JustTosh

Let's go for it. If we score the first goal for a change it's match on!

If at 60 mins we're 4 goals behind on aggregate, it's time to rest our key players.

It's unlikely we'll be able to do it. It was unlikely against Barca too. Just give it a go.

Maybe Amorin's going to team up with former Sporting player Bruno F?

Who knows his ambitions?

If Amorin's totally comitted to the task at Anfield, OK he may be the right man. If he's not certain and waits for a possible bidding war between the Salford lowlives and us, I don't want him.

If Xabi has his eyes on the Real Madrid top job, why would we want him here? Not saying that's his dream, but if he can leave Leverkusen for us he could certainly also leave us for Madrid.

Wouldn't like to see Xabi here for one year, and then leave. If that's a probable scenario we might be better off with someone else.

It's all down to Xabi and his ambitions isn't it? He'll know he might be sacked in Madrid if he doesn't win la liga and CL in his first year. Here he'll get more time to build stone by stone.

13 hours ago, dave u said:

 

Ok I'm not explaining this properly. It isn't about under-estimating them. For the most part they were as shit as I expected them to be. Yes, they scored four. Two of those came when we were absolutely fucked in extra time and I'm completely discounting extra time from this. Some of the other chances were offside and wouldn't have counted (so ignore the laughably distorted XG nonsense), but it distorts how we view the balance of the game.

 

What happened was they came out all guns blazing and caused us problems early on. They were good in that spell, no question. It's to be expected though. I could even see Everton doing that to us at home because they have to come out with fire in their belly but these plucky underdog sides just can't sustain that level of manic effort for very long. They punch themselves out and then rely on having a good shape, making it as difficult as possible and then hoping for counter attacks. United had counter attacks, but they did not make it difficult at all and their shape was hilarious.

 

The better side just has to wether the early storm then take control, which we did. That second half was complete and utter dominance, because they are - and I can't stress this enough - proper shite tactically. There were gaps everywhere, it was like playing a kids team. At times Szoboszlai was in 20 yards of space between their midfield and defence, it was laughable. 

 

We beat them 7-0 last year and most of the failings they had then were there this time too. We were just sloppy and far too lacking in focus when it came to exploiting them. Us not scoring in that second half had nothing to do with them and everything to do with us. They did their best to let us batter them.

 

Of course they still have players who can hurt you, and occasionally there were flashes of that (especially when we got tired), but this was not a game where the opposition played well above their usual level and we didn't show up. That's what usually happens in this fixture when a heavy favourite doesn't win, but this wasn't that.

 

We drew here 1-1 when we won the league, it can happen when they raise their game and we don't. We've done it to them loads of times too when they were much better than us. I'm saying that didn't happen this time and the reasons we were so confident about this game were there for all to see. 

 

They were fucking awful from around 20-85 minutes and for us to not have put them away in that second half is scandalous really. We won't have more space in a game all season than we had in that second half. How many attacking overloads do you need to get a fucking goal?

 

We had 5v2, at least twice we had 4v2 and there were probably half a dozen more where it was essentially 5v5 with a ball carrier running at them with passing options. That doesn't happen against a team that has played well and made it difficult for us. It didn't happen at Luton. Shit, it didn't happen at Palace or Sheffield United either. Even Burnley were more difficult to play through, and they're naive as fuck.

 

Tactically this is the worst team we've faced all season and it's embarrassing that we didn't exploit it. We lost that second half 1-0. That's fucking incredible when you think about it. That's why we got beat, not because of extra time when half the team were out on their feet, our game management went to shit and they got their tails up. It should never have got that point because they were genuinely hopeless in that second half and they'd basically given up. They were beaten and they knew it, until it gets to 85 minutes and they're somehow only a goal down and they suddenly have hope.

 

So Mark, you didn't under-estimate United and neither did I. United are exactly who we thought they were. This defeat is 100% on us.

100% the way I saw it too.

Hopefully they still believe this was their turning point, pat themselves on the back, and do the same on April 7th.

Failing to deal with it once was terrible. Failing twice would be a criminal offence. Klopp knows it and it won't happen. Looking forward to the PL match in a couple of weeks.

