Brighton (A) - Sun 8th Oct 2023 (2:00pm)

[Bobby Hundreds]

It was a red card. There goal came from a free kick that shouldn't of been. We didn't deserve to win but it's another game shaped by the officials and how they choose whatever fucking outcome to any situation they like.

 

[Scott_M]

20 minutes ago, AngryOfTuebrook said:

As disappointing as the last two results have been, we still made up a point on the only team you really need to finish above to win the League.  

As I’ve mentioned, if we’re serious about challenging for the title, we really should be taking 12/12 before the next break. 
 

City have Brighton, the mancs & Chelsea, Arsenal are at Chelsea & Newcastle, Spurs host Chelsea… if we win our games, I bet we’ll be looking at yesterday as a good point. 

[Carra_is_legend]

1 hour ago, Scott_M said:

As I’ve mentioned, if we’re serious about challenging for the title, we really should be taking 12/12 before the next break. 
 

City have Brighton, the mancs & Chelsea, Arsenal are at Chelsea & Newcastle, Spurs host Chelsea… if we win our games, I bet we’ll be looking at yesterday as a good point. 

 

So basically Chelsea are fucked.

[Scott_M]

8 minutes ago, Carra_is_legend said:

 

So basically Chelsea are fucked.

Maybe but they have improved a little over the past few games.

[Barrington Womble]

4 hours ago, Carra_is_legend said:

Getting an opinion from ex ref is just a waste of time, he is never going to say anything against a ref decision or PGMOL. An opportunity can come for the ex refs at any time, either with PGMOL or in some capacity so they are never going to burn the bridges.

 

it is part of why it works as a programme because the host and warnock and smith call him out every week. i didn't see today's, but they normally set him up at least once a week where he defends some cunt and then they show him doing the exact opposite to defend some other nonsense from a couple of weeks ago. he is a fuckiong clown, but he doesn't do or say anything except try to make a point for the ref. most subjective decisions you can do that with if you really want - as he shows in an absolute blatant red there yesterday. yet he defended the red for VVD a couple of weeks ago when the ball would likely have hit isaks heals. 

[an tha]

6 hours ago, Barrington Womble said:

 

it is part of why it works as a programme because the host and warnock and smith call him out every week. i didn't see today's, but they normally set him up at least once a week where he defends some cunt and then they show him doing the exact opposite to defend some other nonsense from a couple of weeks ago. he is a fuckiong clown, but he doesn't do or say anything except try to make a point for the ref. most subjective decisions you can do that with if you really want - as he shows in an absolute blatant red there yesterday. yet he defended the red for VVD a couple of weeks ago when the ball would likely have hit isaks heals. 

Can't have his mates looking bad...

[VladimirIlyich]

19 hours ago, A Red said:

I think you meant his second touch. Anyway, I'd quite like us to have a player whose first touch was a tackle.

I did mean his first! 

Elliott just seems to need two or three touches before he looks like he has the ball under control. He's like Kuyt taking amphetamines. This is while even the likes of MacAllister (when alert!) is capable of knocking around simple one touch passes with ease. I feel Klopp is trying to shoehorn Elliott in before he's ready. At the moment he's no more than a last 20 minutes player,as has previously been said. While Carvalho might have been shipped out for non footballing reasons? Possibly a poor attitude or a cunt of an agent? I still think he was a better prospect than Elliott,although neither looked particularly great.

I hope to be proved wrong in the near future,of course.

[Bobby Hundreds]

Play Endo as the 6. Klopp did this playing Fabinho and Henderson in defence because he trusted individuals in his team more than players who know the job and play the position it was a massive mistake then that took him too long to realise and it's a mistake now that's taking him too long to realise. Mac Allister and Elliot in those positions together makes the 11 weaker, with no Jones playing play Mac Allister in his natural position where his attributes are a threat, have Endo and the 6 position be weaker rather than making the whole  weak. Endo was given a 4 year contract to commit to that show some bollocks and play him. I dont want to see Mac Allister in the 6 again its pure shithousery and it's shit watching him struggle, he will 100 percent get two yellows in multiple matches.

[VladimirIlyich]

2 minutes ago, Bobby Hundreds said:

Play Endo as the 6. Klopp did this playing Fabinho and Henderson in defence because he trusted individuals in his team more than players who know the job and play the position it was a massive mistake then that took him too long to realise and it's a mistake now that's taking him too long to realise. Mac Allister and Elliot in those positions together makes the 11 weaker, with no Jones playing play Mac Allister in his natural position where his attributes are a threat, have Endo and the 6 position be weaker rather than making the whole  weak. Endo was given a 4 year contract to commit to that show some bollocks and play him. I dont want to see Mac Allister in the 6 again its pure shithousery and it's shit watching him struggle, he will 100 percent get two yellows in multiple matches.

