MafioSol

Dave, I was looking forward to your report. So much incident/events/'controversy' to comment on. So was actually surprised you turned it out so quickly. I'm just as surprised at your less than exhilarated tone. I share the exasperation in the medium term, however we participated in a heavyweight slugging contest in which two titans of the Premier League tore into each other. It could have went either way, but at least we should revel in the moment of which we could have been worthy winners against an unmistakably talented side. Can played like a Boss. Fair play to him, would be interesting to see what happens with Henderson is fit. I've been saying for weeks that Origi is a disgrace, talent dying on the vine. Glad you agree. Himself and Sturridge as you say have killed us this season. How can we have a Plan B when either of them play? As options they weaken our side. Looking forward to Klopp getting decent reinforcements this Summer and moving said disappointments on. Oh, last word: LLALANA!!! WTF??&!!@?#! M

Dave, You’re killin’ it (again and continually) in your report. Nail hit square firmly on the head regarding 'ugly win' (or 'dogged it out' as a little less frequently used by some) regarding the result. Any sort of win against this unique proposition (as you say) was welcome by the discerning Liverpool fan. I commend the team for extricating themselves from the mental straitjacket/head-fuck of not being able to beat a top-six side, hopefully a new mindset bodes well for when we come up against similar opposition in the season remainder and we perform less inhibited. Observations: MIgnolet - You're spot on! He was aggressive and emphatic particularly in defending on the front foot against the alehouse deliveries. Is this a new Mignolet trait? Is his form sufficient to quell cries of derision in the short-term/secure the No.1 jersey in the medium-term/retain Anfield employment in the long-term? The answer is blowing in the wind (and maybe amongst the combative gusts of a Stoke/WBA aerial barrage in the coming weeks). Can - No question he was having a 'mare of a game (not the only home player). There was one particularly misplaced pass which drew a deafening crescendo of derision from three quarters of the crowd (who to be fair offered total raucous support otherwise to each and every Red Man, unforced mistake or not). So I'm pleased Can scored and our supporters got fully on his side. It helped that the goal gave him belief in his game. Biggest game of the season - Again, no question. We treated it like a cup-tie (at least that's my perception after reverberating to the Anfield noise whilst watching the game from my Spanish residence). Such was the importance of the occasion and the determination not to allow Burnley to 'out-Burnley' us again. These PL chavs must feel honoured to have received such reverence. Matip - Was immense. Like a magnetic pylon. A Rolls Royce of a defender (dare I say it). I hope I don't jinx him as Rodgers once said a similar thing about Can and his performances went into reverse/stalled/placed up on bricks since. Whilst peerless Matip was ably assisted by a dutiful right-hand man in Klavan. Clyne - My first instinct was to blame him for the goal. Due to poor positioning it seemed that he didn't do what great/at least good defenders do and 'smell danger'. If you look at his final resting place for the goal (from a starting position of outside Barnes, his tracking run ends up on his other side and in the centre of the goal, almost totally without relation to the scorers movement) it appears his defending was bizarre. However, it's fair to say that there were a number of other defenders who could have cut out the ball whilst delivered into the danger zone. Crucially it was a bloody good ball. Origi - It appears he needs to be put down/out of his misery - which is a shame because he's only 21!! No fight, more pertinently, no quality in his game. The boy is regressing, his Anfield career dying on the vine. Let's hope that the summer recruitment mandate for Klopp includes two quality out-and-out strikers with the outside perception of dying for the cause and the inside perception of vintage. Man City - I expect us to beat them to be fair (top-six side innit). Still, a defeat wouldn't be catastrophic. We just need a performance that empowers the players and sets us up for the season’s run-in. If we beat Everton then this recent sequence of results would appear reasonable in the wider scheme of things. Sad state of affairs for our great club when we are considering ‘reasonable’ is enough. Cheers. M

Treacherous performance by the players ... Liverpool weren't too good either. ;) Seriously though, we were gutless and should be ashamed of ourselves. Disgusting. That is all. M

