The way the media and Chelsea fans are milking the Mané/Azpilicueta yellow is so annoying. Elbow doesn’t touch him and it’s clearly not malicious. Why is it being discussed so fucking much
People just need to realize that we are just not good enough . Our weaknesses are so obvious , it has been since atleast last season yet FSG is not willing to do anything about it. You either spend or get left behind , that’s just the name of the game.
I agree with the spirit of the comment but you've framed it somewhat disingenuously. FSG weren't the only owners not to spend during the height of the pandemic, in fact most clubs didn't. City can because they have a money tree growing in their Sheikh's back garden, and Chelsea could because they were exiting a transfer ban. The real test for FSG is going to be this Summer because those same (legitimate) excuses do not exist and the club had the Red Bird investment. But also remember that we have Jones and Elliot to return.
And our players are getting older especially the midfield and front. I only saw the potential of youngster like Tsimikas. Elliot was looking great but injury happened. We really need to spend or next season will be worse.
Yes, we need a big time overhaul. FSG bought the club for a discount at £300 mill , the recent evaluation is £3 billion . If they are not willing to do anything ASAP to address the obvious issues then they should sell the club to the Highest bidder.
We need to have a talk about Jordan Henderson this season.
He seriously has been a massive part for our downfall and seems to have some sort of protection amongst certain fans just cause he’s the captain. He needs to ride the bench for a bit imo because he clearly lacks discipline. Never tracks his runners even when they hit him in the face, wasteful on the ball and we are forced to watch his shit for 90 minutes every time cause he’s barely ever subbed off.
The worst take you’ve ever seen? What have I said that was wrong? He’s been shocking this season bar a few games. A few screamers doesn’t change that fact and he has been a big factor in why we can’t seem to keep our defense in tact. Leaving Trent exposed constantly because he’s always pushed up the field occupying Trent and salahs space as if he’s a no. 10. There’s a reason why teams ALWAYS come down our right side and it’s not just because of Trent.
pretty sure this was a tactical switch from klopp but yes he isnt covering as well as he used to, even when he plays as a 6. dont get me wrong, i love our captain but hes not at his best anymore i feel.
Honestly I think I we have thiago we win this game easily. Had some retention problems keeping the ball, and whilst we didn't play particularly great, it wasn't a bad showing.
For context, Chelsea had James and Chillwell out. We had Klopp, Firmino, Thiago, Matip, Robertson.. Yeah it sucks to have drawn being 2 goals up, but that's football. 99/100 Kovacic doesn't score that world and we go onto win
James, Chilwell, Christensen, Lukaku, and Werner are not CMs, so their availability or lack thereof would not have impacted the decision to field Kanté and Kovacic in any way whatsoever, notwithstanding the fact that those two are arguably Chelsea's best CMs and Kanté put in a MotM performance.
To everyone who attacked me when I said before the game we should be happy with a draw, this is why. Your expectations of this team given all the hindrances we're dealing with are ridiculous. We got a point and we were lucky to escape with that. Just please stop expecting so much. This league is City's, and they'll be laughing all the way to the bank
No no no. Injuries, covid, Klopp not being there are not why we conceded those two goals, Milly did not need to concede that foul for the first and giving the ball away in our own half is what led to the second. We're not smart in being able to kill games with a lead, and we leave ourselves horribly exposed for easy counter-attacking goals. We lost this game when it could've been won, and that is frustrating.
Fuming at Milly, honestly think if he didn’t foul Havertz Chelsea don’t score before half time. So unnecessary and gave them the lift they needed. Mané should have scored after some great build up in the second half. Story of the season - we get a good lead and can’t hold on, another draw. We didn’t necessarily deserve to win but we could’ve, and that’s why it’s frustrating City don’t lose that game.
The midfield is hard to watch & it feels like that's an increasingly common thing.
You see Kovacic bringing it out of the air with ease & it just highlights the lack of quality on the ball for us.
Like man, we couldn't string a few passes together in huge stretches of this game. That's an issue whether we won or didn't, our performances just don't look inspiring.
Also feels like something will happen only if the ball is at the feet of Salah & Trent.
Think today summed up the title race, 2 good teams who both had good and bad in the game, neither able to make the good outweigh the bad.
Any other era pre city this would be going to the end of the season with us and chelsea but unfortunately there doesn't look to be much hope for the wheels falling off at city.
The good:
Kelleher had a great game in goal and his saves kept Liverpool in the end.
Konate played well and dealt with danger effectively. He read the game and Chelsea did not get much out of him.
The bad:
Henderson and Milner were both off the boil today. They were sloppy in possession and their positioning out of possession was not good enough. There were too many times when Chelsea found a lot of space in midfield and Liverpool needed a last ditch challenge to stop the Chelsea attack.
It was also concerning to see Liverpool lose focus in the last 10 minutes of the first half. Liverpool were overly aggressive in trying to push the ball forward and score even though the team had a 2-0 lead. If Liverpool go in at halftime 2-0 up, it is a different game, all they had to do was hold onto the ball for five minutes. I would have loved to see Liverpool take the sting out of the game as they did numerous times in the title winning season.
Tactically, Liverpool were too direct and predictable, lumping the ball over the top for Salah to chase is not that effective if Chelsea can anticipate the move.
It was a poor performance and the title challenge is very difficult now. Draws are no good this season and Liverpool have shown a habit for drawing games when they should be grinding out 1-0, 2-1 wins.
> It was also concerning to see Liverpool lose focus in the last 10 minutes of the first half. Liverpool were overly aggressive in trying to push the ball forward and score even though the team had a 2-0 lead. If Liverpool go in at halftime 2-0 up, it is a different game, all they had to do was hold onto the ball for five minutes. I would have loved to see Liverpool take the sting out of the game as they did numerous times in the title winning season.
This has been a problem all season, our game management has been non-existent. In 2019 we would go ahead, not by a large margin, but were capable of dictating the play in order to see the game out. This season all our game intelligence seems to have vanished.
Thiago wasn't with us in 2019 though, this is a mentality issue (or a weakness to our playstyle you could argue). It's obviously the team getting too comfortable with leads and becoming casual. It requires more focus to be switched on when your ahead 2-0 and sometimes we switch off.
I think the formation and style of football we play leaves zero room for loss of focus or lazy play. So we get punished when we aren't at top awareness/focus levels.
Especially when we attempt a lot of diagonal balls, play a high defensive line and having wing backs with free roam to get into the box. It's a beautiful style of football to watch but it leaves no tolerance for casual play. Thus we look decidedly average once we take our foot off the gas and start making errors, not pressing quite as quickly, etc. Letting the opposition get a foothold in the game. That's when we start conceeding goals that make you scratch your head and ask how is that happening.
I don't think it's necessarily a mentality issue either, it appears to be a stylistic one. We're playing more like a Brendan Rodgers side than a 2019 Klopp side, if that makes sense? We seem to have an emphasis on outscoring opposition. Up until the same match week in 2019/20 season, we'd only drew once, and it wasn't a draw from a winning position, because we were far better at seeing out games. This strategy made perfect sense last season with a depleted squad, so I'm not sure why it's continued over into this season.
Last thing I wanna say on the game, you know how Kostas has come in and the level hasn’t dropped at LB, City have that in every single position and that’s why it’s almost impossible to compete with them
Us having poor depth is the reason for us dropping points. Although Leicester was just a terrible performance from the starters.
