We had a go but got what we deserved in the end. We were pathetic in the first leg and wasteful in the second. You can’t expect to beat anyone like that, never mind Real Madrid in the Champions League quarter finals.
We played quite well in this game. I don’t think we were as good as a lot of people are saying we were but we were decent enough and should have won the game. I’d add a caveat to that though because Real had a two goal lead and played the game accordingly. Yes, we were on the front foot and had the most chances, but how much of that was because Madrid did what they needed to do in the first game and therefore approached this one a lot more cautiously than they would have? A lot, I’d say.
Nevertheless, on the balance of chances we probably should have won this game by enough goals to go through, but shite finishing has been a big problem all season so I can’t say this was unexpected. Goalscoring is a big problem for us currently.
Before the gave I gave us a one in ten chance of going through. After ten minutes that was up to around five or six as we started so well I was beginning to feel pretty confident. We looked like our old selves for those ten minutes. Then we began to resemble something between our old selves and this new, shite, lockdown version of us.
By half time that five or six was more like a three or four. I still thought we could do it because we’d had very little trouble creating chances, but it was all about the first goal. If we got one I felt we’d get two, but sadly we couldn’t get the one.
Some may be encouraged by how we played but I can’t say I’ve taken anything from this. We were better than we have been for most of the season but it wasn’t anywhere near the levels we’ve set for ourselves.
I do think that would have changed dramatically if we’d just converted one of those chances. That’s all it would have taken. Put one of them away and the confidence would have come flooding back and we might have steamrollered them.
Instead we wasted some great opportunities and then with every chance that came along we seemed more and more hesitant. By the end, Mo was having to take about six touches before even attempting a shot. He was by far the biggest culprit and had he put that early sitter away then we’d probably be talking about another great comeback while looking forward to another semi against Chelsea.
Mo’s closing in on 30 goals for the season and unlike Firmino and Mané he’s still producing at the level he always has so any criticism of him is probably unfair, especially since I thought his overall performance was really good and he chased absolutely everything. His finishing was proper fucking shite though, and it’s not wholly inaccurate to say that’s why we’re out.
I’m not going to say that though simply because of last week. THAT is why we’re out. All eleven players were fucking hopeless and that stinking performance gave us a mountain that we were unable to climb without fans in the stadium. Had Mo not fluffed his lines we could have overcome the shitshow we served up last week, but his missed chances shouldn’t mask what the real problem was. You can’t play like we did last week and expect to go through.
Yet with fans in the stadium I’m convinced we would have done. Every missed chance seemed to take a little bit out of the players and make Madrid more confident, but with a full stadium the opposite happens. Fans don’t get disheartened by a missed chance, they get excited and raise the fucking roof. And that in turn lifts our lads and causes the opposition to panic.
With a full house, this game doesn’t end up goalless. I’m 100% sure of that. That’s why I never believed we would turn this one around. When Mo missed that early chance the noise level would have been deafening. Our lads would have been desperate to get the ball back so they could continue applying pressure, and Madrid’s players would have been way more uncomfortable than they were in an empty stadium.
When Mo missed that chance they’ll have shrugged it off and thought “got away with one there”. When there’s 55,000 fans screaming encouragement it’s a whole different mindset. It becomes “fuck, we’re in trouble here”.
On a normal Anfield night this one still wouldn’t have been over even when it reached 87 or 88 minutes. We could have got one and then in stoppage time forced another. We’ve done it before. The Dortmund game immediately springs to mind. In an empty stadium though forget it.
The players gave everything they had but it was clear from about an hour onwards that it wasn’t going to happen. Personally I think the pivotal moment in the game was the horrific miss by Gini late in the first half. It wasn’t a sitter and I’m not saying he HAS to score. But you can’t shoot six yards over the fucking bar from there. You just can’t. It deflated everyone. You could see the disappointment in all of them, especially Gini. In a full stadium the fans lift the players and spur them on to keep pushing. Gini’s name would have been chanted. Instead they have to lift themselves and it’s just a lot more difficult, especially given the run we’ve had these last four months.
