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Chelsea (H) PL - Thurs 4th Mar 2021 at 20:15


TheDrowningMan
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15 minutes ago, The Guest said:

I disagree.  We tend to play out from the back  and through midfield very well.  I don’t know what game people are watching if they don’t see this.  It’s about the only thing we do well.  You can see we’ve trained it to within inch of our lives.  We’ve gone from Hendo in the No. 6 role firing the ball back to where it came from years ago to every midfielder we have taking it on the turn even when under pressure.  We work the angles to perfection every game.  We have loads of possession and it’s the reason why we hardly ever give it away and it’s lots of 2 touch and 1 touch passing which isn’t slow either.

 

What follows is a number of things.  We sometimes go long up the line, we sometimes hold possession going side to side, we sometimes push one of the full backs up the pitch and sometimes Salah or Mane goes to the touchline and gets it.  What they all have in common is that a player on the ball at that point is left in a situation where he needs to beat the man in front of him on his own.  Nobody overlaps the player on the ball out wide causing the full back problems.

 

It’s worked quite well over the years but every single team we come up against now clearly knows if they fill the middle of the pitch and you just double up on that man on the ball out wide and just allow crosses to come in from deep positions because they are never threatening ever.   Salah can’t beat one man most times never mind two.  Trent never overlaps which is fucking mental when you see how often he leaves us exposed.  He may as well do it.  On the opposite flank it’s Robertson on his own. When someone bothered to go out to the left I think it was either Jones or Firmino and he went down the line they just ignored him or used him as a decoy to play a cute pass inside which led to nothing every time because players got crowded out.  It’s the same thing every game.

We don't play out from back way we did at all.

 

We pass it short and sideways and midfielders come deep to collect it much more than did and then without Hendo we don't play through midfield in anywhere near same way.

 

That is why we keep smashing ball into Salah who has a man tight to him and ask him to try and control it and then beat his man and create something....it rarely works, best he can do is hold it and lay it back and then we slowly pass it around again until it fizzles out in front of a team sitting comfortably in shape.

 

We used to move it much quicker, stretching teams and penning them in.

 

Our full backs don't start as high, don't spend as much time high with threatening ball and we don't get ball into front men in as dangerous areas, in as much space and with as much support.

 

Our possession in front of teams happy to sit and watch us pass it side to side and in front of them without threatening to get behind them is not the playing through midfield we used to do.

 

Our press and winning of ball higher up has died too.

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What I don't like to see is that Klopps smile have completely gone more or less these past few months. He is going through a tough time right now managerwise and personal with his mother passing and not being able to go home and grieve with his family.

 

FSG will be asking questions that's for sure. They have been ruthless before and if they sense Klopp don't have what it takes to turn it around he'll be out the door before anyone can say a damn thing. It's an investement and right now the value is decreasing big time. 

 

Other option is that Klopp walks himself. I don't think and sincerely hope he won't but it's definetly an option. He is out of ideas or don't want to change it up. His playing Firmino over and over again when even Stevie Wonder can see it's of no use anymore. We play the same lethartic football again and again. Completely void of ideas. Down the wing, cut back, chip it into the box. Repeat. 

 

No matter what happens the squad needs a massive overhaul and if we ever had the sligthest chance or considering signing Håland that ship have sailed now. I'll put a 99% Code like guarantee on that. Or just anyone of signifiance. No CL and we have no cash, not that those yank cunts would have spend a dime anyway. So I guess it's an academic discussion. Just pray that no big club have money to take Salah. 

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Just now, Mark M said:

We didn’t have a shot on target for the 65mins he was on the pitch for.

 

it doesn’t look like an individual issue but collectively the whole team look leggy/ and out of ideas.
 

Mo still created two quality chances.  Unfortunaly Mo hasn't mastered the trick of passing to himself 20 yds away.

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28 minutes ago, Nelly-Torres said:

I blame that little Irish, United supporting sprout who wrote that letter to Klopp asking him to make Liverpool lose more games. 

 

No way Klopp should've replied to the cheeky cunt. He should've sent him one of Virgil's massive fucking logs in an empty Cheese & Onion Tayto's bag. 

 

The jinxing little fuck. 

Thanks for the laugh!

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6 minutes ago, Colonel Bumcunt said:

If you think that Salah and Mane are going to chalk this season off as acceptable then you're wrong.  