Harsh on MacAllister at the moment. I think it's his role rather than his ability. I want Endo to be one of those smart signings that go under the radar but he looks overwhelmed and well behind MacAllister at the moment. 

[Scott_M]

6 minutes ago, VladimirIlyich said:

Harsh on MacAllister at the moment. I think it's his role rather than his ability. I want Endo to be one of those smart signings that go under the radar but he looks overwhelmed and well behind MacAllister at the moment. 

Mac Allister had a couple of ropey 10

minutes spells in both halves on Sunday, either side of that he was alright. 

[Scott_M]

In the 97 point season, we had 30 points from 12 games.

 

If we win the next 4 games, we’ll have 29 points from 12 games. 
 

I hate saying “Win the next 4 games etc etc etc”, makes it seem easy and I’m dismissing the sides we play, I’m not, it’ll be difficult, if we want to be serious title challengers, we need to be taking 12/12.

[Mook]

I hope I'm wrong but I think we're some way off a title challenge at the moment.

 

The defence is nowhere near solid enough & there's been too much change in a short space of time in the midfield.

 

[sh#t waffle]

Yeah, I think we'll comfortably finish 3rd, but I reckon that's probably our level this season. Next year we win the lot.

[joe_fishfish]

20 hours ago, Bobby Hundreds said:

It was a red card. There goal came from a free kick that shouldn't of been. We didn't deserve to win but it's another game shaped by the officials and how they choose whatever fucking outcome to any situation they like.

 

Brighton are the worst team in the league at scoring from set pieces, we should have been able to give away any number of free kicks in dangerous areas. It was a poor decision from Taylor to give them the free kick for the equaliser but not as poor as Robertson's decision not to clear the ball at the near post when he had the chance.

[Bobby Hundreds]

3 minutes ago, sh#t waffle said:

Yeah, I think we'll comfortably finish 3rd, but I reckon that's probably our level this season. Next year we win the lot.

I think the same. Weve got so many strengths its unbelievable but I think we actively weaken our abilities by overthinking it and based upon absolutely nothing I'm putting all of that blame on Pep Ljinders because he's my fall guy. Intensity.

 

[stringvest]

3 hours ago, VladimirIlyich said:

Harsh on MacAllister at the moment. I think it's his role rather than his ability. I want Endo to be one of those smart signings that go under the radar but he looks overwhelmed and well behind MacAllister at the moment. 

 

I don't think he looks either to be fair.  It's not as though he's coming from some Mickey Mouse league.  MacAllister is not doing well in the role, and I can't believe Endo wouldn't do a better job, which would allow MacAllister to move forward and play a role more suited to him.  

[Daisy]

Thing is where does macallister play if he's shit at six. Jones and Dom be first choice for the 8's now

[stringvest]

1 minute ago, Daisy said:

Thing is where does macallister play if he's shit at six. Jones and Dom be first choice for the 8's now

I’m not sure that Jones would be picked ahead of MacAllister. Either way, whoever is selected would probably benefit from Endo playing behind them. 

[3 Stacks]

2 hours ago, stringvest said:

 

I don't think he looks either to be fair.  It's not as though he's coming from some Mickey Mouse league.  MacAllister is not doing well in the role, and I can't believe Endo wouldn't do a better job, which would allow MacAllister to move forward and play a role more suited to him.  

You can't believe that a 30 year old we signed from a relegation threatened German team wouldn't do a better job than a World Cup winner in the Premier League? I find it perfectly questionable.

 

Lone 6 is obviously not where Mac Allister should play but it's still a midfield position. This isn't like we're playing him centre half instead of a real centre half. Klopp is just choosing to play who in his opinion is the better footballer. If it starts going really badly, then he might be forced to do something else, but it isn't critical yet. And then Thiago and Bajcetic hopefully will be options there at some point.

[stringvest]

37 minutes ago, 3 Stacks said:

You can't believe that a 30 year old we signed from a relegation threatened German team wouldn't do a better job than a World Cup winner in the Premier League? I find it perfectly questionable.

 

Lone 6 is obviously not where Mac Allister should play but it's still a midfield position. This isn't like we're playing him centre half instead of a real centre half. Klopp is just choosing to play who in his opinion is the better footballer. If it starts going really badly, then he might be forced to do something else, but it isn't critical yet. And then Thiago and Bajcetic hopefully will be options there at some point.

