Liverpool FC Forum

A game of what ifs for me. Not sure I can pin point a single aspect that affected it. The starting 11? Salah sub? The penalty? Mane chance?

I raised my brows at the line up - play the front four for the derby, toast them and sub some off. That line up would suffice for West Brom but Everton? I'm not so certain. I can see the logic in going for English lads on the occasion tho. Even with that said we were pretty much cruising up until the penalty, Everton came for a draw and showed no signs of wanting to come at us, they were pinned. The starting line up wouldn't be being discussed if that penalty wasn't given.

I haven't saw the penalty incident back, it looked like two players barging into each other, some will argue Lovren gave the ref a decision to make but for me it wasn't a penalty (I was sat near the Kop though so it wasn't particularly clear). That definitely served as a sucker punch.

Klopp does irk me in bringing on players when we concede - Coutinho should have been on that pitch from the off, Henderson offers absolutely nothing for me. Mane also should have just squared it an we'd have gotten out of sight.

One big plus - Robertson and Gomez, both class. Want to see Gomez at centre half but the pair of them did themselves no harm today.

Nutcase team selection.

How many fans would have picked that precise team????

Erm.....NOBODY!

Not sure about the tears and tantrums....


The line-up was good enough to win today and Everton only scrapped a point because of a bollox penalty decision. On another day we'd have walked it by two or three goals.

damjan193 » Sun Dec 10, 2017 9:01 pm wrote:I still don't see the starting line-up as a problem. We dominated the game and created enough chances to win it whilst we didn't allow them a single chance apart from the soft penalty. What more can a manager do here? His only mistake today was withdrawing Salah. I personally blame Mane the most for this result, closely followed by brain dead Lovren, and also the ref.

Letting us have the ball was part of Everton's gameplan mate, we were always going to dominate possession whatever side we put out. Everton had spent the past week working on their shape and their formation, they even put out a team of kids in the Europa League to help their first team prepare for the derby and they were never going to change plan at the last minute just because Jurgen decided to rotate. We could have put our U21's out and we would have still dominated the ball. Their idea was to cede possession in order to stop us creating clear cut chances which is something they largely did.
To me not putting out your best available XI in a derby game is akin to not putting out your best available XI in a CL final, the game ended 6 hours ago and I still feel sick to my stomach. I'm not sure Jurgen realises the significance of these games, if he did he wouldn't have put out the team he did. As I said Solanke up front and Milner and Henderson in midfield in one of our biggest games of our season is just taking the p[iss]. He would have never fielded that team against Spartak.

7_Kewell » Sun Dec 10, 2017 10:47 pm wrote:Not sure about the tears and tantrums....


The line-up was good enough to win today and Everton only scrapped a point because of a bollox penalty decision. On another day we'd have walked it by two or three goals.

Another day?   This is "hypothetical Tosh" I'm afraid.

The day in question was TODAY!  Other than our posession, we only had three shots on target the whole match. out of 20 attempts.

We weren't going to win ***** all, unless Coutinho and Firminho were on the pitch. It took a bit of Magic from Salah to score that goal, as we didn't look like scoring. It was going to take a bit of magic from the fab four to unlock the Everton defence, it always  was.

FACT !

Ghost of Shankly » Sun Dec 10, 2017 9:51 pm wrote:

7_Kewell » Sun Dec 10, 2017 10:47 pm wrote:Not sure about the tears and tantrums....


The line-up was good enough to win today and Everton only scrapped a point because of a bollox penalty decision. On another day we'd have walked it by two or three goals.

Another day?   This is "hypothetical Tosh" I'm afraid.

The day in question was TODAY!  Other than our posession, we only had three shots on target the whole match. out of 20 attempts.

We weren't going to win ***** all, unless Coutinho and Firminho were on the pitch. It took a bit of Magic from Salah to score that goal, as we didn't look like scoring.

FACT !

And without that soft penalty, Everton wouldn't have scored. The team was good enough to win today and we were robbed by the ref.

The team selection was fine, it wasn't like we were playing Real Madrid. Everton just got very lucky that's all. If Sadio Mane wasn't so greedy you wouldn't all be moaning. 

Let's keep things positive as we're still up there in the top four, and we have the CL to look forward to as well.

Franky000 » Sun Dec 10, 2017 9:55 pm wrote:The team selection was fine, it wasn't like we were playing Real Madrid. Everton got very lucky that's all. It does feel like a loss, but Sh*t happens...

