Liverpool FC Team Talk, Gossip, Rumours 2019

sReq | uTeK

SlickRic wrote: »

Make no mistake here. West Ham haven't been good tonight.

We've been in the right positions constantly but we consistently chose the wrong option or showed really poor touch or were just plain fúcking awful.

That draw was all our own doing. West Ham were utterly there for the taking. We just couldn't do it. And in fact, needed an offside goal to even score.

It's also shown that, in reality, we've fúck all on the bench.

Me thinks you were watching the wrong game

BorneTobyWilde

West Ham drew with Chelsea and beat easily both United and Arsenal , it's a point on the board. Hopefully we win league by a point. They are forever picking up points as a solid mid table team does. Just move on and love the point we got.

passremarkable

That was a very disappointing performance, pretty similar to Leicester.
Saturday even bigger now, need the win to steady the ship. We just look a bit leggy and lethargic. No sense of urgency from midfield up.its like we aren’t getting the system or balance of the team right. Badly need right back sorted, even just to free mo up a bit.
Anyway, top of league with 13 to go. Would have taken it in August, would have taken it in early dec and happy to have it now.
All about the next game

Potential Underachiever

Alisson definitely has a howler or 3 in him, he gives me the jitters big time. There was talk that he was a calming influence on the defence, looks the opposite right now. I'd say the truth is more like the defence was solid because they were playing well, being nervous by a keeper behind them is hard to quantify and probably isn't really a thing

Utopia Parkway

Klopp did say in his press conference that both VVD and Milner have been ill. VVD lost a fair bit of weight apparently. Given the injuries in defence as well it's maybe easier to see how they don't look as comfortable as they did for most of the season.

Granted we seem to have lost some spark going forward as well.

Potential Underachiever

We need to beat Bournemouth and clear our heads so to speak, try and get some confidence going. If we had Utd up next I'd say we have no hope of having the bottle to go there and beat them. Thankfully a bit of time before that match to try find something.

Iused2likebusts

Potential Underachiever wrote: »

Alisson definitely has a howler or 3 in him, he gives me the jitters big time. There was talk that he was a calming influence on the defence, looks the opposite right now. I'd say the truth is more like the defence was solid because they were playing well, being nervous by a keeper behind them is hard to quantify and probably isn't really a thing

It most definetly is a thing. At all levels of football if you dont trust your goalkeeper it causes panic in a defence particularly at set pieces.

monkey9

SlickRic wrote: »

Make no mistake here. West Ham haven't been good tonight.

We've been in the right positions constantly but we consistently chose the wrong option or showed really poor touch or were just plain fúcking awful.

That draw was all our own doing. West Ham were utterly there for the taking. We just couldn't do it. And in fact, needed an offside goal to even score.

It's also shown that, in reality, we've fúck all on the bench.

This is a very very weird appraisal of what we witnessed tonight. I'll assume you watched this in the pub.

Flyer29

Just like the Leicester game, the manner of the draw is getting to me more than the draw itself.

We’re on top of the league with City right on our heels. We’re in with our best shout of winning the title in God only knows how long and nobody seemed to want to take the bull by the horns and make something happen.

For all the bad press he’s getting lately, I felt Keita was our best outlet near the end of the game. He made a few positive runs into the box and put a great ball into Origi at the death that could easily have stolen us the points.

Mane seemed to be the only player out there who wanted to make something happen, everybody else seemed happy to pass the ball 3 yards and leave the next guy worry about making something happen.

All in all we’ve had two big games in the space of a few days under serious scrutiny and we’ve left both games pass us by. It’s not over by no means but if we’re gonna fall short to City, I hope we go out on our shields knowing we gave it our all.

We know we have a great side here. It’s undeniable. But we’re going to learn about the character of the side now and the strength of that character will determine whether it’ll be a first or second place finish at the end of the season

Potential Underachiever

Iused2likebusts wrote: »

It most definetly is a thing. At all levels of football if you dont trust your goalkeeper it causes panic in a defence particularly at set pieces.

I guess you put more stock in it than I would. Alisson obv had nothing to do with us looking amateurish defending set pieces today or against Palace and Leicester, just bad defending. I think our pragmatic approach and Vvd being a colossus with Gomez also playing brilliantly was more of a factor for our mean defence rather than them feeling good because Alisson was behind them, imo of course

Chesty08

Flyer29 wrote: »

Just like the Leicester game, the manner of the draw is getting to me more than the draw itself.

