Liverpool (H) - Post-Match Thread

[Nelinho]

That ref is a particulary weak man. No where near qualified to ref a game like that - he was the ref V Arsenal in the FA Cup semi the other year when, amongst other thimgs, they kicked David Silva off the pitch and ruled out our goal becuae they seemed to think a cross went out

A weak individual who has no presence. A non-City example would be when they won the ball but he stopped the game to book Sterling even though they were on the break. I could be generous and say he knew Arnold needed treatment but I don't think it's true. I think he is/was simply out if his depth at this level

Out of his depth or not (and you're probably right), it does not explain why his perception of a foul was not consistent towards the two teams. City were not allowed the same level of physicality which, objectively speaking, gave Liverpool the advantage in most individual battles...

Which, by the way, occurs systematically. Physicality is typical in Liverpool's game. At the same time, their players are well protected, opponents are scared shit to even touch them in the box. City face the exact opposite reality...

Mane would get the foul Raheem didn't, one minute before the penalty incident. But no City player, Raheem or Gabby for example, can ever win that foul that gave Liverpool the last action of the match in late injury time. No chance. No way. That's not debatable. They score there, they escape with the victory...

 

[mccity]

We haven't been the same since Peps new number 2 has arrived

I'd hope so, we were doing really poorly by our standards before he arrived.

 

[eyalluvitt]

KDB denies his slight weight gain affected his Penalty strike in his post-match interview

 

[mike1923]

Honestly believe we could have put them out of the title race in November with that penalty . Very frustrating

 

[mike1923]

Shouldn't a penalty be checked by var if the goalkeeper has left his line, even if the penalty is missed? Why only if the penalty is saved or scored?

Because the keeper hasn’t impacted the miss. If he saves it then they review the advantage he gained and give the striker another go if necessary

 

[OrigamiNinja]

I

People blaming Sterling, Jesus and Ferrin out for not scoring.. but exactly how many chances are we creating this season? Answer.. not many at all. It all stems from not pulling the opposition out of position by not moving the ball nearly quickly enough.. we have zero drive from midfield and when Kev is off as he was today we are not finding it from the Gundog and Rodri combo. We needed energy and drive during that last 30 mins.. both Bernardo and Foden should have been on and one of the pivots should have been sacrificed.

Movement and speed of play create space and chances.. we are letting our attacking players down with our current set up and we aren’t even changing it when the opportunity presents itself.

Spanish Dave picking up pockets is a noticeable absence to our play.. but it is what it is as he has gone so we need to find a way to and we are not doing it.

I have major issues with our midfield, especially when it contains Gundogan and Rodri. However the midfield 3 we put out today is as creative, if not more so, than the midfield 3 Liverpool have put out every week for the past 2 seasons. It doesn’t hold them back. The difference is, their wide forwards are light years ahead of ours. Sterlings goal tally may be comparable with Mane but his overall play is levels below and our right wing, whether it’s Mahrez, Bernardo or Torres is even worse when you compare to Salah.

This side needs wide forwards who dominate games and make the opposition shake like a shitting dog, much like Sane and Sterling used to do. The absolute shite that Sterling and Mahrez are serving up isn’t good enough and I don’t think the midfield can or should take the majority of the blame for that.

 

[Beanhead]

I

I have major issues with our midfield, especially when it contains Gundogan and Rodri. However the midfield 3 we put out today is as creative, if not more so, than the midfield 3 Liverpool have put out every week for the past 2 seasons. It doesn’t hold them back. The difference is, their wide forwards are light years ahead of ours. Sterlings goal tally may be comparable with Mane but his overall play is levels below and our right wing, whether it’s Mahrez, Bernardo or Torres is even worse when you compare to Salah.

This side needs wide forwards who dominate games and make the opposition shake like a shitting dog, much like Sane and Sterling used to do. The absolute shite that Sterling and Mahrez are serving up isn’t good enough and I don’t think the midfield can or should take the majority of the blame for that.

You clearly have not grasped how much Pep and Klopps brand of football differs they are literally polls apart in terms of style. They prey on high press forcing mistakes. They haven’t changed at all aside from they are now leaking goals. We are now surer at the back but are moving the ball around far less quickly than we used to. This equates to far less goals conceded but far less opportunities for the front men.


Neither is right or wrong.. one is quick transition, one is position based probing.. both we need the right players to perform thi and in the right position.

we are not using the right personal in the right positions to achieve our style.

 

[Beanhead]

I

I have major issues with our midfield, especially when it contains Gundogan and Rodri. However the midfield 3 we put out today is as creative, if not more so, than the midfield 3 Liverpool have put out every week for the past 2 seasons. It doesn’t hold them back. The difference is, their wide forwards are light years ahead of ours. Sterlings goal tally may be comparable with Mane but his overall play is levels below and our right wing, whether it’s Mahrez, Bernardo or Torres is even worse when you compare to Salah.

This side needs wide forwards who dominate games and make the opposition shake like a shitting dog, much like Sane and Sterling used to do. The absolute shite that Sterling and Mahrez are serving up isn’t good enough and I don’t think the midfield can or should take the majority of the blame for that.

Put it this way pretty much every time I see Mane and Salah do damage it’s because the play is in transition and the opponents defence is not set. That is Klopp football.

Pep football is forcing space by moving the ball as quickly as possible till a creative player identifies a slip in shape and then boom! Oh and we used to press in midfield and do quick overturns.. all stems from mobility and press in midfield. Prime Fern and Merlin were like key to this.

