THE lonely painter.
Well, it hurts. Let me tell you, it hurts. Be prepared to bleed. I told you. I warned you.
To bleed is to love.
The worst thing, the most painful thing about the enterprise is that at no moment did they feel two goals better than Liverpool let alone three. At no point were The Reds played off the park. Far from it.
At almost every stage Liverpool seemed the best team on the pitch. We’ve seen this trick this season from Liverpool; these rope-a-dope moments. But tonight Liverpool weren’t truly victim to that, instead Liverpool were victim to their own lack of ruthlessness. Again and again Liverpool were an inch away from finding a way. Again and again it didn’t quite happen.
Liverpool bled. Always turn up there and always get within yards from the goal and find it suddenly very difficult. Barcelona did nothing special. Nothing remarkable. It’s why there should still be hope. Why there should be frustration.
To be done, right now, right in this moment, feels unfair. And Liverpool aren’t done. It takes little imagination to see The Reds 2-0 up with 10 to go at Anfield. Even with Barcelona’s brilliance, even with Leo Messi’s brilliance. But there should be frustration.
Look where and when The Reds knocked off. We can expect better from our best at both ends of the pitch.
Virgil van Dijk has been marvellous but he can’t look back on the first goal feeling faultless. Instead he falls short, knocked off and deep. Then at the very end of the affair Mo Salah hits the post when he should score, when he should give Liverpool some just desserts. The ball bounces out.
There was a strangeness to the enterprise; every early moment saw Barcelona accept Liverpool’s superiority. I may be naive but this wasn’t the plan to an extent, but they played like an away side in front of 100,000 Catalans.
They accepted that Liverpool were better and, therefore, it is no surprise that until a brilliant freekick it was Luis Suarez who stood out for our opponents. More than anything he is a natural underdog, a man who loves that fight, a man who shows for a year and a day, a man looking for one more at all times.
He’s marvellous but then again, who isn’t? A takeaway from the first half is this: these are 22 of the very best footballers in the world. It’s an uncomplicated point, but the sheer quality on show was phenomenal. Liverpool are one of the best teams in the world. This is their breathtaking domain. This is what they go to school for. They are better than Barca. But…
But there is the main fella. He is a joy, an astonishment in human form. Leo Messi is the best person ever to play this game of ours by a distance.
He is remarkable in brain and in feet. He is an outrage and a kaleidoscope, something to stop and something to adore. He is all twists and all marvellousness. He is the best of us all; he is your dreams. He is what you always wanted to be writ large. Leo Messi is the best person to play this daft game by a mile.
And Liverpool did well. Until he banged on in from 30 yards, because why not? Until he reminded us and hurt us. Until he was the thing and the whole of the thing.
Go to him. Stay with him if you can. Be prepared to bleed.
Be prepared to bleed. Liverpool were tonight. They expected to see some magic but they thought they would score. All of them, especially James Milner, didn’t just live with opponents but outstrip them; Milner the best player on the pitch tonight. Apart from the very best players, apart from the magicians.
We shouldn’t think Liverpool are beaten. It is earthy to think until they score at Anfield this tie is alive. Liverpool are capable of being 2-0 with 10 to go. That should be their aim. They can beat this side. Apart from the brilliance of the greatest to play the game, they have little to be scared of.
Er. Yes.
Be prepared to bleed. Liverpool tonight could have been better at 1-0. They could also have been luckier. But nothing will let me give up on this season. These are my lads; our lads, for better or worse.
To take us to Madrid they will need to be outrageous versions of themselves and we will need to do that too. Nothing is finished tonight but everything now is graft. But Jürgen’s lads love that.
Liverpool should go out. But should is doing a lot of work in that sentence. But I still back them, the dope that I am. Stay with them if you can. Be prepared to bleed.
Barcelona come to Anfield to deal with the bloodied. This Liverpool are better than Barcelona; this Liverpool are capable of showing that. However, like everyone else, this Liverpool is capable of being Messied. You go up against the King, you better not miss. Liverpool missed tonight but they get one more go.
Thing is… So does he.
