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Chelsea v Liverpool - Match Thread

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I'd also say that even though Bobby still has some sublime moments ... they are few and far between now and it's time to either move him on or bench him for Jota.

The trouble with Bobby is that all the woes stems from that shredded you mentions
 
Michael Owen saying that Mane doesnt go down in these penalty situations because he doesnt want Salah to score the penalties.

Fucking hell. I’m mean fucking hell. How stupid can you get.
 
The most interesting moment in last nights game was when Jones bursts through the middle into space 20 yards out and Salah finds him on the edge of the box with a great pass only for Jones to miscontrol and it runs away from him. Not because he miscontroled but because I can't really remember another midfielder breaking beyond the front 3 in recent memory.

The gap is through the middle, teams are vacating that space against us because they have analysis of a million hours of footage telling them our nominal no9 will vacate that space and drop.

If the defensive system to stop Salah/Mané cutting inside is to let Firmino drop off and not follow him thereby allowing the defenders to double up on Salah/Mané then the logical counter is to have the midfield push forward and overload the pace Firmino has dropped out of.
I know that middle is the biggest pussy hole in the world, but our players cannot penetrate it hard cos they are small dicks.
 
Michael Owen saying that Mane doesnt go down in these penalty situations because he doesnt want Salah to score the penalties.

Fucking hell. I’m mean fucking hell. How stupid can you get.
Come on, you can't see through that? If Salah doesn't give the ball to Mane when Mane is in good position, why would Mane go down if the designated penalty taker is Salah. I am sure Klopp and his technical guys knows this.
 
Michael Owen saying that Mane doesnt go down in these penalty situations because he doesnt want Salah to score the penalties.

Fucking hell. I’m mean fucking hell. How stupid can you get.
Michael Owen does talk some shit
 
Right as promised - I think there are variations in our attack but I tell you what I have noticed regarding what you have said in your last paragraph:

  • I don't know if it is because Salah is crowded out but I tend to find that he is not really that great by himself on the wings in terms of dribbling past players with sufficient power and pace like some of the wingers in the league. As soon as he is trapped he has to pass the ball backwards, and actually he gets a lot of support from TAA for forward movement. Consider for a moment someone like Leroy Sane - he would run at you with great pace and was a powerhouse at it, regardless of how crowded out he was. Salah is not that sort, and I think the opposition has caught onto the fact that he can be contained easily. But again - what do you say to someone who consistently scores for you ?
  • The players operating in the CM role rarely ever make direct runs into that central space - and the forward movement is very rare it is always passing to the wings; but I thought we showed the ability to do that against Shef.United the other day. So we can do it but the passing has to be faster.
  • Yesterday it seems that forward options were very limited - players are not making the runs into space in a forward direction in the central areas for someone like Thiago to pick a pass which he is more than capable of doing.
  • With yesterday's game - I actually thought Jones had a big game, he like the others was not passing progressively in certain moments where he could have passed forward.
At the moment we are retaining possession at the expense of being too predictable and slow in our attacking movement. If players do not run into those spaces while the opposition is out of shape at the back then we can expect more of the same shit.

In my view - we have reached a state where we have screwed things up so much this season - I think Klopp should now just play Kabak with either Phlips/Davies at the back, put Fab in midfield as the holding guy, and then play Naby and Jones in midfield. I think the front three should be changed to the point where one of Mane/Bobby has to rotate with Jota. Accept that we will concede goals but give back the dynamism in midfield by playing two willing forward thinking / dribblers / creative types.
We are failing to take control of the middle, we need to dominate the centre - that has been our main setback. Klopp has to find ways to do this in the summer. Salah plays on the right as opposed to Leroy Sane playing on the left and running at defenders, Leroy would cross by the goal line which is fine when you have somebody like Aguero or Jesus in the box. Salah and Mane are suppose to cut in and take a shot to the far end of the goal, the fact is teams are expecting this move that's when defenders double on them and the attack fizzles out. Andy Robertson is suppose to do the Leroy run once or twice in a game, fly pass the defender and cross but often times this season he holds the ball and ends up passing the ball back - cant tell whether its due to physical burn out, lack of hunger to win or lack of confidence in his fellow defenders to cover for him.
 
