It hurts. Nobody is saying it didn’t hurt.
In fact everyone is talking about exactly how it hurts and how disappointed they are on our post match show.
Liverpool were defeated by Real Madrid but more so defeated by themselves. They failed to perform on the night.
All this is discussed by Craig Hannan, John Gibbons and Dan Austin.
It is hosted by Neil Atkinson.
Game was decided in three moments. 1.Ramos is a dirty bastard.
2. Karius makes two mistakes you’ll never see again.
It just feels surreal for it all to end like this.
And Bale scored a freak/wonder goal.
Come on home lads.
We froze after Salah went off…Gini couldn’t operate after Mo left because Ramos and Casemiro had nothing to mark and so took him out of the game. But even at that, they scored 1 from open play. When Mo left we lost more than his contribution. Hope this settles the keeper debate.
On Karius, the third goal echoes what he did in the first leg against Roma when Kolarov shot, it also went through his hands, but hit the bar. It has to be that he has played his last game for the club guys
So proud of our boys tonight and anyone says anything else can fuck right off, stupid mistakes cost us which some have call all season, god help the guy but we have to move on…we were superb tonight and effort wise was 110%
Jurgen has changed us we are back in the elite again were we belong, and its only a matter of time before we get over the final hurdle.
Love them from top to bottom xx
#Upjurgensreds
totally agree mate, totally agree, our time is approaching with Jurgen and the future is looking great.
Totally agree, despite this terrible sadness in defeat. Hope the wonderful Anfield Wrap won’t be polluted by the so-called Reds who are heaping vile personal abuse on Karius on Twitter. What utter scumbags. Heads up. YNWA.
dunno about anyone else….but can’t access the pod
I rarely disagree with you lads, as your analysis is usually spot on, but I have to disagree there. Liverpool’s players gave everything tonight but were let down by 2 horrendous goalkeeping errors & umdone some dirty cheating by Ramos but to say they didnt try is an insult – sorry TAW but you’re dead wrong there
Ramos should have got red the dirty fuckin bastard
YEARS of ignoring the goalkeeper position as a serious consideration came home to roost tonight … We’ve forgotten what a gifted keeper looks like … Even TAW has been saying Karius is great in recent months … it’s laughable. He’s a nervous, unintelligent, bang average player, who had no right playing in a game of that magnitude … he RUNIED so much hard work, and combined with Salah’s injury it meant we had NO chance.
It’s Klopp’s one weakness … if he ‘likes’ you there are no consequences for failure … and i have no doubt Karius will continue as number 1 … and this will happen again.
We weren’t that bad guys. I thought we gave a decent account of ourselves. It was always going to be difficult after Salah left. Ramos is just a dirty dog….simple as that. Feel very sorry for Loris but he’s definitely not the answer for us any longer….the esteemed football pundits will never let him forget that performance and we can’t afford for him to work things through while we’re trying to win a league.
This Liverpool team has thrilled us this season. I am super proud of their performances this season. So looking forward to the next season.
YNWA!
Let’s be clear. If Salah misses the World Cup for Egypt Ramos should probably find a desert island to live on with armed guards for company.
That might be awkward if Spain win their World Cup group and Egypt are runners-up in theirs
With regards the keeper and our front three, all season we’ve been hurtling through the air without a parachute. We’re great at sky-diving but last night we ran out of air and hit the ground. That’s the thing about parachutes, you only need really them for the last bit.
Those last ten minutes were brilliant – a time has clearly been had.
Up the REDS, and fuck off Martyn.
Yeah, Fuck off Martyn!
It was clearly their intention to injure Salah early on. Why wasn’t Ramos sent off?
We needed to be better after Mo went off no doubt about it. But I can’t help but sympathise with our players as it really felt like all the big moments in this game went against us and our momentum was constantly scuppered.
We were the better side, then Mo suffers a horrible injury. We’re obvioisly rattled but get through till half time. We regroup. Whatever plan Klopp formulates and gives to the players is made redundant when Karius gifts them the first goal. Then we get back into it only for Bale to score possibly the greatest goal in CL Final history. And any hope of mounting a comeback or going for one last push is over when Karius does what he does. Throughout this CL run we’ve been fantastic in moments and in spells. We never had that last night.