We’re on top of the league with City right on our heels. We’re in with our best shout of winning the title in God only knows how long and nobody seemed to want to take the bull by the horns and make something happen.

For all the bad press he’s getting lately, I felt Keita was our best outlet near the end of the game. He made a few positive runs into the box and put a great ball into Origi at the death that could easily have stolen us the points.

Mane seemed to be the only player out there who wanted to make something happen, everybody else seemed happy to pass the ball 3 yards and leave the next guy worry about making something happen.

All in all we’ve had two big games in the space of a few days under serious scrutiny and we’ve left both games pass us by. It’s not over by no means but if we’re gonna fall short to City, I hope we go out on our shields knowing we gave it our all.

We know we have a great side here. It’s undeniable. But we’re going to learn about the character of the side now and the strength of that character will determine whether it’ll be a first or second place finish at the end of the season

Spot on. We can take drawing. It’s the manner which hurts.

Watch Spurs Saturday and they were streaming forward at pace from the off in search of the goal.

2nd half tonight & Leicester we were so pedestrian it was a joke. Bar Mane & Keita nobody wanted to make things happen. Everyone seems to want to allow the opposition get back & build the play from there, no dispossess and releasing the front 3 quickly. So frustrating

ardinn

there has only ever been one season where the league winners didnt have a **** 3 or 4 game run and that was arsenals undefeated season - even united under fergie when they were strolling titles would always ALWAYS have a disastrous few games in a row. Usually 3 - I remember one year they conceded 12 goals in 3 games and newastle destroyed them 5-0

If this is ours and we are having draws im not unhappy. Just hope we snap out of it early!

kingshankly

Think that performance from bobby tonight might be up there with the worst performances I have seen from a Liverpool player in a long while couldn’t pass it 3 yards

RollieFingers

Keita was a liability defensively, and one of the only bright sparks offensively, don't know what to make of him.

klose

On reflection that was a point most certainly gained. We were useless and West ham very good, goal a mile offside and we were lucky rice fluffed his chance and caroll is ****e and never made anything of Allisons headed "clearence"
A draw away at West ham and at home to Leicester are hardly the worst results in the world it just so happens they were in the space of a few days, that coupled with the performances it's easy to see why a lot are down and out but fcuk I'm going to try to be positive for once. I think it's more a case of injuries taking their toll more than the pressure getting to players, Henderson and gini are proably 2/3s of klopp preferred midfield and obviously Trent and gomez absences are showing. Matip is flakey and milner showed his limits tonight (albeit against a very good player in Anderson)
Not sure I think Clyne leaving is much of a factor in it all, gomez is the one hurting the most as his partnership with van dijk is/was very good.
Bournemouth at home next is all that matters and needless to say a big performance is expected.

marno21

When Firmino is playing as poor as he was tonight, it definitely allows the opposition more scope to focus on shutting down Salah. He's being double marked a lot this season and it's showing.

Tonight was one of those nights that we take for granted given how well we've been playing this season. Onwards and upwards when we've lost less games than City and have a more attractive run in, and still 3 points clear with lots of players to return from injury

ERG89

kingshankly wrote:

Think that performance from bobby tonight might be up there with the worst performances I have seen from a Liverpool player in a long while couldn't pass it 3 yards

I don't think anyone will best Karius vs Real Madrid for a long, long time.
He was bad & this new role has seen his form dip compared to last season where he was excellent as our main striker.
His stats come May won't dip to reflect that but he was a big part of the pace of our attack last season from turnovers which was huge. Now we play more measured & less lose. Was working a treat when our defence was imperious but since the clean sheets have dried up lately more is being asked at the other end. In the past it felt like there was always chances coming but tonight & Leicester the games just petered out when the opposition sat back.

monkey9

There's definitely nerves setting in, no doubt. There's a huge difference between playing expansive and loose football and cruising to 4-0 wins in September when there's the whole of the season to play for compared to nights like tonight when it's getting into the nitty gritty and the nights are still dark and all the cup competitions, whether you're in them or not, are getting down to the final few.

We're having our blip, there's no doubt about it. Having drawn our last two games and only lost one match at the Feb 4th stage, this is our blip.

I do feel we'll overcome it, but we're up against Man City and their backers so it's tough enough.

West Ham are as spineless as they come.

That results is a huge concern.

All my confidence just flew out the window.