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I haven’t felt this way for a long time but that (your article) was just what I needed. Thank you Neil. I still believe. I still think we will win the double and the manner of the wins will make it even better.
If you watch the post match pint video you’ll be staggered at the fluency he achieved in this piece!!
@KM1806 Indeed they were all waisted, not quite sure how he wrote this. Ghostwriter?
ps I can’t stop singing The Climb by Miley Cyrus.
Keep the faith.
Make sure we are 2-0 up by 60-75 mins, which we can definitely do against a Barca who is much weaker away, and then it’s really game on.
We missed far too many chances. Starting putting them in and we can pull off a miracle.
Roma beat these 4 0 last season. PSG beat these 5 0 the season before.
Make no mistake, we get to 2 up by half time and those nights will flood back into the minds of the Barcelona players. If Anfield is bouncing and we hit them early this tie is far from over.
Roma beet them 3 vs 0. Roma got an away goal in a 4 vs 1 defeat and went through on the away goal.
I am livid with last night’s officiating. The ref was dire. They got freekicks for losing the ball. We could be fouled, dragged, ragged and anything else underhanded directly in front of the ref and nothing given… Not once but twice there was a ‘scissors’ challenge from behind that failed to win the ball but injured Liverpool players. The rule is a RED CARD for such an offence. The ref didn’t even speak to their players. One of these challenges resulted in Keita being stretchered off the pitch.
We should have had a pen. The free kick that Messi scored from was a free kick for what exactly??? For Messi deliberately running into the back of Fabinho.
The Ref should have just donned their kit and had done with it.
Rakatic should get a yellow at least for his challenge on Naby. I was frustrated with the ref at times but on reflection I think he let quite a bit go both ways.
Sorry Neil I cannot go quietly.
First off, those LFC twats, before the game, pushing people into the fountain and those dickheads filming it instead of helping them are an utter embarrassment for Liverpool and bad karma for the team before the match. Fucking cowards.
As for the match, remember:
WE ARE STILL AT HALF TIME!
In 2005 the Reds and Rafa had 15 minutes to figure out what to do in the next 45 minutes against one of the best teams in the world with a 0-3 deficit. Save for Gerrard and Alonso, we had a rag tag bunch to boot.
Now we have a whole week, a far better, cohesive team than 2005, and Anfield to help us.
Make no mistake about it, we DOMINATED the game in the first half, and played better even at the start of the 2nd half. Pinned Barca many times and they looked unsettled for the first time since Roma came back last year and knocked them out.
The team did everything but score and that’s something we got punished for it. Fine margins at this level.
Losing Keita early on created some problems, but still I was impressed that Barca could not string their passes together..
Mane, Milner and Salah missed sitters at the worst possible time. Any other day and we would be up 3-1.
Liverpool had 5 shots on goal vs Barca 4 shots on goal in 90 minutes.
They just had Messi. Without him it would be 0-1 or 3-0 to us.
Look what happened to Real Madrid getting knocked out by a young Ajax team. Ronaldo and Messi factor remains half the battle in any match with them.
Their first was well executed goal. Second goal was lucky for them. Third goal…Messi does what he has practiced 1000 times at Camp Nou.
However before the goal you don’t foul Messi in dangerous areas. Inexperienced Fabinho unfortunately didn’t get away with it this time. It’s okay, he’s inexperienced.
Lucky for us, Dembele missed and it wasn’t 4-0 — I will go out on a limb and say that it might haunt them in the second leg.
I felt the team overall showed too much respect especially to that arsehole Suarez. Should have kicked him and Rakitic a few more times.
As for the ref – it’s a given that no ref will have the balls to do anything to Barcelona or Madrid at their home grounds. So until Messi retires, play with that in mind and get on with it. Roma, Bayern, etc had to do it as well and they destroyed Barcelona when it mattered.
Impossible as it seems, just play the football we know, take the game to them, hope that they have our luck from Camp Nou and beat them at Anfield.
Lastly my vent is directed to our gaffer.
Klopp needs to fuck off with his romanticism and learn what Ruthlessness means. Fine margins separate us from the two titles we covet.
