Liverpool 1 Napoli 1 (Nov 27 2019)

That was horrible. Just a thoroughly horrible experience from start to finish. The atmosphere around the ground beforehand was was horrible. The game was horrible. Our performance was horrible. The opposition were horrible and the referee was way, way beyond horrible. It was just fucking horrible.

If we never play Napoli again it will still be too soon. On the pitch they seem to be able to deal with us better than anybody we’ve faced in recent years, while off the field those fucking shithouse fans of theirs make it a really unpleasant experience both home and away. Why anyone would choose to go over there is beyond me. I’ve watched Gomorrah and Naples is the last place on earth I’d ever want to visit. Why put yourself at risk like that?

Our fans went over there and were not allowed any freedom, for their own protection as much as anything. It’s not safe. Those street rat ultras rule the roost over there and it seems the same is true when they come here. Why are they indulged like that? How are they allowed to be walking around town brandishing golf clubs and attacking random people? What the fuck are we doing allowing that shit?

Next time we play them, or Roma for that matter, don’t give them any fucking tickets. If that means they don’t give us any for the away game, fine. It’s 2019 and this kind of shit just shouldn’t be happening. I mean think about it. A group of a hundred or so scumbags were walking around town with fucking golf clubs. That just can't be allowed to happen. Ban the fuckers.

And if that’s not an option, then do unto others as they would do unto you. Next time as soon as they get off the plane, stick them on coaches and take to them to a designated area and keep the fuckers there until they are escorted to the ground. Why should they be allowed to just roam around causing aggro and attacking innocent bystanders? Why the fuck should the people of this city be subjected to that? Uncivilised backward thinking cunts.

I’ve never seen so many police at the game before. As I drove down County Road a couple of hours before, there was a helicopter hovering over Stanley Park and police vans and cars whizzing down the road with sirens blaring. Then when I met the lads and we were walking up to the ground, four police vans went racing past with a load of coppers in riot gear in them.

Outside the ground there were coppers everywhere (thankfully) and about half an hour before kick off a big mob of Napoli fans started kicking off outside the club shop. There was just a really unpleasant vibe about the whole night and enough is enough. Why are we running the risk of another Sean Cox incident? Either ban them or segregate them. Don’t just let them walk around in a big mob attacking people. Or split them up into small groups, let's see how fucking hard they are then. I guarantee you won't hear a peep out of them when they aren't in a mob of at least fifty.

So yeah, the tone was already set for an unpleasant evening even before kick off. Napoli’s fans are twats but I can’t stand the team either. Snide bastards. The one who bothers me the most is that Allan lad in midfield. Always acting the cunt him, even when we've played them in pre-season. He's not alone though.

We owed them after the game at their place and I was really hoping we’d smash them and send them back to Italy with their tails between their legs. Hoping is the key word here though, as I was not expecting. Walking up to the ground I actually said to the lads that we wouldn’t win, simply because we never do things the easy way.

Winning with a game to spare and having the luxury of resting players is just not what we do. I wish it was and I’m annoyed that qualification is still up in the air, but I’m not surprised. Klopp didn’t seem to be either, his mood afterwards seemed to be one of “it’s always this way”.

We didn’t play well enough to win the game and it took a long time for us to get going. Part of that was on us, part of it was how well Napoli managed to stifle us, and part of it was on the referee. He was a fucking disgrace. I doubt we’ll see a worse ref all season. At least I hope we won’t.

It was bad enough that he couldn’t get basic decisions right, but it was the high-handed, aloof manner that was really pissing everybody off. He made it about him. Stopping the game all the time, constantly going and talking to players (and coaches) individually and generally just being busy little jobsworth bastard.

Napoli’s goal should never have stood because Mertens clearly fouled Van Dijk. I don’t really blame VAR for that goal, I blame the on pitch referee. He should be giving that because it was blatant. Mertens does not look at the ball even once. All he is doing is looking at Virgil and fouling him as he wins the header. The only reason they scored was because Virgil was on the floor in pain and they broke into the space he’d normally have been in.

Lovren tried to hold the line and catch Mertens offside, but Robbo was a yard deeper and just about played him on. I think Alisson was a little bit too far over to his near post side too, although that's slightly nit-picking as it was a quality finish right in the far corner.

