The Liverpool Thread

[Scouseinthehouse]

I think Lovren was very average today.....

He was very average. Just his average along with Ibe, who was also very average being as he lacked any end product, was better than anything else we had out there.

Which is kind of disturbing when you sit and think about it in isolation.

 

[Tezzz]

I think Lovren was very average today. I've seen a lot of praise come his way after the game, but I honestly don't understand that at all.

The problem is that he's had so many ****** performances that when he does okay, people are impressed. What the **** is up with that? Are we supposed to expect him to **** up and count ourselves lucky when he doesn't? He did no more than you'd expect from a £20m defender. In fact, he missed two great chances and also completely failed when trying to close down a Newcastle player which ended up with Skrtel in a 1 on 1.

He was absolutely average. Nothing horrible, nothing great. If this is to be considered a great performance from a £20m defender, I'd say we need a £60m defender.

Absolutely spot on mate. And the same can be said for Mignolet. He makes a couple of saves in a game and all of a sudden he's brilliant?!

 

[mersk]

He was very average. Just his average along with Ibe, who was also very average being as he lacked any end product, was better than anything else we had out there.

Which is kind of disturbing when you sit and think about it in isolation.

I actually think Ibe was our best today. He was a constant threat down the right-hand side with his direct running, and could very well have gotten an assist or two if we had people in the box. Especially that one low pass into the box could've been dangerous if someone had arrived late, something Lallana probably would've. He also cut nicely inside from the left with a decent shot. No end product maybe, but it was not for a lack of trying. The only thing I can criticize him for today was that he should've challenged the left back even more, as he clearly had problems coping with him.

 

[sunilvk7]

Squawka Football
✔@Squawka

Points gap between Liverpool and 1st when Jürgen Klopp took charge = 6.Points gap between Liverpool and 1st right now = 9.
11:24 PM - 6 Dec 2015

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[mersk]

Squawka Football
✔@Squawka

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Yeah dropping points usually means you... drop points.

Besides, we won our 2 first games this season. So "Points gap between Liverpool and 1st after Brendan's 2 first PL matches this season = 0. Points gap between Liverpool and 1st right now = 9".

What does that tell us? That's right; absolutely nothing. If you wanna use statistics, use it as empirical data to back up an argument. Just throwing out random statistics on their own is meaningless.

 

[sunilvk7]

Yeah dropping points usually means you... drop points.

Besides, we won our 2 first games this season. So "Points gap between Liverpool and 1st after Brendan's 2 first PL matches this season = 0. Points gap between Liverpool and 1st right now = 9".

What does that tell us? That's right; absolutely nothing. If you wanna use statistics, use it as empirical data to back up an argument. Just throwing out random statistics on their own is meaningless.

Calm down. Since this thread loves stats like first manager since Shankly not to lose in first 5 games and all the bs, I just posted that.

 

[mersk]

Calm down. Since this thread loves stats like first manager since Shankly not to lose in first 5 games and all the bs, I just posted that.

I'm perfectly calm, I just replied. Also, referring to this thread as a hivemind isn't very constructive.

 

[Tezzz]

Calm down. Since this thread loves stats like first manager since Shankly not to lose in first 5 games and all the bs, I just posted that.

We all know your motive behind the post mate.

Points in Europa
Rodgers 2 (2 games)
Klopp 7 (3 games)

That is an average of 1 point per game for Rodgers and an average of 2.3 points per game for Klopp. If you look closely you'll see no one gives a **** because Liverpool are clearly playing better under Klopp than they were under Rodgers.

I'll be sure to pop into the United thread next time a United stat is "trending" showing that Moyes got a higher points per game ratio than Van Gaal has.

 

[sunilvk7]

I'll be sure to pop into the United thread next time a United stat is "trending" showing that Moyes got a higher points per game ratio than Van Gaal has.

Please do, If you are looking for point then use goals scored argument as Van Gaal is ******* average manager for United. Maybe I will join you there

 

[Scouseinthehouse]

LIVERPOOL: DON'T STOP DREAMING BECAUSE OF NEWCASTLE NIGHTMARE - The Anfield WrapThe Anfield Wrap

Excellently written article that encapsulates a lot of what we've forgotten about what being a football fan should be all about.

We're right in the mix and we've as good a chance as anyone else. Where this ultimately winds up time will tell. But one ***** performance doesn't stop the belief.

Need another reaction ala after Palace. Doubt he ever again plays Allen, Lucas and Milner in the same midfield like haha.

 

[Aannddyy]

Absolutely spot on mate. And the same can be said for Mignolet. He makes a couple of saves in a game and all of a sudden he's brilliant?!

Criticising somebody who played pretty well is just so bitter. He put a shift in, didn't score an own goal and for the first time in a long time looked like a solid PL defender. However, players like Milner, Firminho & Benteke were awful, why not criticise their performances?

Klopp was very naivé with his selection.. We don't have the squad depth to just swap 5 or 6 players out after every game. Origi/ Sturridge and Lallana should have started. Simple as that.

 

[Scouseinthehouse]

Criticising somebody who played pretty well is just so bitter. He put a shift in, didn't score an own goal and for the first time in a long time looked like a solid PL defender. However, players like Milner, Firminho & Benteke were awful, why not criticise their performances?

Klopp was very naivé with his selection.. We don't have the squad depth to just swap 5 or 6 players out after every game. Origi/ Sturridge and Lallana should have started. Simple as that.

