Liverpool 1 Napoli 0 (Dec 11 2018)

[tlw content]

 

 

 

Report by

Dave Usher

 

We knew what we had to do beforehand; either win 1-0 or by at least two clear goals if Napoli scored. Anything else and we were out.

 

Given our track record and the long history of crazy Anfield European nights though, a 1-0 win seemed just about the least likely scenario.  3-1, 4-2 or 5-3 I could see. Hell, I’d have even gone for 6-4 before I’d have put any money on a 1-0.

 

It wasn't a 1-0 game yet that's how it ended on another wild Anfield night that had Klopp gushing afterwards that he doubts any manager has ever been prouder of his team than he was after this. Napoli played well but we were brilliant and it should have been 6-1 as we wasted chance after chance.

 

That profligacy kept Napoli alive and we all knew they would get one big chance before the night was out. The only question was whether they’d be able to take it. Thankfully they didn’t. We’ve got Alisson to thank for that.

 

The big imposing bastard came to the rescue in stoppage time when a goal looked certain. That’s the difference between a good keeper (the Mig) and a great one. I was always of the opinion that we could win with a decent keeper as long as the rest of the side was top notch, but it’s only now that we have a keeper who is a real difference maker that I can see how wrong I was.

 

At the very top level it’s the fine margins that make all the difference. Without Alisson we wouldn’t be top of the table and we’d now be facing up to the depressing reality of life in the Europa League. And that would have been a complete season wrecker.

 

Going out of the Champions League would have been massively deflating, but not because we would no longer be in the Champions League (we’d get over that pretty quickly), but because it would have meant Thursday / Sunday football and constantly having to play catch up to City who would then be playing before us most weeks.

 

Psychologically it would have been damaging seeing our rivals taking on Real, Barca, Juve etc while we’d be preparing to play Celtic or Braga or some other Slapdick FC outfit on a fucking Thursday. I don’t want to go all footy snob here (I am aware we need to win something, ANYTHING, as it's been too long), but fuck that noise.

 

Getting through the group and losing in the next round would have been infinitely preferable to dropping into the Europa (although now we’re through hopefully that doesn’t happen!), so it was vital we found a way to get past Napoli. It should have been a rout but we don’t do things like that. It’s never easy. This is a team that led 5-0 against Roma and ended up going through 7-6 on aggregate remember. 

 

Of course, the referee played a big part in the outcome of that tie, and it was the same fuckwit in charge of this one. This was one of the worst displays of refereeing I’ve ever seen. He is completely out of his depth and shouldn’t be officiating at this level. He’s so bad he could referee in the Premier League. The Slovenian Jon Moss.

 

 

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[dave u]

Matip out for six weeks. Fucks sake.

[bigal]

Great report, good to see you giving the midfield credit, they deserved it. 

Sadly, Matip's injury is the story of his career here - looking good then injury. He was very good last night.

The ref was appalling, can the club not make some complaint?

[mike23]

It wasn't just people in the ground; the decisions of the ref were just as perplexing and infuriating watching at home on tv. I hadn't realised it was the same guy as the Roma tie so, yeah, definitely a good thing that he never got an opportunity to make any really pivotal decisions such as awarding them a penalty as we'd probably be out now. The only decision he made which might have maybe made a difference in terms of the score was the one he gave for the non-existent foul on their keeper when he just flapped at the ball and fell over; we'd have been in a great position to score with the way it fell and the keeper still down on the floor. 

 

Matip injured as well? Suddenly starting to look rather thin at the back with Gomez out injured. Not a good situation with the busy Christmas schedule coming up.

[DaveT]

Didn't realise it was the same ref from the Roma tie. Just watched the game back again and he was every bit as bad as he seemed watching from the stands. Maybe this explains why he tried so hard to shaft us last night.....  https://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/954743/Liverpool-news-Referee-destroyed-Champions-League-Roma-mistakes

Irony is that he also fucked us over that night - didn't give us a pen for a clear shove on Mane early on, didn't send the guy off for the horrendous challenge on Mane, and gave that outrageous pen against Klavan - all of which kind of evened things out that night.

 

Real pisser about Matip, who's done really well. Who was saying that we'd had plenty of luck this season on another thread.......?

[Mark M]

“Celtic or Braga or some other Slapdick FC outfit “

haha waiting for Stig to see this. 

[Stickman]

Shitter over Matip and for once he's actually out with a genuine injury rather than pulling a muscle in his  toe 

[s(k)aturation]

I love the fact that we can be relied on for vital 1-0 wins, at last.

[Byrnie]

Spot on with the ref. That's the worst I've ever seen.

Little did we know that late consolation goal from Red Star would help us out so much.

Feels like we have real momentum now.

[The Guest]

I know it’s not what everyone thinks about really but qualifying through the group stages will definitely help our seeding going forward so we should avoid another group like this in future years.

[Jairzinho]

Deffo agree with you that PSG were the third best team in the group but, as you say, they took six points off the shit team of the group.

[Manny]

59 minutes ago, Jairzinho said:

Deffo agree with you that PSG were the third best team in the group but, as you say, they took six points off the shit team of the group.

 

Said to my mate that they're best equipped in the group to play Red Star as they're a side that's good at one thing and one thing only: beating up on bum teams. Miles less class than us and Napoli whatever the result against them in Paris the other week.

 

Still, I'll laugh my cock off if they beat the mancs in the next round like.

[Jairzinho]

6 minutes ago, Manny said:

 

Said to my mate that they're best equipped in the group to play Red Star as they're a side that's good at one thing and one thing only: beating up on bum teams. Miles less class than us and Napoli whatever the result against them in Paris the other week.

 

Still, I'll laugh my cock off if they beat the mancs in the next round like.

 

Well...

 

United are going out unless they draw Porto (which I fully expect them to do).

[Babb'sBurstNad]

Slapdick FC are my second team.

[Manny]

1 hour ago, Jairzinho said:

 

Well...

 

United are going out unless they draw Porto (which I fully expect them to do).

 

Ha - there's no bigger set of bums than them in fairness, but I wouldn't bet any money on PSG beating the mancs as it'd still be a big occasion, bums or no. Unless they're getting the chance to practice rabonas against Guingamp U-12s or Strasbourg's reserves then they're not interested.

[Jairzinho]

Guingamp U-12s wouldn't need to get out of second gear to beat Phil Jones and co.

 

I honestly think even 180 minutes of show boating shithousery from PSG would be comfortably enough to beat United. 

 

They've been thoroughly outplayed twice by the 15th best team in Spain.

[deiseach]

[SasaS]

Difference maker's game changer prevents a season wrecker.