Other than that terrible finish Gini was outstanding, but what does it matter when you blow your big moment like that? Same with Mo. He played really well but he should have had a hat-trick. The first one he missed was weak as fuck. He needs to be bursting the net there but he sort of scuffed it. The next one got stuck under his feet and he scooped it over. After that he was just taking too many touches.
Milner had a good effort saved by Courtois and after the break Bobby brought two saves out of the keeper but really everything was straight at him. Like I say, the miss from Gini was the real killer when I look back on this game. That’s the one. Bury that, go in at 1-0 and we probably end up going through.
Instead we’ve lost to a team we would have fucking obliterated had we played them last season or the season before. They’re nothing special and Chelsea should fancy their chances of doing them in the semis. Hopefully they won’t, but I hate the fact I’m now having to root for Madrid or PSG to win it. Two clubs I have no time for whatsoever.
This is completely on us though. We weren’t hard done by. We can’t blame refs or VAR in the way we’ve been able to for much of the domestic season. This one is on Klopp and the players. Some of Klopp’s decisions over the two legs are certainly questionable but mostly it’s on the terrible performance last week and the shit finishing in this leg.
Starting Keita last week backfired terribly and I’m sure a lot of fans were equally as miffed by Jota being left on the bench for this one. I was a little surprised by that but I understood it. We needed to win 2-0 and Jota has been a big difference maker off the bench. Firmino doesn’t have that kind of impact and benching Sadio - while completely justified - would have been counter-productive as I don’t think you could expect him to come on and make any difference with his confidence on the floor.
Klopp left out Jota and Thiago and put his faith in players who had come through for us many times in big games. I’m ok with that and maybe if he’d done it last week in Madrid then we wouldn’t have been in this situation. That might have been his line of thinking here.
The substitutions I’m not so comfortable with. Taking off Kabak seems pointless to me, especially when Phillips had just been booked seconds before. As well as big Nat played, he’s on a yellow card so it would have made more sense to take him off rather than Kabak.
But my wider complaint would be that I don’t see the sense in changing either of them. All it does is take Fabinho out of midfield and surely we know now that there are no circumstances whatsoever where that makes us stronger. Our midfield needs to be Fabinho plus two. Subbing Kabak and moving Fabinho back there achieves nothing other than making the midfield weaker.
You can also argue that bringing Thiago on doesn’t achieve anything either. This might be unfair but I just thought “what the fuck difference is he going to make?”. The answer was none. He was fine. He did nothing wrong. But we thought we were getting one of the best midfielders in the world but so far he’s been a poor man’s Joe Allen.
He’s just been so fucking underwhelming but it’s only partly his fault. It’s not even that he’s playing badly (I don’t think he is) but he’s just a terrible fit for this team. I’ve said before that he’d be quality at Man City but what he does isn’t working for us at all. It’s partly because the forwards have been shite I suppose, but watching him is doing my head in now.
Loads of sideways, simple passes that he plays with a little swag in his step that makes him look like he’s doing more than he actually is. He’s the master at looking great at doing something really simple. Then when he plays it forward it’s nearly always cut out by a defender, which I’m not even blaming him for because he’s having to try to force it and play eye of a needle passes.
Thiago has been a great player his whole career but he hasn’t been a great player for us. It’s a stretch to even say he’s been good. Maybe that changes next season but I can’t really think of any reason why that would be. He’s got Juan Sebastian Veron written all over him.
Did he bring more to the team than Milner had done before he was subbed? Not for me, although I’m not saying Milner shouldn’t have been subbed as he was probably in the ‘red zone’ having played the full game at the weekend. The change had to be made and Thiago for Milner would have made sense.
