Liverpool FC Team Talk, Gossip, Rumours 2019

yourdeadwright

citytillidie wrote: »

City were there back in November and won 4-0

You are correct , I missed that one.

yourdeadwright

Lets see how City respond now ,
I can see them beating both Everton and Chelsea but anything can happen,

murpho999

murpho999 wrote: »

...............

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

Yeah, and we picked up two pts from six since then.

ERG89

8-10 wrote:

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.

When you step back and look at it Liverpool have messed up a few times the last few weeks. We tried to not lose at the Ethiad.
The games against Leicester & West Ham who were both out of form we could have easily lost. We've only lost once but it says more about the teams we played in recent weeks. City lost 3 games in the last few months but are no worse for it really.
We're probably better off chasing City as the team didn't build their lead when the opportunity came last week or against City.
Not confident ahead of the weekend as our performances have been far worse than the results lately. Alexander Arnold has been badly missed in the last 3 games but I don't think his absence can explain how bad the midfield was yesterday, how the defence looks susceptible & how someone like Firmino is at the stage where he is subbed when we need a goal.

murpho999

Augeo wrote: »

Yeah, and we picked up two pts from six since then.

Two draws does not indicate bad form.

8-10

murpho999 wrote: »

Two draws does not indicate bad form.

Loss, Cup loss, 2 wins by a single goal when we didn't play well, 2 draws.

That's our record in the calendar year. I'm not saying it's terrible form but we haven't had a game where we truly played well since Arsenal at the end of 2018

Chesty08

murpho999 wrote: »

Two draws does not indicate bad form.

But it is not title winning form. Isn't this what we are measuring them on now given the position they put themselves in?

United, Spurs and City are in better form.

murpho999

8-10 wrote: »

Loss, Cup loss, 2 wins by a single goal when we didn't play well, 2 draws.

That's our record in the calendar year. I'm not saying it's terrible form but we haven't had a game where we truly played well since Arsenal at the end of 2018

I think people want it both ways.

Eariier in the season we were told it was ok to win ugly etc and grind out wins.
The wins against Palace and Brighton showed that's what we have done.

People here were happy to go out of the cup as they could focus on the league.

Now after two draws we're saying the wheels have come off?

Chesty08 wrote: »

But it is not title winning form. Isn't this what we are measuring them on now given the position they put themselves in?

United, Spurs and City are in better form.

Could argue this all day. Point is that we're top of the table and 3 clear and we would have been delighted with that at the start of the season.

Need to regroup and stay calm and beat Bournemouth on Saturday. Getting players back will help too.

All the teams you mention will drop points in the future too.

8-10

murpho999 wrote: »

I think people want it both ways.

Eariier in the season we were told it was ok to win ugly etc and grind out wins.
The wins against Palace and Brighton showed that's what we have done.

People here were happy to go out of the cup as they could focus on the league.

Now after two draws we're saying the wheels have come off?

I'm not saying that, I'm just saying it's correct to say we're in a period of bad form. If we're winning games at the same time that's great, literally every title winner has done that.

I'm saying it's not a bad thing to admit we're not in form, it's not defeatist and it's not saying wheels have come off, it's just a realistic assessment of how we're playing right now

murpho999

murpho999 wrote: »

Two draws does not indicate bad form.

8 pts from 15 isn't great
2 pts from 6 isn't great
our recent form isn't great
IMO

yourdeadwright

Augeo wrote: »

8 pts from 15 isn't great
2 pts from 6 isn't great
our recent form isn't great
IMO

Worst form weve been in so far this season ,

Huge pressure on Saturday now we must win , two games after that are Bayern and away to United not games you want to be searching for form in ,

citytillidie

So it runs now with Man City playing 1st until April apart from last midweek of Feb when both play at the same time.

There could be lots of changes on the top spot but City are setting the pace for now so Liverpool will have to keep pace and know what they have to do. So that is building hope or setting nerves.

noodler

gimli2112 wrote: »

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,

So 3>2?

Cheers Einstein.

ricero

At this stage we need a comfortable and straightforward victory with a couple of goals against Bournemouth to steady the ship again.

Gini and Henderson both being out yesterday came as a huge blow and in my opinion had a huge effect on the teams performance.

yourdeadwright

ricero wrote: »

At this stage we need a comfortable and straightforward victory with a couple of goals against Bournemouth to steady the ship again.