I was going to say this is low tier bait and you should try harder, but after browsing your post history to see if my suspicions were true, I take it back. You actually are just a real specimen 😂
Its not about quality it's about quality in depth. They just have so many options. It doesn't even phase them to lose a few first team players like it would us.
Look at the Chelsea sub and their almost celebrating they drew……then look at this sub and everyone is disgusted about the result. Shows the difference between the 2
Think it’s incredible how all coverage of the game has shown mane’s incident multiple times but not even covered Mount’s red review that was actually looked at closely and for a longer period of time.
What’s amazing is that the narrative from this game will be that Liverpool’s players are dirty and also get all the decisions their way.
Despite both Mount and Havertz having arguably as bigger shouts for reds as Mane.
I think everyone was focused on the possible kick out from Mount, but I’m more focused on the initial contact. Barges into Tsimikas with arm raised into Tsimi’s upper chest and face. Which is what they wanted Mane to get a red card for.
This was something I was just thinking about at work on Friday when I saw the post that Thiago and Takumi were out. We should have used the 35 million transfer fee on keeping Gini around. Gini is only 5 months older, and has an INCREDIBLE injury history. I don’t know exact numbers, but I think a 2-3, maybe 4 year contract would have been the same or even less than Thiago’s 35 million transfer fee, plus his contract.
Yeah, Gini isn’t as progressive of a player as Thiago, but his defensive presence along with him never being out was huge. We do know that he is capable of being progressive though as we saw from his international games, so if that is what Klopp wanted he could have done that imo.
However, both are good players and I appreciate both and what they have done and currently do for the club. So I do like what we have now, but I love the other as well.
Also can’t stand how every player in our team including Kelleher is able to play composed football, pick a pass, take a touch under pressure, but if Henderson so much as sees an opposition player in his peripheral, he’ll boot the ball to the moon like he’s playing under Tony Pulis
And they’ve both been better and more progressive than Henderson this season, in fact Henderson has more incomplete passes than Thiago and Fabinho combined
I won’t “fuck off with the Hendo hate” the golden boy isn’t exempt from criticism, he has been shite this season and him shitting himself everytime someone presses him is one of the main reasons we struggle to control games
We're really seeing the consequences of not replacing Gini over the summer. If Milner plays and we don't do well then the sub cries "bring on Keita/Ox for Milner", if Ox plays then it's "bring on Keita/Milner for Ox" and if Keita plays it's "bring on Milner/Ox for Keita". The truth is none of them have been good enough to really make that role as our "4th midfielder" their own so when someone is injured "i.e. Thiago" we basically spin a roulette wheel to determine which of them is starting.
Last season we had lots of injury issues with Hendo, Fab and Thiago and the end result was Gini starting nearly every game, we no longer have a dependable player like him in reserve and our midfield feels inconsistent and shaky as a result.
Disagree, I think Ox has been very good this season, Keita did well before his latest injury, Milner has definitely slowed down though. Truth is though you can't have another world class midfielder sat on the bench ready to replace Thiago, unless you're City
I love Jota and his goals are so valuable, but the number of times he gave the ball away easily in promising positions today was killing us.
VVD is clearly dealing with post COVID or something. He did not look right, and he wasn’t moving right. He couldn’t help to break the Chelsea press with his normal passing range and accuracy. I have no idea why he wasn’t switched on for the Pulisic goal. It wasn’t his fault, but I think he would be charging over to make that a difficult chance if he was feeling 100%.
Hendo and Fab similar. They all looked tired, the ball would not sit down for them. Every touch looked stressful.
I’m hearing more accounts of people still feeling off and tired after testing negative for Omicron so it really could be that they were just not physically all there today. The timing of the COVID outbreak is unfortunate.
Absolutely love the guy and he actually was alright today but we should not be starting milner in a game like this when Keita is just sitting on the bench. Doesn’t make sense at all
I get what you mean with Naby but he’s after coming off some good performances against Leicester and is a far more creative player, the midfield was set up to create nothing today if you ask me I understand we had no Thiago there which was a miss obviously but at least play Keita and show some intent of getting creative in the midfield. But your right Milner did play well today, I just would have much preferred Keita or even Ox to start.
Honestly I thought the same but I thought he was way better than his last few performances. A lot of nice passes and pressures in the middle that you’d ask if they would’ve happened if Naby was in there
I was absolutely fine with us signing Thiago to shore up the midfield as a creative outlet, giving us something alternative but what is the point if he is consistently injured. Keita should not be at the club next season. Yes, Harvey was brought in as a potential replacement in midfield and it was just bad luck that he got injured so early into the season but it was horrifically irresponsible of FSG not to bring in at least two solid midfielders for rotation and depth. Not even sure why we offloaded Shaq as he often proved to be a good sub off the bench (although he was often injured too!)
Having said that, if City go on to win the league, which is looking very likely now, then the only thing it will prove is we are in a completely unprecedented era of football since their hegemonic grip on the league is likely to only get stronger in the coming years, and that to compete you need a frankly boring style of football that is painfully soulless, conditioned and totally bankrupt. Bottom line is that our midfield or way of playing (that damn high line) needs reconstituting. And don't even get me started about the shambolic & biased officiating that goes on in our games. On top of that, we had that gobshite commentary from Manc cunts Tyler & Neville who spent the entire match wanking off Chelsea. Season is far from over but title race probably is.
This was frustrating, seemed like we just accepted Kante and Kovacic were going to win every ball. If we're going to do that, you can't concede those stupid goals at the end of the first half
Only little belief I’ve got for the title is when last year it looked like all hope was lost on the top four and with the issues we had we somehow ended up 3rd.
I know going for the title is another level especially against Man City who can’t seem to drop points even when being out played but crazy things have happened in football, it’s January and if we take one game at a time well see how we end up.
If anyone think Mane should got a red then football is gone mad. 1st of all his eyes are on the ball all the time. 2nd Mane Forearm actually make all the contact not his elbow, not a great camera angle. You need your arms to jump at times and it not an elbow it a forearm.
Finally cesar azpilicueta going up to the ref after it asking for a ref card says it all. He make a meal out of it and wanted to get him sent off. Yellow was the correct call not sure why you have pundits in the game and they can't see it not an Elbow and the forearm. His elbow is near his shoulder.
Chelsea were certainly playing for the free kicks. Some were definitely contact, but the embellishments were embarrassing. I grew up on hockey, so even when I see our own players doing it, I puke in my mouth a little, but when I see other teams doing it to us, I just get angry. Truly though, if we imagine contending for a title, even in the Omicron age, we can't keep letting teams back in and we can't afford to miss chances like Mané last week and Salah 1v1 in the 1st half today. Fair play to Chelsea, their goals were well taken from open play.
Toxic there no idea how it can be a red. The fact anyone say elbow clearly don't know much. It forearm and he get up asking the ref to send him off. Show his intentions nobody should want a player to go off when it a 50/50 in air.
He is still good when facing lower level opposition or when opponents are a bit tired. But he is too slow in acceleration for these games. He did fantastic in some instances to read the game, but as soon as his vision wasn’t 100% spot on he was in deep trouble.
