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Liverpool 4 Brighton & Hove Albion 0 (May 13 2018)



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Report by
Dave Usher at Anfield
 
 
 

 

There was a lot riding on the game for the obvious reason; we had to secure a Champions League place. A draw would have been enough to do so regardless of what Chelsea did, so the result was uppermost in everyone’s minds and normally in these circumstances it’s the only thing that matters. 

 

This was different though. The performance was almost as important because this wasn’t our last game of the season and just limping over the line wouldn't do. The last few weeks we’ve been struggling and there have been worrying signs that the intense workload was catching up with the lads. 

 

Virtually the same eleven players have been having to play twice a week and their performance level had dropped significantly. Drawing with shite like Everton, West Brom and Stoke was probably a natural consequence of having to play high intensity Champions League games in midweek, but it would have been massively alarming if we looked flat against Brighton. 

 

The legginess we were seeing was definitely a result of playing twice a week but the question in my mind was whether we’d look fresh again after not playing in midweek, or if the toll on players legs was already too great. If we hadn’t performed against Brighton I wouldn’t have given us any chance in the final, so I was as anxious about the performance as much as the result on Sunday. 

 

I needn’t have been. The result was sound but the performance was better. 4-0 was the absolute least we deserved as I thought the players looked right back to their dazzling, energetic best. Ok, Brighton had nothing to play for but I don’t think that made much difference really. It was more about what we did and how we looked. Our boys looked fit and sharp and it was an enjoyable game to watch. 

 

Brighton not having anything to play for helped us, but not in the way many might think. They didn’t have the deckchairs out and it’s not like they didn’t put the effort in. It was almost like a free swing for them really. It didn’t matter if they lost as they’d secured their survival, but that didn’t mean they didn’t want to win. They had a go. 

 

The lack of pressure on Brighton meant that they played with freedom and didn’t just get everyone behind the ball and play for a draw, as they might have done had the stakes been higher for them. They ended up having to defend in numbers and at times couldn’t get out of their own half, but that was a consequence of how well we played rather than Chris Hughton wanting to spoil the game. 

 

It was obvious from the opening few minutes they were going to give it a go and play their football. They had two players pushed up front and they tried to play their way out through the midfield rather than just launching it as most teams do against us. I knew in those opening minutes based on how Brighton set up that we’d be fine. 

 

This wasn’t going to be one of those frustrating days when we spend 90 minutes trying to get past ten players defending their own box. Brighton were clearly here to play and if you play against us then good luck, because you’re going to need it. 

 

Lovren set the tone early by winning every ball that was played up to their frontman. He was aggressive, on the front foot and by not letting their forwards get hold the ball it was impossible for Brighton to get out. Van Dijk was equally impressive, he doesn’t just win his headers but he knocks them down to the feet of team-mates and gets us going again. 

 

Those two laid the platform, while the midfield two of Gini and Hendo were buzzing around everywhere in front of them. We looked sharp right from the off and never let up until the game was safe. 

 

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The only thing that looked like it might threaten to ruin our day was the colossal twat Kevin Friend. Can’t stand him. I’ve had a beef with him since he sent Spearing off at Fulham. Regular readers will know I’m not one of those who bangs the drum about refs having agendas against us, I just think most of them are shit rather than biased. 

 

Howard Webb was an obvious exception. Anyone who thinks he wasn’t out to screw us over at every opportunity is either deluded or a Manc. Or a deluded Manc. Other than Webb, I’ve had suspicions about Lee Mason (who hardly ever gets to referee our games any more which merely adds to it) and I’m fairly sure that Friend also wants to shaft us whenever possible. 

 

I watch him refereeing other games and he’s by no means good, but he’s probably one of the least shit refs on the circuit. Put him in charge of a Liverpool game though and he’s basically Howard Webb with hair. 

 

He turned down two clear penalties at the Kop end early on (one of which was so blatant even Gary Neville couldn’t believe it wasn’t given) and when you look at his position it beggars belief he didn’t give either, as he was perfectly placed looking straight at both of them. 

