Well , ewibe none of the starters covered themselves in glory either today so we can't really be too harsh on the subs. We'll be into a game every 3-4 days now so I think all of these guys will need to get playing time. The next set of games will amount to a pre season for the team and hopefully give Klopp some idea of who is ready to contribute next season.
I would too, to be honest. I like Jones, Williams, and Elliott a lot from what I've seen, and wouldn't mind seeing Minamino, Origi, Ox getting a run out either. Might make it easier to transition to next season? But also think it should be done intelligently, in certain fixtures and with sub minutes, and the points total still should matter. City won this battle but LFC should take the war for the record, if possible. We don't know when the next time we will see someone threaten to approach 100 points.
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp cut a frustrated figure after his side were thrashed 4-0 by Manchester City at the Etihad on Thursday evening. Goals from Kevin De Bruyne, Raheem Sterling and Phil Foden were followed by an Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain own goal to consign the new Premier League champions to a resounding defeat, and the German coach struggled to hide his agitation while speaking to Sky Sports after the match. Klopp was asked about the manner of the loss and its timing – a week after City’s defeat at Chelsea sealed the title for the Reds. "I think I understood your question in the manner that you weren’t sure how much it means to us, this game – what did you mean by the question?” Klopp asked. “I understood it more like attitude-wise, is the game important to us? How will we go? And I saw brilliant attitude, I saw boys who were fighting with all they have. They didn’t behave like somebody who became champion a week ago, so that was all good. “We lacked fluidity, that’s for sure, and in some situations – 50-50 situations – they were just quicker than us in mind, that’s true as well. That’s what they used, then the pitch becomes big immediately. “So, first goal, we leave Joe it feels like five minutes alone in a challenge with Sterling. There must be a second player. I think before the second goal we lose the ball. It can happen. Against City, you have then massive problems. They used their chances, not all, but a lot, and we didn’t. “So, City 100 percent deserved the win, of course, but like a 5-3 or something would’ve been possible as well – so, it doesn’t make things better, but now it’s 4-0, we have to take that. That’s it.” When asked if his side had created chances at 0-0, Klopp replied: “You ask me? Why do you ask me if we had decent chances? We had moments, we had moments, but you watch a game completely calm – why are you asking me if we had decent chances? It makes no sense, this question. We had moments to score ... [but] it’s difficult to mention chances, obviously, because everybody forgets them immediately. Even I forget them. But it’s all okay – it’s not nice, it’s not what we wanted, but I wanted to see that we have really the right attitude and I saw that.” Klopp was later asked if perspective must be applied to the result, given his side’s title win last week. “What does that mean?” the German answered. ”I don’t understand the English, sorry. What does it mean? If you want to lead this story in the direction that we were not focused on that game, then do it. You ask a second time now. When I speak about attitude, I like my team. I said that and I thought it’s clear. If we go again with that, I think we proved that point, and we proved as well that City is an unbelievably good team. Isn’t it nice that in this league another team can be champion even when City is around and plays this kind of football? That’s a surprise as well.” When asked about the quality of City’s performance, Klopp said: “I forgot that maybe? I said it, I said it. City is outstanding. By the way, I do that always, because they are incredible. I saw City’s season, I didn’t see a bad game."
Agreed. We're still what, 20 points ahead of them? And we're the champions. Doesn't matter if it was 1-0, 5-0, or 20-0.
If anyone can get a heat map of Fabinho's positioning for the first 35 minutes of that game it might explain some of it. It seemed to me that he was playing a tad too far forward when we had momentum, and either the lack of the crowd or just the general weirdness didn;t allow for the usual alteration after a goal down. I think he needed to be closer to the protection line of the CBs as he was in most games this year. We were getting dragged about too much with counter attacks. Pretty rare occurrence for this team. Usually we have a counter-effective plot that involves Mane, Bobby and Salah but Sadio's shooting boots were in the dressing room today unfortunately ... and Bobby's too...... (these guys must have done atad to much celebrating!) Look, whatever it was - we went in guns blazing, and had some drastic misses.... an adjustment to a more defensive minded set-up (ala Rafa) might have helped us win it after it got to 1-0, particualrly with Sterling and Jesus as the forwards, as neither of them is Sergio Aguero in a tight situation, but whatever it was, we'll beat them next time it counts .... (or at least I'll have a bet on it now that the odds are better to place one) here's the thing - we didn't need to win it, or even not lose it ... This may actually have been a good thing, as it will rankle with the team next year, and when this team is energized it is the best team I've seen since Barcelona 's couple of recent great sides..... let it lie.....
Naby, Hendo, Salah and the welsh kid Williams all had no reason not to hold their heads up. I disagree that it was a cr@p perf. Just that we came back out to give it a bit oif a flying champions "go" and got caught for a 4th and then it really was over .... Oh well, at least I got the total goals score right as I had predicted a 2-2 draw.
Play well and the games up to Chelsea should be reasonably likely wins. Chelsea will require a performance, and then if its a draw and we need to beat Arsenal to become the most points total team in History I fancy the chance....
Fcuk! That was utterly sh!t. All the of them were bad goals to concede and we were very, very wasteful in the final third. The midfield reverted to its worst--n neither creating nor defending. A poor night all round whatever sugarcoat is applied..
Shamelessly nicked from FB. 86. Liverpool 85. lost 84. four 83. nil 82. last 81. night, 80. but 79. they 78. did 77. get 76. a 75. guard 74. of 73. honour 72. because, 71. they’ve 70. absolutely 69. pissed 68. the 67. League. 66. Manchester City.