Spurs Match 22 Oct

[Joey8FrogsLegs]

Contention for what?

Contention for not-the-team-that-has-conceded-most-in-the-league award.

[dockers_strike]

Unless Ward is pants in training, put him in for the next 4 or 5 league games. He either swims or sinks and if he sinks, we know he is not good enough. Same with Gomez, play him alongside Matip for the next 4 or 5 games, if he sinks we know he is not good enough but hopefully we can limp along until the January window and sign at least one towering center back who has leadership qualities.

Tell Lovren to take an extended holiday and do not come back period. And how is Can still playing when he will not sign a contract? His head is in Turin. Fuck them both off Jurgen, it is your neck those two are going to get chopped off. Start playing Oxlaide Chamberlain and see if he can do what we bought him for, if he cant, fuck him off. Bin Achterberg off while you are at it. And tell any midfield player if they ever pass the ball back to a defender and expect the defender to hit whoever is playing up front, they will be fined 50 grand a game. Henderson, Milner and Wijnaldum when he plays should grow some balls and do what they are paid to do. Start giving Solanke and not Sturridge the last 20 minutes of games.

[The Golden Eel]

I just want to reiterate something I said earlier. We actually had more shots on goal than Spurs today by 7 to 6. Some shocking individual defending from Lovren, poor keeping and a dash of good fortune from Spurs and we're beaten 4-1, a harsh result in my opinion. Plus the goal just before half time was a major blow as we were the better team at that stage.

 

The real problem here is that we're still playing shite players at the back. Obviously that's Klopp's fault. I was saying very early in his tenure that my main (in fact, my only that time) concern about Klopp was that I suspected he overrated some shit players. This really has to stop now - I know it's hard to look at the long term at the minute, but the situation needs to stop in these next two transfer windows. He needs to get this defence sorted out one way or the other because it's fucking killing us. Surely the penny's dropping now with the way we've started this season defensively. 

[Guest]

I would start Ward in the next three games, move Milner to LB and use Klavan for the league games, with Gomez coming in for Maribor.

In all honesty, I just don't know how that solves any of the current problems. And this about sums up the squad at the moment.

[VERBAL DIARRHEA]

G Richards is no better than Dejan Lovren.

Well you can trust the Rev with a cross.

[TheHowieLama]

Well you can trust the Rev with a cross.

 

Also very rarely caught on the wrong side.

[Bjornebye]

Just finished watching the match. Here are my observations, for what they are worth, which is not a lot.

 

1. Two days before the match there was no match thread, so I started one. I did not bring the team any luck. I won’t do it again. Apologies to my fellow reds.

 

2. Lovren. What was that? He was at fault for the first two goals. The first he could have headed it, or at least turned and got back, but he was so lackadaisical. The second he tried to be proactive and get the header, but he missed the ball and, well, 2-0 down so early in the match against such a solid and organized team is disastrous.

 

3. Emre Can. Rubbish lad. Had an age on the ball to do something, and instead go it stuck under his foot, lost out, gave a free kick away, and they scored from it. Everything we don’t like about Can was on display there. Slow, ponderous. OK Matip did a poor header too, but I’d like to think most of that was down to the quality of the ball Eriksen put in. Still, Alli beat Can to it and volleyed in a third on the stroke of halftime. At 2-1 down we’re in it. 3-1 and it’s a different game.

 

4. Second half and it was time for Mignolet to show why we love him so much! What a weak and rubbish punch, straight to Vertonghen, who shoots and it pops out to Harry Kane. Typical. 4-1.

 

5. Loris did a great save from Firmino and a decent save with feet from Salah, but ultimately we were well beaten.

 

Spurs are a very good team. We are not far off them but on today’s evidence we looked miles away, mostly down to errors on our part. They are athletic, strong and organized. We were missing a cutting edge with Mane being out. Salah did well but it wasn’t enough. Coutinho was ineffective too. He dribbled a lot but with Spurs pressing he lost possession more times than I could count.

 

I’m not saying Wijnaldum is a great player but I think we missed his athleticism in midfield today. We just looked too ponderous.

 

I wouldn’t mind seeing Gomez play alongside Matip from this point on, until we decide to buy a top class defender. I’ve seen enough of Lovren and he’s a bag of nerves.

 

When Can plays well he looks good, but I’m getting a bit sick of him. He’s winding it down at Liverpool and has eyes for Juventus. I’d stick Grujic in there ahead of him. He looked good in pre season.

 

As for Harry Kane, he’s a very good player. World class in fact. He pushes off into the back of the defender a lot, and the refs aren’t onto him with that, but that’s a small thing as he’s a very good player who has the lot.

 

Where do we go from here? Well, we are miles off a title challenge. It’s early days of course, but Man City look like they are on a different level this season, at least so far. For us, the best it looks like we can hope for is a top four scrap. To get into that conversation we have to improve.

