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What did you expect?


Mil-ing Around
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4/5 years ago, under Brendan Rodgers, we had a title defining game. Chelsea at home, with 3 games to go, in hindsight everyone agrees that we shouldn't have gone so attacking and chased the game. We should have played it a little safer and taken the draw and still given ourselves a chance to win the league.

 

Yesterday, we played Man City, 17 games to go and a win would have put us 10 points clear BUT a draw would have kept us 7 points ahead. 

 

If we had gone all out attack and lost would people have gone mad, like they did with Brendan? And then say "we should have taken a point...we are still naive...when will we learn etc etc"?

 

We clearly played for the draw yesterday, obviously Klopp wants to win but he definitely went conservative. We dropped off, marked space, filled in gaps and stopped Man City playing. They are a fantastic team, with great players and a top manager. They blew everyone away last year with 100 points, they have a style that no other manager has really found the answer to. Not Fergie, not mourinho, not Ancelloti, not anybody.

 

Apart from Klopp, he's the only manager in the world who has consistently had Pep's number. Yesterday was two of the finest managers of their generation going toe to toe. Gaurdiola has won multiple titles in different leagues and Klopp has won titles whilst also getting two different teams to champions league finals. Something Pep has never managed to do.

 

So did we get it wrong yesterday and did people really expect us to just go all out for the win? Should we have done that? In hindsight the answer is yes but after the Brendan/Chelsea game would people have gone mental if we lost by trying to go for the win?

 

The problem we had was once we set up the way we did, is it's very hard to suddenly change mentality in the game. We worked so hard to stop them playing that we were absolutely shattered once we had to go on the front foot. City started the game so intense and aggressively but we didn't. That was the biggest problem for us, if we had started the game like rabbid dogs and made it an all out war i think we would have had a much better chance. It's very hard to suddenly start doing that DURING a game. They're tails were up and they carried that momentum and adrenaline throughout the game, it's very hard to stop that mid-match. 

 

I'm sure Klopp is sat at home today thinking the same thing. "we should have just gone for them" but hindsight is a wonderful thing and this was a game decided on fine margins. 

 

Lovren was a massive problem but not just because of his defending but because of his ability on the ball. He couldn't get us out and find clever passes into the midfield for us to start attacks. Once pressured he just kept on passing it back to Alisson and we had to go long. Don't get me wrong, City pressed us very well in that first half and made it really difficult for us to play out and through midfield but Gomez would have used his speed and ability/bravery on the ball to break the first press and then we are in business. Lovren just doesn't have that.

 

Sometimes, and especially yesterday, the midfield has to receive the ball under pressure and still deal with it. That midfield of Henderson, Milner and Gini just doesn't have that ability or bravery. Gini is better at it but Henderson and Milner aren't cute or smart enough to take the ball whilst being closed down and get out of a tight space and play it forwards. They go safe and safe cost us yesterday. We know that about these guys and i think that's the biggest mistake Klopp made yesterday. I'm sure he regrets it already, but then again, Arsenal pressured Fabinho 5 days before and he didn't exactly look comfortable on the ball either. We still have no Modric/Silva type player and in these games it really shows. Just like it did in the champions league final. 

 

Klopp did try and buy 3 central midfielders in the summer but the Fekir deal fell through, so it's something he is obviously aware of. He has dropped Henderson enough this season too, so he clearly knows the limitations. Fuck it though, we have what we have and this squad has still got us to a champions league final 6 months ago and are currently top of the league. It's not bad at all. In fact it's brilliant. 

 

We have a top manager, who has assembled a quality side who are taking on the magnificent Pep and the unlimited money of the Man City owners. We are above them in the league and they think its all over? Fuck is it. No title is decided with 17 games to go and this one won't be either.

 

NOBODY wants us to win the league, fans from all other clubs celebrated yesterday like they were in the title race. We are hated and people can't stand to see us doing well but we will. Soon. This team will not fall apart like the Rodgers team did, we are here to stay, I'm sure of that. Don't get sucked in to the media hype about us going 10 points clear or getting a draw to stay 7 points clear. Even with those two possibilities there was still always going to be 17 games to go. If we did have a 10 point/7 point lead....everybody would be saying "its over, hand Liverpool the title now"...that would have brought a different type of pressure on us. Now at least most people think City will win the league.

 

It's way to long for yesterday to be a title decider. We are still in the hunt and there will be lots of twists and turns yet. We are still in this and we will be for a good few years to come. 

 

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People are fucking stupid.  Rodgers did the right thing all those years ago.  We got beat because Gerrard fell over and then we couldn’t break them down.  Had he gone into that game negatively and we would have got beat the same dickheads would have been saying why didn’t he just carry on as we were.  We were banging everyone in sight.

 

The only similar problem both sides have at times is a lack of width.  You couldn’t just rely on your full backs to provide it against good sides then and you can’t now.  As soon as Mane went off yesterday the game was as good as done.

 

I don’t reckon Klopp played for the draw yesterday either.  We approached the game pretty much the same way we’ve approached most games this season.  We’ve hardly pressed all season and we didn’t yesterday.  He went with his tried and tested midfield against City.  It came crumbling down because he went with Henderson and an unfit Milner.  Picking Trent in these games is just an accident waiting to happen as well.  He had no choice but to play Lovren and as braindead as he is I think people are being harsh on him for the first goal.  If Trent woke the fuck up and got back in position instead of ball watching like an idiot schoolboy the goal doesn’t happen.

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I don't think everyone agrees about the Chelsea game under Rodgers. In my opinion, he did the right thing. When you've won 12 in a row you don't tinker.

 

That team was incapable of playing for a draw. Indeed, any time we lacked intensity under Rodgers we drew pressure upon ourselves, and our defensive deficiencies were magnified.

