Supremolad

Great job, Dave. I'm guessing Salah and Keita won't be getting invited to dinner anytime soon. Seriously though, your articles are the main reason I keep coming back here. Brilliant, funny and very often insightful. Let's do it all over again next season.

Jota didnt make us worse. He did better than Diaz. I think Firmino was bright too. Keita was the bad one. Klopp has a far better record at good substitutions than many care to remember. In fact, I'm sure I've seen an article which compares goals or points won by subs with Klopp right up there among the very best. It's just a lazy criticism to claim he is shit at making subs.

He forced a full length save from Courtois leading to a corner. Got in threatening positions between the posts and not out on the wing. What he did in 30 odd mins was more than Diaz managed all game, when he was running down blind alleys or getting dispossessed.

I think Diaz being taken off for Jota was the right call. At that stage, we needed more guile and penalty box poaching which are attributes Jota has over Diaz.

Spot on. I've been a bit cautious about him right from the start. He obviously is talented and very hardworking. He also brings a bit of directness into our attack which is good. But I think many people are sold on the idea that he is a threat. The problem is how often does he deliver on the threat to score or assist? As mentioned previously, his finishing often lacks finesse and he can be a bit predictable. Hopefully he does improve to the level where we genuinely have a world class player on our hands. At the moment, he is simply a very good player with potential to hit the heights Salah or Mane have.

He was quite clear in the press conference before the Madrid game that he was staying at Liverpool next season.

I don't think they go down next season. They would let this season serve as a warning. They'll probably end up around midtable. This season was the best chance for them to be fucked out of the premier league. It's a pity there were three teams even worse off.

Closer to a red than yellow in my view. But it was absolutely hilarious that Ayew then went on to score a couple minutes later.

He's just a busy flappy cunt. No composure whatsoever. Running to the center circle to shout at the ref for not giving a red card to Ayew. And then fucked up a couple mins later to hand over the 2nd goal.

Wolves still have a chance of making it into Europe. They're at home to City next week in a game which is their last chance to get into that conference league spot if they win. And West Ham after being knocked out tonight would also need a result against City to get back into the Europa. They are also at home in that fixture. So Wolves and West Ham definitely have something to play for. Doesn't guarantee they would take points off City but they certainly aren't on the beach at this stage.

Brilliant work, Dave. You're right about Diaz. Hopefully he would eventually add more goals to his game. He can be a little too predictable with his finishing when he gets in those one on one situations with defenders on the left flank. Cutting in and shooting the way he does usually results in either a block or the keeper making a save. A bit more finesse required. That said, Diaz, Mane and Salah would still be my most preferred front 3 for most of the remaining games.

She's definitely got two penaltitties.

Great report, Dave. Agree with most of it. We certainly controlled majority of the 2nd half. They created chances in that half but so did we. 3-2 flattered them. Thought we also did well to take the sting out of any momentum they could have gotten from their first goal. Which is probably why Pep didn't bother throwing on any subs for most of the game. He knew that at 3-1, we were mostly in charge of that game. The only sub he made was Mahrez for Jesus due to injury. It's great that even in the periods when we were outplayed by them in the first two games, we never got blown away like they did by us on Saturday. Which is why I previously stated that Pep hasn't really figured us out per se. It's now 2 wins each and 3 draws from 7 games in the past 3 seasons. If City had racked up 4 or 5 wins from those 7 games against us, then I would have truly believed they had our number.

For me, the biggest positive to take away is this - In the previous games this season against City, in the first halves when they've completely dominated Liverpool, they didn't have enough in them to take the game beyond us. Today, we got the chance to dominate the first half and made it count emphatically by knocking in 3 unreplied goals. The final scoreline flattered them just like it did when we beat them 4-3 at Anfield in 2018.

My issue isn't with those who are emotional in the heat of the moment while the game is going on. I wasn't happy when we conceded that 2nd goal, I was cursing at the TV. My issue is with those who still double down on their whinging after the game has finished. There are people who havent had a good word to say about the team since the game finished today. Perspective should have started seeping in by now. Yes it's not great we conceded twice but in the grand scheme of things, we are in yet another final and still in with a shout of a quadruple, never before acheived.

Yep, wont mind seeing him get another go.

Fuck off with your bollocks. There is constructive criticism and there is whinging and whining because of being a negative cunt. Miss me with your bullshit analysis and nostalgia induced nonsense. You think we were perfect every game and never conceded some sloppy goals in the 70s and 80s when we were all conquering? Laughable rose tinted glasses you have on mate.

Some of the comments in this thread again show how fucking spoilt many of our fans have become. Our first FA cup final in 10 years but let's whinge and moan instead. And let's ignore how comfortable we were for most of this game and could easily have won with a bigger margin. Why be chuffed, when you can be the "anti-super fan" picking holes in everything because this team should be perfect every single minute of every single game?

The last 7 games between them over the past 3 seasons - 2 wins each and 3 draws. Reports of Pep figuring Klopp out have been greatly exaggerated.

3-2 flattered them. Great to see Pep has truly figured us out like some people kept saying after the 2-2 draw on Sunday. He figured us out on the way to a defeat and 2 draws this season. Well played, Pep Guardiola!!

Apparently, Kostas has the highest number of shots assisted per 90 minutes. Probably helped by having a smaller sample size though.

I wonder what his assists to games ratio is? Seems he gets an assist almost everytime he plays. His defending is usually good too. Seems unreal we now probably have the best two left backs in the league after going quite a good number of years with no great options in that position.

Yeah, it was to the tune of sugar, sugar. "Oh Mane Mane". The Tsimikas song is great, a bit disappointed that it hasn't taken off properly.

Fair post. Nothing wrong with offering some constructive criticism. I just feel need proper context needs to be applied. One of the games was away to Man City who aside from us are the best team in Europe. They were always likely to score against us, as we are likely to do so against them. They had the best defence in the league and still shipped two to us. The 3 conceded against Benfica has to be taken in proper perspective. Firstly that isnt our first choice defence at all. And more importantly, I wager all the 5 lads in defence tonight have never played together at all. That counts for something. The other thing is the team collectively switched off just a bit after going 6-2 up on aggregate. They shouldn't do so but these guys are human. Even the greatest teams are prone to switching off a bit ovcasionally when they think a game is won And finally, Benfica are not mugs. They made it this far because they are decent and us making so many changes was always going to give them a fighting chance of nicking a draw.

This time last year, we were out of all competitions and were wondering if we would even make it into the top 4. As of today we are still in 3 competitions, having won one other. But we have cunts whinging about a "shite/sloppy/horrendous performance". Being hypercritical of a much changed team which was comfortable enough to go through to a CL semis. These are the cunts who would still find something to complain about even if we won all 38 league games in a season.