Gini and Henderson both being out yesterday came as a huge blow and in my opinion had a huge effect on the teams performance.

It certainly lead to no control in midfield ,

murpho999

8-10 wrote: »

I'm not saying that, I'm just saying it's correct to say we're in a period of bad form. If we're winning games at the same time that's great, literally every title winner has done that.

I'm saying it's not a bad thing to admit we're not in form, it's not defeatist and it's not saying wheels have come off, it's just a realistic assessment of how we're playing right now

Augeo wrote: »

8 pts from 15 isn't great
2 pts from 6 isn't great
our recent form isn't great
IMO

The last two performances have not been great, I'll go with that.

This does not mean they are struggling.

They did not lose the games and their form before those two games was incredible and games like this were bound to happen.

We're three points clear and destiny in our own hands.

This is where Klopp and the players have to step up to the plate and manage the situation.
Listening to VVD last night I think it's a calm dressing room and I'd expect them to win on Saturday and get back on track.

HandsomeBob

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.

Yes Lallana has done enough to get in there ahead of Keita against Bournemouth no doubt about it.

Vicxas

We always knew there would be a dip in form but it's still startling how bad everything had gotten in the last 2-3 matches

yourdeadwright

murpho999 wrote: »

The last two performances have not been great, I'll go with that.

This does not mean they are struggling.

They did not lose the games and their form before those two games was incredible and games like this were bound to happen.

We're three points clear and destiny in our own hands.

This is where Klopp and the players have to step up to the plate and manage the situation.
Listening to VVD last night I think it's calm dressing room and I'd expect them to win on Saturday and get back on track.

There is no question we struggled In both games and played poorly,
Also you forget how we struggled at the back against Palace , We where all over the shop and lucky to get a point let alone win ,

Gave away a soft goal v Foxes and literally the same type of goal v Westham ,soft free followed by slack defending,
Two goals where we would have not previously conceded,

In both games we came out the second half with everything to play for and failed to create a single chance .

Can we turn it around yes of course but currently we are in poor form .

doc_17

HandsomeBob wrote: »

Yes Lallana has done enough to get in there ahead of Keita against Bournemouth no doubt about it.

If Lallana plays two games in a week he’ll be out for the rest of the season. I’d stick with Keita ahead of him for the next game and then give Lallana another game. He needs to be managed as isn’t able to stay fit.

yourdeadwright

HandsomeBob wrote: »

Yes Lallana has done enough to get in there ahead of Keita against Bournemouth no doubt about it.

As bad a Keita was first half he was our best player in the second,
It's a shame and due to in juries but Lallana is finished at a top club ,

Plasandrunt

No way I'd start Lallana ahead of Keita on Saturday, Keita was our best player last night in the 2nd half after a really poor first half, it made no sense to bring him off against Leicester last week and surely Klopp has to let him kick against Bournmouth

Seems like some of us Boardsie's could be witnessing one of our most crucial games of the season at the weekend

Pa8301

What I find most frustrating about the last two games is that Liverpool did the hard part by getting the first goal in both games. What's even more frustrating is that both equalisers were poor goals to give away.

Dcully

Plasandrunt wrote: »

No way I'd start Lallana ahead of Keita on Saturday, Keita was our best player last night in the 2nd half after a really poor first half, it made no sense to bring him off against Leicester last week and surely Klopp has to let him kick against Bournmouth

Seems like some of us Boardsie's could be witnessing one of our most crucial games of the season at the weekend

I was at the Leicester game and Keita was the worst player on the pitch, constantly giving the ball away.
His first half lastnight was almost as bad, second half he was a lot better but wouldnt be hard, Fabinho for me was our best player lastnight.

Pepp1989

I think you stick with Keita and try and get him a run of games.

Give him the chance to build on the second half last night.

klose

I think it also needs to be said we are as of now essentially 2 points ahead of city with the goal difference factor the same way I would say we are 6 ahead of spurs given our much superior goal difference against them. Of course city's GD isn't much ahead of ours so that could all change.

murpho999

yourdeadwright wrote: »

There is no question we struggled In both games and played poorly,
Also you forget how we struggled at the back against Palace , We where all over the shop and lucky to get a point let alone win ,

Gave away a soft goal v Foxes and literally the same type of goal v Westham ,soft free followed by slack defending,
Two goals where we would have not previously conceded,

In both games we came out the second half with everything to play for and failed to create a single chance .

