Origi isnt being given a chance. We are playing three non-strikers up top wwith only Mane having a solid goalscoring record. Hes young and has a goal every 4 games for us which sounds bad but half of those appearances have to be Coutinho needs to be in the middle of the park! How more obvious can this be? Why are we shunting our small, not so pacey and highest-paid player and best passer out on the left wing? We were much better with him in the middle.
This loss is on Klopp.16 days to prepare and he gives us this shit. I was unhappy with Firmino's play last game and got a reply that he did everything but score. Well if your center forward isn't scoring what the f...k good is he. Put him in midfield and let someone else play up top. Every time someone passes the ball to him in the box it bounces off his feet 10 feet. People are complaining about Origi but how can you do that when he gets such little playing time never mind his age. I will be absolutely shocked if we made top 4 in the next 3 years never mind the tittle. We won't make it this year and ManU might along with moving ahead of us as the most decorated team. Oh and yes the sky is falling down!
Based on the view from behind the goal, there is no way he could have seen it in time as there were at least half a dozen bodies in the way .......
True, there were players in the way but he was looking around the cluster of players and did see the ball coming towards him from a distance.....and it was at a good hight
It is obvious that Klopp is insisting on keeping the same tactics that he started with. It can be argued that the execution by the players of this plan is not working but it is high time he either tweaks it or changes the whole system. Having Firmino, Lallana, and Coutinho at the same time does not make sense. Although they are very different players bringing different things to the team I feel only two of these should start for away games. It is vital for a team to have players that can play well in a number of roles and their ability to interchange can be beneficial if the whole team was on the same wavelength. Unfortunately for these 3 players who create and create we have no one to execute their work. The number of times we had the ball none of them was willing to make a move or receive the ball. The distance between them was too far and wide. Milner keeps on crossing the ball. To no one. Why do we keep crossing the ball. We can have 1000 corners and only a Lucas attempt on goal to show for it. Am I done with Can? Not sure about this but since there is no one to challenge for his position he will start. We had a Matip and Lucas partnership. Gomez and Klavan are not trusted. Sakho plays for Crystal Palace and we had a window to fix this. Whether is it the reluctance to spend or the stubborness of Klopp this cannot continue. Again and again we put all our eggs in the Mane basket. Expect him to do all the work. If it is not the keepers messing up, its the defense. If it is not the defense, it is the midfield not showing up, if it is none of those it is our inability to score or finish a game off. There is some mental barrier here. Bottlers? Cowards? Spineless? I cannot even begin to describe them.
Yep, I've thought the same as I've watched our ineffective predictable play since the new year. Teams seem well aware of our set up and style of play and we watched even the lowest placed clubs turn us over. I think Klopp needed to buy in Jan , we didn't and I think we also needed to tweak formations/tactics etc . I can recall Rafa changing his tactics depending on who we played on the day. Klopp on the other hand seems single minded in his approach with our attacking, posession based 433 set up. I love Klopp and I've not lost faith in him but what we've been doing has clearly not been effective for two months now , we're too predictable .
Spending big does not always equal title winning team. Smart spending and effective tactics that match your talent does. Look at the team that won it last year and just smoked us last night. Last season they won primarily based on countering with Vardy's speed, a good ball winning midfield, stubborn, effective defending and timely saves when required. When that formula no longer worked, they fired the manager and got the players' attention. On the other end of the spending spectrum, look at City. They've got money to burn and aren't winning titles every year in a landslide - even with arguably the best manager in the world this year. Giving Klopp an open checkbook isn't the problem for me. He's always been about buy low/develop/sell high and didn't spend big at Dortmund. I wouldn't expect him to spend big at Liverpool. It's about getting back to basics and lighting a fire under the current team to play like they did the bulk of the fall. The talent is there; heart and execution at the moment is not.
reasonable points - but let's remember last year Leicester had nothing to contend with in terms of extra games and certainly no expectations. Citeh - they are competing in 4 competitions regularly - and even with Pep's rough introduction to the PL - having bags of talent available to him has helped smooth things over as the year progresses. I agree we aren't going to spend - but we need serious additions to the team that are also quality - whether that's a mix of hidden gems and big money or what - I don't know. But I do know that the talent we have isn't enough at all.
I am going to deviate from this match but this is the reality of the club at the moment. We sell players, our best players. Since when is that the LFC way. Granted over years players leave and we move on but I would really hate it if we developed players to their potential only for them to leave time and time again. We want to constantly be challenging with the big boys but season after season the sense of mediocrity in our play and mediocrity in our position creeps in.