It wasn't fine mate, Everton sat back and said break us down and we huffed and puffed all game, we didn't have the guile in the middle of the park to regularly open them up. In 90 minutes of utterly dominating the ball we created just 2 decent chances, Mane's chance and Salah's header, our goal wasn't really a chance, it came from nothing.
Team selection cost us 2 points today.

ycsatbjywtbiastkamb » Sun Dec 10, 2017 11:01 pm wrote:

Franky000 » Sun Dec 10, 2017 9:55 pm wrote:The team selection was fine, it wasn't like we were playing Real Madrid. Everton got very lucky that's all. It does feel like a loss, but Sh*t happens...

It wasn't fine mate, Everton sat back and said break us down and we huffed and puffed all game, we didn't have the guile in the middle of the park to regularly open them up. In 90 minutes of utterly dominating the ball we created just 2 decent chances, Mane's chance and Salah's header, our goal wasn't really a chance, it came from nothing.
Team selection cost us 2 points today.

It was definately team selection that cost us. Who would pick Solanke up front when he has hardly featured or scored in a red shirt?

The opposition weren't the best, but it's a derby and in any big game which is more intense, intense atmosphere etc you need your big players to produce a bit of "magic" That's what it took from Salah to unlock Everton's defence.
You always need your key players in big matches to produce that bit of magic that will win you big games.

Klopps fault today, sorry.

Klopp should have fielded our strongest xi and then rotated on Wednesday against West Brom. Milner and Hendo in the middle won't get you far.

Watch on Wednesday we will play our best players and tonk West Brom 4-0 or something.
Fimino and Coutinho should have started their creativity would have maybe given us a lot more clear cut chances.

Btw where the heck is Lallana?

Don't get angry with fellow posters in here or your TV folks. Get angry with Klopp. Poor team selections.
Leaving two of your best players on the bench is shocking, and Subbing Salah as well, cost us.

Posters here mistakenly thinking this is a run on the bank  with regards the manager, only they're wrong ,its just that we feel the manager of this club should know the importance of winning this fixture and play the best side available .I would understand if we were decimated with injuries if that eleven took to the pitch but when two of the players that make us so potent going forward are dropped its not only a ridiculous moment of misjudgement its an indifference to how emotive a game this is to all Scousers.

I mean Klopp has awarded  himself a smile of satisfaction when his rotation has worked , so maybe the next time he's passing a mirror he could ask himself did he proffer the heritage of that game enough respect,did the line up do justice to those fans who have backed the manager unreservedly through some frankly unpalatable criticism.

The derby is a game we all look for as soon as the fixtures are released,its a game steeped in tradition and you proffer that tradition and the fans the respect by playing our best eleven.

I think Klopp is a brilliant manager and he will take us to heights we simply cant envisage just yet ,but for me this was the first sign of an arrogance that can destroy the hope we all have in the man if he continues down this path.

The fans know best and Klopp should read this forum before selecting his sides.

Just echoing the sentiments on here.

Klopp made a massive mistake playing Solanke up front. The young fella is not ready to play at this level yet and is clearly out of his depth, not his fault he was thrown into the furnace. He definitely should be our 4th choice CF moving forward and only feature in cup games and bit part roles (until the end of the season).

I think Neverton were very lucky getting their penalty, it was literally two bodies coming together and Lovren wasn't quick enough to move his arms out of the their forward's back. As soon as he made contact it was going to be a 50/50 shout for a penalty. Still a fairer decision would have been a yellow for simulation, which it clearly was.

We missed a golden chance to close the gap on Chelsea at the end of the day, and between now and the end of 2017 would like to see Klopp learn from his mistakes. Pick your strongest side against the top 6 (and the bitters), no rotation garbage please. Mane needs to have a good hard look at himself because he was part of the reason why we drew that game. Really hope Henderson gets less game time, he is stinking out the place with his performances. Trying hard each game just isn't going to cut it if we have ambitions of winning the league or CL. He just has way too many limitations as compared to Gini, Can and in-coming Keita.

Went to the game and I can honestly say I have never seen such an awful Everton side. Klopp’s ridden his luck with rotation but yesterday’s naive team selection was nonsense. Just how bad do Henderson and Milner have to get before Klopp realises they simply are not good enough and that especially applies to Henderson who is probably the worst Liverpool captain I have ever seen. Everton hardly ever got into Liverpool’s box during the game and on the odd occasion that they did Lovren gives the referee a decision to make and yes it was harsh but Lovren panicked and he didn’t need to be so rash. He is just an awful defender in situations like that and has cost us points once again in a game when he had virtually nothing to do. Sh.t happens in football and it’s about time Klopp realised that. Taking Salah off prematurely was a schoolboy error. Big opportunity missed today and we only have ourselves to blame.Klopp can moan about the penalty but the biggest mistake of the day was his absolutely fkg awful team selection.