Liverpool FC Forum

A very bad game, and our NIVEA MEN boys were really soft like a cream. They did managed to get rid of the mental block of first half an excellent defensive display in second half and should have really won it but only for the negativity of Henderson!, how this player is a skipper of the team is beyond me!  More than once almost the whole team was on the attack and he passes the ball back to the keeper! rather than keep the pressure on. I thought Coutinho man of the match. Sturridge was Sh*t.. We don't have in form strikers at present.

We did go backwards a lot last night, another thing noticeable was how we found it hard to build from the back, Lovren and Matip are doing a decent job defensively but imo we are missing Sakho's ability to thread the ball through into midfield.

Having Lallana and Wijnaldum either side of Henderson has worked well this season. Unlike Henderson and Can, they can both receive the ball in small pockets in the middle third of the pitch and turn on it. Can and Henderson were just getting in each others space yesterday. Can naturally likes to occupy the space that Henderson was sitting in yesterday. I don't really like both of them in the team if we're playing this system but hands were tied yesterday.

algymoon » Tue Oct 18, 2016 8:56 am wrote:A very bad game, and our NIVEA MEN boys were really soft like a cream. They did managed to get rid of the mental block of first half an excellent defensive display in second half and should have really won it but only for the negativity of Henderson!, how this player is a skipper of the team is beyond me!  More than once almost the whole team was on the attack and he passes the ball back to the keeper! rather than keep the pressure on. I thought Coutinho man of the match. Sturridge was Sh*t.. We don't have in form strikers at present.

Totally agree . Coutinho was the only thing that looked as if it had a heartbeat in that first half.
And Henderson  useless...so negative - shouldnt be near the first 11

Id wish we would be so less predictable. Mix it up. A few long balls over the top or something ..anything
This playing great for 10-15  minutes then sinking into a slumber has been going on for 2 seasons

Mikz » Tue Oct 18, 2016 12:05 pm wrote:

algymoon » Tue Oct 18, 2016 8:56 am wrote:A very bad game, and our NIVEA MEN boys were really soft like a cream. They did managed to get rid of the mental block of first half an excellent defensive display in second half and should have really won it but only for the negativity of Henderson!, how this player is a skipper of the team is beyond me!  More than once almost the whole team was on the attack and he passes the ball back to the keeper! rather than keep the pressure on. I thought Coutinho man of the match. Sturridge was Sh*t.. We don't have in form strikers at present.

Totally agree . Coutinho was the only thing that looked as if it had a heartbeat in that first half.
And Henderson  useless...so negative - shouldnt be near the first 11

Id wish we would be so less predictable. Mix it up. A few long balls over the top or something ..anything
This playing great for 10-15  minutes then sinking into a slumber has been going on for 2 seasons

He did pass it back a lot but I think he was forced to on many occasions because of the 6-3-1 defence of United and the lack of off the ball movement of our players. I don't think Hollywood balls and loss of possession would have helped.

There were many I'd list for criticism before Hendo but I'm not too worried about last night. We've 17pts from 8 games which is title contender form, we've come through a hard run and now have a dream fixture list until New Years Eve, if we hit form we could be top by then. We've no European games to complicate things and interestingly the second-half of the seasons fixture list is similar to the first, with all our tough games earlier on. Sky had us second favourites after City today, 9-2 I think.

United didn't come to win this one they came to not lose it .

Fair play to them, they killed the game and we just weren't smart enough to take advantage of the possession their tactics gave us.

For an hour we were dire, when he came on Lallana made a massive difference, it seemed to galvanise the side but too little too late.

As Klopp said "At least we kept a clean sheet, yippee "   

Given how the whole dynamic of the side changed when Sturridge went off and Lalanna came on I'm thinking the club might just be thinking maybe they should cash in on Sturridge next summer while his value is still relatively high.
I've gotta a feeling that Kloppo wouldn't have a problem with this.

Pig Catcher » Tue Oct 18, 2016 11:20 am wrote:Having Lallana and Wijnaldum either side of Henderson has worked well this season. Unlike Henderson and Can, they can both receive the ball in small pockets in the middle third of the pitch and turn on it. Can and Henderson were just getting in each others space yesterday. Can naturally likes to occupy the space that Henderson was sitting in yesterday. I don't really like both of them in the team if we're playing this system but hands were tied yesterday.

Rewatched the game and agree. Think we were poor in central midfield. Henderson and Can are too slow in shifting the ball. It's one or the other for me.

Utd were making it physical in there and neither Hendo or Can have the slickness to play around the physical stuff Utd were using.

Needed someone in there fleet of foot to keep things flowing but we get bogged down when both Can and Hendo play.

It really was a pigs ear of a game to be honest.

Cold light of day United do have the most expensive team in the world so to serve up that is poor from them, and frankly the United fans wont put up with that dross for long.

So frustrating when it was there for the taking, we really must learn how to win when a teams doesnt permit our free flowing football to dominate proceedings.

We do have the makings of a very good side, a young exciting outfit that can take on anyone, but my worry is that we are still 2 or 3 top draw players from being the real deal and another nearly season is one too many for me.

[quote="parchpea » Tue Oct 18, 2016 11:46 pm"
We do have the makings of a very good side, a young exciting outfit that can take on anyone, but my worry is that we are still 2 or 3 top draw players from being the real deal and another nearly season is one too many for me.[/quote]

Agree. Jut imagine if we had Ibra in our team....

Reg » Tue Oct 18, 2016 5:42 pm wrote:[quote="parchpea » Tue Oct 18, 2016 11:46 pm"
We do have the makings of a very good side, a young exciting outfit that can take on anyone, but my worry is that we are still 2 or 3 top draw players from being the real deal and another nearly season is one too many for me.

Agree. Jut imagine if we had Ibra in our team.... [/quote]

Ibrahimovic doesn't move, would never be suited to the way we play. Think the real question is, imagine how we would be if Klopp had Suarez up front. Suarez in this team under Klopp would scare the pants of every team in Europe let alone in England

I think that international break knocked the momentum out of us    Mourinho will always play anti-football against the decent sides so not surprised he set them up the way he did. The problem was that we had no answer to it.

Also Sturridge looks poor in that system. He is the best finisher at the club and klopp needs to devise a system that gets him back to what he does best. It isn't working playing firmino up front and Origi is a poor substitute. I don't know what it is that Ings has to do to get a run out but I wish he would find out soon and give us another option.

The league was never going to be won or lost in that game but it was a golden opportunity to send out a message that we want to win the league. In the end it was just another big game where we failed to show up in and as much as the team has improved, that winning mentality is still absent in a lot of our lads.