West Brom(h)- FA Cup Match Thread

[Trumo]

That was fucking shite.

 

First things first, VAR. I think it would save an awful lot of time if the referee went over to the touchline to review a decision whenever he decides to review. He can confer over his mic which doing so. It's better than what we saw for the penalty incident tonight, where he consulted the VAR official for a couple of minutes and then spent a couple of minutes viewing it himself. A lot of time was wasted there. Secondly, I think the crowd need to know what's going on with either video screens showing what the viewer at home is seeing, or at least an announcement over the tannoy that this is what is going on. They'll have to find a solution to that somehow. Thirdly, West Brom's players and coaches can't whinge about the decisions that went against them, having previously declined to attend seminars to show how VAR would be implimented.

 

Anyway, back to the game, and this was a new level of defensive abjectness, starting from the moment we scored. They always says you're more vulnerable just after scoring yourself, and we completely switched off, allowing West Brom to nick the ball off us. Rodriguez buried the chance well. We then lost the ball in midfield again, and again got cut open like a knife through butter for Rodriguez to put them in front.

 

And it had promised so much just before all that. Salah won a ball he had no right to, before missing with his first chance of the night (standard with him, that). Firmino was on hand with the sand wedge to deftly chip the rebound into the empty net. That's as good as it got for us.

 

VAR intervened to deny West Brom a goal for a marginal offside, before the technology was used to spot a tug back on Salah inside the box at the other end. Worryingly, we are missing a lot of penalties these days and it's starting to be reminiscent of 2011/12 under Kenny. We are more potent than that side but the similarities are there (right down to one of our players having a racism complaint hanging over him), missing a lot of chances and letting goals in basically every time our opponents have an effort at goal.

 

No matter, because another defensive shit show meant West Brom went in at half time with a 3-1 lead anyway. Matip got the final touch but there were too many culpable players in the lead-up to that. If you are going to push up at a set piece, do it quickly and decisively. If you aren't, then at least be aware of where your opponents are.

 

What can I say about the second half? Bar a goal for Salah and a couple of saves for Foster, we were increasingly resorting to Hail Marys and not trying to upset West Brom by doing anything different. There was a lot of dreadful decision making in that final 10 minutes with wasted set pieces and powderpuff crosses right into Foster's hands.

 

Mignolet? Fucking hell, everything on target went past him. Dawson had 2 goals disallowed for offside, but Mignolet played like he was scared of his own shadow. De Gea facing those chances would have stopped at least a couple of them, and I dare say Foster at the other end would have too. When Mignolet was dropped in 2014/15, he only got back in because Jones got injured. He should only get back in if Karius gets injured, although Karius is hardly pulling up any trees himself. The Belgian should be moved on in the summer (if not now, although it is probably too late in January to bring in the level of goalkeeper we REALLY need). We know what he can do, and it's been proven to not be enough to help us get to and stay at the next level.

 

Last season, the Swansea defeat led to two more home defeats on the bounce. The squad at the time looked threadbare due to enforced injury lay-offs and absences. Right now, the squad needs an addition of impetus and inspiration. We almost fizzled out last year, and if we aren't careful we could fall away this year. The manager and the owners must surely know this. Clubs in better positions than us still add impetus in January to keep momentum going. We always try to be too clever for our own good and do it the other way (a few last-ditch attempts to bring in new blood notwithstanding), and our overall record on the pitch under FSG with this thinking does not inspire confidence that we have what it takes to get things right.

 

About the FA Cup itself. We are absolutely fucking shit in this competition, and us in the 3rd or 4th rounds is like Arsenal in the knockout stages of the Champions League. A broken record. We only have a sustained run every 6 years or so. We reached the final in 2012 and the semis in 2015 (3 years early for a cup run that, and maybe why we did our usual schtick this season instead) but otherwise, we aren't in the Cup by the end of January.

 

Is the club really doing all it can to remove all these regular occurances?

[JoeBuck1]

This performance reminds me so much of Spurs 95 in The Cup ( any dickhead saying the Cup doesn’t matter shouldn’t be watching football).