At this rate they will both be agitating for moves.  

Wrong age to ask them to trust it'll all be fine next year.  Their agents will be busy. 


Mane would be lucky if Sheff Utd wanted him, he has scored three goals in the league since mid October. 

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The midfield is the problem, it's not offering anything offensively or defensively. Gini and Thiago may as well not be on the pitch, and Jones isn't ready to be playing consistently. 

 

Prior to signing Fabinho, we used to have a similar problem when we used to play Gini, Hendo and Milner together in the middle and more often than not it was dire to watch, and on top of that the opposition would be right on top of our defence with a couple of passes.

This only changed when Fabinho came into the team and Hendo has progressed massively since then.

 

Gini almost never offers a forward pass and Thiago seems to be playing in a state of shock. Even his pass are horrendous at the moment, he's misjudging the weight if he's having to play anything other than a 5 yard pass.

 

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3 minutes ago, Colonel Bumcunt said:

If you think that Salah and Mane are going to chalk this season off as acceptable then you're wrong.  

At this rate they will both be agitating for moves.  

Wrong age to ask them to trust it'll all be fine next year.  Their agents will be busy. 

If i trusted FSG to give Klopp the money to spend then maybe one of them going would work out ok in long run....the worry is one goes and FSG pocket money as replacing the 75m or whatever it is not being in European Cup loses us.

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1 minute ago, ManéMan said:

The midfield is the problem, it's not offering anything offensively or defensively. Gini and Thiago may as well not be on the pitch, and Jones isn't ready to be playing consistently. 

 

Prior to signing Fabinho, we used to have a similar problem when we used to play Gini, Hendo and Milner together in the middle and more often than not it was dire to watch, and on top of that the opposition would be right on top of our defence with a couple of passes.

This only changed when Fabinho came into the team and Hendo has progressed massively since then.

 

Gini almost never offers a forward pass and Thiago seems to be playing in a state of shock. Even his pass are horrendous at the moment, he's misjudging the weight if he's having to play anything other than a 5 yard pass.

 

The whole team is the problem. We have no style of football anymore. You can't simply blame one unit when you gain 1 point at home in two whole months. 

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As a 3 Thiago, Jones and Wijnaldum are totally unsuited to way we are set up/want to play.

 

They offer no protection whatsoever, nothing much creatively, they don’t move the ball forward quickly enough or into good areas, they don’t close down and support a press. I have no idea what they do or are supposed to do as a 3.

 

 

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1 hour ago, El Rojo said:

Ha, actually agree with that. The only thing worse than missing out on the top four is getting a Europa League place. You just know we won’t just play the kids and reserves either. 

There's a new European competition next season that's even worse than the Europa League. 

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17 minutes ago, Colonel Bumcunt said:

If you think that Salah and Mane are going to chalk this season off as acceptable then you're wrong.  

At this rate they will both be agitating for moves.  

Wrong age to ask them to trust it'll all be fine next year.  Their agents will be busy. 

I wouldn’t lose any sleep over selling Mane.  If we got a good offer he should be sold anyway.

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1 minute ago, an tha said:

As a 3 Thiago, Jones and Wijnaldum are totally unsuited to way we are set up/want to play.

 

They offer no protection whatsoever, nothing much creatively, they don’t move the ball forward quickly enough or into good areas, they don’t close down and support a press. I have no idea what they do or are supposed to do as a 3.

 

 

Yep. 

Well, let's be honest, Jones is the biggest issue. 

He's miles off the standard.  The lad is not the answer, and too many are blinded by the fairytale.  

 

Were two players off being ace again, and those two spots are currently taken by Firmino and Jones.  

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Just now, 3 Stacks said:

There's a new European competition next season that's even worse than the Europa League. 

And as it stand we look likely to be in it.

 

It is set for the league cup winners, but If the winners of the League Cup have finished in the Premier League’s top five, then the spot will go to the sixth-placed side in the Premier League...

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Slow, indecisive, lack of quality when it matters. We're continuing to drone on like we've been doing as of late. The Chelsea goal could have easily been stopped if we had more players throwing themselves in front of the ball. Not enough grit. Mane should have scored when he got that superb cross from Salah. But there's something missing these days. Something is very wrong. Everything we do looks difficult. And subbing off our top scorer half an hour before full time? Sorry Klopp, wrong decision that. 