 

It’s simple really. The only reason you don’t give penalties in those situations (especially the Salah one) is if you just don’t want to. No other explanation, he knew he wasn’t going to give us a pen under virtually any circumstances. 

 

His performance throughout was poor but it was early on when the game was still in the balance that his true colours were on show. Not sure what those colours are (although I’ve always found him to be favourable towards Chelsea) but they’re certainly not Liverpool Red. 

 

It’s incredible that we’ve gone through this entire season without getting one penalty at home in the league. We’ve not had many away either off the top of my head. We’re the most attacking team in the country along with City and we spend more time in the opposing box as anyone other than them, but refs seem to have decided that they’re going to give us fuck all. 

 

Someone needs to produce a compilation of all the clear penalties we’ve not been given at Anfield, because this is beginning to look like more than just a bit of an anomaly now, particularly when you see some of the soft ones that have gone against us. 

 

Thankfully we overcame it this time. It’s in those games when things aren’t going too well and you’re having to scrap for everything that those non-penalties are really crucial. Like the handball against Stoke the other week, and I’m pretty sure we were denied a clear one against United at Anfield too. And Chelsea at home as well if I remember rightly. 

 

Those are the ones you really need, and the two we didn’t get in this one didn’t really matter because we were playing so well that we were always going to score a few anyway. We missed some sitters in the first half though didn’t we? Fucking hell. 

 

Mané went clean through twice and fucked both of them up. The first time he should have squared it to Firmino but instead shot straight at the keeper. The second time he did the opposite. He made it look too obvious that he was going to square it to Salah and the keeper was just waiting for it and made the save. 

 

Despite those two errors, I thought Sadio looked sharp as fuck. It didn’t quite happen for him in front of goal but I’m really excited by his form these last few weeks and he could tear Madrid apart if it clicks for him. 

 

In between those incidents we did find the net when Solanke slipped a little ball into Mo who did what he does. Great to see him back in the goals after three scoreless games. It sounds mad even saying that, as three games without a goal is nothing, but it felt like something because he’s been scoring virtually every week. 

 

He was back to being Mo in this game, which also bodes well for the final. If the front three are on their game we can beat anyone. Not just beat anyone, but completely embarrass anyone. There’s no guarantee they will be on their game, but if they are then we should feel very good about our chances. 

 

Mo’s reaction to that goal was telling I thought. He’s usually fairly relaxed about his celebrations but he was giving it loads this time. Obviously the importance of the game will have been a factor, but I suspect that Premier League record was also playing on his mind, especially after he missed that sitter against Stoke. 

 

He’s funny is Mo. He says things that would seem incredibly arrogant and cocky if they came from anyone else (the odious Harry Kane for example), yet when it comes from him it seems like anything but. He can say the cockiest thing in the world and still seem humble saying it. 

 

For example, he was asked by Sky afterwards if he can do this again next season. His reply? “I will. Don’t worry.” Then Lineker tweets about him breaking the record and Mo replied to him with “Told you I’d do it”. If that were anyone else I’d be thinking “cocky prick” but with Mo I just want to ruffle his hair and tell him I love his confidence. 

 

Tell you what was boss as well. Lovren giving it the Mo “Are you not entertained” Gladiator pose in front of the Kop after he scored. That was great. It’s become apparent this season due to all the behind the scenes social media footage we see from players that Lovren is one of the dressing room jokers and he’s really popular with his team-mates. I don’t know if he was deliberately copying Mo’s trademark pose or if he just got lost in the moment, but I reckon the lads will have ripped the piss out of him for it. 

 

It was great goal, I love those type of goals when you can see it unfolding as some big bastard is thundering in unopposed and you know he’s going to have a free header. It doesn’t happen often because usually there are people blocking off runs and getting in the way, but Lovren had a clear run at this and he just attacked it and planted his header into the Kop goal. 

 

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That was the decisive goal really because Brighton would have needed three for there to be any chance of us not getting top four. Besides, Chelsea were shitting the bed at Newcastle by that point too, so we more or less knew we were safe and could just enjoy the rest of the game. 

