Reg » Thu May 03, 2018 4:28 am wrote:A very different game and not easy to analyse. We got the 2 away goals which were a godsend both at the time and at the end.
LFC didn't use the Fab 3 at more than half pace, it was a midfield/defence game. Things went well until the 3rd goal which was either skillful or fortunate I don't know which. The 4th goal was a joke but could have cost us the tie. Until then we had contained well and blunted their attack to pop-shots from Dzeko.
What concerned me was with 15-20 minutes to go we noticeably changed our tactics from 50/50 attack/defence to 100% defence. We invited them to attack and they scored 2. WTF?
Also, whilst TAA is a young lad and made the expected mistakes of an inexperienced player at this level, with 10-15 to go he was out on his feet. Completely knackered. I didn't want to disrupt the team with substitutes but I was wrong, Roma found us out in the last 15 at both Anfield and Rome. We can't make the same mistake against RM we must rotate before the lads make mistakes and cost us goals.
Otherwise TAA and Robertson were fantastic, Milner was a monster and Gini. Front 3 not called on as much as usual but very pleased to see Mane up for it and for once his finishing was spot on! Karius is growing into the role, clearly not the finished article but that's what you get when you pluck a youngster and play him in the CL semi final...
Overall, this team is running on fumes, the Chelsea game will take more out of us but the squad need to rest. We have a team with no reserves, each individual is critical to the final result. If I'm honest we need a lot of luck to win the final, we're a solid XI but the lack of quality on the bench will show in the later stages of the final when the game will be won or lost. Start praying now. Onwards and Upwards!
Nice analysis Reg. I had a re-watch of the highlights and it seems like the lads just need to do better on focusing and concentration mate. they maybe compromised by their fatigue as you say as well. At 1-2 they were cruising. "Yeah... we got this in contorl" kinda thing. They didn't think that Roma would have much more resistance. Roma's 2nd goal was joint responsibility by TAA, Lovren and the whole midfield. The roma winger skinned TAA alive when he gave him a dribble feint and zoomed passed him. After that Lovren just gave him too much space near the penalty box. Our midfield was too slow in tracking back. There was actually another roma player in acres of space near the centre of our penalty box that no one was covering. So Robertson rushed in cover that guy (that was the midfield's fault not Robertson's; he was an immediate danger for Robertson to warrant leaving his position). The roma winger decides to shoot (which was possible because lovren gave him too much space) instead of passing it to this team mate who previously was left unmarked. However, due to Robertson moving in, the rebound ball landed comfortably to Dzeko not marked by anyone in the box and the rest is history. In that sequence of events I feel that Lovren could do much much better. He is an experienced defender and shouldn't be backing up so quickly to leave the roma's winger with so much space to charge at him.
Their 3rd goal, you can't do much . The penalty, was probably the ref over-compensating on the previous TAA's handball because it was very very soft.
Anyway, Klopp should go over the video with his players and really learn from all these concession of goals near the end of games...
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