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

[Arnaud 631]

16 minutes ago, 3 Stacks said:

 

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. 

He was bad yesterday but he’s still very young. He’s learning game after game.

[aws 6,635]

8 minutes ago, Arnaud said:

He was bad yesterday but he’s still very young. He’s learning game after game.

He was poor but it didn't help that he was being targeted and the rest of the team weren't moving to give him an out-ball a lot of the time. 

[El Rojo 8,675]

I wouldn't judge either Williams in a game where they're playing in a patched-together back four with each other and two others who haven't played regularly for us. 

 

They'll learn more from last night than from a 4-0 stroll where they weren't tested, and time will tell as to whether they've long-term futures at the club. 

[Aventus 1,988]

Should have just played all the kids, at least they'd have experience of all being in the same team. 

[VladimirIlyich 7,355]

1 hour ago, 3 Stacks said:

 

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. 

I can't believe I am agreeing with you. Not impressed by this lad at all and can't see the kind of potential the likes of Curtis Jones has or TAA showed in his early games. I hope Jurgen proves me,and you,wrong.

[TheHowieLama 10,721]

The fact that he didn't complete 26 passes is probably more of a comment on the folks around him. He was the only player in either side with more than 110 touches, the only one with more than 100 - even the only one with more than 90.

Most troubling is why our players felt it necessary to put the ball on his foot 30 times more than anyone else in our side. I will wait for some hipster to come on and say Atalanta "forced" us to give it to him 30 more times than anybody else.

[3 Stacks 2,353]

2 minutes ago, TheHowieLama said:

The fact that he didn't complete 26 passes is probably more of a comment on the folks around him. He was the only player in either side with more than 110 touches, the only one with more than 100 - even the only one with more than 90.

Most troubling is why our players felt it necessary to put the ball on his foot 30 times more than anyone else in our side. I will wait for some hipster to come on and say Atalanta "forced" us to give it to him 30 more times than anybody else.

I mean, you can interpret that stat any way you want, but there's a recurring theme with Neco where people look to blame the other players for not protecting him or putting him in bad spots, and I don't get that. He clearly gets targeted in pretty much every way every time he's out there.

[TheHowieLama 10,721]

Yes, we targeted him with the ball.

[3 Stacks 2,353]

2 minutes ago, TheHowieLama said:

Yes, we targeted him with the ball.

Our play goes through the full backs. What are we supposed to do, not pass him the ball? He's meant to be Trent's replacement.

[John102 516]

Can only really go off the performances I have seen from him. He has largely been dreadful. 

 

Klopp was a big Ibe fan and he was bombed out. At present, I'm expecting the same of Williams.

 

Fingers crossed that this and lots of other posts are dragged up in years to come. 

[TheHowieLama 10,721]

8 minutes ago, 3 Stacks said:

Our play goes through the full backs. What are we supposed to do, not pass him the ball? He's meant to be Trent's replacement.

I do not believe there has ever been a game where either of our fullbacks have had 30 more touches than any other player on the field.

[3 Stacks 2,353]

Just now, TheHowieLama said:

I do not believe there has ever been a game where either of our fullbacks have had 30 more touches than any other player on the field.

Got it. When young Neco's on the pitch, don't pass him the ball. It's not fair to him.

[TheHowieLama 10,721]

Just now, 3 Stacks said:

Got it. When young Neco's on the pitch, don't pass him the ball. It's not fair to him.

Yeah thats the point.

 

I do not expect Neco Williams to win Liverpool a Champions League game - I do expect that of Mo Salah. And Sadio Mane.

[lebron 389]

I'm not particularly ompressed by Neco either (would have preferred Hoever to stay), but a lot of his passes yesterdy were to Salah's feet. When he lost the physical duels (that ref is a prick, I'm sure he's done us before), I'm guessing that counts as a not-completed pass as well. Salah controls those passes 9 times out of 10 and gets a freekick the 10th... The ref allowed everything whenever him and Mane got assaulted by their fullbacks.

 

I've seen and heard several people today saying how refreshing it was with few fouls etc. All right if that's the way every game is reffed, a bit confusing if that's the bar 1 or 3 (like the Everton derbies) times a year!

