red till i die!! » Thu Oct 04, 2018 9:38 am wrote:We did go into that game as RBG says with the intention of inviting them on to us so we could counter. Klopp basically said as much after the game when he criticised Mane and Firmino for holding on to the ball to long and the chance disappears. No one is saying it but that team misses Coutinho more than anyone will admit.
Napoli were well wise to us and tactically they were spot on. They pressed high and exposed the space the full backs leave and were the better team. They contested every ball from K.O and were physically stronger in the challenge which left our lads reeling. They dominated the midfield and left us chasing shadows while they pressured our defence with constant attacks and if it weren't for Allisson and Gomez the game would have been well over by the 60th minute. It wasn't though and Ancellotti reacted by bringing on subs to change it for them and it worked.
We almost got out of there with a point which would have been a good result considering how we played and set up to play.
That is 2 losses and a draw in the space of a week so I think its safe to say we are in a bit of a blip. All 3 games seen us have less possession than the opposition with it in the low 40's. Chances created are a lot less with last night resulting with not 1 shot on target. The front 3 were terrible and looked like they only just met each other on the pitch as they couldn't link up a simple pass to each other. Salahs form has noticeably dropped but the other two look really poor. Firmino has been poor since the season started and Mane while being the best out of them has also struggled with his decision making.
City next and then those poxy international games for Sky. Jurgen needs to persuade Firmino, Salah and Mane to sit them out.
Yep, good post.
We are missing a creative player big time, we have one at the club (Shaquiri) but Jurgen obviously doesn't trust him defensively. You make a good point about Napoli's physicality as well, they basically bullied our MF, I lost count of the number of times one of our players ended up on their @rse.
Last year teams were wary of pressing us because we were so devastating on the break but yesterday Napoli were all over us like a rash, we just didn't have the footballing ability in our midfield to cope, most of our passing moves ended up back at Alisson's feet, when pressed our players just went backwards.
Our team is a bit of a one trick pony in the sense that it is built around our front 3, if our forward line is misfiring we don't have much else to offer, we haven't got a midfielder who is going to save the day by sticking it in the top corner from 25 yards a la Steve McMahon or Jan Molby.
The only bright spot from yesterday was the performances of Gomez, VVD and Alisson, we would have been hammered there last night if it wasn't for those 3.
You and me both kidda ,we miss Lee starting us off ,plus they can be funny as f*ck 
