LIVERPOOL should have scored. All game Liverpool were more dangerous but Liverpool should have scored. Liverpool should have committed to scoring.
The injury-time goal: The Reds are too open. Far too open. But I’m not interested in that because Liverpool should have scored. They had the control and the edge but it was never cashed in. It was never forced.
Liverpool didn’t force the issue and now the issue forces Liverpool. The Reds should be an away goal up, they find themselves a goal down. It makes them vulnerable. Any Villarreal goal next week at Anfield means Liverpool need three.
The positives: Villarreal were not as good at defending as expected. Far from it. Liverpool had proper chances and proper chances to make chances.
The negatives: Villarreal created more than I expected. They are a good side.
They are more than capable of scoring at Anfield. Remember that. Let that keep you up nights. They score, we need three.
Allez les rouges.
We all got our education from The Kop.
Hence this: Liverpool should have scored at their gaff. It was there to do it. It was very possible. The Reds partially decided against it. Never committed.
Many did well. Joe Allen should score but impresses for 90. Alberto Moreno had another good game — a full back getting the coaching he needs broadly speaking. He should square it but Jordon Ibe is behind him.
James Milner won his battles and offered more. Dejan Lovren loves this competition.
At no point were Villarreal scary. Dortmund were scary. Scary is in Manchester United’s DNA. Yet Villarreal were not scary. In no way.
And this I am now scared by. This is our concern, dude. There’s an edge to this now. These yellow lads know exactly what they are about. They have a defined job to do now. Have two sets of 60 seconds where they are good and they put it beyond Liverpool.
So next Thursday. You know how it goes. You know how it works. A cauldron. A thing to terrify. A hill to come up. A road to walk down. One more storm to see the back of.
Thanks Liverpool. Because it could have been straightforward. And now it winds. And twists. Thanks, lads.
Go The Reds.
Allez Les Rouges
Ir a Los Rojos.
Yep. It has become one of them. See you next Thursday. There is a serious job to do.
I love Klopp but I’ve no idea what he was thinking. Firmino’s shite: he can’t pass the ball. Daniel Sturridge, by contrast, is our one world-class player. I can only assume Klopp’s trying to manage his fitness, but he got it very, very wrong tonight. I hope there isn’t an issue between the two because losing Sturridge because he’s a little bit different, would be close to a dereliction of duty.
Absolutely confused by the decision not to play sturridge. Whilst the TV never stops blabbing about away goals it makes you think, why don’t we try to get goals away.. Bizarre selection upfront. I happen to like firmino and don’t think they gave him the ball where and when he asked for it. But Daniel demands it. Where is he? Why’s he on the bench? Who the fuck stole klopp mind. That being said, if firmino scores instead of hitting the post and moreno squares instead of smashing it we’re all smiles
Agree with every word. Not bringing him on was even worse than not starting him up. I called it “negligent”, but “dereliction of duty” works.
I think we’ve seen what negligence looks like this week, so picking a footballer isn’t really that important.
we’ll smash these at Anfield – this probably isn’t such a bad thing to focus us on what’s needed.
That’s def the positive way to look at it,
One nil down focuses the mind and keeps it simplistic,
Attack,Attack,Attack ……………. With one of Europes finest up top next time of course.
Spot on!
If the score was 0-0, we would be a lot more cautious at Anfield. But now Klopp team would do what we do best… Waves after waves of Attack.
It’s a bad thing because we’re one mistake or one bad refereeing decision away from needing 3 goals.
No mention of Sturridge absence? He has to play or at least come on around 60 minutes (in my opinion). Another rabbit needs to be pulled out of the hat..did we not pull all of them out against Dortmund?!
I’m worried!
I really struggle with Alberto Moreno. Positionally poor and defensively suspect so many times. I just want to see the lad marking defenders, tracking back and not wandering all over the pitch when there’s an attack on. Klopp knows…
As for Thursday, we’ll be there again, and between us and Jurgen, we’ll sort it out.
That should say “marking, defending, tracking back”…
Spot on about Moreno Howard. He cost us that game by not getting back to mark Suarez exactly as he did on Saturday when he was missing for the ‘bar codes’ equaliser (not to mention his missed tackle for their first). ‘Moreno had a good game’ – What the fuck were you watching Neil, he’s fuckin’ brainless and the sooner we replace him and Mignolet the better. I know Mignolet did o.k. last night but he still could have caught that one shot they had in the first-half instead of pushing it back out into a dangerous area.