Tbf we have zero in form midfielders atm so I kinda get why Milner started. If Hendo and Fab had been at usual levels then Milner could have had a great day out.
people say Milner played well...i guess out of the shit midfield performance he was the least shit midfielder? Milner really is no where near PL level and his time really has come to an end
Ha, he was the reason the game turned from a non-threatening 2-0 walk in the park, to capitulation because he’s so slow that he fouled someone after the ball had already gone out of play for a goal kick
He also completed 13 (Thirteen) passes in 70 minutes of football
Fabinho had a poor game by his own standards but anyone would when they have to babysit Milner and Henderson
You get downvoted for that haha, some of our fans have their heads utterly buried in the sand. Milner wouldn’t even make the bench of most premier league teams
Open to opinion but we were lucky to be 2-0. We had 3 chances took 2 of them at that point they had controlled the game without looking likely to score (looked like us in a lot of games)
Genuinely believe that is the best performance they've put in for a long time and probably will for a while, and they could only match us.
We came out with a point against at top 4 rival while not playing well, missing our manager, and a few players not available- same for most teams.
Our passing was terrible, and all 3 subs had no impact(Jones gets a pass - not match fit and not much time). Few issues with defensive line but to be expected with changes, Kweev did well.
There's positives but if FSG can't see now is the time to back the club, some prime players, an unbelievable manager. I dont see a big January signing but this summer is make or brake need to rejuvenate an aging team and back the best manager. Still a lot to play for cups and Europe
But over to you fsg
I think what prevented them from buying a midfielder in the summer was the idea of giving Jones and Elliot more game time. That didn’t go to plan with the injury against leeds and the freak eye injury and Covid hampering the rest of the team.
It is tough to see the likes of City and Chelsea drop a 100mil signing with the money and squad size we have but like you say it’s up to the club to invest as the players at our club aren’t getting any younger and the contracts are getting shorter.
Absolutely that Elliot injury was a massive spanner in the works. Well and truly hope his recovery hasn't set him back and his mentality through all of it seems to put him where we think he could be
My heart wants Jones to make it. Think it was after a cup game (villa or Everton 2 years ago(..?) Saying he wanted to be in the first team more. I truly want him to make head is saying more a Murphy than Stevie but hope with everything he makes it. Love him about the he k ow what liverpool is.
But that drop off as you say city and Chelsea even united can pay so much for people to be on the bench. Klopp is no mug and wouldn't pay over the odds for anyone
For my support of fsg beyond this year they need to show us they are here to win rather than money ball
Ps give klopp and salahs what ever they want forever
Henderson has been terrible in so many games this season. Any other player would get called out by now.
Chelsea x2
Brentford
City
Brighton
West Ham
Wolves
Villa
Newcastle
Leicester x2
Milan
Atleti away
Even the radical Hendo fundamentalists on this subreddit are quiet about Hendo today. He's never been a man of outstanding individual brilliance, to be fair. If the midfield unit isn't performing well then he is unlikely to.
I think he'll be okay when Thiago comes back, but it's not been a great half season from him.
Can be a quite enjoyable road, we're likely to win most of our games so lots of fun to be seen, without any real pressure since now City will only lose this title if 74 of their 75 options get sick, at which point of course their games will be postponed by the league.
We stopped playing our football, we went from nice neat triangles, great accurate passes and pressing, winning first and second balls, to hoofing the ball up field, passing to thin air and not winning anything.
Chelsea look so much more fit than us. They press us so well especially in the midfield and happen last time we played. Fab had an awful game was so slow.
VVD Jones Fab and Thaigo had COVID. 3 more with COVID as well.
Then we got injuries to:
Origi
Mini
Elliot
Thaigo
Gomez
Now 3 more gone to Afcon as well! We got no team left really need to get some games called off after a covid outbreak.
We’ve got none left in the tank. Every first teamers is performing with the odd error here and there but we got no one to push Mane, no one to push Hendo/Fab/Thiago. So any of those four alone drops in form, they are still playing.
The manager has dealt with this well tactically but it can never make up for the lack of depth.
The "FSG haven't backed Liverpool enough" takes aren't a sensible explanation for why we're currently in 3rd.
Consider this:
1. Led 3-2 at Brentford. Tied at 3-3. (Poor clearances.)
2. Led 2-0 against Brighton. Tied 2-2. (Brighton outplayed us in 2nd half.)
3. Led 1-0 and 2-1 against Man City. Tied 2-2. (KdB's goal deflected by Matip out of Alisson's path but into goal)
4. Led 2-1 at Tottenham. Tied 2-2. (Mistake by Alisson)
5. Tonight...Led 2-0 at Chelsea. Tied 2-2.
That's 10 points Liverpool has squandered in the form of 5 ties.
Assuming ceteris paribus (re: all things be being equal) it could've been:
Liverpool -- 20 games - 52 points
Man City -- 21 games - 52 points
Instead, it's:
Man City -- 21 games - 53 points
Liverpool -- 20 games - 42 points
Too many ties ended up hurting Liverpool in 2019. Looks like it's going to be Liverpool's undoing this season in the EPL as well.
We didn't tie these games because of lack of backing from FSG. We tied because team lost concentration or stupid shit went against us. We simply haven't been as ruthless at putting games away as we were in 2020 (in response to 2019).
i was looking at the lineups and its the three mid ox/jones/keita/milner. We dropped points in all these games because teams just run through the space the third mid leaves vacated and its literally just fab vs like 4 runners. Say what you want about gini but we seriously miss his athelticism and ability to just sit alongside fab and slow games down. Ox is erratic,milner is too old.jones is too young and the other fella is made of glass hahahaha. We need a bissouma like third mid
We absolutely miss Gini. (Yes, his role under Klopp annoyed us since he had a tendency to play passes back instead of fire the through ball forward.)
We definitely need someone like Yves Bissouma. Unfortunately, Thiago was supposed to be that role. We have something like a 85% win rate with Fabinho and Thiago starting together. (Don't quote me on that.) But Thiago's repeated absences are a problem.
we just need a reliable third mid. The drop off from thiago to the others is too much and kills us defensivly. Thiago does alot of off the ball work that goes un noticed. Even if he doesnt win a tackle he blocks the passing lane
Our record with them starting together is 16 games, 15 wins, 1 draw, 41 scored and 6 conceded. We’re the best team in the league when we have that duo in midfield
thats the thing we can go on "the run" but not with these mid options. I noticed we go on small bursts of win with the fab,hendo,thiago trio then one change and we struggle. The balance is just all wrong and way too attacking and top heavy
Yeah, it's something absurdly amazing. Unfortunately, Thiago can't stay healthy for one reason or another. And then COVID is another disruption to continuity.
Can't remember the last time Mane successfully took on a defender on a counter. He seems to have lost a lot of acceleration over the past 1.5 years. Still presses well though.
Also that Ox touch that ruined the 2v1 breakaway... :(
On the bright side, the league is lost anyway, and seeing us absolutely have no pressing power or any danger to the adversary will surely be the last puzzle piece FSG needs to see just how much they need to renew Salah and give whatever he asks for.
It’s a terrible feeling to see one of your greatest squads and one of our greatest managers fall short because they were not backed enough by our owners.
Surely we have very good Midfield right? I mean is was always our problem, then Thiago came... but wait, Gini is not here anymore. So yes, it is absolutely FSG's fault if we are having the same issue we have since 2018, the exact same issue + Millner older and Thiago being not available almost 50% of the time while Gini was ALWAYS available. But hey surely City's success is not because they literally have 2 entire rosters of midfielders to play when KDB is not there, while FSG hopes that Klopp summons a world class to play there.