 

Positives? Only one goal against. And Jota - he showed quality and determination when he got on. Let's hope he stays injury free and wins some games for us, we gotta pick up a strings of wins if we are to have any chance on top 4.

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4 minutes ago, Colonel Bumcunt said:

Yep. 

Well, let's be honest, Jones is the biggest issue. 

He's miles off the standard.  The lad is not the answer, and too many are blinded by the fairytale.  

 

Were two players off being ace again, and those two spots are currently taken by Firmino and Jones.  

I like the lad, but he shouldn't be being asked to play every week and in a side with problems....

 

Sadly we have been left with no choice due to lack of centre halves and sick notes in squad.

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I don’t know if I’m scrambling for excuses, but when times get tough and I’m scrambling for answers, I personally would like to consider the facts, rather than be emotional about it (easier said than done on my part)...

 

- Lost our center-backs

- players out of position.

- stand-in center-backs now injured.

- bereavement.

- COVID.

 

Pretty tough challenges for any group of people to take in. And each set of circumstances have exacerbated the prior problems.

 

I can take a bad season, the kicker is whether the club and the owners recognize this with necessary investment in the summer. If they do, we can rebound from a clear confluence of bad luck and circumstances.
 

The concern is, whether they will act.

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Absolute batshit criticism of Jones now.  He’s not being asked to play every week.  He had loads of time out of the team and came back in making the difference against West Ham off the bench and Sheffield United.  He started today off the back of a man of the match performance.  Who the fucking hell else were you going to start ahead of him?  It’s the same comical nonsense about not starting Fabinho at centre back tonight when the only other available player is Rhys Williams which would have been the equivalent of throwing the game.  Jones is 20 years old playing in centre midfield and his game has come on massively from the already ridiculously talented player he was to begin with which shows he’s got more chance of being a future star than anyone else we have.  The creativity problems have been the same and sometimes worse with him out of the team.

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Its obvious that the players we have available now are barely capable of a top 4-6 spot. Klopp is a magnificent manager but even he cant turn this sow's ear of a team into a silk purse. If Guardiola could have prayed as to which players would prevent us from being a challenge then I'm sure he would have gone for VVD and Hendo as two of the top three or four. Also to turn Firmino into Championship player would be a bonus. He's had those three wishes granted and more besides. Klopp is brilliant but to persist with the same players in the same positions within the same formation is only going to end one way.

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26 minutes ago, The Guest said:

Absolute batshit criticism of Jones now.  He’s not being asked to play every week.  He had loads of time out of the team and came back in making the difference against West Ham off the bench and Sheffield United.  He started today off the back of a man of the match performance.  Who the fucking hell else were you going to start ahead of him?  It’s the same comical nonsense about not starting Fabinho at centre back tonight when the only other available player is Rhys Williams which would have been the equivalent of throwing the game.  Jones is 20 years old playing in centre midfield and his game has come on massively from the already ridiculously talented player he was to begin with which shows he’s got more chance of being a future star than anyone else we have.  The creativity problems have been the same and sometimes worse with him out of the team.

Bullseye

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By Sam Wallace.

 

The question at full-time that hung over an empty Anfield echoing to the whoops and shrieks of celebrating Chelsea players is whether a home defeat any longer counts as a shock for the team still known as defending champions by convention alone.

Currently they are defending nothing of what they won last season - beaten again, for the seventh time in 13 league games, and this the unprecedented fifth in a row at home. A game that was lost to a Thomas Tuchel team that is resurgent under their new German manager, while in the other technical area the greatest German manager that the English game has known seemed to be running out of options.

His team looks crushed. They cannot dominate opponents as they did and the goals that once rained in from the Premier League’s most dangerous forward line feel like a faint memory. Sadio Mane missed a first half bouncing ball in front of Chelsea’s goal by such a considerable margin that it was hard to call it a shot. Mohamed Salah was replaced with barely an hour played and his team desperate for a goal. The club’s top goalscorer of the last three seasons performed his frustration for the cameras that followed him back to his seat.

Klopp later said that he had sensed that Salah was no longer “fresh”. “I could’ve changed a lot of players,” he said. “In the moment he felt the intensity and I didn’t want to risk him.” Liverpool have scored once in these five defeats, from the penalty spot. In the meantime this was the stage for the biggest win of Tuchel’s Chelsea nascent career.

