Liverpool FC Forum

I think we're being a little harsh. I thought we looked really good in the first half, and were an incredible save and what probably should've been a pen away from a comfortable lead. We certainly died in the 2nd half, and I do think Klopp needs to reconsider how late he likes to use his subs, but I thought we looked significantly better than against Palace. Another day we could've had a couple pens, and them down a man after that nasty challenge on Milner.

Alisson is an obvious upgrade defensively and offensively, but he needs to cut that ***** out in the back. One mistake that leads to a goal could cost us precious points, and could have a really negative effect on the relationship our defense has with him. It feels like Salah hasn't kicked into gear yet, and yet has 2 goals and an assist in 3 games. Bobby is the same, but he'll come good. Like others I'd like to see more of Shaqiri and Sturridge. I think they've both shown enough to warrant more play time, and they both seem like the types that'll start to loose confidence if not given the opportunity to show their worth.
I think Milner and Gini deserve a little more appreciation as well. They've both been quietly very good during the first three games. We're still trying to put all the pieces together, but our goal today shows how insanely dangerous and efficient we can be when playing on the same page.

Lallana in Pyjamas » Sat Aug 25, 2018 8:25 pm wrote:

ycsatbjywtbiastkamb » Sat Aug 25, 2018 9:14 pm wrote:The bottom line is we need Keita, Fabinho and Shaquiri to step up to the plate and play a leading role this season, we will not finish above City if the likes of Milner, Wijnaldum and Henderson are going to be the mainstays of our midfield.
As for Shaquiri not being a 10, if Jurgen didn't think he could play 10 I think Fekir would be a Liverpool player now.

Fekir has a knee that is ready to explode and did you watch the last 6 months of the season and see that we have already at least three people who float in and around the number 10 slot - Mane , Salah , Firmino and Naby. Did you think Fekir was someone to replace Coutinho ? Nah he is someone who plays mainly higher through the wide channels - not as a generic number 10 -Shaqiri is a wide player mainly and will play in the wider areas but at times drift in

There is no “bottom line” - players arrived to supplement the squad because it’s a squad that wins trophies not just a strong 11 - Alisson and Keita were prob the only two who were bought straight into the first team - the other two form part of a stronger squad than last season and all will play regular crucial roles if the team is to be successful - players like Milner , Gini and Henderson who you dismiss so quickly are all highly rated by the manager and will be key for the coming season and Gini and Milner have started very well getting us off to a great start - and they will continue to do so. It’s a squad game and we are three games in and you are pushing the panic button.

3 wins 3 clean sheets 9 points - great start with more to come from the players. What are you going to be like when we lose a game

Lose a game is exactly what we will do as soon as we come up against a decent side, we have got Spurs (A) Chelsea (A) and City (H) all coming up in quick succession soon, if we don't improve significantly we'll be lucky to come away with a point from those 3 games, our performance level so far this season won't be enough to get it done against those sides.
Our record against the other top 6 sides wasn't great last year and if we want to genuinely challenge City we need to at least match the points haul they get from these big head to head match ups. Last season City took 24 points from a possible 30 against the other top sides, they beat Tottenham, Chelsea and Arsenal home and away, beat United at Old Trafford and put 5 past us at the Etihad, that's how high they set the bar. Draws wont be enough, City win too many of those match ups to think draws are going to win us the title.

Too many "defensive" midfielders in our squad unfortunately. Wjnaldum, Hendo, Milner, Keita, and even Fabinho, etc. Not enough flair and firepower, or a top notch winger. It's so obvious it slaps you in the face.

We needed a proper playmaker, like a Stevie G or a Kevin De Bruyne, who are just so effective in Midfield.

We've won three yes, but we are looking a bit flat and one dimensional in our performances, just lacking something.

I'm not concerned about Salah starting slowly, he did last season. In the first ten games he fluffed loads of chances, but then look at the run he went on. It's the midfield that is the weakest link in our team.

Like yakka said, playing Shaqiri in the coutinho position just behind the front three is a very good idea, in front of Keita and Fabinho etc, and I would rotate Firmino and Sturridge in the centre forward position, Otherwise we may struggle a bit in the centre of the park.

We've got Shaq who can fill in the void in the middle.

We are winning games where we would normally drop points, until that changes I'm happy. I'll take a consistant 1-0 over the leaky 4-3 victories. Not to mention the city Bugatti not being able to keep up this week.

