Real Madrid 3 Liverpool 1 (Apr 6 2021)

[Crazy Dave]

Feels like a massive opportunity lost, this. They were without their first choice centre backs plus Hazard who traditionally has ripped us a new one. 

 

I thought Madrid played very well mind, but we just didn't turn up at all. The midfield was a disgrace last night. No intensity, kept giving the ball straight back to them and basically got overrun. The lads at the back looked very nervous and the forwards toiled but couldn't make the ball stick. 

 

Keita is taking horrendous stick, and he was dogshit, but Fabinho and Gini were just as bad. Not a good night for Klopp either - looks like a huge mistake leaving out Thiago. 

 

Can't see us getting back into this now. Not without a crowd at Anfield. 

[Mark M]

One other thing that irritated me last night apart from all the obvious getting battered etc.

Both Jota and Mane played like they were on a skating rink the amount of times both slipped and lost their footing was very frustrating.

[rhylerpudlian]

3 hours ago, Total Longo said:

Are you suggesting Bobby is gone and we get rid of Mane??

yep, bobby's touch and creativity has deserted him, he's done nowt for a long while now, and sadio has lost that burst of pace that used to take him past defenders with ease, i love them both, they've been fantastic for us but i think their best days are behind them, and i'd sell them while they still have some value, but only if we can get quality players in to replace them  

 

3 hours ago, Total Longo said:

 

 

[m0e]

1 hour ago, Crazy Dave said:

Feels like a massive opportunity lost, this. They were without their first choice centre backs plus Hazard who traditionally has ripped us a new one. 

 

I thought Madrid played very well mind, but we just didn't turn up at all. The midfield was a disgrace last night. No intensity, kept giving the ball straight back to them and basically got overrun. The lads at the back looked very nervous and the forwards toiled but couldn't make the ball stick. 

 

Keita is taking horrendous stick, and he was dogshit, but Fabinho and Gini were just as bad. Not a good night for Klopp either - looks like a huge mistake leaving out Thiago. 

 

Can't see us getting back into this now. Not without a crowd at Anfield. 

They must have seen it as a massive opportunity too.

 

We were without our 1st 2nd 3rd 4th and 5th choice centre backs, without our captain, and without the Mane, Firmino and Salah of yesteryear.

 

We then gave them an extra bonus by dropping Thiago to play a half with 10 men.

 

They took the opportunity, and probably not as well as they could have.

[Guest]

Apparently the referee was laughing and joking with the Real Madrid players and/or coaching team as they came out for the second half. 

[lebron]

The falsest of false 9s needs to play if we're to get the best out Mane and Salah. It's been obvious for the last 3 years. It's no coincidence that they get crowded out whenever we put someone else in there.

 

I got ridiculed in the Haaland/Mbappe thread, but putting him in there would result in more of what we saw yesterday with Jota. No pressing effect on their midfield no winning the ball high up the pitch, and tightening space in the positions Mane and Salah normally deploy.

 

I agree Bobby personally has been below par for a good while, but his unselfish play still make the two other look a lot better than without him. Football isn't as simple as just replacing Firmino with Jota and thinking the top 3 will score more combined. If Jota plays, it should be instead of Mane or one of the 3 midfielders.

[lebron]

2 hours ago, Shooter in the Motor said:

Apparently the referee was laughing and joking with the Real Madrid players and/or coaching team as they came out for the second half. 

Yeah, didn't like the look of that either.

[Colonel Bumcunt]

I'd love to see Salah and Jota as a front 2, with a brilliant playmaker behind them.

 

I find it utterly infuriating to see Salah out on the flanks, he needs to be in and around the area, end of discussion. 

 

The game last night was the most frustrated I've been in a long time watching our games.  It's really worrying how Klopp seems to have lost the ability to get a tune out of the front 3, for the most part, and the first half of the game yesterday was beyond comprehension.  Yes, Madrid knocked long balls into the full back positions, that's obvious, but they had the time to look up and hit those balls, and that was criminal. Their back 4 should have been shitting themselves about our frontline, but they weren't, they couldn't give a shit about the crabs moving from side to side in front of them.   It was cringe. Klopp looked like a fucking idiot. 

 

And yes, the defence fell to bits.  For some reason, too uptight, too nervous, but why?  Our attackers should be removing all the nerves off them, our attackers should be scaring the shit out of the opposition to the point they can't attack us competently.  But they didn't. 

 

Alisson should have saved a couple of those.  That was a wank performance from him. I love him, but he's a sellable asset and we could buy two decent keepers to keep some sort of competition for places going.  Ali looks half asleep sometimes. 