We then had a lengthy delay as VAR checked it. After a minute or two the check was complete and the goal was given. Then as the ref was about to restart the game we were then informed there was another check, this time for offside. 

At the time I had no idea what was going on but seemingly the first check was for the challenge on Van Dijk and then they looked for offside afterwards. Could they not have checked both together instead of making two separate announcements? It was a farce, especially as they still got it wrong.

As I say though, my bigger problem is with the ref on the pitch because he didn’t give the foul and I can see why VAR didn’t over-rule him. That being said, the night before we saw an almost identical situation in the PSG - Madrid game and the outcome was the exact opposite, so there’s no consistency there at all. But we knew that anyway.

That was a terrible five minutes for us. Fabinho had limped off with an ankle injury, Virgil looked in trouble and we were a goal down. In addition to that, the team just didn’t look right. We were flat, lacking ideas and it was clear even at that early stage that it was going to be a long night.

The atmosphere reflected that too. At times it was what you’d expect on a European night, but there were also some really quiet spells. I don’t really know why that was, but at least the abysmal showing of the ref helped to get people into it and in the 10-15 minutes before half time it felt as though everyone woke up.

I think some of our players got angry with the situation and stepped up a gear. Mané and Milner especially began to really take the initiative and tried to force something. Sadio was being fouled constantly but the ref was just letting it go. He tried to take matters into his own hands by tumbling over theatrically after a little shove. We didn’t get a penalty for that and nor should we have. 

I liked the directness he was now showing though because that’s what we needed. There was too much passing around in front of them and aimless crosses that were little more than catching practice for the keeper. The only time we looked dangerous was when we ran at them. Milner went closest to a breakthrough when he surged past three defenders in the box but was thwarted by the keeper. There just wasn’t enough of that overall.

The second half was better but it still wasn’t good enough. Napoli just seem to have our number. Three out of the last four times we've played (four out of five if you count pre-season) them they've nullified us. They aren’t even a good side as their previous results in this group and their recent troubles in Serie A show. They know how to play against us though, that’s for damn sure.

We toiled away and had a few chances but for the most part their keeper wasn’t tested. Mo shot straight at him and Bobby had one cleared off the line by Koulibaly after the keeper had spilled a hanging cross by Henderson. That was probably just complacency as he’d been plucking them out of the air all night.

We finally got the equaliser when Lovren planted a header into the Kop end net from a Milner corner. I celebrated but held back a little because I knew there’d be a VAR check. I saw the contact as he rose to win the header and I saw the Napoli players surrounding the ref (as they did all night) claiming a foul. There didn’t look to be much in it but VAR is a complete lottery so you just never know.

Having seen the replay it’s definitely not a foul but there is enough contact that if they were so inclined to want to disallow it they could have tried to justify it. Thankfully they weren’t so inclined and the goal stood.

There was plenty of time left and I thought we’d probably find a way to force a winner, but it never happened. It never really looked likely too either as Napoli kept us at arms length and along with the ref they did a great job of breaking up the play and wasting time. We couldn’t build up a head of steam and they held out quite comfortably in the end.

Klopp’s team selection is being criticised by some, but I don’t understand that at all. I’ve written before that there are going be some changes from time to time and when they occur there’s no point complaining as it's just a necessary evil. He can’t just put the first eleven out every week, but nine of the usual side took to the field in this one, including the first choice front three.

So the complaints are presumably about Milner in midfield and Gomez at right back. Milner was fine, although you could make a strong case that this was a game where Ox would have been a more prudent option. We definitely missed Trent but I am 100% ok with him being left out. He can’t play every game and anyone who saw his post-match interview after Palace will have seen that he was full of cold, so he obviously wasn’t 100%. 

The poor performance was not because we had Gomez at right back. He's an easy target but there was much more to it. The whole team just didn’t function the way we’d have liked. It was Robbo’s worst game in a long time and I wonder how much his injury is bothering him. Don’t be surprised if he has to sit out one of the next couple of games too. 

I felt sorry for Gomez. He was ok, there was nothing wrong with his performance if you’re judging it on what you’d normally require from a right back. When you judge it on what this team usually gets from that position though, he came up well short. That’s completely understandable. His skill set is suited to playing centre back or as a traditional right back. It’s not suited to playing “the Trent role”. Only Trent can do that.

