Liverpool FA Cup s/f (N) | Post Match Thread

[East Level 2]

Allison regularly makes mistakes and gave the ball away a few times today. Our keeper made a mistake and got punished. All other things aside they always seem to be lucky that way.

But we still had a lot of work to do after Allison's cock ups today. Steffan screwed up on the goal line.

 

[Big Joe Corrigan]

Didn't they play Blue Moon immediately before the dirge?

Yes, and cut it short.

 

[East Level 2]

Awful support from us yesterday. We may have sold 32k but there must have been thousands of Liverpool fans in our end. The booing of the minutes silence was weird too and it’s not like our fans to do something like that. It may have been the case that some people were genuinely unaware of the minutes silence. Fights all over between City fans, Liverpool fans in our end getting a kicking. Just not a nice day out.

The FA should seriously think about start putting these semis back to neutral grounds. I’ve been to Wembley to watch City we over 10 times now and I’m actually not arsed we’re not going back next month. Costs a fortune, shit getting to London and all you see is fighting as people spend all day pissed up which only leads to one thing.

I doubt there were thousands of Liverpool fans in our end though we seem to have loads of tourists. The noise in our end following their goals seemed to come from Club Wembley which is officially neutral.
One dipper (and his blue mate) were chucked out of block 522 just after their first goal.

 

[john blue]

The worst first half performance by a city side i have seen. utter shite.

 

[J.G.Blue.]

The worst first half performance by a city side i have seen. utter shite.

If thats the worst first half you have ever seen from a city side, could I ask how long you have been watching city? (genuine question)

 

[come-on-barney]

My wife said to me this morning, we have become exactly what we hated… self entitled! When things don’t go or way a lot of fans hate it and piss and moan. Success has been our fanbases failure! We’re expected to win and when we don’t we can’t take it. Bloke next to us left with his 2 kids just before half time and didn’t return!
So poor yesterday. I’m over the result, I’m still struggling with our fan base!

One could argue that some fans have not come to accept our success.

 

[Carlos- the- jackal]

The worst first half performance by a city side i have seen. utter shite.

Good job you weren’t at Grimsby away then in 85!

 

[Grassland Blue]

It could have gone to extra time and we might have still lost but then also be totally fucked for Brighton

maybe time to start playing the kids in the fa cup, unless we don’t get out of the CL group

isnt that the third year on the trot we’ve worked our nuts off to get to the semis only to find ourselves having to prioritise other matches?

A certain Mr. Wenger used to play the youngsters in the F.A.Cup.
Somebody else said you win nowt wi' kids.
Then slurgie did.
Who knows?

 

[StillBluessinceHydeRoad]

It was a tired and leggy performance and a selection missing six or seven starters against a well rested full strength Dipper team , that is a fact and not an excuse. If we were going to lose one of the four big games we chose the right one , we have possibly ten games to go and we have to win at least nine of them or i think we will end up empty handed this season
That's a big ask but this manager and squad of players have done it before , worryingly some players are looking jaded and treading water our squad depth isnt all that it seems , and when players like Steffen, Zinchenko , Jesus come in there is a definite drop in quality , they arent poor players just not elite level.
The whole football world is banking on us to stop the Dippers , because i dont see Real Madrid or Chelsea/Palace being good enough.

I think you hit several nails very firmly on the head here. This morning I read Pep's comments on the games and thought I must be his ventriloquist's dummy because he explained the difficulties of managing the best team in the world with a clarity that I certainly can't match, but then he is actually managing the best team in the world.

City have had to play 5 games in the last 14 days. We played 5 in the 3 weeks before that and 6 in the 3 weeks before that and so on. What marks the 5 matches played so far in April out is that they are in 3 different competitions and leaving aside Burnley were 2 against Liverpool and 2 against Atletico, one of which was a brutal and bruising encounter. Defeat in any would have disastrous consequences and Pep picked the best team he possibly could for the home and away legs against Madrid and the home game against Liverpool. It has to be pointed out that games against Liverpool are always high intensity, draining games and the game in Madrid left Walker and KdB unfit to play on Saturday and those who played in the previous games too drained to meet the physical demands of a sudden death game against Liverpool at Wembley. Pep had to rotate, though his options were limited: only 3 players who had not played at all in Madrid played yesterday and these 3 had all played 90 minutes at home to Liverpool and in the case of Phil Foden he had been singled out for particularly violent attention in Madrid. The three players you name are indeed good players but are not first choice and the team is weaker with them in.

Liverpool had not had the problems we had. Indeed 7 of their high profile players had a week off before the semi. Our experience is that against Liverpool the first 25 minutes see them playing at very high intensity and trying to press the life out of the opposition; weather this storm and you seize the initiative. Yesterday their fresh players pressed a team which understandably was a yard at least off the pace and just as slow in thought - the set up was ideal for Klopp's gegenpress and it worked well. City couldn't play through it and the legs in midfield were too weary to play over it. We improved greatly in the second half but we were never our real selves.

I would say that if we had to lose a game yesterday's would be the one I'd choose. Pep would be horrified at that and tell us all that he picked the best team he could in the circumstances and, of coure it goes without saying, he's right.

 

[OB1]

I remember supporters having a go at Caballero, back in the day, but his penalty saves won us a trophy.
Ok, Steffen made a careless error but don't hang him for it.
Their first goal should have been scrutinised by var. Steffen, from his position, saw the flight of the ball from the corner and imo he believed it had gone out of play, his belief reinforced by one of our players (Bernardo?) raising his arm trying to draw the referees' attention to the fact. This would explain his lack of commitment to try and make a save. Steffen would also have been aware of the foul (heavy push) on Grealish. Either of these incidents could/should have resulted in their first goal being disallowed.
Jesus and Sterling both missed good chances too, so have a go at Zack if you must, but it wasn't all down to him that we lost.
As for the supporters who made the effort to get to Wembley for the match take pride in the fact that you were part of the occasion and the result, whilst disappointing, wasn't the end of the world really.
How many supporters of other clubs would have given their right arms to have seen their team play at Wembley, win or lose?

People near me were specualting that Stones thought the ball went out in their first goal but I didn't notice that. The angles they showed at HT at the ground didn't answer the question and I have so far not brought myself to watch any TV coverage. One of my dauthers was watching at home - the other was ta the game with me - and she said one of the pundits criticised Zack on all the goals but I don't think there was much he could have done about the first.

I've not seen any replays of the third so I'm not sure if Zack should have been closer to his post but I think a lot of keeprs would have been caught out by that strike.