The first half was as bad as anything we’ve seen under Klopp. The second half was nowhere near as bad but then Napoli had the game won and had eased off, so it’s difficult to take anything from that improvement really. Overall it was hideous without the ball and not very good with it. Every aspect of our play is malfunctioning right now and there’s not one area of the side (other than Alisson) that is working.
I know you’re thinking “hang on, what about Diaz?” so let me clarify what I mean there. Luis Diaz is the one shining light right now but that’s completely down to his own tenacity and desire to make an impact. He isn’t doing well because of anything we’re doing tactically, if anything he’s doing well in spite of it. The good things he’s doing are because he’s just taking the bull by the horns and making something happen. We’re not creating anything for him, he’s doing it himself.
This was just so bad that it’s obvious now that something has to give. We can’t just carry on going out there and trying to play the way that has served us so well for so long. We just don’t have the legs to do it right now. You can see it with your own eyes but all of the metrics back that up too. We’re slow, lethargic, lacking energy and we’re getting ran all over by virtually every team we face right now.
That won’t suddenly change with a Klopp pep talk. There’s something fundamentally fucked about us and we can only speculate what that is. Whether it’s fitness, tactics or just a case of not being able to ‘go again’ after the monumental effort of last season, I don’t know what it is and I don’t think Klopp does either. With each bad performance there are more and more clues as to what is wrong so I assume he’s getting closer to figuring it out. Hopefully this might be the one that shows him the way.
His comments afterwards suggest that he’s reached a tipping point now and we won’t just continue to try and do it the way we always do hoping it will eventually click and we’ll be ok. I do think we’ll be ok, eventually, but to get to that point we’re going to have to move away from some of the things that have been a staple of the success we’ve had. First and foremost, we can’t defend so high when we’re this wide open.
Every game we see the opposition just running through us and we’re left relying on Alisson to make a save or we’re desperately hoping for a VAR intervention. It’s happened regularly in every game this season other than Bournemouth, but this one was something else entirely. Napoli were getting in behind us whenever they wanted. It started inside the first minute when they hit the post.
After three minutes we were in trouble again and Milner deflected a shot wide with his hand. Definite penalty, no argument there even though Milner is a bit unlucky. The only way to avoid that is with that annoying hands behind the back style defending. This is one of those damned if you do, damned if you don’t.
Zielinski scored from the spot. Remember him? He’s the lad we wanted to sign years ago and we ended up with Gini instead. Jesus, what I’d give to have Gini available to call on right now. Although maybe his legs have gone too and we let him go at the right time. I miss the control and protection we had in midfield when he was here though, that’s for sure. Especially now when we have absolutely none.
Milner shouldn’t be starting games for us anymore. We all know it, but for this particular game there was literally no other alternative. We have ten midfielders in the squad which should be more than enough under normal circumstances. But for this game there were only three available to start. Thiago and Arthur were on the bench but not ready to start, while Hendo, Carvalho, Jones, Keita and Ox are all sidelined. This is the risk you run when you have so many injury prone players in one area of the team, but having so many out at the same time is somewhat unfortunate.
Poor Milner just isn’t up to this anymore and it’s sad to see. This isn’t really the role he’s supposed to fill. He’s a utility man who can play short spells in games to bring some experience and savvy to games where we need it. Instead we’re seeing him starting games in midfield and teams are running through us at will. Not just because of him mind (it happens when he’s not on the pitch too), but he’s clearly a factor in it and this particular game was brutal for him.
He conceded the early pen and also picked up a booking for a typically late tackle. In his situation, in a game like this, you can’t be getting booked so early as it completely restricts you for the rest of the game. If only we could just put this debacle solely on the shoulders of Milner though. It goes way beyond that.
The first half was a shambles and we’re lucky it was only 3-0. In addition to that, Napoli hit the post, had one cleared off the line by Virgil and they also had a penalty saved by Alisson. 6-0 was a real possibility, we were so open.
The second penalty they got was soft but as soon as the ref went to the screen and the image was frozen at the point of impact where Virgil is stepping on the lad’s foot, you knew that was going to be given. I think it was unfortunate because I don’t think it was avoidable. Virgil is planting his foot and the lad tries to flick the ball inside and that causes his foot to land right where Virgil is about to step. It’s unavoidable.
