Plymouth 0 Liverpool 1 (Jan 18 2017)

[tlw content]

This was almost as forgettable as the first game, but at least it’s over now. It was pretty dire once again, but we’re through and that’s the main thing. The young lads battled well and can hold their heads up, but once more they were let down by the senior players who were supposed to make their job easier.

 

Daniel Sturridge, Divock Origi and to a slightly lesser extent Phil Coutinho were all shite. Presumably they looked at this as some sort of training game, because none of them looked like the players we know they are. It seemed more of a pre-season friendly to them than an FA Cup tie. Had any of them shown up this would have been a lot easier. Had all of them shown up then we’d have battered Plymouth. 

 

Initially I had some sympathy for Sturridge as no-one was getting him the ball despite him getting into good areas and making some clever runs. He looked dangerous early on and should have had a penalty when he was clipped as he turned inside after collecting a good pass from Coutinho. 

 

The ref got that wrong, and pissed Sturridge off even more when he then got in the way of a pass that would have set us on the counter attack, and Plymouth almost scored from it. Karius (who was decent once again) had to make a flying stop to keep out a long range effort, but the ref would have had an assist if that had gone in. He seemed to be in the way a hell of a lot I thought, and several times our lads had to delay a pass because he was hovering around them like a star struck kid. 

 

This is just a teaser, click here to view the full report

 

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[rb14]

Shite game. Wayyy too many backpasses.

 

One of the commentators suggested Plymouth were missing a trick by not testing Karius more. Did we test their keeper at all in the second half? Certainly not with that penno. A million percent of the possession and minus five million shots. Great.

 

Got the result. In a very unconvincing manner.

[jimmycase]

Have to agree with Dave especially the moreno 'pen.' I didnt think it was a pen in a million years and how the ref gave it when missing the one on Sturridge I'll never know.

 

I thought Lucas was a cert to take it so was majorly surprised to see Origi. Obviously the lad wanted to score but fuck me, what a woeful strike it was.

 

I actually thought the ref was shite (again!). How the fuck was that a booking for Gomez? Even the one for Ojo the ref seemed to give it after the plymouth player shouted 'fuck off' at Ojo.

 

Have to disagree about Karius' 'flying save.' I thought he made a right meal of it and really, a keeper should be catching that if he's moving his feet. Im still not convinced by him though Id class his performance as competent and no more.

 

Origi seems to be going backwards pretty fast. Before the shite lad crocked him, he looked confident, full of pace and strong on the ball. Now, he looks like the oppos could blow him off the ball.

 

I dont know if he's been told or coached to do what he's doing but he looks like he's over complicating things to me. When the ball's at your feet, just run at the defence, dont try trickery to bamboozle them, you're just fucking losing possession all the time.

 

Spot on about their fans booing YNWA. I thought I heard it during the game and thought WTF? Wonder where the extra 7000 fans are for their next home game?

[dave u]

I said it was a flying save, not that it was a great one. I agree, he made a bit of a 'camera save' of it although I'm not sure he should be catching it as it was a decent strike.

 

Agree that his performance was competent (I might have used the word decent in the report, can't remember), but 1) that's big progress!! and 2) he can only save what comes at him, which he did.

 

Couldn't agree more on Origi, I don't know what he's doing. Looks like he's playing with no confidence, which is odd considering his recent run of goals.

[Guest Pistonbroke]

Is it a confidence thing with Origi or just a bad attitude? He looks half arsed a lot of the time and it is quite infuriating when we know he has the pace, yet he hardly tries to use it when on the ball and facing a defender. I'd be interested to know if DS is influencing him in any way, he said last April that he was going to help Origi, take him under the wing if you like. 

[Trumo]

Stewart's role is to win the ball back and keep things simple, and if he gets the chance to do something progressive, to try and take it. What I've noticed with him is that early in games, he'll advance quite far forward and attempt a shot at goal or a through ball to a teammate in a decent position. When these don't come off (and they generally don't), he goes too far the other way in keeping things simple, by not looking for teammates ahead of him. A few times in these games against Plymouth, he had time and space to play a pass to a teammate who could move forward with it, thus turning Plymouth around. But instead, he played the ball back or square and we ended up passing it around between the back four and enabling Plymouth to push out.

 

Sometimes it's necessary to take the pragmatic option but if you can see your opponents gradually squeezing up, you have to look to take the initiative.

[Stickman]

Not sure why Karius gets so much air time in the media I mean it's not like he cost what Bravo did and for £4 million he could turn out to be great or shite but it's no massive loss if it's the latter. At least him being there seems to have made Mingolet up his game (fingers crossed he keeps it up) which is good news.

Credit for a side full of inexperienced players battling through in a tie in which BT thought there was a good chance of an upset, the main thing is I know it's a cliché but it's just to get through,

Jurgen though I think has to pick a stronger side for Wolves though.

[El Rojo]

On Origi - he was dire at the start of the season too, if I remember correctly, before he went on that scoring streak.

 

Not out of the bounds of possibility that a goal will put him on the right track again, so I could see the sense in playing him against a team as awful as Swansea on Saturday.

[Guest Pistonbroke]

On Origi - he was dire at the start of the season too, if I remember correctly, before he went on that scoring streak.

 

Not out of the bounds of possibility that a goal will put him on the right track again, so I could see the sense in playing him against a team as awful as Swansea on Saturday.

 

He wasn't that good whilst on that scoring streak either, but he was scoring and that was important at the time. I think it is clear that he is in front of DS in the pecking order should we decide to start with a CF up front. Swansea are awful at the back, they have conceded 15 goals in their last 5, 14 in 4 of those if you take out their 2-1 victory against Palace. I think Coutinho/Bobby and one other player on the right would be better than playing DO up top. 

[index1000]

Agree about their fans as well, i am sick of hearing how great they are from the media. Why? because they turn up to watch their team play Liverpool. How about showing up every week and then maybe you won't be near bankruptcy every few years.

[JoeBuck]

Just got back today after a night in a BnB down there. Thought their fans were great throughout - some of the best I've come across with a real respect and appreciation towards us, especially as most had Liverpool scarves on- where does this Internet hostility come from?

 

As for the game, Sturridge was making runs throughout but not found and Coutinho was simply great - dictating the play and we circulated the ball well. Very satisfying night all round