Season 2017/18

[Tes]

I always took the penalties for the team I played for.

There is no divine right to score. 

Milner didn't miss his penalty. The keeper made a good save.

Milner would be my penalty taker.

Likewise.

Agreed.

Agreed.

Agreed.

I think Milner's earned the right to be our penalty taker if he's on the pitch. His record speaks for itself.

Milner's penalty would have been good enough 9/10 times, but like on numerous occasions in the match, the keeper pulled off an excellent save. 

[Tes]

Milner's only on the bench, and with Hendo out injured Mignolet's been made captain.

I'd have left Wijnaldum on the bench as it's an away game and his return from injury (I know it was only a short period).

With Oxlade-Chamberlain starting, it looks like Can gets to sit. I'd trust Milner's discipline in that role ahead of Can's every time.

I think I'm going to file a missing player's report on Robertson at my nearest copshop. 

LIVERPOOL: Mignolet, Gomez, Matip, Klavan, Moreno, Can, Wijnaldum, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Salah, Mane, Firmino.
Subs: Karius, Lovren, Alexander-Arnold, Milner, Grujic, Solanke, Sturridge.

I get the feeling Klopp doesn't think Gomez is ready for an extended run (of more than 1 game) at centre half.

[Tes]

Good win, of course, and a set of well made, well taken goals.

I know we're never going to shut out a team from creating any chances, but the defence still looked a concern. Ayew's early chance where everyone was ball watching again and Moreno had tucked in too far leaving Ayew clear.

For the goal, Gomez should have attacked and cleared the ball, though I'm not quite sure what he thought he was doing, and there were a couple of 'good' chances for The Hammers in the second half that really shouldn't have happened.

Our players appear to focus solely on the ball, rather than being aware of opposition players around them that they should be picking up. Looking at the position of the back four for Ayew's chance, it looked like they were all positioned nicely if zonely marking, but as Ayew wasn't in "anyone's zone" he wasn't picked up and had a clear chance. We have to pick up/mark players, especially once play gets into our defensive third of the pitch.
Defending no longer becomes about cutting out dangerous spaces or reducing clear lines of an effective pass once play is in or around our box. It's about stopping players from having chances, whether shots or headers.
Ultimately, players, not zones or spaces, score goals.
We're always open to a ball played from one side of the pitch to the other around and in our area, as players are lining up zonely, and not picking up opponents.
Both Ayew's chance and Lanzini's goal came from a ball starting from the opposite side of the pitch, and both were in the widest position, and neither player was effectively dealt with when the ball came to them, as our full backs (who were our widest placed players) had tucked in and were in a more zonal formation within the back line.

Gomez, to me, looked as though he was caught between 'going to his man' or staying in his zone, as the ball came across.

[the dude abides]

I think I'm going to file a missing player's report on Robertson at my nearest copshop. 

 

yes, the lad seems to have disappeared off the face of the earth and into a black hole.

I'd be pretty depressed if I couldn't compete with Moreno for the jersey.

[the dude abides]

the defence still looked a concern. Ayew's early chance where everyone was ball watching again and Moreno had tucked in too far leaving Ayew clear.

For the goal, Gomez should have attacked and cleared the ball

there were a couple of 'good' chances for The Hammers in the second half that really shouldn't have happened.

Our players appear to focus solely on the ball, rather than being aware of opposition players around them

Ultimately, players, not zones or spaces, score goals.

totally agree.

I saw the highlights last night - and was shouting at the screen, that we were "ball-watching" again for their goal.....and on other hammer chances.

Sometimes I really think that Klopp doesn't even have the basic skills, re coaching.  Pub teams try and eradicate ball-watching - so why should a big professional club be regularly caught doing it.

Ok, we hammered the bubble-blowers.....but this could have been something like a 4-6 scoreline. 

There is no future to such an ill-balanced setup.  Progress will never be made on the back of such a flawed strategy.

Any manager worth his salt, that goes ahead, then will sit back, which forces the opposition to commit players forward......THUS leaving gaps in behind for us to exploit and score more goals.

But Klopp doesn't do this.  He has one mode of operation - attack, attack, attack. 

But at least yesterday, he had Liverpool pinging the ball around at speed.  The slow possession based build-ups never work in his system.  But when we decide to stop masturbating over our possession and endless meaningless passes, and actually move the ball faster, we score goals.

[the dude abides]

off topic

awful penalty decision for the Swizz.   Beyond awful.

Come on N Ireland in the return leg!!

And come on the Republic v Denmark!

[Tes]

off topic

awful penalty decision for the Swizz.   Beyond awful.

Come on N Ireland in the return leg!!

And come on the Republic v Denmark!

Why would Michael O'Neill want to manage Scotland over Northern Ireland? If he'd been offered the Rangers' job, or a PL job, then I'd understand, but Scotland over his own homeland? Why?

Moyes should have put himself forward for the Scots' job and eased himself back into management. West Ham's a no win. The Hammers fans think they should play like Brazil, for some bizarre reason.

Hopefully Watford keep hold of Silva. He's too good for Neverton. I hope Rhino gets it full time and leads the charge straight to the second tier. It would be sweet seeing one of their 'legends' getting them relegated.

[Tes]

Imagine if Salah was a clinical finisher, how many goals he'd get for the season. Klopp seems to have identified a 'perfect fit' in Salah. Credit to him.