11 minutes ago, Supremolad said:

Exactly. You would have thought people should know this by now. But I guess what has skewed our expectations is the 5 nil win at Old Trafford and 7 nil win over them at Anfield. Since the 7 nil especially, too many of our fans have gone into games against Man Utd with the mindset of "we're battering them".

 

Yes, we should expect to beat them because we are far better than them but too often, our games against them don't go by that reality. It's just the way it has been for a long time even when they've been better than us they struggled at Anfield most times. We've only won twice at Old Trafford in almost 9 years of Klopp's reign. People need to acknowledge the unique thing this rivalry brings with it.

Mid feb 2020 we had won all our league games but one - the away game at Old T (1-1)

Hopefully they'll play us with the same brilliant high press low block tactics on Apr 7th. I guess they will. After all they've turned a corner haven't they?

If we don't win that by 3+ goals, gap sticks for the players must be reinstalled in the city centre.

17 minutes ago, Bobby Hundreds said:

They take huge risks in our danger areas but play it safe in theirs. It's annoying because we are hearing about united spirit when in reality it was down to one of the most brain dead performances I've seen from us.

Agree.

When Klopp said "they deserved to win" it shouldv'e been "we deserved to loose"

They wanted to play a disorganized gung-ho match, and we allowed them to just that in the first 30 and last 30 mins of the game. They were like a pubteam on stereoids and speed. We didn't cope with it and took way too many risks ourselves. We handed them this win.

That Tik Tok clip is really embarrassing for Bruno and Man U. Thx to Ten Hag for bringing it to my attention. Probably would've passed me by without it.

Great report that, straight from the heart.

"Danns hadn’t even been on a first team bench until this week and now he’s got more medals than Harry Kane. " Sums it up doesn't it.

27 minutes ago, Jennings said:

 

I am shocked that people are happy with VAR being used like this. I bet if you slowed it down sufficiently, you could justify Virge's winner being chalked off for some wrestling between Quansah and his marker.

Why do you compare the two? Endo was caught offside. He wasn't penalized because of the block.

Haven't seen it mentioned here before, but it pisses me right off that Bradley got a yellow. The snide Chilwell attacks him and even graps at his face. Conor shows great calm and professionalism by not doing anything else than to stand his ground. I doubt I could've contained myself from planting at fist on his nose.

Yet Conor's booked for it. Booked for nothing, booked because Chilwell attacked him. It's bullshit. What  if Conor was already on a yellow and Chilwell not?

6 minutes ago, Scooby Dudek said:

I was going to ask if we'd booed the anthem, as I missed the buildup. Seeing the above makes me happier.  

 

Fuck everyone who is not us.

Yeah it was booed alright, but not by the vast majority.

Personally I'd prefer keeping my gob shut. Watching one half of the Wembey crowd silent would be just as telling as booes, only without being disrespectful. No that I care much. The answer to your question is "Yes it was booed.

3 minutes ago, aws said:

They should have really gone for us in ET but they didn’t have the legs, the courage or both.  Instead they sat back and let a team consisting of kids and players who played on Wednesday dominate proceedings and hoped to hit us on the break. Just like they had done for most of normal time.  Cowardly.  

The way I saw it too.

When Kloppo took Robbo, Macca and Gakpo off and replaced them with Tsimikas and kids, I admit my reaction was: "We better score a lucky goal before XT if we're going to win this. If we give Chelsea 30 extra mins we're dead".

Only, they didn't take advantage, we were arguably the better team in XT.  If there's actually such a thing as a Chelsea fan, he or she should be really pissed off by their teams abmyssal effort in XT. Takes nothing away from our kids though.

5 minutes ago, Babb'sBurstNad said:

 

It doesn't matter how much effort he puts in, he's blocked. I'd want him to do far better if he played for us, but it doesn't change the fact Endo was put there to block him, and did so successfully. He only has to hold up his run for a split second for it to be effective.

 

It was a brilliant play. It was just a pity Endo was watching Colwill too much to notice he started from an offside position.

It may be unpopular but I agree with you.

Endo offside? Check!

Did he interfer with the play? Check!

People seem to compare the block from Endo with other incidets after corners etc. They're missing the point. The goal wasn't overruled because of Endo's block alone, it was disallowed because he was offside and interferred with the play.