Top of the league and you can't stop half of you moaning and carrying on

Any other year we would have bitten off someone's hand to take this kind of start to the season.

Yes, we played poorly but we still won. That's all that matters.

We all know how good Mane, Salah and Bobby are when they begin to click.

Just wait till the games start coming thick and fast and you will see how good Klopp will have our team running.

I honestly can't see us losing or drawing too many games this season, that's how good we are.

We are going to push City all the way.

   

ycsatbjywtbiastkamb » Sat Aug 25, 2018 6:47 pm wrote:

Santa » Sat Aug 25, 2018 6:34 pm wrote:

ycsatbjywtbiastkamb » Sat Aug 25, 2018 6:28 pm wrote:How we are top god only knows.

That's it mfkrs...I am calling this a night.

Our last 2 performances have been very scrappy, I watched City draw at Wolves earlier and they played better than we did today, Wolves's goal was clearly handball but the officials missed it. City hit the post 3 times. We on the other hand look very disjointed, Firmino hasn't had a pre season and it shows.

Yes we could and should learn to deal with well organised defenses much better...but after what we did last season surely this is only to be expected. I bet there will be many more nights such as these where teams are just going to come to sit tight and to frustrate us,relying on counters to try to snatched something.

Give credit to a much improved back line

Appreciate our perfect start, 3 win out of 3, zero goal conceded

Happy to take another 35 scrappy 1-0 win

Just so glad we have finally learnt how to close games down and utilize effective game management. A strategy that never even raised its head last season 

killerp » Sun Aug 26, 2018 8:28 am wrote:We are winning games where we would normally drop points, until that changes I'm happy. I'll take a consistant 1-0 over the leaky 4-3 victories. Not to mention the city Bugatti not being able to keep up this week.

Too true mate, it was good enough for ManU during their glory years. I take result like that all season if it brings us the holy grail

When United were winning ugly and scrapping those 1-0 wins, we called them efficient and praise their grit while calling our game plan naive. When the results turned, the same group moan and bitch till no end. Some of you just plainly screw my head in some time

Santa » Sun Aug 26, 2018 8:46 am wrote:When United were winning ugly and scrapping those 1-0 wins, we called them efficient and praise their grit while calling our game plan naive. When the results turned, the same group moan and bitch till no end. Some of you just plainly screw my head in some time

Do try to keep up, it's City we are hoping to challenge not United. United's fans want Mourinho out because they know his style of football isn't progressive enough to finish ahead of City over a 9 month race. The way City go about their business no one is going to beat them to the title by nurdling out 1-0 results,
For what it's worth I actually think Guardiola is a bit of a hype job myself (or at least a flat track bully) because he likes to pick the biggest and richest clubs to manage but what I would say about him is that he is very brave in the way he sets his teams up, he often plays with 2 AM's, atm Jurgen won't even play with 1 and that's at home to relegation dodgers.
In the summer I was very confident that we could challenge City but back then i didn't envisage us playing practically the same midfield as last year.
This is Jurgen's first season without Buvac and he is looking a bit conservative in his decision making to me, not just team selection but his substitutes as well, maybe Buvac was the one who urged him to be a bit more progressive, Jurgen was a defender by trade after all. I hope he hasn't surrounded himself with yes men.
It's obviously too early to tell but its something worth keeping an eye on.

killerp » Sun Aug 26, 2018 1:28 am wrote:We are winning games where we would normally drop points, until that changes I'm happy. I'll take a consistant 1-0 over the leaky 4-3 victories. Not to mention the city Bugatti not being able to keep up this week.

City were unlucky, Wolves goal was clearly handball, the fella punched it in the net, City hit the woodwork 3 times and missed a plethora of chances, they played far better than we did and that was without their best player. City dropped points because of the officials not because they played poorly.

Sorry YC whatever your name is but he played Keita yesterday who is an attacking midfielder and he also played with two full backs who were as high as you can get but it doesn’t matter when you are playing against a team who pack their half solid attempting to deny the spaces - we could have played with 28 AM yesterday but it’s going to be hard to break down.

You are quite dismissive of Brighton who went about denying the space very well but still if it wasn’t from a poor finish from Mane , a great save from Ryan and a clear penalty we could have been 3/4 nil up at half time.

