Tight in the end, wasn’t it? Apologies for any typos but I’m still shaking!
In the grand scheme of things, and as far as learning to win goes, today could be massive.
Only time will tell, but it felt like another demon exorcised today.
Up the winning Reds.
Loris Karius: 4
Needs to do the basics well first. Scooping a ball over a forward out to the wing is great, but he’s coming for crosses he’s not getting near and then leaving ones he should be taking in his sleep.
Needs an opportunity to bed in, but Gibbo is right, can we really afford to risk it with no guarantee it’ll be worth it?
Firmly believe he’ll come good but he’s given the manager a question to answer, when he could and should have made the position his own.
Nathaniel Clyne: 7
Caught under the ball for the opener, but after that imperious as ever.
Dejan Lovren: 10
Nowhere near as assured as of late, looked nervy dealing with anything high and in between himself and Matip, probably as a result of the goalie offering no assurance whatsoever.
Blammed it out the ground to win the game tho’, so man of the match for me.
Joel Matip: 7
Looks nice going forward and can see how his passing helps when we look to get out, but between him and Lovren didn’t look solid at all. Same issues as his partner, in terms of uncertainty dealing with aerial balls.
James Milner: 8
Shows great cover in defensive situations, one instance covering from left-back to cover the right sided centre-half.
Rarely seems to get caught out, which considering it’s a new position is testament to his intelligence.
Great penno, got to be honest, I’d convinced myself it was getting saved.
Jordan Henderson: 8
Alongside his colleagues, slow and lethargic first half. He had the entire Swansea midfield and forward line swarming him early on and struggled to get to grips with it.
Different beast second half when the game opened up, and an incredible ball for Firmino’s equaliser.
Adam Lallana: 6
Off injured before Liverpool could find any real rhythm, hopefully not too bad as he’s in the form of his life.
Gini Wijnaldum: 7
Same as Hendo, although his strength on the ball stood out again. Loves a little ball into feet to tee up a player for a shot.
Sadio Mane: 8
Mane has a magic glue boots cheat to go with his ridiculous pace cheat.
Scared the living daylights out of Kyle Naughton, who’ll be happy to see his bed tonight.
One minor gripe is his final ball let him down a few times, when a half decent ball would have resulted in a goal.
Roberto Firmino: 8
Bit of a strange one, very slow start and has his own unique way of playing.
Can’t doubt his influence when the going is good, though. He plays with intelligence and has some effective party tricks.
Great little header for the equaliser, an all.
Had that flick late on over Modou Barrow’s head worked, I’d be on my way to Magnet for the rest of the weekend.
Philippe Coutinho: 7
Quiet first half, struggled to get any real foothold in the game.
Had to drop to a deeper position with Lallana’s enforced withdrawal and didn’t disappoint, maybe a glimpse of the future which allows the manager to use Sturridge as a number nine.
SUBS
Daniel Sturridge (subbed on 23′): 7
Ran himself ragged and seems to be a little more settled playing in a deeper position, got himself in a couple of decent positions and was either not played in or just a yard off.
Can’t question his commitment.
Not marking him down for the dive, because if the ref gives it then it’s worth the tumble. Stuff your ‘spirit of the game’ nonsense, we’re trying to win the league ‘ere.
Emre Can (subbed on 85′): N/A
Reminded Michael Oliver of his school days by barging him over. Boss.
Divock Origi (subbed on 85′): N/A
Brought on to be an outlet and hold the ball up, needs to work on it. Gifted possession back far too easily when we really need to keep hold, he’ll learn though.
Kari us took a page out of the Migs, 14-15 playback there, come for a damn ball! Like yup said, he’ll, but on today’s look, he’s certainly not head and shoulders beyond Mr. Migoo (except on hair flow.)
Leave off the stuff about Karius. Jurgen has seen him play a lot – he knows what he’s doing, remember?
Why? This is a comments section and honest none malicious observations are quite acceptable. For me he looked very shakey and his much vaunted skill with the ball at his feet wasn’t evident to me. He made me feel more nervous than MIGs has in recent games.
Because it’s bollocks
It was harsh to leave Migs out. Let’s just hope it wasn’t foolish. I distrust players with a strong social media game, let alone an army of supporters gushing over someone they’ve never seen play. It’s bad enough we get Emre Can overrated because he looks the part. Hopefully, they both come around in reality land and make fools like me look ridiculous.
