SO sum that up?
From the moment the Champions League draw was made and everyone started talking about how Liverpool had done alright alarm bells started ringing, because we’ve been here before and it’s not ended well.
Of Liverpool’s last two sojourns into the Champions League The Reds have faced such giants as Debrecen, Lyon, Fiorentina, Ludogorets and Basel and in all that time have managed to win just once on the road, eight years ago in Hungary in a game where a solitary David N’Gog strike not enough to get Liverpool into the next round despite winning by one goal to nil.
All the talk all week has been about how weak Spartak Moscow are and how we’ll run riot, again oblivious to The Reds’ capacity to take a shotgun and not content to fill a foot full of pellets, then bludgeon what’s left of the stump.
It’s easy to point the finger at another lack of clean sheet, and fingers will be pointed, both Emre Can and Loris Karius especially culpable for turning another comfortable situation into The Reds having to once again come from behind.
You can bang on about confirmation bias all you want, but did you really think Spartak weren’t going to score from a freekick midway through a first half when they’ve had not so much as a kick and shown zero threat?
Of course they were going to score. But then, that let’s everyone else off the hook.
As against Burnley, Liverpool struck back within eight minutes, and again, once finding themselves level with over 70 minutes of the game to play, Liverpool fluffed their lines time after time.
The Reds are the kings of making heroes of opposition goalkeepers, wave after wave of Liverpool pressure constantly falling down when it matters, mostly this season it’s been a calm final pass, tonight it was a mixture of a killer ball and a calculated finish.
It came down to being ruthless, and Liverpool simply are not.
Tonight the opposition had a goalkeeper effectively playing on one leg, so what did The Reds do to take advantage? Nothing.
Instead, they allowed the home team to play the situation to their advantage and run the clock down, and again, and again, knowing that whatever injury time would be imposed wouldn’t match stoppages and would disrupt the rhythm of the game.
And what the fuck is that stupid fucking golf cart about, seriously, for fuck’s sake, couldn’t they get John Achterberg to burst a tyre? He lived on the Wirral long enough, he knows the script.
Notwithstanding, and without trying to resort to hyperbole, time after time Liverpool jibbed opportunities served on a platter large enough for the biggest of Scouse christening buffets but whether it was Sadio Mane managing to get himself offside on a 18 v two, or Daniel Sturridge blamming one over the bar when it’s easier to score, or Roberto Firmino threading a perfect ball between two attackers to their centre half in injury time?
And yeah, both their ‘keepers made some decent saves, but only because The Reds allowed them to, instead of finding corner they put them within reach because of the nerves and the tension which plagues this side when things are tight.
Liverpool get a goal ahead tonight and they end up winning by three at least, no question.
Tonight’s result isn’t a disaster, but it’s one, just like Sevilla that The Reds have to learn from and quickly but in this game you only get so many chances to fluff your lines when it matters.
We need to get clinical, and quick.
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Klopp is stubborn and unfortunately in the wrong way playing Karius is reckless and idiotic everything about this team and it’s manager is a head scratcher from Dodgy goalies unreliable defenders plenty converted midfielders questionable Captain false 9 yet another midfielder bought and crazy antics on the touchline all without end product 67% possession 35 shots 1 goal FFS
Karius might not want to give away 2/3rds of the goal with his 6″ vertical leap. Either that, or he fell in a hole.
Firmino for Studge instead of Mane. Anyone could see Roberto and Can were junk in the 1st half.
Was really wanting to see Studge come on cause he’s been looking like he’s up for it, then he crapped his pants.
Not sure what can be done about not converting 4 on 2s, headers from the 6, open shots from 12 yards….
How many times do we have to watch history repeat itself before questions are asked into why it keeps happening? Can’t keep blaming bad luck. Massive fan of klopp but ignoring this is madness. And heart breaking.
I know we should still get the job done, but I’m not sure what Spartak were thinking as this game progressed. If Maribor are the “whipping boys” in this group, then Spartak have already forfeited their advantage by drawing 0-0 with them. After another draw tonight (at home), they’ve now most likely got to win either in Seville or at Anfield; I don’t see either happening. Yet for some reason they seemed totally content with a draw tonight at home. The amount of players they had suffering with cramp proves that we either ran them into the ground, or they were desperate to time waste as much as possible- both things signalling how delighted they were to draw.
Anyway enough rambling about them, what I’m getting at is that we still have our two matches against the whipping boys to come. Win those and then Spartak at home and it’ll be easily enough to progress. If we don’t comfortably beat Maribor next however then we can really start to worry.
It would be nice however if we could stop going behind to utterly shite teams. It happens far too often and gives the opposition something to protect and fight for whilst putting us on the back foot. Plus it means we need a minimum of two goals to win the game, when in games against oppositon of this calibre we should be capable of getting a 1-0. When we’re behind we’re even more open than usual and better, more ambitious teams would have had a lot of joy on the counter with how high we were up the pitch pressing for the equaliser.
I hate to use the clubs from Manchester as examples to emulate, but last season when united couldn’t score even when dominating games they at least weren’t conceding every single game. City have proved this year that if you can get that initial goal, impose yourself on the game and force the opposition to come out then the floodgates will open. Somehow we do have to turn our domination into actual goals. As the Arsenal game proved we’re clearly a team designed to slaughter defences on the counter attack. We’re never going to be able to do that when in about 50% of our matches the opposition takes the lead.
‘Liverpool’s last six games have seen them have 126 shots to the opposition’s 49. They’ve scored 7 and conceded 12. ‘ Ill just leave that here.
What should we do?
Are you free on Sunday?
How quintessentially Liverpool.
Positives – I thought the defence looked more solid last night (admittedly Spartak are not a renowned attacking force).
Lots of big chances just a few inches either direction and a few of those would have been a goal. A bit more confidence and we’ll start to blow sides away.
I quite like the look of our next 3 league matches. I think they could be a crucial launchpad for the league.
Negatives – Karius – HAS to be ‘rested’. Keep Mignolet playing every match to set a solid back 5 – give some consistency.
What happens to Karius’s career if Klopp drops him from CL matches? Which is a hard thing to do, but it is the right thing.
Our draw is compounded by the inevitable wins for every other English club, just like last week.
We absolutely outclassed Spartak, as we do most teams, but of course we wouldn’t capitalise. I spent all day at work wishing people would stop saying how shit Spartak are. That kind of thing doesn’t matter against us. It would for normal sides, but we’re not normal are we? You can be as shit as you like but we’ll help you out.
I really do know things are going to click. We’re going to seriously thrash someone at some point. The seal is going to be broken. The way we attack is undefendable, it’s just the finishing.