Shankly I believe built Liverpool on the notion that “If you are first you are first. If you are second you are nothing.“
To me that is Ruthlessness at it’s finest and most basic.
Example from Modern Football years:
SAF bought Van Persie and won the league didn’t he? You think SAF was waiting for his players to be in form or develop some local lad? No romantic ideals. He did not want City to pip him to the title again as long as he was at the helm.
Next season, go for players like Sane, Hazard, De Bruyne and pay the price. Why not? Chelsea came for Torres, Barca for Coutinho, City for Sterling.
These teams do it to us when we’re down, so turn it around on them instead of having Sturridge, Shaq, Origi on the bench who are barely used and have to throw in an unfit Firmino when it matters most with 10 minutes to go. Fine margins.
For now, take the positives from this match, practice finishing, and go to Newcastle and unleash hell till you have a dozen goals, never mind if we let in 11.
Sorry Rafa, but we really need to vent.
See you Saturday.
YNWA!
Fuck off with yer ”SAF” and saying Klopp lacks ruthlessness. Complete load of shite.
If he did we wouldn’t be where we are. Read what you just wrote above and have a word with yourself.
Up the mighty Reds!
@Yerbaldyead
It’s not complete load of shite. To get over the line it takes a lot more than romantic ideals to address those fine margins.
If you’re blind to your closest competitors or enemies and cannot learn from them, that’s your call.
To me, ruthlessness comes in different forms and is translated from the manager to the players on the field.
It comes in critical junctures in the game and in the progression and development of the team as a whole over seasons.
Perhaps my frustration got the better of me, last night, but I maintain that I want to see more of that ruthlessness you claim he has, more often than the romantic ideals.
Klopp has a bad habit of getting a job 99 % done.Similar to the Champs lge final the Reds lost a key player early.Shaq should of replaced Bob. Seven yrs without a trophy would be a very long stretch. 100 points to win the title next season.
@dave Exactly Dave. It’s shades of the CL final last year mate when we had that sorry looking bench and so the excuse was relevant.
Most telling for me was Gomez, who for all his abilities and brilliant display before injury, was thrown in against Jordi Alba and Barcelona, in a CL Semi-final. Credit to Klopp and Gomez for having balls, but use your fucking brain too.
When the experiment isn’t working don’t allow latency to creep in. Against Barca and at this level you get punished, lucky goal or not. They’re not waiting for Klopp’s substitutions.
TAA seemed a better choice at 0-1? Would he have not complimented what Robertson was doing to their defense on the other side by his attacking abilities?
We were playing away and forgot we just had to score. It could have been all guns blazing by the second half.
Even if we lost having scored, we would have set the tone for the return at Anfield.
Instead we beat ourselves 0-3 and allowed Barca to set the tone.
I still believe we can overcome this because it wasn’t some grand tactical game that Valverde played against us.
No doubt, this Barca team has ruthlessness ingrained in their DNA since Pep raised the bar, but they are vulnerable sine 2012, as Bayern, PSG and Roma have shown.
Yeah Klopp is a fraud… the bastard. Highest points tally ever in our history for Liverpool means nothing. Should sack the fella as he clearly hasn’t a clue. I mean getting to 3 finals and losing them all shows how useless he is. I mean what are we thinking about letting him stay at the helm when he has got us to 3 European Finals in 4 seasons… This man is clearly out of his depth.
Well said mate.
I did mean to say semi-finals… Maybe it was a Freudian slip, but hey if we make the 2019 UCL Final then I will say I meant that all along :D
I did mean to say semi-finals… Maybe it was a Freudian slip, but hey if we make the 2019 UCL Final then I will say I meant that all along :D
@J Where did I say he is a fraud? Or sack him? Or that he is out of his depth? Or about points tally?
Ruthlessness is what I referred to and if you took the time to read I highlighted every positive without inferring Klopp being sacked, etc.
Talk about putting word in your mouth.
I think you’re clearly out of your depth.
Look back at the highlights.
We were in the game, especially second half up until their second goal.
But then we got Messied-up.
The second is lucky, but they take it.
The third is, perhaps, unstoppable.
We need to be more efficient, ruthless, clinical, as soon as possible.
