PODCAST: Liverpool 2 West Ham 1 - Match Reaction

I agree with the sentiment around the lack of buzz before the game – strolling up Fountains Road we wondered whether we had the right KO time. Hard to diagnose but definitely there.

Perhaps a little lenient on Slot re the subs. For me Clive a sub is to fix a problem or cause a problem. The 2nd half subs were all ones that Potter would have been very comfortable with and Slot in effect brought on everyone except the players who could have made the most difference. I thought Chiesa for Jota was the obvious move to make not least as noted in the pod one of their CBs is not of the highest quality. Kostas coming off changed nothing. Quansah coming on made sense to ease Bradley back in but made us more vulnerable. DS rather than HE coming on, Potter would have been unconcerned. Diaz being switched inside made the CBs life easy, Diaz didn’t have the puff to press or harry them and only reappeared in the match when he went out wide again. Gakpo caused far less problems than Diaz had. Mo coming off removed a problem for Potter and the West ham RB. Endo wasn’t able to make any difference in midfield and I agree 100% that the substitution to make at 1-0 is one that will get you to 2-0 rather than shore up a lead. Chiesa and Elliott stayed where Potter would have wanted them, especially Chiesa. Baffling. 

I've disagreed with a lot of what's been said over the last few podcasts, even though there's been plenty of sense at the same time, a few of the statements are baffling to me.

The main thing for me is that the contract situation put a shadow over the season as a whole before a ball was kicked. Then results went well beyond reasonable expectations, and Slot has almost been managing with a bit of a "dog that caught the car" mentality since, possibly even some imposter syndrome. He's as exhausted as some of the players and clearly just wants to get over the line.

Hopefully a proper reflection takes place within the club and a reset, with a champion's confidence and a refreshed squad, sees us buck expectations again next season. Got some scores to settle in Europe.

I agree with everything the lads are saying. 

But one thing I can't buy into. Is Pauls opinion on previous seasons of being used to "having our cake and eat it" 

We haven't had that. We've only won 1 league title in that reign. So we never had our cake and ate it. That's a myth. 

But I totally agree that we should be playing better and winning games easier. 

But to play devils advocate. Is that just modern football now. All this percentage shite of never taking shots from outside the box... Hence why everyone was going crazy after Rice scored two lovely free kicks last week. 

I just think alot of the issues we're seeing, are issues of football in general. It's all predictable patterns of play isn't it. 

A those dreadful mid-table goalless draws with Chelsea and other cake and champagne.

Dave could well be right about this could be the lull in our season I mean our 87/88 team won 4 out of the last 12 which I was surprised about and it’s happened in other title seasons even before we won it 

Moany twats 

If you look at our results when we won the league in 2020, most of our results in between the beginning of the year and league being stopped for Covid are one-goal margin wins, a couple of two-goal wins (famous Salah now-you-gonna-believe us late goal against United).

Between the two CL Atletico games, we had to come from behind to beat...er... West Ham at Anfield 3-2, then we were beaten away at Watford 3-0 and won against Bournemouth at home 2-1, also coming from behind. And we lost at Chelsea 2-0 in the FA Cup. 

And those were our gloriest of the glory days in the league, in recent times. Not too much change, I'd say.

Just finished it. And another good listen. Also can’t help but think that those scars of previous battles with City are still glaringly raw and I can understand a lot of what the lads are saying, but as Dave mentions, this appears to be our lull in form, something that happens with most teams during a season.
 

There were times when I was thinking and close to saying out loud when Paul was “bemoaning” that the left side wasn’t Mané, or when talking about Klopp  “Fuck’s sake they’ve gone, get over it”. Mainly because im finding the panic/worry/frustration/possible step into negativity a little irritating, but I also get why people feel that way. 
 

Paul was absolutely bang on the money about getting Virgil and Mo’s replacements while they are both still at the club. 
 

Me, I am not arsed if we blitz teams 6-0 with mind blowing football or get laboured wins. It’s all about being another 3 points nearer to confirming the title for me. 

Loved the detour to Pin Zhavi, Kia Joorabchian and Struan Marshall. 
 

And John G’s final comment was a chef’s kiss finish. 
 

I have to say, the most worrying point was that Slot seems as baffled as we do by some of the performances.  

You have pundits lauding Slot's more measured approach when Ibou and Virg are playing it square to eachother, than you have Slot bemoaning the fact that Ibou and Virg are playing it square to eachother.

I think everyone will feel much better the day we lift the trophy (just imagine that scene).  A lap of honour around the field as Champions.  It will be incredible.

And then, after that, we will really see.

Was confused by Paul saying the club/owners had played a blinder over the contracts for Virg and Mo.
 

On earlier pods this season he was saying the exact opposite, called out Gordon, criticised the absent leadership and said we should have never got to the position where our 3 best outfield players were all out of contract at the same time.  

