PODCAST: Arsenal 3 Liverpool 1 - Match Reaction

[dave u]

11 hours ago, Supremolad said:

You are balanced enough to recognise that him getting skinned doesn't mean he doesn't care or he has become too big for his boots. This is the same player who picked an injury during the Arsenal FA cup game and stayed on to help us win it.

 

The issue I have is people who think he doesn't give a fuck and is acting a prima donna. His body language might be languid but he clearly cares. Even at right back there are many times this season he has busted a gut to defend properly. People just pick and choose what suits their narrative. I still believe he wasn't fully sharp against Arsenal on Sunday. I reckon he rushed back from his injury. We see with some players they don't get back into top rhythm straight after recovering from injury, even if they have trained a few times. And I think he is one of them.

 

I defo don't think he's a prima donna, but his laid back style is always going to lead some to go down that road when it's not going well. Same with Virgil actually.

 

I do think Trent has kind of checked out on right back (going all the way back to last season) and is just waiting for the inevitable full time move into the middle.

[dave u]

Almost 2k less listeners to this one compared to Chelsea. I'm not judging, I get it as I've avoided pretty much everything footy related all week. Just saying, this is why we were saying what we did on the pod about not expecting people to listen.

[sir roger]

12 hours ago, dave u said:

Almost 2k less listeners to this one compared to Chelsea. I'm not judging, I get it as I've avoided pretty much everything footy related all week. Just saying, this is why we were saying what we did on the pod about not expecting people to listen.

 

Should give you an absolute bottom figure for listeners, as cant imagine a bigger depression football wise than Sunday as it followed such a high. I would suggest anybody who has not listened to give it a go even now, as it was a sort of therapy for me and I am now looking forward to pummelling Kompany and company.

[The wanderer]

12 hours ago, dave u said:

 

It can't hurt, but I think it's far more important to get fitted for a driver than a putter. I think with a putter most of it is about feel, how it looks to your eye, what you're comfortable with and what inspires confidence. You can get most of that without a fitting really. That putter fitting I had for the feature I wrote usually costs two grand and although it was very informative and it was cool seeing how the process works, the main thing I took from it was that the data told me I was decent, whereas I'd always thought I was shit. 

 

I'm reviewing loads of new putters for Golf Monthly at the moment and honestly, I reckon I could use any of them and not really notice much difference in performance with 'El Pistolero'. At the pro level the tiny details make a difference. For the rest of us, not so much.

 

Where a fitting would be really useful is if you're either really short or really tall, or have a weird stance or something that would require customisations to be made in length, loft, lie etc

 

Otherwise you probably won't get loads from it other than being able to try out different putters and get feedback from someone who knows what they're looking for. 

Thanks a lot interesting stuff . Agree with you on driver fitting.

[JohnnyH]

12 hours ago, dave u said:

Almost 2k less listeners to this one compared to Chelsea. I'm not judging, I get it as I've avoided pretty much everything footy related all week. Just saying, this is why we were saying what we did on the pod about not expecting people to listen.

 

So what you're saying is we need to start losing more to normalise listening to sad pods?

[TheBitch]

16 hours ago, dave u said:

Almost 2k less listeners to this one compared to Chelsea. I'm not judging, I get it as I've avoided pretty much everything footy related all week. Just saying, this is why we were saying what we did on the pod about not expecting people to listen.

Anyone who doesn’t listen to us at our worst doesn’t deserve to listen to us at our best. 

[Chris]

10 hours ago, JohnnyH said:

 

So what you're saying is we need to start losing more to normalise listening to sad pods?

 

I said to the lads this week that this is the future when Klopp leaves us. 

[Razoray]

9 hours ago, Chris said:

 

I said to the lads this week that this is the future when Klopp leaves us. 

That's fucking depressing Chris. No need for that. 

It's Friday and we play Burnley tomorrow. Cheer up

[Razoray]

On 06/02/2024 at 20:48, lebron said:

Way behind on this one, as it’s (luckily) been a crazy couple of days at work. Somewhat therapeutic but also frustrating to re-live what was a real stinker of a performance.

 

My main takeaways from the game (and the pod)

 

1. Van Dijk had a horrorshow. All 3 goals are mainly on him. Can’t believe Allison gets the blame for the 2nd. That is 90 pct on Virgil, 10 pct on Martinelli/Taylor. Van Dijk needs to be stronger, of course, when he isn’t (and doesn’t resort to a dive to provoke a FK), he blocks Allison from getting to the ball. More on the ref later btw.  

 

The first goal, Virgil absolutely can’t leave his space in the middle if he is not 100 per cent sure he’s going to get to the ball before Ødegaard. Our press was too easily bypassed in the build-up (like numerous times on Sunday), but that attack will at most end up in a half-chance if Virgil doesn’t get caught in midfield. The 3rd goal I see some people on the match thread are suggesting our coaches are teaching our defenders to defend like Virgil does. That may have held some water if there were other Arsenal players in the box. There were none. Trossard was on his own. I think Van Dijk just doesn’t take enough pride in his defending in that instance, and gambles on Allison sparing his blushes (like he mostly does). Allison sets himself a bit too early, but the late deflection from Virgils late and lazy block just about makes him helpless. Add those 3 goals to a passive display of defending in general and I think you have a pretty good answer to why we lost. Van Dijk has been back to almost peak this season, and he has built up more than enough credit to have a day off. We need him back at his best sharpish though. I think Konate and Van Dijk are a better CB duo than Arsenal’s pair, but in these games I’d like to see a bit more aggression and shithousery from them (especially if the referee allows the same actions from both sides….).