 

Like then, this team and Manager will flatter to deceive, only to bottle it on the most meaningful occasions. Beating teams when we’re the underdog and have no pressure is one of the common denominators and having mediocre players talking up their achievements before actually doing something is another.

 

The problem of course is the Manager - Klopp has won trophies in 2 of his 15 managerial seasons and signs mediocre shite like Ginny and Oxlade who think they are superstars after one good performance against City.

 

He gives the Captaincy to Can, a poor player who wants out of the Club, just like he gave the Captaincy to Coutinho, even though that Little shit would have gone on strike to get his move.

 

Still not sorting out the keeper situation, playing a right back who frankly is good enough for Tranmere, The useless arrogant lump that is Matip, but the worst of all is Firmino - Liverpool has had a wonderful tradition of great number 9s and 10s- Hunt/ St John, Toshack/ Keegan, Rush/ Dalglish - now we have a player playing that role who is neither one or the other.

 

I love Klopp for his passion and love of the Club, but I’m not sure he’s up to the task of leading us back where we want to be - unless you think the FA Cup is unimportant of course.

[an tha]

I think your points are valid. The question of whether a defender can acclimate to a more attacking team is always worth asking and it's always a big adjustment.

 

We can also say he's coming off a long injury layoff and a 6 month vacation with Southampton where he didn't put in any intensity.

 

That being said, I don't think he should be having any troubles fitting in. He has the athleticism and all the physical gifts needed to be great in our system.

 

The problem is that I think he's a dope. Not Lovren levels, but I don't see in him the intelligence or positioning of a great defender. Certainly not one worthy of being the most expensive defender ever.

 

I'll take my humble pie if he becomes great here. We'll see, it's still early obviously.

Aye....at least he has these months to settle and then start new season hopefully well acclimatised - problem is he needs to perform as we still have a lot to play for.

 

Hopefully he will settle but he needs help from those around him - I think Maldini in his prime would struggle to look the business in this defence/behind the invisible men in midfield.

[Guest Alex_K]

Players heads are probably all over the place. The clubs strategy gives a team of young men a readymade excuse for failure.

[aRdja]

I think your points are valid. The question of whether a defender can acclimate to a more attacking team is always worth asking and it's always a big adjustment.

 

We can also say he's coming off a long injury layoff and a 6 month vacation with Southampton where he didn't put in any intensity.

 

That being said, I don't think he should be having any troubles fitting in. He has the athleticism and all the physical gifts needed to be great in our system.

 

The problem is that I think he's a dope. Not Lovren levels, but I don't see in him the intelligence or positioning of a great defender. Certainly not worthy of being the most expensive defender ever, IMO.

 

I'll take my humble pie if he becomes great here. We'll see, it's still early obviously.

Lovren is better at defending than all of our defenders bar Van Dijk. He’s massively underrated around here.

[Baltar]

Lovren is better at defending than all of our defenders bar Van Dijk. He’s massively underrated around here.

Shit trolling there...

[Trumo]

Shut up, you fucking dope. The FA devalued their own competition when they allowed the holders to pull out of it while they went on holiday to South America. Why should we hold it in any esteem?

 

Not that it's relevant to our own shambolic record in this competition, but the Mancs were asked by the FA to take part in that Club World Cup tournament as it was a FIFA competition, and the FA were trying to curry favour and votes for their 2006 World Cup bid. They felt that an English presence in a FIFA tournament would make England look good in the eyes of FIFA executives eligible to vote in the World Cup bidding. Simple bribery wouldn't be enough!

[aRdja]

Shit trolling there...

Not trolling at all. I’ve been very consistent with my view that Lovren is better at defending than Matip and Klavan for almost a year now.

[Jennings]

When I saw the team selection. I thought we'd smash it.

 

It's the same problems that have blighted us for years. Can't break down deep teams. Can't defend the counters and set pieces.