Can we turn it around yes of course but currently we are in poor form .

We were 4-2 up against Palace so we weren't lucky to get a point or the win.

You do realise we don't have our normal back four and that might explain the lapses.

It's very easy for posters to be negative and point out faults. Ignore successes of opponents like Leicester and West Ham and forecast doom and gloom.

I'm not like that and realise that results like this was bound to happen and I think there's a very good chance that they'll regroup and go on a run again.


Also, on another note: what do you have against full stops?

BorneTobyWilde

Lost one game all season, this is one hell of a dip in form.
This is actually what winners do, they pick up points when playing poorly, we'll be okay once we get people fit again.

yourdeadwright

murpho999 wrote: »

We were 4-2 up against Palace so we weren't lucky to get a point or the win.

You do realise we don't have our normal back four and that might explain the lapses.

It's very easy for posters to be negative and point out faults. Ignore successes of opponents like Leicester and West Ham and forecast doom and gloom.

I'm not like that and realise that results like this was bound to happen and I think there's a very good chance that they'll regroup and go on a run again.


Also, on another note: what do you have against full stops?

Our goals against Palace where flukes plus Robbo's blatant hand ball lead up to Manes

Your right we don't have our normal back four and won't for a while but We are currently in our worst form of the season, That's not an opinion that's a fact ,

Out of the last 15 points possible we have picked up 8 points ,worst haul out of a 5 games this season ,

Flyer29

Spurs have become a serious elephant in the room in this title race, I know there’s the sense of inevitability surrounding Spurs that they will always collapse but many would argue the same point regarding Liverpool.

A 5 point gap between 1st and 3rd is a three horse race no matter how many ways you look at it. Spurs have beaten all comers with a depleted squad while City and Liverpool have thrown away soft points. If they keep winning, there’ll be serious belief in the squad by time Kane comes back.

As for ourselves, we have to steady the ship immediately. I think we’ve used up all allowed slip ups now. The last thing we needed was to be going to Old Trafford for a do or die clash but it’s looking that way now

United are no longer looking to ‘just upset the party’ so to speak, they’ve their own achievable goals now and are playing well. If we can win there we could take serious momentum into the run in.

A lot of football still be to played but the margin for error is almost at the point of non existence now. Beat Bournemouth and go from there, one game at a time

x43r0

Keita needs a kick up the hole in terms of time spent on the ball. He was caught and dispossessed a couple of times last night where he should have played the quicker pass to keep the ball moving

Harry Palmr

HandsomeBob wrote: »

Yes Lallana has done enough to get in there ahead of Keita against Bournemouth no doubt about it.

Nope, the reason Keita was bought was shown in the second half last night as he drove forward into the opposition defensive third creating attacking chances. Having been given the full 90 last night (a correct decision by Klopp, I was expecting him to be taken off) and that has to be built upon and Bournemouth is a good side to play in that regard - they will not be 9/10 behind the ball so Keita will be afforded the space to work with - it's up to him to take the opportunity.

Hopefully the midfield sickness will have cleared up and we can finally see

---

Fab
---Gini

---

Keita

murpho999

yourdeadwright wrote: »

Our goals against Palace where flukes plus Robbo's blatant hand ball lead up to Manes

Your right we don't have our normal back four and won't for a while but We are currently in our worst form of the season, That's not an opinion that's a fact ,

Out of the last 15 points possible we have picked up 8 points ,worst haul out of a 5 games this season ,

Flukes? Slight deflections?

If a team scores they score, you can't ask more of that.

If the so called flukes had not gone in then they would have carried on and tried to score.

Really, why just be negative all the time?

It might not be a great 5 game haul but it includes an away game to City which is always a losable game.

yourdeadwright

x43r0 wrote: »

Keita needs a kick up the hole in terms of time spent on the ball. He was caught and dispossessed a couple of times last night where he should have played the quicker pass to keep the ball moving

I'v given Keita more stick than most but he wasn't helped at all last night ,

In the first half West ham kept showing him to his right and Miner was not getting forward to give him an out ball , Bobby and Salah where pretty horrendous so he had no movement,
If you noticed every time he was to the left he was finding Mane and Robbo ,

First half he was pretty poor but second half he played very well , gave a beautiful ball for Dickov's chance at the end,

RollieFingers

Klopp is unsure whether Gini and Hendo will be fit for the weekend. Great.

yourdeadwright

murpho999 wrote: »

Flukes? Slight deflections?