 

2. Our press wasn’t working. At all. Both Diaz and Jota worked hard, and Curtis, Mac Allister  and Gomez had the rest of the central/left side locked up. At times, it seemed like we wanted them to be able to play through on our right, that’s how bad of a job Gakpo/Gravenberch did. Trent didn’t cover himself in glory either, of course.

 

3. We couldn’t get the ball to stick up front (or in behind) I would just about agree on starting Nunez, despite the injury concerns. As aggressive and high up the pitch as they were pressing, we needed something to worry them in behind. The ball didn’t stick when Darwin came on either, and he had minimal effect on our success in behind too, so it might not have worked anyway. Gabriel and Saliba is a pretty good duo, but the hope is that they wouldn’t have had such an easy day. Having a referee that allowed their back 4/5 to play 1970s style physical football probably didn’t help our cause…

 

4. Says a lot about how badly we’ve been shafted over the last couple of years when people (Jules on the pod?) thought the refereeing performance wasn’t a talking point. I get that most of us are angry/disappointed at the team (and individuals), as we’re used to us winning and playing well. While I agree that our play (and lack of it) was the main talking point, I can’t believe the easy ride Taylor is getting. Every time an Arsenal player hits the deck and screams, a free kick is given, while our players are near assaulted without consequence. The “death by a thousand cuts” aspect just can’t be overlooked in games like these, and Taylor is more than happy to oblige in terms of helping the home team. Both Diaz and Gakpo were denied blatant FKs numerous times in the 1st half, leading to us surrendering position in dangerous areas, giving Arsenal (and the crowd) momentum. When we were on top in the 2nd half, similar/milder offences by us were gleefully given. The worst one being the 1st yellow for Konate. It’s incomprehensible that that is given as a FK, never mind a yellow to Konate. If anything, it’s a foul by Havertz. He runs/backs into Konate, grabs his shirt, and when he realises he’s being outmuscled flails his arms, screams and falls to the floor. The crowd senses that this could be an opportunity (given that Havertz seems to be one-on-one with Ibou), and when Havertz falls to the floor Taylor more than happily obliges the crowd and the Arsenal players. The 2nd yellow is the same. It’s barely a free kick, 1 out of a 100 will give it as a yellow, and I guarantee you that you willI never see anyone again giving that as a 2nd yellow. I was  actually a bit annoyed at Jules for saying Konate put his arm/hand in Havertz face. He didn’t!I Look at the contempt he shows when he waves for Diaz and Nunez to get up from their wrestling from behind for comparison to Havertz, Jorginho and their blatant dives. 

 

I actually think he gives a foul if Diaz does the same to Saliba as Martinelli did to Virgil for the 2nd goal, even if Saliba stays on his feet. I’m not 100 per cent if Van Dijk gets a free if he dives there judging by Taylors other actions. Martinelli clearly barges into him from behind. 

 

On Taylor. I was at Anfield (for the first time in a decade) for the Newcastle game, and as pleasing as that game and performance was, I nearly blew a fuse because of Taylor.  The contrast to how he reffed the home team in that game and this one reeks of him hating us. Sorry. I’m not so sure there’s a corruption angle to this, but there is no way he isn’t biased against us. Having 54000 rabid supporters screaming “You Manc bastard” from the top of their lungs probably isn’t helping our long term relations, but at the game it is impossible not to react to that sort of incompetence/bias.

 

How the hell are you supposed to take the league seriously when more than 50 pct of our games are done by referees from the city of our most hated rivals (and in later years our only other rival)? I know it sounds a bit small-time, but the club should seriously start pushing their mouthpieces in the media to question this phenomenon, to rid  us from getting all these Manc baldies reffing our games. How do you think the footballing public in Spain would react to Barcelona residents reffing most of Real Madrids games? I can’t fathom why this isn’t seen as a BIG issue. There is such an obvious conflict of interest. I just can’t believe that an organisation with the turnover and exposure of the PL can’t see that this is a bit dubious. I find it incredibly off-putting, and I’m pretty sure this (along with City’s cheating) are among the main reasons that Klopp has been burnt out. The sense of injustice must be through the roof. This is without even acknowledging the refereeing trips to Abu Dhabi.

 

Sorry about the rant. Got worked up again by writing this.

Hopefully we will be THAT good for the rest of the season that those PGMOL wankers won’t deny Klopp and his players another title.

 

Thanks for a good.listen, again!

 

Great post and agree with a lot of it but the first goal is on Konate. Van Dijk is urging everyone to push up 5 seconds before the ball is played through,but Konate dropped 5 metres. Havertz is offside if Ibou is where he should be. Even when Havertz shoots, he plays Saka onside.

 

It is fine margins but the Liverpool high line/press is why we are so successful and most of the work goes unnoticed  but if the line is not intact, it makes the defender pushing up look like the mug, rather than the one who "bottled" it and took a step backwards. 

[suzy]

I’ve missed the midweek pod! We’d better bloody win today!

[Pidge]

On 08/02/2024 at 22:10, Chris said:

 

I said to the lads this week that this is the future when Klopp leaves us. 

Just trying to fill the voids with fish tanks and putters...

[dave u]

6 minutes ago, Pidge said:

Just trying to fill the voids with fish tanks and putters...

 

and impressions.