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Liverpool 3 Arsenal 1 (Sep 28 2020)


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Dave Usher

This sets the record straight somewhat. It wasn’t quite the mauling of Arsenal that I had hoped for but it’ll do. Some Arsenal fans had started to get a little bit carried away after those two most recent clashes between the sides and saw themselves as our equals when the truth is they’re nowhere near. The gap is massive.

 

We dominated them at the Emirates but gifted them two goals and we should have beaten them in the Community Shield. We didn’t though and all of a sudden people were talking about Arteta having our number. They needed putting back in their box and this has gone some way towards doing that.

 

We were brilliant from start to finish and showed that Arsenal are nowhere near our level. That being said, Arsenal are clearly better than they were because this level of performance would have been enough to see us beat them by ten not so long ago. They did well to dig in and stay in the game in the face of the relentless pressing they were subjected to and how good we were with the ball.

 

They should probably feel pleased with themselves because the two previous results they had against us were flukes and by no means any indication of a “closing gap”. If anyone connected to Arsenal is disheartened by the gulf there was between the two sides in this game then it’s because they had kidded themselves into thinking the gap wasn’t as big as it is.

 

We’re so much better than everybody else right now. We’ve never been this much better than all of the competition, not even in our 70s and 80s heyday. I know not everyone is comfortable saying this in case it blows up in our faces, but it’s true, we’re miles better than everyone. Over the last two seasons we’ve averaged 98 points. 

 

Whereas our closest competitors Man City have grown weaker year on year, we’ve kept all of our players and now added Thiago and Jota which makes us even stronger than the team that averages 98 points. I wouldn’t be surprised if the players already have it in their heads to try and beat last year’s 99 point total, as they’ll need to set themselves targets this year if nobody is going to push us.

 

I know we’re only three games in but I’m not basing it on that. I’m basing it on the last couple of years and the general strength of our squad compared to everyone else. Seriously, who is going to be able to live with us this season? City won’t. United won’t. Chelsea won’t. Spurs? Nah. Arsenal won’t either, although unlike the rest of our ‘big six’ rivals they do at least seem to be on an upward curve.

 

So are we though. We’ve still got the potential to get better. An already great team has now become even stronger by adding one of the best midfielders in the world and another forward who plays the same way as those we already have and thus gives us great depth. Thiago wasn’t even playing in this game and look how dominant we were. It’s scary how good we might be when he is playing.

 

 

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Salah was fucking brilliant all night. His work rate was incredible and he tormented that left side of the Arsenal defence. He’s in great form right now, as is Sadio. Having Jota around is only going to help with that as not only does it allow us to occasionally rest them when needed, but if Jota performs well then it provides genuine competition.

The amount of balls pinged 50 or 60 yards from VVD onto Salah was a joy to behold.

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43 minutes ago, tlw content said:

We’re so much better than everybody else right now. We’ve never been this much better than all of the competition, not even in our 70s and 80s heyday. I know not everyone is comfortable saying this in case it blows up in our faces, but it’s true, we’re miles better than everyone. Over the last two seasons we’ve averaged 98 points. 

Is this the moment it all unravels, like the we have no shit players anymore moment? 

 

I think not but please be careful. 

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I think we're the team to beat this season although it is far too early to write city off. Spurs seem to be going backwards whether that's down to mourinho or levy and the stadium costs. united have the gimp in charge and it's a bit incredulous thinking he could win the league. Surely he'd need us, city, plus possibly Leicester turning to shit?

 

Said it before about Fwank and chelsea, you can buy all the best toys but if you dont know how to get the best out of them, yer mates will always trump you. West Brom really should have punished them but as soon as their keeper stood and watched the first go past him, you got the feeling they weren't getting all 3 points.

 

I honestly expect everton to fall away quite quickly after their first 12 PL games if you look at their fixtures. Winning breeds confidence while making oppos wary of you but they just have far too many easy opening fixtures making them look front runners at the moment.

 

It's great thinking we could do a clean sweep of all the trophies, certainly domestic ones but, I just think unless you get piss easy draws in virtually every round of both cups like city did the other year, you're going to fall between the stools.

 

I still think our 78 side is the best ever but this team's points record means even I have to re evaluate this. That said, back in 78, the boys had to play on some cabbage patch pitches unlike the ones today. Fuck me, Villa Park used to just have 4 triangles of grass by the corner flags while the Baseball Ground was a fucking quagmire even in a drought!

 

 

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Arsenal is way better now than they were but we totally outplayed them, we were brillant.

 

They still had a few chance though, it’s part of our style I reckon when you press so hard.

