Liverpool (A) | PL | Post Match Thread

[Kid A]

Yesterday showed how much we miss Gundo. He would have grabbed that game by the scruff of the neck.

Agreed, but I think Kova next to Rodri could have given us that - big mistake by Pep to start with Alvarez (who was poor).

 

[blueasmoon]

I rewatched the game this morning and on second viewing I have a few observations...

1) We played really well in the first half hour.
2) We played too deep in the last 20minutes of the first half.
3) The penalty was ridiculous and was 100% on Ake. It was marginal wether Eddy would get the ball. On relfection we'd say back of and make Nunez play it. But we've seen Eddy get to a lot of those 50/50's.
4) Eddy should have been subbed for the penalty. He was clearly injured at that point.
5) The pen (and Eddy getting injured) affected us for about 10 minutes. Ake lost his shit and didn't really get himself sorted out for the rest of the game.
6) After the pen they did that weird thing that they do where they seem to go even more mental than usual. During this time it was chaos, the ball was pinging about and we couldn't control it. That was only dealt with when Kovacic came in and he and Rodri got some control of the midfield. We made a few decent chances in that time and could have gone ahead again. Phil was quite annoying when he shot rather than passed on a few occasions.
7) When we got into the last 15 minutes we got forced deep again because of their press and it got a bit manic but for all the bluster they actually created very little clear cut. And the couple of things they did do were dealt with by Ortega (who was absolutely excellent).
8) They did that manic shit and becasue they were not really creating much started reverting to trhowing themselves onto the deck at every opportunity. Doku could have conceded a penalty but for once Oliver made a good decision.

Summary... an exellent away point. We never folded under their pressure (which we have done in the past multiple times).

There needs to be an investigation into how they maintain energy levels like that week in week out. Its hard to understand...

Their style of football is absolutely appalling. Its Graham Taylor/John Beck/Wimbledon.

I generally thought Michael Oliver refereed the game well, but I did notice that basically every tackle or challenge they made completed by going through our player or resulted in a push off balance. This wasn't picked up by the referee and explaned why we lost the ball more then usual.

I hope their style disappears from the game when Klopp goes. Its horrible stuff. It was shit in the 80's and its shit now.

We did very well to survive and get the point.

You hope their style of play disappears? They play really entertaining football haha, every team can’t play like city and it would be boring if they did.

 

[blue by birth]

Assuming you didn't take note of their starting 11? They had 5/6 of their strongest 11 missing against us pretty much full strength with most key players rested mid week whilst they played thursday night and still outran us second half. Its not a good result at all. They were there to be beaten and none of our big players stepped up, its beyond a joke how little mentality we showed for a team who are current treble winners and world champions.

If we didn't have the mentality we wouldn't have won the fucking treble..
Sometimes players have off days..shit happens
We got a point and we could have even won and yes even lost but it's a valuable point regardless.
We should have won against them at ours but we only drew..again shit happens

 

[blue by birth]

You hope their style of play disappears? They play really entertaining football haha, every team can’t play like city and it would be boring if they did.

They don't play football like us..they play plenty of kick and rush but I would definitely rather watch us.

 

[Blue and true]

Remarkable that we're still only a point behind. We deserved nothing yesterday, but we're still in the race. I'll take that.

CTID

 

[ShedDweller]

You hope their style of play disappears? They play really entertaining football haha, every team can’t play like city and it would be boring if they did.

Well I despised Wimbledon/Watford/Cambridge and all the old long ball sides and I see no difference to the scousers...

Actually thats not true. Klopp takes good technical footballers and turns them into a long ball team. So basically he has evolved it a bit.

Its still shit anti football.

 

[alexmcity]

Ake has been outstanding this season, we would have been in the creek without a paddle without him

He has been outstanding in some games and poor in other games. He cost us goals vs Arsenal, Liverpool and Spurs, and was very poor at Wolves. Walker and Akanji have been better and more consistent this season, and Akanji last season as well.

It's great to have a squad player like him, but if you read this forum you might be thinking Ake's a modern day Maldini. A bit overrated to the extent some thought he was better than Rodri and Gundo last season, which was foolish in the extreme.

 

[Keeper!]

He has been outstanding in some games and poor in other games. He cost us goals vs Arsenal, Liverpool and Spurs, and was very poor at Wolves. Walker and Akanji have been better and more consistent this season, and Akanji last season as well.

It's great to have a squad player like him, but if you read this forum you might be thinking Ake's a modern day Maldini. Hugely overrated to the extent many thought he was better than Rodri and Gundo last season, which was foolish in the extreme.

Sorry but Walker has had a shocking season for me, well past his best

 

[Dribble]

I thought it was a fascinating duel

For me VVD played percentages - he knew Haaland was going to get a shot away, did what he could to influence that and relied on his keeper to do the rest - decent defending in my book

One of the best bits of defending I've seen all season. VVD did everything right to limit Haaland, without giving away a foul & risking a sending off.

 

[Pingu the Penguin]

After a really decent first half, the second was a painful slow death that I assumed would be lost near to the end, but somehow we held out.

I agreed with the KdB sub, he was having little to no impact anymore, plus Alvarez simply didn't re-emerge from the dressing room (I thought his first half was decent enough, though). Foden and Silva both quiet on top of that meant we had a 2nd half in which we simply lay down and let the back 5 take a pummelling (well done Ortega, Akanji and Walker). Liverpool's intensity was huge and credit to Quansah & Endo who played well.

Doku was very unlucky to hit the post and for it to go straight back to Kelleher but i was dismayed to see him not go in with the head and let it bounce in the box for the late penalty claim, that was poor.

Julian had a stinker he’s being asked to play in a role he does t look well suited to though