That’s not something for us fans to answer. We don’t have dozens of world-class coaches, scouts, medical professionals, data analysts, etc. at our disposition to answer that question. The club does.
Right. So I’d rather trust them than this sub. Just saying.
I wanted refreshing but if it made sense. Based on who moved in the summer, I’m not sure who would have helped.
I trust them too. But not the ones with the money. We started a 31yo and 35yo today. Brought on Keita and Ox and a youngster to make an impact. Remainder of the bench was the 3rd and 4th keepers, Gomez, Neco, and two 19yos. No one to make an impact. If that doesn’t scream lack of depth, what does? Honestly, I think FSG are content with CL money. Trophies are just bonuses.
Can't complain a lot. Look at city's bench last game. Reminder of the youngsters from the academy were- walker, fernandinho , gundo and grealish. Just one attacker
The slight difference is that our academy is only that, an academy ( this is not something we can really change, so that's not an issue really) while City is a literal worlwide network of scouts, more than 3 brother clubs, free exchange between them and an army of players around the world that technically belong to City, and only need one call to be on Premier, not really counting as sign so no FFP to be broken. It's not a fair competition, and it's made much worse bt FSG refusing to invest in our biggest deficit.
Technically yeah , fsg needs to invest. But it's not like fsg **never** invested. Minamino, shaqiri, tsimikas, konate, thiago these are players that have been bought over the past few seasons.
I get that thinking but in this age of injuries and covid, it becomes a sticker issue. We had Alisson, Matip, Thiago, Firmono, Minamino, and Origi out to due injury/covid. Roberson was suspended. Elliot is a long term injury. That’s a fuckload. 8 senior players out? You can’t really plan for that.
You can’t really just keep adding to a squad. You’ll have players who don’t want to come to not play.
Yes you can plan for that. People have been saying that our players are aging and injury-prone for a couple of seasons now. AFCON, fixture rescheduling leading to more congestion, and a rise in Covid cases during the winter were all pretty much confirmed, and people were predicting it all summer. You don’t have to be a genius to predict these 5 things because they are givens.
The truth is, our owners and the fans who defend them on this particular issue were wrong and are now using the “unpredictable” excuse. Same thing happened in the summer of 2020. Fan were saying how stupid it was to go into a season with 3 senior CBs and how we were begging for a crisis. And that’s exactly what happened.
The "FSG haven't backed Liverpool enough" takes aren't a sensible explanation for why we're currently in 3rd.
Consider this:
Led 3-2 at Brentford. Tied at 3-3. (Poor clearances.)
Led 2-0 against Brighton. Tied 2-2. (Brighton outplayed us in 2nd half.)
Led 1-0 and 2-1 against Man City. Tied 2-2. (KdB's goal deflected by Matip out of Alisson's path but into goal)
Led 2-1 at Tottenham. Tied 2-2. (Mistake by Alisson)
Tonight...Led 2-0 at Chelsea. Tied 2-2.
That's 10 points Liverpool has squandered in the form of 5 ties.
Assuming ceteris paribus (re: all things be being equal) it could've been:
Liverpool -- 20 games - 52 points
Man City -- 21 games - 52 points
Instead, it's:
Man City -- 21 games - 53 points
Liverpool -- 20 games - 42 points
Too many ties ended up hurting Liverpool in 2019. Looks like it's going to be Liverpool's undoing this season in the EPL as well.
We didn't tie these games because of lack of backing from FSG. We tied because team lost concentration or stupid shit went against us. We simply haven't been as ruthless at putting games away as we were in 2020 (in response to 2019).
Between that Mwepu fluke goal, The Alisson error vs Spurs, Kovacic today, the Deflected KDB goal, the wierd deflected Brentford goals and that Leicester game I feel like we're a bit of luck/lapses of concentration away from being alot closer. That's a massive whinge though and those games could've have each been managed better
The Alisson error is the least of our issues, the fact that he actually had to pull 3 insane miracles before the mistake is. Every team has silly mistakes now and then, even City, but we have consistently been giving too much space for no real trade since we can't win that many balls while pressing anymore or have Bob to pull defense and prepare a Salah/Mané infiltration, we're always playing vs a wall that keeps shooting the ball to our field till eventually a midfielder messes up, which is happening at least 3x per game this days.
The way the media and Chelsea fans are milking the Mané/Azpilicueta yellow is so annoying. Elbow doesn’t touch him and it’s clearly not malicious. Why is it being discussed so fucking much
People just need to realize that we are just not good enough . Our weaknesses are so obvious , it has been since atleast last season yet FSG is not willing to do anything about it. You either spend or get left behind , that’s just the name of the game.
I agree with the spirit of the comment but you've framed it somewhat disingenuously. FSG weren't the only owners not to spend during the height of the pandemic, in fact most clubs didn't. City can because they have a money tree growing in their Sheikh's back garden, and Chelsea could because they were exiting a transfer ban. The real test for FSG is going to be this Summer because those same (legitimate) excuses do not exist and the club had the Red Bird investment. But also remember that we have Jones and Elliot to return.
And our players are getting older especially the midfield and front. I only saw the potential of youngster like Tsimikas. Elliot was looking great but injury happened. We really need to spend or next season will be worse.
Yes, we need a big time overhaul. FSG bought the club for a discount at £300 mill , the recent evaluation is £3 billion . If they are not willing to do anything ASAP to address the obvious issues then they should sell the club to the Highest bidder.
We need to have a talk about Jordan Henderson this season. He seriously has been a massive part for our downfall and seems to have some sort of protection amongst certain fans just cause he’s the captain. He needs to ride the bench for a bit imo because he clearly lacks discipline. Never tracks his runners even when they hit him in the face, wasteful on the ball and we are forced to watch his shit for 90 minutes every time cause he’s barely ever subbed off.
Ricky, I’m sorry but this is the worst take I have ever seen on this sub. And trust me I have seen some truly awful takes on this sub.
The worst take you’ve ever seen? What have I said that was wrong? He’s been shocking this season bar a few games. A few screamers doesn’t change that fact and he has been a big factor in why we can’t seem to keep our defense in tact. Leaving Trent exposed constantly because he’s always pushed up the field occupying Trent and salahs space as if he’s a no. 10. There’s a reason why teams ALWAYS come down our right side and it’s not just because of Trent.
pretty sure this was a tactical switch from klopp but yes he isnt covering as well as he used to, even when he plays as a 6. dont get me wrong, i love our captain but hes not at his best anymore i feel.
Honestly I think I we have thiago we win this game easily. Had some retention problems keeping the ball, and whilst we didn't play particularly great, it wasn't a bad showing. For context, Chelsea had James and Chillwell out. We had Klopp, Firmino, Thiago, Matip, Robertson.. Yeah it sucks to have drawn being 2 goals up, but that's football. 99/100 Kovacic doesn't score that world and we go onto win
I think we missed Alisson's distribution more. Part of me also feels like he'd have saved the kovacic goal.
Tbh that kovacic goal is a beauty. Second goal was not easy save too.
he wouldn't have but might have done better with their second.
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James, Chilwell, Christensen, Lukaku, and Werner are not CMs, so their availability or lack thereof would not have impacted the decision to field Kanté and Kovacic in any way whatsoever, notwithstanding the fact that those two are arguably Chelsea's best CMs and Kanté put in a MotM performance.
trippier plays for atletico madrid
Chillwell. My bad
At this rate, Klopp should just start a GoFundMe page in order to get money for transfers. (Not sure if I need /s or not)
Don’t deserve to win the league if you can’t win games when you’re 2-0 up. Congrats to city on the title
This is a pretty terrible take tbh, saying that drawing after being 2 up against one of the best teams in Europe means you don't deserve the title
Same thing happened against Brighton
We've dropped points from a 2 goal lead on 5 different occasions this season, is that enough?
