LIVERPOOL were absolutely dreadful against Swansea City and deserved nothing from the game today.
There isn’t a single Liverpool player whose performance was anywhere near good enough and indeed most of them dropped to their worst level, portraying all their bad habits either from the start or as the game wore on.
They all rubbed one another up the wrong way; ending with Mo Salah flashing a shot late in the game when a more considered option was on and then Roberto Firmino being profligate and hitting the post rather than equalising for The Reds. These are mere examples, and deliberately chosen from Liverpool’s best two performers of the campaign. But the examples were everywhere.
Gini Wijnaldum yet again became invisible when the game was going against Liverpool. Emre Can again became far too visible. These two are constants in this. Both manage to do the opposite of what we need. All of a sudden, Can is constantly on the ball, taking touch after touch. And all of a sudden Wijnaldum is neither here nor there. Last week this midfield was the essence of functionality. This week the car crashes into the mountain, wheels swerving everywhere, the chassis ablaze dramatically. They were far from alone.
Neither full back was anywhere near good enough, after impressing against the champions elect. Joe Gomez and Andy Robertson both showed different shortcomings. The latter clearly encouraged by early opportunities then started to throw aimless balls in. The former just lacked final third quality time and again. It’s a fine balance but then that is elite sport — decision making is absolutely key and today Liverpool’s was a million miles away.
It was a game defined by this notion — Liverpool did what their opponents wanted them to do. Freeze frame the game at almost any moment and a Liverpool player is about to play into the hands of their opponents. Either by dwelling on it or throwing a cross into the box or shooting from an unlikely angle. There isn’t a man on the pitch about to ask questions of Swansea City. And for that credit must go to Swansea.
In the same way Liverpool managed to addle the brains of Manchester City and many more sides in the 18-match unbeaten run sacrificed tonight, so Swansea addled that of The Reds. They made the footballers lapse into bad ways by making good ways just a teeny bit too hard.
Liverpool fell for it — as individuals and as a collective. They rarely refused the easy option and the easy option was summed up by Virgil van Dijk attempting to blaze a 30 yarder on the half volley with 10 minutes to go. Top bin was in that moment his easiest choice even if the chance of it going in were slim to none.
There are markers after markers on a result like this. Hull City away last season rears into the consciousness. A dog of a pitch and a performance which was worse against a side destined to be relegated after Liverpool have what feels like endless possession. The instinct is to want a more prominent or physical centre forward presence. This is what winter in this league so often is.
But the Liverpool manager has mostly won this argument: he has demonstrated his way works and demonstrated Liverpool can be their version of physical and get results. We are 21 days since Burnley away for instance. However he can’t be happy to glance at his bench on 60 minutes today and see the paucity of options. He cannot be thinking this is what he wants to go into February with.
Today his argument is weaker. In general this evening, the choices he makes in his substitutions aren’t great (and by that I mean firstly it isn’t what I would have done, and secondly he didn’t win the game after making them) but then he is an artist turning and looking at a very limited palette of colours in those moments. However, if he reaches February and that remains the case then he will only have himself to blame.
Tonight Liverpool could have lightened the load from their manager but they have done otherwise. Tonight Liverpool could have eased their collective burden. Instead they are the greatest losers from the weekend’s action. Losing is inevitable in this thing — every team loses. But the manner of it yet again sets a template, in fact deepens the template.
Beat Liverpool by not engaging. Beat Liverpool by avoiding the issue. Beat Liverpool by never bothering and relying that you will get a chance. We have nothing to be insecure about but nothing to be secure about either. Nothing to take us away from the pack. We don’t deserve to shift away from the pack.
If Liverpool go another 18 unbeaten it will be one hell of a season and that is their task now, however there is no way of doing it which won’t involve keeping calm and making the right decision and being fresh in every sense.
Liverpool were stale and lethargic this evening and there is no room for that again between now and May.
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Can’t agree. Thought the players tried very hard. We had three very good chances and hit the post. They had a corner.
The shooting by our defenders was a bit much. A natural striker on the pitch would have helped with some of Robertson’s almost very good crosses.
Playing Adam from the start or half time might have unlocked them.