Ten games so far and no defeats yet, with this one sealed by a moment of exceptional skill at the end of the first half by Mason Mount, the most effective player on the pitch. Tuchel still has his problems, primarily the frazzled confidence of Timo Werner but the team is back. “Super-happy” was how the coach described his response to his first ten games in charge. “This is a brave team and in big games they show up,” he said. 

Chelsea did not take all their chances, but they took the one they needed to and the system, incorporating three centre-halves once again felt solid in the face of a desperate last push from Liverpool in the game’s closing stages. It was a spectacular effort from the likes of Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen. Chelsea are up to fourth at the expense of Liverpool in seventh and four points behind.

English Premier League

  Team P W D L GD Pts
1 Manchester City 27 20 5 2 39 65
2 Manchester United 27 14 9 4 21 51
3 Leicester City 27 15 5 7 15 50
4 Chelsea 27 13 8 6 17 47
5 Everton 26 14 4 8 6 46
6 West Ham United 26 13 6 7 9 45
7 Liverpool 27 12 7 8 12 43
8 Tottenham Hotspur 26 12 6 8 15 42

Still, as Tuchel has managed to lift Chelsea back into top four contention, is it hard to drag the gaze away from Liverpool – now on course to be worse defending champions than the Manchester United team that saw David Moyes ousted in 2013-2014. This staggering fall from grace for Liverpool’s 99-point season has recurring features. Another central defensive pairing offering the same instability. Great goalscorers who no longer score goals. A team addicted to playing a certain way, even as it crumbles around them.  

The Chelsea goalkeeper Edouard Mendy had one shot to save. There was pressure on Chelsea, especially in the desperate closing stages as Klopp’s players sensed another galling defeat, and yet there was so little danger. In attack, Liverpool feel like the kettle that never boils. A great expending of energy for so little return.

For a while in the early stages, Klopp’s team had Chelsea pinned back. But once the away side started to escape, the vulnerabilities for Liverpool at the back – in Fabinho and Ozan Kabak - were clear. As for Mount, others saw their moments come and go while he seized upon his.

It was the kind of goal that his team-mate Werner, two years older, could really have benefited from but it just refused to happen for the German. He had one chance on 16 minutes that he lobbed feebly into the arms of Alisson, back in goal for Liverpool, and a later one in which he was ruled offside by Var by the thickness of a cuff.

In the race for Jorginho’s long ball the Chelsea striker had beaten Alisson, rushing unwisely out of goal on 24 minutes. Werner nicked it past the goalkeeper and got to it in time to steer it into the Liverpool goal. It felt like Werner never believed the goal would be given and with one in the league since the end of October you can understand why. On a margin not visible to the naked eye, Var decided it was offside.

Klopp said that the game’s big moments had passed his team by. “I told the boys what I saw tonight,” he said. “To get these moments back you have to fight and you have to fight on a different level. It’s not about tactics, it’s about being resilient and showing heart.” He said: “It has never [been the case] that we start blaming the circumstances. We had a really good team on the pitch and we played a lot of good football – but in the decisive moments, not good enough.”

Mount’s goal was splendid. A Liverpool attack broke down and N’Golo Kante had time in midfield to look up and send a long ball out to the left. Mount was wide but Fabinho and Trent Alexander-Arnold were neither tight nor aggressive enough. The 22-year-old moved the ball back right on his right foot and by the time Fabinho had recognised what was happening, Mount had spied the opportunity, shaping a shot round Alisson’s left hand.

The striking of the ball against Kante’s right hand in the 47th minute when Roberto Firmino hit a shot at the Frenchman precipitated loud appeals. Otherwise it was hard to think of the moment when Klopp’s side should have scored. At the other end Hakim Ziyech had a chance cleared off the line. It hardly needed saying that this was the first time in 128 years of their history that Liverpool have lost five at home in the league in a row.

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We huffed and puffed but they were superior all over the park tonight.  I’m not lauding them as the second coming, it’s speaks much more of our own ills this season. 

4 minutes ago, VladimirIlyich said:

We were fine until the last third and then we made them look like a great team. 

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2 minutes ago, DunneyBoy said:

We huffed and puffed but they were superior all over the park tonight.  I’m not lauding them as the second coming, it’s speaks much more of our own ills this season. 

Its the lack of intensity that is killing us and teams are doing to us what we used to do to them because of it. But we havent got the players to make it work,or at least not in the right positions.

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