FC Porto 1 Liverpool 4 (Apr 17 2019)

[tlw content]

 

 

 

Report by

Dave Usher

 

It’s not supposed to look this easy.... 6-1 on aggregate in a CL quarter final after scoring four in the away leg. The mad thing is we didn’t even play anywhere near our best. "We know we didn't play well" said Milner, while Klopp also made some remark about how we can play better.

 

When you're this good you don't always need to play at full throttle and clearly we had plenty left in the tank here. That bodes well for the weekend as unlike City we didn’t have to expend too much physical or emotional energy. It doesn't mean we'll definitely beat Cardiff, but it increases our chances and all in all this night couldn't have gone any better for us.

 

We scored three in Munich and four in Porto. The away day struggles that plagued us in the group stages are well and truly a thing of the past now and those wide open spaces of Camp Nou should have our front three licking their collective chops. They’re looking sharp again now. Sadio has been fucking incredible since the turn of the year but Mo and Bobby are in the groove now as well.

 

Porto must hate us mustn't they? They’ve actually given a decent account of themselves each time, yet over the course of four games they’ve lost 11-1. I reckon they’ve probably had as many chances as us during those games too. We’ve been clinical, they haven’t. It wasn’t like they were missing sitters in this game but they had some decent openings that they did nothing with.

 

The opening twenty minutes was all Porto. They were bang up for it and played at a frantic pace. They were averaging a goal attempt every 90 seconds or so in that opening period. Shots were raining in from everywhere. Only one of them forced Alisson to extend himself though, and if I remember rightly it was offside anyway.

 

We couldn’t keep the ball so it kept coming back at us. Corona was really lively and we struggled to deal with him in the opening stages. Robbo and Trent probably had difficulty concentrating as they may have been too busy laughing at the absolute state of the fucking lipstick mark neck tattoo he had. What a twat. Good player though.

 

Marega was making a nuisance of himself too but he wasn’t as much of a danger as he had been in the first leg. I thought Virgil started the game quite shakily and it was Matip that was holding down the fort in the early exchanges, but as soon as Virgil settled down Porto’s threat receded. It helped that we scored too, which took the air out of the stadium.

 

 

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[sir roger]

Great result & great performance from 1-0 onward , but still a bit worried about the first period of games. This reminded me of Southampton & you can't assume teams are just going to miss chances until you settle down.

[Nunavut Patrick]

No karoake, no golf clubs and we'll be fine. 

 

Somewhere in Norway there is a one-footed left back telling a  tale of the time Messi was in his back pocket. 

[Stickman]

Love the way the media who are in full wank mode over City - Spurs just brushed it off as "oh it's only Porto" yeah they might have been the draw most teams wanted but first you have to beat them and secondly how many other sides would have done it as comfortably against a side who had won every home game in this years Champions League?

That type of professional display was a throwback to the 70's and 80's in that a tricky away game was brushed aside with the minimum of fuss.

It kind of reminded me of when we beat Benfica  also 4-1 away in 84 and we all know how that season turned out.

[rubble-rouser]

20 minutes ago, Nunavut Patrick said:

No karoake, no golf clubs and we'll be fine. 

 

Somewhere in Norway there is a one-footed left back telling a  tale of the time Messi was in his back pocket. 

Wash your mouth out! That was Bob.

[Paul]

We see players of Suarez' quality in the PL? Not the ones I'm watching. He's better than any of those players you mentioned Dave. Have you finally decided you don't love the little scamp any more?

[Tj hooker]

Great report it's a measure of how far this side has come that we progressed so comfortably , I've not seen anyone pick up on Big Virg celebrating Mo's goal before he had tucked it away 

[Code]

Could not agree more with the below if I tried. Simply cant wait for this game. 

Win the next game and we should be huge favourites in the final.

"It’s a fucking massive test for Barcelona too though. They don’t face anyone like us in Spain and they haven’t faced anyone like us in Europe either, because there is no-one like us. They will HATE the intensity and speed we play at. They won't get a second's peace on the ball and we can make life very uncomfortable for them."

[Mark M]

If Suarez scores against us he certainly won’t be doing that I’m not celebrating against my former club trying to play it cool. He’ll be giving it loads.

I’d say if he’s playing with his kids in the garden he cheats and does everything to win. 

[Champ]

56 minutes ago, Mark M said:

If Suarez scores against us he certainly won’t be doing that I’m not celebrating against my former club trying to play it cool. He’ll be giving it loads.

I’d say if he’s playing with his kids in the garden he cheats and does everything to win. 

And quite right too. I can't be doing with that not celebrating nonsense. If you didnt want to celebrate you shouldnt have taken the shot

[The Guest]

Spot on as usual.  Hendo and Firmino were class.