Unlucky. On another day it could have been a comfortable win.
I said it was the biggest match of our season and would have created clear daylight from top four rivals. It proved the biggest match of the season for them.
It proved we are not quite title challengers.
good post m’lord !
I thought at 3-2 down at Arse was the toughest point in the season and we showed good guts to come back and at least salvage a draw (disappointing though that was).
Why we didn’t get anything tonight I don’t know, didn’t against WBA either and we created chances there too (with Coutinho of course).
Think there will be lots of words spoken but at the end of the day we just didn’t finish anything. would rather have seen TAA in.
Can is awful unless it’s a midfield battle. Klopp’s mistake was not replacing him last summer. He has too much faith in his players that man. Not signing? sell and replace. there is no loyalty today.
Don’t think the manager has almost won the centre forward argument. It is not the frequency of these results it is as you say the nature. Surely one of the 3 attacking players we need by your fergie rule could be big
Lord Azlan, I’m normally you, the voice of reason, the devils advocate to my mates, and normally I’d agree and I kind of do tonight, but you know what? This is Liverpool and we’ve done this for 27 years, it used to be other teams before that but it’s us all over since we stopped being the best.
That was the definition of a Liverpool team thinking all they had to do was turn up and win. I think we’ll finish top 4 but that will never be enough for the likes of me getting older every year waiting for a league championship.
I remember back in the late 70s or early 80s when we went on a huge unbeaten run. We probably won the league that season. The team that eventually beat us were at the foot of the table and were called Leicester City.
So these sort of results happened when we were winning leagues.
It’s disappointing I know but I was watching our players and their faces and reactions. They were certainly trying.
Sometimes, it’s not your day. It’s why we love football and why we hope we can win the European Cup this season.
My son noticed something in the game that Billic also called out. The corner, before we had defended it and made ourselves safe, a few of our players were racing out of the penalty area to counter attack, even though we were still in danger. We need to turn these losses into draws, the way Champions do. The points add up.
Saying all that, we are much improved than last season. A proper GK and Striker would be nice.
@Azlan They lost to Leicester in ’81 and won #13 then.
Got beat by a better manager
F1 car in London traffic…..brilliant shout
He looks like Armando Iannucci with more up top, and he talks like him too!
Lads….love your site . Erudite. Fair. Drenched in eloquence. And showered in oceans of honesty. Except today. Soz Neil.
I don’t think Liverpool stank the proverbial Liberty yard out. I would contend they created enough to win a countless plethora of games. Is that a complete nonsensical line. Arsed. On any other given sly sports Monday, that’s a nailed on three points. Nailed on. Driven in like Damien thorn with a twat of a lump hammer in the admittedly underwhelming, Final Conflict. But battered in, just the same. I don’t think we were that bad. We weren’t great. We weren’t.
Soz abar me
Just buy Mahrez, show the mancs and Arsenal that we’re ambitious too. Steal some thunder back. VvD and Mahrez would be impressive in anyone’s book (unless Mahrez truly is ‘a secret asshole’, seriously there must be something wrong!) Our bench now Sturridge is on the out, and Phil gone, is looking worryingly thin. If that stays the same (which I cannot comprehend) then on these away days perhaps we need to sacrifice one of the front three so they can possibly impact from the bench. Maybe back to the successful 4-4-2?
I’m far too much of a cranky bastard at the moment to glean any insight from the game, this writing, or life generally. I had a feeling that we were going to concede once we gave them the second corner, and that fulfillment of dread only makes it worse. Wish it were just my spectacular powers of augury, but it is just that I’ve seen this unwelcome re-run far too many times. We go again.
Tonight was abysmal, wrong choice after wrong choice; Lallana is rusty or off the boil I’m sure, but whatever you call it, it’s not pretty right now. The performance never really got started wee seemed lethargic from the start.
This might sound a little naive, or overly optimistic, but something about tonight felt different. Normally is these circumstances, after a goal like that, however early, it feels like the game is over, tonight until the whistle blew, it never felt that way; for whatever reason that feels like a tidechange.