Here’s my 2p…
Soldado – what a shit house.
Mingolet cannot distribute the ball at pace. He’s not at all comfortable near the round thing.
Thanks.
Moreno had another good game? They scored on a counter attack in the 92nd minute. Where was Moreno? Watch our last 5 goals conceded. Where is Moreno? Moreno may have played well for a midfielder but once again he was nowhere to be seen on defence when it counted.
The rest is all about no Sturridge off the bench.
When The Reds Lose, We All Say Dude
Any review with a Lebowski reference is ok by me.
Sturridge really ties the room together. Klopp’s had his first Liverpool nightmare there. I’m broadly okay with the cautious XI if you’ve got an eye on the last half hour goal. Away goal(s) are king.
That’s marvellous.
3 mids dive in(sorry pressing) on 91mins and take neither man or ball. Back off 10yds or make the foul. Just lacking lacking nous to see the game out costs the draw.
They wanted to make a last 30 game then a last 10 then a last 5. They prevailed because they are better at that than us. That’s my frustration
Let’s go guns blazing balls out at home and scare the shit out of them from the get go.
Let’s do these in the second half
Up the Reds
Thats one thing we are really poor at, tactical fouling. They stopped us two or three times breaking in our half with tactical fouls. We need more of that cynical approach.
That said Lallana is clearly onside, it would then have been a pen and red..could have been very different.
Are we criticising mignolet for this??? His great save stopped them scoring earlier. He has his faults that much is clear but thus liss was down to klopp and his strange relationship with Sturridge (my little tribute to Prince) and moreno’s lack of defending.
As much as I agree that Sturridge would have helped with our attacking threat around the hour mark, it can’t be ignored that he is obviously a head case. Clearly he and Klopp have issues and Jurgen is trying to play the tough love game. That interview after the Bournemouth game showed how JK is not impressed by sturridge and his ego. I get the impression he fears sturridge could cause a mutiny if he’s given enough power. In the end though, he scores goals and we needed him tonight.
I hope we don’t regret this,
They were there for the taking this evening.
I’m nervous now. 3 of us bought our flights to Basel the day after the Draw. I’ve no desire to watch a Spanish Europa final. None whatsoever. I don’t want to moan, I trust Klopp. I can’t get my head round it though. If it’s true Sturridge flew his family out for tonight then we’re treading on dangerous ground, thin ice, whatever you want. We’ve all had a moan but ultimately, he’s the one of the only world class players we have. There’s not that many in the league which tells his importance. Bringing Benteke on felt like a snub. I’m disappointed. Maybe Klopp’s done it for the best. I fail to see it though.
I know the score of what we are and aren’t allowed to do but I’m not really arsed. I don’t like seeing Ibe play for us. I don’t rate at this present time. He’s not a Liverpool lad, he’s just young. So what? If you’re good enough to play then it doesn’t matter what your situation but likewise, if you’re not….
My final negative point on a night that was 1 min away from being a night of mostly positives if the balance of Coutinho, Firmino and Lallana. I don’t like it much. Something’s not quite right. Would have preferred Sturridge. After the Allen miss we didn’t really feel like we had a goal in us. Though Firmino was probably not that effective overall, it’s Lallana I’d sacrifice. Firmino always gives that glimmer of hope he can do something, and nearly did.
Oh well, a week of stress and worry. Avoid defeat tonight and I think it would have been our longest unbeaten run in Europe (13) although I believe anything I’m told. Feels like we surrendered it lightly.
Not bringing on Sturridge was just downright bizarre. There was a goal in that game for us. We had total control at one point and they were ready to wilt, and they would have if our best available player had been introduced. Let´s hope we can do the business next week but I´m worried.
Encore
This 3 goals is worrying but realistically if they don’t score at Anfield we go through. Not sure that’s scientifically correct but..
