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01 Feb 2024 10:56:04
I thought that was a demolition last night; one of the best performances I can recall in recent times. Predictably there is some bleating about penalty decisions but regardless of that, the reality is that Liverpool should have scored six last night and could have scored more like seven or eight. That would not have been an unfair reflection.
If we defend, attack, work, hassle and take care of our quality on the ball on Sunday as well as we did last night, then we could be in a great position by the end of the weekend.
Personally I really hope we stick with Bradley and Gomez for Sunday. That's not to say I think that should be the situation indefinitely (and I'd be happy to see Trent in midfield on Sunday) but right now, Arsenal away doesn't seem like the right match to be changing a back four that has been playing so well. You could see last night - and it's perfectly understandable - that when we changed both full-backs (plus a couple in midfield), we lost some of our shape and organisation.
09 May 2022 10:25:04
City have managed a massive good swing in their last four matches.
We had a comfortable margin at one point but they've won their last four matches 5-0, 5-1, 3-0 and 4-0.
We need to rebalance it, otherwise it effectively means we need City to drop points in two of their last three matches, rather than just one defeat.
RR's banter posts with other poster's replies to RR's banter posts
25 Apr 2024 11:14:05
The players should hang their heads in shame, with the exception of Diaz (who I can't believe we are talking about as a possible exit) and also Alisson who can't be blamed for anything last night.
Derby match, title run in, chance to go back joint top of the table. For some of them, possibly the last chance to win a (or another) league title. And they turn up like that.
I can't absolve Klopp of blame though. How on earth he and the coaching staff could look at recent matches and performances and conclude that Nunez, Salah, Jones and Szoboszlai should play last night is beyond me.
Salah, Nunez and Szoboszlai have been awful lately, actually anonymous in Szoboszlai and Salah's cases. We made some changes for the Fulham match and brought in Gakpo, Jota and Gravenberch and it was the best performance of late, with two of them scoring. Why on earth change it back? There was no reason or justification for Salah, Nunez or Szoboslai to come back in (I know Jota was injured) . Danns could not have done worse and would likely have scored one of those chances had it fallen to him.
Looks like the end of the road for Salah. Nunez I think can still have a role but he can't be the guy we have in front of goal when the big chances fall in the crucial matches. Szoboszlai is almost back to square one. I think he can still be a brilliant player for us but early season Gerrard comparisons seem a long way away. Similar contribution level to Keita of late. Needs to reset for next season.
23 Apr 2024 10:24:00
It feels a bit like there are no really obvious candidates for a new manager. Not just from a Liverpool perspective, but if any other big club was looking for a new manager.
Even Alonso - despite his sensational season in Germany - is very early in his managerial career with limited experience.
Big names of a few years ago like Pochettino and Tuchel seem to have suffered damage to their reputations. Mourinho is yesterday's man. The wave of English players ending their playing careers and moving into management has slowed down (and none of them have had success) .
I know it's very data and analytics driven these days and that's different to the traditional approach of getting the biggest name with the best track record but there just doesn't seem to be so many all-time-great/ legend type of managers out there anymore. Maybe Ancelloti is the last of that generation still standing.
Zidane is out there. His track record is incredible because of those consecutive European Cup wins but I feel like it's hard to really judge him.
Klopp and Guardiola are the big silver-back gorillas of the last decade. Obviously neither is an option.
Who else is out there? I still rate Tuchel actually. There was a time when I saw him as a possible Klopp successor.
20 Mar 2024 09:01:47
That PGMOL audio and Howard Webb explanation for the Doku/ Mac Allister penalty incident is farcical. For a start, in the audio what they're saying is not a reflection of anything that is happening on the screen. It was like they were watching another incident. They said:
"Both high": They weren't; Mac Allister has two feet on the floor and controls the ball on his chest. Not high at any point, not even foot off the floor at any point. On the other hand, Doku is genuinely high. He is jumping with both feet off the floor and the highest of his feet is chest high on a player who is standing upright. Also studs up.