Trent is the playmaker of this team. “Like having De Bruyne at right back” as Carragher says. So you take him out and it’s going to be an issue because what he brings to the team is irreplaceable. You can’t expect Gomez to play like Trent because he’s a completely different player. What he brings to the position is fine for most teams, but our set up isn’t like most teams and Trent is unique.

Gomez is currently a problem for us because he’s such a good player that we need to get him games as and when we can. You have to keep him involved or risk losing him, but Matip and now Lovren have outperformed him in the centre so sometimes to get him games it’s going to have to come at right back. Ideally I’d only play him at centre back but if he isn’t getting a game there than the temptation for Klopp is to play him on the right just to keep him involved. It’s probably a mistake though.

All things being equal Milner is probably not a better right back than Gomez, but he’s unquestionably a better right back in our current set up. Maybe he should have played there and Gomez could have played in the middle with Lovren getting a rest? 

We’ve got two brilliant kids who can play there too. Ki-jana Hoever is special and Neco Williams has been in sensational form of late. They both played in the u19s 7-0 rout of Napoli in the afternoon and Williams was unstoppable down the right. Next time Trent is rested one of those two should get the nod really, as playing right back does Joe no favours.

When he was subbed Hendo went to right back for a little while until Trent was eventually brought on. It made very little difference. For a brief period Hendo and Ox had some joy down that side, but all night we seemed to just be slinging crosses in for the keeper to claim. It was doing my fucking head in. There were times when the ball was swung in there and we only had one or two players in the vicinity. 

I think Napoli just put a tactical straightjacket on us and all of those crosses were a result of desperation and frustration. The way to break them down would have been to keep feeding it into the feet of Mané and Salah and try to let them work some magic. It wasn’t working, but we should have stuck with it because eventually they’d have done something. Sadio looked dangerous at times in the first half but we barely saw him in the second. Salah was the opposite. He was more of a threat after the break, although he was generally disappointing overall I thought. He should have a penalty when he was manhandled by Koulibaly, but he stayed on his feet and you get nothing for that, especially from that cunt ref.

It was just a frustrating, unpleasant evening and the only positive to take from it was that we didn’t lose. As they say, if you can’t win, don’t lose. Last year we qualified from the group with nine points. We already have ten this time but chances are ten won’t be enough. It will be if Genk beat Napoli, but that’s highly unlikely as Genk only have one point so far and aren't very good.

So basically we need to avoid defeat in Salzburg to go through. We should be able to do that and if we can’t then we don’t deserve to get out of the group anyway. It’s not a given though because they’re a right handful and score shitloads of goals. They've got nothing to lose and everything to gain, so they'll throw the kitchen sink at us over there.

We had the chance to make that game immaterial and to possibly send Napoli packing from the competition but we didn’t take it and now we have to deal with an unnecessarily difficult game that will be on a knife edge.

As I said, this was just a horrible experience and I’m sick to death of Napoli. If we decide to play them in pre-season again then someone's head needs to roll. No-one needs to see that again, we need some space from eachother. Like 30 years of space to start with, and then we'll reassess.

Of course if we both get through the group we might meet again in the latter stages. Normally I’d be bullish about it and say “bring them on, we’ll snot them next time” but the truth is I’d rather face anyone else than them, both for footballing and non-footballing reasons.

Star man wasn’t easy. Virg was impressive and sprayed the ball around nicely. Gini put a good shift in and I thought Hendo was decent, but I’m going with my guy Big Dejan. He scored a vital goal, made a goal saving block in the first half and generally defended very stoutly all night. He’s in a good run of form at the moment and will probably hold onto his place even when Matip is fit again.

Onto Brighton now at the weekend before the derby a few days later. The games are coming thick and fast and it’s a concern that we aren’t playing particularly well (Man City game apart) and that some players seem to be hampered by injury. We just need to fight through this hectic period and hopefully we’re still in a strong position at the end of it.

Team: Alisson; Gomez (Oxlade-Chamberlain), Lovren, Van Dijk, Robertson; Fabinho (Wijnaldum), Milner (Alexander-Arnold), Henderson; Salah, Firmino, Mané: