Liverpool vs West Ham 19/10/22 - 19:30

[Jordy Brouwer]

30 minutes ago, J-V said:

Bezos, instead of wasting a billion on the utter shit Ribgs of power you should put all our games on.

Exactly, their coverage is really good. The best in fact. 

[dockers_strike]

The boys looked absolutely shattered from the kick off after the exertions of Sunday.

 

Anyone who's been shouting for Trent to just defend saw tonight what the team is like when he isnt rampaging forward. Jurgen probably told him to play within himself and he only looked about 70% fit.

 

Darwin was unlucky not to get a first half hattrick and his shot that came back off the post with Fabianski beaten deserved more.

 

Love Bobby but he's back to his old tricks of doing the little flicks and backheels when he really should be making sure the ball gets to a red shirt. Thought Thiago was wasteful yet again.

 

We dont half piss about with the ball in and around our box, especially in the 2nd half when we really looked gassed. On the stroke of half time we were at it again and when a west ham player went down in the box then everyone waited before taking the corner, you knew what to expect. But those of us inside Anfield didnt have a clue what was going on. Yes, the delay was pretty obvious there was a VAR review going on but the crowd were only told after about 2 minutes of fucking waiting.

 

Eventually the ref trotted over to the monitor and we feared the worse. I couldnt see what happened in the incident but I bet I could wager my last quid that Mo wouldnt get the decision in that situation.

 

Anyway, why worry when you have ace penalty stopper with Alli in nets? He's gone from not being very good on pens to saving a couple this season already.

 

Weird decision by Jurgen to hook Darwin on 56 minutes in a tripple sub. Yes, many of the players did look fucked but Darwin wasnt one of them. Yes, we have forest at 12:30 on Saturday so maybe he was hooked early with an eye on that? But 56 minutes?

 

If Jurgen was looking to the 3 subs to inject some pace into the side, it didnt work. By the 75th minute, it looked pretty much defend what we had and if west ham had of scored, I didnt see us scoring another. We should have been 4 nil up by this time and it wasnt for the want of trying. It just seemed the ball had an aversion of going in the goal again.

 

The last 5 minutes of normal time and 4 of added time were a bit tense especially as 2 attempts just to keep the ball by west ham's corner flag on 2 late corners just seemed to end up in west ham's possession.

 

But the boys held on to gain a valuable win and 3 points.

 

If we're as tired as we looked tonight when we go to forest, it could be a tough game.

 

Id like to give Darwin MoTM but seeing as he played less than 60 minutes, I'll give it to Alli for yet another clean sheet and a brilliant penalty save.

 

One of the best bits of the night, the Kop chanting 'That's how your cat felt' at Zouma!

[an tha]

^^^^Nunez 'felt his hamstring' so was pulled as a precaution.

[AngryOfTuebrook]

1 hour ago, gkmacca said:

Rice would be a really good signing for us. The right age, the right role.

High profile Englishman: if he's worth £50m, the price would be £120m.

 

I'd like to think our scouts could do better than that.

[TheHowieLama]

2 hours ago, dockers_strike said:

Thought Thiago was wasteful yet again.

 

[stringvest]

6 hours ago, TheHowieLama said:

His views on Thiago are best ignored.  

[El Rojo]

Last night felt at times like a game in March or April when our momentum dragged us over the line despite serious fatigue.

 

Our tiny first team squad at present is a huge problem and even make a game like Forest on Saturday a very tricky fixture.

I wouldn’t blame anybody for the injuries in defence and attack, these things happen, but the lack of options in midfield is a disgrace.

[gkmacca]

26 minutes ago, El Rojo said:

the lack of options in midfield is a disgrace.

The lack of top class options could be said to be a disgrace. We certainly should have strengthened effectively last year and this year. But it's a tad entitled to regard the options, as such, as disgraceful. They're still as good as most clubs have available. Hendo, Thiago, Fabino, Milner, Elliott, Calvalho, Jones, with Ox now back in training. That's not, strictly speaking, a 'disgraceful' lack of options. We want better options, yes, but that's another matter. Let's keep it honest.

[ZonkoVille77]

8 minutes ago, gkmacca said:

The lack of top class options could be said to be a disgrace. We certainly should have strengthened effectively last year and this year. But it's a tad entitled to regard the options, as such, as disgraceful. They're still as good as most clubs have available. Hendo, Thiago, Fabino, Milner, Elliott, Calvalho, Jones, with Ox now back in training. That's not, strictly speaking, a 'disgraceful' lack of options. We want better options, yes, but that's another matter. Let's keep it honest.

 

I see you've conveniently left out Keita.

Considering you think yourself above everyone else and a Superfan, I must ask are you even a Liverpool fan? 