Always saw this as a banana skin, and lo, how we slipped. There was definitely a Coutinho-shaped hole in the line-up, and there will be again against similar “low-block” (hate that term) sides. The only positive that could come from this is if it pushes us into signing a legitimate Coutinho replacement before the 31st.
Personally, although clearly not at our best tonight, they literally got a jammy break and scored, FFS the ball bounced off their mans shins into Mawson’s path and he swung at it. Goal. Also I consider us unlucky not to at least score a goal as we created enough chances.
It’s a big IF I know, but even if would have won the game was always going to be a dog fight and not easy on the eye.
On a positive note, imo VVD was MOM reading the game superbly, making telling clearances and offerered classy ball distribution on numerous occasions. One fucking irritating observation though, why when all season we’ve had a problem at set pieces with no one attacking the ball in our box, and yet for the goal 4 of our players are challenging each other to win the ball as it broke free for the goal?? This team can occasionally Fucking drive you mad but I’m confident with VVD and A N Other, these head fucking occasions will become scarcer with time.
We all expected a win here. We are all disappointed with the way we played and lost.
We have been here before. Thought we had exorcised this type of performance. Thought it was a thing of the past.
Looked like no one, apart from Matip?, was up for it. A trip to Swansea, on a Monday night, in January.
So disappointed. Was hoping that we would have been on top of the world after the Man. City win.
Bummer.
No we didn’t. Many suspected the inevitable fold after a big victory. It’s what we do. Always have, always will. Lose to shite.
Great write up as always Neil. Your misery always helps to soothe my own. And there’s plenty of misery to go round – that’s two years in a row that a defeat against rock bottom Swansea feels like the end of the world.
Give Liverpool a battle and we’re all-conquering. It’s why we probably still have a chance of going deep in the Champions League. But we have far too many players who only make sense in a proper contest, and who fade into utter mediocrity against a disengaged opponent. The situation is nothing new, the culprits aren’t new either, and yet the song remains the same.
It’s not really his fault at all, but seeing Danny Ings come on last night broke something inside me. In a situation where United have significantly strengthened (no matter how desperate they look with the crazy fees and wages they’re paying), where even Arsenal in real terms have already probably stood still and are now on the verge of signing Aubameyang for £50m (about £15-20m in old money), inaction from us in bringing in another attacker is looking more and more like it would be negligence of the highest order. And that’s whether Sturridge stays or goes.
And it’s not about wanting new shiney things – it’s about simply standing still. Sadly I’m not expecting much. Klopp just about got away with his brave decision to wait on adding a centre back in august, but I fear stubbornness rather than pragmatism in this situation might cost us dearly.
Don’t agree with this. Yes, we need reinforcements, that’s the point I’m going to make but the 11 we put out are good enough to win. Except, they’re not against a team who refuse to play. We’ve seen it all season and last and the season before that etc etc.
What annoys me is this bullshit we keep hearing. We don’t need a number 9. Gomez is a revelation, Gini is fantastic, Can this (and for the record) Henderson that. Look, we can beat any team who want to take us on. We can’t and don’t beat that shite last night. Or Everton, West Brom, Burnley at home, Newcastle, Utd and I’d add Chelsea to that.
Everything’s through the middle but we have no dynamism. Our midfield lack creativity. How do the others beat these? They have full backs who get in behind and put it across goal to a number 9 who’s slots it. We need full backs and a number 9. Not s number 9 who will play every game. An Ole Gunna Solkjear like Utd had for years. Ferguson always had the tools to win. He always understood the need for different options to win different games. Robertson put some decent balls in that only needed a tap in but if there’s no one there then it’s useless. Gomez just wasted everything because he’s not ready neither defensively or attackingly. Our midfield are good at winning the ball and holding it but can’t drive us forward and if we do get it wide and in the box our forward is outside the box. We saw when Ings came on. His movement created a bit more space. This squad is 5 players short to be consistent across a season. Other teams have full backs. We don’t. Other teams have a Silva, Pogba, Hazard, Erikson in midfield. We don’t. Other teams have a Jesus or a Kane or buy an Ibra for these moments. We don’t. This isn’t knee jerk. We’re a phenomenal team but we need players to bolster the squad. Klopp knows Firmino isn’t the man for these 8 or 10 games a season hence dropping him for a lot of them. He said himself we looked for a striker. We’re getting Keita. We need a number 9 too and if Clyne isn’t nearing fitness a right back.
