Liverpool yet again fair to cash in on their own dominance and yet again fail to win a game they should win in all senses. It is fast becoming a theme of the season and something which feels all to reminiscent of seasons gone by to far too many Reds.
That Liverpool should have gone in ahead becomes by the by when they fail to be the better side in the second half, Newcastle’s life was too easy too often and it is on this our post-match show dwells.
Neil Atkinson hosts and is joined by Dan Austin, Paul Senior and Dan Morgan in the studio and no one is happy.
Grrh, we’re So Terrible, I don’t think that “Klopp out” is enough personally. I would resign the club registration, sell all the players to a sweat shop, dismantle Anfield, and pour all of my previous football passion into some kind of Morris dancing revival. Who’s with me? :)
Seriously though, I don’t think we are playing terribly. The frustration for me comes from us often looking just ‘nearly there’. We seem to be lacking composure at the moment. I still like what Klopp is doing, we’re missing that extra bit of quality that Keita and hopefully Van Diijk will bring. I also think we are missing the fighting mentality, and tactical awareness of Lallana. Klopp’s ethos takes time to truly instill, and some players never really get it. It took him a few years at Dortmund and I desperately hope he can keep us in a good position so that he is afforded that time. Frustrating, but not dreadful for me. All the best fellow Reds. Could be worse, at least Everton continue to make us smile.
You know what the difference is? At Dortmund, the first thing he did was sort the defence. You know, the way the vast majority of top managers have always done, going back to Shanks and Paisley and Clough. Even today, in a much more attacking game, the top managers sort the defence first. Mourinho, Ancelotti, Conte, Simeone, Allegri, even Zidane. Up and coming top coaches like Pochettino do it. Klopp used to do that and for some reason has gone away from it, possibly caught up too much in the theory of how he wants teams to play, instead of looking at the reality and being systemically a little safer.
Klopp tightened Mainz right away. They conceded 45 in year before he became manager. Year 1, conceded 38. Year 2, conceded 39. Year 3, conceded league best 34 and won promotion.
Klopp took over a Dortmund team that had conceded 62 the season prior. In year 1, they conceded 37. In year 2, they conceded 32. In year 3, they conceded 22 and won the league. In year 4, they conceded 24 and won the league. In year 5 they conceded 42 and didn’t win the league.
Having said all this, I think the problems run deeper. Our mentality is woefully immature. We constantly perform worse when needing a late goal. We’re far too emotional. We are never calm enough when the game is there to be won. Looking at what you see on the sideline, with gesticulations and faces too scary for Halloween, it isn’t hard to see why. It’s a failure in leadership, not just coaching.
I’m with baz and James. Nice stats baz. We’ve improved the squad somewhat minus the defence with all the extra shots we’re firing off. In saying that I agree with James I hope klopp is afforded the time needed to get the players he needs to get us to where we all want.
There’s no need to put yerselves through the torment of another post match show lads while we’re being served up the same old muck every game, just play any of the previous podcasts and no-one will know any different.
I do find it shocking how badly we over-commit at times. I really hope that this is down to the players lack of understanding, and not actually down to instruction. If it is instruction then it looks like some kind of mad footballing experiment. I would like to see us retry the formation which got us over the line during the run-in last season, if not all the time, then in specific games. We seem to have gone from being one of the toughest sides to play against, athletically speaking, to a team that opponents can kind of ‘watch’ and wait for us to gift them something. The amount of goals we are conceding is pretty shocking when you look at the table and the comparison with those around us. Four points out of the last six, both away, isn’t too bad, but in terms of context, I don’t think I’ve ever been as ready for an international break.
We looked much more likely to score with Firmino and Solanke on the pitch. I guess the Sturridge rose tinted glasses are too well ensconsed for you to see this. Appalling miss when one on one from him.
Liverpool have played 12, lost 2 this season. You lot get your heads back on quick.
Played 12 in all comps and actually lost 3 games NOT 2, 2 in the league + 1 in the league cup, while only winning 5 games (41.66% win percentage) which is fairly grim when the opposition we have failed to beat include Watford, Burnley and Newcastle in the league.
I get that people like yourself Rey and the lads in the podcast are trying to maintain a positive outlook and judge “each game on its merits” but 1 win in 6 is poor by anyone’s standards.
The fact we are watching the same game over and over doesn’t do anything to instill confidence that whatever they are trying on the training ground is having an effect on the players. Nothing I have seen in the two years Klopp has been in charge has given me any encouragement that he has the inclination to fix the problems, ranting and raving on the sideline and blaming the players afterwards (see the Leicester league cup post-match comments) doesn’t help matters either.
I’m not saying sack the man but surely someone needs to have a word with him and get additional coaching help if need be.
Yeah whatever you say Rey.
Obviously you think the win/draw/loss stats are encouraging but for me and some others it is manner in which the team performs that is less than optimistic at the moment.
Klopp and the team are making Newcastle look good.
Anyways let’s hope the break does some good otherwise United and Spurs are ready to hand us a nice lesson on why it’s necessary to be realistic.
