Not today. I'm all hoping that he comes good as well, but he wasn't very influential today, and always seems to be coming back from injury, which leads to rustiness and working back into form, which doesn't help him.
good 3 points. Never gave up. Need to play much better if we are going to get into the next round of the CL. Their goals were difficult to do stop but letting them have a 1 on 1 with Allison is just poor defense
I thought he was okay. He was winning the ball back and keeping the ball well. He didn’t do anything sensational or have a huge impact on the game, but it might be unfair to expect that from him every time. Our other midfielders aren’t judged by that standard. There doesn’t seem to be any middle ground with Naby. Either people want to say he’s brilliant or they want to write him off completely. There are also many games where we say “this is a huge opportunity for Keita.” The pressure is always on him to be the star of the show. Ox had much more of an impact when he came on. But he also happened to come on at the same time that the crowd came to life and the rest of the team got pissed off and decided it was time to win the match.
Maybe that was because of him coming on? He certainly brought some fire to the team when he stepped on the field...sometimes that is easier to do as a sub... my though after a couple of minutes was that Ox was trying to earn a spot! It would be great if they both (all) did that!
There was a huge amount of complacency about Liverpool, the players and the crowd to a certain extent almost believing that they just needed to turn up to win. In the Premier League, against a team fighting for survival? Too many casual plays and slipshod performances out there. Klopp looked rightly pissed off, too. Thankfully, even at our poorest, we dug out the results but Atlético will not be so accommodating. Need to snap out of this post break lethargy.
Yeah, definitely the defining moment in the game. Coincidence or not it lifted us out of that ”Don’t they know who we are” attitude and started playing our game.
6, I think from reading about it this season. He's also weighed in with 3 goals-- just needs to work on that right foot
68' Salah/Fabianski goal. 88' Alisson/Bowen save. I think these two moments showed the difference between the sides last night. Yes, I know Mane had scored number 3 by the time Alisson saved and Fabianski did have an off night, but these two incidents were the making of the result. Both keepers might have done better for their respective first goals, but the difference was that Fabianski made another mistake for his second and Alisson didn't. Fornals scored a good goal and Alisson found his way to his usual imperious self - especially with that Bowen save - whereas Fabianski arguably was at fault for all 3 Liverpool goals. And therein lies the difference. When called upon, Fabianski failed and Alisson succeeded. Mane may have scored the winning goal, but there's a good argument to be made that Alisson won the 3 points.
well that was fun a game with some actual tension. Next few weeks will define our season. We can win the league before we even lose a match, advance in Europe and the FA Cup. Let's go.
I got to watch the game - it seemed to be a pretty good performance from us but we were definitely lax defensively. We have to get ourselves tuned up for Atlético however.
Credit to the Hammers, they played better than I expected them to and really gave us a game. Three points closer...
Agreed. After we looked feckless and their 2nd goal went in, I was getting that sinking feeling that we might finally lose...to Moyes no less!
We were sold on an all-action, attacking, gegenpressing machine of a midfielder. He seems to play without urgency and with little desire to get forward and instead attempting to be the second coming of tiki taka. "He was winning the ball back and keeping the ball well. He didn’t do anything sensational" - that's what we have Fabinho and Gini for. Keita is supposed to be the link to move us forward. Just before he was hauled off he had both Klopp and Ljinders screaming at him, imploring him to get forward. He didn't respond to either of them and Ox was brought on in his place.
Right now, Gini is a better choice than Naby. Naby is either trying too hard or not hard enough to fit into the Klopp plan. In the long run, because of his age, he might pan out, but he's second rate most of the time he's on the pitch. The facts speak for themselves.
It is a bit unfair to expect that from him every time out. Ox recently had a run of about 5 games in a row where he was picked in the first team. He did alright, but didn't make a huge impact in any of them. He was subbed in most of those starts. However, Keita elicits a much stronger reaction from everyone anytime he fails to put in man of the match performance. He did have a great run of form right before Christmas, and Klopp has trusted him in some huge games. He started against Salzburg and was excellent in that match. He started against Flamengo in Qatar. He started Boxing Day against Leceister in what most consider Liverpool's best performance of the season. In that stretch of games he was consistently one of our best players, before getting inured again. Going back to last season, Klopp started him at the Nou Camp, where his bad luck with injuries found him again. However, it says a lot that Klopp chose to start him in what was the biggest test of the whole season. His injuries are what have held him back. For the most part, when he has played, his performances have been good. Anyone who is into advanced statistics will tell you that Naby's stats are off the charts. I think all he needs is a run of games, and not have everyone write him off every time he fails to make a huge impression on the match.