Jump to content
  • Sign up for free and receive a month's subscription

    You are viewing this page as a guest. That means you are either a member who has not logged in, or you have not yet registered with us. Signing up for an account only takes a minute and it means you will no longer see this annoying box! It will also allow you to get involved with our friendly(ish!) community and take part in the discussions on our forums. And because we're feeling generous, if you sign up for a free account we will give you a month's free trial access to our subscriber only content with no obligation to commit. Register an account and then send a private message to @dave u and he'll hook you up with a subscription.

Chelsea 2 Liverpool 0 (Mar 3 2020)


tlw content
 Share

Recommended Posts

 

 
dave_usher.jpg
 
Report by
Dave Usher

 

All that good work from the kids to get us this far, only for it end like this? With a fucking whimper. This was a chance to get back on track and prevent a wobble becoming a slump. After this? Yeah now it’s a slump.

 

There’s a danger of over-reacting and I’m very conscious of that. It wasn’t our strongest eleven and Chelsea away is always tough. The first half performance was alright other than some pitiful finishing. So all of that comes into play. But that second half was so fucking shambolic that it’s hard not to be concerned about just what the fuck has happened to us recently.

 

If it was just Origi being shite, Lallana being off the pace and Minamino completely vanishing in the second half there’d be nothing to worry about. It wasn’t just that though. The key players are the biggest worry. This was a chance for some of them to put Watford out of their system, but instead they’ve just added to the sense of unease.

 

Fabinho was dogshit. Robbo wasn’t much better. Mané cut a frustrated, irritated figure all night and I thought he was going to get sent off after the final whistle when he lost his shit with the snide that is Azpilacueta. Even Van Dijk’s standards have plummeted. He was so fucking casual he may as well have taken to the field with a dressing gown and a pipe, while Gomez was worse than all of them. Maybe they’re all still unsettled by Lovren on Saturday?

 

I’m glad Lovren was nowhere to be seen this time because now people have to look at what the real problem is; it’s not one player, it’s all of them. And I mean, ALL of them. Nobody is playing well right now. Not one of them and I defy anyone to tell me I’m wrong.

 

 

This is just a teaser, click here to view the full article

 

Please note that Match Reports are only available to website subscribers. Subscriptions cost just £2 a month (you need to register first) and can be purchased here. 

  • Upvote 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • dave u pinned this topic

The midfield vulnerability over  the last few games Is not just that we're missing Henderson but we rely on Gini too and he's looked goosed. Fab is great at mopping up generally but his lack of acceleration is exposed when we lose the ball and attackers get past the midfielders who are supposed to be shielding the advanced full backs.  

  • Upvote 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Pretty much captures my feelings. Not arsed too much that we're out of the cup, I've only really got eyes for the league. But I am arsed about losing to that lot and in that manner. People talking about the treble a few weeks ago, when we were just at the 5th round of the cup, at Chelsea, and last 16 of the CL, against Atletico - that was just barmy.

Everything about last night was shit. I thought we were the better team, probably up until Barkley scored, especially first half when we played some nice stuff. But it felt from the moment Adrian let in that goal it wasn't going to be our night. We missed a good few clear chances, made more and more mistakes at the back, every mis-cued or hacked clearance seemed to land at their feet and set up a counter. And the ref, jeez. He didn't affect the outcome, but he certainly didn't help us establish any momentum or give us the free kicks we should have had. Mane got man-handled and kicked throughout, Rudiger, Alonso and that horrible little cunt Azpilicueta taking turns.

Even the BBC coverage was shit (not just the commentary - I turned that off) but the camers kept missing bits of play.

It felt like Klopp was caught in between two stools and went stronger than he intended .... but not strong enough. He shoe-horned  people into the wrong positions - agree totally with Dave re Origi. And Curtis has been outstanding for the u23s as the left-hand side of the front three. 

 

Need to put this right, starting Saturday.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Personally I'd have still given Adrian star man. Obviously he made a mistake for the first goal, but it was the only mistake he made all night; if the rest of them had only made one mistake, we would probably have won the match.

  • Upvote 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hendo has been rightly lauded, particularly so this season but he's as capable as anyone of putting in a humdrum performance, especially if others are too. If VVD can, anyone can. 

 

I too don't get the Origi left wing thing. Not sure I ever saw him put in a performance there. 

 

And HELP. We signed Minamino and all of us went berserk. "£5m a snip" and all that. Where's that guy who tore us to shreds last season?