[El Rojo]

9 minutes ago, gkmacca said:

The lack of top class options could be said to be a disgrace. We certainly should have strengthened effectively last year and this year. But it's a tad entitled to regard the options, as such, as disgraceful. They're still as good as most clubs have available. Hendo, Thiago, Fabino, Milner, Elliott, Calvalho, Jones, with Ox now back in training. That's not, strictly speaking, a 'disgraceful' lack of options. We want better options, yes, but that's another matter. Let's keep it honest.

Apologies if my dishonest wording offended, and for not being entirely satisfied with our midfield options. 

 

 

[m0e]

We just played a massive game Sunday evening.

 

Every club in the world suffers from their midweek game after a game like that, or from the Saturday game after a big CL game.

 

Especially with 2 centre halves and their 2 main left wingers out, and with their main fullbacks just returning from injury.

 

Irrespective of injuries, this happens every single season since whenever they introduced these shitty TV fixture timings.

 

It has happened with Houllier, Benitez and Klopp every single season.

 

Sometimes I wonder if people actually pay attention to how football works.

 

Oh, and we fucking won,  and should have won by a bigger margin.

[HBenn]

Was really pleased for Darwin to get his first at Anfield. 

His pace was a constant threat and he could easily have got 3 or 4. Once he calms down he probably will!

Was concerned about this game beforehand as it presented a banana skin. 

After such a big game on Sunday you would expect there to be a bit of a drop and it be a little disjointed - especially with the number of changes. 

Inspite of that though we should have been out of sight by the time West Ham got their pen. 

Then second half it was a case of holding as the chances of fluency with 5 more changes was remote. 

But we did hang on and it felt a massive win. 

Hopefully we can navigate the next few fixtures safely and in Jan get in some reinforcements. 

The need for midfielders is obvious but personally feel its impact on fluency is perhaps undervalued. 

Only Virgil, Mo, Joe and Alisson played both 90 mins Vs City and West Ham. Understand why but if we could add another 2 or 3 that could play 3 times a week most weeks (includes hopefully the likes of Nunez) then I think we would have more fluency and won this game 3 or 4 nil.

I get the 5 subs rule and at the moment, for fitness, it could be invaluable. Personally though the risks it reduces in terms of injuries is partly mitigated by the disruption/impact it has on fluency. Especially when you have already made 4-5 changes from the previous game. 

[Ronnie Whelan]

Huge win for us. After beating City, it would have been awful to drop points because we need momentun. 

 

We weren't brilliant but some really good standout performances and a clean sheet. West Ham are a dangerous team who are always a potential banana skin. 

 

Being honest, it's been a good few days. We are breathing down Chelsea, Spurs and the red Mancs now. Climb the table and see where we are when the world cup kicks off. Bar Spurs away, we should win all our league games. If we could beat Spurs, then that would be the type of statement win to begin to allow us to contemplate more than being in a top four race and really put the shits up Pep. He knows we have it in our locker to take City the distance and hunt them down. Amyhow for now, lets just beat Forest and make it nine from nine and hopefully the others drop silly points - Chelsea and United play on Saturday so hopefully a draw with a gigantic brawl.

 

 

[HBenn]

2 minutes ago, Ronnie Whelan said:

Huge win for us. After beating City, it would have been awful to drop points because we need momentun. 

 

We weren't brilliant but some really good standout performances and a clean sheet. West Ham are a dangerous team who are always a potential banana skin. 

 

Being honest, it's been a good few days. We are breathing down Chelsea, Spurs and the red Mancs now. Climb the table and see where we are when the world cup kicks off. Bar Spurs away, we should win all our league games. If we could beat Spurs, then that would be the type of statement win to begin to allow us to contemplate more than being in a top four race and really put the shits up Pep. He knows we have it in our locker to take City the distance and hunt them down. Amyhow for now, lets just beat Forest and make it nine from nine and hopefully the others drop silly points - Chelsea and United play on Saturday so hopefully a draw with a gigantic brawl.

 

 

Is it at Chelsea. If so, imagine there will be a brawl but of course no criticism from Samuel or any sign of the FA actually enforcing this punishment they keep lamely threatening for persistent offending. 

[El Rojo]

2 hours ago, m0e said:

We just played a massive game Sunday evening.

 

Every club in the world suffers from their midweek game after a game like that, or from the Saturday game after a big CL game.

 

Especially with 2 centre halves and their 2 main left wingers out, and with their main fullbacks just returning from injury.

 

Irrespective of injuries, this happens every single season since whenever they introduced these shitty TV fixture timings.

 

It has happened with Houllier, Benitez and Klopp every single season.

