Liverpool 3 Southampton 0 (Nov 18 2017)

[tlw content]

I could get used to this. Four easy, comfortable, routine wins in games we’re supposed to win easily, comfortable and routinely. This is what good teams do, but too often we haven’t.

 

I’ve heard a lot about how bad Southampton looked but to me that’s missing the point. Whether they are good, bad, indifferent, so what? We’ve dropped points to worse teams than Southampton, that’s for sure. 

 

You can’t complain about not beating shite teams and then when they do beat them dismiss it on the grounds that “they’re shite”. We know Southampton aren’t great. Huddersfield aren’t either. West Ham are terrible and Maribor are no better. So what though. Aren’t these exactly the kind of teams we usually shit the bed against? 

 

So rather than downgrade the performance on the basis that it wasn’t against quality opposition, I’m going the other way. Results like these are far more significant than what we saw last year, when we were walloping Spurs and Arsenal and winning at Chelsea etc 

 

Where did that get us? Fourth place by the skin of our teeth. When you have that kind of record against the top teams you should be running away with the league. Instead we were in a dogfight to get fourth and needed a last day victory to secure it. Why? Because we didn’t win enough of the games we were supposed to. 

 

Recently we’ve started winning the games we’re supposed to and not only that, we’ve won them at a canter. As I said, we’re doing what good teams do. It’s too small a sample size to say we’ve finally cracked the problem, but it feels encouraging. 

 

I’d say much of it depends on who we have available, and specifically I’m referring to the two wide players. As long as we have Mané and Salah in the side I’d fancy us to break down even the most stubborn of opposition in all but the rarest of occasions. 

 

Add Coutinho to that and it’s an awful lot for opposing teams to have to contain. Salah is on fire at the moment, but Mané’s time will come too. Next week it might be him hitting four goals in two games, or it could be Firmino, who isn’t scoring much right now but is playing superbly. 

 

 

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[Pidge]

Saw in the Salah thread that he was making Mane look average, that's nuts. Nothing average about that inside pass to Firmino leading to the third.  What a player.

 

He'll be more of a factor in the next couple of games against teams that will step out to us.  Interested to see how him and Azpilicueta shape up against each other.

[Paul]

I’m amazed by that point you make about Moreno Dave. There’s no doubt he’s been good so far this season, but to be won over by three months of good football when there’s little pressure on him, thereby ignoring the three seasons of shite including the debacle against his former club, is mad.

 

I have been impressed by his improvements this season, but I’m nowhere near being won over yet. I’m merely in “suspending my disbelief” mode. If his whole season pans out this way then that’s another matter, but we’ve barely got near the tough part of the season yet - never mind the business end when every game is high pressure.

 

The lad deserves credit for his improvements and I was certainly impressed by his comments about looking at himself for his poor football in the interviews he did last week. Won over though? Not yet.

[Pureblood]

Little pressure?   There are 40,000 regulars who can't wait to groan when he makes his next mistake.  He gets zero dispensation.  

[dylstar]

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Why wasn't that offered to me Dave when I joined , you two-faced Cunt .

[stringvest]

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Why wasn't that offered to me Dave when I joined , you two-faced Cunt .

 

 

Dave's parked the bus on this one, you've got no chance. 

[The Guest]

I think what Dave is trying to say is that he isn’t going to be one of the raft of cunts who will be all over Moreno the next time he has a bad performance. 3 months of good performances should earn you a bit of leeway. The best players in the world can’t be good every single week, well maybe Gerrard was for about 7/8 years but that’s unreasonable. It won’t stop people absolutely destroying him next time he makes a glaring error which every player does on occasion.

 

What Moreno’s done this season doesn’t make his previous performances good but let’s not make out as though they were all bad either. What these 3 months or so have shown is that he is capable of a long extended run in the team and having a positive impact. He’s matured and focused in every game. He has his quirks and weaknesses but if he can continue in this form it’s not a position to be worrying about any more.

[Anny Road]

Best outcome is a decent price when he is sold.

[Mark M]

Moreno payed a big part in us losing the Europa league final and it’s going to take more than 11 league games of decent form to forgive that imo.

He was poor in the home game against Seville this season as well so he’s not had quite the perfect season so far some seem to be making out.