However, in the seconds before that final collision it just didn’t look right. Virgil never used to end up in a situation where that inadvertent foul was even possible. But he looks human now. It’s being overstated how ‘poorly’ he’s playing because his standards were so much higher than anyone else that any drop is going to stand out. He’s way below his best but he’s still better than most. It’s proper shit that he’s not looking like the imperious, unbeatable big dominant bastard we’re used to though.
We dodged that bullet when Alisson saved the pen but it was only temporary respite. Actually before I move on I want to mention their second pen. Instead of having Zielinski take it again, they let the lad who had been fouled take it. Can’t remember his name and can’t be arsed looking it up, but he looks really fucking good based on this and the video compilation of his goals BT Sport showed beforehand.
However, he shouldn’t have been taking that pen. I think it was Rafa who had a rule that the player who had been fouled does not get to take the pen, especially if it was a heavy foul. Virgil trod on his foot and it will have been painful. He then takes the pen with the foot that had been stepped on, even when they had their recognised taker on the field and he’d already scored one. If we weren’t so shit we’d have made them pay for that. Not so long ago a moment like that would have been a turning point. Now it’s just a temporary reprieve.
The second goal is awful. Really, really fucking awful. So casual and sloppy from Gomez. This is the thing that holds him back. Along with injuries of course. He looks great for long spells of games but you always have that fear there’s a mistake in there, and there usually is. It doesn’t always prove costly, but he makes more errors than Matip and Konate and until that changes he’s not going to force his way in. It’s really frustrating because there’s a lot to love about Joe, but one of the biggest attributes a centre back needs to have is to not make silly mistakes.
Joe backs himself too much. Sometimes just play the percentages and don’t take silly risks. He got caught in possession in the build up to the second goal but the worst part is that he’d only just got away with something similar when Virgil needed to clear off the line to save him. Just clear for a throw in for fucks sake. Instead he’s tried to play and got caught. What I would say is his attitude is very much in keeping with how we play. We take risks, he takes risks. Sometimes you have to be aware of the situation though and reign it in a bit. That’s a wider point that applies to Klopp as much as Gomez but I’ll get to that later.
The second goal was a comedy of errors. It started with Gomez losing the ball needlessly again but he did get back and stop that immediate danger. After he held his man up, we had seven players back in the box and Napoli had three players in attacking positions. There’s the lad with the ball, a lad on the edge of the box and one loitering at the back post. There’s absolutely no danger there at all.
But a simple one two took out half of our team. It’s really, really fucking bad. Gomez doesn’t go with the runner after he lays it off, Fabinho is really slow to cover over too while Trent is literally stood still throughout the whole passage of play, ball watching and doing absolutely fuck all. It’s so bad. I refuse to believe that Trent “can’t be arsed” or “doesn’t care” but something isn’t right there. There’s a lot of ball watching going on and there have been several instances where he’s been beaten and just gives up.
Yet I also saw him chasing up and down the pitch fucking loads in this game. Sprinting to get back on counter attacks and then running forward to join our attacks. I don’t see a lad who can’t be arsed, I see one who seems to be suffering from lapses in concentration and whose head has dropped. He’s struggling, for reasons I’m not privy too. I just can’t get on board with the theory that he’s not arsed, even though it sure as hell looks that way at times.
The third goal is Trent and Gomez again. Trent gets beaten, which can happen in that situation when a forward is running at you and just knocks it one side and runs around the other. It never looks good when you’re beaten so easily but it’s an occupational hazard for a full back as sometimes you are left exposed against good players out there. I’m ok with that, it’s what happened after that’s really worrying. He just gives up. Doesn’t sprint back in to help, he’s barely even jogging. Gomez then doesn’t deal with it well enough and he’ll right be criticised for that, but if Trent is sprinting back to help out then maybe between them they deal with it. That’s what we’ve always done, it’s one of the things that made us great. Everyone helping out and us playing as one unit with nobody left exposed. We’re not doing that anymore, it’s one of the many shit things we’re seeing.
Klopp could have changed any of about eight players at half time and had to just go with the biggest problem, which he deemed to be Gomez. Probably right too, but if we had any midfielders capable of playing 45 minutes then Milner would have surely gone too. Things were better with Matip in there but not straight away, as pithing minutes we’d conceded again to a simple ball in behind our high line. They got in down the right and when the cross came in Zielinski scored at the second attempt after Alisson had saved the initial effort.
