Sevilla 3 Liverpool 3 (Nov 21 2017)

[tlw content]

Ridiculous. Will they ever learn? Probably not. No lead is safe with this team because as soon as they let one in you expect more to follow. This game was all but won but somehow they found a way to balls it up. 
 
The first half performance was everything you’d have wanted it to be. Ok, two of the goals were from corners, but it felt like we’d score with every attack and Sevilla had completely gone at 3-0. They were passing the ball straight of play and their defence were shitting themselves any time they were put under pressure. 
 
Half time gave them a chance to clear their heads and regroup, but it doesn’t excuse what happened. It was obvious they’d come out in the first few minutes with fire in their bellies and try to get back into the game but the meek response from our players was embarrassing. 
 
It was hard to believe it was the same team, but then you think back to other capitulations against the likes of Bournemouth, Watford, Norwich and others (including Sevilla two years ago) and it's less surprising. 
 
When this team does what they’re supposed to they can beat anyone. That’s the most frustrating part of all this. The first half showed why nobody in this competition will want to draw us in the knock out stages (assuming we get there, and with this lot that’s no longer a certainty). Hell, we’re even scoring from corners now, which should really put the fear of God into our opponents. 
 
Firmino gave us the perfect start with a goal after 88 seconds. Nice finish, well worked corner. Incredibly, we then did the exact same thing again, only with different players. This time it was Firmino flicking the ball on and Mané arriving round the back to finish. Great header that was. 
 
Sevilla had twice almost equalised minutes before that goal. Our shape wasn’t great and they sliced through us far too easily. The first time saw Karius make a great save to turn the ball onto the post, and the second time the striker dragged his shot just wide. I’m pretty sure those chances came within the same minute, and for the rest of the half we were in complete control. 
 
The third goal came when Mané raced clear and should have scored himself, but luckily Firmino was on hand to tap in the rebound from close range. He was taking the piss by looking the other way when he put the ball in the net, and at the time it was dead funny and I was loving it. The fun was about to end soon enough though. 
 

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[halewood pete]

a fair assessment Dave,so annoying to throw away a three goal lead,a game of two halfs indeed

[eeyore]

cant believe you haven't mentioned the shithousery of henderson.

 

what a pussy that man is compared to banega

[Trumo]

Banega has a lot of ability but displays like yesterday are usually the exception not the norm. His career has been extremely inconsistent. We allowed him far too much time and space on the ball though.

[lebron]

Henderson hides so effectively that he even escapes criticism. Up there with the worst midfield performances I've seen that 2nd half...

[DaveT]

'The other problem he had was that we were under the cosh and Sevilla kept attacking his (Moreno) side of the field over and over.' How often have we seen this, though? And invariably, he reacts by doing something stupid (then doing it again). The team are too dumb to help him out - doesn't help when his midfield cover on that side is Coutinho - and Klopp is always too late too react.

Particularly annoying to fail to put this bunch of cheating shithouses in their place. I was already wound up having watched their kids get up to the same kind of antics (and worse) in the u19s match in the afternoon. However, our kids stood up to all the cowardly provocation and taught the Seville kids a lesson. maybe our senior team need to be made to watch that game and see how it's done.

[rubble-rouser]

The 4-3-3 shape doesn't work when you are defending a lead, especially with Mane and Salah playing on the wrong sides. I'm happy enough with them both cutting in when we go forward, but at 3-1 and 3-2 they kept being bypassed with simple passes on the outside with Moreno and Gomez being left exposed. Whenever they get the ball out wide and try to act as an outlet they have to run into traffic. We make the pitch smaller, not bigger, that way and it means that it is harder to keep the ball. Firmino was goosed by the end and should have gone off - just leave Salah up at that point - but I was worried in the first couple of minutes of the second half when he was trying flicks instead of holding the ball up. All of that comes from the manager as well as a lack of game intelligence. 

 

Can should have been on at 3-1 (not that he did anything when he came on) and I was worried about Moreno as soon as he got booked.

 

Still not having that as a pen though.   