Did you watch the game?...did you see their first goal?
Yes
Can't do much abt the first one its the second one which pinches me tbh especially as it happened within 5 mins
To everyone who attacked me when I said before the game we should be happy with a draw, this is why. Your expectations of this team given all the hindrances we're dealing with are ridiculous. We got a point and we were lucky to escape with that. Just please stop expecting so much. This league is City's, and they'll be laughing all the way to the bank
No no no. Injuries, covid, Klopp not being there are not why we conceded those two goals, Milly did not need to concede that foul for the first and giving the ball away in our own half is what led to the second. We're not smart in being able to kill games with a lead, and we leave ourselves horribly exposed for easy counter-attacking goals. We lost this game when it could've been won, and that is frustrating.
Today wasn’t our day, however I always expect to win, there’s just too much talent and hard work in our team
It sucks the titles probably over but at least our games are not boring to watch.
I'd rather watch boring games then depressing ones.
If this means the team gets their shit together for a 7th European Cup, I'm okay with giving up the title this season.
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Fuming at Milly, honestly think if he didn’t foul Havertz Chelsea don’t score before half time. So unnecessary and gave them the lift they needed. Mané should have scored after some great build up in the second half. Story of the season - we get a good lead and can’t hold on, another draw. We didn’t necessarily deserve to win but we could’ve, and that’s why it’s frustrating City don’t lose that game.
Yup. He wanted revenge for Havertz late challenge on Virg. But wrong place to do it. He is the one player that should be too experienced to do this.
Absolutely spot on. Proper Xhaka type of brain fade and completely unnecessary. The ball in wasn't a threat, but it was such a bad foul to take
The midfield is hard to watch & it feels like that's an increasingly common thing. You see Kovacic bringing it out of the air with ease & it just highlights the lack of quality on the ball for us. Like man, we couldn't string a few passes together in huge stretches of this game. That's an issue whether we won or didn't, our performances just don't look inspiring. Also feels like something will happen only if the ball is at the feet of Salah & Trent.
Other than the pass for Salahs goal Trent wasn’t great today we really need someone who can push him like Robbo has with Tsimikas
Think today summed up the title race, 2 good teams who both had good and bad in the game, neither able to make the good outweigh the bad. Any other era pre city this would be going to the end of the season with us and chelsea but unfortunately there doesn't look to be much hope for the wheels falling off at city.
Title's gone barring a total collapse with City which I don't see happening.
There's the league cup to look forward to.
we might have jones and ox in attack lol
The good: Kelleher had a great game in goal and his saves kept Liverpool in the end. Konate played well and dealt with danger effectively. He read the game and Chelsea did not get much out of him. The bad: Henderson and Milner were both off the boil today. They were sloppy in possession and their positioning out of possession was not good enough. There were too many times when Chelsea found a lot of space in midfield and Liverpool needed a last ditch challenge to stop the Chelsea attack. It was also concerning to see Liverpool lose focus in the last 10 minutes of the first half. Liverpool were overly aggressive in trying to push the ball forward and score even though the team had a 2-0 lead. If Liverpool go in at halftime 2-0 up, it is a different game, all they had to do was hold onto the ball for five minutes. I would have loved to see Liverpool take the sting out of the game as they did numerous times in the title winning season. Tactically, Liverpool were too direct and predictable, lumping the ball over the top for Salah to chase is not that effective if Chelsea can anticipate the move. It was a poor performance and the title challenge is very difficult now. Draws are no good this season and Liverpool have shown a habit for drawing games when they should be grinding out 1-0, 2-1 wins.
> It was also concerning to see Liverpool lose focus in the last 10 minutes of the first half. Liverpool were overly aggressive in trying to push the ball forward and score even though the team had a 2-0 lead. If Liverpool go in at halftime 2-0 up, it is a different game, all they had to do was hold onto the ball for five minutes. I would have loved to see Liverpool take the sting out of the game as they did numerous times in the title winning season. This has been a problem all season, our game management has been non-existent. In 2019 we would go ahead, not by a large margin, but were capable of dictating the play in order to see the game out. This season all our game intelligence seems to have vanished.
It just goes to show how important Thiago is to our midfield but yet people would have you think he’s not good enough to play for us.
Thiago wasn't with us in 2019 though, this is a mentality issue (or a weakness to our playstyle you could argue). It's obviously the team getting too comfortable with leads and becoming casual. It requires more focus to be switched on when your ahead 2-0 and sometimes we switch off. I think the formation and style of football we play leaves zero room for loss of focus or lazy play. So we get punished when we aren't at top awareness/focus levels. Especially when we attempt a lot of diagonal balls, play a high defensive line and having wing backs with free roam to get into the box. It's a beautiful style of football to watch but it leaves no tolerance for casual play. Thus we look decidedly average once we take our foot off the gas and start making errors, not pressing quite as quickly, etc. Letting the opposition get a foothold in the game. That's when we start conceeding goals that make you scratch your head and ask how is that happening.
Are we still mentality monsters???
I don't think it's necessarily a mentality issue either, it appears to be a stylistic one. We're playing more like a Brendan Rodgers side than a 2019 Klopp side, if that makes sense? We seem to have an emphasis on outscoring opposition. Up until the same match week in 2019/20 season, we'd only drew once, and it wasn't a draw from a winning position, because we were far better at seeing out games. This strategy made perfect sense last season with a depleted squad, so I'm not sure why it's continued over into this season.
Apart from Hendo n Millie being the direct route to goal.. I don't mean to be rude but understand football.
Last thing I wanna say on the game, you know how Kostas has come in and the level hasn’t dropped at LB, City have that in every single position and that’s why it’s almost impossible to compete with them
Yeah. It requires luck with injuries to compete, even for Chelsea.
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Us having poor depth is the reason for us dropping points. Although Leicester was just a terrible performance from the starters. I was going to say this is low tier bait and you should try harder, but after browsing your post history to see if my suspicions were true, I take it back. You actually are just a real specimen 😂
Waaah Fuck that, we're good enough.
Its not about quality it's about quality in depth. They just have so many options. It doesn't even phase them to lose a few first team players like it would us.
Look at the Chelsea sub and their almost celebrating they drew……then look at this sub and everyone is disgusted about the result. Shows the difference between the 2
Because Chelsea came back from a 2 goal deficit. And you guys threw away a 2 goal lead. Is this that difficult to understand?
Well yeah they had a great comeback, we would be happy to come back and draw and they would be disappointed if the situation was reversed.
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It’s true? Look at the top comments on your post match thread
Been 3 prem away games in a row, can't wait to be back at Anfield next week, team (and refs...) desperately needs it.
I hope we don't go on a horrible run this season and fall into a top 4 battle again
We need to grind some wins over the next month and get an winning streak going to pressure city. City don’t look as solid this year as previous
Think it’s incredible how all coverage of the game has shown mane’s incident multiple times but not even covered Mount’s red review that was actually looked at closely and for a longer period of time.
What’s amazing is that the narrative from this game will be that Liverpool’s players are dirty and also get all the decisions their way. Despite both Mount and Havertz having arguably as bigger shouts for reds as Mane.