Agree with all of that bar Karius. Bit harsh on him for me. He made me a little nervous with his missed punches and indecision at times but this is to be expected from a new keeper. He has the look of a keeper with the kind of confidence that will take hin far.
Coming from behind to win away from home feels that bit sweeter because it’s something I am still getting used to us being able to do. There was a period of time where it felt as though going a goal behind was game over no matter when it happened. Under Klopp this has changed.
Clyne, Milner, Henderson, Wijnaldum, Mane and Firmino were excellent and Coutinho clearly loved having space ahead of him to attack.
Mane has got to be one of the most physically strong players in the league. His low centre of gravity and sheer bloody-mindedness in keeping possession are so important for us. Bloody fantastic signing.
Most I agree with. Sturridge wasn’t a pen, but it also wasn’t a dive.We’re still trying to play the “Hollywood” passed around the box instead of smarter pass or having a shot. But gnarly wins count the same as 5-1 demolitions. Up The Reds!
Sturridge got a light hand on him and went down. Earlier one of their blokes did exactly the same thing and Hendo got booked for protesting the free kick. Hendo, eh, can’t play there, can’t create, can’t bring us back into a game we are losing.
I criticised Clyne a bit last week but thought he was great today.
Even if Karius is no better than Mignolet, I will at least have 6 months of hope that he might improve.
What a massive three points today. As soon as we equalised, I just 100% believed we would turn them over. It’s been a while since I’ve had that feeling!
Considering that at least one of the two sides either side of us in the table will drop points tomorrow, I’m made up. The Reds are the sort of side to lead from the front, and if we can have two weeks off with Chelsea, Arsenal and Lord Voldemort in our wake I think it will set us up nicely for the pre-Christmas run-in.
but but but….Mane isn’t Gotze or <insert other 'world class signing'…. :D
This is the kind of fixture we'd of lost in seasons past.
Great effort all round again, Karius needs time to get to work with the back 4 I've no doubt he'll be great.
Klopp marches us on
#ynwa
Re Karius: yes he made some mistakes, but he was so much better with the ball at his feet (even though he made a couple of mistakes). Let’s remember: we’ve had 3 years of Mignolet making errors with little sign of improvement until this season. Karius has to be given the chance to learn from his mistakes. You can argue that Mignolet didn’t deserve to be dropped, and you’d be right, but it’s not always about dropping but upgrading.
Hendo’s playing really well this season, but if a better player becomes available (one who moves the ball quicker and sees the game that bit more quickly) then we should sign him. Same rule applies all over the pitch. It’s no reflection on the current players: it’s the Liverpool way.
Didn’t think Mane was as good as you did today, Andy, then again he has set himself ridiculously high standards.
Agree regarding Karius, I think against United with their big lumps like Fellaini and Zlatan id be more comfortable with Mignolet.
He’ll get there, but I’m sure someone on one of your pods once said we can’t afford to see them develop here, we need them ready.
Also, website is much smoother now, loads quicker and is a lot less demanding on resources so good work on that
Can tell, Karius has been training with Migs;) officials really poor today, normally like Oliver but didn’t give us anything today, Studge gets a forearm to the solar plexus while off balance, its a pen, That linesman seemed unable to raise his flag, in the build up which lead to resulting corner and Swans goal, player was offside, then there was another set piece Reds push out and 3 Swans players offside and then Mane gets his ankle stamped on right in front of linesman and he just stares gormless, fuck it, all that’s history, Reds win again! Who the fuck are you I’m Philipe Coutinho and I’m Roberto Firmino and we are Joga Bonito… Is James Milly Milner the new Phil, Zico, Neal.
Early days but Karius nearly cost us a point today. That last gasp effort was his all day long, and Migs would have collected that.
I didn’t see much of an upgrade in truth, and on that performance would prefer Migs in goal.
There, I’ve said it now!
Agree with everything here Andy. If Origi is going to spend a lot of his season coming on late off the bench then he needs to work on his game management at these fital moments. A lot of wasted balls instead of wasting time and giving away possession. This would have looked so much worse had they scored in the 94th! Not doubting his talent and he almost slipped Sturridge in too!