Drumpot

klose wrote: »

On reflection that was a point most certainly gained. We were useless and West ham very good, goal a mile offside and we were lucky rice fluffed his chance and caroll is ****e and never made anything of Allisons headed "clearence"
A draw away at West ham and at home to Leicester are hardly the worst results in the world it just so happens they were in the space of a few days, that coupled with the performances it's easy to see why a lot are down and out but fcuk I'm going to try to be positive for once.

I think you are right and if Liverpool do go on to win the league this draw could be massive. I was looking at Liverpool’s fixtures and they only have united away, and then Chelsea and spurs at home from the top 6. These are all winnable and I don’t see them losing more then one, if that even.

The rest of Liverpool’s games are certainly ones they can win. Performance won’t matter until the end of the season. Really and truly I remember many a season that United’s final few months on the way to a league title were hard to enjoy . While it’s preferable to be in the lead I do think it’s a bit easier chasing , especially when you are the challenger because there is a bit less pressure.

City still have Chelsea at home , united away and spurs at home. Leicester at home in their second last game could be interesting considering how well They seem to play against the better teams in the league. I also think city’s 4 cup Push could cause them trouble. They do have a big squad but it’s a massive pressure on them that could easily fall down very quickly.

And then there is also the fact that Liverpool have been long over due a blip. If two draws is the extent of that blip they will be fine. If they beat Bournemouth by a dodgy goal, that’s all that matters at this stage...

kingshankly

Drumpot wrote: »

I think you are right and if Liverpool do go on to win the league this draw could be massive. I was looking at Liverpool’s fixtures and they only have united away, and then Chelsea and spurs at home from the top 6. These are all winnable and I don’t see them losing more then one, if that even.

The rest of Liverpool’s games are certainly ones they can win. Performance won’t matter until the end of the season. Really and truly I remember many a season that United’s final few months on the way to a league title were hard to enjoy . While it’s preferable to be in the lead I do think it’s a bit easier chasing , especially when you are the challenger because there is a bit less pressure.

City still have Chelsea at home , united away and spurs at home. Leicester at home in their second last game could be interesting considering how well They seem to play against the better teams in the league. I also think city’s 4 cup Push could cause them trouble. They do have a big squad but it’s a massive pressure on them that could easily fall down very quickly.

And then there is also the fact that Liverpool have been long over due a blip. If two draws is the extent of that blip they will be fine. If they beat Bournemouth by a dodgy goal, that’s all that matters at this stage...

“All winnable games “
Just like Leicester at home and West Ham away

lab man

ardinn wrote:

there has only ever been one season where the league winners didnt have a **** 3 or 4 game run and that was arsenals undefeated season - even united under fergie when they were strolling titles would always ALWAYS have a disastrous few games in a row. Usually 3 - I remember one year they conceded 12 goals in 3 games and newastle destroyed them 5-0

Ya but we won

Drumpot

kingshankly wrote: »

“All winnable games “
Just like Leicester at home and West Ham away

I meant winnable even when you aren’t playing well. Technically speaking every game is winnable but the rest of the season is about perseverance, less so performance.

Nerdlingr

As always lads, no Hendo no party.
Maybe now people might realise what he brings to the team.
Keita and lallana in the centre? Jaysus.
Bobby was piss poor. Same as he was against Leicester. Couldnt complete simple 2 yard passes.
Didnt like klopp publicly giving out to the ref at the end. Keep it in house. That kind of sh*t just shows the pressure getting to ya.
Pelligrini was right in showing him the two fingers, we got two big offside calls tonight. One was the goal and the other could have been an origi winner. Suck it up and move on.
Still....we gained a point on city ...still top....now to whopp Bournemouth this weekend. ☺️

HandsomeBob

RollieFingers wrote: »

Keita was a liability defensively, and one of the only bright sparks offensively, don't know what to make of him.

Bright spark but not much else. Naby can dribble his way into an opportunity but once he gets there often he doesn't know what to do. That's just an observation from his last two starts.

Lallana in comparison was not only getting at the opposition but he also had his head up to see if anyone was free for a pass.

facehugger99

In some ways, we're lucky we haven't lost both our last 2 matches.

I think Henderson has been a huge loss in midfield, Keita is capable of moments of magic, but he's dispossessed far too easily and he never looks like he can recover once he's lost the ball.

Bournemouth is huge on Saturday, a few first half goals would be lovely. The crowd need to really get behind the team and lose the anxiety and negativity that was there in the last home fixture.