Thiago for Kabak and Jota for Milner wasn’t something I was on board with though. I see the logic in getting the fourth forward on but Sadio had completely fizzled out after a bright start and I’d have taken him off because he was killing our attacks every time he got the ball. He’s completely lost right now.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a truly great player become absolutely fucking shit almost overnight. With Bobby it was a slow decline but Sadio started the season well and then just fell off a cliff in December. Klopp insists it isn’t a physical problem so it must be confidence. I almost wish it was a physical problem because that’s easier to fix.
Maybe he just needs a good goal or a strong performance to get his mojo back. Let’s hope so because we just aren’t the same team when he isn’t himself. He used to be so fucking explosive. It’s heartbreaking watching him play this badly.
As I say, I’d have definitely subbed him to get Jota on. He was taken off a bit later along with Bobby as Klopp made a last throw of the dice with Shaqiri and Ox. That was never going to work but it was worth a try as nothing else was working at that point. It’s a sign of where our main problems lie now though that with ten minutes to go and needing to score twice, Firmino and Mané are being subbed.
The longer the game went the more ragged we got (understandable as we became desperate) and if anyone was scoring in the closing stages it was going to be Madrid. Thankfully they didn’t because the lads at the back deserved a clean sheet. Alisson had very little to do but he made a great double save to deny Vinicius Jr and Benzema.
Big Nat was excellent and Kabak did nothing wrong either. The only criticism I have of Phillips is that he’s fucking hopeless in the opposition box on set-pieces. In his own box he wins everything. At the other end all he does is bump into people and give away free-kicks. We pose zero attacking threat from set-pieces these days and that was a big part of our arsenal before Virg was taken out. Now when we get a corner we may as well just play it short because the ball into the box isn’t working at all. Ever.
Phillips was a positive and he’s doing enough to deserve another season in a back up role. The full backs were brilliant too I thought, especially Trent who was top drawer all night at both ends. He defended superbly when he had to and when he was on the ball he always looked the most likely to make something happen. Star man by a mile for me.
It’s pretty gutting to go out but it’s easier to take when there’s no injustice involved and we can’t feel hard done by. This exit was entirely self inflicted but the main concern now is that it might be a while before we’re back in this competition again.
We have a chance at top four but we aren’t favourites and I’m not expecting us to do it. We might do, but it feels more unlikely than likely at this stage. I’m sure we’ll be better next season when fans are back in and we’ve had the chance to regroup and try to just put this nightmare eight months or so behind us, but there are some big question marks hanging over us now all over the park.
The full backs are great but Klopp has no faith in their back ups which means they are being overplayed. Our main centre backs may not be the same when they come back from injury. The midfield is a fucking mess. Fabinho is great but Gini looks like he’s off, Hendo is always injured, Milner is on his last legs, Keita can fuck off, Thiago is a square peg in a round hole and Ox is completely pointless these days.
But despite all of those issues the forward line remains the biggest source of concern and frustration for me. You know how long I’ve been saying it but the front three as a unit have gotten steadily worse each season, and now only one of them is pulling his weight. Jota has been great but we need more than just him and Mo scoring.
There are a lot of things that need fixing but I doubt there will be much money to fix them. Securing a top four spot is massively important but it just doesn’t look like the lads have it in them to do it. I’ll be honest, I’m even expecting us to lose at Leeds next week.
I just wish it was all over as this has been the least enjoyable season of my lifetime by a fucking mile. We’ve had worse teams and worse results, but never anything as miserable as this when you factor everything together.
The expectation going into it, not being able to celebrate winning it last year, the events at Goodison, losing all of our defenders and then the midfielders who were filling in, the constant stream of VAR inflicted persecutions, the run of home defeats, it’s just been abject fucking misery.
This season needs to fuck off and never be spoken of ever again.
JFT96.
Team: Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Phillips, Kabak (Thiago), Robertson; Fabinho, Wijnaldum, Milner (Jota); Salah, Firmino (Oxlade-Chamberlain), Mané (Shaqiri):
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