As a positive – next week should be a full on cauldron – you have to feel positive about what we can do when it’s like that – and as far as I could tell – they play every week in a library unless we subdued the crowd. A full on Anfield will unsettle them. Tonight they seemed a bit like a circa 2001 LFC team – sat back and soaked it up. We are better than them – we just need to watch the sucker punch and play our normal game – no idea why we had a leash on tonight – but we can’t have that next week – got to go for the goals…and just not let the fear of a break subdue is – it’s not our style anymore. Frustrated about tonight but confident.
They aren’t a good side, Neil. Very Swanseaish. Denis Suarez is their Sigurdson in so much he’s their only non-mediocre player and he plays attacking mid. Soldado is still pure arse gravy. They’re overachieving being top 4 in la liga and being in the Europa semis alongside that. Klopp overthought it and paid them too much respect. The Sturridgelessness was baffling.
Kolo had a good game but his dusty legs can’t turn him around that late on in a position Sakho should be playing. A ‘fat burner’ to ‘hone his physique’… Because apparently this is Liverpool Bodybuilding Club and now he’s missing the Euros in France for France. What a numbskull.
Lucas was impeccable, doesn’t get a mention. Moreno blazes our best chance high and wide, is out of position for their goal (obviously) and has a ‘good game’. These reviews need to be more concise.
Moreno is out of position as that’s his role in this team, we collectively shouldn’t be so far up the pitch with two to go and why have we allowed them such an easy counter? Kolo is slow to react as is everyone, my anger is more that they were there for the taking and we didn’t smell blood, now we have to do it the hard way at home as usual, I do worry there’s a something Klopp doesn’t like in Sturridge though and that’s a worry, or maybe I just know fuck all about football? Roll on Thursday………
The position of a left back on 92 mins in a game we are trying to draw is surely at left back is it not?
We don’t say “he was okay about from the mistake that led to a goal” for Migs, so why does Moreno get away with it week after week. He is one of the stupidest footballers I have ever seen. (On the pitch, that is, off it, there is plenty of competition among the pundits alone)
We will do them 4-0 at Anfield. Up the gnarly awkward reds.
Yeah Lucas and Allen were both excellent I felt.
Think I may have cracked the enigma on the Klopp/Sturridge relationship.
Klopp loves caps
Sturridge released his fashion line, including caps.
Gave the caps to Klopp
Was then disgusted to see them not on the gaffer´s head, but on his desk.
He confronted the gaffer and now we have our current empasse.
Just like Richie Aprile getting offended that Tony never wore the jacket he gave him.
Think we need a sit down (or perhaps I need to sit down)
You never know…r when you think he’s out…they pull him back in!
This team’s game management has been poor for as long as I can remember. Jurgen needs to invest in some intelligent, clinical footballers this summer.
I’m a little but puzzled by many of the comments above, so much so. i’m wondering whether we watched the same game.
Personally i thought Villareal were overall the better team, i thought they attacked a lot more than we expected, looked like a team that wasn’t afraid, but a team that really needed to win at home to have any chance whatsoever. Tough though it was to accept a last minute loss, fine margins are what it’s about when you get to this point.
Criticisms of Moreno, for being out of position, after he runs 70 yards with the ball , and has a chance to score the winner…really ? Did you want to win the game, or were we playing for a draw?, did you settle for a draw ? What if he’d scored, would you then be calling it a fluke, or we deserved to win ? Sometimes you have to gamble if you want to win, especially away from home, and against a decent team. It’s a team game, and if the left back fucks off up the pitch, there are 9 other players who could conceivably cover his position..
Sturridge, didn’t play, but i can (in my drunken haze) clearly see why, against a team that has so many players back at all times. I didn’t have many problems with that at all, as we didn’t seem to be creating many (Sturridgesque) opportunities, and i never once thought, “Sturridge would have scored that”. It’ll be different at Anfield.
Overall, we should have gotten a draw, but we didn’t, but this tie is far from over.
I think in my drunken haze i may have missed a minute between Moreno marauding up the left, and them scoring. What was the sequence of events, people above are blaming Moreno for their goal, but was it for something i missed?
The issue I have is why were the players trying to win the game in the final few minutes when they seemed perfectly happy to play out a 0-0 for the preceding 85? This was Liverpool FC in a European Semi Final and they seemed happy to beg for scraps and nick something in injury time. Nah, not having that, if you want to win the game, win it in the first 30 and then lock it down, not the other way around.