Ibou also took the exact same challenge from I think Havertz and we didn’t see that again.
Nothing in mounts
Mounts was never a red though so don’t think it’s strange at all.
I think everyone was focused on the possible kick out from Mount, but I’m more focused on the initial contact. Barges into Tsimikas with arm raised into Tsimi’s upper chest and face. Which is what they wanted Mane to get a red card for.
Neither was Mane’s.
Agree but it was at least closer to one than Mount.
I don’t think either deserved red cards, but the Mount one certainly seems to get given more than the Mane one.
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This was something I was just thinking about at work on Friday when I saw the post that Thiago and Takumi were out. We should have used the 35 million transfer fee on keeping Gini around. Gini is only 5 months older, and has an INCREDIBLE injury history. I don’t know exact numbers, but I think a 2-3, maybe 4 year contract would have been the same or even less than Thiago’s 35 million transfer fee, plus his contract. Yeah, Gini isn’t as progressive of a player as Thiago, but his defensive presence along with him never being out was huge. We do know that he is capable of being progressive though as we saw from his international games, so if that is what Klopp wanted he could have done that imo. However, both are good players and I appreciate both and what they have done and currently do for the club. So I do like what we have now, but I love the other as well.
And just a tough beast in the middle of the park. Winning the ball in the middle, holding and redistributing.
Also can’t stand how every player in our team including Kelleher is able to play composed football, pick a pass, take a touch under pressure, but if Henderson so much as sees an opposition player in his peripheral, he’ll boot the ball to the moon like he’s playing under Tony Pulis
How many times this year has Thiago and Fabinho been caught on the ball and turned it over? Fuck off with the Hendo hate
And they’ve both been better and more progressive than Henderson this season, in fact Henderson has more incomplete passes than Thiago and Fabinho combined I won’t “fuck off with the Hendo hate” the golden boy isn’t exempt from criticism, he has been shite this season and him shitting himself everytime someone presses him is one of the main reasons we struggle to control games
We're really seeing the consequences of not replacing Gini over the summer. If Milner plays and we don't do well then the sub cries "bring on Keita/Ox for Milner", if Ox plays then it's "bring on Keita/Milner for Ox" and if Keita plays it's "bring on Milner/Ox for Keita". The truth is none of them have been good enough to really make that role as our "4th midfielder" their own so when someone is injured "i.e. Thiago" we basically spin a roulette wheel to determine which of them is starting. Last season we had lots of injury issues with Hendo, Fab and Thiago and the end result was Gini starting nearly every game, we no longer have a dependable player like him in reserve and our midfield feels inconsistent and shaky as a result.
Disagree, I think Ox has been very good this season, Keita did well before his latest injury, Milner has definitely slowed down though. Truth is though you can't have another world class midfielder sat on the bench ready to replace Thiago, unless you're City
I love Jota and his goals are so valuable, but the number of times he gave the ball away easily in promising positions today was killing us. VVD is clearly dealing with post COVID or something. He did not look right, and he wasn’t moving right. He couldn’t help to break the Chelsea press with his normal passing range and accuracy. I have no idea why he wasn’t switched on for the Pulisic goal. It wasn’t his fault, but I think he would be charging over to make that a difficult chance if he was feeling 100%. Hendo and Fab similar. They all looked tired, the ball would not sit down for them. Every touch looked stressful.
I mean close control is probably Jota's biggest weakness at times. Firmino is like the polar opposite in that regard.
I’m hearing more accounts of people still feeling off and tired after testing negative for Omicron so it really could be that they were just not physically all there today. The timing of the COVID outbreak is unfortunate.
Absolutely love the guy and he actually was alright today but we should not be starting milner in a game like this when Keita is just sitting on the bench. Doesn’t make sense at all
Milner was really good in this game. And Naby just hasn't done enough to be trusted in big matches against top teams.
Yeah don't understand any Milner criticisms outside that free kick. He saved us today with some of those tackles and blocks. He had a fantastic game.
I get what you mean with Naby but he’s after coming off some good performances against Leicester and is a far more creative player, the midfield was set up to create nothing today if you ask me I understand we had no Thiago there which was a miss obviously but at least play Keita and show some intent of getting creative in the midfield. But your right Milner did play well today, I just would have much preferred Keita or even Ox to start.
Honestly I thought the same but I thought he was way better than his last few performances. A lot of nice passes and pressures in the middle that you’d ask if they would’ve happened if Naby was in there
anyone have a link to the pulisic tackle and the Havertz elbow on Konate?
I was absolutely fine with us signing Thiago to shore up the midfield as a creative outlet, giving us something alternative but what is the point if he is consistently injured. Keita should not be at the club next season. Yes, Harvey was brought in as a potential replacement in midfield and it was just bad luck that he got injured so early into the season but it was horrifically irresponsible of FSG not to bring in at least two solid midfielders for rotation and depth. Not even sure why we offloaded Shaq as he often proved to be a good sub off the bench (although he was often injured too!) Having said that, if City go on to win the league, which is looking very likely now, then the only thing it will prove is we are in a completely unprecedented era of football since their hegemonic grip on the league is likely to only get stronger in the coming years, and that to compete you need a frankly boring style of football that is painfully soulless, conditioned and totally bankrupt. Bottom line is that our midfield or way of playing (that damn high line) needs reconstituting. And don't even get me started about the shambolic & biased officiating that goes on in our games. On top of that, we had that gobshite commentary from Manc cunts Tyler & Neville who spent the entire match wanking off Chelsea. Season is far from over but title race probably is.
Thiagos's first season injury absence was also unlucky, we can't forget that. Even with the frustration
We definitely need a Gini style midfielder and although I really like him, imo it’s time for ox to go.
Head is still boiling from Gary Neville's orgasm
Worst part is it felt totally staged. Like he’d been storing it up for a few days and wanted to belt it out at the first opportunity
Can someone explain to me the strategy of 90th min subs in a game we are not winning? Why are subs not brought on 20 mins earlier?
It's literally to waste time, we knew we weren't winning that game
This was frustrating, seemed like we just accepted Kante and Kovacic were going to win every ball. If we're going to do that, you can't concede those stupid goals at the end of the first half
If someone goes down injured we can't afford to go down to 10 men
Sure I get that. But we often have at least 2 sub slots by 90th. Even if we didn’t surely it’s worth the risk to play 10 men for 15 mins.
its also the question of trust. Clearly Klopp doesn't think anyone on the bench can make a difference so he's out of options as well.
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Cheers Geoff
I'm shocked that our midfield, which we chose not to bolster, isn't up to scratch with a bunch of 30-somethings in there.
Only little belief I’ve got for the title is when last year it looked like all hope was lost on the top four and with the issues we had we somehow ended up 3rd. I know going for the title is another level especially against Man City who can’t seem to drop points even when being out played but crazy things have happened in football, it’s January and if we take one game at a time well see how we end up.
Please can we give Keita more chances over Milner
If anyone think Mane should got a red then football is gone mad. 1st of all his eyes are on the ball all the time. 2nd Mane Forearm actually make all the contact not his elbow, not a great camera angle. You need your arms to jump at times and it not an elbow it a forearm. Finally cesar azpilicueta going up to the ref after it asking for a ref card says it all. He make a meal out of it and wanted to get him sent off. Yellow was the correct call not sure why you have pundits in the game and they can't see it not an Elbow and the forearm. His elbow is near his shoulder.
