Supremolad

Not even close. Gomez and Szobozlai were not great at all in the first half. And Nunez had endeavour but daftly got caught offside 5 times in that half. Elliot was better than those 3 in the first half.

Laughable comment. His effectiveness has increased this season with numerous assists in the last few weeks. He would also have a couple more goals if two hadn't been harshly taken off him. And with Jones out, Elliot has been our best trigger for pressing from midfield. He's been a crucial player all season. And whatever "genuine technique" means in your opinion, Elliot's "fake" technique is a definite match. If the argument is the fact that he isn't as effective as Salah at right forward, then that's obvious. No one is.

The medical guys seem to be picking our team for us now. It's annoying how overly cautious they are. And also it's irritating that Klopp bows to their advice every time. Just say no, Salah looks fine to you and start him in the biggest game of the season so far.

Just seems overly cautious. Szobozlai said last week he was absolutely fine to play but he had to keep fighting the medical team who said he wasn't ready. Klopp even half joked about Szobozlai and Nunez celebrating wildly after the winning goal in the league cup final saying he would have to ask the medical team why those lads were being held back. This is a game we needed our strongest available options starting and now for some overly cautious reason, we don't.

I would have put Gomez at CB and let Robbo deal with whatever Foden brings. I don't think this is our best 11 to start with. Making a plan to put Gomez there just because Foden is on fire shouldn't really be a priority. Now we have two relatively inexperienced boys on the right hand side with Quansah and Bradley. I don't like this.

I think our medical team exert too much influence. I'm sure Mo and even Konate would have declared themselves available to start but the medical guys have leaned on Klopp to do otherwise. Mo could easily do a full 90 running off adrenaline. But now we have to hope we are still in the game by the time he comes on. Fuck sake.

That had better be a joke

We could play our best football and still not win against City. While I desperately want a win on Sunday, a defeat against City certainly doesn't mean the league title race is over. But a defeat against Utd definitely puts us out of the FA cup. I'd rather we go there with the best chance of progressing to the semis which the 5-1 away win at Prague would now afford us.

While I get the angst over Konate's injury, I think it is great we put this tie to bed in the first leg. It helps us be fully relaxed and mostly rested going into the FA cup at Old Trafford. Imagine having to fight hard to overturn a first leg defeat 3 days before going away to Utd. Especially after a stressful game against City. Nah, I'm happier with the empathic nature of the 5-1 win and wouldn't swap that for a defeat because of one injury. Injuries can happen at any time and we have coped all season with numerous key men out. Ibou could have been completely rested for the Sparta game but it doesn't mean he couldn't have snapped his hammy 5 minutes into the City game.

True. My theory is when we play City, Alisson wants to prove he is better with his feet than Ederson. And he ends up over-compensating or complicating things. Generally Alisson is good with his feet but he isn't as good as Ederson in that regard. Even Kelleher is arguably more composed than Alisson with his kicking. Our Brazilian loves taking the risk of getting caught on the ball because it supposedly tempts the opposition into leaving spaces. Which I'd rather he didn't do tbh.

Even ignoring his exploits earlier in the season when he was helping the team turn games with assists or incisive play, the last few matches he has been directly involved in at least 5 goals. In the league cup final, he was millimetres away from claiming the winning goal in injury time. If all you see is a player who looks "busy but loses the ball a shit ton, with backwards passing and taking the easy option", then you clearly are watching the wrong sport or you are completely blinded by bias.

After Darwin's brace tonight, Code is still calculating the best way to shit on him again.

I dont know if I was being naive but when I watched Match of the Day I had expected a bit of balance regarding their analysis of the drop ball incident. But it was an actual disgrace as Dave also said. No talk of the high foot on Konate, no talk of the similar drop ball incident which went against Liverpool in the first half. No talk of how Forest had enough chances to defend properly in the lead up to the goal. Rather we are all expected to believe that Forest would definitely have held on for a point or won the game if the drop ball had gone their way. Who says we wont have nicked the ball off them and still scored anyway? Hysterical cunts, all of them. Fuck them.

I think he has definitely dealt with having to regain form after a couple of bad games this season. He had a lot of criticism aimed his way earlier this season for below par performances in the Europa league and the 4-3 win over Fulham. His form was understandably erratic though, because at that stage he didn't really have a run of games like he is having now. I absolutely won't be loaning him away next season. Alisson is injury prone for a keeper, and is likely to be out for another stretch next season. Keep Kelleher around and avoid having to put Adrian or a young kid in goal.

He scored in consecutive games just before the League Cup final which was last Sunday. So I dont think he is on a goal drought crisis at all. I just think he looks a little fatigued now, which is leading to him snatching at shots and making poor decisions. However, even at his sharpest, he isn't a naturally aggressive forward who can impose himself on the game. He is often anonymous which is a waste of a solid 6'3 frame which he should be using to bully opponents.

Toys. Prams.

"He's just a shit Andy Carroll"

Nice assist tonight. Ran his legs off once again and showed good quality on the ball. Very valuable player. The fact that he plays like one of the most matured pros in these games at age 20 shouldnt be taken for granted.

I'm definitely not keen on the suggestion of selling Elliot to raise funds for a "stronger first team option". Ignoring the homegrown element (which is important btw), he is already of good quality with potentially 10 more years at the highest level. A period in which he can improve his physique and experience. So you sell him off, what's the guarantee that you find another player who is happy to step in as a squad member, full of passionate support for Liverpool, with similar level of quality Elliot already brings at 20.

Yep, that's another match winning contribution in another cup final. Not bad for the often maligned Greek Scouser.

While I'm all for Klopp's justified pettiness there, i'm worried Howard Webb would assign Kavanagh to more crucial Liverpool games before the end of the season and that cunt would be relishing making Klopp pay for the handshake snub.

Happy for the lad. He often suffers from far too much nit picking and microanalysis. Almost every goal that's scored past him is put under a magnifying glass by the "Alisson would have saved that" crowd. Of course, Alisson is the best goalie in the world but it doesn't mean he saves every effort. Kelleher has proved over time that he is a keeper good enough for Liverpool's standards. Just because Alisson exceeds such standards shouldn't automatically lead people to feel Kelleher isn't good enough.

It is a weak team in comparison to what we could put out if we had even only a couple more available. Chelsea certainly would fancy their chances against this 11.

Yes, without numerous injuries to key players, it would be a disgraceful result to draw at home to them. There is a thing called context though. There is a lot of potency and creativity missing and have you seen the bench we have out there? I'm sure most of us don't even recognise some of the faces on that bench.

Our attack has clearly been the issue today. Apart from the goal Luton scored which came via a bit of luck, they've not worked Kelleher much. Meanwhile we keep getting into their box and into their final third, wasting numerous chances and making poor decisions.