Losing is part of football, losing to the worst team in the league happens, however aiding and abetting defeats is something else. Yes we had chances to score, even win but every Liverpool supporter knew after 10 minutes how this game would go. The lack of creativity from midfield was truly shocking. A packed and ridged defence needs to be pulled all over the place but the midfield could not be less suited to that task. Add in a right back who had virtually no defensive duties but is incapable of offering any attacking options and it was stale and mind numbingly repetitive. Can, OC and Wjnaldum are decent players but as a unit they lack the ability to change games. Naby coming in is an improvement but we need reinforcements now. Oh and Danny Ings being brought on sums up the lack of quality up front. Another decent player and all that but hardly one to inspire.
Given this had draw or loss written all over it, I cannot believe anyone is remotely surprised. Has history taught nothing?
We have to start trying something different, when defending corners. Our players just get in each other’s way. I can’t help feeling that if we just kept 3 players in the box (VVD, Matip and one other) with everyone else outside and threatening the mother of all counter-attacks then things could not be much worse and potentially much, much better.
Swansea put 6 in the box for that corner. We had 7 back and even Salah remained in shot. I would rather he was near the halfway-line, along with Firmino and Mane. Any opposition manager is going to have kittens looking at a situation like that and will be screaming at players to get back and cover before the corner is taken. In an uncrowded box, I would back VVD and Matip to win the header 8 times out of 10 and to get real distance on it (hey, you never know our keeper might even decide to make a decisive intervention). When that happens, we are an immediate threat if our key players are in advanced positions.
Sure, we will still concede goals if teams take a short corner and successfully work the ball, but they will usually fail if they are generally crap at passing and shooting. Most teams in the league are bad at this. It’s why they can’t score goals. Hardly any teams score against us with well worked moves on the deck. It’s always THIS goal. The Groundhog Day goal that we just keep on conceding.
Try something new. We are consistently conceding from corners anyway, so how much worse could things really get?
“Hardly any teams score against us with well worked moves on the deck. It’s always THIS goal. The Groundhog Day goal that we just keep on conceding.”
Spot on. We have conceded this goal an embarrassing amount of times now. I think the reason there’s been such an emotional response to this loss – not that there isn’t always – is because we all sensed it. Soon as I saw the pitch I could sense it.
We’ve had a lot our own way recently. Some of the moments in the 18 game unbeaten run have been memorable. It’s back to reset now.
After 18 games unbeaten, don’t want to sound like a miserable sod but it’s a lack of leadership again on and off the pitch! Sooner we get a proper captain rather than Hendo, or giving it to anyone who fancies wearing it when he’s not available (at least 5 diff captains in last 6 games; Cout, Lovren, Mig, Can, Milner) the better we’ll be. Was no-one ordering the wide attackers to stay out there when they were clearly all getting in each others way, no-one telling the young full backs to get on and double up on their lads on the flanks; surely 1-2’s and getting behind them in the corners is the best way to break down compact teams? When you behind them, drive the balls into box and having loads of bodies in there then works against them then? Klopp needs to tailor his teams more; TAA prob a better bet against teams that will dig in, rather than Gomez who offers no attacking threat and switches off. Klopp also still hasn’t twigged that Gini is an empty shirt away from home and if he has, he needs to find a way to sort it as it’s currently Jekyll & Hyde stuff from Wijnaldum! Lastly, Can is a hopeless case as a top-level, premier league midfielder unless there’s a physical battle to get involved in, where requiring any ability or technical skill becomes secondary. Keita can’t arrive fast enough!
