Is the international break going to help us though? Virtually all our players will be away playing in meaningless friendlies.
Liverpool v Manchester City Post Match
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Pissed off? We're joint first with the best start ever to a league campaign. Why on earth should anyone be pissed off.
Whatever is going on isn't being fixed at melwood. Change of scenery can't hurt. Might be less intense. Think it's a good time for a break
I reckon they'll all come back even more tired than what they were.
Unless they all call off sick.
You seem to forget that we are 25 points behind City still...
27 now!
No wonder people are pissed...
Because there is zero chance that CM will keep us there all season. Nobody will remember who was top in Oct only who’s top in May and Keita was promised to be a superstar straight out the gate.
I'm almost positive we're Everton the way some fans are acting like the sky is falling.
Its all very weird.
That would assume that Keita and Fabinho wont improve over the next few months or as the season progresses. Which is a very weird attitude to have given our other signings and how they have integrated to the team these last few years.
Who exactly promised Keita would be a superstar straight out of the gate?
I sure as hell don't remember anyone saying that.
I blame you:
"Keita will be the best midfielder in the league though, even with a couple of suspensions thrown in.
He's a fucking superstar in the making, fuck, he runs & moves with the ball stuck to his foot like it's glued on. Only real superstar players can ever do that."
Ha! Fair enough, although tbf, at no point did I give a timescale or suggest he'd be an immediate star.
Fuck, even Suarez took a fair few games to properly settle in & he was an example of a foreign player who bedded in extremely quickly.
RAAAAAATTTINNNNNNNGS, anyone? OK.
There's been a lot of chat about expectations and overreactions and whining about this and that, and yes, if you look at the table, it makes for lovely reading: 8 games played, 20 points, zero defeats. That's a wonderful start. And even better, look at the Goals Against! Only three goals conceded, which is the best defensive record of any team, and much of that credit goes to the new goalkeeper and Virgil.
Although.....we've also scored the lowest amount of goals of any team in the Top 6, and yesterday was the fourth game on the bounce without a win. And even before the downturn in results, most people accepted we hadn't actually played that well, and seemed to be less fluent, dangerous and effective in attack.
The chorus of "winning when not playing well" being important and the mark of champions and all that shit, is cool and all that, but as I said weeks ago, eventually you are going to start not winning if you carry on not playing well. So here we are.
I've touched on my issue with the midfield and yesterday didn't change that view, but we still have - hopefully - Fabinho and Keita to eventually show their quality, but the lack of options in attack is worrying - obviously the likelihood of Salah and Firmino being able to repeat the heroics of last season was almost zero, and this has left us looking vulnerable. That, allied with the failure to land Fekir, or a player like him, is looking potentially costly.
Allison (6) Did well enough, made a couple of regulation saves, but wasn't that busy. Some less than impressive distribution though.
Gomez (6) Surprise choice at RB, and that woeful early headwobble when he passed to Aguero who got fouled by Lovren made it look questionable, but he was solid after that. Didn't attack as much as TAA would have, but used that pace and power well when he had to.
Lovren (7) Could have given away a penalty as he gave Anfield the collective jitters - as usual - but he was very impressive in the second half and one tackle on Jesus was a real bone-shaker. Still shouldn't be our other first-choice CB though. He was playing RB.
Virgil (7) A sleek, stealth fighter of a footballer, gliding around the pitch raining destruction down upon the enemy, Virgil was again majestic. So why 7? Because he gave away a stupid penalty, that's why.
Robertson (6) Bit of an improvement after a couple of very ordinary accounts, he was given a tough afternoon by Mahrez, and also Keita, who passed him right into trouble. One or two good moments in attack, but still not anywhere near his best.
Milner (5) Not really fair to rate him after 28 minutes, but he was ordinary when on the pitch.
Wijnaldum (7) Started like a train, and looked to be dictating things from a central position, but was soon subdued by the movement and passing of Silva x 2. Effective in spurts, but never stopped working
Henderson (7) This was better from Henderson, who gave his more usual 7 out of 10 display here. Busy and tenacious, he was everywhere at times, but as ever, his short passing game is a bit ragged when he's looking forward, and he reverts back to long, looping efforts that are too easy to defend if they aren't 100% accurate.
Salah (5) Can't fault his effort, and he was always ready to take possession and attack, but his decision-making, control and shot selection are all on the blink, which is partly form, and partly the fact that he's almost always surrounded, and hasn't got anyone running beyond or in front of him.
Mane (4) Couldn't get his game going at all, and got no joy out of Walker. Sloppy in possession and looked tired.
Firmino (4) Hasn't scored for 5 games and didn't look likely to do so. Plodded around ineffectually and on the fringes of the action.
Subs:
Keita (4) Scampered about and did fuck all, apart from give the ball away.
There's been a lot of chat about expectations and overreactions and whining about this and that, and yes, if you look at the table, it makes for lovely reading: 8 games played, 20 points, zero defeats. That's a wonderful start. And even better, look at the Goals Against! Only three goals conceded, which is the best defensive record of any team, and much of that credit goes to the new goalkeeper and Virgil.