 

I agree though that this team is different.

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I find blaming Gerrard for slipping to be totally fucking bonkers a slip is a slip and we wouldn't if been any where near anything worthwhile without Gerrard for years. The slip is an opposition's excuse to slate a player they all wish like fuck they could of had. A genuine roy of the rovers, a player who is appreciated far more abroad by genuine top class players and managers than over here.

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7 minutes ago, Bobby Hundreds said:

I find blaming Gerrard for slipping to be totally fucking bonkers a slip is a slip and we wouldn't if been any where near anything worthwhile without Gerrard for years. The slip is an opposition's excuse to slate a player they all wish like fuck they could of had. A genuine roy of the rovers, a player who is appreciated far more abroad by genuine top class players and managers than over here.

Totally agree, I always say to anyone who mentions it that Gerrard carried us plenty of times and I refused to blame him. 

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14 hours ago, Mil-ing Around said:

4/5 years ago, under Brendan Rodgers, we had a title defining game. Chelsea at home, with 3 games to go, in hindsight everyone agrees that we shouldn't have gone so attacking and chased the game. We should have played it a little safer and taken the draw and still given ourselves a chance to win the league.

 

Yesterday, we played Man City, 17 games to go and a win would have put us 10 points clear BUT a draw would have kept us 7 points ahead. 

 

If we had gone all out attack and lost would people have gone mad, like they did with Brendan? And then say "we should have taken a point...we are still naive...when will we learn etc etc"?

 

We clearly played for the draw yesterday, obviously Klopp wants to win but he definitely went conservative. We dropped off, marked space, filled in gaps and stopped Man City playing. They are a fantastic team, with great players and a top manager. They blew everyone away last year with 100 points, they have a style that no other manager has really found the answer to. Not Fergie, not mourinho, not Ancelloti, not anybody.

 

Apart from Klopp, he's the only manager in the world who has consistently had Pep's number. Yesterday was two of the finest managers of their generation going toe to toe. Gaurdiola has won multiple titles in different leagues and Klopp has won titles whilst also getting two different teams to champions league finals. Something Pep has never managed to do.

 

So did we get it wrong yesterday and did people really expect us to just go all out for the win? Should we have done that? In hindsight the answer is yes but after the Brendan/Chelsea game would people have gone mental if we lost by trying to go for the win?

 

The problem we had was once we set up the way we did, is it's very hard to suddenly change mentality in the game. We worked so hard to stop them playing that we were absolutely shattered once we had to go on the front foot. City started the game so intense and aggressively but we didn't. That was the biggest problem for us, if we had started the game like rabbid dogs and made it an all out war i think we would have had a much better chance. It's very hard to suddenly start doing that DURING a game. They're tails were up and they carried that momentum and adrenaline throughout the game, it's very hard to stop that mid-match. 

 

I'm sure Klopp is sat at home today thinking the same thing. "we should have just gone for them" but hindsight is a wonderful thing and this was a game decided on fine margins. 

 

Lovren was a massive problem but not just because of his defending but because of his ability on the ball. He couldn't get us out and find clever passes into the midfield for us to start attacks. Once pressured he just kept on passing it back to Alisson and we had to go long. Don't get me wrong, City pressed us very well in that first half and made it really difficult for us to play out and through midfield but Gomez would have used his speed and ability/bravery on the ball to break the first press and then we are in business. Lovren just doesn't have that.

 

Sometimes, and especially yesterday, the midfield has to receive the ball under pressure and still deal with it. That midfield of Henderson, Milner and Gini just doesn't have that ability or bravery. Gini is better at it but Henderson and Milner aren't cute or smart enough to take the ball whilst being closed down and get out of a tight space and play it forwards. They go safe and safe cost us yesterday. We know that about these guys and i think that's the biggest mistake Klopp made yesterday. I'm sure he regrets it already, but then again, Arsenal pressured Fabinho 5 days before and he didn't exactly look comfortable on the ball either. We still have no Modric/Silva type player and in these games it really shows. Just like it did in the champions league final. 

 

Klopp did try and buy 3 central midfielders in the summer but the Fekir deal fell through, so it's something he is obviously aware of. He has dropped Henderson enough this season too, so he clearly knows the limitations. Fuck it though, we have what we have and this squad has still got us to a champions league final 6 months ago and are currently top of the league. It's not bad at all. In fact it's brilliant. 

 

We have a top manager, who has assembled a quality side who are taking on the magnificent Pep and the unlimited money of the Man City owners. We are above them in the league and they think its all over? Fuck is it. No title is decided with 17 games to go and this one won't be either.

 

NOBODY wants us to win the league, fans from all other clubs celebrated yesterday like they were in the title race. We are hated and people can't stand to see us doing well but we will. Soon. This team will not fall apart like the Rodgers team did, we are here to stay, I'm sure of that. Don't get sucked in to the media hype about us going 10 points clear or getting a draw to stay 7 points clear. Even with those two possibilities there was still always going to be 17 games to go. If we did have a 10 point/7 point lead....everybody would be saying "its over, hand Liverpool the title now"...that would have brought a different type of pressure on us. Now at least most people think City will win the league.

 

It's way to long for yesterday to be a title decider. We are still in the hunt and there will be lots of twists and turns yet. We are still in this and we will be for a good few years to come. 

 

Apart from the “nobody wants us to win it” it’s how I look at it.

We’re a good team at the moment, close to frighteningly good, with a little tiny problem in midfield; only Gini and Fabinho being  good enough.  Hendo and Milner? Wonderful players. Every team needs someone to keep the diesel engine running. Against top quality opposition, however, we can only afford one.

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