 

Dave, I sere your mum has no place for her always relevant and clever comments. Are you scared of her rightful popularity to ban her so fast ? 

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1 hour ago, Arnaud said:

Arsenal is way better now than they were but we totally outplayed them, we were brillant.

 

They still had a few chance though, it’s part of our style I reckon when you press so hard.

 

Dave, I sere your mum has no place for her always relevant and clever comments. Are you scared of her rightful popularity to ban her so fast ? 

 

Haven't spoken to her about it yet. Usually I watch the Sky games at their house but I watched it in mine last night. Spoke to my dad straight after the game but haven't heard what my mum thinks yet. She's more interesting when she's ranting about random players from other teams to be honest.

 

Her analysis of our games is usually how much she loves Fabinho and then somehow shoehorning a Lallana rant in there.

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Just now, dave u said:

 

Haven't spoken to her about it yet. Usually I watch the Sky games at their house but I watched it in mine last night. Spoke to my dad straight after the game but haven't heard what my mum thinks yet. She's more interesting when she's ranting about random players from other teams to be honest.

 

Her analysis of our games is usually how much she loves Fabinho and then somehow shoehorning a Lallana rant in there.

Wise woman. 

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I think maybe part of the reason for the defensive mistakes against arsenal is that the defenders have almost nothing to do for long periods of the game, it must be hard for them to concentrate fully in a game like that. Also how many more Liverpool wins will it take for the void the season twats to start up again

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I think you’re getting mixed up with the offside rule changes unless you’re thinking about Europe and the other European leagues.  It’s only this year in England that they’ve changed to this situation where the linesmen don’t flag.  Last year the linesmen were flagging and it was down to the ref to let play go if he thought there was a goal scoring chance imminent.  Loads of people were moaning about it and giving it the “we think we’re better than everywhere else” comments even though that method is clearly better.

 

I think the thing about getting annoyed by flags not going up last year (and for a while before then) is that stupid situation where completely randomly linesman just decide they aren’t going to flag until the offside player touches the ball or gets close to it even though it’s obvious they’re going for it and it’s causing players to sprint and tackle each other.  The commentators then start wanking each off thinking they’re clever explaining it to everyone as if we’ve never heard it before.  Usually 5 or 10 mins later the linesman flags for an offside normally and nobody says a word about why he’s now flagging quickly.

 

When I watched in Europe last I had the same questions Klopp was raising last night and that you mentioned here.  As in what if it goes for a corner etc. But what they’re actually doing is flagging later on if they think it’s offside.  So they’re decision on whether it’s offside or not hasn’t actually changed.  It’s probably confusing when the player is offside and they don’t subsequently flag but what is happening is that they wouldn’t have flagged anyway.

 

That side of things I don’t have a problem with.  The reason I prefer last years method is because of the amount of time that is being wasted in games and injury risked this year.  What we are seeing is the linesman not flagging even though he’s going to as soon as the attack dies but in so many circumstances the attack is nowhere near the goal and the game ends up running on for ages.  The referee is no longer making that judgement.

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I don’t like to get too giddy as Mr Keane would say but I reckon if anyone finishes above us they win the league.

I was a bit worried we needed the crowd for that game but the lads were just relentless. Brilliant stuff. So many away wins in the league now but we march  on at Anfield.

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3 hours ago, suzy said:

I don’t like to get too giddy as Mr Keane would say but I reckon if anyone finishes above us they win the league.

I was a bit worried we needed the crowd for that game but the lads were just relentless. Brilliant stuff. So many away wins in the league now but we march  on at Anfield.

Wasn't too bothered about points totals etc last season,but still a bit miffed by the stupid Burnley draw that ruined a probably never to be repeated winning of all home games in a season.

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On 29/09/2020 at 21:18, The Guest said:

I think you’re getting mixed up with the offside rule changes unless you’re thinking about Europe and the other European leagues.  It’s only this year in England that they’ve changed to this situation where the linesmen don’t flag.  Last year the linesmen were flagging and it was down to the ref to let play go if he thought there was a goal scoring chance imminent.  Loads of people were moaning about it and giving it the “we think we’re better than everywhere else” comments even though that method is clearly better.

 

I think the thing about getting annoyed by flags not going up last year (and for a while before then) is that stupid situation where completely randomly linesman just decide they aren’t going to flag until the offside player touches the ball or gets close to it even though it’s obvious they’re going for it and it’s causing players to sprint and tackle each other.  The commentators then start wanking each off thinking they’re clever explaining it to everyone as if we’ve never heard it before.  Usually 5 or 10 mins later the linesman flags for an offside normally and nobody says a word about why he’s now flagging quickly.