 

I said to my Dad at half time that all I wanted from the second half was a goal for Solanke. He had been a surprise inclusion in the starting line up because Milner had been ruled out. Klopp didn’t have a great deal of options to be fair, but it was still a big call changing the formation and bringing in Solanke. It was a risk but it paid off. 

 

He had a shaky start when he fluffed a chance following a bad back pass. He could have taken it round the keeper and had a tap in but he missed the ball and slipped over. That wasn’t what he needed, but he kept his head up and played his way into the game gradually. I thought he had a decent first half but the only time I’ve ever seen a player in more desperate need of a goal was when Crouchy had the horrific barren run to start his career with us. 

 

As the players came out for the second half Mo stopped and gave him a little pat on the back and said a few words to him. He may have been thanking him for the assist, or could have just been telling him “I got you”, because it wasn’t long before he was playing him in for goal. 

 

Salah’s run for that goal was brilliant. The speed and skill was just too much for Brighton to deal with, but often we’ve seen him go himself in those circumstances so I thought it was telling that he rolled it to Solanke instead. He clearly wanted the young lad to score and that typifies the mentality of this team. They’re all in it together, and that comes from Klopp and his whole team first ethos. 

 

It was a hell of a finish from Solanke too, and the irony is that was one of the more difficult chances he’s had this season. It flew in off the underside of the bar and there looked to be nine months worth of frustration in that shot. Made up for him 

 

I’ve been on the Solanke bus all season but I jumped off last week. I’ve just ran across to the other side of the road and jumped back on as it came past again. Seriously, I’m so pleased for the lad as it’s been a tough time for him in recent months. What it means for the long term who knows. 

 

He’s clearly a good player and Klopp loves him but he’s not shown anywhere near enough so far to suggest he could be the back up for Firmino. Maybe he’ll kick on in pre-season and this goal will be the turning point for him. I’m not holding my breath but I’m relaxed about the whole thing because Klopp knows what he’s doing. 

 

Klopp spoke afterwards about how tough it’s been for Solanke after his promising start, and it was interesting that he said the striker had “fell down a hole” for a while but that the last three or four weeks he’d been back to his best. We don’t see any of this stuff that happens in training, we can only judge on what we see on the pitch. 

 

So many times this season Klopp has gone out of his way to talk about how difficult it has been to leave him out, although he says the same about Moreno all the time so maybe a pinch of salt is needed there! 

 

Anyway, it was a lovely finish, a good all round performance and it must have been a big relief for the kid to finally get off the mark as he wouldn’t have wanted to go the entire season without a goal. No-one wants to be El Hadji Diouf. 

 

There was an understandable drop off at 3-0 as players began to conserve some energy. There was a lot of passing around at the back and Klopp seemed to get a bit agitated at one point and was having words with Henderson and Van Dijk. Not sure what that was about, it may have been a moment of sloppiness from Big Virg when he gave the ball away in a dangerous area. The good thing was how many red shirts flew back into position to snuff out the danger. Wijnaldum made the most telling contribution, sprinting back and holding up the initial runner. 

 

He had a great game. Nothing flashy, but plenty of energy and great defensive work, and very strong and skilful in possession. It was his midfield partner who really stood out for me though. Hendo was terrific, his passing was aggressive and accurate and he just kept us ticking over. Both he and Gini did a great job winning back possession and stopping counter attacks at source. 

 

They don’t get to play in a midfield two very often but they seemed to enjoy it, and who knows, we might see that 4-2-3-1 system a little more next season as it worked pretty well. Firmino was the key to making it click and although he didn’t score (he was denied a couple of times by the keeper, who played very well) I thought he was excellent too, and linked everything together. 

 

Basically they all played well, except Karius who had absolutely nothing to do. They should have let him take his phone onto the field as he could have live streamed on Instagram from his goalmouth, modelling the new keeper kit. I’m joking, but let’s hope no-one from New Balance is reading as, well, y’know, modern football. 

 

With the pace of the game having dropped Klopp took the opportunity to get a few subs on. Lallana made a welcome return and looked very sharp all things considered. I’ve got a sneaky feeling he could end up having a Vladi-like influence on the final. The entire season has been a nightmare for him but maybe it will have a happy ending? 

