It’s quite funny how at the beginning of the group stages the goal is to get qualified as quickly as possible, then pick kids for the dead rubber because np-one cares about those games. Until you actually watch the game and that goes out of the window.
Before the game I didn’t care about the result or performance. Today, the morning after, I don’t care about the result or the performance. For the 90 minutes when I’m actually watching it though? Yeah I cared and I got a bit wound up by how shot we were. It’s stupid really, but I do get caught up in the moment. Not in the beginning, for the first 15 minutes or so I wasn’t arsed. But the longer it goes with us doing nothing, it does get frustrating.
I think I was disappointed because I was hoping for more from some of the younger players. They don’t get many chances so you’re hoping to see something when they do. I didn’t see it, from any of them. I’m not counting Quansah in that as he’s past that now, he’s a legit first team squad player. This was a good opportunity for the two full backs and for Doak though. And none of them did anything to enhance their reputation. Kaide Gordon gets a pass because he’s been out for so long and because I thought he was ok, but Doak and Chambers were disappointing. Bradley wasn’t great either but he was alright and got better as it went on.
It doesn’t matter though and Klopp said as much afterwards. He sees these lads every day and isn’t going to judge them based on this game. We don’t see them every day though and fans probably are going to judge them on games like this because we don’t see them any other time.
Chambers had a stinker and he wasn’t great in his other appearance either. But this kid can play. He’s been with England right through the age groups and he was boss when he went on loan to Kilmarnock. I’m not judging him on this, but he was bad.
Doak has been a bit frustrating in the games he’s started but I don’t think he’s really had much chance to shine. On the rare occasions we’ve got him the ball in areas when he can face up the full back and go past him he’s generally left them for dead. But too often he’s getting the ball with his back to goal in areas where he’s not going to do anything. That’s part of the job, Mo has to deal with that shit all the time too, but for an 18 year old kid it’s not easy when you aren’t able to play to your strengths.
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