If Liverpool played our tactics and Rodri and Gundog with 60 passes before feeding an attack to Salah and Mane would achieve the same results? Probably Yes. They would be nowhere near as effective.

 

[mosssideblue]

And I never said he was poor, touché.

You asked why was he being selected, so by inference, I believe you were

 

[Beanhead]

I

I have major issues with our midfield, especially when it contains Gundogan and Rodri. However the midfield 3 we put out today is as creative, if not more so, than the midfield 3 Liverpool have put out every week for the past 2 seasons. It doesn’t hold them back. The difference is, their wide forwards are light years ahead of ours. Sterlings goal tally may be comparable with Mane but his overall play is levels below and our right wing, whether it’s Mahrez, Bernardo or Torres is even worse when you compare to Salah.

This side needs wide forwards who dominate games and make the opposition shake like a shitting dog, much like Sane and Sterling used to do. The absolute shite that Sterling and Mahrez are serving up isn’t good enough and I don’t think the midfield can or should take the majority of the blame for that.

And to add.. Sterling and Sane were played in their correct positions.. so far this season.. the odd time Sterling played on the right he has looked lethal. So why is he not playing there? We have both Torres and Foden for the left. You can’t have the width you speak off if you are asking one the wingers to play inverted.. square pegs, round holes.

This is a Pep personnel selection issue rather than player performance issue imo.

 

[Cheeky Txiki]

And to add.. Sterling and Sane played in the right positions.. so far this season.. the odd time Sterling played on the right he has looked lethal. So why is he not playing there? We have both Torres and Foden for the left.

This is a Pep personnel selection issue rather than player performance issue imo.

I think the idea was for Sterling to target TAA who is shit defensively, but Sterling had an off game and Torres was completely pocketed by Robertson. We looked better on the right when Bernardo came on.

 

[lazerblue]

I think the idea was for Sterling to target TAA who is shit defensively, but Sterling had an off game and Torres was completely pocketed by Robertson. We looked better on the right when Bernardo came on.

Sterling had an off game against the dippers, I never saw that coming, he shits his pants every time we play em

 

[Plmokn]

Because the keeper hasn’t impacted the miss. If he saves it then they review the advantage he gained and give the striker another go if necessary

But has slightly made the angle smaller by leaving his line before the ball was kicked. It's only a fraction of a second, but could have had an effect.

 

[Keeper!]

Football needs to be careful with this pandemic.

The crap we are watching at the moment, the crazy amount of games, the lack of desire and passion, is killing the beautiful game.

 

[gregblag]

It's 2am , I can't sleep so I'm going to post a few thoughts.

Someone said ( I was going to look for the post but I can't be arsed) it's a penalty for me ( talking about the Mane dive). Every time a Liverpool player fell it's a free kick. Mane falls in the penalty area of course it's a penalty. We're Arab owned aren't we? We cheated FFP didn't we? Except an annoying independent court looking at actual evidence said we didn't. Liverpool do it the right way don't they? I mean look at the net spend. It doesn't matter to the ref though, he knows where the benefit of the doubt lies.

I think Sterling is mediocre. If you set up the team up for his strengths he can look good. He rises above his weaknesses in the right set up but if it's not perfect for him forget it. But he's never going to lose his place though. I'd be dead happy if we lost him.

Gundogan, how many times does he have to lose the ball? He's our Ray Wilkins - passes it to the side or back, loses the ball, as slow as fuck.

I miss Sane. I miss de Bruyne being used on the counter attack to set up Sane. I miss Bernado Silva in centre midfield. He's not a winger ffs.

Jesus is great. Scored a great goal. Every time he got the ball he controlled it, looked dangerous. I know, he missed a tough header - Sergio misses chances too.

I think we'll do alright, the defence looks good and it will pull us through.

 

[vmsuhail]

Fuck me this thread, we did enough to win but our go too guy missed a pen, only negative is Foden not getting on, Cancelo looks like he is really getting there and let’s be honest Diaz and Laporte handled pretty much everything.

We did enough to win with 2 shots on target, one of which was a lame Raz effort ?

 

[vmsuhail]

I swear no other side misses as many penalties in big moments as us, so frustrating. At least the defence looks great now, so that’s something to build on.

Don’t see us winning the title with the Rodri/Gundogan combination which Pep clearly favours. I really don’t get starting Gundogan on Tuesday and then starting him again today whilst leaving Bernardo on the bench in both games.

Bernardo is getting the Sane treatment. Soon, one of the Spanish clubs will be in his ears.
For the first time I'm leaning more towards Pep out than Pep in.

 

[I'm With Stupid]

Does anyone know what Klopp was whinging at at the end of the game?

 

[blueabdi]

Pep lost his hunger and i think its time for change. Sterling is selfish and he wasting alot of chances instead of passing. There is something wrong in our team, no energy, pressure, hunger, desire. Why Gundogan and Rodri playing together in big matches. Rodri is not protecting our defenders and neither going forward, why bernardo silva not playing regular? Walker is making mistakes regularly, we need RB. Iam frustrated because win or lose doesnt matter when you show desire and hunger that our team is lacking now.

 

[KennyG]

Liverpool’s attacking was on a different level. We are as sharp as a butter knife. Our attack had no pace, players couldn’t get up to support attacks, we looked like we had ten men.

The defence looks good but we are light years away from the free scoring team that won two titles under Pep. Can’t see him getting us back to that level again, sadly.