern is how do we deal with Praet, Tielemans and Maddison. To play all 3 is then the dreaded diamond which we are yet to truly master and if we want to play 4-1-4-1 to actually register a decent amount of shots and score goals then it means dropping either Praet or dare I say it Tielemans. I think Youri has been decent in the last few weeks but many think he's still failing to impress, whatever the outcome it's a great position to be in and I applaud Rodgers for being insistent that we needed another dynamic central midfielder.

Totally agree about your point on Rodgers being spot on in wanting this type of player. He's gone completely under the radar, and would get into a number of teams like Arsenal, Man U and Spurs on current form. Superb technical ability and an eye for a pass!

 

Before passing judgement on the diamond, I think it's important to have some perspective on the opposition - the European Champions who have won 16 games in a row. I personally think Rodgers got the tactics right as though Liverpool deserved to win, we were in the match the whole game and only a brain fart stopped us getting a point, which would have been a tremendous result. Maybe we could be more aggressive but with a young team we gave ourselves a chance and that's good going. Norwich in the first game of the season tried to play their own way and got battered, so sometimes being pragmatic is good.

 

We played the diamond after going behind to Spurs and ended up winning the game. IMO in that match it looked really good and having Praet, Tielemans and Maddison on is so hard for anyone to deal with, even if it was Hamza on for Tielemans that eventually played the pass to Maddison. Width is still provided by the fullbacks with Ricardo being even more immense this season than last. So don't write off that system just yet, it has a lot of promise and I think Burnley might be exactly the sort of team where we need all 3 players on the pitch to break down their low block. 

 

 

[Nicolo Barella]

2 minutes ago, StriderHiryu said:

Totally agree about your point on Rodgers being spot on in wanting this type of player. He's gone completely under the radar, and would get into a number of teams like Arsenal, Man U and Spurs on current form. Superb technical ability and an eye for a pass!

 

Before passing judgement on the diamond, I think it's important to have some perspective on the opposition - the European Champions who have won 16 games in a row. I personally think Rodgers got the tactics right as though Liverpool deserved to win, we were in the match the whole game and only a brain fart stopped us getting a point, which would have been a tremendous result. Maybe we could be more aggressive but with a young team we gave ourselves a chance and that's good going. Norwich in the first game of the season tried to play their own way and got battered, so sometimes being pragmatic is good.

 

We played the diamond after going behind to Spurs and ended up winning the game. IMO in that match it looked really good and having Praet, Tielemans and Maddison on is so hard for anyone to deal with, even if it was Hamza on for Tielemans that eventually played the pass to Maddison. Width is still provided by the fullbacks with Ricardo being even more immense this season than last. So don't write off that system just yet, it has a lot of promise and I think Burnley might be exactly the sort of team where we need all 3 players on the pitch to break down their low block. 

 

 

Not trying to nitpick here, but I don't think it's fair to say Rodgers got the tactics perfect. Like you say, Liverpool deserved the win, despite only conceding the one goal all 90 I feel like they had us pinned back too much, particularly the beginning of both halves, and part of that was playing Maddison on the wing again.

 

It nullified a lot of Tielemans' threat as his interplay with the winger on his side was not possible with Maddison cutting in constantly, so we had trouble progressing the ball to their box without resorting to long balls (which they collected up far too easily). In addition our wingers didn't have enough about them defensively although they did put in a shift. If we had dropped one of our 3 incredibly good "8s" and played Perez and Albrighton to start with, I still think we would have been able to build up play better and be a bit more staunch defensively.

 

Liverpool are, however, the best side in Europe, and there's no shame in losing to them - what Rodgers did come up with was almost enough for a truly incredible point, and I'm aware of it.

 

I think the diamond has incredible potential, but there's one problem with it in my opinion, and that is width on the left. Ricardo and Praet have already struck up a fledgling partnership on the right and combined together nicely a couple of times already, not just yesterday. But on the left, Tielemans needs to be the main prescence and needs to be able to essentially take the ball from Chilwell once Chilwell gets the ball to the edge of their box (which he is very good at doing), and then leaving Chilwell near the byline just to stretch the defence whilst he furthers the attack from that position. It requires some adaption from Tielemans which could take time. That's my two cents anyway.

[Pliskin]

The only way I can think to implement him is a 4-3-3, with Maddison as a 10 and Parez as a striker with Vardy, The only issue being you have to rely on your fullbacks to provide options regularly from their respective positions, something at the moment you can't trust Chilwell to do. So it pretty much is either play Madders wide, or drop Youri......

[Guest Fktf]

Surprised no one has called for 3 at the back yet (not that I've read all the pages!). 3-5-1-1. Chilly and Ricky wingbacks, Ndidi, Tielemans, and Praet as the middle 3, with Madders operating behind Vardy. 

 

 

 

[Guest Cujek]

7 minutes ago, Fktf said:

Surprised no one has called for 3 at the back yet (not that I've read all the pages!). 3-5-1-1. Chilly and Ricky wingbacks, Ndidi, Tielemans, and Praet as the middle 3, with Madders operating behind Vardy. 

 

 

 

5 at the back is not some where we need to visit, nor is 3!

[StriderHiryu]

2 hours ago, Nicolo Barella said:

Not trying to nitpick here, but I don't think it's fair to say Rodgers got the tactics perfect. Like you say, Liverpool deserved the win, despite only conceding the one goal all 90 I feel like they had us pinned back too much, particularly the beginning of both halves, and part of that was playing Maddison on the wing again.

