didn't get to see the game but if mane and salah were double and triple teamed then why couldn't they find the open midfield players
I thought our midfield was a bit "absent" all through the game...Ginny looked the part for some of the first half, but once Keita went down, there seemed to be a lack of midfield "presence"...and when the ball made it up to the front three, there was really no support at all...
With Allan's energy centrally, Napoli were able to press in a 4-4-2 that completely nullified Liverpool's main threats out wide. Usually Liverpool are superior in the wide areas. Today Napoli never let Arnold or Robertson overload them on the wings. Plus when those two were getting high up the pitch, Napoli were able to get in behind them with regularity. I honestly didn't think Napoli had it in them after they looked physically shattered after Juve steamrolling over the weekend. Allan's tracking of Mane and Firmino was insane. Napoli have always had a serially underrated midfield. Today they dominated Liverpool's with ease. Still, I fully expect Liverpool to be able to impose themselves on them in the return. In this group the first of PSG, Napoli, or Liverpool to lose at home will very likely not make it through. All three simply have to win every home game while getting as much as possible on the road.
If the midfield was as winded as every media outlet is reporting. Do we start seeing "Not Ready" Fabinho? To be honest I was rather impressed with him in pre-season overall. More than Keita. Granted totally different position.
Scoreline flattered Liverpool. No shots on target?? With that front three? What was the midfield doing? I'm glad Klopp similarly saw it and will do something about it.
Really you thought napoli played well If thats all they have a half decent liverpool performance should sweep them at anfield
Why didn't Sturridge start/get more mins? He's the only striker scoring for us these days. Saving him for Citeh?
Napoli were a little unlucky not to win this by a much wider scoreline with the Gomez clearance off the line and Merten's crossbar. Insigne also had a shot hit just wide in the first half. Liverpool were just very poor and overrun. Although I doubt Napoli will win away at Anfield, a half decent performance by Liverpool won't be enough unless Napoli completely fail to show up. It will take an excellent performance by Liverpool with far greater intensity than they showed today. On a technical level, Liverpool couldn't string a pass together when Napoli pressed high. That needs to improve because Napoli will try to do the same in England. What an intriguing group this will end up being. All three teams are R16 or quarterfinal level.
This group might be decided by the red star games and Napoli drawing their game against them could be the result that puts them in the Europa league
Yup. It will be that unless one of the teams fail to win at home vs the other top 3. If PSG fail to beat Napoli or Liverpool in Paris, it's probably enough to get them eliminated. Same can be said for the other two. Napoli must beat PSG in Naples and Liverpool must beat Napoli at Anfield. Should Liverpool and Napoli both lose in Paris, Napoli (assuming they win their home games) would have 10 points heading to Anfield with Liverpool on 9 points (assuming +6 vs Red Star). That final game could be the decider. Right now the pressure is on PSG in the next match day. They host Napoli. That is a must win for PSG.
the thing is I dont expect napoli to get anything but a point from their two games with PSG, infact im being generous more like two wins for PSG. Its a shame we couldnt have taken the draw last night, two wins against the serbs and this group would be done for us
Naby Keita given the “all clear”. It’s unclear if that means to play football again or leave the hospital and travel back to Liverpool.
Because there was no support from the midfield in the attack either (or very little) Fabinho looked good in the 15 minutes he was on. Also - AA looked like a 19 year old last night - wasn't his best game.
I wouldn't rule Napoli out vs PSG based on the disparity in midfield. Napoli with Allan, Hamsik, Zelinski/Fabian showed last night why they probably have the strongest midfield in the group. Liverpool struggled badly to beat Napoli's press at the San Paolo. PSG struggled to beat the Liverpool press at Anfield. It's not a guarantee that PSG will be able to play fluidly in Italy for the same reasons. Yesterday, Mane, Firmino, and Salah were awful in tracking back which exposed Liverpool's backline to Napoli's wingplay. Neymar, Mbappe, and Cavani failed to do the same at Anfield. If PSG play the same way in Naples as they did in England, then Napoli have ever reason to be confident that they can take advantage of that again. With that said, Napoli should have crushed Red Star yet failed to finish countless chances. Up until the goal yesterday, Napoli's finishing was awful. It could easily have been 3-0 (credit to Allison). For them to advance, they simply have to get back to finishing like they did last year otherwise they won't make enough of their good play count.
You really are up their arse arnt you alot of their play yesterday was poor like ours and they fashioned 3 good chances in the game. I bet if liverpool dominate napoli at anfield create 10 amazing chances but napoli sneek a dodgy 1-0 win you will come up with some uber drivel about how great they were.
after about 30 mins I said it looked like it could be his worst ... and at the end it was imo. agreed, he looked good.
ugh, sorely disappointed yesterday. Both in the lacklustre display by Liverpool, and that I had to pay $2.99 to stream the game from B/R live... At least the quality was good, unlike some other streaming services that I've used in previous years. Generally agree that we were taken to the woodshed in midfield. It looked like that in addition to agressively pressing our front three as soon as they got the ball, that they were also pressing our outlet passing lanes and trying to disrupt transition from our back four to our midfield. One of the reasons we've got such a devastating counter-attack is that we often move the ball rapidly through midfield with a series of one-touch passes. This is predicated on players knowing where to expect the next player to be. Napoli seemed to be trying to disrupt this play, which led to the large number of errant passes by our team. Certainly didn't help that Keita went out so early, as he's probably the best at dynamic play in the center of the field, and could have helped hold the ball during offensive transitions and helped the front three by drifting forward into space behind Napoli's pressing midfielders.
even though he had a couple of loose passes - Keita also sprung 2 of our breaks in the first 15 mins - one that was offside to Sadio, then another one where he carried the ball 40 yards to the edge of their box - the move broke down but still - you didn't see that the rest of the game.
Yikes. I didn't have time to get on here after the game and bitch until now so I've had time to calm down. Still very disappointed in the performance which was our worst of the whole season IMO. Give credit to Napoli and Carlo for getting their formation down perfect. They starved our front 3 of service and we were resigned to just hoof and hope which is not our game. Midfield is screaming for some creativity because Henderson/Milner do a job and Gini labors horribly and none of them are real creators. A few (including my old man) have expressed fear for Sunday after this performance. I actually think we'll bounce back well. We tend to respond well to bad games (I think?) and I know the players will want to prove that Wednesday was a fluke. That being said, we were one Sturridge wonder-strike away from a 3-game losing streak. Woof.
Primarily, I think this was just one of those games where we just weren't at it. Our passing was off, our pressing was off and our in game adjustments weren't there. And we still dug deep and almost got the point. These are all symptoms of tired minds as much as tired legs. Its been a tough run. Hopefully getting back home with a couple days rest and the light at the end of the tunnel, will refresh minds for City and we can get a result there.