FC Porto (A) - CL, Tue 28th Sep 2021 (8:00pm)

[sir roger]

Thought the ref was excellent , didn't buy any of their antics.

[AngryOfTuebrook]

1 hour ago, Jairzinho said:

Feels like if we sharpen up in the final third we could win this about 5-0.

Close.

[DalyanPete]

Get the fuckity fuck in

[suzy]

@dave u will love this as the original front 3 all scored!

[BeefStroganoff]

Enjoyed that. Ref was brilliant too. Nice to see Curtis step up and take a game by the scruff of the neck, he was excellent. 

Apart from a 10 minute spell second half we were firmly in control and it was good to see the defence return to some normality.

[Arnaud]

Great game to watch, no stress, but let’s not kidd ourselves, Porto were abysmal. Jurgen does not rotate much when it matters, does he ! 

[s(k)aturation]

 

Thank goodness we don't face mighty Brentford in Europe, eh.

 

 

[Josef Svejk]

1 hour ago, AngryOfTuebrook said:

I had the radio on. They mentioned Grujic coming on as sub and then never mentioned his name again.

I literally heard his name twice on BT. And I was paying attention... 

[Em City]

Curtis Jones is a proper player.

[Butch]

Be nice to play them every week. brilliant night and top of the group.

I'd be concerned about Madrid though, our European bogey side. 

[AngryOfTuebrook]

29 minutes ago, Arnaud said:

Great game to watch, no stress, but let’s not kidd ourselves, Porto were abysmal. Jurgen does not rotate much when it matters, does he ! 

I've only seen Caramac's gifs of the goals and they're bad enough. The keeper basically sat there, eating crisps, watching the ball roll past him and going "Ooh, that's an interesting ball; I wonder if it will reach Mané."

 

I like keepers like that.

[A_S]

1 hour ago, Stickman said:

We've got a five point lead in terms of qualifying which is pretty pretty good 

5 points, plus a superior GD and even the H2H for the 2 lower teams in the group. 

 

Good spot to be. 

[polymerpunkah]

Sixth straight match with at least 3 goals scored for LFC.

 

Not the toughest string of opponents, I suppose. 

 

But still, not too bad.

 

 

 

[s(k)aturation]

2 minutes ago, polymerpunkah said:

Sixth straight match with at least 3 goals scored for LFC.

 

Not the toughest string of opponents, I suppose. 

 

But still, not too bad.

 

And we get to test the theory out this Sunday.

 

 

[polymerpunkah]

1 minute ago, s(k)aturation said:

 

And we get to test the theory out this Sunday.

 

 

I'm not expecting Klopp to copy Tuchel's approach to City, for sure.

 

 

[VERBAL DIARRHEA]

41 minutes ago, Em City said:

Curtis Jones is a proper player.

Some disagree.

[lebron]

1 hour ago, an tha said:

The old styles make fights saying springs to mind and Porto are just perfect for us...they aren't very physical, don't really have any pace and they don't defend deeply in numbers.....all the things we sometimes struggle with they are just no good at.

 

Tailor made for us.

 

But all that said we were still good tonight, and it was good to see Jones running the show and looking like he has been doing it at this level for years....good to see Robbo looking sharper as well after a bit of a ropey start to this season....and the forwards all knocked in a few goals (Jota aside) which helps with their confidence ahead of Sunday.

 

3 more pts in group....sitting top, hopefully no more injury problems - all good.

 

 

I agree with most of the bolded part. I still don't think most posters on here appreciate the absolutely monstrous performances we produce week in and week out in terms of work-rate, pressing and off the ball movement, though. How many other sides go to Porto and absolutely shred them to pieces, or make Milan look like part-timers for 85 minutes? 

 

Every side has it's weaknesses. Ours has very few, rather insignifcant ones. We're a bit wasteful in the final third, and are still a bit susceptible to long ball, shit on a stick, time-wasting football. I'd rather focus on the positives though. I've seen enough football to appreciate having players sacrificing blood, sweat and tears to win the ball back high up the pitch for 90 mins. Apart from Guardiola's peak sides (Barca, Bayern and City) I have never seen a football team as good as this one in terms of team performance. There may have been more glamorous sides, and sides with better footballers relative to their era. I doubt many of them would have come out on top against us though. The only team I'd see us as clear underdogs against would be 09-11 Barca, as they probably would have been able to withstand our press the best, and the Xavi-Iniesta-Messi triangle was more than a bit special.

[m0e]

Great away European performance. We made them look bad, but of course the narrative will be that they were appalling.

 

I suppose there's no argument on their keeper though. 'Kinell.