 

Robbo was as shite as anyone else.  

 

Trent has quality we can't keep shoving in a full back position.  He's utterly wasted and now seems a good time to have a word with him about his future and developing a bit centrally. 

 

Gini, Fab, fair, not fair, sort of shit, I don;t think it matters too much when the attackers aren't doing anything.  

 

Keita, christ knows what went through Klopp's head.  That was a proper mad decision under the circumstances, I can't imagine how Thiago felt about being slighted in a big game like that, was it designed to wind him up?  I mean fucks sake, we're playing a Spanish team and it would be pretty helpful for a Spanish speaking lad to be helping us know what the oppo are saying to each other.  

 

Mane needs to beat a man and crack a decent shot with power at goal.  I don't understand why he'd be doing anything else other than doing that.  Stand his man up, give him the slip, crack one. He doesn't do it, and if he doesn't do that, then I look at him and wonder what the fuck else he's supposed to be doing. 

 

I get bored watching us try to attack.  It's so slow, so obvious, so wretched.  Jota has come along and changed a lot of that in blazing patches, and that's a reminder of the level we need to be at.  

 

I'd sell almost everyone, anyone, and build this team around Jota, Trent, Fabinho, Elliott, Thiago, Hendo, Van Dijk, Robbo. 

 

I would add Salah to that but I think he's destined to move on.  For what it's worth, I don't rate Jones, I think Mane needs a reboot or moving on, I think Milner is great but yaknow, Ali I've spoken about, and Kabak has a massive face. 

 

But as it stands, it's patently ridiculous to think we can compete with a back-up gang of Tsimikas, Keita, Chamberlain, Firmino, Gomez, Shaqiri, Origi, Davies, Matip.  Just can't do it, can't ignore it, there is no competition, just a bunch of cheerleaders sat on the bench. 

 

 

[scudger99]

5 hours ago, m0e said:

They must have seen it as a massive opportunity too.

 

We were without our 1st 2nd 3rd 4th and 5th choice centre backs, without our captain, and without the Mane, Firmino and Salah of yesteryear.

 

We then gave them an extra bonus by dropping Thiago to play a half with 10 men.

 

They took the opportunity, and probably not as well as they could have.

This.

And the latter COULD just be our saving grace, but we'll need to really turn up at Anfield.

It's still doable, but it's a slippery slope.

[Colonel Bumcunt]

Just rewatching some of it now, some thoughts. 

 

Pitch looks small, am I right? Seems easy for Madrid to get around and press.  

 

Also first six minutes Mane twice had a chance to go down and buy a free kick against robust challenges in their half but he didn't. We just lose the ball when we could have been sat on a free kick and relaxing more into the game.  

[Colonel Bumcunt]

Kabak dawdles on the ball for 9 seconds before panicking and hitting a crossfield ball 10 yards over Trent's head and into the stand.  

[dockers_strike]

2 minutes ago, Colonel Bumcunt said:

Just rewatching some of it now, some thoughts. 

 

Pitch looks small, am I right? Seems easy for Madrid to get around and press.  

 

Also first six minutes Mane twice had a chance to go down and buy a free kick against robust challenges in their half but he didn't. We just lose the ball when we could have been sat on a free kick and relaxing more into the game.  

Will be a UEFA compliant regulation size pitch, actually 105m by 68m so actually 4m longer than Anfield.

[Colonel Bumcunt]

Kabak again, too much time, hits a ball on the deck into the Madrid half straight to theirs, who then just kicks it back down the flank to the left of Kabak, who chooses to see it out for a throw deep in our half, which Robbo throws out of play, and so Madrid get a throw in deep into our half, for free.  

[Colonel Bumcunt]

Fucking unbelievably, from that throw, right in front of Klopp, Casemiro walks towards the thrower and nobody picks him up.  

[Colonel Bumcunt]

[Colonel Bumcunt]

[Code]

36 minutes ago, dockers_strike said:

Will be a UEFA compliant regulation size pitch, actually 105m by 68m so actually 4m longer than Anfield.

A shorter pitch is better for us though as it gives Phillips less yards to cover before he’s in the box.

[m0e]

2 hours ago, Colonel Bumcunt said:

You've got a lot of patience watching this again, my friend. Kudos.

[The Midnight Rambler]

About time Alisson got called out. Completely overrated.

[Iceman]

Classic case of overthinking it and worrying too much about the opposition instead of playing to our strengths and just trying to outscore them.

