MASSIVE kick in the nuts that. Massive. But 10 points from 12 over Christmas, you’d take that all day. Anyway, we live in the moment.
Loads of lethargy, but playing two games in less than 48 hours is taking the piss.
Fitness and sharpness are massively important to this Liverpool side and we looked a bit short against poor opposition today.
Simon Mignolet: 8
Desperately unlucky with the first penalty and followed it up with a great one-on-one stop to foil Jermain Defoe shortly after.
Nathaniel Clyne: 6
Looked, like a few others, fucking knackered.
Didn’t do anything wrong, but lacked a bit of sharpness.
Dejan Lovren: 7
Great block in the second half, other than that steady as ever. Can’t really say much more. Frustrated by a couple of decisions.
Ragnar Klavan: 5
Daft decision to bring down Didier Ndong for the penno. Feels a bit arl arse having a go because he’s a third choice centre-half, and he’s come off the back of a couple of really good performances, but not great today.
James Milner: 6
Telling that we lacked leadership when he went off. Not a fantastic performance by any means but missed his experience which, given Jordan Henderson’s omission, was a big blow.
Emre Can: 4
Don’t get the fuss. Slow to get going, slow to make a decision, embodied the midfield malaise today. Physically impressive but didn’t step up in Henderson’s absence.
Gini Wijnaldum: 5
Looked lost and short of yards, put a massive shift in over the last few weeks and maybe would have had the day off if other options were available.
Adam Lallana: 6
Possibly the brightest spark but was on the periphery for most of the game, better when he’s more direct, but, again, had huge minutes to carry in his New Year legs.
Sadio Mane: 6
Scored one, gave one away.
Have a good trip, mate, and come back refreshed — oh, and try not to play goalie.
Roberto Firmino: 6
Looked leggy against Manchester City back in 2016 and continued in a similar vein today, never stops running but looks mentally worn out. Probably missing his mate too.
Daniel Sturridge: 7
Scored. Could have had a hat-trick, one-on-one with Vito Mannone especially unlucky.
SUBS
Alberto Moreno: 6
Didn’t do much wrong and injected a bit of urgency into the Reds’ play, always a willing outlet.
Divock Origi: 6
Needs to realise he’s a big grock and start bullying accordingly.
Lucas Leiva: 5
Fuck sake, lad. Again.
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Who would ever have guessed this time last year that …
a. Migs would still be no 1 and …
b. would be getting regular weekly ‘8’ ratings
Weird this football lark.
Whilst chasing a lost ball down is admirable surely it would be less energy sapping to put more effort into the initial pass. I guess they were knackered.
If ever a game needed Coutinho to knock a few in from 20 yards this was it.
Lashing Lucas on “to shore things up” is now the most cliched pile of bollocks this team can do. Sure as eggs are oval things from a chicken’s arse, in these type of games, we give goals away. Even if it is never a free kick there’s just something about those challenges that always invite the decision.
Ten from twelve is great context but fuck me this really feels like a loss and there is nothing I can do about that. Soz.
Grrrr….annoying. Nothing we can do about it now though. Attempting to not be all sulky about it over the next few days (hard I know) Ya never know, Spurs might beat Chelsea on Wednesday and we’ll be in a better position than before today.
So easy to lose one’s head after a result like this. Perspective is important. You could see the fatigue, maybe more mentally than physically even, across the whole team. I was surprised with only one change to the team, buy hey, Klopp knows best I suppose. Proud of the boys overall. Both pen’s were just brain farts, which speaks of mental fatigue. Without those two brain farts, we are celebrating another dogged 3 points.
Side note, not a fan of Taylor at all, but thought he got all three penalty decisions spot on. Thought the Can one was ball to arm, and a good no call.
PSS… the other frustrating sub plot to all of this is how kind the draw was to Chelsea over this Christmas period. How does that even happen??? Games on the 26th, 31st, and 4th. No one else got such nice breaks between games like this. Just saying…
Not to mention not having to step foot out of London.
True. Surprised no one is making more noise about this. They have been handed a massive advantage over this period.
Nailed it. Knackered and missed Henderson. Let tonight be a lesson for those who doubt his quality: Emre did not step up.
