On the bright side it was better than West Brom. And Fulham. This dropping points to shite really needs to stop though doesn’t it? It’s all well and good us hardly ever losing, but the old expression ‘its the draws that kill you’ is actually spot on.
In 2008/09 when we finished second we only lost twice all season. Didn’t do us any good because of all the draws against shite. There are shades of that with what’s happening at the moment. I’m still confident it won’t end the same way, but we could have put a lot of daylight between ourselves and the pack just by beating two shit teams.
After that 7-0 over Palace it was all set for us to assert our dominance over the league and all we had to do was beat dogshit West Brom and a very limited Newcastle. And we failed. Just like we failed to beat two other bottom dwellers Fulham and Brighton.
The problem is we’ve been spoilt over the last couple of years. These kind of results are normal. It’s always been like this. The Champions will have several games when they drop points to teams they shouldn’t. That’s why anything approaching 90 points would usually win you the league.
What we’ve seen from the Reds over the last two seasons and from City in two of the last three has been the exception to the norm. This is the norm and I’ll be honest, I don’t like it. I’m in a stinking mood today because we didn’t beat Newcastle.
The dropped points to West Brom didn’t impact me too much because I expected we’d put it right at St James’ Park. We didn’t. In isolation though this wasn’t bad. We weren’t at our best but we played well enough to win. Not just by one either. If this had finished 2-0 nobody would have said we didn’t deserve it or we were lucky.
Unfortunately we didn’t take our chances and we had absolutely no luck either. That can happen and if we hadn’t dropped so many points to shite before this one I’d probably have been completely fine about this. But we have dropped loads of points to shite and therefore I’m not taking this one very well.
It’s not that I’m blaming anyone or that I’m angry with anyone. I’m just pissed off and feeling sorry for myself that somehow, if they win their game in hand, United will be level with us. That does my head in. Not just because I can’t stand the fuckers, but because frankly I don’t think they’re even close to being on the same level as our team.
If it was Man City who were breathing right down our necks (and if they win their games in hand they will be) that would be easier to stomach. But we’re miles better than United but we’ve somehow let them sneak up on us.
The thing that worries me is that we were (and still are) so much better than everyone else and they all knew it. So if we’ve won three of those stupid games we’ve drawn, I reckon everyone would have already given up and would be playing for second.
Now? I guarantee that City and United will be thinking they can win the title. We’re giving them belief when we should be grinding the cunts into the dirt. That’s what these stupid draws are doing.
So what’s causing it? Fuck knows. As I said, I could put this one down to just one of those frustrating games when you almost know that the ball just isn’t going to go in. I felt like that after the second goalmouth scramble they cleared. I knew then we wouldn’t score.
Other games have seen us shafted by decisions or bad luck, or just plain old shit performances. It’s a combination of things but it’s starting to become a little bit of a worry.
I’m not overly concerned and I still think we have more than enough to win this league relatively comfortably, but the inconsistency is definitely an issue. It’s mad that a team who can look so clinical at Selhurst could be so fucking useless less than two weeks later.
This draw is on the forwards. They were shite. Well two of them were. Relatively speaking anyway. It wasn’t so much the chances they missed, it was the sloppiness at other moments that prevented chances being created.
Newcastle didn’t even defend well truth be told. There were countless opportunities for us to carve them open but the passing and decision making was just fucking woeful. Salah and Mané were the main culprits as I actually though Bobby played well overall.
Defensively we only gave up a couple of chances and in terms of possession and controlling the game we did that pretty well. We were just too wasteful in attack though.
Salah had a great chance in the first half that was brilliantly saved by the keeper. I thought Mo did everything right there Good run, good control, good composure and a finish that was going right in the corner. Can’t really legislate for the keeper somehow saving that one.
So he gets a pass for that. Pretty much everything else he did was crap though, and Sadio wasn’t much better. We’re missing Jota because he brings something different and it’s something else for the opposition to worry about.
He could be playing with the big three or instead of one of them. Either way, we’d be more of a goal threat because he was prolific before he got injured. The sooner he’s back the better.
The midfield didn’t exactly cover themselves in glory either. Hendo had his least effective game in a long time. He was alright, but usually he’s the best player on the pitch or very close to it. This time he wasn’t. He was just ok.
Milner didn’t do much in the first half but he was much better after the break until he made way for Thiago. The biggest disappointment was Curtis though who just never got into the game at all. It’s not that he did much wrong, he just didn’t do much.