 

It is going quite badly.  So if Klopp thinks that Endo would be worse than MacAllister in that role, rather than Endo not being fit enough or strong enough at the moment, then it was a poor decision to buy him.  

[TheHowieLama]

Endo was bought to play a role. 

I don't think that role was ever assumed to be part of our best 11.

[3 Stacks]

20 minutes ago, stringvest said:

 

It is going quite badly.  So if Klopp thinks that Endo would be worse than MacAllister in that role, rather than Endo not being fit enough or strong enough at the moment, then it was a poor decision to buy him.  

Is it? 17 points from 24 with the sort of adversity and horrendous ref luck we've had is not what I think Klopp would label as quite badly. 

 

And of course, after the initial instance of wanting to believe the Endo buy was a good idea, it quite obviously wasn't.

 

What he'll be for sure is an extra body to play in cups and the Europa Group stage and to be a substitute. That may prove to have some value. Beyond that though, a solution, he will not be.

 

Not that this is his fault, but Stuttgart are doing great without him as well.

[Kevin D]

4 hours ago, Mook said:

I hope I'm wrong but I think we're some way off a title challenge at the moment.

 

The defence is nowhere near solid enough & there's been too much change in a short space of time in the midfield.

 

I don’t see a team that is ready to challenge for the title. On the other hand, giving up the title race in October and discussing top 4 is bleak.

[Razoray]

8 hours ago, Bobby Hundreds said:

Play Endo as the 6. Klopp did this playing Fabinho and Henderson in defence because he trusted individuals in his team more than players who know the job and play the position it was a massive mistake then that took him too long to realise and it's a mistake now that's taking him too long to realise. Mac Allister and Elliot in those positions together makes the 11 weaker, with no Jones playing play Mac Allister in his natural position where his attributes are a threat, have Endo and the 6 position be weaker rather than making the whole  weak. Endo was given a 4 year contract to commit to that show some bollocks and play him. I dont want to see Mac Allister in the 6 again its pure shithousery and it's shit watching him struggle, he will 100 percent get two yellows in multiple matches.

We've had the toughest run of fixtures of our rivals and really should be unbeaten, on at least 18 points, level with City. 

 

We look as if we will score multiple goals in every game since Chelsea, so if we can improve the defence just a little, we should be very competitive. 

 

We have conceded nine goals this season, but only four of those have been from teams successfully playing through us, and two of the four were with 10 and 9 (an o.g.) men. The Wolves and West Ham goals are the only open play goals that we have conceded where we were set up to defend with eleven. It is probably easier for Allison also, to be positioned correctly when we are organised rather than when we lose it in transition. 

 

We have been caught three times this season, playing out from the back (all early in the game). The first two, neither Mac Allister errors, didn’t affect the result and we hadn't conceded a similar goal in 5 league games but the first on Sunday was a repeat and it is something we need to fix. Brighton seemed to target Mac Allister on Sunday, but they do that to all teams. Maybe we need to drop Szoboszlai or Jones deeper, earlier in the game, to help us beat the press. 

 

We conceded from a 2nd phase set-piece against Chelsea. Maybe that was teething problems, integrating new players, but we have looked solid on them since. We did look vulnerable again at set-pieces in the first half against Brighton. I think, however, this may have been a personnel issue, with Salah, Elliott, Mac Allister, and even Diaz not giving much height/power. We looked a lot more comfortable on them in the 2nd half, but Robertson's brainfart cost us. 

 

Chelsea - set piece 2nd phase

Bournemouth - turnover playing out

Newcastle - turnover playing out

Wolves played through us

W Ham played through us

Spurs played through our 10 men

Spurs og played through our 9 men

Brighton - turnover playing out

Brighton - set piece.

 

I am not a huge fan of Mac Allister at 6 and would prefer a specialist there but in reality, if we did have a prime Fabinho there, instead of Mac Allister this season, which of the nine goals conceded would he have prevented? The Wolves one is doubtful, the West Ham one maybe, the Spurs 1st maybe, -  he wasn't on for the Spurs 2nd - and the Brighton 1st probably. That is it. So even if we had a perfect defensive midfielder, we would have a maximum of three points extra. Maybe he has added points with his ability to play more progressively from the position? 

 

The Everton, Luton, Brentford, and Forest games will provide a different, more physical challenge so hopefully he is able for that. I hope Klopp can make the necessary tweaks to make us better defensively but I think we are great to watch and will take a lot of beating this season.

 

[Razoray]

1 hour ago, Kevin D said:

I don’t see a team that is ready to challenge for the title. On the other hand, giving up the title race in October and discussing top 4 is bleak.

Why not? We have had the toughest fixtures of our rivals and should be unbeaten, on 18/20 points?