Wasn't really thinking of the ManC game. Any time you go down to 10 against a top attacking side you are in big trouble. I have no trouble erasing that one from the memory banks. I was really referring to all the other games where our collective defence was shambolic and we gave up silly goals to turn wins into draws or draws into losses.
We blew a 3-0 lead at home to Sevilla in 45 minutes. I’m not counting this a victorious tie just yet...
Just tippy toed in from the beach with the grandkids. Peeked at this thread to see how it went. Wow Salah gets the first. Perks up a bit Oc gets the second. Now I am sitting up. Bam! Sane gets the third all in the first half. That's the way it's done. Thanks for the comms and comments guys just what we needed after a nervous week getting to it. We're all feeling pretty euphoric right now. But we really have to play next week on their sod. Leave the bus in the parking lot and play them to a standstill.
One game at a time folks...a GREAT win today, but we’ve got a quick turnaround vs Everton early on Saturday
great result. Never thought we'd win 3-0. Especially impressed with not allowing a shot on goal. It will be interesting to see how Klopp plays it in the second game.
Yeah, I do agree that we had some poor results, but these were mostly at the start of the year, and I do think they somewhat were related to a lack of confidence.
You kind of think i has to happen... realistically neither have much to fight for other than the prem title.
TAA was disciplined and focused for the whole game. Sane was shut down superbly and there was always help when he headed goal side. Lovren and VVD gobbled up everything that came on the box. City looked dangerous on a couple of corners but never directed a shot on target. The first goal showed why Bobby and Mo are special. Firmino's determination to create the chance and Salah's quick feet. The front 3 tore the City defense every which way and Ox ended up with a ton of room to blast the rocket. Most of us were worried that Milner was too old and too slow for City but, boy, did he come up big. He broke up City's play, won tackles, blocked shots, assisted for a goal. Mane is a fitness beast and deserved the goal, always threatening with his dribbles. Robertson kept drilling crosses into the box. His play was as disciplined as TAAs. Yet, it's only the first half. If there is a team that can score goals in a hurry (other than Liverpool), it's ManCity. If they score early, who knows what happens. They played well and were better than us in the 2nd half. We should start with the same attitude and energy in Manchester as we did in the last two games against them. Stay focused, stay disciplined, shut down DeBruyne and Sane. Easy, right? What a great 3-0 this was to watch!!!
It was obvious that Citeh came out with the game plan to score in the first 20 minutes of the 2nd half in order to be back in the game. Like Klopp said after the game, if they had the class and maturity to weather the storm without parking the bus like yesterday theyd be playing for the championship. The last 25 mins then felt rather flat and with a little more of said maturity they could have made it 4-0 or 5-0
It's only half-time in this, yes, but what a result! As important as the 3 goals and a win are, not conceding an away goal was just as crucial. That was Anfield at its raucous and it helped propel the team forward. We did slacken off in the second half a tad but the damage had been done in the first. I hope that the injury to Salah isn't that serious. Bring on the bitters!
Yeah, just a routine European night at Anfield. Talking of which, pretty much everyone in red played well. Man City’s defending, however, was equally as bit as bad as Liverpool’s has been in the first half of the season. And de Bruyne, starved of space, wasn’t the player he has been most of the season— still think Silva is a better player myself. Finally, remember Alexander-Arnold is only 29 years old. What a performance!
When you think about it. We're the only team to have pressured their defence this season. They've never real had their defence tested. Until Liverpool.
As well as we played, City and Pep totally bottled it. Before the game they were shitting themselves about the bus reception, guaranteeing it would escalate. As soon as I saw Pep crying about it in the interview before the game I felt like we had it in the bag. On the pitch Pep bottled his tactics. Instead of trying to play straight up with his usual team, he benches Sterling because he knows Sterling's head goes in these games and tries to play a lopsided formation which left Walker all alone to deal with Robinson, Milner and Mane. If you want to win the league, hire Pep. If you want to win the CL, Pep doesn't look like he knows how to do it when he doesn't have Messi pull them through.
Not just in, winning the CL. Don't want to become Arsenal and work hard for a top 4 spot just to make an annual round of 16 exit.
I think the main worry was about him playing right back. Being in the midfield allowed him to help when needed both ways. We also said his experience guaranteed a professional and intelligent performance - the question was the energy he would have. He absolutely gave it his all for sure.