 

Woodburn and Ings got on too, as the front three were all protected ahead of the final. Ings and Lallana played a part in the fourth goal which put the seal on a great day, as let’s face it, who else would any of us have rather scored than Robbo? Love that lad, he’s fucking ace. See his face when it went in? 

 

At full time we had the whole pantomime of the lap of honour. I know I say this every year, but every year it gets worse. How many hangers on were on the field this time? 

 

There were about 300 people on the pitch, it looked like there were brothers, sisters, aunties, uncles, cousins, next door neighbours… players are now bringing every fucker they know onto the field with them. I know I’m getting a bit “get off my lawn” here, but it’s annoying and unnecessary. I just want to see the players, give them a clap and a cheer and then go home. 

 

Why do we have to wait 20 minutes for them to go down the tunnel, pick up their entourage and then come back out? I should have just got off, but I felt bad. I think to myself “what if thousands of others did the same?” It would look shit. The lads deserved our thanks and a good send off ahead of the final, I just feel that the whole thing has become ridiculous and gets worse every year. 

 

That said, the thing with Mo getting his award from the King was great, and the pantomime thing with his little girl and the cheering every time she kicked the ball was boss. She obviously didn’t know what the whole thing was about, but it was dead funny when she worked out that every time she kicked the ball there was this big loud noise. 

 

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Star man was Hendo but they were all very good, especially Lovren and Robbo. 

 

Finishing fourth has annoyed me because we’re clearly better than that. We should be second, but we aren’t because we failed to beat United twice and we had too many draws against teams we should beat. The fatigue of the last few weeks hasn’t helped either, but even allowing for all that we should have been third at least. 

 

The fact we’re not falls on the shoulders of two men. Fat Jon Moss and his busy cunt assistant. Spurs have one point more than they should and we have two points less, solely because of those two clowns. 

 

So let Spurs enjoy their open top bus for finishing above Liverpool, but next year we need to ensure that we’re so far ahead of those diving knobheads that even if we get screwed like that again by the refs it won’t matter. 

 

While finishing below Spurs and United is a little irritating to say the least, only a fool would swap our season for theirs. 
Just one more big effort required to turn an enjoyable season into an historic one. 

 

COME ON YOU REDMEN!!! 
 

 

Team: Karius; Alexander-Arnold, Lovren, Van Dijk, Robertson; Henderson, Wijnaldum; Salah (Woodburn), Firmino (Ings), Mané (Lallana); Solanke:


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I should have just got off, but I felt bad. I think to myself “what if thousands of others did the same?” It would look...

 

...like Goodison after the end of the Southampton game?

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When you say that you think Solanke is clearly a good player, do you mean in terms of being able to deputise for the best front 3 in Europe? Would you try and loan him out next season, or are you happy for him to be chief support having learnt a lot this year?

 

It being the last game, I won't draw attention to that laughably deceitful line you always throw in about telling your Dad/Mum/Paul/Jules/etc something right before it happens. We both know the type of " we have no shit players anymore " things you say in the real world.

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Check you out with your watermarked pictures!

 

I know every team feels like they get screwed over with penalties, but someone at the club really do need to compile a DVD of the outrageous shite we've had to deal with this year, especially at home.

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When you say that you think Solanke is clearly a good player, do you mean in terms of being able to deputise for the best front 3 in Europe? Would you try and loan him out next season, or are you happy for him to be chief support having learnt a lot this year?

 

It being the last game, I won't draw attention to that laughably deceitful line you always throw in about telling your Dad/Mum/Paul/Jules/etc something right before it happens. We both know the type of " we have no shit players anymore " things you say in the real world.

 

I don't know. He's a good player, I think he'll be a very good player, but the bar is so high with our current front three I don't see him being good enough to compete for regular games, and if he's not playing regularly then there's no point keeping him here. So I suspect a loan would be preferable but he might not want that after his Chelsea experience.

 

Also, I didn't predict his goal, I just said I really wanted him to score.

