Watford 3 Liverpool 3 (Aug 12 2017)

[tlw content]

It’s almost as though the summer never even happened. Virtually the same team as last year - certainly the same strengths and weaknesses - and an unparalleled ability to both thrill and infuriate, often within minutes of each other. Klopp’s Reds; same old same old for better or worse. 
 
But for the presence of Mo Salah you’d never have been able to tell this was a new season. We’re still a nervous wreck on set-pieces, we still look vulnerable to counter attacks, Sadio Mané is still electrifying and we’ll no doubt concede 45 goals while scoring somewhere close to double that this season. Where that takes us depends largely on what our rivals do. 
 
While the pre-season form was very good, generally it’s been a bad summer with one setback after another. Salah aside, we haven’t signed the players Klopp wanted yet and the injuries have started to rack up before we even reached the season opener. Four players ruled out of this one, including Daniel 'best shape of his life yet couldn't even make it to the opening day' Sturridge. The idea we’ll be able to keep this team healthy while playing twice a week is pie in the sky. Still, we should have had more than enough to win this one. 
 
I’ve got so many problems with what happened in this game I don’t know where to start, but sadly most of them can be directly attributed to Klopp in one way or another. The starting line up was fine, other than not having James Milner in it. Not sure what the thinking is there, but if he has fallen behind Alberto Moreno in the pecking order due to one pre-season game against Bayern then there’s something wrong there. For Moreno to even still be here is hard to comprehend but, that being said, he had a decent enough game. 
 
Even when everyone else (other than Mané) was looking crap in the first half, Moreno was doing alright and he nearly scored a cracker in the second half. Going forward he was good, while defensively he wasn't exactly Paolo Maldini, but he wasn't terrible, and that's about as good as most of us can hope for. It's a low bar we set for Moreno, but all things considered I'd say he jumped over it with a bit to spare.
 
The first half was just appalling for the most part. After such a good pre-season I thought we’d come flying out of the traps but it was the opposite. Sloppy, disjointed, lacking intensity…. Watford caught us on an early counter and almost took the lead only for Lovren to just about get something on the shot to deflect it behind. No matter, a corner is often as good as a penalty against us, and so it proved again. 

 

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[Kevin D]

It’s almost as though the summer never even happened. Virtually the same team as last year - certainly the same strengths and weaknesses - and an unparalleled ability to both thrill and infuriate, often within minutes of each other. Klopp’s Reds; same old same old for better or worse. 

 

But for the presence of Mo Salah you’d never have been able to tell this was a new season. We’re still a nervous wreck on set-pieces, we still look vulnerable to counter attacks, Sadio Mané is still electrifying and we’ll no doubt concede 45 goals while scoring somewhere close to double that this season. Where that takes us depends largely on what our rivals do. 

 

While the pre-season form was very good, generally it’s been a bad summer with one setback after another. Salah aside, we haven’t signed the players Klopp wanted yet and the injuries have started to rack up before we even reached the season opener. Four players ruled out of this one, including Daniel 'best shape of his life yet couldn't even make it to the opening day' Sturridge. The idea we’ll be able to keep this team healthy while playing twice a week is pie in the sky. Still, we should have had more than enough to win this one. 

 

I’ve got so many problems with what happened in this game I don’t know where to start, but sadly most of them can be directly attributed to Klopp in one way or another. The starting line up was fine, other than not having James Milner in it. Not sure what the thinking is there, but if he has fallen behind Alberto Moreno in the pecking order due to one pre-season game against Bayern then there’s something wrong there. For Moreno to even still be here is hard to comprehend but, that being said, he had a decent enough game. 

 

Even when everyone else (other than Mané) was looking crap in the first half, Moreno was doing alright and he nearly scored a cracker in the second half. Going forward he was good, while defensively he wasn't exactly Paolo Maldini, but he wasn't terrible, and that's about as good as most of us can hope for. It's a low bar we set for Moreno, but all things considered I'd say he jumped over it with a bit to spare.

 

The first half was just appalling for the most part. After such a good pre-season I thought we’d come flying out of the traps but it was the opposite. Sloppy, disjointed, lacking intensity…. Watford caught us on an early counter and almost took the lead only for Lovren to just about get something on the shot to deflect it behind. No matter, a corner is often as good as a penalty against us, and so it proved again. 

 

This is only a teaser, click here to view the full report

 

Please note that Match Reports are only available to website subscribers. Subscriptions cost just £2 a month (you need to register first) and can be purchased here. If you are not currently registered on the site, sign up for free and receive a FREE no obligation trial subscription, which gives you access to all the members only content for THREE MONTHS.

 

 

I reckon Usher was Pissed when he wrote that.

[William_Ulsterman]

when is robertson fit? is he a better option than moreno? can honsetly say i cant remember watching him play. 

[jimmycase]

A good report as ever.

[RedHeadedRed]

That was like watching Rodgers Liverpool trying to defend it was so bad,three goals conceded to a mid table/bottom half side yet again. Zonal marking doesn't work for us he must be able to see that by now.

[El Rojo]

I reckon Usher was pissed off when he wrote that.

[Stickman]

I reckon Usher was pissed off when he wrote that.

I'm getting pissed after reading that as its unfortunately so true and depressing.

At my age I don't think I can be arsed with watching us for another season of bottling it.

I think I'll just watch old YouTube videos of us when we had a team and club to be proud of.

[dave u]

when is robertson fit? is he a better option than moreno? can honsetly say i cant remember watching him play. 

 

He is fit, he's just not earned his stripes in training yet and is behind Moreno as a result. I think he's a work in progress and they'll ease him into it.

 

I'm getting pissed after reading that as its unfortunately so true and depressing.

At my age I don't think I can be arsed with watching us for another season of bottling it.

I think I'll just watch old YouTube videos of us when we had a team and club to be proud of.

 

I know what you mean. With this Hall of Fame thing I've been doing this summer, I've had to do a fair bot of research and reading about the various candidates, and it brought home just how few modern players are worthy of any kind of affection and respect.

 

To go from reading about stalwarts such as Liddell, Callaghan, Smith, Hughes, Yeats, Carragher etc to then have to hear about jumped up little knobs like Coutinho, who has achieved fuck all, dragging the club through the dirt, it's pretty depressing.

[goose]

I had a look at Watford's pre-season results before this match in an effort to convince myself we would win. In their last three friendlies, they played Real Sociedad, Aston Villa and Glasgow Rangers. Over the three games, they managed to score one goal.

[aws]

More than a page. Not reading all that.