SM01

Taken from a stat chap on Twitter:

Liverpool's and Mané/Firmino/Salah's scoring rates after 25 league matches, this year and last year.

2017/18 LFC: 57 goals scored (MFS: 36)

2018/19 LFC: 56 goals scored (MFS: 36)

PhuckHugh

Dip in form happens - injuries happen .... but you need strong leaders when these things happen. There was no sign of it last night, Firmino's casualness drove me insane. It's far from done but the lack of leadership is the one thing that concerns me.

gimli2112

In the end it could have been worse but it's the draws that will kill you. Even if we had won one and lost one of the last two we'd have been a point better off (for those of you weak on math )


Still I realistically didn't expect us to win the league at the start of the season and they're still in it,

machiavellianme

Do we ever play well for Monday night football?
Actually, evening games in general (apart from Champions league) seems to always be a disappointment.

LuckyLloyd

Ultimately only matters what the squad thinks. They were 7 points ahead for five minutes before losing a competitive game away at City. Now 3 points ahead. No reason to panic over that if you’re being logical about things.

murpho999

This article from BBC shows how the media are trying to claim a Liverpool collapse.

Firstly it says that Liverpool were 9 points clear on Dec 29 was cut to only 3. Is that true? I cannot find any table showing a 9 poinit advantage at any point ?

Then it says lead has "now been cut to only three following two successive draws and a return to form for Pep Guardiola's side."

What return to form? One game against Arsenal after losing to Newcastle?

8-10

City do worry me though, when I watch them in a tight game there's an air of inevitability that they'll score. Even in the games where they dropped points I think they've still looked more dangerous than us in the past few games.

Watching us at 1-1 in the second half of the last 2 games, if I were a City fan I don't think I'd feel that same inevitability.

However one positive I got from last night was our directness. It really looked like we'd made a conscious change to start running past people and make direct passes into feet rather than the slow possession built attack of recent games.

Was the trip to Dubai a good idea?

rob316

murpho999 wrote: »

This article from BBC shows how the media are trying to claim a Liverpool collapse.

Firstly it says that Liverpool were 9 points clear on Dec 29 was cut to only 3. Is that true? I cannot find any table showing a 9 poinit advantage at any point ?

Then it says lead has "now been cut to only three following two successive draws and a return to form for Pep Guardiola's side."

What return to form? One game against Arsenal after losing to Newcastle?

City ran away with so easily last season the media have 2 seasons worth of hype to use up. City have also been proclaimed the greatest league team by all corners of the media.

7 is the most we were ever ahead. 1 ahead then city lost to palace and Leicester then cut back to 4 when city beat us.

RollieFingers

HandsomeBob wrote: »

Bright spark but not much else. Naby can dribble his way into an opportunity but once he gets there often he doesn't know what to do. That's just an observation from his last two starts.

Lallana in comparison was not only getting at the opposition but he also had his head up to see if anyone was free for a pass.

Agree with you, I was impressed by Lallana last night considering it was his first start in the league for a while, set up the goal with a moment of magic sure. I'd have him in ahead of keita in the starting eleven.

murpho999

murpho999 wrote: »

.......
What return to form? One game against Arsenal after losing to Newcastle?

12 pts from last 5 games, 1 loss and 4 wins.
We have 8 from the last 5 games.

City have 3 pts from their last 2 games, we have 2 points, their recent form is better then ours......... so the gap between us has closed.

Lallana was good lastnight, the midfield was poor overall IMO, the front 3 and defence were worse.

Ardent

RollieFingers wrote: »

Agree with you, I was impressed by Lallana last night considering it was his first start in the league for a while, set up the goal with a moment of magic sure. I'd have him in ahead of keita in the starting eleven.

Lallana is a good player. He was arguably our best during Klopp's first season. I feel he still has a lot to offer this team, providing he can stay clear of injuries.

murpho999

8-10 wrote: »

City do worry me though, when I watch them in a tight game there's an air of inevitability that they'll score. Even in the games where they dropped points I think they've still looked more dangerous than us in the past few games.

Watching us at 1-1 in the second half of the last 2 games, if I were a City fan I don't think I'd feel that same inevitability.

However one positive I got from last night was our directness. It really looked like we'd made a conscious change to start running past people and make direct passes into feet rather than the slow possession built attack of recent games.

Was the trip to Dubai a good idea?

