Liverpool (a) pre-match thread

[Blue Hefner]

I cannot see us coming away with 3 points. Yes, our record there is dire and yes we seem to have some kind of mental block. We look like we're shitting ourselves the moment we walk out onto the pitch.

But it's not just that. It's that the way they play is our worst nightmare. They attack with real energy and potency and press us all over the pitch, and honestly I think they cause us more trouble at our end than we do at theirs.

I think we will need to score 3 or 4 to win and I just can’t see that happening, unfortunately

That said, let’s look at it from their perspective. There is pressure on them , they’ve spent a lot of money, seemingly solved a lot of team/squad issue and they have every right to believe ‘this is thier year’ - we can lose and still win the league, it has happened twice recently. Can they win the league if they lose this game? Of course they can but this will go a long way to hence/reduce their self-belief, in my opinion

I can’t see us winning although, if we cut out the stupid goals we gave away and marginal decisions are even, there is no real reason why we can’t - I still struggle to believe that a load of scoucers singing songs and booing can have a real effect on elite sportsman. But it seems to

I’m changing my mind as I am typing, i’ll go for 2-3 City

Although, I had a dream last night that we lost 5-0!!

 

[burning blue soul]

By fuck, sterling better start this game. I will take it as a full blown insult if we bench one of our best performers so far this season, just to keep their fans from frothing at the mouth.
Win or lose, we play our own game, not murderpools!!!

 

[Chippy_boy]

How come it's only Liverpool that seem to be able to do this? If you look at their line up, man for man we have a better player in every position, I genuinely believe that, no blue-tinted specs. Kun is better than Salah and he's their best player. Perhaps only van Dijk for one of our centre backs is the only place they're better.

But, regardless of that, Chelsea have a better side than Liverpool too, yet they don't cause us such problems. It must be a mentality thing.

It's obviously part mentality.

But I think there is more to it. We are used to 75% possession and as teams defend, we press higher and higher, taking bigger bigger risks and when we lose the ball, we are out of shape and exposed. Against lesser teams, we get away with it. The pressure pays dividends and the opposition don't usually take their chances.

Against Liverpool we see the same patterns (albeit we lose possession much more due to their pressing and us shitting ourselves). Too often we find ourselves defending whilst out of shape, whilst they'll do most of their defending with 11 men behind the ball.

It's vitally important that when an attack of theirs breaks down, we counter attack with pace and that Sterling and Sane burst for the by line, rather than stopping, checking and passing backwards. Too often for my liking we slow down the attack and allow the opposition to regroup. I want to see Sterling playing on the shoulder of their last defender and getting in behind. And above all, take his bloody chances!

 

[chaddblue]

What time is peps press conference. Eager to find out if mendy is fit. Think this has a huge bearing on our chances

 

[kaz7]

 

[kaz7]

What time is peps press conference. Eager to find out if mendy is fit. Think this has a huge bearing on our chances

Any minute now,i'm on it

 

[Exeter Blue I am here]

How come it's only Liverpool that seem to be able to do this? If you look at their line up, man for man we have a better player in every position, I genuinely believe that, no blue-tinted specs. Kun is better than Salah and he's their best player. Perhaps only van Dijk for one of our centre backs is the only place they're better.

But, regardless of that, Chelsea have a better side than Liverpool too, yet they don't cause us such problems. It must be a mentality thing.

How good their players are individually compared to ours isn’t the issue. As Chippy Boy says, it’s simply that the way we prefer to play is Klippety’s wettest dream. Henderson, Wijnaldum and Milner aren’t in the same league as Kev, Dave and Bernie in terms of skill and creativity, but that’s not what they are in the team for. Klopp picks them because they’re fantastically fit and physically aggressive, and their role is to press the opposition midfield like rabid dogs, turn the ball over and then quickly release Mane, Salah and Firmino to run at the exposed rearguard at breakneck speed. We lack pace and physical strength in the engine room compared to the dippers, and with our full backs shoved forward all the time, we’re in immediate trouble whenever we lose possession, because they have some serious pace and finishing ability up top. They’ve blown us away from the start every time we’ve been there under Pep, and even though Gundogan’s injury prevents us from exacerbating the situation with a team selection faux pas, I fully expect to get thumped on Sunday as per usual

 

[Jazzman]

How good their players are individually compared to ours isn’t the issue. As Chippy Boy says, it’s simply that the way we prefer to play is Klippety’s wettest dream. Henderson, Wijnaldum and Milner aren’t in the same league as Kev, Dave and Bernie in terms of skill and creativity, but that’s not what they are in the team for. Klopp picks them because they’re fantastically fit and physically aggressive, and they’re role is to press the opposition midfield like rabid dogs, turn the ball over and then quickly release Mane, Salah and Firmino to run at the exposed rearguard at breakneck speed. We lack pace and physical strength in the engine room compared to the dippers, and with our full backs shoved forward all the time, we’re in immediate trouble whenever we lose possession, because they have some serious pace and finishing ability up top. They’ve blown us away from the start every time we’ve been there under Pep, and even though Gundogan’s injury prevents us from exacerbating the situation with a team selection faux pas, I fully expect to get thumped on Sunday as per usual

I think this is a pretty precise description of the situation. I just hope we are not going to do the same again. It is not very smart to repeat what you know will go wrong.

 

[Chippy_boy]

I think this is a pretty precise description of the situation. I just hope we are not going to do the same again. It is not very smart to repeat what you know will go wrong.

I do hope so, but my fear is that Pep is so dogmatic in his view that the way he likes us to play is "the right way", I just can't see him changing. His record against Klopp is not great, even when he was managing Bayern and Klopp had on paper a vastly inferior side with Dortmund.

Fortunately, Pep's way is better over the course of 38 games, but in one-off games like on Sunday I think we'll get reamed, yet again.

 

[St.Pauli support]