 

2 away goals gives you a great chance in CL so that's what we should have gone hunting for from early but we looked like a deer in the headlights of a mack truck and retreated into being passive vegans when we should have been feasting on the carcass of a depleted Real team. 

 

Also thought it was quite naive of our players to keep trying to press when it became apparent Madrid were going to go long as a response and/or poor in-game management by klopp not to change it when it was obvious what was happening. We needed to suffocate the midfield and power through them and instead we had Keita frolicking around like he'd been doing balloons of pre match hippy crack in the tunnel. High line and slow as fuck defenders didn't help plus Robbo shattered and TTA playing like he's in front of a mirror instead of getting his head down and focusing on the game with full concentration. 

 

We need to learn how to spoil a game and switch gears into fuckoff mode. A couple of bad fouls and some simulation on our behalf would have disrupted Real and that has to be part of our gameplan when we visit these types of cheating bastards. Ref did us over with that non-decision for Mane being pushed but that's to be expected. 

 

We can still win it and I honestly wouldn't bet against us because of our epic history of European comebacks but no 12th man at Anfield makes it a tough ask. If we play like this again they can fucking do one as I'm sick of seeing this half-assed bollocks. Arsenal game aside we have been utter dogshite and supporters deserve way more. 

[stringvest]

20 hours ago, Supremolad said:

Yep. I'm wondering why 'long covid' is now a valid reason for Mane's shit performances despite no evidence. Seems that the more some people keep repeating it, the more it seems to be accepted as true.

 

The simpler, more straightforward thing is to say he has experienced a natural decline in form this season. Many players usually experience it at some stage in their career. Instead of making excuses for him, our hope should be that he can stop the decline and maintain a good level of consistent form next season.

 

 

For me, the problem with - or rather for - Mane is that he is seeing less of the ball in dangerous positions. He is still putting in the effort.   

[dave u]

Mané is putting loads of effort in and you can see he's getting really frustrated. I don't know if its long Covid related or not, but he is proper fucking shit at the moment. Not just one of those where a players loses form. He's lost everything. 

[Colonel Bumcunt]

12 hours ago, The Midnight Rambler said:

About time Alisson got called out. Completely overrated.

I'm not sure he's worth the money, he's had a long spell where we shit ourselves when he has the ball at his feet. 

He doesn't seem to save a lot of shots, very rarely he seems to bail us out, certainly in comparison with other keepers that we see come to Anfield and make save after save. All keepers are capable of one-off games, not just Alisson. 

 

I just dont think he's motivated to develop, he knows he's the starter, much like what happed with De Gea.  

 

Maybe the trick is to swap your keepers every 2 years.

 

https://www.footballcritic.com/top-players/goalkeepers

[DJLJ]

1 hour ago, dave u said:

Mané is putting loads of effort in and you can see he's getting really frustrated. I don't know if its long Covid related or not, but he is proper fucking shit at the moment. Not just one of those where a players loses form. He's lost everything. 

The second goal Jota scored in the Arsenal game was a prime example. It gets played into Mane, that can’t trap a bag of cement currently and bounces off him and Jota thunders the ball into the net. Last season Mane would have gotten that ball under control and would have scored. Now a wall can trap a ball better than him. Honestly it looks like his body is taking a second longer to respond to doing things, than it would have done last year. 

[3 Stacks]

20 hours ago, lebron said:

The falsest of false 9s needs to play if we're to get the best out Mane and Salah. It's been obvious for the last 3 years. It's no coincidence that they get crowded out whenever we put someone else in there.

 

I got ridiculed in the Haaland/Mbappe thread, but putting him in there would result in more of what we saw yesterday with Jota. No pressing effect on their midfield no winning the ball high up the pitch, and tightening space in the positions Mane and Salah normally deploy.

 

I agree Bobby personally has been below par for a good while, but his unselfish play still make the two other look a lot better than without him. Football isn't as simple as just replacing Firmino with Jota and thinking the top 3 will score more combined. If Jota plays, it should be instead of Mane or one of the 3 midfielders.

Agreed. Jota, Mané, Salah would work if we're playing a side that defends man for man like Atalanta did in the game in Bergamo, which happens so rarely, or if we're looking to counter all game. 

 

But we're a side that usually wants to play out from the back and have lots of possession, so having 3 strikers that all don't usually want to play deeper or are any good at involving themselves in the midfield, just doesn't make much sense. Madrid pressed us so easily and no one in the front was effectively coming short for an out ball. That's what people are missing with wanting to drop Firmino.