Atalanta (H) Champions League - 25/11/20 - 20:00

[rubble-rouser]

9 minutes ago, Pidge said:

Don't know if I've ever seen Mane play so poorly. Been a complete Glen Johnson out there. Pass it to them, try a flick that will never come off, or fall over. Total Pogba.

He’s been below par for a while, but that was diabolical.

[Butch]

Roll on Saturday. 

[s(k)aturation]

5 minutes ago, Captain Turdseye said:

If we can’t beat Midgetland we won’t deserve to go through anyway. 

 

Don't be making Scandinavian jokes, mate... you don't want you-know-who coming round to Cambridgeshire with his feral mink.

 

 

[coachpotato]

These learned some lessons from the first game, they’re too good to take liberties against but given the pressure of games we had to weaken the team sometime. Having said that, to not have had an effort on goal worth the name was poor. No excuses, it was a shite performance and means we really can’t now afford to take it easy against Ajax. The players will know it wasn’t good enough and I’d expect an appropriate reaction against Brighton on Saturday.

[suzy]

Well that was shite.

 

Let’s smash Brighton.

[AngryOfTuebrook]

I think we now need 2 point from our next 2 games to qualify.  (If we finish on 11, that would put us level on points with the maximum that both Ajax and Atalanta can get.  If we're level on points with Atalanta, we qualify on head-to-head goal difference.)

 

I'm not pooping my pants yet.

[m0e]

1 minute ago, AngryofTuebrook said:

I think we now need 2 point from our next 2 games to qualify.  (If we finish on 11, that would put us level on points with the maximum that both Ajax and Atalanta can get.  If we're level on points with Atalanta, we qualify on head-to-head goal difference.)

 

I'm not pooping my pants yet.

Its goal difference if there are 3 teams on equal points.

 

So I'm assuming you're assuming we qualify that way?

[Kevin D]

It turns out the second best team in Italy are not total and complete bums.

 

Who knew?

[suzy]

I was miffed I’ll be working at 8am tomorrow and miss all the post match chat - I’m not bothered now!

[The Guest]

10 minutes ago, 1892-LFCWasBorn said:

Not at all.

 

Either play full strength, get the job done and then take players off or just write the game off and don't play anyone.

 

Waste of energy for Mane, Matip, Gini and co who are players who could have done with a rest.

 

Origi ahead of Mini is just fucking dumb.

You have no idea what’s been going on in training with Origi and Minamino.  I don’t think there’s much of an argument between them.  Who would you have played with Williams at centre back?  Especially considering we had two inexperienced full backs playing, it couldn’t be Koumetio.  You can ruin players careers by hanging them out to dry like that.  I think Matip has been training longer than Fabinho and has played a lot less minutes in recent months so I’m guessing out of the 2 that’s why he got picked.  The midfield picked itself because of the injuries.  The only player you might say should have been rested was maybe Mané but when you look at the effort they put in it was so obvious the game plan wa a just to get through the game.

 

We’ve won the champions league and the league and there’s people losing their shit about us losing the 4th group game after winning the first 3 and sitting top of the league with an absolute joke number of injuries.  People are clueless bellends going on about us not having a plan and we should have done this and that.  It’s as if they have no clue who are manager is or what he’s been doing for the past 5 years.

[Arnaud]

No gas in the tank it seems. Not a single opportunity to score, that’s amazing. 
 

There are way too many games, this is going to be a weird season ....

[s(k)aturation]

 

An away game against Brighton is more important than this game.  

And that's the truth.

Image saying that in 1980.

[Joey8FrogsLegs]

2 minutes ago, suzy said:

Well that was shite.

 

Let’s smash Brighton.

A good post in full.

[Bruce Spanner]

Milner says ‘boys’ when he’s seething and ‘lads’ when he knows they’ve put a shift in.

[Harry Squatter]

Origi is like Milton from Office Space, should have fucked off years ago but just hangs around.

[Bjornebye]

8 minutes ago, rubble-rouser said:

He’s been below par for a while, but that was diabolical.

You can never fault his effort but when he's running round playing shit he just gets in the way. 

 

Thankfully 8 out of 10 games he is one of the best players on the planet. 

[dockers_strike]

Well, that was a poor performance. Love Jurgen and love the players. Im calling no one shit but let's get some facts straight.

 

This wasnt a game we could afford to lose especially as ajax were playing the danes so about as nailed on win for them as you can get. We play Ajax next with Atalanta playing the danes, another nailed on 3 points for them (Atalanta). Losing tonight doesnt seem as ok as it was before tonight's kick off if we lose to Ajax and Atalanta win, does it?

 

I said before the game go strong and take players off if we're 2 or 3  goals up. We have 5 subs in these games. But Jurgen decided to rest a lot of players as is his right and I wont criticise him for that.

 

What I did not like was that at half time, it was clear only one team was going to score and it wasnt us. It's pretty difficult not to be critical of anyone but Id exempt Alli, Tsimikas, Gini, Rhys Williams and Milner.

