We probably should have expected this. After all, we never make these semi finals easy. Remember when we battered Roma and somehow ended up hanging on? I think we were 5-0 up at one point in that tie weren’t we? This time the lead was only 2-0 so maybe this was inevitable. How else can you explain what happened in that first half?
That opening 45 minutes was mad. Villarreal did to us what we normally do to everyone else. They outworked us, outfought us and outplayed us. They were good value for their 2-0 lead even though they didn’t exactly create a load of chances. It was partly them playing out of their skins, and mostly us being absolutely fucking shit. Virtually everyone.
It’s easier to name the ones I didn’t think were abysmal. That would be Konate, Fabinho and Virgil. Not that any of them were particularly good, but they weren’t bad. Everyone else though, Jesus. It’s hard to say exactly what went wrong and why. The easy explanation would be that we weren’t prepared for what they threw at us, but I can’t accept that these players will have been complacent and thought the job was done. There’s no way they’d think that and no way Klopp would let them.
But that’s how it looked. I just think the early goal rattled us and lifted them. And we just didn’t recover from it until we were able to get in at half time and regroup. Momentum was going against us and Villarreal rode the wave of emotion from the crowd. We know how that is, we’ve done it to the opposition countless times. This time we were on the receiving end.
It’s just one of those unquantifiable things when players are suddenly unable to do even the most basic things they can normally do with their eyes closed. As an example, look at Thiago’s passing. It was wretched. Yet this is a fella who (at Anfield especially) has been flawless and has produced performances of a standard rarely even seen before. All of a sudden he’s passing the ball straight out of play.
Not that he was the only one, but he’s a good example to use because it’s so unexpected seeing him like that. Keita was just as bad but that’s less of a surprise. Robbo may have had his worst 45 minutes as a Red in that half and Trent was no better. As for the front three…. Fucking hell.
As I say though, that early goal really set the tone for everything and was exactly what Villarreal needed after how outclassed they were last week. We wondered whether they’d go for it or continue to play it cagey and we got our answer right from the kick off. They were a side transformed.
Their opening goal was bad defending from us but they get that goal because they were pushed up the pitch and got men in the box. They didn’t do that at all last week, mostly because they weren’t allowed to. This was different because they’d clearly decided it was shit or bust. They were going to press us, push right up and gamble that we wouldn’t be able to punish them. The gamble worked.
They went ahead when a cross from the left was met by Kapoue on the back post. He’d stolen in round the back of Robbo but mis-kicked his shot. Unfortunately for us the ball fell perfectly for Dia who had got in front of Virgil and he had a tap in. And just like that, game on.
I think it felt worse just because of how one sided it was last week. That was way more than a 2-0 game and I said at the time that Villarreal will probably be happy to go home with just a two goal deficit considering it felt like a six or seven goal game. And then within a couple of minutes they were only down by one. That’s the problem when you don’t take your chances.
But this could just be inevitable. As I said, us and CL semis, it’s never going to be straightforward is it? Even when they should be, they aren’t, but that’s all just part of our story in this competition. It is what it is I suppose, and analysing that first half is pretty pointless. There was so much space for us to exploit but we kept picking the wrong pass or we just failed to execute properly.
The one chance we had was when Jota went through but a dreadful touch allowed the keeper to come out and smother the danger. Salah seized on the loose ball, went round the keeper but dragged a shot wide. The ref had already blown for a non-existent foul though. Then the keeper jumps up and starts having a go at Mo for absolutely fuck all. What the hell was that all about?
As much as I have a lot of time for Villarreal’s brilliant fans, the antics of some of their players was pissing me off. The keeper is a dick, that Moreno fella was never off the floor and Coquelin looked like he was auditioning for a move to Lampard’s Everton. What a cunt.
So it really stung when it was him that got their second goal. It’s bad play from both of our full backs really. Capoue was causing Robbo a problem for that entire half and it was alarming just how easily he was able to get the cross in for that goal. One second Robbo is right on him, the next he’s five yards off him and Capoue is putting a cross into the middle.
The next problem is Trent has a standing jump while Coquelin has a run at it. There’s only going to be one winner there, although even allowing for that Trent didn’t exactly make it difficult for him did he? And just like that all our great work from the first leg was undone and we would have to win the tie all over again.