Nothing has changed/We’ve learnt nothing from this game. i.e. - We can out-energise any top six side on our day - We don’t possess the mental application against teams from the rest of the table. - We obliterate teams with a high back line/full backs that push on, however we haven’t the guile to outwit single/double decker bus parked defences - We’re a different proposition when we have a one game in a week schedule - The recent holiday schedule killed us, making the need for quality reinforcements glaring – what’s going to happen if we make Champions League again?? - We need a like-for-like back up for Mane - Sturridge/Origi’s non-use/lack of choice suggests their exits and replacements made in the Summer. What worries me is the age old Anfield trait of blowing away teams within the first quarter of a game. This is a strength when we go 2-0, 3-0+ up early doors, however becomes a weakness when it’s 0-0, team/crowd get frustrated or we’ve conceded. We simply haven’t got the gears to go through in the latter stages of a game or overdrive options on the bench. Lucas was magnificent like you say, however wasn’t there a case for retaining Sakho in light of the lack of central defensive bodies? … Good points regarding Wijnaldum superiority over Can. The Dutchman seems to be getting better and better in the Liverpool red at the moment.

Arguably a fair result, however the onus was always on Utd to go for a win (home side, in form), plus the Liverpool side of the Europa Cup second leg at Old Trafford last season would have executed more than a couple of the breakaways. Before the game I feared the worst (though not quite on the epic scale of a 4-0 drubbing at the Theatre of Screams, circa 2003). No question the intense holiday period took its toll. The infusion of adrenaline from competing against our most bitterest has breathed life into us. Hopefully this will carry the team through until we receive a well-earned recuperation period (greater than a few days currently) in god knows when. I’ll call it again, Klopp is learning from mistakes and building on past failures. Are we ‘made of sterner stuff’ compared to the great entertainers/ultimate pretenders of yesteryear PL Liverpool sides? Maybe. So far this season we’ve come from behind on numerous occasions, built on big results against the top six by winning again (exceptions being Burnley of course and Sunderland - a decent result considering), and kept clean sheets/delivered when we least expected to, the Old Trafford performance contributing to a growing belief that we’re actually growing something resembling a backbone. Re Mane (and speaking of growing body parts), I think the team should grow a pair and not cultivate the psychology of lament every time he is absent. Remember: we were doing well (not as devastatingly, granted) before we signed him, evidence: reaching two cup finals last season. Dave, you hit the nail on the head re Origi. Sadly he is playing himself out of the side and cult status. I firmly believe that the likes of him, Firminho and Wijnaldum should have the ‘Killer Instinct’ concept drummed into them. When they smell blood/see the whites of the goal posts/presented with better passing options they should be direct/efficient/clinical. All killer, no filler. I’d say the only ‘killer’ we have in our ranks is Sturridge, however because of injuries he doesn’t trust his body at the moment and holds on to the ball too long. Championship-winning sides have that ‘killer’ instinct. Chelski possess it in spades at the moment (I hate to concede) and are reluctant to relinquish. If we master this mentality as a unit (and on top of what we already have) we’ll be close. Re Henderson, (though not brilliant) showed why his stabilising influence was missed during his absence. As you said, we are a better side with his inclusion. I’m with you re Oliver. I used to give him kudos for being a young referee, taking no sh*t from players, and showing decisiveness. Looks like he’s lost his way/succumbed to ‘the system’. I’m unsure if the bookings he meted out to us were upholding the letter of the law, however the current fad of applying insult to injury - especially with Firminho’s booking - is bollocks and I hope the FA review the practice. In summary, Alexander-Arnold embodied the team’s performance as a whole and captured our present mood. A new experience, early indication being we would have got overrun by the occasion (and the likes of say Martial, Mkhitaryan, Rashford), early jitters confirmed general consensus, yet he/we stood tall, whilst growing in belief, ultimately believing we deserved more. Hope this bodes well for team prospects for the remainder of the season. #YNWA M

