Liverpool (A) - Pre Match Thread

[CC1]

Pep said yesterday "It's a team game, people make mistakes". He can admit it was a mistake and then back him for tomorrow, as can I.

I wasn't "one of them" actually, I got shed loads of abuse for defending Bravo on here all through the first season, particularly in the infamously stupid "Bring back Joe Hart" thread. You can look up my posts in the 16/17 performances thread if you want to see my posts defending him against the mob.

So sorry, but attacking me as a Bravo hater doesn't work, I like him, I hope he'll have a game like the community shield tomorrow, but I can still admit he made a big mistake on Wednesday.

Good to hear that you supported Bravo during a difficult first year - following Hart was not easy in the circumstances.

Liked all your post - respect - apart from last sentence as I believe he had to compensate for somebody else’s fuck up.

So let’s agree to differ.

 

[CC1]

The sad thing for me is that in his first season we were trying to develop a new system with defenders not capable. This system had many fans scared as it meant playing around our own area trying to draw the opposition onto us. Inevitably, mistakes were made leaving Bravo far too exposed, far too often. I remember many wanting Pep to scrap his phylosophy until he had the right team in front of the keeper and gladly, we percevered. Season one for Pep and Bravo were not great results wise, but they enabled a faster transition to the style of football we all enjoy today. We have more to acknowledge Bravos contribution, than we do to berate him imo. Sadly though, when you replace Joe and have aging club legend fullbacks, it's easy to see who would be seen as the weak link. Bravo is a very competent Standon as he has proven many a time.

What an excellent post - you sum up the situation perfectly.

 

[mosssideblue]

He's also a warning sign that you really can do lasting damage to a player if you drop them in the wrong situation at the wrong time.

Bravo was a world class keeper at Barcelona, he kept ter Stegen on the bench and was deservedly in all the FIFA player voted awards, and even in his better performances coming back intosince his injury, he's never been close to that again. Lasting damage was done.

Maybe, maybe not. He remains a very capable back up to Eddie, and why some are more keen to express their worries rather than accept he is still a very competent keeper I simply find baffling.

Anyway, lets hope he has little to do tomorrow and we can all celebrate

 

[Bluemanc100]

Just visiting the Mother in Law on the Wirral and saw this parked...

 

[CC1]

He's also a warning sign that you really can do lasting damage to a player if you drop them in the wrong situation at the wrong time.

Bravo was a world class keeper at Barcelona, he kept ter Stegen on the bench and was deservedly in all the FIFA player voted awards, and even in his better performances coming back intosince his injury, he's never been close to that again. Lasting damage was done.

Wow. Now that is a bit over the top - a rather backhanded compliment.

 

[George Hannah]

I saw this snippet on the OS summary of Pep's pre match PC
"There were no updates on David Silva or Rodri during the press conference."
triple whammy if those two trot out at Dipperpool on Sunday along with Eddy ;)

 

[Bill the Blue]

While I'm optimistic and believe strongly in this team (I think we will have a great season even if we lose badly tomorrow), comparisons with other games and teams is generally pointless. Those games were away from home, not at Anfield, and were far from being as important as this one. Liverpool, with the help of the crowd, will be much more up for it than they were against other teams at their grounds. At the same time, we will be up for it as well and we have the players to hurt them: a front 4 of Kevin, Bernie, Raz and Kun/Gabby is something which most teams can only dream of. Pep has analysed Liverpool for a long time and will hopefully come up with good tactical solutions. We know how they are going to play. They don't know the system Pep will use this time around: whether we are going to press them in their half or defend deeper and counter attack them.

This Anfield fortress thing is getting a bit mythical to be honest...

Off the top of my head, first 20 - 30 minutes or so against Norwich - Shakey...

Leicester and Spuds - Got out of jail thanks to their diving team...

Newcastle at home, they were 1 down..

The team they played at home in the Chumps league (can't remember their name) came back from 3 down - Well Shakey in that game

Genk pegged them back to 1 each..

Now I appreciate they got results in all these games but they are not looking the unbeatable world beaters they are being painted out to be...

The crowd after the 5 to 3 karaoke has finished get a bit giddy for 5 minutes or so.. Let's see how it goes if we score first..

We are a formidable team with a brilliant manager, these sort of games will test our team's mettle and strength of character..

A load of Scandinavians shouting and whistling for a bit should not be enough to distract us from our game plan..

Winning away in big games is what we are being honed to do..

That's not to say we won't be cheated out of it by the powers that be but me personally, I think we'll be just fine tomorrow...!

 

[Lovebitesandeveryfing]

Bravo's a good keeper. You don't build up that c.v. by accident or mistake. But what he did on Wednesday was incomprehensible, and shows that he still hasn't ironed these moments of madness out of his game. It's a bit like Ota, who isn't a bad centre half in fact, but has these inexplicable moments. Ed is clearly the first choice, because he's one of the two or three best keepers in the world. Anyway, we haven't got him, and that's that.

Laporte out. Rodri out. Eddie out. Zin, less significantly, out. Sorry, but I think this is all an injury too far. Not throwing in the towel, but I haven't got a good feeling at all about this one. A draw would be a fine result. Anything more would frankly be a bit miraculous. Unlike some, however, I refuse to consider that nine points behind would mean the end of the chase, and the end of the title for us. For sure, it would be a mountain to climb. But this team's climbed them before, have we not seen that several times this decade, even in the seasons when we didn't even win it? Remember us coming back from eight points behind Chelsea to go level with them as late as 1 January, I think it was. Sure, we fucked it up (we had no recognised striker whatsoever for several weeks, they were all out injured), but what's amazing is that we even pushed them.

Anyway, CTID and all that…

 

[Grassland Blue]

Listen to Pep. He knows more than you. Bravo beat Liverpool for us at the beginning of the season. Were you at Wembley? Show me all the plaudits you posted afterwards for Bravo’s excellent performance.

On Weds Bravo has to deal with a mistake by another player. ALL players make mistakes. Where’s your fuck up posts about Jesus (who, by the way, I think is a cracking player) because he missed the penalty?

you have no balanced argument because you clearly don’t like Bravo. There were many fans that took great pleasure in laughing at Bravo every time he played during his first season. They mocked him and took great pleasure in calling him a clown. What great fans eh??

You’re probably one of them!

Back in the day, Joe Corrigan used to get a lot of stick and I know that Bert Trautmann was subjected to vile abuse. They turned out to be quite decent keepers.
On the flip side of the coin, when Pep dropped Joe to the bench his form deteriorated big time.
When Claudio came in he had a lot of pressure on his shoulders.
Claudio arrived with an excellent reputation and price tag to match.
He had to show himself to be better than a crowd favourite.
Finally, he was thrown into, what was considered at the time, to be one of our biggest games, the Derby!
Now is the time to get fully behind him, give him the confidence to put in a super performance and the passion to want to play for us.

 

[simon23]

to be honest im more concerned about Gundogan and Mendy than I am Bravo

Neither Gundogan or Mendy are decent against teams that press. Gundogn is good when he is the pivot against teas that dont press him...liverpool will target those two in possession and they are weak links.