Fucking hell. 4-0 and we’re staring down the barrel of something really, really humiliating now. I think it was probably really important that Diaz pulled one back almost immediately as it didn’t allow the situation to get worse quickly, and the goal galvanised us a bit. We were definitely better from that point on but you have to temper that with the acknowledgement that Napoli were happy enough with what they had and decided to defend deeper and play on the break.
Klopp brought on Thiago and Nunez for Milner and Bobby. Obvious changes really. Milner had a torrid time and Bobby flitted in and out. He wasn’t terrible and there were a few occasions when he was able to pick the ball up and get turned. I thought he started the game quite well but when things got away from us so quickly he just wasn’t really a factor. Subbing him for Nunez made sense, but Nunez did absolutely fuck all really. The only thing I can even remember is him beating his man in the box, putting him on his arse and then inexplicably just turning straight back into him as he lay there.
Diaz continued to be our only real threat and he went close with a bullet header that was unfortunately too close to the keeper. Hell of an effort though, and effort is the best word to describe what he did. Yeah, he’s a really good player, but the thing separating him from his team-mates right now is the intensity, desire, fight, passion that he shows. We used to have an entire team like him but now it’s literally only him that has it.
I said on the post match pod that we’ve become like Rocky in Rocky 3. We’ve lost the eye of the tiger. Diaz is the only one who still has it. The hunger and fight. He’s been here less than a year so he isn’t fatigued and jaded by it all. Most of the others just look like they don’t have anything left in the tank.
It’s hard for Nunez to come into a team that’s playing this badly so I’m making no judgements on him at all. Far too early. I feel sorry for Harvey because he’s doing a lot of good things but we’re absolutely wide open in the middle of the park and he’s part of that problem, albeit through no fault of his own. He’s not quick or physical and doesn’t have any kind of presence. He also doesn’t have the experience, which is important in reading the game and knowing when and where to press. So that’s hurting us without the ball, but he is better with the ball than all of our midfielders aside from Thiago. And besides, we have no-one else so he needs to play anyway.
We saw our first glimpse of Arthur, but realistically he’s not going to solve anything, not straight away anyway. Not an ideal game for him to come into and it might be tough for him these next few weeks. He’s not match fit as he hasn’t played for months. He’s coming into a new team, a new league, a completely different style of play to what he’s used to and to top everything off we’re playing like shite. I don’t have any immediate expectations from him even though I’m sure he’s a good player. He looks slow and he isn’t going to help much with protection, but if he can at least keep the ball that would help. You don’t play for the teams he’s been at if you can’t play football. Little bit alarming that he was sweating and blowing after five minutes though.
We just have so many players out of form, and this was the first time this season I’ve looked an Mo and been worried. His lack of production so far this season hasn’t been solely down to him. I don’t think we’ve helped him at all tactically and we’re not getting him into the positions we need him to be. So I wasn’t unduly concerned about his actual ‘form’ but this was the first time I’ve actually thought “he was just fucking shite”. He made no impact on the game and the one chance he had he wasted by taking his eye off the ball. You NEVER see him mis control a ball like that, so that was alarming.
It could just be one of those nights for him though and I wouldn’t be thinking about dropping him. Just let him play his way back into form, which he will do. There are far more pressing worries than Salah, even though he is a worry. Who else are we going to play out there? Jota? He looks rustier than a hundred year old nail.
Klopp and his staff really need to do some serious thinking today and come up with a plan for the weekend, and more specifically behind that. Wolves at home is a game where we probably need to just try to do what we do only do it much better. We have some upcoming games though where that just isn’t going to cut it and we might need to be more pragmatic.
I love the ‘he who dares wins’ style of football Klopp has brought here and I hated some of the dour, shithouse footy we saw under GH and Rafa. I’ve always wanted a manager who would attack no matter who the opponent and who would never compromise those principles and in Klopp we found that. I wouldn’t change anything we’ve done since Klopp has been here. We play aggressive, front foot, positive football and if we go down then we go down swinging and doing it our way. I’ve never wavered from that.
Now I think, temporarily at least, we absolutely have to dial it back a bit. Not all the time, but there is almost an arrogance about what we did in Naples. One of the most hostile venues in Europe, a lively, confident opponent full of speed, hunger and quality, and we’re defending on the halfway line from the first minute? Nah, sometimes you need to be pragmatic and sit in, take the crowd out of it and settle into the game. It’s not our style to do that and when we’re playing well I’m happy for us to go anywhere with a “let them worry about us” attitude and attack from the off. This was not the time for that. We’re not good enough to do it right now. Napoli pulled our pants down.
