Real Madrid - Champions League (A) 6/4/21 - 20:00

[The Guest]

Klopp needs to get Mane back to basics.  He’s playing him either down the middle or coming inside far too much as the left winger.  He needs to be on the touch line standing players up with Robertson overlapping.  As soon as Jota went off there was nobody at all out there.  It’s painful watching how obvious it is.  As soon as they dropped back we were never scoring because it was the same as any team earlier this year.  We can’t break sides down because we don’t get enough players wide.

[El Rojo]

3 minutes ago, waddy78 said:

Everyone said in 2019 the final, our midfield will out work them, BT said the same tonight but on both games they dominated us.

We underestimated them then and tonight again. History and legacy are huge in this competition. I’d back them

to beat us most times. 

[Captain Howdy]

3 minutes ago, El Rojo said:

I don’t think we’ll do enough next week without a crowd. 
 

Real aren’t Barcelona. Not the greatest side of theirs, but the European Cup is in their DNA as least as much as it’s in ours and they won’t be bottling anything. 

They’ll beat us at Anfield

[3 Stacks]

1 minute ago, etho said:

Mane has to have long covid surely? Looks like daniel Sturridge on the turn at the moment, and I'm pretty sure he was rapid 6 months ago, is in his twenties and hasn't sustained a serious injury. Doesn't look right

 

He's playing 90 minutes every game. You can't do that with long Covid. He's just shite.

[Josef Svejk]

Predictable weaknesses exposed: Trent about the worst defensive full back going; Phillips slow and inexperienced; Keita a nonentity; Mane a shadow of himself. 

[Shitty Arse]

3 minutes ago, Saintslfc13 said:

Guillem Balague sucking Vinicius off on Paramount stream. He's got a bunch of pace sure but he got lucky to have a second goal tonight and the ref protected him like he was fucking Messi or Ronaldo. I'm not saying he's not a decent player but I don't think he's the second coming as they're making out.

One goal in his previous 31 matches Lineker just mentioned. Fucking typical.

[lebron]

Firstly, what was up with that pitch? All the players (Real's too) were slipping and sliding all evening. Seemed to hinder our passing play a lot more than Madrid's though.

 

Secondly, for all the criticism Firmino gets, there's no doubt his unselfish play and harassing of defenders/midfielders is pivotal to our pressing and attacking play. I feared the worst when he started on the bench, and we were only really in the ascendancy after his introduction. He HAS to start in the return leg. If we want to use Jota, it should be as an impact sub or as one of the midfielders.

 

Thirdly, a lot of players were under par today. Our passing was atrocious throughout.

 

PS! The ref was proper shit. He missed pretty much all the important decisions, both ways.

 

 

[AngryOfTuebrook]

11 minutes ago, Iceman said:

2-0 needed. Oh well, considering the abject shit stain of a performance its actually a decent outcome. 

Madrid didn't look unbeatable.  Far from it.  As long as we're not shit in the second leg, we can still do this.

[Bjornebye]

That first half was as bad as I've seen us play under Klopp but the second half we matched them. The Keita decision will give Klopp nightmares and the ref in the 2nd half was absolutely woeful. 

 

Mane is well off the boil which is worrying but he gets fuck all decisions given his way. 

 

The fans will be a big miss but over the two legs before tonight we were favourites to go through so we can do to them what they did to us tonight. I doubt they will play as bad as we did first half but 2:0, or 3:1 at home is far from beyond the realms of possibility. We are still very much in this, just need the big players to turn up. By big players I mean every player on the fucking pitch. 

 

Twat them 5 nil. 

[aRdja]

Just now, Josef Svejk said:

Predictable weaknesses exposed: Trent about the worst defensive full back going; Phillips slow and inexperienced; Keita a nonentity; Mane a shadow of himself. 

Kabak on the other hand was very good I thought. Fair play to him.

[Funkasy]

Mane was shit, but salah did fuck all to,(except the goal) taking Jota off was just stupid, just like starting with keita and that double sub that did fuck all either, shaqiri touched the ball twice and Firmino was finished 18 months ago. 
 

we will win 2-0 at anfield, Salah and Mane. 

[s(k)aturation]

 

If we supposedly sell to buy, then alas, the tough call I'd make for some coin would be Mane.

 

 

[Code]

35 minutes ago, skaro said:

Adrian would have liked to have borrowed some of that credit in the Atletico game.

How can anyone blame Alisson for that goal? If he had saved it, it would have been a great save. 
 

Phillips nowhere near that «Brazilian Ibe», between Phillips legs, very difficult for Alisson. 

[Halcyon Days]

Fuck off Mcmanaman.

The 'g' in -ing is never pronounced. What is pronounced is the velar nasal consonant represented in IPA as [ŋ]. ... The difference between [ŋg] and just [ŋ] can be heard in the difference between the words finger and singer. You should never use a [g] in meeting.

The stupid fake cunt.

[Stickman]

4 minutes ago, Captain Howdy said:

I think this team needs an overhaul. We’re not a very good side anymore and it’s only going to get worse. We’ve been poor now for over a year.

9 defeats in last 16 games say’s its all....Great sides doesn’t have stats like that, and we were a great side .

[s(k)aturation]

1 minute ago, Code said:

How can anyone blame Alisson for that goal? If he had saved it, it would have been a great save. 
 

Phillips nowhere near that «Brazilian Ibe», between Phillips legs, very difficult for Alisson. 

 

Yeah, I'll stick with being wrong and put it down to Alisson.

 

And yeah, defending should have been better.

 

[Preston Red]

Real are cunts, the ref was a bad prick and Zidane is a fucking slaphead.