 

I’m not going to go overboard and call for this or that at the moment. It’s a down time and most of that stuff is valid inasmuch as we’re all gutted about where we are. But I’m backing us to improve.

 

Over to you red men. Give us something to get behind.

I'm behind you Rev.

[The Dude Abides]

It's not just the defense. The balance in midfield is tragic, not one of them can tackle, not one them is a natural centre-mid even. Milner and Can are utility players, Henderson is a converted wide player, Lallana, Gini and Coutinho converted attacking-mids.

[Creator Supreme]

The lack of leadership is telling. I'm not just talking about a captain, I'm talking about the likes of a Carragher, someone who makes themselves heard, organises, actually gives a shit.

 

They're so fucking timid it's embarrassing!

[an tha]

A big strong dominant midfielder who can read the game, gets stuck in and can pass it well would really help.

[Gnasher]

As much as I like Klopp the truth is he's actually a pretty shit manager. Two years, four transfer windows in and this is his idea of a defence and midfield.

 

It doesn't even looked like they're training or following any kind of defensive tactic.

Klopp is far from being a shit manager. There are dozens upon dozens of shit managers about but Klopp isn't one of them.

[Hades]

The lack of leadership is telling. I'm not just talking about a captain, I'm talking about the likes of a Carragher, someone who makes themselves heard, organises, actually gives a shit.

 

They're so fucking timid it's embarrassing!

 

I don't know if being vocal is even possible given how far apart the defenders are and how fast the game moves nowadays.

[aRdja]

I genuinely think wing back is as big a problem as centre back. All Moreno seems to do is pass the ball 5 yards sideways to Coutinho. He leaves acres of space for their attackers to exploit down our left flank and cannot mark a player or stop a cross.

 

It's no coincidence that we're starting to ship 4 and 5 goals a game as soon as he comes back into the side.

Moreno was fine...

[Creator Supreme]

I don't know if being vocal is even possible given how far apart the defenders are and how fast the game moves nowadays.

Carragher didn't pack in that long ago mate, surely the game hasn't moved on that much.

[Joey8FrogsLegs]

Moreno was fine...

Not utterly crap is the new fine if you're a Liverpool defender.

 

Actually agree that he was the only one in the back 4 today that wasn't totally wank.

[ngogswilly]

I don't know if being vocal is even possible given how far apart the defenders are and how fast the game moves nowadays.

Bit of a stretch there mate to be fair.

[Boss]

Moreno was fine...

 

For two of the goals he's on the 18 yard line watching our defence scrambling, just standing still. He makes all the other defenders look like imbeciles because he affords them zero protection.

[aRdja]

For two of the goals he's on the 18 yard line watching our defence scrambling, just standing still. He makes all the other defenders look like imbeciles because he affords them zero protection.

Our centre halfs don’t need his help to look like imbeciles

[Hades]

Didn't Carra himself state that playing in the post-season game against Sydney was tough because of how much space he had to cover? We're not set up to defend well. I think conceding a goal is fine most games because we'll score more. The problem is conceding twos, threes and fours which had been a problem ever since Mignolet replaced Reina.

[Hades]

Basically, the goalie should be the main talker because he can see the whole game. Not sure communication between centre halves is that big a deal. Suarez made players out of Sterling and Sturridge simply by pointing.

[thompsonsnose]

A big strong dominant midfielder who can read the game, gets stuck in and can pass it well would really help.

8 years and counting....

[KMD7]

Some quality posts put up by The Rev, Sir Roger, THL and Boss and others in the last few pages.  

My only gripe (a big one admittedly) with Klopp is that he didn't dump half the team after Basel.  He's placed far too much faith in some players who keep letting him down.  Must be so frustrating for him as I can imagine he's working hard wih them in training and showing loyalty to them only for the same cunts to let him down time and time again.

Not sure where we go now.  Hopefully keep going and put some points on board until Mane and Lallana return.  

 

Oh and fuck FSG

[KMD7]

When Rafa goes to the press and complains about lack of funds you accuse him of being divisive. When Klopp tries to put a developmental, positive, rational spin on things he's making excuses. Football fans are whining, hypocritical, entitled knuckleheads.

 

Well fucking said. Out of rep

[VERBAL DIARRHEA]

Only faith I want.

 

Football ability

Attitude as in having a good one

Intelligence on the pitch

Tactical awareness

Honour. Playing for us should be one.

[billypilgrimnz]

Here is the list of players in our current squad who I would keep as starters: Coutinho, Salah, Mane. Here is a list of young players I would keep in the hope they will be good: TAA, Gomez. I honestly would not think twice if we lost every single other player (obviously I would keep the likes of Lallana, Clyne, and Matip as squad fillers because you can’t ditch everyone).

 

And that is why we are where we are. Mediocre players across the board.