 

If I was boasting about a prediction, I'd use this one. When I posted the report up I said to Jules "Kevin D will defo make a smart arse comment on this report".

 

Dave, what's with the new Solange spelling? Is this like a Kiev/Kyiv thing we've not been told about?

 

Fucking autocorrect keeps screwing me over on that one. Keeps changing it, but I don't even know what a Solange is. Is it an actual word, and if not why does my autocorrect keep insisting on using it?

 

How great is it that scoring four goals no longer seems out of the norm? 

 

Yeah, I said in a recent report that three is level par now. We score three and it's just a standard round. Four is 1 under etc

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Yeah, I think he is talented.

 

From what I've seen though, he's a guy who needs to be starting week in and week out; a focul point, rather than a Ronnie who can come on and change the game with only 20 minutes playing time.

 

I'd be pleased to see him go to Fulham for 18 months, but when it comes to younger players, I defer to Klopp's remarkable record and expertise on blooding youth talent.

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Performance definitely the best thing.   The tiredness was gone and thank god or allah for that cause we're gonna need to be on our very fucking best in the final.  That's going one of two ways, we bum them stupid or they win comfortably.   We've a huge chance of them being arrogant enough to play open football against Salah, Mane and Firmino.......

 

Salah and the club can thank one man for their achievements, Jurgen Klopp.  Champions league final on a shoestring budget & playing a brand of football that has made the front three look world class, these players don't walk to another club and reproduce form this good.

 

One fucking corner let me down on a get a price bet yesterday.  Couldn't even celebrate Robertson's goal cause I just wanted a corner at that point.

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Fucking autocorrect keeps screwing me over on that one. Keeps changing it, but I don't even know what a Solange is. Is it an actual word, and if not why does my autocorrect keep insisting on using it?

 

 

Beyonce’s sister, Dave. “Someone” must have been using your phone to search for bad music.

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"Solange" is further evidence of early-onset dementia. He needs pity.

 

There there Mr Usher. I know you're looking for Solange. I know you think he's one of your boys, but you don't have any boys, remember? Now, back to your bed. Nurse Ratchett? A syringe of industrial strength Mogadon please. Quick sticks. 

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I don't know. He's a good player, I think he'll be a very good player, but the bar is so high with our current front three I don't see him being good enough to compete for regular games, and if he's not playing regularly then there's no point keeping him here. So I suspect a loan would be preferable but he might not want that after his Chelsea experience.

 

Also, I didn't predict his goal, I just said I really wanted him to score.

 

If I was boasting about a prediction, I'd use this one. When I posted the report up I said to Jules "Kevin D will defo make a smart arse comment on this report".

 

Anymore remarks like that, and I'll be taking my talents to RAWK.

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To me, Solanke has the technique and physique to play at this level. And he didn't look out of place at all with Firmino, Mane and Salah. As a foil for them he looks up to it. 

 

If we sign Fekir, who can also play the false 9 role, along with possibly a returning Origi, Ings and maybe Brewster, there will be more than enough cover at the striker position. 

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To me, Solanke has the technique and physique to play at this level. And he didn't look out of place at all with Firmino, Mane and Salah. As a foil for them he looks up to it. 

 

If we sign Fekir, who can also play the false 9 role, along with possibly a returning Origi, Ings and maybe Brewster, there will be more than enough cover at the striker position.

 

What so far has given you the impression that he's capable, if Firmino and Salah are out for 8-12 games?

 

I'm not disagreeing, just curious as he's had a less than sparkling start.

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"I’ve been on the Solanke bus all season but I jumped off last week. I’ve just ran across to the other side of the road and jumped back on as it came past again."

 

Haha Dave you are shameless but I love it

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Solanke was typically awful in the first half,he works hard and gets into some good positions but then tends to mess up with a poor touch,bad pass etc and lets himself down. I'm delighted he scored as it will hopefully give him a big confidence boost and he will still be here a while longer as Klopp will believe he can would him into a much better player due to his age. I haven't seen much to convince me he will be a decent player but if Jurgen thinks he will then I'm not one to argue with him.

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