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Liverpool 2 Chelsea 1 (Oct 20 2024)

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Firstly, it's a good result and I'm made up to end another weekend in top spot. However, at the risk of sounding like a spoilt, ungrateful little shit, that felt somewhat unfulfilling and my confidence levels for the coming weeks were certainly not boosted, despite a win over what will probably be a top four or five team that took us to the top of the table.

 

Just reading that sentence back to myself makes me squirm. I know how how it sounds, you don’t need to tell me. I’m fully aware. Here me out though, I'll try to explain why I'm not as thrilled as I probably should be. 

 

It’s hard to explain because I wouldn’t say I’m disappointed, unhappy, worried or any of that. All of those are too strong. I just think that despite winning yet another game, we’re not necessarily passing the eye test and as such there is a little bit of concern there. 

 

Not by the performance as such, more so by the approach. In terms of the performance I think the players probably mostly did what was asked of them, although you’d need to ask Slot about that. I guess what I’m saying is I didn’t see what I would have asked of them, or what Jurgen always asked of them.

 

Yet I’m probably going to have to tailor those expectations accordingly if this game is anything to go by. We treated Chelsea in a way that only Manchester City have been treated at Anfield in the last nine years. And even then, we only played like that against City a couple of times and only at times when we weren’t at our best level and Klopp went more pragmatic than he normally would. While Klopp obviously gave due care and attention to tactics in the bigger games, it was always applied with the mentality of “we’re gonna run all over these fuckers today”. Didn’t matter who it was, if they come to Anfield they’re getting the kitchen sink thrown at them.

 

I think back to what we did to Chelsea at Anfield last season, and then I look at what happened here, and it’s night and day. Granted, both coaches are different and Chelsea are in better form now than they were then. They have a different tactical approach too, so it’s not the same game. I get that, and I’m not suggesting we would have destroyed them the way we did last season. For one thing Bradley was missing this time! 

 

I just think we paid them far too much respect and I don’t like seeing us passively sitting off teams and letting them have the ball at Anfield, and then when we have it we just pass it around going nowhere for long spells. That being said, it’s not a criticism, it’s just a personal preference. 


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I spit my coffee out at this - I can’t believe my beautiful, free-spirited, chaos causing boy has been turned into Emile fucking Heskey. 
 

Agree with you on the playing style - there were examples when Diaz was free on the left but Van Dijk would just pass it sideways and not forwards. I was tearing my hair off. But without any major additions to the team, this is Slot still getting to know his team and playing safe while at it.

 

Last season we got 2 wins in 10 matches against the top 6, this season we already have 1 in 1 (Man Utd are not finishing in the top 6.)

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Second half. Diaz has the ball on the left and the space to cross it across the floor of the 18 yard area but isn’t able to because The Peacock has, one might say predictably, strayed two yards offside when he can see right along the defensive line. But nobody creates chances for him…

 

I mean you even note he was offside when Jones scored.

 

As I said on his thread, had a good game outside the box.

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Agree with all of that report, Slot has apparently made us more pragmatic and, so far, less prone to conceding the first goal, which was a bad habit we had got into latterly under Klopp.

I felt we had Chelsea at arms length all of the game, regardless of the stats, and wondered, if we had gone behind, would we have stepped it up and gone full throttle?
Once we’d conceded the equaliser, I thought we did get the ball forward a bit quicker and when Jones put us back in front, we went back to knocking it around the back line again. 
Can’t say I’m a big fan of the tactics, especially at home, but we’ve been spoiled over the last 9 years or so by having, unarguably, the most attractive attacking side in the Premier League, however, it hasn’t always resulted in us winning big silverware as we all know.

If Slot modifies this squad into a similarly ruthless machine like City, results wise, then perhaps we’ll just have to accept it. Picking up trophies will mitigate that I’m sure.

Jota going off was a bit shit, given he usually doesn’t do short term injuries, so I hope he’s back soon, but we are still more vulnerable than many if injuries start taking their toll. Arsenal and City having had injuries to important players is immaterial to us really, they’re still up there within striking distance even though we’ve been almost perfect.

A big few weeks coming up with games against decent opposition coming thick and fast, but then again, isn’t that how it always is?

Finally, Jones had a really good game, and Darwin put a good shift in doing what needed to be done, in fact I can’t recall one of ours who had a bad game really, although some of our passing was below what we’ve come to expect. 
Onwards and upwards then!

 

 

 

 

 

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5 hours ago, s(k)aturation said:

 

I wonder what it was like in the first season for Bob Paisley after Shankly left.

 

 

I hopefully it finishes like that season…

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Inclined to give Slot the benefit of the doubt over the playing style, as it was his first big game at Anfield and we lost after the last international break.

 

If we take the same approach against any half decent team we play at Anfield - like Brighton, Leverkusen and Villa - then that will be both concerning and asking for trouble.

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4 hours ago, Anubis said:

Second half. Diaz has the ball on the left and the space to cross it across the floor of the 18 yard area but isn’t able to because The Peacock has, one might say predictably, strayed two yards offside when he can see right along the defensive line. But nobody creates chances for him…

 

I mean you even note he was offside when Jones scored.

 

As I said on his thread, had a good game outside the box.

 

We also had a goal disallowed because Mo couldn't stay onside. Gakpo missed out on a great opportunity in the second half because he went offside, but no-one is arsed about that because it isn't Nunez.

 

Nunez and offside is the new Trent and his defending.

 

And his offside run is the reason Jones scores, because James stops and puts his hand up instead of tracking the runner from deep. He should actually be given an assist for that IMO.

 

For the record, Gakpo and Dom are also offside on that, with Gakpo looking right across the line.

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4 minutes ago, Kevin D said:

Inclined to give Slot the benefit of the doubt over the playing style, as it was his first big game at Anfield and we lost after the last international break.