Completely agree with you on Lovren, but I didn't actually mind the starting XI before the game yesterday. I thought the front three of Ibe and Firmino interchanging with Benteke would compensate for a more compact midfield. Only Lallana not being in there concerned me. But then I never accounted for Benteke and Firmino being so **** poor and in Firmino's case, looking completely disinterested. He's done very well in his rotating to date but yesterday the lineup turned out to be wrong and the performance just spiralled from there.

Lesson learnt. Doubt he makes the same mistake again in that personnel.

 

[LFCMarshall]

Completely agree with you on Lovren, but I didn't actually mind the starting XI before the game yesterday. I thought the front three of Ibe and Firmino interchanging with Benteke would compensate for a more compact midfield. Only Lallana not being in there concerned me. But then I never accounted for Benteke and Firmino being so **** poor and in Firmino's case, looking completely disinterested. He's done very well in his rotating to date but yesterday the lineup turned out to be wrong and the performance just spiralled from there.

Lesson learnt. Doubt he makes the same mistake again in that personnel.

It was simply the midfield three that contributed most to losing us that game.

Milner, Allen and Lucas whilst solid and usually dependable offer near enough nothing going forward, particularly the latter two. Benteke and Firmino were very poor, but they also had little to no help from the deeper midfielders.

It is something the likes of Henderson or Can would have gave us - to actually support the attacks rather than sit and watch

Considering the fixtures it has been a very decent start but yesterday was the first mistake in selection for Klopp, but that was bound to happen at some point

 

[PatrickLFC]

Firmino certainly had a poor game but he's a playmaker, he needs a more mobile striker making runs into space for him rather than standing in the space he wants. Lallana when he came on was able to play a couple of great through balls because he had Sturridge making the runs for him. There was an excellent article on TIA recently about Benteke, how he's a great reactive striker but not as good at anticipating

Christian Benteke showing how Liverpool can get best of him...and his limitations - This Is Anfield

Even if you don't read the full article, there's a 5 second clip halfway down that shows him making a poor run which ends up closing down our attacking move

 

[Tezzz]

Criticising somebody who played pretty well is just so bitter. He put a shift in, didn't score an own goal and for the first time in a long time looked like a solid PL defender. However, players like Milner, Firminho & Benteke were awful, why not criticise their performances?

If you think he looked like a solid PL defender than you don't watch very much PL football. He continously gave the ball away with what should have been simple headers, simple passes, and even put Mignolet under press at one point with an awkward pass that would've went straight into the goal if Mignolet had left it. Lovren couldn't win the ball of a disabled kid in a wheelchair.

The fact your happy he didn't score an own goal just shows the level of standard he has set for people to think he has had a good game!

 

[Aannddyy]

If you think he looked like a solid PL defender than you don't watch very much PL football. He continously gave the ball away with what should have been simple headers, simple passes, and even put Mignolet under press at one point with an awkward pass that would've went straight into the goal if Mignolet had left it. Lovren couldn't win the ball of a disabled kid in a wheelchair.

The fact your happy he didn't score an own goal just shows the level of standard he has set for people to think he has had a good game!

I still think he's utter ****, just didn't think he was that bad during this game and that you're being harsh singling him out when there were far worse performers on the pitch.

 

[Scouseinthehouse]

I still think he's utter ****, just didn't think he was that bad during this game and that you're being harsh singling him out when there were far worse performers on the pitch.

Allen, Lovren, Mingolet and now Milner.

There's not much they can do to turn the majority opinion on them after how bad they were under Rodgers. Just is what it is.

Lovren's been the most improved of that quartet to me under Klopp, By no means great. But he last 3 or 4 games he's been forced to start he's at least looked solid. Which is all you need in a centre back. When he doesn't think he can play football and just defends than he's at least passible. The biggest and most pleasing difference is you're no longer worried seeing his name on the team sheet alongside Skrtel. Can certainly see him staying as a back-up. Allen's looked better. By no means good enough to be here beyond this year. But at least better to fill in when needed year 1. Mingler's beyond hope so we won't even bother getting into that, And Milner, as critical as I've been of him, at least gives you everything he has and his versatility to play most anywhere and be competent, if unspectacular, doing it will be a useful piece to have this year until we can strengthen.

 

[mersk]

Criticising somebody who played pretty well is just so bitter. He put a shift in, didn't score an own goal and for the first time in a long time looked like a solid PL defender. However, players like Milner, Firminho & Benteke were awful, why not criticise their performances?

Because nobody was praising them after the game. But Lovren received lots of praise (just look at the post match thread on reddit as an example) which to me was not justified considering he had a very average game. So it's not so much Lovren himself I'm criticising, but the people praising him. It's not supposed to be that black and white - either he's poor or he's fantastic - it's actually possible to be average. And he was just that.

 

[Scouseinthehouse]

FA Cup draw the turn of the hour.

Give me any of:

7 Brentford
27 Milton Keynes Dons
46 Newport County
49 Eastleigh
50 Northampton Town
53 Grimsby Town or Shrewsbury Town
57 Leyton Orient or Scunthorpe United
58 Wycombe Wanderers
59 Colchester United
60 Chesterfield or Walsall
62 Salford City or Hartlepool United
63 Dagenham & Redbridge or Whitehawk
64 Oxford United

for a new ground please. Or if not, someone ***** at home.

 

[Scouseinthehouse]

Ugh. Exeter City away. Been there the League Cup a few years ago.

Easy passage through like but very uninspiring.