Also, Moreno had a good game overall, but a man with a brain just squares that chance along the six yard box and lets his team mate score a goal. Sort of like what they did.
All in all, I’m not going to get too downbeat because it’s only half time and we can definitely win at our place. But I am with the majority on this one, that performance was pathetic.
There came a time in that second half where we had them penned in their penalty area. We had relentlessly pressed them and they looked bereft. Those are the moments when you just have to press home your advantage. They were there to be taken.
When they scored I wanted to fall to my knees and thump the ground with both fists.
Broadly speaking I’m not too upset by the defeat, anyone can lose a game of football, even great teams who dominate games can concede out of the blue. What I am upset by is the fact that we clearly went to their gaff looking for a 0-0 or best case scenario nicking a single goal advantage. We’re Liverpool Football Club! Even with some of our best players missing we were the better team on that pitch. For the life of me I can’t understand why we played the false nine. Just stick a bloody centre forward up top and go for goals. It doesn’t matter if you draw 1-1 or 2-2, even losing the game but getting the away goal is better than getting dicked in the face in the last minute with nothing to show for it. I’m seething about that. Whether it was Sturridge, Benteke or Firmino who played up top, they needed to be given instruction to play as an out-and-out striker and have the midfield support higher up the pitch. I know I’m not a coach, I often talk bollocks, and for all I know going the more aggressive route may have resulted in a worse outcome. But for God’s sake, we’re Liverpool Football Club! In a European Semi-Final, we should never play for a goalless draw… We are so much better than them, I just wish we would have shown it.
So, can we win at Anfield? Of course we can! But if we win 2-1 then it’s all been for nothing. I really hope we go two up front and a diamond in midfield next week and smash three past these yellow bellied naives.
From about 30 minutes in, I’m actually thinking our plan was to grind it out to 0-0 and then introduce Sturridge at 60 to punish them mercilessly. Until about 75, I kept looking for the warm up. From that point, I expected nothing from the game.
Which is strange because I’ve seen some exceptionally brave, innovative substitutions from Klopp trying to win a match. Really surprised that he made no move to alter the game, especially after they used all their subs and looked absolutely for the taking.
I don’t know about you guys but I was happy for it to stay 0-0, as I thought that we could easily overturn that at Anfield. 1-0 will be more difficult, but we haven’t done things the easy way since the 80’s so bring it on.
Agree with Neil that Moreno generally had a good game, but should have finished his chance and really should tracked the midfield runner for their goal instead of watching the ball, no matter how jelly his legs felt . Pretty big buts, but there you have it, such is football.
Klopp was obviously worried about there counterattack and I suppose you could say he was vindicated on some level as it was a neatly taken goal. Sturridge always produces his best when he is hungry to impress so hopefully he is raring to go when we get back to Anfield!
The first rule of management: pick your best players.
Not necessarily. Pick your players that work best together. Ample evidence of that front three working well together in tricky away ties. For the most part (apart from Firmino and his baffling lack of ability to find a red thing with the round thing) it was doing a job. Not a Chelsea or city job but a job nonetheless. Think it’s Gibbo that mentions somewhere the irony of them scoring when we’ve brought the striker on everyone was after.
It wasn’t ironic, it was poor play. Unless there’s something we don’t know about, there’s no excuse for not bring Sturridge on at 60.
I just think you need an element of luck, it seem all ours may have been used against Dortmund…the Reds to go out 2-1 on aggregate methinks….I hope not, but sometimes it just ain’t meant to be.
It’s just a goal.
Comparing last nights game with The home leg is like comparing a pub brawl with The Somme.
Result was disappointing given how close we were to a draw. The Sturridge issue might not have been as big of a deal had we seen the game out. Yes, an away goal would have been nice, but we would have been fairly happy with 0-0.
Moreno has improved lots recently, but he still needs to learn to stay switched on tilt he final whistle. Yes, the midfielders maybe could have done more stopping their midfielder, but had Moreno been in position, then there was no out-ball and therefore no goal. He will learn from it though.
We’ll win 3-1 next week. We should all know by now we don’t simple results!
Up the awkward Reds.
Villarreal were rubbish. We were sloppy and half arsed. We will smash them at Anfield. If we don’t, we don’t deserve to be anywhere near a final of anything.