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Summerbuzz
Guest
I'm pretty sure he knows his tactics were wrong, his body language was really bad all night. Klopp took him to the cleaners. Anyone with half a brain knew the 'I haven't got a clue about how City play' line was a very cheeky bluff.
In the scheme of things, CL teams often lose these games (after a break, the weekend before a big CL fixture). Yet...the scale of the defeat, the number of goals, that this happened against a resurgent team who we will have to compete against in the future... these things damage Manuel's standing. Worse still is that Klopp reinforced the idea that Manuel doesn't pay any respect to the oppositions tactics, and showed what can be done when you do. What hurts me is that these weren't the same old tactics hurting us, Liverpool found new ways to make us look foolish.
Manuel's second half changes made us less likely to win, IMO. To a certain extent, I had the feeling we just had to get our arse in gear and wait for Liverpool to tire a little. What we did was a form of damage limitation. Compete in the midfield, bolster the left side. Sometimes damage limitations is OK. People might see it as self-interest, not wanting to risk a 'sackable' score line, but going six down would be very destabilising for a team.
But he's right, the performance of the players was utter garbage. Certainly in the first 20 minute that was what struck me. It's up to him as a manager to either say 'I got it wrong' or 'You lot were shit'. Both messages have a different purpose, one takes pressure off the players, the other puts it on. I don't believe there is a workable third way. You don't want to say Liverpool are a better side than us, because it's a lie, and might knock self-confidence. You can't blame the ref, heavens above.
If you say, I was wrong, but you were shit, then perhaps the players say, ahh, we were shit because you were wrong - they don't take any responsibility, and they definitely need to. So I can't get excited about what he says.
Can't even get too excited about the score or the result. It's always one step forward, one step back with MP. Swings and roundabouts. Always. He's not going to become tactically flexible, or quick to react, or inspirational. We're not going to become some ultra-consistent team that wins 12 league games on the bounce, or not lose til the end of the season. Winning the league this year won't require anything like that, and as a result, won't prove that much, either.
So there is only one way for him to demonstrate that we have progressed under him: getting to the semi-finals of the CL and (over 180 minutes) looking closely matched to one of Barca/Bayern.... or maybe the equals of Real or PSG... or maybe just a little bit better than Atletico. IMO we should be a cut above anyone else we might face.
In the scheme of things, CL teams often lose these games (after a break, the weekend before a big CL fixture). Yet...the scale of the defeat, the number of goals, that this happened against a resurgent team who we will have to compete against in the future... these things damage Manuel's standing. Worse still is that Klopp reinforced the idea that Manuel doesn't pay any respect to the oppositions tactics, and showed what can be done when you do. What hurts me is that these weren't the same old tactics hurting us, Liverpool found new ways to make us look foolish.
Manuel's second half changes made us less likely to win, IMO. To a certain extent, I had the feeling we just had to get our arse in gear and wait for Liverpool to tire a little. What we did was a form of damage limitation. Compete in the midfield, bolster the left side. Sometimes damage limitations is OK. People might see it as self-interest, not wanting to risk a 'sackable' score line, but going six down would be very destabilising for a team.
But he's right, the performance of the players was utter garbage. Certainly in the first 20 minute that was what struck me. It's up to him as a manager to either say 'I got it wrong' or 'You lot were shit'. Both messages have a different purpose, one takes pressure off the players, the other puts it on. I don't believe there is a workable third way. You don't want to say Liverpool are a better side than us, because it's a lie, and might knock self-confidence. You can't blame the ref, heavens above.
If you say, I was wrong, but you were shit, then perhaps the players say, ahh, we were shit because you were wrong - they don't take any responsibility, and they definitely need to. So I can't get excited about what he says.
Can't even get too excited about the score or the result. It's always one step forward, one step back with MP. Swings and roundabouts. Always. He's not going to become tactically flexible, or quick to react, or inspirational. We're not going to become some ultra-consistent team that wins 12 league games on the bounce, or not lose til the end of the season. Winning the league this year won't require anything like that, and as a result, won't prove that much, either.
So there is only one way for him to demonstrate that we have progressed under him: getting to the semi-finals of the CL and (over 180 minutes) looking closely matched to one of Barca/Bayern.... or maybe the equals of Real or PSG... or maybe just a little bit better than Atletico. IMO we should be a cut above anyone else we might face.