If I was to actually be critical of our side, there’s no doubt that we shouldn’t be as rattled as we are when Salah goes off. But let’s face it he’s our talisman and our best player. And all are plans/tactics/play had to be altered when he went off. That’s a big thing to do in the middle of a final. Not only that but if Ronaldo had gone off for them in similar circumstances they would have brought on Gareth Bale. For our star man, we had to bring on a clearly unfit Lallana who can not come close to replicating Salah and someone who really does not fit into the front three.
I wouldn’t even suggest Klopp didn’t have any ideas on what to do once Salah went off, it’s more a case of did he really have any options to do anything about it? Hopefully that’s something that will be addressed this summer, although it doesn’t help us right now in this moment. Keita and Fekir ASAP to cheer us up please Michael Edwards and get the ball rolling for next season when we go again.
@RoadWarrior
This is me picking at bones again, but how about after the 1-1 score we went with Solanke up front, allowing Mane, Firmino and Lallana to try and come into the game more? I mean it seemed better risk than putting Can on for an ineffective cameo.
Losing Salah was tough, very tough, but the team soldiered on till half time, which I thought was admirable, and should be, because there was a likely scenario that one of the three would be hurt, fatigued or red-carded. Did they think about this in the weeks before the final? Did they watch a montage of that bastard Ramos and RM’s desperate antics to secure a win in a final?
As much as many see Karius second howler, how about the player(s) who should’ve just stopped the shot from happening?
Hope Edwards is listening to you.
I was very surprised Solanke didn’t come on to be honest mate. And whilst I’m sure a lot more instruction was given to Lallana than any of us could be aware of it was disappointing to see him come on initially as a straight player swap for salah given that he was never going to come close to replicating what Mo offers, regardless of fitness.
In theory we could have matched up a bit more with Real, pushing mane and firmino up and having them do similar work to Ronaldo and Benzema, whilst Lallana could have done the bits Isco was doing for them instead of floundering ineffectually out wide. More preferable would have been as you say, bringing Solanke on and having the other three in behind him. He showed against Brighton that his link up play isn’t too shabby, but I guess Klopp didn’t think he was at the level needed for this game. But then the question becomes if you have a striker on the bench and you’re looking to initially take the lead and then pull yourself back level, why on earth have him on the bench if you’re never going to use him? In a champions league final no less. Furthermore throwing on an unfit Can instead of Solanke just seemed bizarre. For all it seemed Klopp had been vindicated with his transfer dealings last summer and in January as we marched to the final, right at the end this game raises some old issues which unfortunately have yet to be put to bed once and for all.
I think he held off putting Dom on to protect the young man. The odds were very loaded against us, we had eleven fit Snr players who could go up against the experience of the Spanish Shizters. Once we lost our talisman on 25 mins it was clearly backs to the wall time. Karius gifting them twice, meant the last 45 mins was no-place-for young men, (apologies th McCarthy). Trent weathering that will make him stronger, but he had been part of our early dominance, nearly scoring too, so the second half couldn’t hurt his confidence. Throwing Dom on there at that time with the loss pending….well it puts tremendous focus on young shoulders. It would be seen by him as us giving him a do or die role in the biggest club game in the world. One goal all season and from lesser games against poorer opposition seems to point to Dom going out there and dying. Klopp was having none of that because he would have thought it through as he seems to do with most things.
You want him to shoot from there. You want the keeper to grab the ball and distribute it, putting us quickly back on the front-foot. Bale only tries his luck because he is smart enough to know that Karius is in a state of mind where something like that can happen. If the game had gone beyond 90 minutes, there was a big chance that our keeper would have thrown one into his own net a third time.
I haven’t listened to this yet but it seems the lads have been slated. I watched it fairly sober and bar the obvious fella, I didn’t feel anyone disgraced themselves or let themselves.
Simple fact a superior team with a superior squad beat us. Even still that only tells half the story. They were still assisted by Salah’s injury, Karius’ brain farts and perhaps the best goal ever scored in a European Cup final.
If we’d have disgraced ourselves and didn’t do ourselves justice I’d have been the first to be gutted. I was over it before I’d even gone to bed last night. No shame in it whatsoever, we didn’t get the rub of the green at key times.
