Liverpool 4 Red Star Belgrade 0 (Oct 24 2018)

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Report by

Dave Usher

 

That was exactly what we needed. The front three all back among the goals and the overall performance much more like what we’ve come to expect. It might be the best we’ve played all season, although in truth tat’s a pretty low bar.

 

Red Star were the perfect opposition really. I’ve mentioned before that the Champions League is much easier for us because even the unfancied sides play quite open. Red Star are top dogs in their own league and they’re used to winning every week. It’s hard for a team like that to suddenly go into shithouse mode and pack the defence, and that’s why we usually spank them. Maribor, Spartak, now Red Star. 

 

They were lucky to escape with a 4-0 and it should have been six or seven easily. Some of our football was fantastic and although the clinical finishing still isn’t there, it was better than it has been of late and hopefully it will be the start of a return to how we were.

 

I’m not completely sold on this 4-2-3-1 yet but I do love seeing Shaqiri lining up with the front three. He’s the creative spark we’ve been missing, the link between the midfield and the forwards. Every time he gets on the ball I expect something to happen. 

 

I’d prefer he was just used in the Coutinho / Ox attacking mid role, but presumably Klopp won’t play him in the 4-3-3 because he’s not yet yet fully up to speed with the intricacies of the pressing game. Ox took a while last year before he was comfortable enough to play in there, but I hope we see Shaqiri given a chance in the midfield three soon.

 

Perhaps because of the lack of trust in Shaqiri, Klopp has adjusted to 4-2-3-1. Against Southampton Shaqiri was the number ten, Firmino was wide left and Mané wide right with Mo centre forward. This time Mo was still up top but the other three were switched around, with Shaq on the right, Sadio left and Bobby as the ten. It worked pretty well but in an ideal world I like Bobby through the middle and Mo on the right. I could get used to this though if they keep this up.

 

It was a slow start though and it took 10 or 15 minutes for us to get going. Not much was happening and Red Star looked quite confident early on. They weren’t scared to throw men forward when they had the ball, but that gave me confidence that we’d have little trouble creating chances against them. And so it proved.

 

Shaqiri was at the heart of most things. He’s such a clever little bastard and was always looking for the first time ball over the top to release Mo. That almost led to the opener but the keeper did well to smother the ball at Salah’s feet after he’d brilliantly brought down Shaqiri’s lobbed pass over the defence.

 

Most of our attacks were coming down the left where Robbo was flying forward at every opportunity. That’s where the opening goal came from, although most of the credit goes to Shaqiri. First, he chased back and won the ball (take note Gary Neville), and then seconds later he played a perfectly weighted and angled ball behind the defence for Robbo to run onto and cut back to Firmino, who finished with the aid of a deflection.

 

Shaqiri is a special talent and it’s his passing and awareness that’s really standing out. The ability to put the ball into tight spaces and weight it perfectly so his team-mates don’t have to break stride is something not many have. The ball to Robbo was inch perfect and couldn’t have been weighted any better either. It’s little things like that which make all the difference. Same with the assist for Mo at the weekend. If the pass isn’t played exactly like that, a goal isn’t scored. 

 

I feel as though Shaqiri really has to be in the side more or less every week now, at least until the front three get back to last year’s form. We’ve lacked that bit of guile and creativity in there all season, and when he’s in the side it helps the front three immensely. 

 

 

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[Bob]

I was reading that thinking “but the captain that gave away the first peno was a Right twat, diving and whinging and moaning all match, he got what he deserved. Dave better have noticed.”

 

Dave noticed.

 

9/10. One deducted for misspelling “that” in the bold intro to be sure it gets noticed.

[VERBAL DIARRHEA]

Lallana looked like he was running in a field of Nivea.

[RedHeadedRed]

I have no sympathy for them on the penalty decisions they were going down very easy and exaggerating every contact. Also It seems a few Serbians made it to the game Shaqiri was getting a few whistles when he had the ball and when he got subbed.

[DaveT]

I don't get the 'lucky' penalty stuff. The Mane challenge is a foul anywhere else on the pitch. Having just seen replays on tv, it's a straight arm block across Mane's throat/jaw. The 2nd is maybe a bit harsh - except how many dodgy handballs have been given against us in recent times, both legs against Roma to name but two. I'm still amazed Oliver didn't penalise Milner last Saturday.

 

I'm a bit worried about our lads coming through the return unscathed, this lot are a nasty shower of bastards, especially when things aren't going for them.

[mike23]

Both penalties were very soft, but I did think a clear foul on Firmino in the box was missed just a couple of minutes before the first one was awarded. That definitely seemed to be the usual case of the player not going down so having nothing given. 

 

Anyway, it was nice to see us look a bit more like the side from last season. Red Star might not be a very good team, but I'm not sure they're any worst than some of the teams in the bottom half of the premier league. Maybe it was simply a case that this time we got the second goal and could afford to play with a bit more freedom. Our pressing at the start of the second half seemed to be way more intense than at any other point this season.

[VERBAL DIARRHEA]

For me the first was a pen, the second not.

[DJLJ]

Can't believe I actually have to agree with Dave U. I would have been very pissed off if either of those penalties had gone against us. They were very very soft I thought.

[Anubis]

First pen was soft, but we’ve had worse given against us. The second was a ridiculous decision.

[Guest]

Given the spelling errors in here, it's no surprise the missus isn't letting you fit the kitchen.

 

Repped for the report though, enjoyed reading it although not quite as much as I enjoyed watching the match itself.

[dave u]

Mistakes are going to happen more than usual, as I'm having to work on a combination of laptop and phone at the moment, and I'm either lying on a mattress or sitting on a beanbag as we've got no furniture in here at the moment. No desk, no chair, no desktop computer. It's not ideal like.

 

I still maintain both penalties were a joke. I wouldn't have even given a foul if the first one was outside the box, I think Mane wasn't getting the ball and just went down easily.

 

Bobby should have had a pen though.

 

Tell you something else, I reckon Trent won't take much provocation to go right through that left back in the return game. A couple of times I thought it was gonna go off between them in that second half.

[jonnyp]

The difference for me in this game, compared to the other recent ones, has been the switch from taking 3 to 4 touches on the ball to only taking 1 to 2 touches.

[stringvest]

12 hours ago, jonnyp said:

The difference for me in this game, compared to the other recent ones, has been the switch from taking 3 to 4 touches on the ball to only taking 1 to 2 touches.

 

That comes from having players in midfield who are more comfortable on the ball and do not panic under pressure.  That feeds through to the forwards, and they 'switch on' - they anticipate, they make runs, they are quicker to react, they play with more freedom.  

Shaq is a lovely player.

[jonnyp]

1 hour ago, stringvest said:

 

That comes from having players in midfield who are more comfortable on the ball and do not panic under pressure.  That feeds through to the forwards, and they 'switch on' - they anticipate, they make runs, they are quicker to react, they play with more freedom.  

Shaq is a lovely player.

Agree, wholeheartedly. Shaq’s vision, speed of thought and ability to play a timely, perfectly weighted ball made most of it possible.

[Geoff Strong]

For me along with the goals and the brilliant Shaqiri and Fabinho's performances, i simply loved when Gomez went from rapid to warp speed to stop that unmarked Red Star lad advancing on the goal, i knew he was quick but that was on a whole new level, 

 

The other plus for me was the amount of players missing or on the bench and we still had a top side to put out, just shows the Squad depth we have now.