This team can be improved both in depth and in quality. We need a goalscorer. Dare I say it, a Suarez-like forward who is all about goals. Firmino was missed tonight.
But hey at Anfield if we can have a Roma night who knows.
We need to summon the spirit of Istanbul. We were three goals down at half-time. Down and bloodied.
Up these Reds. Wish the season was longer, love watching them. Been a blast.
The only match review you’ll ever read with references to not just Joni but also Busted. Great work as ever Atko.
I picked up on the Joni but missed the Busted and I can live with that quite easily.
” they played like an away side in front of 100,000 Catalans. They accepted that Liverpool were better ”
Exactly this, Neil! I’ve been watching footy (not just the Reds) for decades and i can tell you these Reds were brilliant last night. Only thing missing was the glorious chances not being converted. You can get away with that in the Premier League or against lesser teams in Europe, but against the very best of the business you have to be ruthless and our lads have learnt that lesson the hard way last night.
The result hurts, it saddens because there was so much more the Reds could have been rewearded with but we were unlucky. 3-0 deficit is indeed the biggest mountain to climb against Messi and co. But we got nothing to lose and Klopp will raise his boys one more time. If we go down, let’s go down fighting and bleeding!
On to Newcastle, there is still a League we are battling for!
We were indeed unlucky. we also had to contend with another bunch of shithouse officials.
I read this on Tomkins Times https://tomkinstimes.com/2019/05/luckless-liverpool-beaten-by-barcas-shithousery/
just for once I’d love it if we got the decisions we should have got. Imagine if one of our players had done a ‘scissors’ tackle from behind on Messi. You already know what would happen, the letter of the law would be applied. yet twice Barca players did it with not even a talking to.
For the return, yes we can beat them, but I also want to beat them black and blue. Leave them in such a state that if they get through that they have no players fit for the Final… and if UEFA complain then they only have themselves to balme for allowing Barca and Real to get away with this shit for years.
Said before the game I wasn’t happy with the ref and so it came to be. Every time they went down they were given a free kick, I remain convinced Messi jumped into Fabinho and not the other way round. Unfortunately in the UCL the dice always seems to be loaded in favour of the Spanish teams.
Two early goals next week and we are back in the mix, hopefully the crowd will be hostile. Be prepared for their players to be dropping like flies what’s the possibility of a good strong ref???
I would love a strong ref, one who really gives Barca a taste of what they should get.
When you consider Suarez studs up challenge that was not only late it was dangerous. He didn’t even get a yellow. He was off the ground flying in. We have seen players walk for less (Lazar Markovic and his hand flick for example). We then had TWO scissor tackles from behind. UEFA was supposed to be clamping down on this reckless challenge. Apparently not when it is Barca. We lost Naby Keita to the first of these challenges. As for the pen that wasn’t given. He had VAR so could have looked at this. It was a nailed on pen and only a Ref who was playing a blinder for Barca wouldn’t award this.
We have to play Barca at their own game next week and stir things up. Every time they do something, we should go down. Roll round holding faces etc. Harrang the officials on mass all game.
A few years back, it was Balotelli substituted at halftime after swapping shirts with Pepe. That was a 3-0 loss.
The result was the same, but there’s not enough miles in the world to measure the distance. Despite injuries and shithouse officiation, the Reds were excellence. When you get to this level of competition, excellence can go any number of ways. It didn’t go ours.
This changes nothing. The Reds were excellence. YNWA
Well said Walter. We were unlucky. That free kick for Messi 2nd was never a free kick. He deliberately jumped into Fabinho.
The officials are a disgrace.
Sash, whilst you did indeed not say this, what you are saying is he is not up to everything and basing it on a Shanks quote and making references to we have to win things to be consider class or ruthless.
I personally think Klopp is ruthless. You only have to speak to Zeljko Buvac or Mamadou Sakho to get an answer on just how ruthless.
What are you wanting exactly. he been at the Club just since October 2015. He inherited a mid table side that couldn’t score goals and was shipping them in at the opposite end. We weren’t any good and had a lot of players who weren’t good enough. He has now built a team, a young team that is still learning. He has invested wisely and is now starting to even build for the future.