If a team scores they score, you can't ask more of that.

If the so called flukes had not gone in then they would have carried on and tried to score.

Really, why just be negative all the time?

It might not be a great 5 game haul but it includes an away game to City which is always a losable game.

Dress it up however you like,
Fact its our worst points haul in a 5 game period,
Also the most goals we have conceded in a 5 games period
Also least goals we have scored in a 5 game period

So basically our worst form of the season ,

Harry Palmr

What the hell have they got? If it's flu that's utterly unacceptable - get the ****ing jab.

edit- it's just stupid knocks apparently, from training presumably.

yourdeadwright

Harry Palmr wrote: »

What the hell have they got? If it's flu that's utterly unacceptable - get the ****ing jab.

edit- it's just stupid knocks apparently, from training presumably.

To be fair you'd rather they miss Bournemouth at home than , Bayern or United the following two games,

Buddy97mm

Interesting to hear Klopp say how unwell VVD has been, losing 4kg - that's some serious weight loss from someone who presumably is carrying minimal excess to begin with. He certainly not as dominant as we've come to expect last night, but at least there's an explanation and he will be presumably better for weekend.

I was talking to a few mates who were at the game, and they all were very damning about Matip - didnt look that bad on TV, but they reckoned he was hugely nervous all night (maybe because big Virge far from 100%, instilled panic throughout the defence positionally and very poor on the ball. To be fair, he had been decent enough past few games, but I would like to see Liovren back to partner VVD and restore some semblance of normality to what has become a very shaky defence.

Team I would like to see at weekend:
Al
Millie VVD Lovren Robbo
Hendo Gini
Keita
Mane Bob Mo

Demosthenese

Think we're all feeling the strangeness after the last 2 results - Top of the league by 3 points but still not sure when our next 3 points will be. Amazing how football changes game by game ...

I'm still pretty confident we'll be grand when Gini/Hendo return to their full strength as we lack control in the midfield like before. We've sacrificed something by adding Kieta and Shaq even into our midfield a little ... we do not seem to have the control of games like before. Bournemouth is a prime example, we were very workmanlike against them the last time and then pulled them apart for the goals ... can we repeat that?

All this bollocks about nerves and such - it's not like we're within 2 games of winning it!

Time to dig deep and stay composed. Fans and players alike.

yourdeadwright

Buddy97mm wrote: »

Interesting to hear Klopp say how unwell VVD has been, losing 4kg - that's some serious weight loss from someone who presumably is carrying minimal excess to begin with. He certainly not as dominant as we've come to expect last night, but at least there's an explanation and he will be presumably better for weekend.

I was talking to a few mates who were at the game, and they all were very damning about Matip - didnt look that bad on TV, but they reckoned he was hugely nervous all night (maybe because big Virge far from 100%, instilled panic throughout the defence positionally and very poor on the ball. To be fair, he had been decent enough past few games, but I would like to see Liovren back to partner VVD and restore some semblance of normality to what has become a very shaky defence.

Team I would like to see at weekend:
Al
Millie VVD Lovren Robbo
Hendo Gini
Keita
Mane Bob Mo

I heard Lovren done his hammy again in training , nothing been confirmed by the club no mention of him at all which is odd,

Luap

Bring back

Milner - Henderson - Gini

Salah - Bobby - Mane

HandsomeBob

Harry Palmr wrote: »

Nope, the reason Keita was bought was shown in the second half last night as he drove forward into the opposition defensive third creating attacking chances. Having been given the full 90 last night (a correct decision by Klopp, I was expecting him to be taken off) and that has to be built upon and Bournemouth is a good side to play in that regard - they will not be 9/10 behind the ball so Keita will be afforded the space to work with - it's up to him to take the opportunity.

Hopefully the midfield sickness will have cleared up and we can finally see

---

Fab
---Gini

---

Keita

Keita got himself into some nice positions in the second half but he didn't do a whole lot with it. I'm not writing him off but I'd trust Lallana more to buckle down and help push the team forward in the run in.