Everyone knows what we’re going to do and with the exception of Bournemouth everyone we’ve faced this season has known how to deal with it. It doesn’t always mean they’ll beat us or even get a draw, but nothing is easy for us anymore and everyone is creating clear chances by getting in behind us.
We’re in a crisis now and the worry is that players may start turning on eachother and pointing fingers. The team spirit has always been incredible, but I remember Carragher would always say people overplay that and team spirit is always great when you’re doing well. It’s when you’re not doing well that it’s important, so we need the players to stick together. We saw the Milner / Virgil incident at Old Trafford, and while I think that’\s fairly normal in football and happens a lot, you don’t see it from us very often so it is unsettling.
So with that in mind I didn’t like Robbo coming out post match and saying the problems are further up the pitch because we’re too open and not pressing the ball, thereby exposing the centre backs. He’s not wrong, but firstly it isn’t just that which is killing us, and secondly it’s not for him to say as it looks like finger pointing. Not to mention that he was shite in this game too. His crossing was garbage and he’s all of a sudden become completely unwilling to try and go at his man and put a cross in. He just goes backwards now unless there’s a wide open space to gallop into.
Kostas will drive at his man, Robbo used to but is currently just passing it back to Virgil or whoever is filling that left midfield spot. I love Robbo and this spell he’s going through is unquestionably a result of how much football he’s played over the last five years. I’m just saying, don’t be throwing others under the bus, especially when you’re not playing well yourself. Besides, it isn’t the midfield or forwards causing Trent to ball watch or forcing Gomez to lose the ball by dribbling. Virtually everything is wrong at the moment so blaming the midfield is just grabbing the low hanging fruit.
I can't even get angry about it. I was just sad watching this. This team have given us so much to be proud about and they've given us so many incredible memories, I just don't have it in me to be kicking them when they're down. Sure, I'll say if they play shit and I have done, but I'm not turning against them or calling for anyone's head. I also don't think it's the end of the road for this team or that we need a huge rebuild. Most of this squad will be fine when they get through this spell. Whatever is ailing us right now isn't terminal but it's clearly quite serious.
So what can be done about it? First and foremost, we’ll be better if we have Matip and Thiago back in the side. Regardless of anything else, just having them will make us stronger. Beyond that, I think we have to just dig in and bring out some wins now just to give us a base from which to improve.
Maybe we should look at a change in formation just to give the opposition something different to think about. 4-2-3-1, 4-4-2, 3-4-3 I don’t know. Just something to freshen us up a bit. Might also be worth moving Trent into midfield because he’s basically in there most of the time anyway. The problem with that is we’d need to play Gomez, and who knows what his mental state is after this debacle. If we get any more injuries in midfield I think we definitely need to be considering that though, albeit just on a temporary basis.
Nunez presents a dilemma as on the one hand you need to get him involved and integrated and for that to happen he needs to play, but on the other the team doesn’t look like they know how to play to his strengths and he doesn’t look like he knows how to fit into how we play. He should probably start this weekend even though I’m more comfortable with the idea of Bobby for an hour and then Nunez off the bench.
For us to be able to claw our way back into form we’re going to need to steer clear of any more injuries though because the games are coming thick and fast and Klopp is going to need to be able to rotate. The players already look goosed, imagine how bad it will be in a month if we lose any more players to injury.
If we disregard the season that doesn’t count, this is probably the biggest crisis we’ve had under Klopp, especially because it wasn’t supposed to be like this. We nearly won everything last year and then all of a sudden the arse has completely fallen out of it. As fans we’re shellshocked, but no doubt the players are too. Klopp as well I expect, even though he’s seen it all during his time in football.
There’s no quick fix here and we won’t suddenly click into gear. It’s going to be a slow grind and it starts with just finding ways to win. You don’t always need to play well to win, it’s about finding a way and that’s what we’ve got to start doing now until it flows again. Wolves are a tough nut to crack and games against them at Anfield have always been tricky. I expect no different this weekend and just hope we can do enough to get the points.
A Nunez goal would be huge for us right now as we need some positivity, and a new big money signing making an impact gives everybody a spring in their step so let’s hope he can get himself going.
Star man is obviously Diaz, I doubt there’ll be an easier decision all season.
Team: Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Gomez (Matip), Van Dijk, Robertson; Fabinho, Elliott (Arthur), Milner (Thiago); Salah (Jota), Firmino (Nunez), Diaz:
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