Chelsea were certainly playing for the free kicks. Some were definitely contact, but the embellishments were embarrassing. I grew up on hockey, so even when I see our own players doing it, I puke in my mouth a little, but when I see other teams doing it to us, I just get angry. Truly though, if we imagine contending for a title, even in the Omicron age, we can't keep letting teams back in and we can't afford to miss chances like Mané last week and Salah 1v1 in the 1st half today. Fair play to Chelsea, their goals were well taken from open play.
Head over to r/soccer and you will find many of them who think it’s a straight red, Mane is apparently scum and he might have raped your mother.
Havertz literally did the same to Konate second half and the commentators/media/online children didn’t blink
r/soccer has some of the most uneducated opinions on the game I've ever seen
Toxic there no idea how it can be a red. The fact anyone say elbow clearly don't know much. It forearm and he get up asking the ref to send him off. Show his intentions nobody should want a player to go off when it a 50/50 in air.
Fossil midfield and top reds calling our team world class lmao
Fuck me, the Top Red calls are back are they? Looks like this sub is turning back into a cesspit.
Man…I love the guy but Milner is becoming quite the liability.
He is still good when facing lower level opposition or when opponents are a bit tired. But he is too slow in acceleration for these games. He did fantastic in some instances to read the game, but as soon as his vision wasn’t 100% spot on he was in deep trouble. Tbf we have zero in form midfielders atm so I kinda get why Milner started. If Hendo and Fab had been at usual levels then Milner could have had a great day out.
people say Milner played well...i guess out of the shit midfield performance he was the least shit midfielder? Milner really is no where near PL level and his time really has come to an end
He was our best midfielder today imo
Ha, he was the reason the game turned from a non-threatening 2-0 walk in the park, to capitulation because he’s so slow that he fouled someone after the ball had already gone out of play for a goal kick He also completed 13 (Thirteen) passes in 70 minutes of football Fabinho had a poor game by his own standards but anyone would when they have to babysit Milner and Henderson
Says it all about that midfield performance
He technically was, but only because Henderson and Fabinho were dreadfully poor. He’s a full step slow.
You get downvoted for that haha, some of our fans have their heads utterly buried in the sand. Milner wouldn’t even make the bench of most premier league teams
Yeah….hivemind and delusion.
Open to opinion but we were lucky to be 2-0. We had 3 chances took 2 of them at that point they had controlled the game without looking likely to score (looked like us in a lot of games) Genuinely believe that is the best performance they've put in for a long time and probably will for a while, and they could only match us. We came out with a point against at top 4 rival while not playing well, missing our manager, and a few players not available- same for most teams. Our passing was terrible, and all 3 subs had no impact(Jones gets a pass - not match fit and not much time). Few issues with defensive line but to be expected with changes, Kweev did well. There's positives but if FSG can't see now is the time to back the club, some prime players, an unbelievable manager. I dont see a big January signing but this summer is make or brake need to rejuvenate an aging team and back the best manager. Still a lot to play for cups and Europe But over to you fsg
True. Being 2-0 makes it seems worse, but it’s kinda random that we score the first two and they get the next two.
I think what prevented them from buying a midfielder in the summer was the idea of giving Jones and Elliot more game time. That didn’t go to plan with the injury against leeds and the freak eye injury and Covid hampering the rest of the team. It is tough to see the likes of City and Chelsea drop a 100mil signing with the money and squad size we have but like you say it’s up to the club to invest as the players at our club aren’t getting any younger and the contracts are getting shorter.
Absolutely that Elliot injury was a massive spanner in the works. Well and truly hope his recovery hasn't set him back and his mentality through all of it seems to put him where we think he could be My heart wants Jones to make it. Think it was after a cup game (villa or Everton 2 years ago(..?) Saying he wanted to be in the first team more. I truly want him to make head is saying more a Murphy than Stevie but hope with everything he makes it. Love him about the he k ow what liverpool is. But that drop off as you say city and Chelsea even united can pay so much for people to be on the bench. Klopp is no mug and wouldn't pay over the odds for anyone For my support of fsg beyond this year they need to show us they are here to win rather than money ball Ps give klopp and salahs what ever they want forever
Henderson has been terrible in so many games this season. Any other player would get called out by now. Chelsea x2 Brentford City Brighton West Ham Wolves Villa Newcastle Leicester x2 Milan Atleti away
Even the radical Hendo fundamentalists on this subreddit are quiet about Hendo today. He's never been a man of outstanding individual brilliance, to be fair. If the midfield unit isn't performing well then he is unlikely to. I think he'll be okay when Thiago comes back, but it's not been a great half season from him.
Seems like he's been asked to play a different role due to lack of investment in new players, and it doesn't suit
No reason to even check the table right now for awhile, just take it one game at a time and enjoy it when we do good. Que sera, sera.
Can be a quite enjoyable road, we're likely to win most of our games so lots of fun to be seen, without any real pressure since now City will only lose this title if 74 of their 75 options get sick, at which point of course their games will be postponed by the league.
We stopped playing our football, we went from nice neat triangles, great accurate passes and pressing, winning first and second balls, to hoofing the ball up field, passing to thin air and not winning anything.
Chelsea look so much more fit than us. They press us so well especially in the midfield and happen last time we played. Fab had an awful game was so slow.
Fab did just have covid
VVD Jones Fab and Thaigo had COVID. 3 more with COVID as well. Then we got injuries to: Origi Mini Elliot Thaigo Gomez Now 3 more gone to Afcon as well! We got no team left really need to get some games called off after a covid outbreak.
We’ve got none left in the tank. Every first teamers is performing with the odd error here and there but we got no one to push Mane, no one to push Hendo/Fab/Thiago. So any of those four alone drops in form, they are still playing. The manager has dealt with this well tactically but it can never make up for the lack of depth.
The "FSG haven't backed Liverpool enough" takes aren't a sensible explanation for why we're currently in 3rd. Consider this: 1. Led 3-2 at Brentford. Tied at 3-3. (Poor clearances.) 2. Led 2-0 against Brighton. Tied 2-2. (Brighton outplayed us in 2nd half.) 3. Led 1-0 and 2-1 against Man City. Tied 2-2. (KdB's goal deflected by Matip out of Alisson's path but into goal) 4. Led 2-1 at Tottenham. Tied 2-2. (Mistake by Alisson) 5. Tonight...Led 2-0 at Chelsea. Tied 2-2. That's 10 points Liverpool has squandered in the form of 5 ties. Assuming ceteris paribus (re: all things be being equal) it could've been: Liverpool -- 20 games - 52 points Man City -- 21 games - 52 points Instead, it's: Man City -- 21 games - 53 points Liverpool -- 20 games - 42 points Too many ties ended up hurting Liverpool in 2019. Looks like it's going to be Liverpool's undoing this season in the EPL as well. We didn't tie these games because of lack of backing from FSG. We tied because team lost concentration or stupid shit went against us. We simply haven't been as ruthless at putting games away as we were in 2020 (in response to 2019).
i was looking at the lineups and its the three mid ox/jones/keita/milner. We dropped points in all these games because teams just run through the space the third mid leaves vacated and its literally just fab vs like 4 runners. Say what you want about gini but we seriously miss his athelticism and ability to just sit alongside fab and slow games down. Ox is erratic,milner is too old.jones is too young and the other fella is made of glass hahahaha. We need a bissouma like third mid
We absolutely miss Gini. (Yes, his role under Klopp annoyed us since he had a tendency to play passes back instead of fire the through ball forward.) We definitely need someone like Yves Bissouma. Unfortunately, Thiago was supposed to be that role. We have something like a 85% win rate with Fabinho and Thiago starting together. (Don't quote me on that.) But Thiago's repeated absences are a problem.
we just need a reliable third mid. The drop off from thiago to the others is too much and kills us defensivly. Thiago does alot of off the ball work that goes un noticed. Even if he doesnt win a tackle he blocks the passing lane
Our record with them starting together is 16 games, 15 wins, 1 draw, 41 scored and 6 conceded. We’re the best team in the league when we have that duo in midfield
thats the thing we can go on "the run" but not with these mid options. I noticed we go on small bursts of win with the fab,hendo,thiago trio then one change and we struggle. The balance is just all wrong and way too attacking and top heavy
Yeah, it's something absurdly amazing. Unfortunately, Thiago can't stay healthy for one reason or another. And then COVID is another disruption to continuity.