 

I truly hope Klopp's more on top of this than it appears. Quite apart from our poor form most of this year, I can't believe Critchley has gone. Big that. Hopefully the myriad people more knowledgeable than I will put me straight on the background to that, if nothing else. 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Origi left instead of centre, Minamino centre instead of left. 

Nobody who can put a corner past the front man, especially Milner who then got a yellow for chasing Pedro after his corner led to a Chelsea breakaway. Mind if every team is allowed to grapple Virgil at every corner with impunity that's almost irrelevant.

And Jenas is a complete twat, thought Alan Smith was bad but strewth

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I turned off at half time, as I had a bad feeling, it was like watching the Liverpool of old.  I am worried about the Atletico Madrid game as we seem to have lost all momentum, and we need to sort it out quick.  Just glad to be back at Anfield, and hopefully that will make all the difference.  I don't want our season to end on a whimper and we just limp over the line.  If we go out of the Champions League, I will be gutted.

 

Let's hope this is just a small blip, and they can turn it around on Saturday, but I wouldn't be surprised if it is more of the same.  Could we not just have a easy 4-0 win just to calm the nerves, is that too much to ask for?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hope to god we are back firing when we play them at home later in the season when they're desperate for Champions League points.

Obviously would have been great to have won the cup but the domestic knock-outs are tailor made for City's multi million pound A B or C team .

We need a win Saturday and normally I'd be made up it's Bournemouth but I remember these grabbing a 2-2 at home when were closing in on the top four so it's not a gimme.

Having a slump was always on the cards after the 18 plus months we've had but I honestly think being so far ahead in the league and with every fucker with an opinion saying "the league is done and dusted" (even last night the commentator said it a few times)  has to eventually have an effect leading to complacency.

And unlike last season when we had to go full throttle all the time to the end this season this proves you can't just turn form off and on as lately apart from Leicester away, Sheff Utd home and maybe Southampton second half also at home we haven't been great 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I thught first half we looked decent and if we'd taken one of the chances we made it might have been a very different game. For a while now we've been bemoaning missing chances, relying on clean sheets and an impenetrable defence. It was said it would come back to bite us and it has. We haven't scored in 3 of our last 4. First half it looked like we were about to break through but that second half was just more of the same shite we've seen recently. It is a bit of a slump, don't think you can attribute to any one player missing or playing, all teams have these as the season is long. We do need to beat Bournemouth though and it would be nice for a comfortbable 4-0 to get us back on track. It will probably be closer than that though as they are fighting for their place in the league. Perhaps the game that could really get us going again is the Atletico one, needing a big win on a loud and raucous European night.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In a way, if teams have figured out how to play against us a bit, I'd rather it was now, when Klopp sees it and can evolve the squad in the summer to counter it, than the start of next season when we've not signed the players we need 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, rb14 said:

And HELP. We signed Minamino and all of us went berserk. "£5m a snip" and all that. Where's that guy who tore us to shreds last season?


That was this season. 
 

I don’t watch the 23’s so haven’t seen as much of Curtis Jones as some of you but on the evidence of last night he’s definitely not capable of playing as one of the 3 midfielders in this system. Someone else said he’s been tearing it up on the left of a front three?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 hours ago, bigal said:

Origi left instead of centre, Minamino centre instead of left..

 

Agree with this. Minamino proper tore into us coming in off the left flank for RB Leipzig. He's just looked lost against the grock centre-halves he's been faced with playing centre-forward. 

 

Two home ties, one a Big European Night with a score to settle and a full-throated Anfield should be just he tonic. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Origi playing from the left is the single most annoying decision consistently taken. I see people slag Origi off for being shite but in the last couple games when he started at centre forward this season, he scored twice vs Arsenal and twice vs Everton.

 

Center forward is Origi's best position. Klopp really has to ditch this experiment of playing him on the left. He is always absolutely woeful there as Dave correctly pointed out.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Great report as usual, Dave. I have always felt a bit uncomfortable but this champions of the world thing, invincible , records to break, five to go, four to go ect. We were missing the point. Maybe I’m not ambitious enough, but winning the league, only the league, is a massive achievement. We’ve been waiting that for so long.

 

And there is no crisis, we’re having a bad patch that may continue , but we’re lucky enough to have that big gap in the league to keep perspective. And City will loose points.

 

One game at once.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • dave u unpinned this topic

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...