We've been thoroughly shaftet by Refs and VAR repeatdely this season. This, however, was not one to complain about.

30 minutes ago, sir roger said:

Let's hope we get to the FA Cup quarters seeing as the u-14s will be playing against Soton.

They better do as we probably have to give our grown ups a rest for this one.

It feels like FA cup success depends on the football gods. If we beat Soton (we really should even with the U-14s) it could be ManC away for the QF or Coventry/Maidstone at Anfield.

7 minutes ago, Megadrive Man said:

I don't think this will be as easy as some people think.

 

They've just thrashed a fairly strong Galatasaray side.

Sparta Praha is as good as it could be.

I only wanted to avoid Milan (tough match), Rome (safety for our supporters) and Quarabag (long trip). Everyone else would be OK with Sparta Praha arguably the best draw we could have.

Now let's just get Coventry at Anfield for the FA quarter and we'll be able to give key players som rest in this run in. 2 matches every week from now on.

On 12/02/2024 at 13:12, Mook said:

I can't find any happiness in a Man Utd victory. I never usually watch them unless they're playing us but I stupidly had it on yesterday and was extremely pissed off when they scored that winner.

 

Cunts.

Never happy but we need them to win occasionally to keep Ten Hag in his job. That somewhat eases the pain.

Xabi's not an idiot.

He'll know he's going to be axed unless he's an immediiate success at Real Madrid. Here he'll be give the time needed.

Maybe's his heart is also in Liverpool.

I've seen somebody comparing this to Ferguson leaving Man U, but it's very different.

In 2013 ManU lost a great manager

In 2024 Liverpool FC lost a great manager AND one hell of a decent compassionate Man.

Vielen dank, Jurgen, for making me dream again

Vielen dank, Jurgen, for making those dreams come true.

Your next job will probably be managing "der Mannschaft". Good luck!

6 minutes ago, Moo said:

The timing is very suss indeed.

Could easily be that somehow info was leaked, and they knew it would get out anyway. Better then to reveal the news yourself.

How can we say the timing is wrong when we don't know the facts?

7 minutes ago, dave u said:

 

This is what some will use to justify their wrongness, so any time he scores a goal where he isn't running through from the halfway line with five seconds to decide what he's going to do, they'll say "you see, I always said he was ok when he didn't have time to think".

 

Completely overlooking that some of the worst misses he's had have been first time shots when he hasn't had loads of time to think.

Against Fulham 9/10 forwards, especially if they were on a goal drought, would shoot from a tight angel. Darwin? No, a clever little cutback to Gakpo instead. Great thinking, superb awareness that. And proof the ”shit Andy Carrol chants” doesn’t affect him.

Darwin probably doesn’t know who Andy Carrol is, but if he himself is a shit version of the man I guess he wonders how extremely good that Carrol guy must’ve been.

53 minutes ago, Jose Jones said:

I think the crowd go a bit too far sometimes to be honest. Gakpo slotted with a quality finish and all you can hear afterwards is “Nunez, Nunez”.

 

 

If Ronaldo (not "Real Ronaldo" but "Pretty boy Ronaldo") had gone on a goal drought and was in Darwin's shoes, what would he do? He'd shoot from a tight angle, maybe scoring probably not. Darwin? he cuts back to Gakpo for a lovely finish. The awareness, cool and unselfishness deserves all the praise we can give him.

Gakpo should be salutede too of course.

14 hours ago, kemskem said:

It’s a shame a lot of his critics don’t or won’t recognise or respect what else he has brought us.

A real shame I agree.

To be fair many of us do however recognise and respect his efforts. You can hear his name being sung during matches a lot and I believe Darwin can feel the support. What's more, I think he needs it.

We're many who'll follow general Usher and die on Darwin Hill

Does anyone have a record of how many goals we as a team have scored with Darwin on the pitch this season as opposed to goals scored without him?

Apparently Darwin has 8 goals and 10 assists to his name halfway through this season, on course for app. 36 goal involvements this year.

Not too bad for a guy who's taken an overdose of the anti-scoring vaccine. Can't wait for the vaccine to wear off.

I'm still on Darwin Hill fighting. I'm far from alone, almost all of us are