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

[Colonel Bumcunt 443]

Atalanta were very physical, and massive. Their pressing was relentless. 

 

That said, I was surprised at the lack of fouls given by the ref. You see Robbo making the point shortly after coming on, "do your job, eh, do your fucking job". 

 

 

[Colonel Bumcunt 443]

Press

 

[Leyton388 1,229]

Well that was shite.

 

That is all. 

[AngryofTuebrook 17,842]

1 hour ago, m0e said:

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

Not according to Wikipedia. 

 

 

[AngryofTuebrook 17,842]

1 hour ago, an tha said:

That stings....especially as we were so poor.

 

But it was always a possibility given team.

 

It is of course easy to point finger at Klopp, but his options are seriously limited at the moment and players have to be rested in this ridiculous schedule - i notice our 3 games this week starting with Leicester take place in pretty much the shortest possible timeframe (Sun Night through to Sat morning)

 

Shuffling the pack is understandable - the problem is he has nothing even like a full deck to shuffle.

 

Everyone (or most) would agree Robbo needed a breather - he has been flogged to death.

 

A lot of us would look at Matip and worry about his durability to play 3 games in a week.....Klopp made call to start him of course and he played in what was our 10th different centre half pairing this season....they were and they looked like strangers! How fit will Matip be Saturday now?

 

We'd look at front men and say someone needs a rest.....but then Origi is such a different type to any of the others...it nearly always looks unbalanced when he plays.

 

Wijnaldum has played an unbelievable amount of games over last week or so prior to tonight, he looked fucked because of it....flat and tired and lacking intensity.

 

Milner is 34....can he cope with back to back games and in different positions in a short few days....playing at RB on Sun up and down all day is hard then be asked to play against good opposition in middle.

 

The Williams kids shouldn't be anywhere near the level of playing in European Cup games yet, but we are forced to play them as options so short.

 

Robbo and Trent are absolutely integral to how we play...we are desperately blunt in terms of atracking width, creativity and pace from their positions when they aren't in side.

 

Midfield lacked control and ability to win ball and then dictate play once got it.....due to injuries though there were little to no other options...maybe Fabinho in there, but Klopp in back of mind must be thinking about him being needed at centre half or if Thiago and Hendo are not back weekend he'll be needed in middle and 3 games in a week just after injury might be too risky.

 

All in all this injury crisis was always gonna see us exposed at some point, we have done brilliant to manage as well as we have so far with it, but as soon as wanted to or needed to make changes with massively reduced options to do so we were really vulnerable and tonight that vulnerability was badly exposed.

 

Henderson

Thiago

Gomez

TAA

VVD

Oxlade

Shaqiri

 

All unavailable - imagine how different our rotation could look if they were available.

 

Hopefully we can get 2 or 3 of them back and keep them back for weeks and months ahead and then in Jan address the centre half issue...

 

Fabinho is boss in there but he also is pretty key to our midfield options and for me we need another centre half desperately so we aren't throwing Williams in at this level in knock out stages...or relying on Phillips in league/walking a Matip injury tightrope or struggling in midfield because Fab is needed at back.

 

Tonight stings and maybe Klopp could have done things differently, but for me he had to shuffle the deck, just damned shite luck that his deck is so depleted when doing so.

 

 

Some good points there. I'd also add that Mané looked like a man who has played as much football as he has with no real breaks.

[an tha 5,784]

18 minutes ago, AngryofTuebrook said:

Some good points there. I'd also add that Mané looked like a man who has played as much football as he has with no real breaks.

Definitely on Mane yeah.

 

Bit surprised he started - i thought 3 would be Salah, Jota, Firmino....would have offered more IMO than 3 he played tonight, but he sees them in training etc has all the medical advice and he went for what he went for.

 

Just realised i missed Keita off that missing list too.

 

Some list isn't it!

 

We really could do with Henderson and Thiago back and soon. Jones is a prospect, but he shouldn't be starting week in week out for us.

[The Guest 1,760]

It’s absolute nonsense to say we couldn’t afford to lose that game.  We could afford to lose it because we won the first 3 games.  If we draw against Ajax we are through it’s as simple as that.  We’ve got a game on Saturday morning and then it’s Tuesday Saturday Wednesday against the two easiest sides in the group.  We could have easily thrown our first team at that game and got beat and been knackered on Saturday or come away with injuries.  Instead we’ve done the clearly intelligent thing which is give as many players a rest as we could and told the players on the pitch to not kill themselves to win the game.

[Bjornebye 24,796]

1 hour ago, 3 Stacks said:

Didn't understand the Tsimikas sub unless it was planned beforehand. 

He got booked. I thought he played well. Robbo might have been ready to come on anyway so it makes it easier to say thats why he got hooked because he was one of our better players. 

[Bjornebye 24,796]

1 hour ago, Leyton388 said:

Well that was shite.