Anyone noticed that wijnaldum is boss at hide and seek ? Hes a ghost’ centre midfield dosent get on the ball and dictate dosent win tackles and battles floats through games doing fa. Give milner a run in the team cos gini hasent turnd up all season bar arsenal and can is to inconsitant. Also sturidge is finishd lost his sharpness and dosent lookd arsed happy to sit on the bench on 100 odd a week cos his next move is stoke or west ham
This isn’t new, season after season we under perform against opposition we should be beating. The reason Liverpool won’t win the league are as follows. 1, our finishing is a comedy and 2, our defending is a tragedy. Lovren is not up to it he’s too nervy and Matip is too relaxed at sometimes and falls out of position. We won’t win the league and I’m not so sure about fourth. The league isn’t won before Christmas, but it can be lost and we’ve lost it already.
Feel for you guys having to do these recently, shall we all just do AFQ shows until this blows over ?? Has anyone checked on Paul Senior again after this show ?
Who do you blame for that performance?
I think everyone needs to have a word with themselves.
Errors in every department on the pitch.
Jeez lads! Carra would’ve stopped that goal with his mouth in the milliseconds it travelled between everyone!!? Like hell. Like City opening goal, it was a great pass and let’s face it, the player didn’t score it. But I Know what you’re saying and really, Matip was unfortunate – yet anything else and he’d be SENT OFF- then 10-man us would be praying for a 1-1. You know it too.
Blame… ? Jurgen Klopp of course and rightly so. He’s paid for it. And that’s ok. However, I know he’s shocked at how the players he put his faith in came up so short. 2 mainly, another 1 because he’s learning and unhappy with his role.
The main culprit was Danny Sturridge. He had the worst game I’ve seen of him when ‘fit’ since … I dunno. Everything was wrong about him. Selfish, not interlinking. Not passing to the likes of JH who was open on a couple of times. (Hendo told him too but he shrugged and ignored). Their goal- JH wins tackle, feeds DS, who, instead of finding (or even looking for) C,S,M he’s cleaned by two and balls whips to JJS who puts that great ball down before anyone could get near him. Countless other examples but I believe Klopp will never, ever start DS again unless desperate with injuries. He tried to prove too much and finished up proving again that he’s not a team player that works in our system as a forward. His role vs LCFC suited better when we’re ahead.
Next was Gini. Played great v Palace and v Ars(who didn’t?) but terrible ever since. Even Can is better atm. His Newcastle return- yeah, I see the gamble, but logic says no way- you’re off form and anonymous- no support to attack or defence of any significance. (But hey- I’ve got a good song…:) ! Bad call Jurgen.
Finally, Joe Gomez hates RB as much as Carra did and is showing it. Unlucky for card but deserved one for other previous tackles. He’ll be a fine CB, But Milner should have been there, if not in cm instead of Gini.
Need men like Milner and Hendo to kick the gang into playing with precision and confidence. Hendo was our best of a bad lot over the 90. PC great goal but not much else. Mane and Salah are on a different wavelength that Sturridge didn’t even try to tune into.
Anyway, rant over. Klopp knows these things and I expect JM to play every game now till Clyne and Lallana push for places, at least. If we turn over a madly confident mu, all will be forgiven as we all know. Walk on, Peter.
I’m getting sick of Liverpool fans as much as I am the team. Jesus Christ! How are some fans not blaming Matip for the goal? It’s clear we have a lot of fans who’ve recently got into football and never played the game. In the words of Moreno they need to shut their mouths. I played centre half and while it doesn’t make me any more qualified I can say for sure at local level the lad who played alongside me would have kicked my arse if ‘d allowed that. I had the argument (repeatedly on the TAW subscribers fb page) after City about being in the zone or switched on. They couldn’t get it. They started claiming switched off means a mistake was made. It doesn’t. Everytime I finished a game I’d have froth around my lips like I’d been out on the mozam all night. Not sure why but I think it’s down to excessive adrenaline and being hyper alert. Matip looks like he’s in a daze. He doesn’t look in the zone and we’re seeing it more and more. Being flat footed is a perfect example. I’m sick to death of it.
The other thing I want to say is if you’ve got 2 or 3 average players then you can still be a very good team. Those 2 or 3 blend in because let’s face it if they play for LFC they’re still players. But, we had 7 players on that pitch yesterday who aren’t good enough today. I’m not talking 4 years ago. I’m talking today. Salah, Mane, Coutinho and Henderson are good enough to play for us regardless of any poor showings in recent games. The rest are a mix of good enough for a 6th place side, good enough for middle or bottom half side right down to the odd one who’s championship level. How does one expect to get in the top 4 like that? The answer is you don’t and that’s why we’re nowhere near it. Yes, we’ll beat poor sides and lets face it, Arsenal were very poor at Anfield but you can’t expect consistent results week in week out. Add Clyne, Milner and Lallana to the team and things improve slightly. Add a decent centre half and it changes again. Add a Morata say on top and we can challenge. It’s quite clear to me this squad is average and we should expect draws away at Newcastle. This is the Premiership. You can’t expect to win on name alone. You need the tools.
There is a myth that we mus except liverpool defending badly cos we play stacking football. This is not the case a high percentage of liverpool conceded goals come from set plays and mistakes. Defenders and players are in positions but simply make mistakes. We do not usually get cought on the counter attack with many of our players pushed up attacking. We get cought on throw ins , set peices and big big mistakes made by individuals.
Makes absolute sense to me mate. What doesn’t make sense is LFC fans constantly making excuses for poor defending by poor defenders.