Liverpool thread 2019/20

[eastmanc]

No agenda there then !

Exactly my point too many blues on here falling for the propaganda.

 

[SB Blue]

Leicester were poor against both of us. Probably been mentioned before, however, what are the odds that over the busy festive period all their opponents would have to play us a few days before?

 

[Trevor Morley's Tache]

Just watched the penalty incident so that I could come on here and have a massive moan - but looking at it he deffo leans towards it and it hits his arm so it’s the right decision imho. Would we have got it off Oliver? Not a chance

No more of a handball than the one we didn't get at Klanfield from the same referee.

Take into account last nights incident: His arm was in a natural position and he was attempting to move it away from the path of the ball. Then look at the one we didn't get and you will see the EXACT OPPOSITE.

 

[gordondaviesmoustache]

Depends whether you enjoy seeing lots of long balls into channels and hopeful high crosses, it's not for me.

It doesn’t though, does it? Your point is another non-sequitur. Where have I or @Gray praised their playing style? We’re just saying they deserve a degree of credit for having a 17-1-0 record so far, which has no direct connection to their playing style despite what you’ve stridently claimed.

 

[give it to gordon]

Depends whether you enjoy seeing lots of long balls into channels and hopeful high crosses, it's not for me. Sutcliffe would still probably have got trucker of the year award if he was a dipper.

whilst most teams across all leagues are trying to play Peps way, ( even England ) the team that is top of the premiership plays like a posh Wimbledon

 

[MillisleBlue]

Their luck, fitness, lack of injuries, influence and smugness are incredible. Another record for the red scousers will be the most assisted Team ever to win a pre-determined Premier League title. English football died on 18-05-2019.

 

[RayCTID]

Too much bad blood for me and the CL games and the way the incidents had been handled during the first leg has killed any goodwill towards them.

 

[Scottyboi]

whilst most teams across all leagues are trying to play Peps way, ( even England ) the team that is top of the premiership plays like a posh Wimbledon

Do they bollocks, Liverpool can spray the ball about as good as anyone they just have brilliant movement upfront so if you have someone like Trent who can cross a ball so well it is bound to lead to goals. They are a fantastic side.

 

[RayCTID]

Do they bollocks, Liverpool can spray the ball about as good as anyone they just have brilliant movement upfront so if you have someone like Trent who can cross a ball so well it is bound to lead to goals. They are a fantastic side.

They don't.

 

[Scottyboi]

They don't.

They don't what?

 

[jimmygrimblesboots]

Its always difficult to give the Dippers any credit , because we know they will never give us any credit for our achievements , but i will not stoop to the gutter level their support frequent ,so here goes , they are a good team led by an excellent manager and deserve to be where they are in the league disregarding VAR and other fortunate instances .
But their fan base is still the lowest form of life , and considering there are Rags stealing oxygen , that is quite a statement

 

[give it to gordon]

Do they bollocks, Liverpool can spray the ball about as good as anyone they just have brilliant movement upfront so if you have someone like Trent who can cross a ball so well it is bound to lead to goals. They are a fantastic side.

spray = hit long

which they do a lot ….

 

[alexmcity]

It doesn’t though, does it? Your point is another non-sequitur. Where have I or @Gray praised their playing style? We’re just saying they deserve a degree of credit for having a 17-1-0 record so far, which has no direct connection to their playing style despite what you’ve stridently claimed.

Should we forget that part of the reason for their 17-1-0 record is related to dubious decisions in their favour? Can we agree that their record is due both to them being a great side and a side getting the rub of the green injuries and refereeing decisions wise? When we had a 19-1-0 record, were we helped by officials? If anything, the one draw in our first 20 games in 17/18 was due to a harsh red card to Walker.

 

[Scottyboi]

spray = hit long

which they do a lot ….

Don't be so bitter.

 

[eastmanc]

Their football is awful however they're good at what they do. Particularly when they are allowed to do what they want on the pitch. Foul with impunity, cheat, dive, push players into hordings, attack coaches, play the victim whatever. The scene was set when scudamore said he wanted a different winner every year.

Couldn’t have put it better myself.

 

[eastmanc]

Leicester were poor against both of us. Probably been mentioned before, however, what are the odds that over the busy festive period all their opponents would have to play us a few days before?

No they were only poor against us. Ally McCoist told me. McCoist is such a knob like many of the biased bastards in the press and media.

 

[gordondaviesmoustache]

Should we forget that part of the reason for their 17-1-0 record is related to dubious decisions in their favour? Can we agree that their record is due both to them being a great side and a side getting the rub of the green injuries and refereeing decisions wise? When we had a 19-1-0 record, were we helped by officials? If anything, the one draw in our first 20 games in 17/18 was due to a harsh red card to Walker.