 

That is all. 

Hi Jurgen 

[skaro 5,047]

1 hour ago, The Guest said:

It’s absolute nonsense to say we couldn’t afford to lose that game.  We could afford to lose it because we won the first 3 games.  If we draw against Ajax we are through it’s as simple as that.  We’ve got a game on Saturday morning and then it’s Tuesday Saturday Wednesday against the two easiest sides in the group.  We could have easily thrown our first team at that game and got beat and been knackered on Saturday or come away with injuries.  Instead we’ve done the clearly intelligent thing which is give as many players a rest as we could and told the players on the pitch to not kill themselves to win the game.

 

Yep.

Shit like this is going to happen every now and again.

One, outrageous schedule.

Two, injuries.

Three, our squad - good as the system is - will not carry the day every time.

(And I suspect, deep down, the League would take priority.)

 

So, hopefully, Brighton will enjoy a rogering.

 

[TheHowieLama 10,720]

4 hours ago, an tha said:

 

Henderson

Thiago

Gomez

TAA

VVD

Oxlade

Shaqiri

 

 

That side finishes 6th.

[Joey8FrogsLegs 719]

6 hours ago, 3 Stacks said:

He got abused. They clearly targeted him with diagonals and they specifically pressed him the second he got on the ball. They knew he doesn't have the level. 

They did target that side, and for a reason.

Also some of Matips passes to him being extremely slow didnt help. The ball travelling at walking pace makes it a lot easier for the opposition to close you down.

[Jairzinho 22,730]

8 hours ago, Kevin D said:

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

 

Who knew?

Seventh best team. But you're correct it's a one team league. 

 

*Checks notes* And that team would be AC Milan.

[skaro 5,047]

3 minutes ago, Jairzinho said:

Seventh best team. But you're correct it's a one team league. 

 

*Checks notes* And that team would be AC Milan.

 

Don't forget SPAL.

 

 

[Jairzinho 22,730]

1 minute ago, skaro said:

 

Don't forget SPAL.

 

 

 

Genoa?

[skaro 5,047]

Just now, Jairzinho said:

 

Genoa?

 

And ifithadnabinfer Superga....

 

 

[Fluter in Dakota 7,482]

9 hours ago, Bjornebye said:

Lineker just say our worst defeat of Jurgens reign??! 

Aston villa say hello.

[sir roger 5,669]

2 hours ago, Jairzinho said:

Seventh best team. But you're correct it's a one team league. 

 

*Checks notes* And that team would be AC Milan.

What happened to Frosty Nose who were in Serie A last year.

[an tha 5,784]

6 hours ago, TheHowieLama said:

That side finishes 6th.

Behave.

 

8th tops.

 

Just ahead of the Goodison Galacticos

[Jairzinho 22,730]

27 minutes ago, sir roger said:

What happened to Frosty Nose who were in Serie A last year.

Decided there were more teams in Serie B based in warmer parts of the country and therefore forfeited the second half of the season in order to get relegated.

[Duff Man 1,633]

Are we an outlier in terms of injuries atm, or are other clubs experiencing similar?

[Trumo 13,928]

3 minutes ago, Duff Man said:

Are we an outlier in terms of injuries atm, or are other clubs experiencing similar?

 

I think in terms of numbers, we currently have more out than most, but it's not a massive difference to the next few teams worst affected. The problem we have is that we've been hit hard exclusively in two key areas, central defence and central midfield. Throw in a few positive Covid tests, the lack of durability of several individuals and a jam-packed schedule, and it's not that surprising if you see the sort of disjointed and ineffective displays of the sort we witnessed last night.

[3 Stacks 2,349]

5 hours ago, Joey8FrogsLegs said:

They did target that side, and for a reason.

Also some of Matips passes to him being extremely slow didnt help. The ball travelling at walking pace makes it a lot easier for the opposition to close you down.

 

He lost possession 27 times. 27. And in a game where no one was sharp technically, that was still 10 more times than anybody else. 

 

I get people wanna protect the kid, but he's just bad pretty much every time he plays. 

[Duff Man 1,633]

12 minutes ago, Trumo said:

I think in terms of numbers, we currently have more out than most, but it's not a massive difference to the next few teams worst affected. The problem we have is that we've been hit hard exclusively in two key areas, central defence and central midfield. Throw in a few positive Covid tests, the lack of durability of several individuals and a jam-packed schedule, and it's not that surprising if you see the sort of disjointed and ineffective displays of the sort we witnessed last night.

Guess we've been riding our luck the previous few seasons with all our main players being almost ever-present.

[Arnaud 630]

11 hours ago, dockers_strike said:

Ajax and Atalanta can both finish on 11 if they both win their next game and draw against each other, cant they? We could finish on 9, 10 or 12.

We’re trough with a draw vs Ajax.