Although.....we've also scored the lowest amount of goals of any team in the Top 6, and yesterday was the fourth game on the bounce without a win. And even before the downturn in results, most people accepted we hadn't actually played that well, and seemed to be less fluent, dangerous and effective in attack.
The chorus of "winning when not playing well" being important and the mark of champions and all that shit, is cool and all that, but as I said weeks ago, eventually you are going to start not winning if you carry on not playing well. So here we are.
I've touched on my issue with the midfield and yesterday didn't change that view, but we still have - hopefully - Fabinho and Keita to eventually show their quality, but the lack of options in attack is worrying - obviously the likelihood of Salah and Firmino being able to repeat the heroics of last season was almost zero, and this has left us looking vulnerable. That, allied with the failure to land Fekir, or a player like him, is looking potentially costly.
Allison (6) Did well enough, made a couple of regulation saves, but wasn't that busy. Some less than impressive distribution though.
Gomez (6) Surprise choice at RB, and that woeful early headwobble when he passed to Aguero who got fouled by Lovren made it look questionable, but he was solid after that. Didn't attack as much as TAA would have, but used that pace and power well when he had to.
Lovren (7) Could have given away a penalty as he gave Anfield the collective jitters - as usual - but he was very impressive in the second half and one tackle on Jesus was a real bone-shaker. Still shouldn't be our other first-choice CB though. He was playing RB.
Virgil (7) A sleek, stealth fighter of a footballer, gliding around the pitch raining destruction down upon the enemy, Virgil was again majestic. So why 7? Because he gave away a stupid penalty, that's why.
Robertson (6) Bit of an improvement after a couple of very ordinary accounts, he was given a tough afternoon by Mahrez, and also Keita, who passed him right into trouble. One or two good moments in attack, but still not anywhere near his best.
Milner (5) Not really fair to rate him after 28 minutes, but he was ordinary when on the pitch.
Wijnaldum (7) Started like a train, and looked to be dictating things from a central position, but was soon subdued by the movement and passing of Silva x 2. Effective in spurts, but never stopped working
Henderson (7) This was better from Henderson, who gave his more usual 7 out of 10 display here. Busy and tenacious, he was everywhere at times, but as ever, his short passing game is a bit ragged when he's looking forward, and he reverts back to long, looping efforts that are too easy to defend if they aren't 100% accurate.
Salah (5) Can't fault his effort, and he was always ready to take possession and attack, but his decision-making, control and shot selection are all on the blink, which is partly form, and partly the fact that he's almost always surrounded, and hasn't got anyone running beyond or in front of him.
Mane (4) Couldn't get his game going at all, and got no joy out of Walker. Sloppy in possession and looked tired.
Firmino (4) Hasn't scored for 5 games and didn't look likely to do so. Plodded around ineffectually and on the fringes of the action.
Subs:
Keita (4) Scampered about and did fuck all, apart from give the ball away.
True, but the sheer level of frenzied hyperbole in that post would be even more ridiculous if you'd caveated it with: "but he'll probably be shit for the first few months"
Even if that would have made it more accurate.
I can't recall seeing him play much, if at all, but I thought he'd be great straight away (probably, I can't remember). Either way, he's been shit so far.
Ha. I know, I was there (Mark Mc's seat if I recall correctly). Like I said, he settled in extremely quickly compared to most, but he was still nowhere near his best for a few games.
Most players take an age to settle in, so I have no qualms about expecting big things from keita once he does.
Hopefully that'll be in January, February time when he hits his peak, which will help offset the slump most teams suffer at the time of the season.
5-0
5-0
Just to shut us all up please
5-0
Just to shut us all up please
And two easy CL games as well...
You were watching a different game to me... up front Salah was our best of the three... defensively apart from one soft pen we played pretty well.
I’ve heard a few pundits say we deserved to lose but that looked like a nil nil to me...
Salah was deffo the least shit of our front three, yeah.
You've got to consider all things with us at the minute. No doubt loads of people have said it already in this thread, but I want to echo their sentiments.
8 games 20 points, joint top and unbeaten. We've already played Spurs and Chelsea away, City at home, and have come out relatively unscathed. And that's despite not really playing well for much of the campaign so far.
We have the entire front 3 yet to find their feet, Fabinho and Keita to bed in. We SHOULD only get better, especially given Klopp and this team's track record.
Well chuffed with how it's going so far. Especially given that we could've been staring at a painful defeat yesterday.
Cautiously optimistic thus far.
8 games 20 points, joint top and unbeaten. We've already played Spurs and Chelsea away, City at home, and have come out relatively unscathed. And that's despite not really playing well for much of the campaign so far.
We have the entire front 3 yet to find their feet, Fabinho and Keita to bed in. We SHOULD only get better, especially given Klopp and this team's track record.
Well chuffed with how it's going so far. Especially given that we could've been staring at a painful defeat yesterday.
Cautiously optimistic thus far.
You would hope so wouldn’t you after the money invested in them.
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