 

I’m fully on board with Trent now.  I was more than worried about him defensively and felt he wasn’t having the best impact offensively as he was previously.  I think most fans understood we were making an investment playing him but a few including me felt like it’s about time we started playing for here and now as it was such a great chance to win the league.  I’ve been proven completely wrong though because that investment is already reaping rewards.  He’s been as good as Robertson lately going both ways which is exactly what we are after.  The confidence and assuredness he played with yesterday was something I just didn’t expect this season.  He got whacked by one of their old snides at one point but it just didn’t phase him at all.  The pass for the goal summed up how recent form.  He’s got the world at his feet.

 

I also feel like yesterday was an example of what Klopp has been talking about in terms of this being our first title challenge not our last.  We are now an experienced side that have been in these tough games and we’ve won and lost them.  Despite being a young team everyone has been there and we know what it takes to get through it.  We were under the cosh in that first half and we just played the percentages and went long pretty much for the whole of it because that’s what was required.  It stopped them building a momentum and scoring from a mistake.  

 

It’s similar to what that Sully fella says who landed the plane in the Hudson Bay.  Every time we get through tough games/experiences like this it’s a little deposit in the bank.  When we eventually come to the crunch games when it’s on a knife edge they will be able to make a big withdrawal and get over the line.  This is the most confident I’ve ever been watching a Liverpool team in my lifetime.  Klopp is an absolute genius.

[dylstar]

5 hours ago, Nunavut Patrick said:

No karoake, no golf clubs and we'll be fine. 

 

Somewhere in Norway there is a one-footed left back telling a  tale of the time Messi was in his back pocket. 

Change the last paragraph to Spain Nunavut. If i remember rightly  it was Arbeloa who kept Messi quiet over the 2 legs. 

[dave u]

3 hours ago, Paul said:

We see players of Suarez' quality in the PL? Not the ones I'm watching. He's better than any of those players you mentioned Dave. Have you finally decided you don't love the little scamp any more?

Even when I was writing it I knew you'd pick up on that!

 

The point was more about Messi being unlike anyone else. Our defenders have played against Hazard at his best. Suarez isn't going to test them more than that, but Messi will.

[Pureblood]

Just put a Messi mask on Mo for training this week.   Nobody will ever know.

[Paul]

48 minutes ago, dave u said:

Even when I was writing it I knew you'd pick up on that!

 

The point was more about Messi being unlike anyone else. Our defenders have played against Hazard at his best. Suarez isn't going to test them more than that, but Messi will.

Luis is miles better than Hazard. And those miles are country ones, too. 

[Guest Alex_K]

3 hours ago, The Guest said:

I’m fully on board with Trent now.  I was more than worried about him defensively and felt he wasn’t having the best impact offensively as he was previously.

 

 

I did find it a bit strange how opposing of Trent you were previously: he's probably been one of our most important players for going on 18 months now. While it may be a bit harsh on Matip as he's barely put a foot wrong, missing Gomez + Trent definitely hit us hard, Trent especially. He's just so strong, so quick, so clever. He and Robertson dominate their flanks, and its no surprise that their raise in form also trickles further down the pitch with the forwards having a bit more time and space. We can almost afford the purely-functional midfield with our full backs coupled with the strikers gives us almost 5 forwards at time.

 

We're going to rain fury down on Barcelona. 6 of the outfield 10 that played United are in their 30s. Good luck to them keeping up with our tempo. They are La Liga champions-elect and may well still get through -- but they're going to have to run more miles on that pitch than they probably have in the past 2 seasons to do it.

[3 Stacks]

Virgil will lock down Suarez. He's still a big goal threat but is average in general play and there are a few players in the Premier League that are harder to deal with at this point in his career. 

 

The keys will be limiting Messi obviously, and whether we can outrun them and beat them up physically. 

[RedSand]

15 hours ago, sir roger said:

This reminded me of Southampton & you can't assume teams are just going to miss chances until you settle down.

Cheers for the report Dave.  I agree with the above,  we need to settle down earlier and quicker. We also need to watch out for Coutinho's long range shots.  As long as Alisson doesn't stray too far off his line when Coutinho's having a crack,  we should be good.  What a remarkable team this group of lads has become. Klopp is a genius.

[Paul]

5 hours ago, 3 Stacks said:

Virgil will lock down Suarez. He's still a big goal threat but is average in general play and there are a few players in the Premier League that are harder to deal with at this point in his career. 

 

The keys will be limiting Messi obviously, and whether we can outrun them and beat them up physically. 

The key to neutering Messi is to stop him getting the ball in the first place (or at least make him drop so deep it almost amounts to the same thing). If he gets on the ball regularly in the final third he will score. No doubt about it.  

[buster69]

18 hours ago, Nunavut Patrick said:

No karoake, no golf clubs and we'll be fine. 

 

Somewhere in Norway there is a one-footed left back telling a  tale of the time Messi was in his back pocket. 

I think the karaoke helped us. And was it not Arbeloa that had Messi in his pocket, not Riise? Maybe Arbeloa has moved to Norway now, I don't know... 

[johnsusername]

Just pretend it's a World Cup and Messi will be shit.