8 hours ago, lifetime fan said:

Was confused by Paul saying the club/owners had played a blinder over the contracts for Virg and Mo.
 

On earlier pods this season he was saying the exact opposite, called out Gordon, criticised the absent leadership and said we should have never got to the position where our 3 best outfield players were all out of contract at the same time.  

Nope. I’ve consistently said that about Trent, but I’ve always caveated the contracts thing by saying that the Virgil and Mo approach was right.
 

However, I guess I was thinking specifically of the current executive team when I talked about the negotiations this season. After all it’s Hughes under Edwards who has got them over the line. 

16 hours ago, chrisbonnie said:

I agree with everything the lads are saying. 

 

But one thing I can't buy into. Is Pauls opinion on previous seasons of being used to "having our cake and eat it" 

 

We haven't had that. We've only won 1 league title in that reign. So we never had our cake and ate it. That's a myth. 

 

But I totally agree that we should be playing better and winning games easier. 

 

But to play devils advocate. Is that just modern football now. All this percentage shite of never taking shots from outside the box... Hence why everyone was going crazy after Rice scored two lovely free kicks last week. 

 

I just think alot of the issues we're seeing, are issues of football in general. It's all predictable patterns of play isn't it. 

For clarity, I guess my mindset is that to have won everything in the game whilst playing against systematic cheats and delivering scintillating football is very much the best we could possibly expect. Think of the point totals, think of the trophies, think of the incredible attacking football, think of the atmospheres at Anfield. That is very much champagne to me. The idea that we could’ve done it every single season whilst competing against a state backed systematic cheat is ridiculous.

12 hours ago, Skidfingers McGonical said:

Just finished it. And another good listen. Also can’t help but think that those scars of previous battles with City are still glaringly raw and I can understand a lot of what the lads are saying, but as Dave mentions, this appears to be our lull in form, something that happens with most teams during a season.
 

There were times when I was thinking and close to saying out loud when Paul was “bemoaning” that the left side wasn’t Mané, or when talking about Klopp  “Fuck’s sake they’ve gone, get over it”. Mainly because im finding the panic/worry/frustration/possible step into negativity a little irritating, but I also get why people feel that way. 
 

Paul was absolutely bang on the money about getting Virgil and Mo’s replacements while they are both still at the club. 
 

Me, I am not arsed if we blitz teams 6-0 with mind blowing football or get laboured wins. It’s all about being another 3 points nearer to confirming the title for me. 

Loved the detour to Pin Zhavi, Kia Joorabchian and Struan Marshall. 
 

And John G’s final comment was a chef’s kiss finish. 
 

 

 

 

 

I hope you also heard what I think I said explicitly, but definitely said implicitly: I know it’s an unfair position to take but how I feel is how I feel. Slot can’t be Klopp, Diaz can’t be Mané, etc. That doesn’t mean that I can just stop thinking about the absolute all-time greatness that we were watching every week a very short time ago. As I said, spoilt bastards. 

3 minutes ago, Paul said:

For clarity, I guess my mindset is that to have won everything in the game whilst playing against systematic cheats and delivering scintillating football is very much the best we could possibly expect. Think of the point totals, think of the trophies, think of the incredible attacking football, think of the atmospheres at Anfield. That is very much champagne to me. The idea that we could’ve done it every single season whilst competing against a state backed systematic cheat is ridiculous.

i do get what you're saying, and in general, we definitely played better football, or more of it ,throughout the course of a season under Klopp. 

but we did have shite games under the big charismatic man to.....its like what the lads where saying on the Mo podcast last week, you tend to look back on players careers through rose tinted glasses.

I think we're now guilty of doing that with Klopps reign.

For context, i looked back an old tread from the title winning season, it might have Leicester at home or away, certainly not that game we thumped them over the christmas period, but thats not overly important. 

anyway, we won the game, but if you where to read the comments as the game was going on, everyone was moaning about the style of play...how slow it was, how predictable it was etc......We had these games under Klopp to. 

But as i said at the start here, it does seem that we have more of those/these games under Slot this season. Of that i will definitely agree with you. 

1 hour ago, chrisbonnie said:

 

i do get what you're saying, and in general, we definitely played better football, or more of it ,throughout the course of a season under Klopp. 

 

but we did have shite games under the big charismatic man to.....its like what the lads where saying on the Mo podcast last week, you tend to look back on players careers through rose tinted glasses.

 

I think we're now guilty of doing that with Klopps reign.

 

For context, i looked back an old tread from the title winning season, it might have Leicester at home or away, certainly not that game we thumped them over the christmas period, but thats not overly important. 

 

anyway, we won the game, but if you where to read the comments as the game was going on, everyone was moaning about the style of play...how slow it was, how predictable it was etc......We had these games under Klopp to. 

 

But as i said at the start here, it does seem that we have more of those/these games under Slot this season. Of that i will definitely agree with you. 

