Napoli 1 Liverpool 0 (Oct 3 2018)

[tlw content]

    

  

 

Report by

Dave Usher

 

Well that was terrible. We almost got away with it but this time the late sting came in our tail. We bagged a late winner against PSG, which was deserved. We got a miraculous late equaliser at Chelsea, which was deserved. This time we conceded a late winner, and it was also very much deserved.

 

For all the talk of how Napoli is an intimidating environment and a difficult arena to play in, I'm not having it at all. It was a half empty stadium. These lads played a semi final in Rome, so this was nothing. The stadium had nothing to do with the performance. I'm also irritated to lose to a side playing in a kit as terrible as that. 

 

Napoli always had boss kits but this one looks like a teenager designed it. How have their fans stood for that? Maybe that's why half the stadium was empty and why their best players always seem to leave. Except Hamsik of course, but one look at his haircut tells you all you need to know about his sense of style.

 

Napoli were alright but I wasn't blown away by them at all. They defended very well but they were a bit lightweight and predictable in attack. For most of the game Joe Gomez and Virgil Van Dijk kept that at bay relatively easily. When it keeps coming back at you because the front lads are having a night off though, it's difficult, and eventually Napoli started to look threatening in the closing stages.

 

We had a massive let off when they got in down our right and Mertens hit the bar from close range. The warning wasn't heeded though and soon after they got in down the other flank and this time Insigne was there to score from close range. Had we came away with a point it would have been a great result considering how badly we played. It would also have been daylight robbery.

 

What went wrong? That's easy. We were shite, especially the front three. Answering why it went wrong is above my pay grade. Hopefully Jurgen knows, because this performance has been coming. We haven't played anywhere near this badly, but the signs have been there with the front three. They've not been at it all season barring the odd flash here and there.

 

 

This is just a teaser, click here to view full article

 

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. 

[Guest]

Worst performance I have seen since Hodgson/Rodgers. Just awful and hopefully a few players will be working double shifts to put this right against city. 

 

Play like that again against them and it will be a record defeat but I have a feeling things will be different. 

[The Guest]

We’ve backed ourselves into a corner a bit with the side selection.  That was our first choice eleven last night and it looked horrible.  If we want to beat city we need to play that first 11 again and they need to be good.  Some of the other lads should have had more minutes in the season so far so that if somebody needed replacing then you can do it.  It’s just not possible now.  Trent needs to come out of the team for a few weeks but Clyne will not be sharp enough to just be thrown in against City.  We will concede a hatful of goals if Trent is that braindead against City so he needs to wake up.

 

If we were to bring Sturridge or Shaqiri in then it would require a change of formation which again would be asking for trouble against City.

 

It just feels ominous.  We’ve had a great start results wise but if we are being honest this game has been coming.  I can see a bad run coming.  It does tend to happen under Klopp but it’s probably only noticeable because of how good we are for extended periods of time.  It’s just how long it goes on for and how much damage it does.

[Jenson]

I'd be seriously tempted to bring Shaqiri in for Mo on Sunday. Something is not right with him at the moment and it's not just a loss of form. The energy that Shaqiri will bring in will serve us better I think.

Also agree about Mane not running at defenders. It's like he doesn't trust himself to beat a man for pace. Unbelievably frustrating last night.

[johnsusername]

The performance was terrible. But it didn't help that every time we had a break away whichever of our players had the ball would be fouled around the halfway line - the breakaway would end and all the Napoli players would get back in position. Happened all game and the referee did nothing to stop it. As i say though, we didn't help ourselves. 

 

We're a good team though, we've proven it over the last year. Roll on Sunday. 

[Turkish Delight]

One factor that didn't help last night was trying to play a passing game on that pitch.  It looked terrible to start with and was getting heavier as the rain continued but we lacked any intelligence in how to deal with it an kept playing passes short of their target along the floor.

 

My big concern ahead of the weekend is midfield.  Henderson, Wijnaldum and Milner as a partnership gives us limited ability for someone to break forward from midfield and run at them in the way that Oxlade-Chamberlain did successfully last season.  Keita could have been that option and so to a lesser extent could Lallana but without them as back-up that would only leave Shaqiri which would be a risky shout.  I'm more than a bit worried that we could end up hemmed in by them for long periods.

[ZonkoVille77]

We're fuckin shite

[razor]

That Napoli crest looks like a counter from a kids board game.

[Tj hooker]

Spot on report Dave can't argue with any of it hopefully we can blow the cobwebs away in time for Sunday .

Good teams don't lose 2 games on the spin at least that's what I hope happens 

[Marcas]

Short and sharpe Dave but on point, although I think you were a little generous with Trent. If Moreno had thrown in a performance like last night he’d have been found swinging from a Neopolitan lamppost this morning. And for the first time Robbo actually looked like a guy who played in a relegated team not so long ago. Bang on about the front 3, they haven’t at it all so far. And is this really the Keita we’ve been hanging on for since last summer? Listen to Journos and he’s supposed to be a mix of Kanté and Modric, but apart from an hour against West Ham he’s done fuck all squared. Maybe it just needs a spark, but where’s it coming from?

[goose]

The kind of night which makes you wonder why you bother with football at all, truly horrible. Thankfully they've been few and far between recently.

 

i got the impression that Mané was playing a bit deeper and didn't quite know what to do. He kept on beating players in the middle of the park when it didn't make much difference and not when he was up against the last defender. 

[Gav]

Positionally Trent was all over the place last night .Lost count how many times Milner or Gomez had to cover him while he was in the Napoli half almost ..he looked tired too.

Passing by the whole team last night was shocking ,kept on screwing up the easiest pass ,nearly put my foot through the TV when they hit the xbar and Robbo or VVD passed it to a Napoli player on the edge of our box ..it was a really weird night

[Kloppite]

I think the problem Mo is having this season is that he is being given very little space by defenders.  He always seems to have about 3 defenders around him preventing him from taking the shot on from his left foot; he also doesn't seem to have an outlet for when the shot isn't on.

 

The attack that was so successful last season also seems to be either a lot slower or opposition teams aren't committing as many players forward leaving us less space to run into so we don't seem to have the time to launch the counter attack which is causing the front 3 to become less effective and as such score less. 

[Arnaud]

The selection was weird, why was Shaqiri not playing ? Same for Clyne or Fabinho ? What is the point of a squad if you don’t rotate players ? Some of them really looked tired .... and city have an extra day of rest ! Really strange really from Klopp !

[Red_or_Dead]

7 hours ago, razor said:

That Napoli crest looks like a counter from a kids board game.

Looks like the old Netscape logo to me Ray.

 

 

[etho]

I think the loss of Ox is being seen now. We lost Coutinho, but we countered it by putting Milner left of the three and let Ox use his pace to break the space for the front three. Against the good teams. 

Naby isn't quite ready yet, but when he plays he plays in the Coutinho role, on the left of the midfield three. 

We badly need Naby to step up soon I feel, as I think Wijnaldum is our best holding mid if we're aiming to step up a level, and if we're not to rely on the front three to pull rabbits out of a hat by themselves which they aren't at the moment.

On the flip side, we've come out of this tough period and even if we lose were still in the mixer and can regroup.

Were suddenly good defensively, we just need the attack to remember what made us so good last year