You may have missed it, but we are up against a behemoth in Man City the likes of which have never been witnessed in our League before. Equally our League is the toughest around. Unlike Spain, Italy, France, Germany who have 1 or 2 teams monopolising everything, we have what is called the big 6 and make no mistake there’s about 6 below that who can hurt you.
Have a trawl through history. Teams going for the Premier League top place very rarely also have a successful CL run. We are doing both after being 25pts behind City last term.
As for you saying about not being ruthless. We stuck 3 past Bayern on their own ground. We have beaten PSG, Napoli, Porto and Bayern on route to playing Barca this year. Apparently all are in the top 10 of some European standings, so it is not like we are playing cannon fodder.
As for our front 3, they have scored something like 155 goals between them in just 2 seasons together… so yeah, they aren’t ruthless (wish I had an emoji to roll the eyes on here). these goals have been scored against Premier League opposition or in the Champions League. In fact even in the draw last year for the CL Qualifiers we drew Hoffiheim who came 3rd in the German Bundesliga the season before (so no mugs).
So whilst you say I am clearly out of my depth, how is this the case. You had a dig at Klopp based on what. the fact our forwards had an off night. This is the same forwards who have got us 28 wins this season in the PL, so they can’t be that bad.
So whilst you wish to see Klopp merely as some romantic, I see a World Class Manager who is still building a machine. One that is still developing. And I know he will continue to move on players and bring in upgrades to further develop the team.
Not sure where you are coming from, but Klopp has transformed us into something to be feared and make no mistake the tie with Barca is far from over.
So personally I think it was a poor statement and as such it why I was incredibly sarcastic with the reply.
Sometimes you have to accept that we have a very good team who are only going to get better and this is part of the learning process. Even Shanks had occasions in Europe when his teams were on the receiving end of a bad result. They learnt and it built the platform towards developing the truly great sides.
we are ruthless and things will come good. we were missing a key player last night and lost another (who was in very good form of late) within the first 20 mins. We are also still waiting on Ox’s full return and we are in truth still bedding in 3 signings to the Club who only joined this summer. Personally I think every is a bit more than romantic, it smells and looks to me like a ruthlessly thought out plan.
Not many match reporters would find the perfect Joni Mitchel quote. This is why I could drink a case of you, Neil.
Enjoy reading your reviews, but why do you call a match an ‘enterprise’?
@Dave – What you put “Klopp has a bad habit of getting a job 99 % done.Similar to the Champs lge final the Reds lost a key player early.Shaq should of replaced Bob. Seven yrs without a trophy would be a very long stretch. 100 points to win the title next season.”
Find what you put is bizarre. So your answer for Klopp getting us the the CL Final last year and us losing a key player (three if you count Ox and Can during the season) is he can only get the job 99% done. It may have escaped your notice that our goalie got elbowed in the head by the same player who injured Salah in the same game. Yeah we could field Emre can towards the end who was coming back from injury, but we were limited with what was available.
As for Shaq and putting him on in place of Henderson. How do you know it would have made a difference??? You don’t. i felt personally, looking at what we watched that we played very well and created a lot of chances and were unlucky on the night. Same as in the 2018 in the final, we suffered some bad luck and we learnt from it, hence the purchase of Alisson and Fabinho.
As for the 7 years without a trophy, this isn’t Klopp fault. He has taken us to 3 finals, losing one on pens. he also taken us to 3 European Semi-Finals in 4 years. Name how many other managers have done this in less than 4 full seasons at a Club, one that hasn’t the budget of Real, Barca, Man City, PSG, Bayern, Man Utd, Chelsea to name a few.
Think you need to take a dose of reality. Klopp inherited a mid table team that was cack in Europe, was conceding goals for fun and struggling to score at the opposite end. he has now turned us round into achieving the highest points total ever by any Liverpool team ever in our history. This isn’t nearly stuff. No one else is competing with City and Pep in our League, it would appear it is only us.
So given how you feel Shaq is all that, then who do you feel is better suited to managing us, seeing as Klopp (who has won things) is not in your view???