Mac Allister "comes into his space" - what does that even mean? Since when has "coming into his space" been a thing in football? Closing down and tackling is one of the fundamentals of the sport.
Doku "touches it first" - he doesn't. To the on field referee I could see how it might have appeared that way but when you slow it down and look at the replays that VAR were watching, you see that the first touch was Mac Allister's.
Doku "plays the ball" - he gets a very slight touch on it, out of control off his shin, after it's come off Mac Allister's chest and a split second before his studs go into Mac Allister. Anyway, we've been told all season - as explanation for various red cards - that contact on the ball doesn't mean it can't be a foul.
And then Webb repeats it all on TV with all his BS and trained hand gestures, like the David Brent of refereeing. It's astonishing.
In fact, if you were to play that VAR audio over the Gomez/ wan Bissaka incident from Sunday (foul and yellow card against Gomez) it would fit a lot better. High bouncing ball, both come in slightly high (but actually not as high as Doku was on Mac Allister), Gomez gets the ball (more contact on the ball that Doku made) and is just about first to it but his follow through hits wan Bissaka's foot (which is just as high as Gomez) . And if that was a foul and a yellow card, whilst Doku on Mac Allister is not given, that says it all.
I reckon PGMOL are in a position now where they just can't admit any further pivotal errors that go against Liverpool. They are already facing the potential of two binary/ black and white errors that they have admitted (Diaz v Tottenham and Odegaard handball) costing Liverpool the league title and the storm there would be around that. They must be desperate for one team to run away and win it by a comfortable margin.
11 Aug 2023 13:57:32
Oh my. I quite simply have no idea what is going on now but one thing we can conclude from this is that - for the right player - we evidently have at least £111m to spend on a transfer fee over and above the money already spent on Mac Allister and Szoboslazi (and offset to an extent by transfer fees received for Henderson and Fabinho + possibly further outgoings to come) . That is certainly a better position than most of us thought we were in.
This seems to back up the view that the reluctance to go higher on Lavia was about having a view of what he was worth and not being prepared to go above that, rather than not having the money.
Where it gets interesting is the fact that £111m would buy you almost any player who is currently for sale, with the exception of Mbappe, in terms of just the transfer fee. Could have got Rice. Could have got pretty close to Bellingham. Could have Gvardiol with quite a bit to spare. Could have got Tchouameni. Could have got Kane (not suggesting we should have) . That's not to say that any of those players would have wanted to join Liverpool or that we would be willing to pay the salaries they would demand on top of the transfer fee but purely in transfer fee terms, it suggests we can compete for almost any player. Again, perhaps this demonstrates that the money is there (clearly) but that it's only available to be spent on a player who is seen as being as close as possible to a guaranteed game-changer for us.
Was this money always there or was there a sudden change of stance from the owners on how much they would make available for signings? Did Klopp give them an ultimatum? If the money was there and we wanted Caicedo, why wait until the day before the Premier League starts? If Caicedo was the main target and the money was there, they could have wrapped it up for £100m two months ago couldn't they? I have so many questions.
Where now? Back to Lavia? Will Southampton add another £10m now? Regardless, has the flip to Caicedo shown that Liverpool don't see Lavia as the complete player and a ready-to-go option so would it be Lavia + someone else? Gravenberch is a name that keeps coming up. And are we still after a centre half (either with or without Caicedo)?
02 Aug 2023 15:28:53
Looking forward to all of the clean-sheets and defensive solidity once we get these "meaningless friendlies" out of the way and the league starts (in 11 days) .
After all, why would we want to practice defending well and preventing the opposition from scoring when it's just "pointless pre-season". Makes sense to save all of the good defending until the important matches; no doubt we can just switch it on once the league starts.
If you're still comforting yourself with the "pre-season means nothing mindset" I fear you're in for a rude awakening unless something significant happens in the next 11 days (which may well be too late for the first league match now anyway) .