[Macca4]

3 keepers all of them shit

3 right backs in taa, Gomez and clyne. Clyne average and the other 2 miles away from being good enough

4 centre halves. Matip is shit and hopefully vvd will sort us out. Lovren And klavan are our best defenders at the minute

2 left backs. Moron is a prick and should never play again. Robertson has potential

Midfield. Fucking shambolic. Not one of them is good enough.

Firmino should be a no 10

We need a proper no 9 who scores for fun

Other than the above Jurgen you’re doing a great job

[TheHowieLama]

Emre Can't.

[El Rojo]

Emre Can't.

He’s in very good company.

[aRdja]

3 keepers all of them shit

3 right backs in taa, Gomez and clyne. Clyne average and the other 2 miles away from being good enough

4 centre halves. Matip is shit and hopefully vvd will sort us out. Lovren And klavan are our best defenders at the minute

2 left backs. Moron is a prick and should never play again. Robertson has potential

Midfield. Fucking shambolic. Not one of them is good enough.

Firmino should be a no 10

We need a proper no 9 who scores for fun

Other than the above Jurgen you’re doing a great job

You’re my favourite poster I think.

[Macca4]

Look at Swansea and West Brom’s squads compared to ours.

Surely questions need to be asked about the managers team selection and tactics

[El Rojo]

Liverpool FC: ‘How am I doing, boss?’

 

Aston Villa: ‘You’re doing a great job, son... a great job!’

[TheHowieLama]

I remember when Klopp first came we used to get to talk about how much running we were doing.

 

How come we dont do much running anymore?

[Gym Beglin]

Pointing fingers at VVD is absurd.

 

Spending the Coutinho money on VVD was absurd, he’s on a hiding to nothing with our GK and midfield.

[El Rojo]

Pointing fingers at VVD is absurd.

 

.

Probably. But he hasn’t excelled at much himself yet beyond pointing his own fingers a lot.

[Mr T]

Probably. But he hasn’t excelled at much himself yet beyond pointing his own fingers a lot.

 

At least he has allowed us a decent run in the cup with his goal.. oh.

[JoeBuck1]

Why make him Captain? Jurgen is passing it around like confetti and devaluing it - the Liverpool Captaincy used to meAn something - it’s not a muse to try and make a player who doesn’t want to play for the Club loyal.

 

And what’s with this shit of Salah’s agent talking to Real - dress him down that it is unacceptable.

[Special K]

Thor Ragnarok was thoroughly enjoyable

[waddy78]

Probably. But he hasn’t excelled at much himself yet beyond pointing his own fingers a lot.

Between VvD and Henderson were gonna blind some poor fucker with all this pointing malarkey.

 

 

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk

[corro]

I remember when Klopp first came we used to get to talk about how much running we were doing.

 

How come we dont do much running anymore?

We who? We do. Are you sure?

[Evelyn Tentions]

3 keepers all of them shit

3 right backs in taa, Gomez and clyne. Clyne average and the other 2 miles away from being good enough

4 centre halves. Matip is shit and hopefully vvd will sort us out. Lovren And klavan are our best defenders at the minute

2 left backs. Moron is a prick and should never play again. Robertson has potential

Midfield. Fucking shambolic. Not one of them is good enough.

Firmino should be a no 10

We need a proper no 9 who scores for fun

Other than the above Jurgen you’re doing a great job

Why do you think Ward is shit?

He's only played one game for us, and even then he had the clown posse in front of him.

Any talk of him not performing in practice, if there is any truth in the story, is probably Achtertwat saying he's shite because he won't do what Achtercunt tells him. which means he's probably better than either of the other useless arseholes.

[an tha]

I remember when Klopp first came we used to get to talk about how much running we were doing.

 

How come we dont do much running anymore?

Unless a team really come onto us and we can ping balls at the front 3 for them to run into space we actually look a bit clueless - Plan A is fucking boss and when it works it is devastating....Plan B is predictable, easy to defend against and very tricky to actually make work.

 

It is the same build up and trying to thread it through the eye of a needle, mainly through the middle where teams just fill space and we end up trying these little flicks over and over again.

 

Hardly any effective width and when we do get it wide we either fail with a poor ball in or nobody in there to get on end.