 

Sometimes I wonder if people actually pay attention to how football works.

 

Oh, and we fucking won,  and should have won by a bigger margin.

Agree with every bit of that, but I still think criticisms of the midfield situation and how it was handled by the club are very valid. We're well stocked in defence and up-front when everybody's fit, but we badly needed Arthur to be a real option rather than a desperate and ill-fated punt. 

[Ronnie Whelan]

51 minutes ago, HBenn said:

Is it at Chelsea. If so, imagine there will be a brawl but of course no criticism from Samuel or any sign of the FA actually enforcing this punishment they keep lamely threatening for persistent offending. 

I heard a snippet of Arteta's interview yesterday and Jurgen was mentioned more by the journalists than PSV.

 

To be fair to Arteta, he didn't get drawn into it and said all managers have a responsibility to behave but that it can be hard sometimes. Really feel they are hunting down Jurgen right now.

 

That twat Howe is getting above his station.

[dockers_strike]

11 hours ago, TheHowieLama said:

I rate Thiago. I just think his form is suffering like a lot of players. He sprayed a lot of balls about that went nowhere but it's ok if you think he pinged them around the pitch with pin point accuracy.

[TheHowieLama]

2 minutes ago, dockers_strike said:

I rate Thiago. I just think his form is suffering like a lot of players. He sprayed a lot of balls about that went nowhere but it's ok if you think he pinged them around the pitch with pin point accuracy.

He had the highest pass completion and most touches of any player on the pitch. Completed every long ball.

He literally ran the game for us and we fell apart when he went off. It has nothing to do with what I think.

[m0e]

56 minutes ago, El Rojo said:

Agree with every bit of that, but I still think criticisms of the midfield situation and how it was handled by the club are very valid. We're well stocked in defence and up-front when everybody's fit, but we badly needed Arthur to be a real option rather than a desperate and ill-fated punt. 

Fair enough.

 

Although you could argue that midfield is only really an issue in this double 6 system because of Fabinho's form.

 

It is definitely an issue if we play 433, which I don't believe we'll go back to now, and certainly not before Diaz is back.

 

And it was definitely an issue in the summer.

 

But we've got a new system now that will need time to perfect, and a new focal point of the team that will need time to settle properly. The injures aren't helping, and the world cup may or may not work in our favour.

 

And yet I'm STILL banking on us finishing top 2.

[dockers_strike]

55 minutes ago, TheHowieLama said:

He had the highest pass completion and most touches of any player on the pitch. Completed every long ball.

He literally ran the game for us and we fell apart when he went off. It has nothing to do with what I think.

I dont have the luxury to access to such stats in the ground during the game but if you're only making sideways short passes and little give and goes, yes, you will end up with stats like Sako had being one of our best passers.

 

I love the way some people will not accept any comment they see as adverse to what they believe about certain players. Ive said I rate him and stand by that. You'll be telling me next he's a great tackler.

 

 

[TheHowieLama]

28 minutes ago, dockers_strike said:

You'll be telling me next he's a great tackler.

 

 

He is.

 

If you came away from that match watching our midfield two and thinking Thiago was wasteful (again) not sure there is much to say.

[dockers_strike]

9 minutes ago, TheHowieLama said:

He is.

 

If you came away from that match watching our midfield two and thinking Thiago was wasteful (again) not sure there is much to say.

Guffaws. If you think he's a great tackler, there really isnt anything more to say. He's gives away more stupid fouls than Lucas!

 

But whatever. I dont think he's been in top form, like a lot of the players.

[TheHowieLama]

14 minutes ago, dockers_strike said:

Guffaws. If you think he's a great tackler, there really isnt anything more to say. He's gives away more stupid fouls than Lucas!

 

But whatever. I dont think he's been in top form, like a lot of the players.

Agree with that. The difference is Thiago slightly off the boil is still a world class player. Henderson and Fabinho are not as examples.

 

I think using the wasteful (again) is telling, and you are right it's all opinions anyway. I am sure Barry will be along and agree with yours on Thiago both generally and yesterday specifically.

[El Rojo]

Thiago makes occasional mistakes. The good far, far outweighs the bad, though, and we seem to function better when he plays. 

 

It's been done to death, but I just don't understand why we still don't have proper back-up for himself, Henderson and Fabinho, none of whom are exactly made of steel. 

 

Ox and Keita are even more brittle, and Jones, Elliott and Carvalho are much more number 10's than 8's or 6's. (I think Elliott could grow into an 8 over time, though). Milner is still valuable, but only for short periods or once-off games. 

[Bjornebye]

Thiago is absolutely sublime. He's also a bit of a mad bastard which just adds to it all.