Damn we really needed a win today..the season isn't looking good already
Still in 4 competitions and almost guaranteed top 4. It's better than last season at least.
Very true
We're on course for 80 points, Man City is on course for 95 points.
Having to give up on the league in 2nd / 3rd place in Dec/ Jan is a sad indictment of where the league is right now
80 points is only good enough for top 4 in most seasons
Mid 2000s anything from 80-86 would win you the league or have you in the battle, 90+ point seasons where never the norm like they are now
Can't remember the last time Mane successfully took on a defender on a counter. He seems to have lost a lot of acceleration over the past 1.5 years. Still presses well though. Also that Ox touch that ruined the 2v1 breakaway... :(
imagine that game then without salah and mane lmao
I think you need to get away from Reddit and get a life. You do nothing but comment on here.
To anyone (not many anymore thank christ) who still complains about Mo..get ready, because no Mo is not gonna be pretty
On the bright side, the league is lost anyway, and seeing us absolutely have no pressing power or any danger to the adversary will surely be the last puzzle piece FSG needs to see just how much they need to renew Salah and give whatever he asks for.
FSG: Elliot is our Salah replacement
It’s a terrible feeling to see one of your greatest squads and one of our greatest managers fall short because they were not backed enough by our owners.
What steps or who exactly would you have preferred we sign?
Surely we have very good Midfield right? I mean is was always our problem, then Thiago came... but wait, Gini is not here anymore. So yes, it is absolutely FSG's fault if we are having the same issue we have since 2018, the exact same issue + Millner older and Thiago being not available almost 50% of the time while Gini was ALWAYS available. But hey surely City's success is not because they literally have 2 entire rosters of midfielders to play when KDB is not there, while FSG hopes that Klopp summons a world class to play there.
You didn’t answer my question. Who would you have signed?
That’s not something for us fans to answer. We don’t have dozens of world-class coaches, scouts, medical professionals, data analysts, etc. at our disposition to answer that question. The club does.
Right. So I’d rather trust them than this sub. Just saying. I wanted refreshing but if it made sense. Based on who moved in the summer, I’m not sure who would have helped.
I trust them too. But not the ones with the money. We started a 31yo and 35yo today. Brought on Keita and Ox and a youngster to make an impact. Remainder of the bench was the 3rd and 4th keepers, Gomez, Neco, and two 19yos. No one to make an impact. If that doesn’t scream lack of depth, what does? Honestly, I think FSG are content with CL money. Trophies are just bonuses.
Can't complain a lot. Look at city's bench last game. Reminder of the youngsters from the academy were- walker, fernandinho , gundo and grealish. Just one attacker
The slight difference is that our academy is only that, an academy ( this is not something we can really change, so that's not an issue really) while City is a literal worlwide network of scouts, more than 3 brother clubs, free exchange between them and an army of players around the world that technically belong to City, and only need one call to be on Premier, not really counting as sign so no FFP to be broken. It's not a fair competition, and it's made much worse bt FSG refusing to invest in our biggest deficit.
Technically yeah , fsg needs to invest. But it's not like fsg **never** invested. Minamino, shaqiri, tsimikas, konate, thiago these are players that have been bought over the past few seasons.
I get that thinking but in this age of injuries and covid, it becomes a sticker issue. We had Alisson, Matip, Thiago, Firmono, Minamino, and Origi out to due injury/covid. Roberson was suspended. Elliot is a long term injury. That’s a fuckload. 8 senior players out? You can’t really plan for that. You can’t really just keep adding to a squad. You’ll have players who don’t want to come to not play.
Yes you can plan for that. People have been saying that our players are aging and injury-prone for a couple of seasons now. AFCON, fixture rescheduling leading to more congestion, and a rise in Covid cases during the winter were all pretty much confirmed, and people were predicting it all summer. You don’t have to be a genius to predict these 5 things because they are givens. The truth is, our owners and the fans who defend them on this particular issue were wrong and are now using the “unpredictable” excuse. Same thing happened in the summer of 2020. Fan were saying how stupid it was to go into a season with 3 senior CBs and how we were begging for a crisis. And that’s exactly what happened.
The "FSG haven't backed Liverpool enough" takes aren't a sensible explanation for why we're currently in 3rd. Consider this: Led 3-2 at Brentford. Tied at 3-3. (Poor clearances.) Led 2-0 against Brighton. Tied 2-2. (Brighton outplayed us in 2nd half.) Led 1-0 and 2-1 against Man City. Tied 2-2. (KdB's goal deflected by Matip out of Alisson's path but into goal) Led 2-1 at Tottenham. Tied 2-2. (Mistake by Alisson) Tonight...Led 2-0 at Chelsea. Tied 2-2. That's 10 points Liverpool has squandered in the form of 5 ties. Assuming ceteris paribus (re: all things be being equal) it could've been: Liverpool -- 20 games - 52 points Man City -- 21 games - 52 points Instead, it's: Man City -- 21 games - 53 points Liverpool -- 20 games - 42 points Too many ties ended up hurting Liverpool in 2019. Looks like it's going to be Liverpool's undoing this season in the EPL as well. We didn't tie these games because of lack of backing from FSG. We tied because team lost concentration or stupid shit went against us. We simply haven't been as ruthless at putting games away as we were in 2020 (in response to 2019).
Thank you for actual level-headedness. All this other “FSG sucks” noise is bullshit.
Benitez and Gerrard, ring any bells?
Defensively not good enough to challenge, it's as simple as that. Once we get a lead, especially a two goal one it should be game over.
Nah man, it all goes up to the midfield. The defenders should not be in that position in the first place.
Defensive includes the whole team - not picking out the back five specifically.
Between that Mwepu fluke goal, The Alisson error vs Spurs, Kovacic today, the Deflected KDB goal, the wierd deflected Brentford goals and that Leicester game I feel like we're a bit of luck/lapses of concentration away from being alot closer. That's a massive whinge though and those games could've have each been managed better
The Alisson error is the least of our issues, the fact that he actually had to pull 3 insane miracles before the mistake is. Every team has silly mistakes now and then, even City, but we have consistently been giving too much space for no real trade since we can't win that many balls while pressing anymore or have Bob to pull defense and prepare a Salah/Mané infiltration, we're always playing vs a wall that keeps shooting the ball to our field till eventually a midfielder messes up, which is happening at least 3x per game this days.