They’d also had a penalty shout when Lo Celso went down under a challenge from Alisson. The ref got that right, Alisson came out and played the ball and Lo Celso just jumped into him trying to get a pen. He was almost as bad as Moreno and Coquelin.
We just need to get to half time so Kloppo could get a grip of them. His half time adjustments usually do the trick and this was no different. What’s funny is that usually he will bring up some situations where we had success and he’ll show them to the players and say “more of this” and “less of the other shit”. He said afterwards that when he asked Pete Krawietz to find an example of us doing it right, Pete shook his head and said there wasn’t any!
Obviously I was somewhat worried at half time and all kinds of scenarios were going around in my head. Imagine the knock on effect this would have on the rest of the season if we lost. Imagine the embarrassment of it. It would be a result we’d never really be able to get over because it’s such a golden opportunity to reach a final and we’d have completely shit the bed.
So I did have concerns but I also expected us to come out and dominate the second half. Firstly because there’s no way we could be that bad again, and secondly because there was no way Villarreal could keep that up for another 45 minutes. So any worry I had was not related to us being outplayed, it was just down the variables of football. We could batter them for 45 minutes but somehow fail to score and then we could get done on a set-piece or breakaway. Maybe it goes to extra time and then pens. Then it’s in the lap of the gods.
So there was a genuine danger at half time that we could go out, regardless of how well we might play. Thankfully their keeper is an absolute fucking clown and now we’re going to the final.
Of course Luis Diaz also had a big say in what happened after the break, but the keeper is the main reason we won this game. Fucking hell, he’s a joke. We see keeper’s make mistakes every week but in between those mistakes they at least look like they are goalkeepers. Over the two legs this fella has looked like he’d been plucked from the crowd and handed the gloves.
Fabinho’s goal should never have beaten him. That’s just dreadful that. I can’t even really give Fabinho credit for it because he probably shouldn’t have been shooting in the first place and he certainly shouldn’t have been putting it where he did, which was straight at the keeper. Although who knows, maybe the analysis showed how shit he was and the instructions were “just hit the target and it will go in”.
Diaz went with the same approach with his header. Straight at the keeper, right through his legs. At least he did head this one and didn’t try a stupid scissor kick like he did with the previous chance. I’m loathe to criticise him for anything though as he’s fucking boss and his enthusiasm is just so infectious. His arrival gave us the lift we needed, but there were other factors in the way the game went too.
We were obviously much improved but their approach changed too. In the first half they were all high energy, front foot, gung ho throwing everything at us to get back in the game. Once they got level, Emery reverted back to their cagey, men behind the ball counter attack approach. That handed the initial back to us. Their best chance was probably to keep attacking, but I just don’t think they could sustain those energy levels so it was understandable they went back to how they normally play.
The second half was one way traffic though and we should have scored more. The Diaz goal killed the contest but it was still nice that we were able to score again and win the game, not just the tie. Cool finish by Sadio but the keeper disgraced himself again. What the fuck was he doing? Absolute liability him.
We wasted loads more opportunities for goals and Mo in particular will be pissed off he didn’t get on the scoresheet. He had opportunities but he just didn’t look on it. Always chasing a heavy touch or over stretching. It might help if he went on the outside once in a while instead of always cutting in on his left, but then who the fuck am I to be critiquing a man who scores as many goals as he does.
So alls well that ends well and off to Paris we go. There’s no point dwelling on anything from this game, good or bad, because when we’re involved in them CL semis are just fucking weird games where mad stuff happens. Take the win, enjoy it, move on to the next game.
Star man is tricky because the first half was so bad. Everyone was much better in the second, especially Keita and Thiago. Sadio as well, he looked a different player when he went back through the middle after Diaz came on. Our best player was their keeper so I’ll give it to him, the absolute fucking dickhead. Getting in Mo’s face like that and then gifting us three goals. What a tit.
So on we go. We can forget about the final for now as we still have league games and FA Cup final to concentrate on. It’s nice being able to book our place in another final and then just put it to bed for a bit as it gives us something to look forward to when the domestic season is done. I just hope it’s a proper European final against Real Madrid. That’s why you play in Europe, to go up against the big names in the glamour games. No-one wants to be playing those Abu Dhabi fucks.
Hala Madrid!
And up the Reds!
Team: Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Konate, Van Dijk, Robertson (Tsimikas); Fabinho (Henderson), Thiago (Jones), Keita (Milner); Salah, Jota (Diaz), Mané:
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