Gets a bit sad when all you have left to celebrate is another team's loss, because your own is so shit https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/f...ters-rival-clubs-revel-Liverpools-defeat.html
Reminds of that match when Man U lost 3 players to injury and we failed to respond. Are our players a bit thick that they cannot respond to onfield adjustments? Yesterday, the front three totally failed to navigate round Watford’s low block and then when space became available in the second half, the whole team totally failed to adjust to that either.
lets be honest this was coming we have been poor. but getting results for a month now against shit teams, this level isnt good enough to beat atletico, now the weight of invincibles is off our back hopefully the team can up their game and get past chelsea and atletico. And if we do there will be no real pressure to field our best team in the league just to preserve an unbeaten run.
That’s to be expected, to be honest. He’s been scratching around for something to celebrate the whole season, has been fed up with his team seemingly turning the corner every second match day and then hitting the buffers again.
A bit thick? Making on field adjustments is one of the best attributes of this team. They have done it time and time again. They have had an answer to every single question for 2 seasons. We finally lost a game. They will respond in the right way.
I woke up this morning hoping that was a bad dream but alas, it was real. The only thing I can say is this is why we were in record territory for wins/unbeaten runs. It's bloody tough to string that many together. The human brain and complacency eventually take over. When you pull so much out of the fire, you're bound to think it's going to happen one way or another. Then it doesn't. As others have said, this has been coming. We were fortunate against Norwich. West Ham gave us a few gifts to win that match as well. These breaks are never our friend and I hate it every time they come. As much as we build these guys up as "mentality monsters," they are human. They took a week's vacation and let the fact that they're going to stroll to their first league title in 30 years seep into their brains a little too much. Time to get back to basics and get back to what makes us exceptional. Because right now, everyone will just play the Simeone playbook and we'll be frustrated. Throw in a clown (I'm sorry, he is what he is) like Lovren and you get a result like that. Can we just stop this? Not singling you out specifically, but I've read way too many overreactions in the last 20 hours (my fault for getting on Twatter) who are smashing the panic button for no reason. There's no secret conspiracy behind the scenes, there's no dressing room issues. Literally a few days ago everyone was crowing about how tight knit this group was with that silly commercial they filmed (not to mention the millions of other examples). We win together, we lose together. We go again on Tuesday and Klopp can't afford to empty the nursery on this one.
Maybe one of them is? I think we have gotten rid of all the players that are not mentally strong. Mingolet, Karius, and Moreno come to mind. While Lovren is capable of being a top centerback, when things start to go bad, they often spiral out of control. Klopp clearly backs him though. The rest of those players are mentality monsters.
My comment |was a bit severe, maybe. I do think most of the key adjustments have been made at half-time rather in game, though. But you're right, that there are marginal but tactically critical changes that they effect on their own and not obvious to the naked eye.
There is no way City would have reached 98 points last season without Liverpool pushing them every step of the way. Liverpool were able to win 26 out of 27 games because of the standard that City set the previous two seasons. Now that it has become incredibly obvious that we are going to win the league, it must be very hard to keep that same level. We are basically competing against ourselves, and chasing records that they may or may not care about. This is uncharted territory to wrap up the league so early on. City of two years ago ran away with the league, but they did it by playing gorgeous football all the time. With no pressure on them, it made it even easier to enjoy their football and play their style. Liverpool have done it by being more intense, and more mentally strong than any team we have ever seen. This way of playing must be even more difficult to maintain when we all know the league is won.
Aye. Though the manner of the defeat does rankle, it's easy to take the winning run for granted. As I have.
Bitter loss. But that monkey is off our back and we can concentrate on what is important. I agree that we’re strong enough to get through this. On another level I’ve been concerned and vocal about what I feel has been a bit of a slide in performance. Our front three were touted as the best trio in football a while back. Even over Messi, Suarez and whoever Barca has. But since Xmas and especially since the break they’ve faltered and seem lost. We have to get that back and finish the season in style.
If I’m honest I do have a serious concern about this result. Yes, I would have liked to have had an invincible season, but I did have a feeling that if we were to suffer a loss it would be a shock rather than against, say, City or Everton. No, what concerns me is the form since the break. Played 4, won 2 lost 2, shut out twice, scoring 4. I don’t buy into the sky’s now falling syndrome of some, but at the same time, a legitimate question about our form since the break most definitely is the software question - a bug or a feature? I’ve zero doubt that we will win the League; it’ll happen, not sure exactly when, but it’s going to happen. I don’t care enough about the FA Cup to be either upset or elated, but unless this malaise is stifled, stopped or changed, Atletico will do us and if not them then in the QF/SFs when we draw a big ‘un. The dream season for me would be the CL/PL double. The buffer of 20 odd points means the League is done; the form of the last few weeks won’t see us returning to Istanbul. (I do think Klopp will pick a kid-heavy team for Chelsea and if they lose, watch the howler monkeys in the peanut gallery suddenly find their voice).
Good teams do not become shite overnight. Losing once this season and only twice over two seasons in a very tough league says we're better than just good . Nothing has happened to change that. Having said that any side can have a blip a drop in form or a slump for any number of reasons. We've set incredibly high standards over the past couple seasons . I expect that to continue for now.
That was a collective, everybody (nearly) really off. Some of the attempts at easy passes were 7 a side god-awful. Only Andy, Allison and Salah weren't ********ing up simple stuff today. Lallana, when he came on, was about the only bright spark, which makes some kind of sense, as he wasn't out there for those first 45 minutes. That first goal exemplifies this, where Virgil's left would block that ball out 99 times out of a hundred.
I tend to disagree with your overall point. I don't think I've seen us play badly in recent months to the degree that I would notice a slope (by that I mean any kind of meaningful graph that one could try to plot as consistent). I think, conversely, we have a tendency to not be able to play at our sparkling best quite a bit of the time, and the rest of the time (a usual majority) when we are there in games upping the tempo usually takes care of the business. An example of this was starting with a blitz against West Ham and fading, then going behind and having to really dig it out. That's a standard reckoning game-type for a good team (particularly after having lost against a very strong international opponent a few days before). However, when you are not quite hitting the peaks of form for a while, you run the risk of a very bad day if one occurs where nearly everyone is having an off game. There was another game recently (can't recall who it was against off-hand) but we were flat for about half an hour in one half and a 1/4 hr in the other one. Our general play for the rest of it was quite good but there were some chances missed or final passes not connected. We ended up winning by a moment or two of slick brilliance (Mane, I think). So, some of the opinion, after a close win, was that we weren;'t quite there. Other than that, an observer wouldn't view us as we were against West Ham at 2-1 down as being out of sorts. We just happened to be 2-1 down and then we won. The psychology is that generated from people being used to watching us not being down very often. I could be wrong, of course, but that's my sense of it. Also - I hope you are wrong about the FA Cup team. Lovren should play to get a chance to redeem himself. Oxlade should play also. Mane should play to wake himself up. Firmino to get the fog out of his head. I'd go Adrian Trent Lovren Matip Milner Ox, Fabinho, Keita mane, frimino, Minamino I don;t want to lose this game.i don't want to lose to Chelsea. Keep in mind THIS IS a competiton we can win. I'd go
Blaming Lovren for that 2nd goal is blaming a guy who was in a reasonable covering position for not being fast enough to make up for Fabinho and Virgil not getting their blocking and marking spaces covered. Normally, it wouldn;t be such a big deal but in a game of mulktiple mistakes it seems larger in context than it should be....