The Defence Tonight

[Anubis]

Thought Lallana, Gomez, Origi and Adrian all led by example tonight. They were superb.

 

But just a word about the defence as a whole. I know they struggled with the long ball to DCL in the first half, and that seemed to be because both Phillips and Joe would get tight to him and he was able to knock it down into space for runners. That and some silly free kicks in positions favourable to their crossing. We seemed to change it in the second half and only one would go to challenge so the other could pick up the knock down, and that was the end of DCL’s influence.

 

However, the ground game and tackling from all of the defenders in both halves was excellent. Calm, assured passing through the Bloos attempted press, and winning most of their one-on-one duels, particularly avoiding the pressure with superb U turns away from their opponents. It was great seeing young lads back themselves against experienced PL players and come out on top. The belief that Klopp has installed in the players at all levels in the club is incredible.

[easytoslip]

The Kids Are Alright, seemingly.

[3 Stacks]

Williams has the look of a kid who will make it. He's really impressive technically for a full back and plays with confidence. With him and Hoever there is absolutely no reason to spend on someone to be Trent's backup. 

 

Gomez, who I didn't think was having a good season at all two weeks ago, is now playing as well as he ever has. He was the boss tonight. 

[Guest]

There seem to be more and more threads being started that seem to be happy, optimistic, rewarding, acknowledging greatness and generally enjoying how great the Liverpool team are.

 

I would like to suggest that there may the occasional 'hysterical fanny' thread soon otherwise it's going to get quite boring.

[dockers_strike]

I think anyone who picks fault with any of the players and more so the defence, is a miserable git. Not only are these young lads, they hardly had any training sessions to speak of. Phillips had just come back from Germany. Larouci likely thought he was just making up the numbers on the bench.

 

I really didnt feel any of the lads were going to give away a soft goal or bad back pass after about 10 minutes of the game as they got to grips with who they were playing. It's not like they are going to win every ball but they didnt lose many either.

 

 

[Bob]

I wouldn’t want to take anything away from Jones and there’s no reason to say he shouldn’t have been man of the match, but I thought both Lallana and especially Gomez were just outstanding tonight.

 

Phillips started very shakily for the first 15-20 minutes before he settled (after which he was good, and as the OP says the change in the second half helped him a lot) but after Milly went off, Gomez was the only experienced player in a back four which was facing very experienced for team players, and he set the tone. He was calm in possession, led the ball out, was practically always in good position and those around him fed off that.

 

Lallana was absolutely everywhere in midfield and deserves mention for his performance. A great pro.

[AngryOfTuebrook]

Larouci (19) and Phillips (22) grew into it and were strong and confident in the second half; Gomez (22) and Williams (18) were excellent throughout. 

 

The future's bright!

 

 

[AngryOfTuebrook]

45 minutes ago, 3 Stacks said:

Gomez, who I didn't think was having a good season at all two weeks ago, is now playing as well as he ever has. He was the boss tonight. 

This was a big test for Gomez: his first match as the senior defender.

 

It's fair to say he passed with flying colours. 

[Pidge]

Can't be 100% but it looked to me that we switched Phillips and Gomez around 20 minutes in. Thought Phillips looked much more comfortable after that.

[TheBitch]

Gomez is 22. 

 

He’s disgustingly good for a 22 year old defender. 

[Mcfaggen]

50 minutes ago, TheBitch said:

Gomez is 22. 

 

He’s disgustingly good for a 22 year old defender. 

I was wondering his age when they were going through some of the others on the commentary. Average age of the back four after Milner’s departure of 20? 
 

 

[Guest Alex_K]

It may well have been said elsewhere, but a large part for the second half showing as probably Everton just being knackered. Duncan Ferguson had them running around like they were on steroids in his short spell -- which will have had its toll -- and Ancelloti's similarly had pretty much the same 11 running around. When you've got someone with Sigurdsson's arthritic legs planted in centre of midfield its a recipe for absolute disaster. They could barely move those last 25 min. There's a reason rotation exists

 

Gomez is spectacular but I wouldn't take too many conclusions from this one game based on the rest -- they should have had a couple of goals in the first half. Adrian was probably the most impressive of the lot; Karius or Mignolet there and probably go 2-0 down at the break.

[AngryOfTuebrook]

As much as I enjoy having a World Cup finalist as our fourth choice CB, I can see Degsy moving on in the summer.  It may be that (with another half a season of training with us and maybe one or two more cup appearances) Phillips could step into that role, which would be nice for our wage bill and transfer funds.

[sir roger]

Thought Phillips was a little bit naïve early on , but very quickly got his act together & it was good to see a defender who seems to revel in a clattering tackle or 50/50 heading tussle. Read that Everton never had a shot on target after the 27th minute.

[VladimirIlyich]

12 hours ago, dockers_strike said:

I think anyone who picks fault with any of the players and more so the defence, is a miserable git. Not only are these young lads, they hardly had any training sessions to speak of. Phillips had just come back from Germany. Larouci likely thought he was just making up the numbers on the bench.

 

I really didnt feel any of the lads were going to give away a soft goal or bad back pass after about 10 minutes of the game as they got to grips with who they were playing. It's not like they are going to win every ball but they didnt lose many either.

 

 

I liked Larouchi. Not that he had a particularly good game but he was keen to get forward and help the attacks in the way Robertson does. I liked his attitude after some early nervousness. Well done young man.

[Red_or_Dead]

After those three really good chances Everton didn't really offer anything going forward - looked absolutely shambolic in the second half whereas we were ace, pressing passing, harrying them into mistakes.