With Thiago, Milner and Ox now fit and pushing for a spot I think we’re going to see his minutes drastically reduced, which is a shame because overall he’s been great this season. The timing of his last two performances has done him no favours though.
I’m trying to think of anything else that we created in the first half but I’m struggling. Bobby had a header straight at Darlow who produced his customary save for the cameras. If you’ve been reading the round ups you’ll know I really fucking hate him for that shit. Gobshite. Him being man of the match against us was nailed on just because of how much abuse I’ve given him all season.
He made a few decent saves in the second half but it was that first half one from Mo that was the killer. If that goes in we win the game at a canter I think. Instead it just became more and more frustrating.
The moment when the game should’ve been settled was when Bobby did brilliantly to escape on the half way line and drive at the defence. All night when we’d been in this situation the wrong pass seemed to be chosen or the execution of it was shite. This time it was perfect and Salah went through on goal only to inexplicably roll it wide.
Bobby himself then missed an open goal when Darlow flapped at a corner. The only thing I can say in mitigation there was he was wrestling with the defender and by the time the ball came to him he wasn’t set and could only head it wide.
There were a couple of mad scrambles too where it seemed certain that we’d score only for Newcastle to somehow smuggle away the danger. On one of those I thought there was a foul on Sadio by the keeper.
He tipped the ball onto Sadio’s thigh and as they went for the loose ball Darlow impeded him which allowed a defender to hack it off the line. We’re never getting a decision like that though. I doubt they even checked it.
The biggest - the only - positive to come out of this was Thiago was back. Fuck me he’s good isn’t he? He was only one for 15-20 minutes or so but he’s amazing. The weight of his passing is perfect but he also disguises them so well. Pinging passes into the forwards while looking at the full backs.
The mad thing was he won virtually every header too. Just springing up above players much taller than him. With him starting games I feel as though we’ll win every time. We’ve done great without him but he’ll just bring that something extra that will hopefully turn these draws into wins. He basically did that in the derby before VAR screwed us out of it, and it’s that kind of quality that should make the difference.
It won’t be that he’ll have loads of goals or assists, but he’ll be the one playing that pass that often leads to the assist. The quick little ball that splits a defence and sends one of the full backs or forwards in behind.
We need him to stay fit now because there have been too many of these games already. We also need a defender now because we’ve seen in the last couple of games that if we have to pick Williams or Phillips on a regular basis eventually we’ll get punished.
Williams was done with that ball over the top against West Brom and Phillips got skinned alive by Wilson in the first half of this game. Other than that both have been good, but you know that with more playing time they’d get exposed.
Phillips was booked in the second half for a crude foul on the touchline but that didn’t bother me. He didn’t have a great deal of choice there and I’m not averse to my centre half taking someone out to prevent danger. Fabinho did similar and also picked up a booking. Nothing wrong with taking one for the team.
The worry with Phillips (and Williams) is you don’t want them left in one v one situations but because of the way we play that can occasionally happen. That’s why we need to get someone in. I don’t know whether we will, but it would be pretty fucking irresponsible not to as it seems like the only thing that could derail us.
Overall we’re in good shape going into the New Year. I say this all the time, but it’s worth repeating. As thing stand we’re going into a 22 game season with a head start over everyone other than possibly United. That head start should much bigger than it is, but still, we’re top despite all the problems we’ve had and despite having a lot of room to improve.
Oh yeah, one final point. Just what the fuck was the point in sending Shaq on two minutes into stoppage time? I was angrier about that than I was about the result. It annoyed the fuck out of me. Give him ten minutes at least or just don’t fucking bother. That was utterly pointless and it’s the second game in a row where Klopp has done something like that. Pack it in.
Star man is Robbo I think. Other than one lapse in judgement that saw him caught out positionally, he was one of the few players who I don’t really think could have done much more than they did. Fabinho was good too, as was Alisson.
2020 has been an absolute twat of a year with the only positive being that we finally ended our wait for the title. I can’t wait to see the back of it to be honest, although I’m not sure 2021 is going to be much better the way things are looking at the moment.
So yeah, Happy New Year.
Team: Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Phillips, Fabinho, Robertson; Henderson, Milner (Thiago), Jones (Wijnaldum); Salah (Shaqiri), Firmino, Mané:
Recommended Comments