[BCM]

The 4-3-3 shape doesn't work when you are defending a lead, especially with Mane and Salah playing on the wrong sides. I'm happy enough with them both cutting in when we go forward, but at 3-1 and 3-2 they kept being bypassed with simple passes on the outside with Moreno and Gomez being left exposed. Whenever they get the ball out wide and try to act as an outlet they have to run into traffic. We make the pitch smaller, not bigger, that way and it means that it is harder to keep the ball. Firmino was goosed by the end and should have gone off - just leave Salah up at that point - but I was worried in the first couple of minutes of the second half when he was trying flicks instead of holding the ball up. All of that comes from the manager as well as a lack of game intelligence. 

 

Can should have been on at 3-1 (not that he did anything when he came on) and I was worried about Moreno as soon as he got booked.

 

Still not having that as a pen though.   

 

What rules do you play by....... He completely missed the ball and stood on the lads foot/ankle.  Its about as clear a pen as you can have.

[Josef Svejk]

Henderson hides so effectively that he even escapes criticism. Up there with the worst midfield performances I've seen that 2nd half...

That's extremely unfair. I mean, here he is at the death, heroically fighting the good fight:

 

https://twitter.com/cormacpro/status/933088809738260480?s=08

[razor]

I hate stuff like that.

If he'd passed the ball and put his full back under pressure we'd all be screaming, "Why didn't he just put his foot through it and get shut?  Smack it in the air if you have to, just get rid!"

 

I also disagree with Dave about the substitutions being on Klopp.  He's responsible for shaping their mentality, so there's an element of culpability there, but he was decisive and made early substitutions.

[rmgriffin10]

Spot on as usual Dave

[RedHeadedRed]

I agree the whole team are to blame as much as Moreno that second half display was a joke, but he's too much of a liability. He is the Mario Balotelli of left backs a player who has never learned to play his position, those two would get on very well together I'd imagine.

[grazywalker]

Because we were under pressure and shitting ourselves we snatched at the crew chances we had at their end as well. Those chances would have been put away in the first half

[Stickman]

I knew it was going to be one of those nights when they started showing Sevilla fans getting off when it went 0-3 ....

 

I mean it's not like we've seen that before.

[Ipplfc]

In answer to all your questions,we have no leaders and no winners

[Bobby Hundreds]

I wish the players and manager wouldn't come out like they have proved the haters wrong When we then go out and display every single flaw people have been harping on about. We need to pad out the rest of the team with the same quality we have in our forward line.

[dave u]

'The other problem he had was that we were under the cosh and Sevilla kept attacking his (Moreno) side of the field over and over.' How often have we seen this, though? And invariably, he reacts by doing something stupid (then doing it again). The team are too dumb to help him out - doesn't help when his midfield cover on that side is Coutinho - and Klopp is always too late too react.

 

Particularly annoying to fail to put this bunch of cheating shithouses in their place. I was already wound up having watched their kids get up to the same kind of antics (and worse) in the u19s match in the afternoon. However, our kids stood up to all the cowardly provocation and taught the Seville kids a lesson. maybe our senior team need to be made to watch that game and see how it's done.

 

I watched that too, Sevilla's kids are as snide as the seniors. It was the same in the first game too, which also ended 4-0. Stevie's lads handled it the right way, kept their composure and battered them.

 

That's extremely unfair. I mean, here he is at the death, heroically fighting the good fight:

 

https://twitter.com/cormacpro/status/933088809738260480?s=08

 

He had a terrible game but those two examples are not something that particularly bother me. Apparently he had 55% pass completion, which is hard to do unless you're a below average NFL quarterback.

 

I hate stuff like that.

If he'd passed the ball and put his full back under pressure we'd all be screaming, "Why didn't he just put his foot through it and get shut?  Smack it in the air if you have to, just get rid!"

 

I also disagree with Dave about the substitutions being on Klopp.  He's responsible for shaping their mentality, so there's an element of culpability there, but he was decisive and made early substitutions.

 

Earlier than he did in Basel to be fair, but not early enough for me.

 

Moreno needed to go as soon as he gave away that daft free-kick as it was clear his head had gone. The mistake he made for the penalty was probably down to him still thinking about the rash free-kick he gave away.

[Josef Svejk]

He had a terrible game but those two examples are not something that particularly bother me. Apparently he had 55% pass completion, which is hard to do unless you're a below average NFL quarterback.

Injury time and our captain shits himself. As usual.

 

55% completion rate for a guy who primarily passes sideways. No tackles won. No headers won.

 

He's fucking shit. And we'll be shit as long as we indulge him.

[Nunavut Patrick]

I hope Kirkland's daughter drinks her milk.