 

Sorry but Divock, Sadio, Mo, Neco and Curtis werent in the game all night. Might be a bit hard on young Curtis but I didnt think he did much of note. Ive never seen Sadio knocked off so many balls so easily. Mo also played Atalanta in when he came too deep and played a poor ball across field, just like he did in another game is I remember! Matip's passing was woeful. Neco was run ragged but didnt seem to learn even as the half wore on. Divock, cant you stay on yer feet lad? Fucking hell.

 

So yeah, Id have made changes at half time. Instead it got to 57 minutes before we saw signs of a change but as per, we take a fucking age to get the players ready to come on. Why do we spend so long showing the players these power point slides or whatever of where they should go on the pitch and where to run to?

 

Shouldnt they have been told all this before they actually get stripped to come on? I believe Buvac used to get a strop on with Achterberg for taking too long to get subs ready and on the pitch.

 

Even then, we missed an opportunity to make the changes or at least some of them when the ball went out of play. Instead the change was delayed due to showing the players these little power point slides by which time they'd scored. And like I said at half time, if they scored first, we were going to be in trouble.

 

2nd goal for them was well worked. Seen a few comments about the ref, didnt think he influenced the result one jot. He let a lot go for both teams. This result is one us and no one else. It was poor all round.

 

Disappointing.

[lebron]

22 hours ago, lebron said:

A good barometer of how good we are and how much I love Klopp and his team/squad is the fact that I'm totally relaxed whoever we put out there tomorrow.

 

I'm not (despite having a good game when given the chance) a big fan of Nat Philips, and I think it might have been better to keep Hoever rather than Neco Williams, but we've got so many good players and have done so many good deals that these are mere details in a masterpiece.

 

Having watched and supported us since the mid-80s, there's always been 1 or 2 players that I have felt aren't really good enough, and should be looked at being replaced. This is the first time in all that time where there's no such need imo. Our CB injuries are of course unfortunate, and will probably lead to speculations on new signings. I think we'll cope fine whether we sign a CB or not, there's almost a sadistic desire in me to find out if we can be contenders and win in both Europe and the league with what we've got. I think Klopp and his boys are so good we can do it with what we've got, but there's the chance Matip will have a breakdown or two soon, so we'll have to see what happens I guess.

 

Anyway, my point was really that I'm not nervous about our games anymore, there might be a bump in the road (like Villa) on the way, but I think we'll run away with the league again, and I'm fairly confident about Europe too! Come on you reds!

Milner in midfield and Origi anywhere on the pitch might make me have a rethink...

 

Seriously though, without our pressing game we are really just another team. That's my one worry going into the busy schedule. I'm fine with us losing tonight if it means getting our energy back for Saturday's game. We're going to need it, as Brighton are a decent footballing outfit, capable of outplaying us if we're not sharp.

[torahboy]

9 minutes ago, bizzle10 said:

to be fair the lads were mourning diego , better beat brighton or this is in vain.

 

 

Think Diego in his current state would have been a more energetic presence than Origi.

[sir roger]

4 minutes ago, m0e said:

Its goal difference if there are 3 teams on equal points.

 

So I'm assuming you're assuming we qualify that way?

I reckon that a draw against Ajax would more or less get us through , even if we lost that game a win in Denmark takes us through.

[Joey8FrogsLegs]

Anyway I guess it was only fitting that a short Argentine number 10 was man of the match at Anfield on this day.

 

Rest in piece Diego, you crazy genious.

[Trumo]

Dreadful performance.

 

We started with a lack of tempo or purpose, and it stayed that way for the whole game. The starting XI did nothing, and the subs had no impact on the game. No zip. No creativity. No dominance. Nothing to get the fans watching on TV up off their seat. I can't remember the last time we created absolutely nothing. In recent years that has been a real rarity. It might have come in a Champions League away fixture where we've had a number of stinkers, but I don't remember us playing so badly at Anfield for an entire game (the first half against Midtjylland was similar but we perked up enough in the second half).

 

Atalanta had pride to motivate them following their drubbing a few weeks ago, but it looked like one or two of ours were treating this one as a game that didn't matter. That's the wrong attitude to carry into any game because by allowing it, you make it acceptable. It should NEVER be acceptable.

 

Thankfully we still have two games to make sure of a place in the next round. It could become nail-biting if this sort of display is what the team puts up in those games.

 

I hate it when we lose. I hate it even more when it happens at Anfield. I fucking despite it when it happens due to our players' own attitude and lack of application.

[Aventus]

Shite. 

 

One thing that stood out for me was the pressing. if it can even be called that, whenever they had the ball we were just ball chasing, getting dragged all over the place and leaving spaces. School boy level stuff.

 

In the grand scheme it doesn't matter, but I do think it's a missed opportunity. 

[s(k)aturation]

 

Be nice to meet Borussia Monchengladbach somewhere along the way.

[rubble-rouser]

9 minutes ago, lebron said:

Milner in midfield and Origi anywhere on the pitch might make me have a rethink...

 

Seriously though, without our pressing game we are really just another team. That's my one worry going into the busy schedule. I'm fine with us losing tonight if it means getting our energy back for Saturday's game. We're going to need it, as Brighton are a decent footballing outfit, capable of outplaying us if we're not sharp.

Good point about the lack of pressing - we don’t really know how to play any other way. Without intensity the players can look a bit lost.