Bloody hell lads!!, god it feels like a missed chance. First 30 minutes they couldnt play out from their own half, i think mo’s injury was the turning point, it flawed us and lifted them massively. With mo on the pitch ramos and varone were shit scared. Lallana was the wrong player to bring on. Might sound mad but i think Moreno would have been a better choice! He has plenty of pace and we all know he likes to bomb on. We needed the pace to keep them on the back foot. The press wasnt the same once mo went off.
For the keepers mistakes, what can you say…probably wont come back from that. We all know hes got a rick in him, and last night we got two. I wish him well for the future, i just cant see him with us next season.
On Ramos, the foul on mo was shit, it was 50/50 when they locked arms and he did seem to land heavy on him.
Did anyone catch his elbow on karius just before the first goal. The ball was miles away, frustrating when officials miss stuff like that.
Hopefully this is the start now, we are getting a team together and am confident we can go again. Naby’s on route, hopefully fekir aswell… and now possibly a keeper? We will see!
Onwards and upwards lads.
Ynwa.
Where is the podcast? Wifi problems? What?
It was a tremendous season. Qualified for CL back 2 back. And made it to the CL final.
These players have given us a lot of joy along the way.
On to next season with a stronger squad. Klopp needs to make some huge decisions, who he keeps, who he sells and buys. The goalkeeping situation will be a tricky one. Migs is gone (thank God) and Klopp needs to make the call. Either persevere with Karius (which will be heap a lot of pressure on him and the lad) or go for a top keeper. But then, I doubt Karius wants to stay as no2 goalkeeper. So we’d have to get 2?
If we can get the consistency against the smaller tams right, then we can challenge for the League next season. But we simply need to be ruthless against the smaller lot. Otherwise no chance.
Extremely Well Done to the WRAP lads. I imagine that must have been a difficult task to make a show when you all sound so drained, physically and emotionally.
I think it says a lot about the integrity of the site overall, to feel there is a duty to subscribers. Things like this really ‘make’ the Wrap for me.
Not much to say about the game. I think too much is being made of Klopp’s finals record because it’s a bit of a gift to the lazy oppo’s and hacks. What I found clear was that we are still building a quality side. Our obvious lack of depth is magnified a hundred-fold when compared to Madrid. We are getting better and we are building organically and structurally , however, and being someone who likes Karius, and has defended him plenty of times. What happened in the game just, unfortunately was not at the required level.
Lloris can go to a mid-level prem’ side and will almost definitely, never have to face the pressure of a final, not THE final (one of two surely the other being the World Cup). He will be fine.
I think we now must abandon the idea of a keeper of a similar level. I’ve definitely flipp-flopped on this but we must have a keeper with presence and authority. I would go all out for Alisson.
Lovren was superb, I really hope that this is the making of him because he has ability in spades.
Best wishes all,
We’ll be back! (we are back, on the world stage. It’s building to something I believe).
Think these guys are majorly missed to pinpoint the elephant in the room here:
1. It wasn’t down to lack of effort
2. They guys played well except for one player
3. TAW continuously underate the opposition. Real have won 4 out of 5 last champs leagues for a reason.
4. JK needs to take responsibility for not pushing fsg to get an extra body in midfield/up front in Jan. we limped to 4th spot in the end
5. JK hasn’t addressed the keeper since he’s arrived
Re no 4,
In January we had Can Henderson Winjaldum Milner Oxlade-Chamberlain all fit. Lallana was due back.
6 lads…more than enough. We went into the final with 4 mids. If you keep thinking we need one more then when does it stop? Clubs simply don’t operate that way.
I agree with point 1; I’ll give you a D+ pass on 2 and as far as 3/4 & 5 are concerned, well…just fuck off and support the bitters if you can criticise him after that season. Apart from Ramos and his illegal judo hold, the only thing that beat us on Sat was our relatively poor resources in midfield following late injuries in the run up to the CLF. Get off Karius’s back for fucksake, the madness of his first one kettled his head, resulting in the second one. But, he’s a Red, he’s hurting far worse than any of us and given the fallback is Migs, he’s all we have got. So support the lad fa fucksake, like Hendo said ‘we are a team, we win together and we must lose together’. Well, words to that effect anyway. YNWA
When it all calms down, spare a thought for Karius . When Seaman was beaten by Nayim from the halfway line he was already an experienced international who in previous seasons had won the league, FA cup, league Cup and Cup Winners Cup.