The issue with not closing the game out quickly yesterday wasn’t because we played Gini and Milner but because of the way the Brighton back line played - the midfield and backline had a very good game yesterday - the front three didn’t - to continue to point a finger at the midfield shows a complete lack of understand of the way Klopp plays and the improvements from last season - I think in the first 3 League games we won one and conceded 9 was it ?

And then you go on to say City were unlucky to drop points when they couldn’t break down a lower team whilst critical of Liverpool for only winning one nil. Last year City had to battle to get one nil wins against Newcastle , Southampton and and a few one goal difference wins - every single team that wins a title has the ability to grind out a win when needed - that’s something we couldn’t do over the years.

There was a great analysis of how we played on MOTD - may I suggest you watch it to help with your understanding. We have a team and a manager that can challenge City this year - all the teams are going to drop points, City won’t steamroll over all the teams like they did last season and will drop plenty of points -we are right there with them and it’s exciting and a great time to be a Liverpool fan - well apart from you it seems

Lallana in Pyjamas » Sun Aug 26, 2018 1:50 pm wrote:Sorry YC whatever your name is but he played Keita yesterday who is an attacking midfielder and he also played with two full backs who were as high as you can get but it doesn’t matter when you are playing against a team who pack their half solid attempting to deny the spaces - we could have played with 28 AM yesterday but it’s going to be hard to break down.

You are quite dismissive of Brighton who went about denying the space very well but still if it wasn’t from a poor finish from Mane , a great save from Ryan and a clear penalty we could have been 3/4 nil up at half time.

The issue with not closing the game out quickly yesterday wasn’t because we played Gini and Milner but because of the way the Brighton back line played - the midfield and backline had a very good game yesterday - the front three didn’t - to continue to point a finger at the midfield shows a complete lack of understand of the way Klopp plays and the improvements from last season - I think in the first 3 League games we won one and conceded 9 was it ?

And then you go on to say City were unlucky to drop points when they couldn’t break down a lower team whilst critical of Liverpool for only winning one nil. Last year City had to battle to get one nil wins against Newcastle , Southampton and and a few one goal difference wins - every single team that wins a title has the ability to grind out a win when needed - that’s something we couldn’t do over the years.

There was a great analysis of how we played on MOTD - may I suggest you watch it to help with your understanding. We have a team and a manager that can challenge City this year - all the teams are going to drop points, City won’t steamroll over all the teams like they did last season and will drop plenty of points -we are right there with them and it’s exciting and a great time to be a Liverpool fan - well apart from you it seems

In Keita's first interview for the club he describes himself primarily as a defensive midfielder who can also contribute going forward, he is not an AM (his words). Even if he was an AM (which he is not) why did Klopp take him off and bring on Henderson? That's a negative move at home against a team of relegation dodgers, why didn't he do a like for like swap and bring on another AM? 2 water carriers not enough at home against the mighty Brighton?
As I said it's early days yet, maybe he is waiting for Fabinho to be fit before he plays with an out and out AM but for me the early signs aren't good, Jurgen seems a bit conservative in his approach, I just hope Buvac's absence has nothing to do with this gun shy approach. This is Jurgen's first full season without him by his side in 17 years.

Keita is not a defensive midfielder , he is a box to box midfielder who can do all roles but yesterday was playing high close to the front three - which was also an issue because the middle of the park was getting crowded and he was getting into spaces that the front three were trying to find - because Brighton were packing that solidly. So what the team needed to do was not flood the middle up high but look to spread the play with the use of Robertson and AA very high - something explained very well on motd.

But as for the nonsense about water carriers - here is a couple of stats for you about those “water carriers” - Milner played more forward passes in the opposition half than anyone else , remind us again who was pressing high to rob the Brighton player of the ball for our goal - Milner and Gini had more forward dribbles going past more people than anyone else on the pitch and his pass map clearly shows he is far from a water carrier.

For someone to suggest Klopp was being gun shy and conservative confirms your lack of understand of his way of play and also how we played yesterday - the stats show the team were far from conservative and certainly not gun shy - off aim maybe but you make it sound like we were the team sitting deep with 11 men behind the ball and a bank of three sat in front of the CB’s - heat maps will tell you that’s far from the case. You clearly have got pre conceived ideas about our midfield which is baseless - what they do on the pitch proves your theory wrong.