 

If we take the same approach against any half decent team we play at Anfield - like Brighton, Leverkusen and Villa - then that will be both concerning and asking for trouble.

 

Yeah I'm not making any definitive judgements on it and as I said in the report, this is a me problem as there is no right or wrong way to win games. I just prefer seeing us on the front foot than playing the way we did on Sunday.

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I'm also open to the possibility that Chelsea might just be a LOT better than we realise at this point, and that playing the way we did was only partly through design. 

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I think its a period of adjustment for Slot  the players and the fans. At 2-1 I'm thinking "we need 3-1" and I think Jurgen would have gone after it and it might have left us open to 2-2. And that's not a criticism of Jurgen or Arne. But I think the team not getting to the business end of the season and being absolutely fucked is a key point. All in all I'm ok with us so far, we've made a decent start.

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19 minutes ago, dave u said:

 

Yeah I'm not making any definitive judgements on it and as I said in the report, this is a me problem as there is no right or wrong way to win games. I just prefer seeing us on the front foot than playing the way we did on Sunday.


I think it would be a problem in and of itself.

 

It cedes the immense psychological advantages Anfield gives us and it invites too much danger. With the financial advantages of the league, every team has at least one forward capable of a bit of magic and so inviting them onto you is risky. If Chelsea had equalised from that cross in the last minute, it would have raised a lot of questions.

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40 minutes ago, dave u said:

 

We also had a goal disallowed because Mo couldn't stay onside. Gakpo missed out on a great opportunity in the second half because he went offside, but no-one is arsed about that because it isn't Nunez.

 

Nunez and offside is the new Trent and his defending.

 

And his offside run is the reason Jones scores, because James stops and puts his hand up instead of tracking the runner from deep. He should actually be given an assist for that IMO.

 

For the record, Gakpo and Dom are also offside on that, with Gakpo looking right across the line.

The Mo one was on Curtis for holding on a second too long before playing the pass. 

 

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I think there’s a bit of revisionism going on over the Klopp era. Those early years in his time at Liverpool were full throttle, especially champions league when we battered Roma but only won 5-2 etc. And I do miss that attacking football, just amazing it was at times.

But the later years were often very pragmatic and there were loads of performances like this, especially after an international break. 
A good report though.

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Being less fanatical about possessing the football through counter pressing will help us in the later stages of the season I think. 

 

Under Klopp things sometimes began to slip later in a season and all the intense running surely was a factor. 

 

When not possessing the football is a mortal sin and you have to immediately win it back every time it must be tiring - especially game after game. We also had some pretty horrible injury crises. 

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8 hours ago, s(k)aturation said:

 

I wonder what it was like in the first season for Bob Paisley after Shankly left.

 

 

Better eventually, It took half a season to really change we were less open and much cuter on and off the ball. Once Ray Kennedy was installed in left midfield we looked a stronger team.

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Great report Dave, Beating Chelsea usually has me running roiund the room but I was a little deflated at the end of this game. They had more possession and looked more threatening to me. Not what we are used to.

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2 hours ago, dave u said:

I'm also open to the possibility that Chelsea might just be a LOT better than we realise at this point, and that playing the way we did was only partly through design. 

 

I think they are. It's gone a bit under the radar given how poor they were last season, but they've got quality and a playing style now. I wouldn't be shocked to see them near the title race come the end of the season.

 

For me, the game was all about keeping Palmer quiet, and I think that had a knock on effect. We had to keep the lines tight to stop him finding space. When he's on it Chelsea look a great side.

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Yep as a school kid then still drying my eyes after Shanks,  we came 2nd 2 points off Derby.

Went out the cups and cup winners cup early. Days of goal average...

But then as we say the rest is History.

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"The flag went up and it did look offside from my vantage point hundreds of yards away."

 

Where were you watching from, the Lucky Star?

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Yeah, mixed feelings coming away from the game. Disappointed with our ball retention, with how often they had players free beyond our midfield , fuming about Brooks’ performance but pleased with the victory. I thought this was the best tactical performance from Chelsea for years, they stifled us, made it difficult to play out and any longer passes were at the mercy of a very blustery wind (the wind was crazy around the stadium). 
The overturned penalty can be argued either way….. except ‘getting something on the ball’ hasn’t been a mitigating factor for years, but suddenly it is again. And was it a ‘clear and obvious’ error or re-refereeing the game, which they’re not supposed to be doing. PGMOL. Ho hum. But there were at least 5 lesser decisions where Brooks was completely wrong, three of them involving us winning the ball high up, plus Gravenberch simply outmuscling Neto on the edge of our box. 
Curtis was obviously great, Mo worked his socks off , Trent seems to have re-discovered an appetite for disciplined defending. The whole team worked hard and whilst it felt nervy, the reality was that we kept Chelsea to a minimum of chances. 

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It looked to me that we struggled with their press second half and that was why we couldn't get up the pitch. The flip side to that is that at least they couldn't play through us when they won it.

 

They're a very good and well coached side. It went under the radar but going back to last season they'd only lost two of their last 22 league games before Sunday (to Arsenal and City).

 

It wasn't a great attacking performance but it was a very good win. I fully expect them to be comfortable in the top 4 this season.

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14 hours ago, s(k)aturation said:

 

I wonder what it was like in the first season for Bob Paisley after Shankly left.

 

 

Paisley had some problems in his first season. Big money signing Ray Kennedy was misfiring and our best player (Keegan) got a long suspension after the Charity Shield fracas. There were lots of rumours flying around that Paisley was strggling in the job and we didn't win a trophy that season, a very rare occurence under Sir Bob. It all came good the following season, culminating in that never to be forgotten evening at Molineux.

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