Liverpool (H) - Post-Match Thread

I think after Kev took a knock from Matip he should’ve come off, I know he didn’t look right all game, but I think after that foul, he was injured & carried on.
 
I agree, the references to long term approach and crazy period are the key at present. There are two leagues in the Premier, the clubs in Europe, who are absolutely knackered out and who also have the most internationals. And the rest, who are happily playing each weekend, hence the shock results. Pep I think is trying to keep us in the hunt until the schedule relents a bit. In that context, yesterday although frustrating, was no disaster.
 
OrigamiNinja said:
Sane might end up being the biggest loss this club has had. He is an incredible player and if he wants it enough, he can be anything he wants to be. I miss him.

At the moment, I am struggling to see what Bernardo brings to the side. He is labelled as an attacking midfielder but he doesn't create or score goals. We all love his energy and enthusiasm but we need more than that from him. Unfortunately, we might end up needing to offload the likes of Bernardo to fund moves for other players.
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We saw in the 18/19 season what Bernardo can do. All we ask from Pep is to put him beside KDB, where he is at his best, give him a consistent number of games and re-discover his form. That's what the manager should be doing. In the long term, it will help KDB too as he wouldn't have to carry all the attacking responsibility by himself. He is not worse than Gundogan by any means, so it's not as if we're weakening the side by his inclusion. Our defense is doing well not because of 2 DMs, but despite it.
We lost Sane, now let's sell Bernardo also because he can't find a place in the side, great idea. Or maybe a manager change will help us.
 
No team has shown any true consistency yet. Not one team will get anywhere near our 100pts total you can be sure of that. Personally I would settle for top 6 at this moment in time, not what the Club expect but these are strange times. I suspect the CL is the main target, which is not what I want but I am just a supporter.
 
sir baconface said:
Good as it is already, Mane’s diving technique could be burnished a tad further.
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Yes. Dropping to the ground like a beab bag that has hit a solid wall is a new concept and several professors are showing interest with their eye on the Nobel Prize for Physics.
Callum Ramsey said:
See that's just recency bias. Sterling has been poor/inconsistent for a good few months and mahrez even longer. I'm personally of the opinion that sterling's both mentally and physically worn out from the intensity of the past 3 seasons being the most used player in the squad including internationals and needs a few games off. But this idea that he or the wide forwards isn't as good as theirs is just not true. I could've sworn it was sterling and bernardo who helped fire the team to the league and a domestic treble in a season where they were directly competing against this supposedly much better wide players or did that not happen. This was a season without de-bruyne for the most part so you can't even use the excuse they were carried by him like many of sterling's detractors tend to.

It's funny I watched a game where mane was constantly falling to the floor every chance he got and consistently made the wrong decision whenever he got to the final third just like sterling but because he works hard tracking back people seem to forget that. He's a top player but he's increasing becoming one of the most overrated players in the league that his poor performances always seem to get overlooked. Sterling is every bit as good as him and has shown so countless seasons. He outperforms him in almost every metric you can think of the past 3 seasons including goals, assist, chances created and him currently being out of sorts doesn't erase that fact.
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But Sky and BT bang out the opposite message on both players, the rest of the media reinforce it and millions swallow it.

'The best 3 forwards in the world' could not score against 'City's dodgy defence' in open play but the hard of thinking will not question either description.

And they will believe that Jesus was 'lucky' in carving the opening for himself.
 
the penalty miss, once again just like at anfield. They must laugh at it to be honest at LFC

This is twice now, crucial to the game. They get a pen and we all know its going in the net, we get one and feel 50-50. Been going city since 70s, never before have I seen such skilful players and never before have we had such a shit penalty statistic. ( apart from shoot outs of course )

Bet Cancelo is hoping mendy is injured for a while yet, said it from day one this guy is good. Why he has almost been ignored I don't know. Fingers crossed pep sees this.
 
vmsuhail said:
We saw in the 18/19 season what Bernardo can do. All we ask from Pep is to put him beside KDB, where he is at his best, give him a consistent number of games and re-discover his form. That's what the manager should be doing. In the long term, it will help KDB too as he wouldn't have to carry all the attacking responsibility by himself. He is not worse than Gundogan by any means, so it's not as if we're weakening the side by his inclusion. Our defense is doing well not because of 2 DMs, but despite it.
We lost Sane, now let's sell Bernardo also because he can't find a place in the side, great idea. Or maybe a manager change will help us.
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18/19 was a long time ago. Like you, I would rather see him in the middle of the park alongside KDB but nothing the manager has done has suggested that this will be a regular occurrence. Whether we like it or not Bernardo is currently a bit-part player at the club. He has been here a while and has been unable to pin down a regular place in the side, nor has he been able to convince everyone, including Pep, what his best position is.

You improve a side by buying players that are better than you already have, which means you purchase players that are better than your current starting XI. If Bernardo is never going to be a regular starter, we need to buy a player that is, which ultimately means Bernardo the bit-part player becomes even less important to us. Its unfortunate but we may find we never see the best of Bernardo until he is wearing another clubs shirt.
 
Opportunity missed but overall we’re ok considering the early season challenges and injuries. Injuries now sorting themselves out but would be good if some of players could miss the internationals and rest up - I fear they will be flogged again though!
Defence is a big plus so far and that will give us the foundation to win more games in low scoring fixtures.
the goals at the other end will come, Jesus back is a big plus, Aguero to come. Just needs to stop playing 2 holding midfielders and play a more forward thinking player on Foden or Bernardo - overall i think we’re fine and once the meat of the season is reached if we can put a run of 3-4 wins together we’ll be back at the top.
 
Well I know one thing. Almost exactly a year ago we lost at Anfield, and there was already the strong feeling that the dippers were building the ominous momentum that would turn them into the juggernaut that they became. There is no such feeling this time. Everybody's vulnerable. Leicester and Tottenham fans getting giddy? Let them. Fine by me. This is a very, very open title race, the first for years. And we're still very much in it.
 
The problem with focusing on Liverpool as the barometer this season is that other teams could build up enough momentum and confidence to keep in the mix, certainly if they aren't playing as many games as us.

We really do need to win at Spurs away next to keep us within striking distance and stop thinking about the game in hand.

Very happy with Dias and Laporte.

Cancelo can stay left-back all season if he can continue playing like that.
 
Gray said:
No team has shown any true consistency yet. Not one team will get anywhere near our 100pts total you can be sure of that. Personally I would settle for top 6 at this moment in time, not what the Club expect but these are strange times. I suspect the CL is the main target, which is not what I want but I am just a supporter.
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Give over. You can honestly say you'd be happy with 6th? I'd be disappointed with anything less than first and if that makes me spoilt in the eyes of some, I couldn't care less. This season is a great chance to take advantage of the likely lower points tally required to win the league and the fact we have the best squad. I'm not fussed about the champions league and since we're on 9 points already Kdb, Sterling etc. shouldn't play another minute until the knockouts.
 
Season has a long way to go yet. So many teams will drop points. Drawing with liverpool is a good result for both.

In previous seasons our results against each other decided titles and momentum. Not this year. Both dropped plenty of points already and that will only continue.

What truly matters is we’ve gotten through a period of 6 weeks with no striker and we’ve fixed our defence.

We are so well positioned, people need to be less short sighted.
 
bobbyowenquiff said:
I wouldn't say Mane was wank but I thought City defended superbly yesterday and, apart from the first 20 minutes, we snuffed them out. It's a pleasure to see us with such a solid back four. Pep has been more pragamtic this season. He is trying to manage his players carefully. I sure this will be the right long-term approach during this crazy period.
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Yeah but sometimes I really don't understand Pep.
Liverpool in the second half were there for the taking, the conditions hard going and it was crying out for fresh lakes around the 65, 70 minutes Mark, bring on Foden and Bernado.
Callum Ramsey said:
See that's just recency bias. Sterling has been poor/inconsistent for a good few months and mahrez even longer. I'm personally of the opinion that sterling's both mentally and physically worn out from the intensity of the past 3 seasons being the most used player in the squad including internationals and needs a few games off. But this idea that he or the wide forwards isn't as good as theirs is just not true. I could've sworn it was sterling and bernardo who helped fire the team to the league and a domestic treble in a season where they were directly competing against this supposedly much better wide players or did that not happen. This was a season without de-bruyne for the most part so you can't even use the excuse they were carried by him like many of sterling's detractors tend to.

It's funny I watched a game where mane was constantly falling to the floor every chance he got and consistently made the wrong decision whenever he got to the final third just like sterling but because he works hard tracking back people seem to forget that. He's a top player but he's increasing becoming one of the most overrated players in the league that his poor performances always seem to get overlooked. Sterling is every bit as good as him and has shown so countless seasons. He outperforms him in almost every metric you can think of the past 3 seasons including goals, assist, chances created and him currently being out of sorts doesn't erase that fact.
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Agree with your post, Pep drives me a bit crazy with Raheem, he keeps playing him the full 90.
After an hour or so it was crying out for Foden to replace him. Fresh legs etc, but no.
Why ?
 
Thought we played well especially defensively, Kyle Walker being the exception. He knew what he was doing initiating the unnecessary "contact" giving Mane the opportunity to go down and the ref to make an easy decision. If it had been at the other end we'd be screaming for a spot kick even though that ref would have had other ideas. Raz didn't go down because he wasn't in the box otherwise I reckon he would be trying for the pen. Agree with everyone that Kev needs a rest and I hope his country will see that too. Without a creative partner in midfield and being skipper he puts more on himself and his frustration is there for us all to see. We miss Merlin but wasn't Foden supposed to be a direct replacement ? Why play 2 defensive midfielders when we used to have 1 in Fern ?
 
Agreed KDB needs rest. Personally after the anxiety and frustration and even anger at playing shit to great teams completely off the park for 80 mins only for them to score with their only attempt at leaving their own half doing us with a sucker punch I've craved this sort of team for a while now.

This is how we will win the CL come the second half the season when hopefully our players are fitter than the start of the season. We'll win it with this solid defence. We won't ever win it the way we've been going about it no matter how exciting and beautiful that was to watch.

We've been spolit. We have a new team. It's time to start being more solid and pragmatic.
 
Lovebitesandeveryfing said:
Well I know one thing. Almost exactly a year ago we lost at Anfield, and there was already the strong feeling that the dippers were building the ominous momentum that would turn them into the juggernaut that they became. There is no such feeling this time. Everybody's vulnerable. Leicester and Tottenham fans getting giddy? Let them. Fine by me. This is a very, very open title race, the first for years. And we're still very much in it.
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I'd like agree with the sentiment but it's very easy to end up in the situation where we were in 15/16 where we kept telling ourselves we were in touching distance of the pack and just needed to go on a run to win the league. Kompany even came out with the cringeworthy "it's hunting season" comments and then we just lost the games, we never went on the run.
 
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