And another unsoiled piece of bedding. Can't really ask for too much more. Now let's put a run together until the  end of January at least.

[Tes]

Will Grujic actually get a chance this season? Wijnaldum, Can and Henderson are hardly setting the bar very high this season.

[Tes]

It's hard not to be impressed by the progress Watford have made this season under Marco Silva.

If things keep going like this, it's hard to see him not being picked up by a bigger club in the Summer (that's not meant as a hint  ).

The Bitters really need to get Rhino signed up on a 6 year deal before a pub team realises their manager's taken a recent leave of absence.

[the dude abides]

Liverpool 1 Everton 1

we totally dominated the game.

And then Klopp takes off our most dangerous player, Salah, mid second half while only one up.

Nutty (unless Salah was injured).

We should have scored far more.

Klopp's team cannot put games to bed.   It's the same story, over and over again.

His game management is non-existent. 

[Tes]

After a couple of good results, especially with our 'experimental' defence at Brighton, frustration returns.

It was a soft penalty that Hendo conceded, but you'd hope our players would learn from that and be a bit careful what they did in our area.

I think Klopp's looking at the number of fixtures coming up, and giving Salah a bit of a break, though you can plan to do something but ultimately the state of the game must make the final decision.
At 2 or 3 nil, we're more comfortable and that situation allows for Salah to be subbed.

With a bit more thought and care all round though, we should have seen this through, a bagged the all important 3 points.

With Chelsea and the Mancs losing and Arsenal drawing, we could could have gain more on those above and just below us.
Still, we maintained our position over Arsenal and Spurs and gained a point more than the Mancs and Chelsea.

At least the number of goals we're conceding has reduced over the last few games, but the need for new defensive based players is no less. In fact it's more vital, so that new players can come into a team under slightly less recent pressure for their defensive displays. 

[Gurdeep]

Liverpool 1 Everton 1

we totally dominated the game.

And then Klopp takes off our most dangerous player, Salah, mid second half while only one up.

Nutty (unless Salah was injured).

We should have scored far more.

Klopp's team cannot put games to bed.   It's the same story, over and over again.

His game management is non-existent.

I knew when Mane missed the opportunity to pass to a team mate to make it 2 nil we were done!  I actually turned the telly off to go do some ironing...lol.

Watched a clip of Kloppo's interview after the game which was prickly to say the least.  Sometimes you gotta admit your mistakes and hold your hands up.  Not Klopp obviously! 

Taking Salah off!  Hahaha.... Fat Sam must of been beaming!  I mean WTF!!!  Lovren....mmm.  Well we should be used to it by now.  We all know he's got a mistake in him which always tends to cost the team, I mean what on gods green earth was he thinking putting his hands on that toffee in his penalty box?  Nuts!!!

[the dude abides]

I knew when Mane missed the opportunity to pass to a team mate to make it 2 nil we were done!  I actually turned the telly off to go do some ironing...lol.

Watched a clip of Kloppo's interview after the game which was prickly to say the least.  Sometimes you gotta admit your mistakes and hold your hands up.  Not Klopp obviously! 

Taking Salah off!  Hahaha.... Fat Sam must of been beaming!  I mean WTF!!!  Lovren....mmm.  Well we should be used to it by now.  We all know he's got a mistake in him which always tends to cost the team, I mean what on gods green earth was he thinking putting his hands on that toffee in his penalty box?  Nuts!!!

yes, if Allardyce had been given a pick, of the one red player that he'd want taken off - it would have been Salah.

Undiluted madness to take off your best player after 65 minutes, in the heat of a derby and only a goal up.

I looked at the penalty thing again from a different angle.  I think the ref had a bit of a nightmare on that one.  The everton lad needs to be up for an oscar nomination.  Lovren didn't do a lot wrong.  Would anyone have been surprised if instead the ref had booked the lad who went down so dramatically.  I don't think too many eyebrows would have been raised if he had been booked.

Like you, I thought the Mane thing before half time, could well come back to haunt us.

He had to get his head up and square it......would have been a tap-in for any one of the three reds alongside him.

4 points dropped at home in 4 days, versus everton and wba.

Title long since gone.....now doing our best to throw a CL spot away too.

We cannot keep on throwing easy points away like this.

We can't win dirty.  We can't scrape results on a bad day.

We are fair-weather bullies.

[Tes]

4 points dropped at home in 4 days, versus everton and wba.

Title long since gone.....now doing our best to throw a CL spot away too.

We cannot keep on throwing easy points away like this.

We can't win dirty.  We can't scrape results on a bad day.

We are fair-weather bullies.

Then we manage a comfortable win away at Bournemouth. Inconsistency. That will cost us a top four place.

We need to learn to grind out results against teams that we know will come to hold out for a point. They've sensibly designed a game plan, especially away from home. We need to do the same.

Klopp needs to understand, and should now have grasped this, that certain teams, due to their league position and level of players at their disposal, will sensibly see a point as a valuable gain, and will set themselves up to try and achieve it.
Why should they come and play an open game?

We need to deal better with this. Players need to be more focused and more aware of team mates in a better position, especially when chance creation is at a premium. They need to think more about checking if a team mate is better placed, as we can't afford to squander an opening, especially if we're not exactly making chance after chance.