Liverpool FC Forum

Feck, they are always our bogey team.

FT: Palace 2-1 Liverpool

I have nothing more to say...so much quality, so little to show. Fucked by a last kick of the match...guessed we lived by the sword, we die by the sword. Thanks Ekitike

Well, we deserved to take a point tbh but it is what it is. Lost with the final kick of the ball ffs.

Awful display and we deserved to lose. I did think Kerkez got shoved in the back on that last goal but we didnt deserve anything from that. We were so slow in possession and lacked any creativity all over the park.. on top of that we looked vulnerable at the back. So frustrating as we could have built a good lead at the top and put real pressure on Arsenal tomorrow.

No one has ever won all 42/38 games and hopefully no one ever will, don't want the league to become an uncompetitive joke, every campaign has it's up's and downs and long may that continue, plus lets face it if we are brutally honest with ourselves we are lucky to have the points on the board that we've got, we haven''t played well all season.
FWIW i think the manager needs to stop picking players on reputation and start playing them based on form, Macca is one of the best midfielders in the world everyone knows that but atm he's struggling, he had a niggling injury which disrupted his pre-season and it's showing, he's clearly struggling for form, there's no shame in that, it's a natural part of being a footballer, hell Maradona, Pele, Zidane, Puskas, uncle Tom Cobley you name it had periods where they weren't at their best, that's why you have a squad. Chiesa is bang in form atm, Mo Salah is not, they both play the same position, it's an easy decision to make or at least it should be....

Salah hasn't been on form since Ramadan. Hes coasting through games without doing much.. he should have squared that chance he had to Isak for a tap in aswell.

That was absolutely shyte if we are being honest and they deserved all 3 points. Ali kept us in it for most of the game as we gave up way to many chances. Extremely slow at moving the ball up the field which plays right into the hands of a side looking to low block. Sooner or later a performance like that will cost us which it did today.

Far too many lads off it today for us. Konate, Salah and Wirtz were poor. I was hoping we would be a bit sharper up front today as well but the balance still looks wrong.  Knew this game would be tough but kinda hoped we would outshine them or at least not be fighting till the last minute for a win. Not the end of the world anyway but till disappointed we lost.

Salah is an absolute legend and in the GOAT PL player conversation HOWEVER at the moment he needs to be benched - period.
If a manager makes any player "undroppable" despite his performances he deserves all the criticism that comes his way.

Prime Salah was in the undroppable category - the current version needs to fight for his place as he is not anywhere near the level required for us to be PL champions again.
I would start Chiesa over him for at least the next two games and bring Mo on at 65-70 mins to prove he still belongs in the first XI

For now our starting XI needs to be

                                     Allison

                     Dom    Konate VVD   Robbo
                             Grav   Jones

                                Wirtz
                      Chiesa    Isak    Ekitike

If it’s any consolation it reminded me of losing to Forest last year and up until that point we were not blowing teams away either.

The Salah question is an interesting one as he has been awful and he’s not pressing. It must be something about his contract as I cannot believe Slot is afraid to upset him, this is the man that subbed Quansah in the first half and happily called  Ekitike’s two yellow card “stupid”. Salah clearly needs to be benched for a couple of matches to get the anger and fire back in him.

Wirtz seems to be our new Coutinho, looking good on the eyes but leaves us more vulnerable defensively, I’m not sure him in a three man midfield is solid enough. I hate to say it but we have lost our main playmaker in Trent and no one has really taken up the responsibility.

My biggest worry is our inability to to stop conceding goals, the best defense usually wins the title and that does not look like us so far. If I was a betting man I’d say it may finally be Arsenal’s year as they look more solid defensively than us. Hopefully we improve and they do an Arsenal.

kazza » Sat Sep 27, 2025 7:07 pm wrote:If it’s any consolation it reminded me of losing to Forest last year and up until that point we were not blowing teams away either.

The Salah question is an interesting one as he has been awful and he’s not pressing. It must be something about his contract as I cannot believe Slot is afraid to upset him, this is the man that subbed Quansah in the first half and happily called  Ekitike’s two yellow card “stupid”. Salah clearly needs to be benched for a couple of matches to get the anger and fire back in him.

Wirtz seems to be our new Coutinho, looking good on the eyes but leaves us more vulnerable defensively, I’m not sure him in a three man midfield is solid enough. I hate to say it but we have lost our main playmaker in Trent and no one has really taken up the responsibility.

My biggest worry is our inability to to stop conceding goals, the best defense usually wins the title and that does not look like us so far. If I was a betting man I’d say it may finally be Arsenal’s year as they look more solid defensively than us. Hopefully we improve and they do an Arsenal.

I agree that Wirtz may make us look vulnerable defensively so I was thinking that Grav and Jones would provide a double pivot shielding/ helping out the back four.

WIth Robbo and Dom it would be one bombing on and the other sitting back depending on which side we are attacking on. We need to stop conceding and with the front 3 of Isak, Ekitike and Chiesa (Wirtz as the AM) we would score for fun IMO

We are 2nd in goals scored and 10th in goals against….that form is not going to win the title.

Yup defense wins you titles, unless we are planning on outscoring the opponents all the time which isn't realistic. The first 5 wins papered over the cracks and Palace showed us yesterday. We've got new faces and it definitely feels like we are still figuring things out.

We needed this reality check, you can't keep relying on getting results at the end of a game.

Allison saved us yesterday from being a larger defeat. Slot also needs to grow some cohones and drop Salah. I.d consider playing Chiesa next game, he looks hungry and eager to prove his quality.

Funny how it was Guehi who provided the asist to Nketiah.

With Salah and Gakpo not in fantastic form, should we try Virg, Konate and Grav dropping in as a back 3 when teams attack us, play Kerkez and Frimpong as Wingbacks.. Have Szoboszlai and Macca as the CMs with Wirtz and the CAM.. then play Ekitike and Isak as the front 2?

Its something we should look at tbh because Kerkez and Frimpong have pace and directness as at the moment both Salah and Gakpo receive the ball at their feet and haven't got the pace to do any damage against the low block.

Playing Dom in Trent's old position where he has the freedom to drift inside is not ideal but it would allow us to get as many of our big hitters on the pitch as possible. Mo so needs dropping it's unfunny as well, when you are struggling defensively the last thing you need is someone waiving a doctors note around saying they don't have to run, when you are leaky at the back you need everyone and i mean everyone rolling their sleeves up and helping the defence out, an all hands to the pump job, despite our summer signings we aren't good enough to carry passengers. Will dropping Mo solve our defensive issue's? Of course it wont but having 10 outfield players tracking back working hard for the team instead of 9 will obviously help. 
Brendan was a decade younger than Arne when he managed us yet he found the balls to drop Gerrard, in fact he had to deal with the end of both Gerrard and Carraghers Liverpool careers. Arne needs to man the ***** up, everyone loves him everyone wants to see him do well and everyone wants him to be our manager for the next decade but the truth is if he's scared of making big decisions he's in the wrong job. We've been awful since the season started, he needs to do something other than hope for the best.

My gut tells me it is less about Slot’s balls and more about Salah’s contract, it has to be. It went to the wire and he looked like he was leaving, and that after a great season so I’m sure concessions were made. It seems more likely that he put a ‘if I’m fit, I play” into his contract than Slot not wanting to upset Salah. I’m almost excited about him leaving to play in AFCON so I can see what we will look like without him. I appreciate everything he’s done but if he’s not going to graft then he shouldn’t play. It’s about football and not sentimentality.