PODCAST: Liverpool 4 Tottenham Hotspur 2 - Match Reaction

[tlw content]

Jurgen's penultimate home game ended with a 4-2 win after a mixed bag of a performance against Spurs. The Reds were 4-0 up and cruising but ended up hanging on after a late Spurs fightback threatened to cause huge embarrassment.

 

TLW Editor Dave Usher is joined by Paul Natton to reflect on a strange afternoon at Anfield, while the lads also have a discussion about what might happen this summer regarding the futures of a number of players.

 

 

 

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[LFC 6 Times]

Sorry Dave, but give over it's time up for Nunez. 

[DaveT]

Totally agree with the need for more ‘professional cynicism’ from our lads. The moral high ground doesn’t exist in this tarnished sport anymore and we get fuck all credit for being nice guys. 

[Chris]

Really good chat boys, but it might be time to stop looking for external reasons why Darwin can't make the leap and convert those raw materials into someone that delivers results.

 

I definitely got the sense in the ground yesterday that he's run out of rope when it comes to this unconditional NOONEZ NOONEZ NOONEZ support.

[Kevin D]

1 hour and 54 minutes?

 

Bear with me while I put my notes together on who, when and what I was utterly appalled by.

[aws]

2 hours ago, Chris said:

Really good chat boys, but it might be time to stop looking for external reasons why Darwin can't make the leap and convert those raw materials into someone that delivers results.

 

I definitely got the sense in the ground yesterday that he's run out of rope when it comes to this unconditional NOONEZ NOONEZ NOONEZ support.

Face it. You just hate Uruguayans. 

[lifetime fan]

No one called Turdseye a cunt? Disappointed. 

[Chris]

1 hour ago, aws said:

Face it. You just hate Uruguayans. 

Up until a few months ago, I’d have resembled that remark but Suarez is my boy now. 

[aws]

7 minutes ago, Chris said:

Up until a few months ago, I’d have resembled that remark but Suarez is my boy now. 

So you’re saying Nunez still has a chance? 

[Kevin D]

4 hours ago, Chris said:

Really good chat boys, but it might be time to stop looking for external reasons why Darwin can't make the leap and convert those raw materials into someone that delivers results.

 

I definitely got the sense in the ground yesterday that he's run out of rope when it comes to this unconditional NOONEZ NOONEZ NOONEZ support.

Stuck this on the Nunez thread earlier

 

16 hours ago, Kevin D said:

That wasn’t great, was it?

 

Three choices:

 

1) round the keeper, who has came out flying, and finish it into an empty net.

 

2) Square it to your 6’3 mate who has an open goal.

 

3) Blast at the massive fella running straight at you.

 

I like the guy, but a season of watching him Diaz and Salah conspire to do this regularly is exhausting.

And it did seem like the ground collectively went “hmmm.”

[Chris]

3 hours ago, aws said:

So you’re saying Nunez still has a chance? 

 

Give it a decade.

[johnsusername]

16 hours ago, LFC 6 Times said:

Sorry Dave, but give over it's time up for Nunez. 

 

He's definitely less of a peacock, and more of a dodo.

[dave u]

Regarding Kevin D's point, I partly agree but not entirely.

 

1. Lift it over the keeper into an empty net.

2. Go around him and put it into the empty net.

 

There should not be an option 3 or 4. There should not be anything else in his mind other than the above. Either is good, but option 1 is by far the easiest given the way the keeper committed himself so early. Squaring it was risky as a defender was right there with Gakpo. Hitting it straight at the keeper is of course the option he took, as he's taken no other option for the past 5 weeks or so. Just when it looked like he was settling down in front of goal he's reverted back to that 'hit and hope' shit that strikers with no confidence go for.

 

I'm sick of him going for that 'safe' option. Sometimes it will work and the ball will squirm through the keeper (Darren Bent made a career out of it), but when that happens I'll still criticise the finish (and did do earlier in the season when me and Paul argued about his goals for Uruguay which I said were bad finishes). Make the right decision and if the execution isn't right then we'll deal with that. Far too often he's making the blatantly wrong decision because he isn't confident enough to go for the corners or lift it.

 

At this point though I don't think Klopp and the coaching staff can be excused of all blame either. It's their job to improve players, work on their weaknesses and stop them doing making the same mistakes over and over. Do they actually work on finishing with him (and Diaz for that matter, who is also wasteful as fuck)? Sure as hell doesn't seem like it. Have they bollocked him for constantly blasting at the keeper? Doubt it, because it's turned into his default finish now. Virtually every single time that's what he's going for and it hardly ever works. 

 

They should be working on this shit with him every fucking day. I reckon they've probably tip toed around the issue because they haven't wanted to make it a 'thing' and get in his head any more than it is already. They should have been drilling it into him in every session though and had all kinds of sports psychologists helping him as well. 

 

The majority of the blame is on Nunez himself of course, he needs to chill the fuck out and make better choices instead of panicking. I also suspect he probably isn't one of those players that really studies their craft in order to get better, so that's on him too. That said, if I'm Klopp and Lijnders I'm asking myself how the fuck have I not been able to stop him doing this crap every time he goes clean through. 

 

As I said on the pod, it's really not hard. He's failing miserably at the easiest part of his job and it's infuriating because I don't think it should be that hard to fix. It's clearly a mental thing, and that chance he missed yesterday was piss easy. Michael Owen must have scored at least 50 of his career tally in that situation. Just fucking lift it for fucks sake.

[DJLJ]

Don’t think I have heard so many ‘I don’t remember’ before. 

[Paul]

2 hours ago, DJLJ said:

Don’t think I have heard so many ‘I don’t remember’ before. 