Did you see the City game against Newcastle? After scoring they went to sleep and were poor and never looked like scoring despite Newcastle coming back.

They have shown on more than one occasion they can be got at.

I don't see how the trip to Dubai can be blamed on two draws.

Pleease don't claim jet lag. Time difference is not big and travelling first class for a few hours is not tiring.

murpho999

Augeo wrote: »

12 pts from last 5 games, 1 loss and 4 wins.
We have 8 from the last 5 games.

City have 3 pts from their last 2 games, we have 2 points, their recent form is better then ours......... so the gap between us has closed.

Lallana was good lastnight, the midfield was poor overall IMO, the front 3 and defence were worse.

They have gained 4 in 5 games and we did something previously in December.

It's the way it goes.

Liverpool are a good side and will go on a run again.

We're in a great position and no need to panic.

murpho999

murpho999 wrote: »

They have gained 4 in 5 games and we did something previously in December.

It's they way it goes.

Liverpool are a good side and will go on a run again.

We're in a great position and no need to panic.

Yeah, you did ask regarding City, what return to form.. I just mentioned what the BBC were on about tbh

evil_seed

I only got the 2nd half last night. We were very dominant for large parts, but so vulnerable on the counter. The midfield had pushed up so far that they left the defense very exposed. That worries me, as better teams than West Ham are yet to come and we can be got at. I thought it was inevitable the 2nd goal was coming but the passing got more erratic the more time ticked away. Not a great performance IMO

fyfe79

rob316 wrote: »

7 is the most we were ever ahead. 1 ahead then city lost to palace and Leicester then cut back to 4 when city beat us.

Yeah we were 7 ahead going into the City game, so they cut the lead down to 4 points in that game. Since then, thanks to Newcastle, they've only cut the gap by a further point.

It's not the end of the world, but the team really needs to pick it up soon.

8-10

murpho999 wrote: »

This article from BBC shows how the media are trying to claim a Liverpool collapse.

Firstly it says that Liverpool were 9 points clear on Dec 29 was cut to only 3. Is that true? I cannot find any table showing a 9 poinit advantage at any point ?

We were 9pts ahead of Spurs and 10pts ahead of City after the Arsenal game on the 29th

City won their game in hand the next day (v Southampton) to cut it back to 7pts before we played them on the 3rd January. A win for us in that game would have made it 10pts again (still 9pts ahead of Spurs) but we lost and it went to 4pt gap with City, went back up to 5pts before last night now it's 3pts.

Potential Underachiever

I'd like to give credit to whoever coined the nickname for Firmino yesterday 'Gok Young Wan' Very good and I think it should stick!

Knex*

We spent the past few days thinking Henderson and Gini would start, until they picked up late injuries, and I think that really showed.

Still, top of the league by 3 points and Bournemouth at home this weekend. Could be worse.

yourdeadwright

We are missing a right sided defender who can get forward,that where our width comes form ,

There is nothing coming behind MO and making it easy for teams to double up on him ,

Robbo was off form last night so almost every attack was down the middle way to easy to defend

To be fair to Westham only Spurs form the top teams have won There and it was 1-0,

They beat United and Arsenal and drew with us and Chelsea, City to still go there,

yourdeadwright

You just we will win the weekend and lose at Old Trafford so City go in front with same amount of games played ,

United will love that,

citytillidie

yourdeadwright wrote: »

We are missing a right sided defender who can get forward,that where our width comes form ,

There is nothing coming behind MO and making it easy for teams to double up on him ,

Robbo was off form last night so almost every attack was down the middle way to easy to defend

To be fair to Westham only Spurs form the top teams have won There and it was 1-0,

They beat United and Arsenal and drew with us and Chelsea, City to still go there,

City were there back in November and won 4-0

murpho999

Augeo wrote: »

Yeah, you did ask regarding City, what return to form.. I just mentioned what the BBC were on about tbh

I think it's all about how things were written and context.

Before the Leicester game City were seen as struggling after the Newcastle game and we were fine.

Now one game later City are in form and Liverpool are struggling despite not losing.
I would also argue that losing away to City in a tight match is no shock or disgrace or indication of form.

8-10

rob316 wrote: »

7 is the most we were ever ahead. 1 ahead then city lost to palace and Leicester then cut back to 4 when city beat us.

We were ahead of them by 10 if you consider playing a day ahead of them on the 29th. But they were 3rd and Spurs were 2nd until they won their game in hand so it was only really ahead by 9