A little more important than the Community Shield but not important enough to spend too much effort on with another league game 3 days later. How does Klopp treat it?
We have a league match away at Southampton's, making these three matches in 8 days. I appreciate that we need to win the next match but this is the least important of the three. A tough call but this one calls for judicious juggling of resources . At least we now know why the likes of Oxlade-Chamberlain, Matip and Keita did not start the match against Norwich.
We could make several changes and give starts to Keita, Matip, Milner, and Shaqiri and still field a very strong lineup. Ox and Lallana will want to be involved also. While we may consider the Southampton game the more important one, some of our players may disagree. They came to Liverpool to be on the world stage and this is a game that Salah, Firmino, and Mane will all want to play in.
Then WTF are we playing a domestic cup match in a foreign far away country. I'll bet the good folk of Istanbul will be taking the day off work to pack the stadium to see how the Engerlish game is really played.
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp 'instructed by Reds owners to prioritise Premier League and Champions League over domestic cup competitions' Full Story: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...ioritise-Premier-League-Champions-League.html
They won't be as bad - but they looked terrible today after the first 5 minutes. They will play Pulisic and Kante from the start though. That should immediately make them better.
Chelsea looked weak at both ends of the park. Cb's were awful especially Zouma and I think they lack a potent threat up top. Neither Abrahams or Giroud offer much of a threat. Only one game but long may it continue.
Realistically LFC should tear this Chelsea apart. Kante might have something to say about that though. If LFC are mindful of the counter and are able to cover/transition effectively, this is an easy win.
Had those couple of shots that hit the post had gone in. Things could have been different. Then DeGea had a bit to say about the result I won't count them out yet.
Ehhh two hard shot were staring at de gea. I don’t think he made a “big” save - not that I can recall.
I have to agree-- Chelsea wan't that bad but made too many mistakes in key areas.. I think Chelsea will need to be patient with many of its young players. Christensen, Zouma at the back and Abraham and Mount further forward need to be persevered with if this experiment with Lampard as head coach is to succeed. Pulisic and Kante will definitely add more quality.
Which is funny as Batshuayi is their best striker - he has scored goals everywhere he has been given playing time.
I had forgotten about the sale of Hazard. Allied to the transfer ban and his absence, this game is set up perfectly for the talents of Fabinho. He would patrol in front of the back 4 chewing up everything Chelsea try to bring through the center, knowing that without Hazard to orchestrate, he’ll have plenty of time. Having said that, I can see Klopp playing Lallana there to get him game time.
Chelsea were fine in the first 20 minutes but their central defenders were awful Zouma was atrocious Unfortunately for us it gives them a chance to adjust and fix those errors. Not sure if Rudiger is fit but if he is then he can replace Zouma Without Hazard they looked toothless up front I would like to see us play high tempo first half and get a couple of goals so we can rest and sub players second half I do want us to win this trophy even more so cos it’s against Chelsea I suppose
right now I really couldn't give a crap about this. I wish we weren't playing. I sure as hell don't want to get to the end of the season saying "we won the Super Cup!!" ... whereas playing for the SuperCup could hinder our chances elsewhere if a key player gets banged up badly. the only positive thing about it is it will help improve fitness I guess. and it's happening now and not in December. of course, once the game starts I'll be glued to the screen as usual and sweating every detail.......
He played like 25 minutes or something. I assume Lampard didn’t want his first start being away at ManU. Ease him in to reduce pressure.
He came on for 35 mins. In any case - I think rotation gives us this: Mane---Origi---Brewster Keita--Lallana--Ox Milner---VVD--Matip---Gomez ------Adrian------ Lonergan, Salah, Firmino, Henderson, Wijnadlum, Fabinho, Lovren, AA, Robertson, Hoever Maybe too much rotation there.
I don't think this required much "instructing" (and I doubt much occurred). Klopp played weakened squads in the brief League Cup and FA Cup campaigns last season. Who in their right mind would think Klopp's attitude this year would be, "Screw the league, I want the League Cup!"? Our participation in the club world cup means that we'll have a bunch of make-up games to add to the already congested winter schedule. The domestic cups aren't worth the effort this year.