 

When I watched in Europe last I had the same questions Klopp was raising last night and that you mentioned here.  As in what if it goes for a corner etc. But what they’re actually doing is flagging later on if they think it’s offside.  So they’re decision on whether it’s offside or not hasn’t actually changed.  It’s probably confusing when the player is offside and they don’t subsequently flag but what is happening is that they wouldn’t have flagged anyway.

 

That side of things I don’t have a problem with.  The reason I prefer last years method is because of the amount of time that is being wasted in games and injury risked this year.  What we are seeing is the linesman not flagging even though he’s going to as soon as the attack dies but in so many circumstances the attack is nowhere near the goal and the game ends up running on for ages.  The referee is no longer making that judgement.

 

No I know that it's been enhanced this year by telling linos not to flag, but it did happen last year too. The difference then wasn't that they had been told not to flag, it was that sometimes they just didn't do it because they knew VAR would correct them if they'd missed one, so they were just more reluctant to put the flag up thinking that the VAR would bail them out.

 

I specifically remember an instance early last season (I think it was Arsenal again, funnily enough) when a player went through and was well offside, but the lino didn't flag. They ended up getting a corner from it and I was fuming about it in the match report because it was just an indirect result of VAR.

 

It's human nature to think "if he's off then VAR will sort it but if he's on then I'm in trouble if I flag. So you get linos not making decisions.

 

Now they're actively encouraged not to make them until after the play is over, which in theory is good but it brings with it other problems.

 

I don't really see any way of fixing this though if the ultimate goal is to ensure that offside calls are 100% correct. The trade off for having those calls spot on is that sometimes teams are going to win corners that they shouldn't and we may well end up with players getting injured at some point having continued to play after an offside.

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24 minutes ago, dave u said:

 

No I know that it's been enhanced this year by telling linos not to flag, but it did happen last year too. The difference then wasn't that they had been told not to flag, it was that sometimes they just didn't do it because they knew VAR would correct them if they'd missed one, so they were just more reluctant to put the flag up thinking that the VAR would bail them out.

 

I specifically remember an instance early last season (I think it was Arsenal again, funnily enough) when a player went through and was well offside, but the lino didn't flag. They ended up getting a corner from it and I was fuming about it in the match report because it was just an indirect result of VAR.

 

It's human nature to think "if he's off then VAR will sort it but if he's on then I'm in trouble if I flag. So you get linos not making decisions.

 

Now they're actively encouraged not to make them until after the play is over, which in theory is good but it brings with it other problems.

 

I don't really see any way of fixing this though if the ultimate goal is to ensure that offside calls are 100% correct. The trade off for having those calls spot on is that sometimes teams are going to win corners that they shouldn't and we may well end up with players getting injured at some point having continued to play after an offside.

Yeah I get what you mean now.  I think it harms us in a way because we play so high that offside decisions become a lot more important so they will let VAR deal with it as you say.  It probably benefits us more though in that we can rely on technology getting it right so we will never directly concede due to an offside.

 

I don’t like this talk of what Wenger is proposing though.  He’s in some position at FIFA saying we should go to clear daylight for an offside.  I can’t believe somebody as intelligent as he clearly is doesn’t see how bad a change that would be.  You would still get tight calls that people will moan about but on top of that it make the game more negative and boring.  Teams will not want to play a high line because it will be far too risky and it will benefit teams just sitting back and defending.

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I don't see why they can't go back to the offside "decision" if the ball goes out for a corner or throw in. Maybe the lino could switch the flag to his left hand or hold it across his chest  until the ball goes out of play or the defence get possession. 

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53 minutes ago, aws said:

I don't see why they can't go back to the offside "decision" if the ball goes out for a corner or throw in. Maybe the lino could switch the flag to his left hand or hold it across his chest  until the ball goes out of play or the defence get possession. 

They do go back to his decision when he flags after the attack breaks down or the ball goes out of play.  He just doesn’t flag it until that point.

 

The thing Dave is saying is that VAR is encouraging them to leave it to VAR instead of making a decision.  If we then went to a situation where they reviewed every offside it would make the linesman pointless and it would slow the game down quite a lot.

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50 minutes ago, The Guest said:

They do go back to his decision when he flags after the attack breaks down or the ball goes out of play.  He just doesn’t flag it until that point.

 

The thing Dave is saying is that VAR is encouraging them to leave it to VAR instead of making a decision.  If we then went to a situation where they reviewed every offside it would make the linesman pointless and it would slow the game down quite a lot.

They don't always go back to the decision and that's the problem. Attackers have often won corners from offside attacks. If the ball ends up in the net, go to VAR. If it doesn't go back to what the lino originally thought. 

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