Michael Owen saying that Mane doesnt go down in these penalty situations because he doesnt want Salah to score the penalties.

Fucking hell. I’m mean fucking hell. How stupid can you get.

That tells you more about Owen than it does Mané

All we need now is the obligatory twitter rumour that Salah was caught snagging Manés wife
 
You know what worries me Froggy?
This season is a 'write off' is going to destroy our summer plans ... because our owners are net-spend kings, and without selling one of our big names, we'll be looking for a few smaller signings unless someone stumps up what we think Origi (LOL), Shaq etc are worth.
The damage this 'write off' season may do is huge, and that's me thinking this with Klopp staying ... This is no guarantee he is able or willing to carry on when this season actually ends (he can't wave a white flag now).

Though I agree, losing our 3 CBs has been the biggest issue ... I also think our lack of flexibility is hurting us big time - and I just hope as the squad starts to be rebuilt next year (as I want Klopp here to do it) that we entertain changing things around in light of our inability to do anything in the attacking third for months.
I'm not so sure that's true mate. With Nike on board they'll want to see us back up there pronto and it may even enhance our chances of winning the PL. As for Klopp, he doesn't walk out on contracts and his affinity with the club will, IMHO, see him through this dip.

Others here seem to think there is a wholesale requirement for team regeneration this Summer, I'm with Klopp though I don't see it. I went through this listing all the players ages and prime ages for their positions and we are 1-2 years off that. There's no sign of Mo & Mane, the two closest to slipping out of prime, being in decline, a dip in form doesn't indicate that (it's only really the last 10 games or so and there are mitigating circumstances all over the pitch).

Many just don't seem to be accounting for the gross toll of injuries, lack of pre-season, no crowds, covid, family loss etc. etc. on the team. I guess that's from growing frustration and now just lashing out .. but it doesn't mean those factors grow any less pertinent as the season rumbles on.
The number of player games lost to injuries this season is simply shocking when compared to other teams : Leicester the second highest with 102 compared to our 204 and City, United, Chelsea way down in double digits.
 
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Why do people think having Nike as a shirt spnsor will have any direct impact on transfers and finances? Nike currently make Chelsea and Spurs shirts too, they aren't in the business of handing out money to boost one club over another, that would dumb of them. They also work with PSG, Barca, Inter and Athletico, have they ever funded any of their major transfers?
 
Opta posted that we havent scored from our last 99 attempts on goal at home.
The record is 114 in the PL, set by Pompey.
Considering we have supposedly the best trio attack in world football that’s insane.
 
Michael Owen does talk some shit

Yes he does, but I genuinely think that Michael has a point, but not related to the point that Owen is making with Mane not going down, he probably does not go down because no ref ever gives him anything when he is fouled outside the box so why would they even give him anything inside the box ? I think this season alone we have had opposition teams that have scored 2 goals against us after fouling Mane in the build up which was completely ignored by the refs.

Anyway - I do believe there is something to this - the body language between the two is not right, Salah I think has earned the right to be selfish but Mane has not - especially this season. There was a great bond between the two in the season we reached the CL final against R.Madrid, but that has deteriorated over the last two seasons. I think there is a slight arrogant belief in Mane where he thinks he does all the hard work and therefore backs himself to be as good as Salah at scoring but he is not - even though I think Mane on his day is more useful to our attacking play than Salah. There is an undeniable degree of greed and hunger in Salah to score and get the golden boot, - but when you are the guy who has scored the most PL goals in a season (like ever) - then I think your team mates have to respect that to some degree.

I wish these two could get back to the relationship they built in that CL final losing season. Too much African rivalry has got in the way.
 
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