Everything's been said already...watched the game at an Arsenal bar with some "friends" only the two of us and a couple others supporting the Reds - but we were happy for the first 50 minutes of the game... Typical Liverpool...go ahead - boss the game - then collapse. Feels like we dropped two points, while Arsenal feels like they rescued one...
Had an appointment and had to run out after the first half - glad I missed the rest of the game I guess. Thought we were playing Arse off the park; but the side is a work in progress in midfield and defense so no result is guaranteed. We're going in the right direction.
I just want to know what happened to Mane's form? He doesn't belong in the fab 4, would've subbed him out at the half for Ox. We know that Mings and the defense is almost always good to gift the opposition a goal or 3 but we could've walked into the half with a 3-nil lead and Arse would've been done for. Instead, we can't finish our chances and let Arse back into the match. We've seen this match many times and that's probably the difference between us and Citeh. 6pts dropped because we couldn't finish matches off. Need some leadership on the pitch to fix it.
Mane has made some poor decisions and wasted some big chances in recent games. However, he has still been a constant threat and he is constantly getting himself into positions where he can score a goal. The chance he missed against Everton was something that he created out of nothing from his brilliant play. He made a terrible decision, but there would have been no chance at all without him. I would be more concerned if he was creating nothing at all and not finding himself in these positions. I think the Everton game has affected him mentally and he just needs a goal to get his confidence back. He is absolutely one of the Fab Four. For the first month of the season he was easily our best player.
Since klopp has come to liverpool he has given up 43 points from winning positions........ which is the worst in europe
and yet we've been to 2 cup finals, are in the CL again after his 1st full season and the CL knockout stages, and are in 4th at Christmas - in his essentially 2 seasons here. team is still a work in progress with an upward trajectory that most everyone can see - except for "pundits" who are paid to be controversial. do we need some tweaks, especially in the back 4 and goalie - yes. no one is doubting that.
He let Özil waltz past him then stared as he received a reverse pass to score. That third goal was all on the midfielders not tracking runners,
We certainly need him, but we need a Can and Henderson upgrade as well, and Lallana is turning 30. Gini is a good player and will do the job but isn't going to get any better than he currently is. Milner will be 32 in Jan. Which would mean next season we'd have: Keita (would need to hit the ground running and have Kante like impact) Ox (seems to be growing) Henderson - 28 (oft injured and sort of limited) Lallana - 30 (oft injured - fortunately isn't a pace reliant player) Gini - 28 (ball recycler) Milner - headed to 33 (Jan) Leaving the whole Coutinho thing out.
These games often are decided by which team makes the least mistakes and ours certainly cost us yesterday. However , Arsenal deserve a lot of credit for the way they fought back after going down by two . While I believe we're a better side than them Arsenal still have enough attacking quality to hurt most teams .They certainly put us under some intense pressure in that second half and forced mistakes out of us at the back. It was a bit of a "Istanbul " in reverse as we had our five minutes of madness after looking so comfortable in most of the match until then. It's amazing how a game can turn as the momentum shifts on a goal. I don't think there are any easy solutions to this right now. The character of our team is all fast flowing attacking football and the squad is heavily weighted with those type of players . The main problem for me is that the squad in general lacks enough defensive nous and when we come under real pressure we tend to crack in the form of individual errors. It's not a fatal problem but rather a character flaw for me. The other side of the coin is that in attack we're so entertaining and exciting to watch and while Jurgen has nailed that aspect he's yet to find that defensive counterweight. Perhaps more strength and improvement through the spine, a better keeper, a solid cb , a dominant cmf'er who can put his foot on the ball and slow the game when we need to. Should be easy to find, eh
Lacking a first rate keeper bites A-Arnold; Woodburn;...I'm forgetting someone? Grujic, that's the one. You don't rate any of these three?
I didn't get home until late, then NBC in their wisdom cut the first 9 minutes of the game. So I was just in time to see Hendo limp off. Once Milner settled in our first half really took off. We bossed the midfield forced the arse into all kinds of stupid passes. I mean we looked like this was going to be another big scoring match, for us. Except we couldn't score. Mane has lost all confidence. A couple of times he had shots on but was too paranoid and made poor attemps to square the ball. Mo missed a one on one with the keeper like in his early days. So many missed chances. The second half was roll reversal of the two midfields, then after they scored our defence came apart. Then just as we start to recover Mings f***s up , totally misjudges the pace and flight of the ball and sets us up mentally for that 3rd goal. To our credit. We did recover our composure, somewhat. To pull off the draw and almost the win. Put me in a foul mood for a while last night. It's a good job we don't have a cat. I hate cats anyway. Someone might look at the score and say a draw, away, against the arse was ok. It's not! We threw it away.
Migs needs to sit. These stats don't lie. https://www.thisisanfield.com/2017/12/key-stat-highlights-liverpools-big-problem-simon-mignolet/
That was our eighth draw, so far, this season. That's 16 points just tossed away. 16 points, yeah we're still in 4th spot but just imagine
As I have said previously, Mignolet is too old to get any better so we might as well invest the minutes in Karius or Ward.
Those are some glaring stats. It could be that he is unlucky and all the shots that he faces are in the corner. It could be that he makes the same amount of mistakes as other keepers and his mistakes are just more talked about. However, the perception certainly is that he makes many costly mistakes and can’t be trusted. Perception matters for a goalkeeper, because he is the one that sets the tone for the defense and gives them confidence. Every time Mingolet flaps at a ball on a cross, goes on an adventure with the ball his feet, or fails to make proper contact on a kick it affects the mentality of the entire team. No matter how many good games he has, the fans and his teammates will always know that it’s just a matter of time before his next mistake. With Mingolet, one mistake always leads to another. I like him, and he sometimes has a run of form that convinces me that he is good enough, but when you’re looking reasons why we don’t get the results we deserve, the goalkeeper might be a big part of it.
AA isn’t a midfielder, Woodburn is 18, Grujic can’t get a game. AA is awesome. Woodburn is going to be awesome. Grujic looks like he has some skills. Unlikely the last 2 are ready for major impact yet.
excellent analysis. there have been games when he has definitely saved points, but they are few and far between unfortunately. I think he's run he's course with us and will go at the end of the season.
last seen doing the shopping in Liverpool, where he was stopped on the street by an interviewer asking people about derby matches. the kid had no clue who he was talking to and thought Tommy was a nutter. bloody hilarious.
his head is definitely out to lunch recently. I've loved him since his first game for us but the total selfishness vs Bitters followed by the total selfishness trying that ludicrous scissor kick yesterday -- he's (likely, possibly, probably?) cost us 4 points all by himself by not thinking straight in the past month. yesterday he should have come off at half time, apart from the miss he was giving the ball away constantly. I hate to say it but he's a liability at the moment.