PODCAST: Brighton 2 Liverpool 1 - FA Cup Match Reaction

Think you might have to re-upload @Chris, unless it really is only 8 minutes long because you all just gave up, which tbf would be totally understandable.

I thought Elliott was the right choice starting, but I’d have dropped Mo and put him in the right, still with Gakpo dropping deeper, which seemed to work well - and Darwin on the left. Harvey’s goal was excellent. He’s a real attacking talent.

In fact, Elliott having to be removed because of his first half smack on the head, was probably the first bit of bad luck, which made the team more disjointed. I think if he’d been ok, & stayed on, we’d have carried on with more of the first half fluidity. Naby going off (another headache?) also seemed to leave us with less of an attacking mentality.

Milner for Trent? I didn’t see the point, and Milner was certainly culpable for their winning goal. He wasn’t alone in hiding from his job, but went walkabout from RB at a crucial time at the free kick.

In fact the more changes we made the more the game seem to slip beyond our grasp. The old guard is done and dusted. It’s a new beginning but not when and where we wanted it.

Only stringing together some European games is going to salvage this season. That will be a miracle. We’ve witnessed them before, so I’m not going to say the fat lady has sung, but I’m not holding my breath.

I approve of the new 8 minute Gong Show like format.

Reuploading it now. Give it a few minutes.

8 minutes isn’t long enough to abuse Fabinho. Re-upload needed, plus some bonus content. 

Agree with both Jules and Brownie's early comments, we're not taking steps forward.

Brighton first came from a corner after Konate headed the ball out under no pressure and supposedly trying to head it out for a throw in. Their second came from a free kick against Robbo after both he and Mac Allister jumped in feet off the ground tackle.

Im seeing some shit that we should have had 3 red cards(!), Fabinho, Konate 2nd booking for that shove in the 2nd half, not sure where some think a 3rd should have been given.

Some of those analogies were worse than Fabinho. 

Yes, I know. 

1 hour ago, Jairzinho said:

Yes, I know. 

after the fact or before the fact?

*Shakes head*

10 hours ago, Red Shift said:

I thought Elliott was the right choice starting, but I’d have dropped Mo and put him in the right, still with Gakpo dropping deeper, which seemed to work well - and Darwin on the left. Harvey’s goal was excellent. He’s a real attacking talent.

In fact, Elliott having to be removed because of his first half smack on the head, was probably the first bit of bad luck, which made the team more disjointed. I think if he’d been ok, & stayed on, we’d have carried on with more of the first half fluidity. Naby going off (another headache?) also seemed to leave us with less of an attacking mentality.

 

Milner for Trent? I didn’t see the point, and Milner was certainly culpable for their winning goal. He wasn’t alone in hiding from his job, but went walkabout from RB at a crucial time at the free kick.

 

In fact the more changes we made the more the game seem to slip beyond our grasp. The old guard is done and dusted. It’s a new beginning but not when and where we wanted it.

 

Only stringing together some European games is going to salvage this season. That will be a miracle. We’ve witnessed them before, so I’m not going to say the fat lady has sung, but I’m not holding my breath.

Our dreams are being tossed and blown

I think I wrote on twitter yesterday that I was looking forward to the pod but nervous people would go overboard and just judge the game on the final score as opposed to the 90 minutes (like twitter does).  That wasn’t the case though and I thought it was a very fair pod for the most part.  Brownie ended up speaking and, I think, feeling like I did.  I too was more frustrated by this result because we deserved more.  We deserved to win in fact.  We were the better team and had it finished 1-1 then we’d have had a bit more positivity about a better performance only undone by a lucky deflection from a shot that was going wide. But that late goal killed that.  It was terrible marking at the back post, but the touch and finish at the near post was stunning.  I real knife to the heart that one.  But all in all we did better again with a good few positives. 

Some parts annoyed me though (as they will in any pod).  Gakpo did that fantastic turn and motored up the pitch and at the time I thought to myself that I bet if I check twitter you’ll have the moaners saying “it’s only fucking Dunk he ran away from” in that annoying way people just can’t give credit where it’s due. So it was disappointing to hear that said on the pod, especially as I thought we saw more again from Gakpo as he finds his feet.  Saying he’s always a split second late in the press because he’s slow is such a lazy view too (not sure if I heard that on the pod, but it was definitely a topic on twitter).  Pace doesn’t dictate the press.  Matip is able to play the press.  It’s fully understanding the tactics and your teammates so you aren’t on your heels waiting to see your teammates go before you do, but just know when to go instinctively without even thinking about it.  That always takes time with new players under Klopp, and it’ll come with Gakpo too. 

On Fabinho – they must check this stuff but I’ve wondered for a while are some players suffering some form of long Covid or something that’s hard to diagnose at that elite level?  It’s absolutely astonishing the fall off.  He doesn’t even look like a 3^rd division footballer anymore.  He wouldn’t get a game for Tranmere at the moment.

I want UEFA Cup by the way.  Great place to blood youngsters, give non-starting players minutes, and get confidence boosting wins when needed.  I hate the idea of not being in Europe.  It doesn’t matter anyway as we’ll get top 4.

I've lost 10mph swing speed with my driver from 3 years ago. I'm slowly working it back up but not sure I'll ever get it back where it was. That's the golf equivalent of Fabinho. Not sure if it's long covid or just a result of being almost 50.

Don't know what has caused it for me either.

Thought Harvey was really good considering I thought his last start in the left was awful/anonymous. Definitely think getting him closer to goal in a role that maximises his strengths and minimises his weaknesses should be a key focus for Klopp. Getting him on the weights would help too. Better upper body strength would allow him to both protect and win the ball better and therefore compensate for his lack of real pace.  
 

The shape was interesting too. Switching between 4132 and 4141. Big faith in Bajcetic in those systems. 

I disagree with the sentiment of this one. There were definite positives in the Wolves game. Positives about the Chelsea result, but you have to dig deep for good things to say about this one. I think people are just comparing it to the other Brighton game instead of actually looking at the performance in isolation. 

The 1st half was fine but the 2nd half was as bad as anything we served up and we were clumsily injuring their players at the end. That half was lethargic, we created nothing, the subs were all terrible. There was nothing there. 

Shame Harvey is a bit lacking athletically, as there's clearly a talented player there. Get him on the juice, I say.

Good pod. 

It's sad that we're out of the FA Cup with a whimper. One shot in the second half.

I've no idea what Klopp is playing at with the strikers. Salah way over on the wing. Gakpo playing centre forward. Harvey on the left. Can't we just stick Harvey right, Salah middle and Gakpo left?

Also, I'm guessing he has an issue with Nunez as he doesn't seem near first choice when fit.