They always used to say that about Spurs going to Anfield. They didn't win there from 1912 to 1985 and it's not like they were sending the same team for 70-odd years. The longer a run like that goes on, the more it must prey on the players' minds, even if they haven't played there more than once or twice. And despite knowing that they will come out of the blocks like Usain Bolt, we never seem prepared for it when we go there and always concede early.
For that first goal, Fernandinho lost possession far too easily, didn't make enough attempt to recover and no one covered the Ox's run, plus Ederson's positioning looked a bit suspect. I think he could have got out a bit more to narrow the angle.
For the second, I don't know whether it was a foul on Stones or not. It looked to me at the time like Firmino used his strength but Stones should never have let it get to that. If you watch the head-on camera view carefully you see he had his body between Firmino and the ball and was seemingly in a position to play it and move away from Firmino towards the touchline. Yet he alters the angle of his movement away from the ball & towards Firmino, possibly trying to block him off (which he obviously fails to do). It looked like he would have been better taking the ball on but he let it run. Did he think it was going through to Ederson? It was a shocking and lazy decision; he needs to be decisive and get the ball under control. Then, if he is fouled, the ref probably gives it but it ended up looking like a 50/50 physical tussle, in which Stones seems to be trying to obstruct his opponent but loses. Gareth Barry was so good at drawing a foul in those circumstances but Stones was very naive & indecisive.
I'd have taken 1-0 at half-time but was delighted when we went in level as I thought that would be a springboard for a much better second half but we lost our composure after that second goal. Had we not, we could well have got something. I do think Liverpool switched off a bit, thinking the game was won and it would have been hysterical if we'd got that 4th goal to get the point but yet again Aguero showed he has no idea about the offside law. Hard to single one person out among a sea of mediocrity but he really had a stinker.
The stats say we had 64% possession and 86% pass completion rate but it didn't feel like it. Apart from the odd burst by Sane, we were completely toothless up front for most of the game. Sterling needs to sort out his head at Anfield but he's no different to Nasri or Barry against their old clubs.
I'd also ask serious questions of our medical staff, which are the same questions I've been asking for some time. Kompany comes back and goes off injured straight away. Delph comes back and goes off injured straight away (having been allowed to play on yet again). Stones comes back from injury & doesn't look remotely near 100%. I've said this before but the doctor, Max Sala, was appointed by Mancini after the previous doctor, Phil Batty, was sacked for standing up to him over rushing players back too soon. Funnily enough our injury record when Batty was there was fantastic whereas it's been awful under Sala.