[scudger99]

I’m amazed by that point you make about Moreno Dave. There’s no doubt he’s been good so far this season, but to be won over by three months of good football when there’s little pressure on him, thereby ignoring the three seasons of shite including the debacle against his former club, is mad.

 

I have been impressed by his improvements this season, but I’m nowhere near being won over yet. I’m merely in “suspending my disbelief” mode. If his whole season pans out this way then that’s another matter, but we’ve barely got near the tough part of the season yet - never mind the business end when every game is high pressure.

 

The lad deserves credit for his improvements and I was certainly impressed by his comments about looking at himself for his poor football in the interviews he did last week. Won over though? Not yet.

Playing for a club like this means every player is under pressure every time they pull on that shirt and step onto the pitch.  Waiting for something to happen so you can stick the boot into one of your own players is my definition of mad.

[stringvest]

Playing for a club like this means every player is under pressure every time they pull on that shirt and step onto the pitch.  Waiting for something to happen so you can stick the boot into one of your own players is my definition of mad.

 

 

if players made just a few mistakes, no-one would really notice.  It's when they repeat the errors time and time again it becomes irksome.   Moreno will naturally get a bit more leeway these days than he would have done if he was still stinking the place out game after game.  Anyway, the lad is doing ok at the moment, so let's hope it continues.  

[Mark M]

Playing for a club like this means every player is under pressure every time they pull on that shirt and step onto the pitch. Waiting for something to happen so you can stick the boot into one of your own players is my definition of mad.

having faith in mignolet, lovern and Moreno is my idea of mad.

All 3 of them have proven over the time they’ve been here is that they can have good spells of form but ultimately are weak mentally and will let you down.

[stringvest]

having faith in mignolet, lovern and Moreno is my idea of mad.

All 3 of them have proven over the time they’ve been here is that they can have good spells of form but ultimately are weak mentally and will let you down.

 

 

I'm not sure many if any have any great faith in any of them, but it seems churlish to have a pop at any of them while we appear to be stringing a few good team performances together.  Enjoy it while it lasts.  

[Mark M]

I always enjoy when we win.

Doesn’t change that those 3 players imo should have been moved on over the last 3/4 transfer windows and upgraded on.

[stringvest]

I always enjoy when we win.

Doesn’t change that those 3 players imo should have been moved on over the last 3/4 transfer windows and upgraded on.

 

 

I find that very difficult to disagree with.  

[dave u]

Moreno payed a big part in us losing the Europa league final and it’s going to take more than 11 league games of decent form to forgive that imo.

He was poor in the home game against Seville this season as well so he’s not had quite the perfect season so far some seem to be making out.

 

I hammered him for his part in Sevilla's first goal that night, but other than that he's done very well. Not perfect, but light years better than the player he was before. 

 

As for the Europa final, he should have been bombed out immediately after that but he wasn't, he's still here and it's water under the bridge now for me. No point in holding that against him when he's shown such a good attitude to try and turn thing around.

[Grinch]

Best outcome is a decent price when he is sold.

Best outcome is he keeps playing exactly like he is so we don't need nor want to sell.

[Pureblood]

Best outcome is the treble with Alberto M adopting the Josemi stance in all photos.

 

Tougher tests lie ahead and Paul is right when he talks about pressure in that sense but we should still acknowledge that he has done an excellent job so far.  He has kept out a new signing (who has generally impressed) and earned a recall to the Spain squad.  Alberto M's impressive energetic displays are a great feature of the start to this season. 

[Pureblood]

Best outcome is he keeps playing exactly like he is so we don't need nor want to sell.

 

This.   He is showing the kind of form which made us pay up in the first place.

[Paul]

Little pressure? There are 40,000 regulars who can't wait to groan when he makes his next mistake. He gets zero dispensation.

That’s the basic pressure of playing for Liverpool. Goes with the territory.

[scudger99]

He's just fine tuning his technique here before RM or Barca inevitably come calling.......

[RedHeadedRed]

Not sure I would be praising Moreno just before the Seville game that's asking for trouble, but in fairness to him he has improved his game the last few months.

[lifetime fan]

Moreno just clears one off the line.

[37Ersvik]

Moreno as allways,will NEVER change.......

[Trumo]

Not sure I would be praising Moreno just before the Seville game that's asking for trouble, but in fairness to him he has improved his game the last few months.

 

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