 

Well I didn't say he got it perfect, otherwise we would have won! But to put it into perspective, Barcelona lost 4-0 to them last season, and this season Liverpool have beaten Norwich 4-1, Arsenal 3-1 and Newcastle 3-1 in the league. Perhaps they should have pulled clear with more goals, but they didn't and we were in the match right until the end. For a young team to me that is very promising. Rodgers has lost 7-0 to Barcelona with Celtic trying to play their own game, so I think he's learning that being pragmatic sometimes is important.

 

I fully understand why fans don't like seeing Maddison on the wing and want to see us go for it from the off but I thought it was the right approach to take - trying to nick something, and it almost paid off.

Anyway this is a Praet thead and it seems like we can all agree he's a good signing! 

 

[Clever Fox]

He is very good on the Ball and has a proper midfielders instinct when getting forward.   But I was surprised how slow he was when he chased back to cover Ricardo. He was slow.

That.s another concern We're not the quickest apart from NDiddi, Ricardo and Vardy. This means we need to be better in possession and not give the Ball away easily. 

Which is what BR is striving to get us to do. 

[Blue ROI]

16 minutes ago, Clever Fox said:

He is very good on the Ball and has a proper midfielders instinct when getting forward.   But I was surprised how slow he was when he chased back to cover Ricardo. He was slow.

That.s another concern We're not the quickest apart from NDiddi, Ricardo and Vardy. This means we need to be better in possession and not give the Ball away easily. 

Which is what BR is striving to get us to do. 

Thats what I noticed at Sheffield United too.

 

Not far off Silva in that regard but just far better positional sense and keeps the play ticking over.

Edited 7 October 2019 by Blue ROI

[Clever Fox]

12 minutes ago, Blue ROI said:

Thats what I noticed at Sheffield United too.

 

Not far off Silva in that regard but just far better positional sense and keeps the play ticking over.

Yes I know what you mean. Silva liked to dwell on the Ball. Praet likes to keep it moving and makes his mind up quickly.

I think apart from his pace he'll be a good addition to the team when he settles in.

I'd like to see us play Him with Youri and Mads in a midfield 3 with Ndiddi cleaning up the gaps and Feeding Vardy and Perez. 

With Ricardo and Chilwell providing the width.

 

This would make us stronger in midfield and going forward while keeping the opposition further from our goal.

[Deeg67]

If we didn’t have a good holding MF I think you could make a solid case to use Praet in that role - he’s more than solid defensively.  But N’didi, while limited, does fill that role very well.  What I think you can say with certainty is there’s no excuse to use he and Choudhury starting together with Praet as an option.

[sacreblueits442]

On 07/10/2019 at 21:44, Clever Fox said:

He is very good on the Ball and has a proper midfielders instinct when getting forward.   But I was surprised how slow he was when he chased back to cover Ricardo. He was slow.

That.s another concern We're not the quickest apart from NDiddi, Ricardo and Vardy. This means we need to be better in possession and not give the Ball away easily. 

Which is what BR is striving to get us to do. 

...we constantly gave the ball away when we eventually  gained possession!!

  We lacked the confidence and composure to complete our passes and the formation was the cause of this.

  Playing Maddison on the left as we all know disrupts not only his game but Chillwell and more importantly Vardy continually bears the brunt of this.

  It is obvious we do not enjoy playing this way and the only message this set up says to the team is that Rodgers' does not believe that we are good enough.

  We are a much better team than he is allowing us to be!!!

  

[Clever Fox]

8 hours ago, sacreblueits442 said:

...we constantly gave the ball away when we eventually  gained possession!!

  We lacked the confidence and composure to complete our passes and the formation was the cause of this.

  Playing Maddison on the left as we all know disrupts not only his game but Chillwell and more importantly Vardy continually bears the brunt of this.

  It is obvious we do not enjoy playing this way and the only message this set up says to the team is that Rodgers' does not believe that we are good enough.

  We are a much better team than he is allowing us to be!!!

  

yes you are right, We do lack composure on the Ball, But that will come with time, the more we play that way.

I'm really not that convinced that Rogers has the adaptability to be a top Coach. It just seems daft to continue with Maddison out wide where is options are limited and as you rightly say makes

it difficult for Vardy by closing the space he loves. The only reason I can see is BR wants him to get an understanding of the wide position or another view of the game as part of his learning.

He's much better in the center where we get the best out of his skills. He can go left or right, slip someone in or take on the shot himself.

We also lack balance when he moves too many players around to unfamiliar positions. Consequently mistakes happen.

I'd much prefer to see us with a strong midfield as I mentioned above with Maddison, Tileimans, Praet and Chilwell and Ricardo providing the width, with NDiddi tidying up anything that gets through them.

This would improve our possession and makes us more difficult to play against. We let too many teams get at our back 4 too easily when the object is to keep them away from our goal.

We are a much better team than that when set up correctly. I just can understand why BR can see that also.

 

I had a chat with a longtime Liverpool supporter after the game the other day. He said BR is a good Coach but only knows how to play one way.  In that he builds the team he likes and the structure he likes then sends them out to play, and it;s up to the opposition to beat them. His problem was when other teams get the better of his team then he's lost as to how to effect the game.

Which is pretty much what happened against utd. But its still early days so we will wait and see.

 

[Leeds Fox]

He seems to be what Arsenal want Xhaka to be. Only Praet is far superior and can tackle without almost being sent off weekly. 

 

Seems to be what we expected of Silva, but he’s ready for PL football in terms of physicality and speed of thought. 

[Deeg67]

So by all means, let’s do what about half of FT seems to want and bench him.

[st albans fox]

Not even on the bench tonight despite expecting he might start  - injury ??

Edited 10 October 2019 by st albans fox