PBP: EPL - Liverpool FC vs Manchester United FC - Oct 14, 2017 [R]

he's not being made into a scapegoat. he was just very, very bad today and overrated on this board in general. everything you've said should apply to matic's psyche as well, no? herrera is just not good enough to be a central player for united. we'll need a real deputy for matic and pogba next year.

 

Yep, every player (DDG excluded) was poor...because of Mourinho's tactics.

 

Herrera and Miki were both disappointing today. And while I'm not overly concerned by Herrera's poor game, I am worried about Miki at this point frankly.
It's becoming increasingly obvious that Herrera is much more comfortable in a midfield 3, as opposed to a 2, especially when he plays next to a pure 6, like Matic. And to be fair, it's pretty clear also that he was tasked with a very defensive and limited role. Nevertheless, he wasn't at his best today.
Miki though went completely MIA and was entirely peripheral. It's becoming a trend too and a worrisome one at that.
For some reason, he still has not been able to get going, whether he's played at the 10 centrally or on the right. He'll get the season obviously, but we should not be surprised if the chatter about Jose wanting Ozil (especially when he'll be available for free at the end of the year, therefore giving him license to spend big on a right sided forward hopefully), gathers pace as the season goes on. Hopefully though, Miki can get it together and start producing consistently the way we know he can. Right now, he's the perfect example of a player whose stats are not really indicative of his actual performance level.

 

There are 2 moments that sum this game up for me. TWICE in the first half the commentators were singing the praises of a fantastic tackle and tracking by MARTIAL near our own corner flag. Martial??? He should be one of our outlets...instead Mourinho asks the back 4 to squeeze in and for the wingers\wingforwards to become full backs. That's the job of the full back to sort and the defenders to just do their job. FFS if you want to play defensive and counter....DONT pull your entire team back.

Even the very few occassions we had possession, there was 1 man utd player in the box when the we had a player out wide. I don't blame a single player for that performance....Mourinho failed to play to our players strengths.

 

Herrera is technical and our best short passer. He could work with Pogba, but he wouldn't get the most out of Pogba because Pogba isn't a CM, he deserts CM pretty early and often. Fellaini isn't a midfielder capable of playing for United. I think he could work next to Matic with a proper 10 ahead of them, but when would we see that? Mkhi was horrendous today and even if he wasn't we had no outlets and there was a clear instruction to hit the ball long as soon as we got it.

 

919175827706843136 is not a valid tweet id

 

GNev's take on the game.

www.skysports.com/football/news/29326/11081799/gary-nevilles-verdict-on-liverpool-and-man-utds-goalless-draw

 

This is not your fathers Liverpool. Grabbing a point at Anfield would have been a feat in the 70's and 80's. Today we lost 2 points and 5 goals against our title rival.

 

[emoji51]

Jose Mourinho came with a plan, and it worked 🤷‍♂️ pic.twitter.com/kguy24unnr

— B/R Football (@brfootball) October 14, 2017

 

Yes, but we were also missing our best player and his direct replacement, another key starter and a rotation player had a fitness question and we had a back up in a position of need out as well. Let's not pretend we went there at full strength.

 

Yes, they were short Mane but wasn't he the only key player out for Liverpool? As for form going in, the international break interrupted that form. But that form, if we're going to be honest, was shown mostly against ghastly opposition.

As for the impact that the international break has, or at least can have, on top clubs, check out Chelsea and Arsenal.

This was our first real test of the season and without key players and sporting a suspect combo of Jones/Smalling it was never a sure bet that we'd keep a clean sheet away against a top six club. We of course did keep a clean sheet, limiting Liverpool to only one decent shot on goal, but when we looked at the starting XIs most of us would have been forgiven for fearing at least one Liverpool, who had beaten Arsenal 4-0 on the same ground, goal.

The importance of not risking defeat to Liverpool under the present circumstances should not be understated.

If we set to defend and counter against Huddersfield, however, I will condemn the Mourinho for botching a good chance.

 

Not sure if you are cheekily playing devils advocate cause you do that sometimes where you are bored methinks, but you are not trying to imply this is a happy result are you???? We werent playing Barca with Messi in fine mettle out there.

 

I understand being defensive in big games away from home, but this Pool aide we're not the ones to do it against. Our offense has been rolling and their back line is a joke. Without Mane the counter threat is much less and it was disappointing we didn't go for it.

Now away at City I would have had no problem with these tactics.

 

Did Jose get his tactics right vs Pool?

www.skysports.com/football/news/11095/11082221/did-jose-mourinho-get-his-tactics-right-against-liverpool-the-sunday-supplement-panel-discuss

 

I'm being a realist. We fished outside the top 4 three out of the last four years. Mourinho is a reactive, pragmatic manager. I was under no illusions when he came and while I don't like his approach any more than most of you do, I understand that it will have some success and I expect us to challenge for the title this year. We would have challenged last year with any luck at all (xG says so) and I'm of the opinion that with a Europa cup win last year and a decent performance (hopefully) this year in the CL and possible title challenge, we will be laying the foundation for a return to winning ways. I don't expect the path back to be easy.

When Jose leaves (2020 at the latest) we need to have a few good seasons to be able to continue to recruit well and be attractive to a quality manager.

 

Tactics we're not the issue, it was the execution on the pitch that hindered us yesterday. All the outfield players we're poor yesterday and DDG saved our asses once again. Not an excuse but our two worst performances this year have come after the international break.

 

The performances on the pitch were poor, we're in agreement there. But I also believe that if Jose had gone with a 3 at the back formation and therefore had the wingbacks providing support as he clearly planned, it probably would have helped the team's offensive output as well.
From that point of view it was an opportunity missed and a bit of a disappointment. But as mentioned yesterday, big picture wise, leaving Anfield with a point is nowhere near as bad as it's being made out to be in some quarters...

 

That's the thing that was bothering me while watching the match. Their form right now isn't good, their defense has been suspect since last season. I was hoping we would go at them but when I reminded myself of who we have as manager the performance yesterday was no surprise

 

i mean, just the fact that mourinho started young on the right wing tells you all you need to know about his approach.

 

Why? At the moment, AY is a more dynamic option than Mata or more effective than Miki.
Let's hope that's he's learning that fact ahead of next summer. Not attending to our right side, will be neglect of the first order. Should have been done this past summer.