Fair enough, maybe the talent isn't there right now. I just think if it was talent, we wouldn't have regularly beaten or drawn Chelsea, City, Arsenal, Spurs, the scum etc. There's no way we'd have navigated that hellish first stretch of games this year as well. The talent would come up short. But we made it somehow. That said, maybe you're right and it's talent. Or, maybe it's simply a lack of heart. Maybe both. In the past, Gerrard and Carra would tear into guys who weren't carrying their weight. This type of gutless form (barring Spurs) simply would not carry on for this long. On the current team, Milner has heart and always puts in a shift. Hendo too. Lucas has done that for a decade, even if he's not blessed with the most talent. Clyne usually does his job. The rest? Sometimes yes, sometimes no. When the team was firing on all cylinders earlier in the year, it was poetry in motion. But when their confidence dropped back in December..it's been a different story. Too often we're able to go toe to toe with the highly talented teams (top 6) but seem to come up short against the teams that rely mainly on grit and heart, hence why I think the latter is maybe 60-40 the issue. I think Klopp probably agreed it's mental, which is why he took them to Spain to clear their heads and try to get back to enjoying their football. It clearly didn't work last night but I expect a MUCH better performance against Arsenal.
and the problem (sounds weird) is that we'll probably get one. we're all scratching our heads to figure out why we constantly stink vs low-placed teams ... it can't simply be because they park the bus, they do that against all the high-placed teams. before last night's game, every single pundit/expro I read or heard, said we would win - and probably win easily. "Look at Liverpool's quality" they all said. I sometimes wonder if there's a load of arrogance within the team ie thinking "of course we'll beat these guys, look how bad they are" and we get outworked/out-thought ..... but we step it up against "our peers" in the table and look top-notch. even as I'm typing this it doesn't make sense, we've been doing the same thing for almost a decade now with dozens of different players. so back to the head-scratching for me.
lol the talent is not there when you have to play lucas as a centerback, that team during autumn gave more then it had or talent suggested. its now burnt and only good for big games. When players drop out of form there should be good replacements too, there is not.
our 2 subs last night were 21 and 17. imo they each have great potential, but that's not real bench strength for a team that wants to play in the CL.
We have talent on the team but (as others have said) there is some that just simply need to be upgraded with no question. Lucas needs to go. We need a hard nosed midfielder who can win balls and let Coutinho do his thing (at least when Hendo is not playing/out of form). We also need a goal scorer. Firminho is not the answer. Sturridge is a headcase at best. Origi still has time to become great but is not consistent enough. The rest of the team's issues are purely mental. As soon as we give up a goal, it's heads down. Where was the fight that saw us overcome all odds to beat Borrusia F'n Dortmund?!?
This I can agree with as the bench did need more experience last night. Of course, last night was more the exception given Sturridge, Lovren and Hendo were out. I think Klavan made the bench but did not play. While the bench was too young, I think we collectively shouldn't get caught up in a player's age and assume they are not ready for league minutes. I'm glad Woodburn saw the field last night when he did. He looked like he belonged, both last night and in his prior appearance against Leeds in the LC. Yes, he's just 17 but Michael Owen was tearing up the league at age 18. Gerrard, Carragher and countless others have seen the field at 17, 18 and become starters. Not comparing the two but sometimes maturity belies age. Grujic was starting for Red Star at 19 - wish he would heal faster. Same with Ings.
Loven, Sakho and Allen were big parts of that, none of whom were available (or still with the club) last night.
off topic but anyway .... Firmino speaks zero English (in the media at his DUI trial) so how can he communicate with his teammates other than Phil and Lucas during a game? does anyone else out there speak Portuguese? can he speak any German (which Mane does I believe)? does Coutinho speak English? (I've never heard him do it) is Lucas the translator for the 2 Brazilians?
I always think the "play the kids when you're in trouble" approach - while very tempting - is a real risk. it puts a man's load on a kid's shoulders and could screw up their development/confidence. I can see doing it like last night - giving minutes could change things up, and little downside since the game was basically lost at that point. but starting them in a key game is unwise imo. (we did start 4-5 kids unsuccessfully in one of the recent "easy win" cup games which I have happily erased from my memory)
Playing Lucas at CB is the manager's decision. If Sakho had been with the program and wasn't frozen out, he'd likely start alongside Matip or Lovren. Lucas would be nowhere near the backline but since Lovren was out, Klopp trusts Lucas more than Klavan, there was your starting CB pairing last night. You could make the case the club needs to replace Sakho in the summer and get that high end defender.
I've yet to find anyone who understands that. Lucas has good positional sense but he's no CB and my gran runs faster than him.
D'Water's goal was a wondershot and no GK in the world is saving that. Now, if you bring up Vardy's 1st goal, Mings should've done better.
Really sad that Lucas - a great servant to the club who overcame some horrible stick when he started and is a true warrior - gets used like this. No way he's going to be able to defend Vardy. No way. I will not criticize him for giving his best at what the gaffer tells him to do.