Yeah. It probably sounds like we’re doing a bit. I really wish that was the case, but unfortunately it’s all true. It’s partly that my memory has deteriorated with age but it’s also that I don’t even try to retain stuff like results, goals and scorers. Once a game has gone, generally so is all of the detail. 

[No2]

3 hours ago, dave u said:

Regarding Kevin D's point, I partly agree but not entirely.

 

1. Lift it over the keeper into an empty net.

2. Go around him and put it into the empty net.

 

There should not be an option 3 or 4. There should not be anything else in his mind other than the above. Either is good, but option 1 is by far the easiest given the way the keeper committed himself so early. Squaring it was risky as a defender was right there with Gakpo. Hitting it straight at the keeper is of course the option he took, as he's taken no other option for the past 5 weeks or so. Just when it looked like he was settling down in front of goal he's reverted back to that 'hit and hope' shit that strikers with no confidence go for.

 

I'm sick of him going for that 'safe' option. Sometimes it will work and the ball will squirm through the keeper (Darren Bent made a career out of it), but when that happens I'll still criticise the finish (and did do earlier in the season when me and Paul argued about his goals for Uruguay which I said were bad finishes). Make the right decision and if the execution isn't right then we'll deal with that. Far too often he's making the blatantly wrong decision because he isn't confident enough to go for the corners or lift it.

 

At this point though I don't think Klopp and the coaching staff can be excused of all blame either. It's their job to improve players, work on their weaknesses and stop them doing making the same mistakes over and over. Do they actually work on finishing with him (and Diaz for that matter, who is also wasteful as fuck)? Sure as hell doesn't seem like it. Have they bollocked him for constantly blasting at the keeper? Doubt it, because it's turned into his default finish now. Virtually every single time that's what he's going for and it hardly ever works. 

 

They should be working on this shit with him every fucking day. I reckon they've probably tip toed around the issue because they haven't wanted to make it a 'thing' and get in his head any more than it is already. They should have been drilling it into him in every session though and had all kinds of sports psychologists helping him as well. 

 

The majority of the blame is on Nunez himself of course, he needs to chill the fuck out and make better choices instead of panicking. I also suspect he probably isn't one of those players that really studies their craft in order to get better, so that's on him too. That said, if I'm Klopp and Lijnders I'm asking myself how the fuck have I not been able to stop him doing this crap every time he goes clean through. 

 

As I said on the pod, it's really not hard. He's failing miserably at the easiest part of his job and it's infuriating because I don't think it should be that hard to fix. It's clearly a mental thing, and that chance he missed yesterday was piss easy. Michael Owen must have scored at least 50 of his career tally in that situation. Just fucking lift it for fucks sake.

It's mad you spoke about visualisation. I seen that one before it happened and going around him was the easiest goal you will ever score. The keeper had committed himself so early he had time to take a heavy touch to his left, chase after it, get it under control and then roll it into an empty net. Or he could have taken a simple touch 10 degrees to his left and slotted it like Jota and Gakpo and Sadio and Bobby and any half decent striker would off. I'm scoring that and I'm 44 and slow.

[3 Stacks]

If Darwin could finish like Dazza Bent, he'd score 40 per season.

[dave u]

3 hours ago, Paul said:

Yeah. It probably sounds like we’re doing a bit. I really wish that was the case, but unfortunately it’s all true. It’s partly that my memory has deteriorated with age but it’s also that I don’t even try to retain stuff like results, goals and scorers. Once a game has gone, generally so is all of the detail. 

 

I have a better memory than you but then I'm two years younger.

[razor]

7 hours ago, dave u said:

 

I have a better memory than you but then I'm two years younger.

 

Are you sure...?

[Skidfingers McGonical]

20 hours ago, lifetime fan said:

No one called Turdseye a cunt? Disappointed. 

Forum politics should be kept off the podcast. 
 

 

[Skidfingers McGonical]

This was a very pleasurable Bank Holiday listen. Set up a nice vibe for the day. Listened to it before anyone got up with a couple of coffees and those two hours flew by. 
 

 

 

[NoelM]

One of the best moments Elliot produced was the follow up shot that was cleared off the line, it was great see him take it instantly with his right foot. 

[Remmie]

I hate to be critical because I love the pod, but the constant references to the group chat that the vast majority of us aren't on, is beginning to grate. I don't want to just moan about it though, it'd be great to find a solution where all the reports, rants, memes and hot takes could be accessible to all listeners. Not sure if you can have a group chat with hundreds of members but only a select few that can add to it? 

[razor]

Paul, I think the podcast on visualisation was referring to Antony Gordon.  It stuck in my craw as much as it did my mind as they were shocked that somebody from Liverpool could do such a thing.

 

On the FSG criticism, I do agree with you that what we have is the preferred model - mixing established big buy quality alongside youth development.  We need a pathway for homegrown talent, but that pathway needs to be a supported one to ensure quality development and the correct balance in the first team.

 

But I also do think that it is easy to say it is brilliant right now because we do currently have that blend.  For me, FSG were absolute mingebags at a few key points in Klopp's reign.  There weren't talented youngsters that were ready, and there were clearly visible holes that they wouldn't spend money on filling.  My own belief is that was a choice.

 

Anyway, as ever, I agree with about 99% of what you say.  (I even agreed with your Salah rant and I hadn't had 5 cans....!)

 

Great listen again - ta.

[dave u]

I saw the clip of Gordon talking about visualisation but the one I was thinking of was Mo speaking to the Men in Blazers pod a few weeks ago, because Gordon is visualising different scenarios where he can dive.