Seaman got over it but Karius does not have years of success to fall back on.
Away fans can’t wait to see Karius in Liverpool’s goal next season; if this happens he’ll need support.
Remember Robert Enke.
@CamberwellSE5
yeah I remember reading about that GK Enke, had fans pelting him with lighters and bottles during the match in Turkey. Really sad to hear how he went out. No human being should be pushed to that edge, especially not for sport.
I just read that some assholes made death threats to Karius and his family. I mean I hope it is not Liverpool supporters doing this, and some idiot trolls just trying to fan the flames. Pathetic!
You’re right Sash. I imagine it probably is a section of ‘so called support’ but you can’t legislate for that. There are imbeciles ‘supporting’ every club unfortunately.
I really feel for Karius, though I think the best thing would be to bring in a top level keeper now, an Alisson say, and then him and Karius can compete. I’d give Alisson (or another top keeper’ the jersey and tell Karius that he can stay and fight to improve, or leave and have a decent career at a mid-level club. The ball is in his court then to improve.
Dejan Lovren was superb last night, absolutely top class. It takes real mental strength to recover like that and Lovren still has a season of excellence to go, but it shows that it can be done.
We’ve all been watching football a long time. The whole Karius thing has lulled us into thinking he is an ok keeper. But! He makes terrible metal mistakes, Van Dyke is always telling him to come off his line for balls over the top, the ball through his hands onto the bar, West Brom he catch/pushes the ball directly into the 6 yard box, in Rome he does the same directly to Djeko… and last night Ronaldo heads directly at him… not a bullet just a header and he pushes it straight to Benzema…. he isn’t good enough at any level. These are bad errors we never see because Goalies don’t normally get to the Prem level without those mistakes being ironed out or the player just doesn’t make it….. He makes saves but ‘that is his job’ it’s the rest he just can’t do…..as LFC fans we like to think we know a bit about football and therefore give players time but deep down we know he isn’t good enough. Well done for getting there boys but we need a sprinkling of experienced players now as this is the 2nd Euro final when we have fallen apart against teams, while being good do not play well… anyway…. my 2p but it is very very disappointing the manner of the game…. cheers Alistair @ ATG
ps I am positive of course about LFC but I just needed to say that as am in mourning… and as I didn’t say – a sincere well done for going out there and recording all these moments….. all the best Al
Thank you to all the team at TAW for all their fantastic shows upto the final. It can’t have been fun doing the show immediately after the game but someone had to get the ball rolling. Thanks guys, we win together & lose together. Roll on next season & let’s be on the hunt for the league come Easter & you never know.
john is right in the opening comments, it was a measure how far off we are. they used our weapon against us in the second half. we had rotten luck to add and that ramos is a dirty bastard
Might sound weird but I’d rather lose how we did than get absolutely had 4-0. What can you take from a 4-0 spanking?
As it stands, sickening though it is, there are things we can look to. Take a moment to think how we’d feel if we’d just been served up 4-0.
What you can’t get away from is that Saturday’s debacle was the result of a very unwise over-promotion of a man who lacks the self-awareness to realise he cannot perform at this level. It has ended in a very human tragedy, that goes beyond mere sport. One he may never get over, or get the opportunity to rectify the situation by laying the ghosts to rest in a situation where the stakes are just as high. Don’t blame Karius. He should never play for us again, but this fiasco has happened because appalling decisions were made in the boardroom. When a championship level keeper is given this level of responsibility, it invites disaster and that is what unfolded. Playing in a UCL final puts a man on a mile-high tightrope and forces him to look down. Karius glanced at the abyss, felt the blood drain from his body and fell.
One other thing. Regarding Ramos deliberately injuring our best player and staying on the pitch, I couldn’t help wishing he played for us. We have had nasty dirty players wearing our shirt before and several have had plenty of winners’ medals draped around their necks. Ramos must have been sent off more times in his career than our entire starting XI. He’s won 4 league titles and 4 European cups.