I was only able to watch the first half but is it just me, or has Keita looked extremely unimpressive and very average every time he’s out there? I know it’s a new league and all, but I’m just not sold on him and I feel like he could be a flop for us
Haha - I totally thought that City were level due to this result because they would be easily rollin over Everton on Wednesday. That’s how annoyed I was I suppose that I forgot we still have a 3pt lead. Still a crappy couple of results.
Didn’t watch it but sounds as if we were lucky with a 1-1. What happened in Dubai? We’ve been sh!t since coming back, failing to hold onto leads and going to sleep at set pieces. Wake up.
If you hadn't seen Naby Keita play in Germany, I could see how you might worry he is a flop. I still think he is too good a player to not succeed at Liverpool. I thought he had as many good moments as bad moments in this one. I would like to see him play with Fabinho and Wijnaldum in the next match so that we don't rely on him defensively.
I’d never really seen him with the two Red Bull teams in Germany and Austria, so I’m perhaps wrong to judge him based off of some of his performances this season. I do wish we have Fekir, and I still can’t wrap my head around the idea that Klopp failed to bolster our back line and defense when it is obvious that we are missing some key pieces in TAA as well as a solid partner with VVD (Lovren/Matip are not the answer imo). It was great seeing Lallana out there again!
He actually woke up in the last 30 minutes. Lots of driving runs, body feints and quick shifts of the ball. Also almost scooped the assist to Origi at the end. Why he couldn’t do that all game - I have no idea.
Lovren and Matip (in limited minutes) have been good all season. Plus they are both backups. I don't think it's realistic to call into question the transfer policy regarding the CBs considering those two are both backups and Gomez has a broken leg. The fullbacks... fair enough, that's a real issue exacerbated by letting Clyne go. This should be a top priority, just under striker/attacking depth, summer IMO.
The interesting thing here is that Clyne wouldn’t have given us anything different in the last 2 games that Milner and Henderson didn’t do (ok against palace he may have been a better defender than Milner against Zaha) - because his output going forward is pretty much zero. We are unbalanced without Trent because now we mainly attack on the left with Robbo. Having Trent allows us to attack from both sides, switch play etc. So yeah we need some backup FBs. Agreed.
Keita: Bad first half. Several give-aways in dangerous areas when trying to make what should be simple, sideways, low risk passes. Second half better. Good with ball at feet driving at defence in final third. Seemed to improve as soon as subs were made so whatever the resulting positioning changes were, it seemed to help Keita.
That is exactly why Klopp let Clyne go. Thinks we will get more offensively even if we have to resort to a MFer at RB. Clyne can't do what Klopp wants from his FBs.
I’m kind of curious to see how the Ox is going to fit in with this team when he comes back. Yes, he has chemistry with the bulk of the squad, but there is a lot of competition in the midfield, and I wonder how he will do with Fabinho, Keita and others
Reinforced? Why was it depleted? Embarrassing that Clyne is performing well elsewhere and Milner is playing his age.
Milner hasn't been solid defensively the last two games and is, appropriately, being targeted. Clyne's athleticism would help add some solidity to a backline that is increasingly wobbly.
No. This club and most of its fans live in the past. I can bitch about the fact that the club did jack squat in the most recent transfer window immediately after another disappointing game when there has clearly been a need after a run of injuries.
That was not good viewing. I support Klopp and will continue to support Klopp until the end whether he wins the league or not. But some decisions and excuses that we are accustomed to need to stop. In my opinion the last game where we played convincing was the 5-1 win against Arsenal. Whether they are a tough team or not, it does not matter you simply play what you are presented with. That was 29 December 2018. We have managed to get good results since then but it fell apart with the F.A. Cup defeat to Wolves. This was when I was reminded by fans everywhere that it is better to be out of cups so we can concentrate on the league. I mean Klopp had a selection headache with players injured and having to play Camacho and Hoever. Lovren had his injury right at the start and has not been seen ever since. So on one hand we could have played all the youngsters but Klopp clearly valued the competition and made an attempt to compete. These cups are great to introduce youngsters and give them game time but there seems to be no direction with LFC and these cups. Defense The defensive issues were glaring with the 4-3 win against Palace. I really do not know why we let Clyne go. He is by no means the saviour for the club. He probably would have not made a difference in the last 2 games, but with a defense being put together 5 minutes before the team selection? Could we afford to weaken that spot. What if Trent gets injured again or struggles for form? We cannot rely on Matip and Lovren to be fit, we are one VVD injury from a total collapse at the back, but sure let us loan out the one player who is a fine defender. He cannot attack we all know that, but he would have brought some experience and solidity (is that a word) at the back. Also just having him with the squad would push Trent to work even harder. Now there is zero competition for him. Trent could call it in every game and know that his position is only under threat from Milner/Henderson/Fabino. Having players fighting for spots to be selected can only be a good thing. Of course it maybe a personal/family choice for him to leave, but when we are short in numbers he could have been relied on. Attack Firmino is off form. Yesterday he was playing way too deep with absolutely no one in the middle to link up with. It was heavy on the wings and all West Ham need to do was reorganise with numbers. His passes have become way too casual. Cheekiness might break a stubborn defense but sometimes just "********" it in. The only player who keeps on impressing and is a solid 6.5 or 7/10 is Sadio. Dubai Was that a holiday. We were told that all these days off will be good for rest and recuperation. Players will come back from injury and they will be fresh and raring to go. Out of competitions focus on the league and all I see is players being Complacent and still on holiday. Lack of focus and concentration. I rather they stayed here and trained in the cold weather and practiced in an environment that they are familiar in and have their body in tune. I have no idea on the training drills etc, but they probably did not practice any set pieces in defense or attack. Those at the moment will either result in a goal conceded or a goal kick for the opposition. Refereeing decisions Naby penalty call against Leicester = Offside goal we scored. Ofcourse the game could go either way from a winning or losing position. In both games the opposition did their work on opening us up. It is simple. Wait for concentration to break. As fans we constantly complain about teams parking the bus but these two games they were attacking us. It was no Burnley. I hope that referee decisions even out at the end and they do not harm us but we have also got the rub of the luck. Injuries We may have got players in loan deals coming in, we may have kept Clyne, but look at Spurs zero investment to their squad,out of cups, injuries to their star players and they sit 5 points behind us. Every club goes through it, injuries, bad referee calls, fixture congestion etc. There are in-game issues that need to be dealt with. We avoided fixture congestion, we invested heavily to strengthen the defense in particular. I really hope this was our bad patch and it is over. Every club has a bad patch and this has to be it. No more. Complacency, looking at the table, injuries, players out of form, all this needs to be cast aside and focus must be given on the next game and nothing else. We could still win the league and the champions league, or we could be out of everything in no time. Having written this long post I trust Klopp and the Bournemouth game is now the biggest game and the only game the players and coaching staff should focus on.
Yup the beef about Clyne is not so much that we let him go as without a clear replacement it further thinned out the squad depth.
Klopp said that he doesn't just go buy "emergency players" because the situation is temporary and he wouldn't know what to do with the players when they get better (which is very soon). He has a point.