Sofa Spud

Will be interesting to see what Klopp has planned for the 10 days off before the Munich game. The game on Sat should, normally, be a relatively straightforward fixture, so hopefully it is, but heads seem to be a bit dropped, illness and knocks not withstanding. Hopefully he can figure out a way to stop that and then work on match fitness etc. Wonder if he would do a closed door game without tempting injury risks. Hopefully this is just our blip, not helped by absences, and they can come storming back - it does feel like they've lost momentum, not panicking, but it needs to be addressed...

yourdeadwright

Buddy97mm wrote: »

Interesting to hear Klopp say how unwell VVD has been, losing 4kg - that's some serious weight loss from someone who presumably is carrying minimal excess to begin with. He certainly not as dominant as we've come to expect last night, but at least there's an explanation and he will be presumably better for weekend.

Himself and Milner came back from Dubai with flu's ,

What a disaster that trip looks to have been ,injuries , players ill ,

Not sure if anyone here is educated in the field but surely its wasn't great to be coming form warm weather back to training and playing in the snow ?
Even injuries aside , the pitches play totally different,

murpho999

yourdeadwright wrote: »

Dress it up however you like,
Fact its our worst points haul in a 5 game period,
Also the most goals we have conceded in a 5 games period
Also least goals we have scored in a 5 game period

So basically our worst form of the season ,

It may be our worst form of the season but it's only one defeat in 5.

Still got two points in two games which is where the points cushion we have had is beneficial. Bad form would have been to lose those games and get zero.

I'm calm and optimistic about this as I believe we have a top manager who knows what to do and also a good bunch of players in the dressing room.

Players will come back from injury which will be a help.

Also, I firmly believe that City will drop more points this season as they have not shown the same levels as last season and have shown weaknesses in defence on several occasions.

A win at home on Saturday and the whole world will look different again and City will have to play Chelsea on Sunday.

kingshankly

Flyer29 wrote: »

Spurs have become a serious elephant in the room in this title race, I know there’s the sense of inevitability surrounding Spurs that they will always collapse but many would argue the same point regarding Liverpool.

A 5 point gap between 1st and 3rd is a three horse race no matter how many ways you look at it. Spurs have beaten all comers with a depleted squad while City and Liverpool have thrown away soft points. If they keep winning, there’ll be serious belief in the squad by time Kane comes back.

As for ourselves, we have to steady the ship immediately. I think we’ve used up all allowed slip ups now. The last thing we needed was to be going to Old Trafford for a do or die clash but it’s looking that way now

United are no longer looking to ‘just upset the party’ so to speak, they’ve their own achievable goals now and are playing well. If we can win there we could take serious momentum into the run in.

A lot of football still be to played but the margin for error is almost at the point of non existence now. Beat Bournemouth and go from there, one game at a time

Spurs going well cause they have no pressure if it come down to them having it in their own hands the will bottle it just like Liverpool are Man City won’t bottle it unfortunately and have a squad to cope with the run in

kingshankly

Buddy97mm wrote: »

Interesting to hear Klopp say how unwell VVD has been, losing 4kg - that's some serious weight loss from someone who presumably is carrying minimal excess to begin with. He certainly not as dominant as we've come to expect last night, but at least there's an explanation and he will be presumably better for weekend.

I was talking to a few mates who were at the game, and they all were very damning about Matip - didnt look that bad on TV, but they reckoned he was hugely nervous all night (maybe because big Virge far from 100%, instilled panic throughout the defence positionally and very poor on the ball. To be fair, he had been decent enough past few games, but I would like to see Liovren back to partner VVD and restore some semblance of normality to what has become a very shaky defence.

Team I would like to see at weekend:
Al
Millie VVD Lovren Robbo
Hendo Gini
Keita
Mane Bob Mo

Lost 4 kg how can I catch that bug please🙈🙈

Boom_Bap

kingshankly wrote: »

Lost 4 kg how can I catch that bug please🙈🙈

Raw Chicken blended with raw eggs and dodgy burritos. You should start to see results immediately.

citytillidie

yourdeadwright wrote: »

Our goals against Palace where flukes plus Robbo's blatant hand ball lead up to Manes

Your right we don't have our normal back four and won't for a while but We are currently in our worst form of the season, That's not an opinion that's a fact ,

Out of the last 15 points possible we have picked up 8 points ,worst haul out of a 5 games this season ,

And before Palace opened the scoring they had a blatant handball ignored by the ref that we seen this weekend was awarded as pen in a different game