Well that was dull. And by dull, I mean an audiobook of Roy Hodgson reading “War and Peace” dull. Absolutely nothing happened. Literally nothing. Their keeper didn’t have to make a save of any note, and ours… well ours might as well have been subbed to get another forward on. Seriously, we could have played “goalie when needed” and Plymouth wouldn’t have scored in a month of Sundays.
Did they actually know they weren’t playing against our first team? I know they’re only League Two, but they’re second in that league so they must be in pretty good form and be full of confidence. So to come here and play like that, against a team with an average age of 21 (despite the presence of Lucas!), was just fucking weird.
Why would they not have had a go? It was a risky approach by them and if we played this game ten times we’d win the other nine. They got away with it on the day but it wasn’t the defensive masterclass their deluded manager thinks it was. He actually said afterwards this was one of the greatest defensive performances Anfield has ever seen. YOU WERE PLAYING OUR RESERVES, NUMBNUTS.
They’ve made a few quid so good luck to them, and they got themselves a replay which will earn them another nice payday. If they play like this again they’ll lose 3-0. Surely they can’t play like that again though? They have to have a bit of a go at home, which will allow people like Ojo and Woodburn a bit more room to play on the break.
I can only remember one counter attacking opportunity in the whole game, and that was when they reluctantly sent some players forward for a set-piece. Karius ended up with the ball in his hands, he bowled it out to Can who just ran it all the way up his own arse.
Obviously even allowing for it being a weakened team this wasn’t a good performance and having to now further congest the fixture list by shoehorning in a replay isn’t ideal, but it’s not the end of the world either. I can even put a positive spin on it if you like, as in terms of experience this is great for the younger players because not only will they get another run out in the replay, but this game was a great learning curve for them.
They’ve probably never had to come up against this kind of all out negativity before, and while they clearly struggled to deal with it, they’ll surely be better for the experience and I still expect us to win the replay fairly comfortably.
They might need a bit more help from whatever senior players are also included though. Can didn’t do anywhere near enough before he was dragged off and Origi was absolutely fucking terrible. All he did was give away free-kicks all day. How he survived for 90 minutes I have no idea, as he deserved the hook far more than Ejaria or Woodburn. In the first half he was trying stupid tricks and turns, and his whole attitude reeked of “I’m too good for these League Two jabronis”. Not when you play like this you aren’t.
There’s no point reading anything into it and getting all pissed off about the result or performance. This can often happen when you make so many changes and let’s not forget we had four teenagers on the pitch against a team of seasoned lower league players who only wanted to defend. It wasn’t a normal game, but hopefully the replay will be.
The kids actually started the game very well and if a goal had come in the opening half an hour then maybe the floodgates would have opened. The longer it stayed goalless though the more frustrated everyone got and the less likely we looked to score.
Ejaria was very good early on, he was getting on the ball and dictating the play, and Alexander-Arnold got in down the right on several occasions. It was good football, passing and probing and waiting for the right moment to get Trent AA in behind. It felt like the goal was coming but they had so many players in the own box nothing fell kindly for us.
Origi had a goal disallowed when it looked to me that he was just too strong for the defender. I didn’t think it was a foul but I haven’t seen any replays of it so I may be wrong. Ojo missed a sitter when he failed to get anything on his header when well placed. It looked to me like he shit himself because he thought the keeper was going to come out at him. He really should have put that one away.
Woodburn had a couple of decent openings too but was denied by the keeper with one, and overdid it with the other and ran the ball out. It was really difficult to know if we were playing well or not though. We had almost total domination of the ball and I’m not sure I can ever remember a team spend less time in our half than Plymouth did. For a team with as many youngsters to be so dominant is pretty good I suppose, but on the other hand it felt as though Plymouth were more than happy for us to have the ball so I don’t really know what to make of it.
Klopp said afterwards that he didn’t think Plymouth could have attacked more because they couldn’t get the ball. Maybe he’s right, or maybe they didn’t try to get the ball as they were so obsessed with staying in their defensive shape. We’ll see how they approach the second leg I suppose.
I did think that Sturridge coming on would provide us with that bit of quality we needed to break them down, and it almost did on a couple of occasions, but by the end even he’d sunk down to the level of everybody else. Lallana and Firmino both came on to but did nothing, as Plymouth were so well entrenched in their own box by that stage it was going to take a lucky deflection, a shot from distance or a mistake for us to break through.
At least we didn’t have to worry about them counter attacking, as it appeared that only of their players was allowed in our half. First it was the big fat striker who bizarrely had his shorts hitched right up, presumably to show off his muscular thighs. Why else would you be wearing your shorts like a fucking nappy?
Anyway, he was just barging into people for an hour, thinking he was a human battering ram, but when he went off and was replaced by a small, quick lad.
There was one split second when it looked like he might go clear too, as Lucas gave it away cheaply and the lad got away from Gomez. Thankfully the diligent Stewart was alert to the danger and made a great challenge. I thought Stewart, along with Gomez, was probably our best player. Neither were outstanding, but they did their jobs.
Stewart frustrates me though as he always seems to be playing within himself and goes for the safe option all the time. If he was a bit more progressive in his play he’d be really good, as positionally and defensively he’s quality. The coaching staff always talk about how great he is in training and how it's not yet translated into games, but if he's to push for a place then it needs to start happening soon.
As for Gomez, he looks bigger and stronger than I remembered him before his injury. It’s great seeing him back and hopefully we’ll stay in this cup a bit longer so he and the other young lads can continue to get playing time. If that’s to be the case they’ll need to play much better in the replay than they did here, but I fully expect that to be the case.
Team: Karius; Alexander-Arnold, Gomez, Lucas, Moreno; Stewart, Can (Sturridge), Ejaria (Lallana); Ojo, Origi, Woodburn (Firmino):
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