 

 

OK, yes. But surely you get that we’re not aiming for some objective truth on the pod? We’re just giving opinions in which everyone is emotionally invested. Certainly, I’m not trying to convince anyone of anything. You see it one way and I see it another. Opinions and feelings change over time too. So it’s perfectly reasonable to think and feel one thing today and then another next week. 

When our holoavatars will be sitting with your holoavatars in the TLW Immersecast™ in a couple of years, the immersecasters will be discussing how Lallana struggles to have us playing controlled, efficient and adaptable football of a winning machine from the glorious Slot caviar years, because what we will remember from 24/25 will be double over City with that away performance in particular, dominance over United away, Newcastle at home, demolition of Spurs, CL games against Real or Leverkusen.

4 hours ago, Paul said:

I hope you also heard what I think I said explicitly, but definitely said implicitly: I know it’s an unfair position to take but how I feel is how I feel. Slot can’t be Klopp, Diaz can’t be Mané, etc. That doesn’t mean that I can just stop thinking about the absolute all-time greatness that we were watching every week a very short time ago. As I said, spoilt bastards. 

Yeah, of course mate, we just view it form a different perspective. I don’t disagree with the points you made, I just find it a frustrating at times and don’t feel those feelings and opinions should be negated just because I don’t talk about them. If we weren’t top and closing in on number 20, I’d be saying those exact same things 
 

Spoilt bastards (all of us) is probably the perfect summary. 

I think there is a sense of 'je ne sais quoi' and people are trying to explain it without sounding like being ungrateful.

I think the situation is simply this.

Out of relative nowhere - we're going to win the league and the maths tells you it's almost certain. There is a sense of anxiety and I was holding my head for most of the game and couldn't bare to watch injury time. Doesn't matter what people say, we won't believe it untl it is won.

The football is different, the intensity of emotion in previous title races isn't there (and thank fuck for that btw because anyone who said they enjoyed it are sickos) so this just all feels different.

The way we play also impacts the fans, and the atmosphere after the equaliser was a 'fuck you' atmosphere and we had to create that.            

I really don't know what it is, but I do know. The day we win the league, the day we lift the trophy and the day of the parade will be amongst the best of your lives. So get on board. 

Some of the excitement is missing because it has been all but won for some time and it will be back as the moment of actually winning the league approaches.

Also, apart from it being in the bag, we have nothing else to play for so we are mentally in what is proving to be a bit of a tricky position.  And there was a bit of a recent rude awakening in the CL and LC that we are not as good as we thought we were.

23 minutes ago, SasaS said:

Some of the excitement is missing because it has been all but won for some time and it will be back as the moment of actually winning the league approaches.

 

Also, apart from it being in the bag, we have nothing else to play for so we are mentally in what is proving to be a bit of a tricky position.  And there was a bit of a recent rude awakening in the CL and LC that we are not as good as we thought we were.

Agree with most of that. However, I can’t shake the feeling that the lack of rotation cost us in the other competitions. There’s no way of proving that either way, but it’s in the mix.
 

And while I’m at it, I’m also pretty concerned that the youth development pathway may have just been all but closed. Seeing young scousers become world class footballers has been one of my greatest pleasures as a Red over the years so I really hope I’m wrong. 

10 hours ago, Paul said:

Nope. I’ve consistently said that about Trent, but I’ve always caveated the contracts thing by saying that the Virgil and Mo approach was right.
 

However, I guess I was thinking specifically of the current executive team when I talked about the negotiations this season. After all it’s Hughes under Edwards who has got them over the line. 

I agree you’ve said Trent should be their first priority/focus as he was the most saleable asset. 

But at the start of the season you were saying the approach the club had taken to Virg’s contract was bordering on insulting. 

44 minutes ago, lifetime fan said:

I agree you’ve said Trent should be their first priority/focus as he was the most saleable asset. 

 

But at the start of the season you were saying the approach the club had taken to Virg’s contract was bordering on insulting. 

Don’t think I was, but if I was I’ve changed my mind. So what?

58 minutes ago, Paul said:

Don’t think I was, but if I was I’ve changed my mind. So what?

You did say it. 
 

Like I said in my original post I was just confused because I’d not seen or heard anything saying any different. 
 

I didn’t know if there was anything that made you think differently or it was just the excitement of Mo signing and it looking like Virg will as well.  
 

So nothing, people change their minds all the time. 

19 minutes ago, lifetime fan said:

You did say it. 
 

Like I said in my original post I was just confused because I’d not seen or heard anything saying any different. 
 

I didn’t know if there was anything that made you think differently or it was just the excitement of Mo signing and it looking like Virg will as well.  
 

So nothing, people change their minds all the time. 

When did I say that? I have no recollection whatsoever of it. 

22 minutes ago, Paul said:

When did I say that? I have no recollection whatsoever of it. 

The season preview pod.