Arr well…..Heads up and hopefully we bounceback against West Brom and then Huddersfield
Agree with everything you’ve written – totally what I was thinking
It’s quite evident why we lost the game last night. There is for more than one reason. We did enough (imo) to actually win that game. We missed some decent chances and a few sitters at the death, however, a win would still have papered over some aspects of the game we really lack…
A proven goal Scorer / top striker – We need one, and we’ve needed one since Suarez. Now, I am Bobby’s biggest fan, and I really rate him – but his finishing is nowhere near where a top striker should be. Granted, he’s scored more than previous years so he’s improving, but a top striker would be in the 20+’s at Liverpool at this stage of the season. Bobby could easily move into the 10 role anyway.
Quality Centre Midfielders – I’m probably going to get slated for this, but I don’t actually rate any of our midfielders. None of our three main CM’s get into any of the top 6 sides. Emre Can has potential, but he’s too slow on the ball, makes wrong choices more often than not and for the amount of noise his agent is making on his contract blah blah you’d have thought he was a world beater. Gini Wijnaldum cannot pass the ball forward, he’s got bags of energy but never makes a run beyond any of our attacking players and plays totally in front of the opposition. He’s a recycler, so against the likes of city and other top teams who keep possession, he warrants a starting place, but He offers nothing in defence or attack set pieces and he doesn’t score enough goals or create to justify his price tag or to be a regular. Hendo is Hendo and is completely injury prone now, you get energy and passion but he can’t tackle he’s not creative but apparently he’s great in the dresser!
Team selection – Why, oh why does our amazing manager look at Swansea and think that we need to play Can AND Gini in the middle of the park last night? The ONLY way Swansea were going to be a threat was at set pieces, so why set out the team with two holders (because like it or not, that’s where both Can and Gini play their game), another problem was Gomes. What a prospect, but to be honest I’ve been more impressed with TTA, he offers more going forward, gets on the score sheet and can deliver from wide areas. Gomes has made a few mistakes and made some glaring errors last night – why not give TTA and Lallana a run out – it was evident that Swansea were going to do what they did, therefor having players that play the ball square and not forward is exactly what you don’t want! The game changed when Lallana came on. He made those runs beyond, can link play going forward and can create and score.
GK – I know Karius was not at fault for the goal last night, but the GK is a MASSIVE problem for us, and is becoming a little bit of a shambles the way its being dealt with. Did anyone actually notice that he got beaten (again at the near post) by Ayew – the ref hadn’t blown the whistle at the time so no-one had stopped, luckily the ball went out. The distribution is also not great, kicking poor by both no 1 & 2 GKs. It’s clear that the back line is totally on edge with the GK’s behind them, it’s evident at every corner!
Finally, the owners; We need to SPEND. And I don’t mean, sell to spend, but SPEND. We are officially the 7th or 8th richest club in the world (in relation to grossing profit). Other clubs in and around us spend a great deal more. Some clubs below us spend a great deal more. You cannot win anything nowadays without spending money, and I mean real money, not staying in net profit with transfer dealings like FSG like to be.
Don’t get me wrong, I am happy with the way that we play and those players that I’ve mentioned are good Squad players and I’ll always support them in a red shirt. My observation is that they do not have the quality, week in week out, to warrant a starting place in a team that wants to /needs to challenge for the league. Hopefully though, Klopp is a creature of habit, and no matter where he goes he learns, but improves from what he learns. I do see strides of improvement, and defeats like last night are much more bearable when you’ve been 18 games unbeaten beforehand. If we go another 18 games unbeaten then it will be class – I just feel the defeat was not surprising, but very much unnecessary!
It’s maddening when the opposition only have one chance and score. I’m disappointed at the decision making from Van Dijk and Salah when the easier option to pass to a team mate was on. When Lallana come on, we looked more likely to score. How does Bobby miss that one? Oh well a bad day at the office. So disappointing, all that hard work over the last few weeks. The highs and lows of being a Liverpool fan.
It’s frustrating but sometimes you have to fight fire with fire.
Instead of tippy tapping about and playing passes into a player marked by three men you just have to launch it.Swansea did that twice and got a goal.
We’re gonna have to learn how to fight dirty.And if the other team doesn’t want to play wonderful technical football then we’d better start rolling our sleeves up and get stuck in!And if that just means a long ball into their area well we’ve got quick enough players to capitalise on that.
But some of our passing looked geometrically perfect.How about forgetting the ball and just getting on with the game?