[joe_fishfish 366]

I've never seen a ref be that lenient in a European game before. The likes of Atkinson and Riley are consistent at Premier League level with allowing a bit of a harder game, but usually at European level the refs err on the side of protecting the players.

 

Origi was shit last night but the couple of times he looked to run onto a pass he got scythed down with challenges that were absolutely nowhere near the ball. Tackles from behind were banned from top level footy in the mid 90s but were permitted to make a resurgence last night.

 

Wasn't just in Atalanta's favour either - Tsimikas got away with a few before he went in the book, and there were a few times one of our lads caught an opponent, held their hands up to say it was accidental, only to see the ref waving play on.

 

If anything we weren't going in hard enough. Maybe with a few of our more experienced lads on the pitch we could have adapted a bit, taken advantage of it. Ilicic and Gomez were excellent for them but might not have been so good after a reducer or two.

[Supremolad 110]

Of course, Neco is still young and Trent has set such a high standard, it'll be unfair to expect similar quality from him. He still has time to improve and hopefully does so.

 

The problem at the moment is Neco hasn't showed signs of progress since he got into the team. I reckon a large proportion of the 27 times he lost possession was caused by taking too many touches on the ball in his own half, trying to beat a man. Atlanta definitely did their homework on him based on that.

 

It has been a very noticeable thing. Rather than his teammates being blamed for passing him the ball, the focus should be on the young lad learning to keep it simple at the back. Rhys Williams is an example of a young lad keeping it simple with his passing at the back. 1 or 2 touch maximum, straight to a teammate.

[dockers_strike 1,923]

Well I dont like to run any player into the ground, especially a young un like Neco. I just wonder what the coaching staff expect of him. He's a winger converted to a fullback. But, are the staff telling him to get forward every opportunity to kind of be like Trent or what?

 

Seemed to me Neco was frequently caught upfield and out of possession. He wasnt the only one to lose out possession last night and one or two more experienced players suffered the same.

 

But we are where we are. Despite thoughts to the contrary, we cant go out and just buy, buy, buy like city or chelsea.

 

I just want to see players like Neco find their feet and if that means he doesnt cross the half way line, fine, we take that hit until Trent is back and he concentrates on defending rather than try and be Trent 2.

[Joey8FrogsLegs 721]

6 hours ago, 3 Stacks said:

 

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. 

Stats never tell the full story, and the rest of the team definately plays a part in those figures.

 

But loosing possession 27 times is just shocking, and no circumstances can provide an excuse for that. Clearly not ready for this level.

[VladimirIlyich 7,355]

6 hours ago, VladimirIlyich said:

I can't believe I am agreeing with you. Not impressed by this lad at all and can't see the kind of potential the likes of Curtis Jones has or TAA showed in his early games. I hope Jurgen proves me,and you,wrong.

You negged me for agreeing with you and hoping the lad becomes a success? Blueshite behaviour.

[3 Stacks 2,353]

1 minute ago, VladimirIlyich said:

You negged me for agreeing with you and hoping the lad becomes a success? Blueshite behaviour.

You said it in a cuntish way. Negged again, by the way.

[Joey8FrogsLegs 721]

6 hours ago, Aventus said:

Should have just played all the kids, at least they'd have experience of all being in the same team. 

Not saying I agree or disagree with you. But one thing is certain, if Klopp had played all the kids and we lost there would’ve been outrage on here cause we didnt put a few of the first teamers in the mix to secure the points. 

[aws 6,635]

The team picked was strong enough to get a result. The effort given wasn't. 

[coachpotato 432]

If we’d have man marked Gomez with Gini, they wouldn’t have won.

It was obvious from the first game that anything they were going to do would come through him.

He showed enough touches in that game to know he was their most creative player.

[VladimirIlyich 7,355]

2 hours ago, 3 Stacks said:

You said it in a cuntish way. Negged again, by the way.

Wow. I admire your mind reading and handwriting reading skills. 

[3 Stacks 2,353]

47 minutes ago, VladimirIlyich said:

Wow. I admire your mind reading and handwriting reading skills. 

You literally said "I can't believe I'm agreeing with you". Don't have to be a mind reader to realize you were being an asshole.