Liverpool (A) PL - Post Game

Dewey6 said:
Probably rode our luck a little on that first half but it's not like we've had a lot lately.

That stat that only Haaland had scored from that starting 11 in the league is telling.

Seeing Lewis as the out ball for so long, but not having the vision to look up and deliver anything meaningful was frustrating. If Kev was fit enough for those mins then surely he comes on at HT.

Doku was good, I've been critical but took it to them. Still needs an end product though.

Onwards and upwards.
Click to expand...
I felt for Doku. Haaland’s movement was non existent.
 
TinFoilHat said:
Click to expand...

Nice, honest assessment.

Glad he recognizes what I keep repeating…size, strength, speed…they (and others) have it, we don’t!

The game has moved on from THIS generation of older City players, and it might be OK to carry one old head to keep the players calm and show leadership, but our old heads are just that, and only that, at the moment.

It is clear we are still the walking wounded or the starting line ups would be different, but we are getting minutes in legs and starting to fill the squad out again.

We still won’t have a recognized DM on Weds, but it’s clear we are starting to be able to build the kinds of combinations of players that will win games.

The only serious chance of silverware this season looks like the FA Cup, so I hope we don’t throw that away on the Second Team. However, I realize that Top 4 and the latter stages of the CL is where this team NEEDS to be for financial purposes.

This January we need at least one first team quality CM and this summer we need replacements for Eddie, KDB, Gundo, Bernardo and Walker. Whether we can afford them or not will be based on how much we get for a few of them, while others walk for free. That means, a few might have to stay fit at least one more season, albeit as squad players.

The rebuild is going to be every bit as difficult as it was post-Pellegrini, but this club is both attractive and financially secure enough to do it.
 
RayCTID said:
Get the summer transfer window over and see what happens.
Click to expand...
Hopefully we won’t be scrimping and saving and walking away over a £5m disparity like we’ve done for the past few windows. Ffs just pay what is required to get our first choice.
 
ChicagoBlue said:
Nice, honest assessment.

Glad he recognizes what I keep repeating…size, strength, speed…they (and others) have it, we don’t!

The game has moved on from THIS generation of older City players, and it might be OK to carry one old head to keep the players calm and show leadership, but our old heads are just that, and only that, at the moment.

It is clear we are still the walking wounded or the starting line ups would be different, but we are getting minutes in legs and starting to fill the squad out again.

We still won’t have a recognized DM on Weds, but it’s clear we are starting to be able to build the kinds of combinations of players that will win games.

The only serious chance of silverware this season looks like the FA Cup, so I hope we don’t throw that away on the Second Team. However, I realize that Top 4 and the latter stages of the CL is where this team NEEDS to be for financial purposes.

This January we need at least one first team quality CM and this summer we need replacements for Eddie, KDB, Gundo, Bernardo and Walker. Whether we can afford them or not will be based on how much we get for a few of them, while others walk for free. That means, a few might have to stay fit at least one more season, albeit as squad players.

The rebuild is going to be every bit as difficult as it was post-Pellegrini, but this club is both attractive and financially secure enough to do it.
Click to expand...
Everyone's banged on about pace and power for about three seasons now.. Look at Tottenham's midfield..loads that are well over 6 foot but ALSO..importantly very very quick... AND have good technical touch...this is the same all over the league..allows for amazingly quick counter attacks...we have been getting done like this for years as we never match the pace and power and defend too high ...how many times has Eddie had to risk a broken neck flying out to save us from a simple ball between Centre halves or over the top and fast men leave us for dead...surely to god someone in the back room has access to a whiteboard!!
 
Look at Haaland’s movement here:



Then look at Aguero’s here:




Shows the difference. Doku looks up and sees nobody, all players stationary rather than making runs across defenders/the keeper - basically statues waiting for the ball to miraculously get to their feet rather than making it happen themselves.
 
skillman said:
Look at Haaland’s movement here:



Then look at Aguero’s here:




Shows the difference. Doku looks up and sees nobody, all players stationary rather than making runs across defenders/the keeper - basically statues waiting for the ball to miraculously get to their feet rather than making it happen themselves.
Click to expand...

Haaland is amazing chasing ball down and 1 v 1 situations - shame we are not the counter attacking team for that style. He'd be amazing at Liverpool tbf.... Nunez would be gone in a week. Everyone slates me for this but i don't think Haaland was really Pep's choice...just too good a commercial opportunity at the time. He hardly scores in big games really.
 
ChicagoBlue said:
The only serious chance of silverware this season looks like the FA Cup, so I hope we don’t throw that away on the Second Team. However, I realize that Top 4 and the latter stages of the CL is where this team NEEDS to be for financial purposes.
Click to expand...

Not only.

The even bigger factor: everybody keeps saying recruit, recruit, recruit. They're not wrong. We don't need a fire sale, but we certainly do need three positions (maybe four). Midfield, full back, attack. Ideally, next summer. If possible (although I doubt it),one in the January window. If I can see it (and every man and his little dog can see it), then Pep's been thinking about it for months.
The plain fact is that you only get the top players in Europe (and Latin America) being interested in you if you're competing in that competition. There are one or two exceptions but not many. This is something that is constantly overlooked and underestimated by old school fans — and I include myself among them — who do not all teary when they hear that anthem. I am older by some fifty to forty-five years than anyone we should be looking at. Younger people — and players are “younger people” too — really do buy into it, I've realised. The marketing of the CL has worked. I'm fascinated by the way I see pubs and cafés around me fill up, maybe not for the group matches (and again, it depends who's playing), but for the later stages of the competition, certainly.
So yes, the money's important. Very important. The prestige and drawing power, at least as much.

Afterthought: the big wake-up call for me personally was the summer of 2012. The rags got Van Persie because, well, they were the rags and they were still living off that capital of prestige that they'd accumulated over twenty years. Van Persie basically won them the league the following season. Chelsea got Hazard, one of the very best young prospects in Europe (and someone who made a major contribution in the following years) because they'd won the Champions League. Real Madrid got Bale in 2013. We got Scott Sinclair, Maicon, Jack Rodwell and I think one other player whose name and ability was equally forgettable. I couldn't believe it. We were in the Champions League, but we hadn't established ourselves in it. Now we have. We are stalwarts of it. Whether you, I, this or that supporter actually likes the competition is neither here nor there. It is vital that we be part of it.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Unread Posts

Don't have an account? Register now and see fewer ads!

SIGN UP
Back
Top
✖
  AdBlock Detected
Bluemoon relies on advertising to pay our hosting fees. Please support the site by disabling your ad blocking software to help keep the forum sustainable. Thanks.