Moreno….on dead balls…. F.R.O. Iago Aspas
We are in a terrific position….. There is only one club ahead of us at New Year and they won’t carry on in this vein… In fact, I fancy Spurs to do them on Wed. It was the right shout to play pretty much unchanged.. Our next game is Plymouth on Sunday!!
We have:
Probably the best manager in the world
PC and JM coming back from injury
Plenty of brass to spend if needed
Sturridge back on form
A cluster of awesome youth on the periphery, just waiting for a chance
The best English footballer currently in AL
Taken 13/15 points in last 5 games
2 week Prem break till we stuff the dirty reds
Happy New Year Mighty Reds
It was one of those, wasn’t it. All to often we can’t get back up having done the hard work 2 days back while City win with 10, Utd win with 12 and Chelsea have their feet up.
But I am not having the knackered excuse. They had to play twice in 48 hours as well. They have injuries as well. We could have rotated but chose not to so its no good moaning. It does maybe suggest we are a couple of players shy though.
Other than that, I don’t understand why more issue is in general not made of time-keeping. Once again, totally Mickey Mouse, board goes up for 5 mins, guy is down for about 3 mins, and ref adds on 30 secs. He was useless by the way, but at least not in a game defining way.
Hey guys, wish you happy new year, hope everyone had a better ring in to 2017 than today’s performance.
Btw Andy, what does Klopp get for his ratings?
Positives for me:
– thanks to Moreno’s cross we got a point (I give him an 8 for that)
– we got a point (though counts mostly if the plastics lose to Spurs)
– we didn’t lose
– Can is no Hendo in that position, so maybe Klopp helps him adjust
– Couts and Matip might be on their way in
– Mignolet did well apart from the penalties
– 10-man City beat Burnley (Klopp gets to watch what Pep did right)
– we have a new goalkeeper in Mane
– we’re still in this (I think)
Negatives:
– Sturridge injury
– Mane’s excursion
– Benchwarmers didn’t really get to play; Nice to have this when you’re at Barca or Real where you are guaranteed a winner’s medal at high profile tournys
– Scum are on a roll and will have momentum against us at OT
– The Plastics, as pointed out above, have enough time to rest and figure out tactics (including against us)
Anyways we have to keep our heads up and be positive. We have come far, we are in good hands, and will regroup.
Up the Knackered Reds!!!
I think we are being slightly harsh on Emre – i dont think Henderson starting would have affected the result today.
I find it odd that people seem to be more forgiving to Firmino, who has been completely in affective recently.
He is a our attacking focal point and yet his numbers are poor. Yes he works hard, yes he presses, but is that enough for Liverpools number 9?
Gotta say sorry I disagree. Hendo’s absence was massive today. What we lacked was desire and grit – that’s what we missed and that’s what ultimately led to two very foolish penalties. We gave up the ball in midfield and our slick passing and movement was very tired looking. At such times you have to dig a bit deeper and give ’til it hurts. Milner and Henderson can always be counted on for that extra bit. That’s what we missed.
Btw Tom, agree with your comment on Firmino. Should have maybe tried a youngster or two.
Can is not nor has he been good enough for an extremely long time now, drifts in and out of games, makes mistakes and rather than keeping cool, then goes and makes the situation worse by trying to redeem himself with some Hero tackle. Fast running out of patience with him. Lucas, great servant, legend and all around good guy, but I would not have him anywhere near a premiership game if possible, Stewart would have been a much better option in that instance. Moreno just did Moreno when really he needed to show everybody this is what I can bring to this team. We missed Hendo badly … him and Ginny are massively underated and are the very heartbeat of this team. Sturridge was good but for me he dropped too deep to many times to get involved, not sure if that was the plan but that seems to be what Dan does regardless of the game or Manager etc. 2 points dropped, this winning the lg thing is hard. But we are still there or thereabouts .. need Spurs to get something out of this next game … Chelsea win that you can all but give them the title at this rate.
Always good for a laugh these.
Can it really be that the last thing Lucas does for the club is give away a needless foul on the edge of the box leading to a costly goal?
Looking at the table is just about the worst thing I can do these days. Has me doing a Hodgson face rub every time.