@Sash in reply to Dave’s comments you put, “@dave Exactly Dave. It’s shades of the CL final last year mate when we had that sorry looking bench and so the excuse was relevant.
Most telling for me was Gomez, who for all his abilities and brilliant display before injury, was thrown in against Jordi Alba and Barcelona, in a CL Semi-final. Credit to Klopp and Gomez for having balls, but use your fucking brain too.
When the experiment isn’t working don’t allow latency to creep in. Against Barca and at this level you get punished, lucky goal or not. They’re not waiting for Klopp’s substitutions.
TAA seemed a better choice at 0-1? Would he have not complimented what Robertson was doing to their defense on the other side by his attacking abilities?
We were playing away and forgot we just had to score. It could have been all guns blazing by the second half.
Even if we lost having scored, we would have set the tone for the return at Anfield.
Instead we beat ourselves 0-3 and allowed Barca to set the tone.
I still believe we can overcome this because it wasn’t some grand tactical game that Valverde played against us.
No doubt, this Barca team has ruthlessness ingrained in their DNA since Pep raised the bar, but they are vulnerable sine 2012, as Bayern, PSG and Roma have shown.
—————
Please can I say Sash, you opening statement says it all… Exactly Dave. It’s shades of the CL final last year mate when we had that sorry looking bench and so the excuse was relevant. – WHAT???
So come on then Sash, explain this one eh? How do you resolve it then eh? I really have to hear this then? What imaginary scenarios do you conjure up then. This is not some computer game, such as Football Manager were you put the cheat edit on and have unlimited resources. He is given some funds, he has some players… most of which were mid-table players playing cack in Europe until he came along. Now if we don’t want them then it doesn’t mean that all and sundry will take them off our hands… FFS we did well to get £30m back on Benteke and we invested that wisely on Mane.
Klopp up to the CL final in 2018 had just 5 transfer windows to turn us around. he brought in the likes of Salah, Mane, VvD, Robertson, Gini, OX, he also lost Countinho and re-invested that this year in Keita, Fabinho and Alisson. however obviously you feel you could have done better. Obviously you feel that there a whole host of other managers who could do better.
FFS, we were 40-1 outsiders for the CL in 2018 and we played some decent Clubs along the way and were down to the bare bones by the CL Final. we also managed to get there and re-qualify for this year. More than Arsenal did or Chelsea (perhaps you missed it but both had squads more expensive than us). We also didn’t finish that far behind Mourinho’s Utd who were twice as expensive as us.
It’s fecking great fun this manager stuff. a freaking doddle.
So come on Sash, you must have all the answers, let’s hear them?
@Sash, I am still struggling with what you have put. Seems you are blaming Gomez for the goal? From what I saw we had a dominant display and could easily have scored 4 goals ourselves. We took the game to Barca and for long periods Jordi Alba was having to contend with keeping us contained.
I can’t accept what you have written. TAA in the last few games has been tested by a variety of players who had him on toast. He looked a little bit jaded. Not surprising given the season he has had. Likewise Andy’s delivery on Wednesday weren’t his best.
I didn’t see a Barca team setting the tone. I saw a couple of moments were they got some fortunate breaks. VvD is as culpable for the first goal, as i felt he had to go with Suarez. Equally Henderson could have closed down Coutinho for the ball to Alba.
The only tone I truly saw was us playing footy and on any other night we would have done to these what we did to Porto, Roma, Bayern and a few others such as City.
As for Real Madrid last year, at 2 vs 1 we hit the post. This is a 2 vs 1 down were our keeper was twatted in the head by Ramos (and Ramos should have been sent off for that offence) and moments later he threw the ball into our net. We then equalise and Bale scored a wonder goal that even if he tried it about 100 times more since he wouldn’t pull it off. It was a worldy. Shit all you can do about that.
Finally I love how you discuss PSG, Bayern and Roma… How far have all these got in the CL in the last 2 years and equally which team (making this one easy for you here Sash as its a common denominator) have beaten all 3 you have listed? Yeah they must have something in their DNA that we lack.
We lost – still never has a team given me more pleasure.