Liverpool 3 Norwich 1 (Feb 20 2022)

[tlw content]

 

 

 

Report by

Dave Usher

 

Hello! Hello! Here we go! This weekend needs a Clive Tyldesley commentary as it feels like Stevie’s goal in Istanbul. Shit, it might even be Vladi’s. Whatever, it feels significant and a real momentum changer. I’m not going to say too much here about City’s result because that will be covered in the Round Up later in the week, but some results mean more than others simply because of the manner in which they go down. 

 

City losing to Spurs was always going to be a significant development in the title race, but the crazy way it happened means it feels even more pivotal. The way they lost that game has to be a massive kick in the balls to them, because it looked like they’d got out of jail with a disallowed VAR goal and then a stoppage time penalty awarded to them by their friendly neighbourhood ref. After they equalised they’ll have been thinking they might win it, and then BOOM. 

 

Whereas at the opposite end of the scale you have our lads on a massive high after coming from behind to beat Norwich and close the gap at the top. At the start of the weekend it was just widely assumed that City would stroll to the title. Then, in the space of just a few hours, suddenly the narrative changed.

 

Remember the dramatic win at Villa Park in our title winning season and how that meant more than just the points? City had come from behind to win that day and then it looked like we would lose. Had we won that game 4-0 at a canter I doubt City would have been arsed. But because of the way that game went down with the drama at the end it was about much more than just the points. The momentum swing in our favour that day was massive and we never looked back. Could the same thing happen now?

 

We’ll see, but momentum is definitely with us now and if we can ride that wave over the next few weeks then who knows what will happen. City were 12 points clear a week ago. In a few days that gap might be down to three. I know the 12 point gap was never a proper reflection of things because of the games in hand, but it was still 12 points and now it might be about to be cut to three. Psychologically that’s massive.

 

We made unnecessarily hard work of beating Norwich though. The easy conclusion to draw from that is the number of changes made by Klopp made us a bit disjointed but I don’t really subscribe to that. Not fully anyway. Obviously it didn’t help. 

 

 

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[sir roger]

Great summary,  Dave. 

 

Don't think Sadio is getting enough credit for the technique for his goal , most overheads are when the ball comes from the player's right so they can watch the ball right onto their foot, whereas Sadio had to improvise with the ball coming blind over his shoulder.

 

I didn't feel Mo scuffed his scoring shot  I thought he suckered the two defenders with a dragged finish.

 

 

[mgw100]

It looked like a scuff to me

[alles ist gut]

Top, top Ferrero Rocher analysis there, Dave.

[stringvest]

Nice Dave.  You're right about Mo.  Almost from the first minute, you could see that Mo had the young full back in his pocket.  Mo knew it, the lad knew it, the crowd knew it, and the women warming up the Scouse pies knew it even if they couldn't see the pitch.  What surprised me was that Norwich chose to do fuck all about it.  

 

When I was a lad, if there was a full back being shown his arse by a tricky winger, a big grock would be summoned from MF or CB to lumber over and dish out a few reducers on the unfortunate wingster.   

 

None of the above happened though, and Mo must've thought this was his birthday when he was allowed free reign against the hapless fb.  

 

You're also right about Thiago of course.  What a player we have there.

[Total Longo]

As much as i hate defending Taylor, he initially didn't give the City pen. It was VAR again intervening. All of the VAR stuff went their way and they still lost, to quote their old mate Parker from Thunderbirds, "It's too funny".  

[dockers_strike]

Good report Dave, pretty much as I saw the game.

 

Im more than happy to trumpet the 12 point lead city had being whittled away. No different to 2018 was it, when Sky claimed we threw away a 10 point lead even though city had a game or two in hand and we eventually lost the title by a couple of points?

 

[DJLJ]

Not sure why you didn't mention the 30 yard 'no-look' pass from Thiago to Tsimikas? or was it to Sadio? Perhaps it is covered in the podcast, haven't had a chance to listen to it yet. That was almost even more spectacular than the inch perfect ball to Mo, where he curled it just wide. Absolute masterclass from Thiago.