Dave. HNY. Luvin’ your reports. Luvin’ your ‘drop-da-mic’ endings. Saddened that you’ve jumped on the media bandwagon (unlike you ;)) and labelled Mkhitaryan and Giroud’s recent efforts as ‘scorpion’. I take issue with this as: 1. In truth, they were diving overhead back-heel flicks (easy for me to say) 2. A scorpion has only one tail to flick 3. The true and ‘original’ scorpion (both legs forming a flicking ‘tail’) was performed (and correctly executed) by Huguita. Tomayto, Tomahto (as exotic fruit/vegetable venders would say). Moving onto Giroud, during his equalising ‘scorpion’ dance his buffoonery did not sink in with me until I heard Charlie-Charlie and Merse slating him (and Arsenal) and now yourself. What a plum! Pick the ball up, run back to centre-circle, and go for a winner like any other team with title credentials (and ungrateful fans) would! (Still didn’t prevent me from putting him in my FFL team ahead of next week though (*ahem*) … Re Chelski’s loss at Spurs, it just goes to show how well we played at WHL earlier in the season. I’m ‘almost’ more disappointed not winning there then compared to the recent Sunderland result. Roll on Old Trafford. I’d take a draw now, (a win - I’d rip your arms off!). #YNWA M

Cheers Sir Roger! I'm with you and what you said re the Man City game and the knock-on effect to Sunderland. I didn't mean to imply we were completely error-prone v City, however the fact of the matter is that they didn't have a sniff of opportunity. Ask Kun. The trade-off of compromising our normal swash-buckling trait(s) that night took me by surprise (a means to an end in showing respect for the opposition), however (echoing your point) if we made one or two better decisions on the counter we would have won (even) more comfortably. Yeah, fatigue did come into it as you say, however Sunderland mirrored the limited time off we had, were on the back of a soul-crushing defeat, and had a depleted first XI. I saw nothing short of a total professional job to be performed, alas we were disappointed. Klopp should have been cute and drilled the opposition's low ebb into the boys and, taking into account tiredness, asked them to keep it tight, demoralise the opposition's confidence, and pick them off, after all we are overwhelmingly more talented than them (of course). I feel we've missed a trick. Hopefully it's not costly. What I like about this team is that there is evidence of learning during Klopp's managerial tenure.

Yes G Richards! Indefatigability - that's the one! ;) Apologies for original typo.

I've always passed harsh assessment over our team's performance post game, even in our best wins this season there has been room for improvement. At least after reading your report I can reassert a more appreciative view taking into consideration our travails over a congested holiday programme. Still ... the general sloppiness of our team (fatigue or otherwise) didn't bode well early doors. Can (chief culprit for me) seems to think he is better than he is. He just needs to concentrate on doing the routine stuff well first and foremost and he'd be a better player. It's heart in mouth when he acts like a tart and can't control/loses the ball, we wouldn't have lost the game if Henderson played (arguably). Aside from Mane (WTF was he thinking??!!), I was going to reel off names of other careless offenders of conceding fouls/play in critical areas, however on hindsight individual errors were team spread, the only exceptions I would make would be Sturridge on the day (but he needs to release the ball earlier) and Llalana (at this moment indefatigabilty is meeting class for him). Firminho does need a rest FFS. He's spent and things haven't come off for him over the last few games. Klopp seems to have instilled the right mentality for games against bigger opponents, we always appear switched on. However the Sunderland game was a golden opportunity to make a statement in the title race by defeating a team who were there for the taking IF we applied the mindset of dispiriting them (like we did against City) by doing the basics well (i.e. cutting out silly mistakes) and denying them any sniff of opportunities. Moving forward Klopp needs to remind our players that we haven't won anything (yet) and to do so we should be giving the 'lesser' teams the same respect that we afford the 'better' teams by applying an error-free base of play and building from there. With Coutinho returning added to the above mindset I think we'll get there. #YNWA