[m0e]

5 minutes ago, Funkasy said:

Mane was shit, but salah did fuck all to,(except the goal) taking Jota off was just stupid, just like starting with keita and that double sub that did fuck all either, shaqiri touched the ball twice and Firmino was finished 18 months ago. 
 

we will win 2-0 at anfield, Salah and Mane. 

"Salah did fuck all except score our goal" is quite possibly the most ridiculous line I've heard in football.

[dockers_strike]

Win the 2nd leg 2-0 and we go through!

 

Seriously, I dont think anyone comes out of that game looking good. I think their first was a well worked goal and dont think the defence was at fault. Goals get scored, it's as simple as that.

 

We looked tired and even if arsenal were shit, we created virtually nothing tonight.

 

Allison really should be doing better on the 3rd. Yes, he's a great keeper but he's letting in a few too many goals  he really should be keeping out.

 

Trent was lacking all game and let his frustration get to him late on. He really cannot be just taking a punt with that header across the box for them to get their 2nd though.

 

Kabak and Phillips were up against it all night with the midfield offering no protection whatever.

 

Robbo never seemed to get going and for whatever reason, Sadio doesnt look to link up with him any more.

 

Fabinho and Wijnaldum were slow all night and had plenty of miss placed passes. Gini was involved with the pass to Jota whose blocked shot enabled Mo to pull one back.

 

Keita was anonymous. What can you say except a bad decision by Jurgen to play him.

 

Mo took his chance well but was pretty much on the periphery same as Jota. I just dont know what's going on with Sadio. Said it before but he looks like his head and heart is elsewhere. He's knocked off the ball too easily and he only ever goes down outside the box. Should have had a clear foul immediately before their 2nd though.

 

Out of all the goals, the 2nd and 3rd pretty much annoy me. People can blame Nat for the 1st if they want but I say that's a goal even if Virgil's playing.

 

Their 2nd was a truely abysmal piece of defending. Obvious Trent doesnt mean to head it into the path of a Real player but at the same time, you dont nod a ball like that across the front of your box.

 

The 3rd was just like a couple of seasons ago, everyone go up for a corner then get caught on the break. Trent did well to intercept the ball for a corner as he was 1 against 2.

 

But the relief was short lived when Vinicius got his 2nd and Real's 3rd. Initially I didnt really see what happened asI was viewing in a small screen. Fabinho was left for dead by Modric and Vinicius had a snapshot that in all honesty, doesnt have a lot of power.

 

Alli gets a good hand to it but cannot keep it out. It's disappointing your keeper cannot keep a shot like that out when he gets a good hand to it.

 

Jurgen went chasing a 2nd goal bringing on Firmino and Shaq and I really dont get the questioning him about the subs. Sure, he could have left Kabak on and taken Nat off but the net effect was the same. Diogo looked a bit fucked so yeah, thanks Portugal for running him ragged during the international break. Cunts.

[Preston Red]

5 minutes ago, lebron said:

Firstly, what was up with that pitch? All the players (Real's too) were slipping and sliding all evening. Seemed to hinder our passing play a lot more than Madrid's though.

 

Secondly, for all the criticism Firmino gets, there's no doubt his unselfish play and harassing of defenders/midfielders is pivotal to our pressing and attacking play. I feared the worst when he started on the bench, and we were only really in the ascendancy after his introduction. He HAS to start in the return leg. If we want to use Jota, it should be as an impact sub or as one of the midfielders.

 

Thirdly, a lot of players were under par today. Our passing was atrocious throughout.

 

PS! The ref was proper shit. He missed pretty much all the important decisions, both ways.

 

 

That pitch was totally saturated. Watch the replay of the first goal and you'll see a huge amount of spray come up off of Kroos' boot.

[an tha]

9th defeat in last 16 games.

 

That is poor, very very poor.

 

 

 

 

[Stickman]

I said it in the top four thread you can’t get away with a centre half of Phillips and Kabak, and that’s nothing against them but they’re not good enough and  we will get found out again before the end of the season 

[3 Stacks]

10 minutes ago, Captain Howdy said:

I think this team needs an overhaul. We’re not a very good side anymore and it’s only going to get worse. We’ve been poor now for over a year.

Letting Gini go and selling either Mane or Firmino is the way to go. Need to get younger, fresher. As well as wasters like Keita and the broken Matip. We'll be lucky if more than one of those things happen, unfortunately.

[Saintslfc13]

7 minutes ago, lebron said:

Firstly, what was up with that pitch? All the players (Real's too) were slipping and sliding all evening. Seemed to hinder our passing play a lot more than Madrid's though.

 

Secondly, for all the criticism Firmino gets, there's no doubt his unselfish play and harassing of defenders/midfielders is pivotal to our pressing and attacking play. I feared the worst when he started on the bench, and we were only really in the ascendancy after his introduction. He HAS to start in the return leg. If we want to use Jota, it should be as an impact sub or as one of the midfielders.

 

Thirdly, a lot of players were under par today. Our passing was atrocious throughout.

 

PS! The ref was proper shit. He missed pretty much all the important decisions, both ways.

 

 

I think you can make an argument that those balls over the top from Kroos don't happen/aren't nearly as effective with Bobby harassing him as well. I still think with Hendo out we should start all 4 of them but Mané's run of form makes the case for him to be dropped as well.

[Bjornebye]

2 minutes ago, Preston Red said:

That pitch was totally saturated. Watch the replay of the first goal and you'll see a huge amount of spray come up off of Kroos' boot.

Yeah I noticed that early on. A few balls slid out and a few of our players (Robbo, Gini and Jota) slipped on the dugout side of the pitch. Not an excuse at all but that pitch was sodden in the first half.