Ajax (H) - CL, Tue 13th Sep 2022 (8:00pm)

[Morning Glory]

Thought the Greek Scouser was outstanding tonight, both ways. And the shift Mo put in…two eighty yard sprints in 20 seconds at one stage. 

[Nelly-Szoboszlai]

That’ll do. A late winner always has the potential to be the catalyst for a change of fortune and creating a bit of belief and impetus. 
 

Lizzie would’ve loved that Matip header. 

[magicrat]

Things would be a hell of a lot easier if we could defend properly but we got a deserved win in the end.  

[Funkasy]

6 minutes ago, Grinch said:

That’s just awful yet again.  Nice of Ajax to bring their lube.  Not so nice that we needed to wait for the 22nd time they give a centre back a free header to score.

Awful that we dont score more yes, but we were much much better then Ajax and deserved that 

[VERBAL DIARRHEA]

Ruined Daisy’s night did Big Joel.

[stringvest]

Grinch is probably upset that the Spanish Cunt played well and didn’t get injured.  
 

Tsimikas was great again - what a difference a two footed player makes there. 

[Toxteth O'Grady]

As Isaac Newton once said "win your home games in the group stages and beat Rangers away and all will be grand, chances are you might get Porto again in the last 16"

[an tha]

7 minutes ago, Manny said:

For the first time this season, I thought we looked like our normal selves (against a good Ajax side - not counting the thrashing of an awful Bournemouth). We’re still an ersatz version, like, but definitely Liverpool. Hope the confidence of performance and late-goal-sealing-result takes us forward.

 

Shame we’ve gotta wait another week for a game. Fucking country.

Two and a frigging half....

[Bjornebye]

8 minutes ago, Morning Glory said:

Thought the Greek Scouser was outstanding tonight, both ways. And the shift Mo put in…two eighty yard sprints in 20 seconds at one stage. 

The Greek was superb tonight. MoM for me. 

[Caramac]

[rubble-rouser]

These BT cunts need to wind their necks in

[mike23]

Decent first half and we were unlucky to go in all level. A scrappy and at times sloppy second half but we kept going and certainly deserved the winner. Matip and Thiago were both excellent. It wasn't amazing but it was much better than everything else this season bar the Bournemouth game and it may end up being a really crucial result.

 

That ref tonight was something else. Constantly blowing up for fair challenges from our players and yet okay with one of their defenders just outright wrestling with Salah at one point. 

 

Onwards and upwards. God knows where we fit the postponed games in from last weekend and this weekend coming, but the postponements might at least help us gradually sort our form out and turn this complete mess of a start to the season around. 

 

How come Rangers and Napoli are playing tomorrow rather than tonight? 

[an tha]

1 minute ago, mike23 said:

Decent first half and we were unlucky to go in all level. A scrappy and at times sloppy second half but we kept going and certainly deserved the winner. Matip and Thiago were both excellent. It wasn't amazing but it was much better than everything else this season bar the Bournemouth game and it may end up being a really crucial result.

 

That ref tonight was something else. Constantly blowing up for fair challenges from our players and yet okay with one of their defenders just outright wrestling with Salah at one point. 

 

Onwards and upwards. God knows where we fit the postponed games in from last weekend and this weekend coming, but the postponements might at least help us gradually sort our form out and turn this complete mess of a start to the season around. 

 

How come Rangers and Napoli are playing tomorrow rather than tonight? 

Something to do with the bizzies and lizzie....

 

https://www.uefa.com/insideuefa/news/0279-1615bf02fd6a-e23933b6fdf0-1000--rangers-fc-v-ssc-napoli-rescheduled-to-14-september/

[Jairzinho]

1 minute ago, mike23 said:

How come Rangers and Napoli are playing tomorrow rather than tonight? 

Royal bollocks. Napoli fans banned from attending as well. 

[Pidge]

2 minutes ago, an tha said:

Something to do with the bizzies and lizzie....

Yeah, all the Rangers fans are busy down in London scouring the streets for anyone that thinks Andrew is a nonce.

[s(k)aturation]

12 minutes ago, Toxteth O'Grady said:

As Isaac Newton once said "win your home games in the group stages and beat Rangers away and all will be grand, chances are you might get Porto again in the last 16"

I read that on my Apple.

[LFC 6 Times]

Great win. Should and could have been easier but that’s just how things go when you’re in a rut.

 

Salah’s goal was exactly where you want to see him pop up and thought he was brilliant all night. Thiago and Matip make a big difference both were superb. Fabinho looked miles better too. Tsimikas also impressed me,

[Caramac]

[rubble-rouser]

Kostas Motm for me.

 

Thiago, Jota and Joel great too.

 

With Jota, he was just taking up positions that our other forwards don’t and Ajax found it hard to deal with him in the first half.

 

The subs took away our momentum - Bobby couldn’t get in the game (apart from one really good ball to Mo) and Thiago ended up going way too deep.

 

Crap from Trent and Matip for their goal but otherwise they were both pretty good I thought. 

[Joey8FrogsLegs]

Average to half decent performance, far from great, but a step in the right direction.

 

Matip, Tsimikas, Jota and Thiago all had good games. Thiago is so much better than our other midfielders it’s shocking. 

 

Pressing better, but still doesnt work properly. Right side with Salah, Elliott and Trent doesnt work at all really. Fabinho adding to that problem with his lack of mobility.

 

Lots of positives, but the main worry remains the midfield, where both balance and quality are major worries. 

[Red74]

3 points. Thank you. Hope everyone’s fit. Konate and Henderson to come back for the next game too

[mike23]

I hadn't even realized there was an international break coming up as well. I don't know why I should be surprised but I didn't think even FIFA would be ridiculous enough to insist on a load of pointless friendlies and Nations League matches in a season they'd already ruined by sticking a world cup in the middle of it. 

[Pidge]

Thought Thiago was comfortably the best player on the park tonight. Kostas and Matip did very well too.

[TheHowieLama]

10 minutes ago, s(k)aturation said:

I read that on my Apple.

In whose voice?

[lebron]

Lots of positives from that performance!

 

The difference between having Thiago instead of Henderson/Milner at this stage is too big to describe.

Think Trent is getting a bit of unfair stick on the goal. His effort there is akin to Salah's (both should stop the ball from going on their outside), but VVD needs to communicate to Matip that he's falling off (so that Matip can chase the attacker properly). Haven't seen a replay, but if VVD doesn't drop off I think Joel plays the Ajax player offside. 

 

Tsimikas showed why some of us want to start him instead of Robertson at this point. It's a rare luxury to have two so good players in one position though.

 

Matip was indeed very good (but let's not kid ourselves that he faced a similar task to what Gomez encountered in Naples). I love all our CB's, and for me Gomez is far from finished. Matip probably played his way back into the first eleven for now though.

 

The subs and change of shape actually seemed to disrupt our flow/rhythm (I would have gone for a straight swap Bobby for Jota), but we continued to create chances, and it would have been an absolute travesty if we didn't score from one of our 10 corners (we looked dangerous all night). Some great deliveries from Trent and Kostas, and van Dijk seemed to thrive against their undersized CBs. Nice to have Matip back for our attacking set pieces, as he's a much better header of the ball than Virgil in those situations.

 

Finally, it's probably not a positive, but I've got to say, we must be the most wasteful team in the country by an absolute mile. Thank fuck for those late winners against Newcastle and today, we should have been miles clear in both games (as against Palace).