 

Total dominance, particularly from a midfield missing 2 potential starters. They pressed the fuck out of them so much so that they literally has no options but to go long. And Matip and VVD mopped it all up superbly. Matip was outstanding today.

 

I saw Grujic coming on at half time but I can't confirm whether he did actually come on.

 

If anyone was ever in doubt about Curtis Jones, this game must have surely removed that doubt now.

 

What a player he's going to be.

 

As mentioned in earlier posts, a good referee really helps us, and it's what I expect in the CL.

 

It really changes the dynamic when fouls are given as fouls, irrespective of the colour of your shirt.

 

I thought Salah (who played well) was the weakest of the front 3 tonight. Jota played a good game, and I thought Mane was very effective after a ropey first 10 minutes.

 

Robbo looked back to his best too, fair play to him.

 

A word on Klopp, who got it wrong on Saturday with the subs. He confirmed he kept the same team so they could sort themselves out "on the pitch".

 

Top management, that.

 

And a final word on how lucky we are to have James Milner in this squad. As a Bosman, he has to go down as one of our best every signings.

[Em City]

6 hours ago, VERBAL DIARRHEA said:

Some disagree.

 

They're wrong.

[Red Shift]

Great performance, that. Milner was pretty boss tonight - I think he’s got to start against Citeh. TAA gonna miss international duty, which will be a blessing in disguise.

 

For their goal, hard to pin the blame on any individual, but Gomez for me, is not a natural right back. Brilliant centre alongside VVD, but weak at RB. Milner to start on Sunday.

 

I think we can win number seven this season. Would I take it over the league? Hell no, I want it all and I want it now.

[Arnaud]

7 hours ago, lebron said:

I agree with most of the bolded part. I still don't think most posters on here appreciate the absolutely monstrous performances we produce week in and week out in terms of work-rate, pressing and off the ball movement, though. How many other sides go to Porto and absolutely shred them to pieces, or make Milan look like part-timers for 85 minutes? 

 

Every side has it's weaknesses. Ours has very few, rather insignifcant ones. We're a bit wasteful in the final third, and are still a bit susceptible to long ball, shit on a stick, time-wasting football. I'd rather focus on the positives though. I've seen enough football to appreciate having players sacrificing blood, sweat and tears to win the ball back high up the pitch for 90 mins. Apart from Guardiola's peak sides (Barca, Bayern and City) I have never seen a football team as good as this one in terms of team performance. There may have been more glamorous sides, and sides with better footballers relative to their era. I doubt many of them would have come out on top against us though. The only team I'd see us as clear underdogs against would be 09-11 Barca, as they probably would have been able to withstand our press the best, and the Xavi-Iniesta-Messi triangle was more than a bit special.

Totally agree on the collective effort to put the other team under pressure. We were very good at that indeed.

[El Rojo]

8 hours ago, m0e said:

Great away European performance. We made them look bad, but of course the narrative will be that they were appalling.

 

I suppose there's no argument on their keeper though. 'Kinell.

 

Total dominance, particularly from a midfield missing 2 potential starters. They pressed the fuck out of them so much so that they literally has no options but to go long. And Matip and VVD mopped it all up superbly. Matip was outstanding today.

 

I saw Grujic coming on at half time but I can't confirm whether he did actually come on.

 

If anyone was ever in doubt about Curtis Jones, this game must have surely removed that doubt now.

 

What a player he's going to be.

 

As mentioned in earlier posts, a good referee really helps us, and it's what I expect in the CL.

 

It really changes the dynamic when fouls are given as fouls, irrespective of the colour of your shirt.

 

I thought Salah (who played well) was the weakest of the front 3 tonight. Jota played a good game, and I thought Mane was very effective after a ropey first 10 minutes.

 

Robbo looked back to his best too, fair play to him.

 

A word on Klopp, who got it wrong on Saturday with the subs. He confirmed he kept the same team so they could sort themselves out "on the pitch".

 

Top management, that.

 

And a final word on how lucky we are to have James Milner in this squad. As a Bosman, he has to go down as one of our best every signings.

I actually wondered if Grujic touched the ball. 

[Stickman]

Funny but when you're not great like Kenny's team 2011/12 keepers are unbelievable against you on a pretty much weekly basis yet when you're boss and don't need a helping hand some keepers see fit to give you just that 

[BeefStroganoff]

10 hours ago, AngryOfTuebrook said:

I've only seen Caramac's gifs of the goals and they're bad enough. The keeper basically sat there, eating crisps, watching the ball roll past him and going "Ooh, that's an interesting ball; I wonder if it will reach Mané."

 

I like keepers like that.

makes a change from no mark keepers having worlds against us!

[VERBAL DIARRHEA]

3 hours ago, Em City said:

 

They're wrong.

You’re right and so are we!