[rb14]

I too wasn't overly concerned about the scoreline at half time. We'd battered them without getting the reward we were due. But Norwich were a country mile from bad. They'd had some decent attacks and were playing some very decent football. Maybe that's because had only eight or nine players on the pitch. As I've said elsewhere, both AOC and, needless to say, Keita were relative onlookers, AOC less so. But it's telling that Keita managed just three name-checks in the body of your report, two of which were rightly negative. They had to be, and thankfully were, subbed. The other weak point was Gomez, who should be selected only when we have no choices remaining. 

 

Tsimikas was excellent throughout, save for the one time he ballooned what should have been a certain goal. 

 

There was one particular Mo moment where out of nothing, he turned and skinned about a million of their players that had me shouting out loud in admiration. 

 

Excellent result that will stand for nothing if we don't beat Leeds. Fortunately, that's unlikely in the extreme. 

[Guest]

 

[Guest]

1 hour ago, rb14 said:

Excellent result that will stand for nothing if we don't beat Leeds. Fortunately, that's unlikely in the extreme. 

This could be your 'We have no shit players any more' moment.

[MOGLET]

4 hours ago, rb14 said:

I too wasn't overly concerned about the scoreline at half time. We'd battered them without getting the reward we were due. But Norwich were a country mile from bad. They'd had some decent attacks and were playing some very decent football. Maybe that's because had only eight or nine players on the pitch. As I've said elsewhere, both AOC and, needless to say, Keita were relative onlookers, AOC less so. But it's telling that Keita managed just three name-checks in the body of your report, two of which were rightly negative. They had to be, and thankfully were, subbed. The other weak point was Gomez, who should be selected only when we have no choices remaining. 

 

Tsimikas was excellent throughout, save for the one time he ballooned what should have been a certain goal. 

 

There was one particular Mo moment where out of nothing, he turned and skinned about a million of their players that had me shouting out loud in admiration. 

 

Excellent result that will stand for nothing if we don't beat Leeds. Fortunately, that's unlikely in the extreme. 

Keita is another Origi, they do nothing for most of a match, then do something they seem to get plaudits for.

Both are below what we should expect, and both are nowhere near good enough to wear the shirt.

Why they get games is beyond me.

Origi looks like he can run faster than Usain bolt, but very rarely gets up to full speed, and even more rarely makes any effort to do anything more.

Keita is never in a space worth talking about, and doesnt seem to have a clue as to where he should be.

How many time did Henderson shout at him to move against norwich? no clue where he is meant to be and no clue what he is meant to do.

[Chris]

7 hours ago, rb14 said:

I too wasn't overly concerned about the scoreline at half time. We'd battered them without getting the reward we were due. But Norwich were a country mile from bad. They'd had some decent attacks and were playing some very decent football. Maybe that's because had only eight or nine players on the pitch. As I've said elsewhere, both AOC and, needless to say, Keita were relative onlookers, AOC less so. But it's telling that Keita managed just three name-checks in the body of your report, two of which were rightly negative. They had to be, and thankfully were, subbed. The other weak point was Gomez, who should be selected only when we have no choices remaining. 

 

Tsimikas was excellent throughout, save for the one time he ballooned what should have been a certain goal. 

 

There was one particular Mo moment where out of nothing, he turned and skinned about a million of their players that had me shouting out loud in admiration. 

 

Excellent result that will stand for nothing if we don't beat Leeds. Fortunately, that's unlikely in the extreme. 

 

Fuckssake, Rog'

[rb14]

3 hours ago, Chris said:

 

Fuckssake, Rog'

I know Chris. I know. I nearly didn't write it. Shitttttttttttt. What an absolute bellend. 

[rb14]

On 21/02/2022 at 22:44, Chris said:

 

Fuckssake, Rog'

Phewwww. Never again, promise. Been a hard three days for me. 

[Chris]

11 hours ago, rb14 said:

Phewwww. Never again, promise. Been a hard three days for me. 

You have to say he’ll go away and look at his performance and say he’s got away with one there, Clive