They’ve definitely had some significant help, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t a great side, as are we.

Your second point is predicated on the basis that we didn’t get the rub of the green in the 19 games we won, which we manifestly did. I can think of three off the top of my head.

 

[eastmanc]

They’ve definitely had some significant help, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t a great side, as are we.

Your second point is predicated on the basis that we didn’t get the rub of the green in the 19 games we won, which we manifestly did. I can think of three off the top of my head.

Go on tell us the three. Liverpool have had more luck over the past two season to last a lifetime.

 

[OB1]

It is, but as an MO theirs seems to have no discernible weakness. They’ve lost just one league game now in a season and a half, which of course was to us, and I genuinely think that going forward, in the immediate future at least, we are the only team with the wherewithal to beat them again.

Variously, the back four seldom comes up to halfway like ours does, rather it sits a few yards deeper, so there’s rarely, if ever, space in behind when they come up against the likes of Vardy, and that notwithstanding TAA, Robertson, Gomez and VVD is probably the quickest back four in the world anyway. The midfield meanwhile is completely interchangeable (Henderson, Fabinho, Wijnaldom, Ox, Milner, Keita), all of a reasonable size and all absolute grafters, so they’re never affected in the way we are if say Kev, Ferna or Raz is missing, and they sit and wait for the opposition to come forward in the hope of turning the ball over and quickly releasing it to probably the quickest, most direct running forward trio in the game, who are able to go past isolated defenders in one on one situations 80% of the time. As an example last night they could have been 5-0 up after 20 odd minutes, as they picked Leicester off in this fashion again and again and again.

Nor can you park the bus against them like you can City with our lack of height, cos the two full backs specialise in flat, whipped crosses by the bucketload, and that grafting bully boy midfield will get into the box to assist the forwards in attempting to get on the end of them. Probably only Kev has a better repertoire of crosses in the English game.

All in all it makes them fantastically difficult to beat. You have to be able to pin them back and keep TAA and Robertson occupied, and we are virtually the only team with sufficient ball retention skills to do this, and even then it’s hard to sustain. You also can’t have a great big gap between your back four and your midfield like Leicester did, or Salah and Mane will run riot.

Pep showed he had the measure of Klopp last season at Anfield, when he detailed Walker and Mendy to sit back in support of the centre halves, rather than bomb forward as they usually do, and we played reasonably well there this season as well, the outcome hinging on Michael Oliver’s farcical disinclination to give any kind of adverse decision against them, ever.
The problem we have, is that there will be 3 or 4 occasions each season (and particularly this season), when we are ravaged by injury or are frustrated by compact defences, and it just doesn’t happen to them. Robertson, VVD, Mane, Salah and Firmino played in an astonishing 183 out of a possible 190 league games last season (38 x 5 players), and bar the one game recently when Klopp deliberately rested one or two of them, they have been ever present again this season. It’s an injury record that’s simply astonishingly good, and when you chuck in both VAR and PGMOL’s hilariously bent allocation of match officials, with Michael Oliver wheeled out against City, Leicester and Chelsea, then the odds are stacked against you.
They do occasionally have trouble with opponents who are tall, athletic and quick (Palace in the past with Zaha, Schlupp etc, and Watford last week with Sarr and Dacoure), but Lady Luck, in the form of soft penalties or keepers hurling the ball into their own net, always seems to get them out of jail.
City have a rebuilding job to do in the summer, with Kompany, Sane and Aguero, albeit that the latter isn’t leaving yet, all needing replacing, along with a decent left back. Pep has to get those purchases right (pace and power essential), cos if he doesn’t, the dippers are gonna win the league again and again.

TBH, I only ventured into this thread because I spotted your post and its a great analysis of them; although honesty again demands that I point out I avoid watching them most of the time. However, I've seen enough... They are a machine and whilst I believe City are the better team on their day, our lot have a softer underbelly and are more likely to screw up a few games.

What does irk me is that other teams cannot find a way to get the odd result. I would have hoped that a variation on the parked bus, albeit one sat a little higher with attention paid to stopping their full backs crossing could have drawn a few points out of them but it seems not, at least so far.

Pep / City will have to adapt and I am with you on the need for more pace and power in our side when it comes to new recruits, in addition to sufficient technical skills to play football the City way.

Now I need to get out of this thread: it's making me feel grubby.

 

[alexmcity]

They’ve definitely had some significant help, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t a great side, as are we.

Your second point is predicated on the basis that we didn’t get the rub of the green in the 19 games we won, which we manifestly did. I can think of three off the top of my head.

So, referees helped us as much in 17/18 as they have helped Liverpool this season?