Man that one smarts. We didn’t deserve to win overall. But we defo didn’t deserve to lose. Losing to them. In that self-inflicted manner. That one
REALLY smarts.
Yesterdays admin-
Title Defence Countdown:
11 wins down/ 13 to go. (Adjusted from pre-season target of 27 wins.).
39 points down/ 39 to go. (Adjusted from pre-season target of 89 points.).
The first half is a horribly dull affair. L’pool are frustratingly passive. City have all the possession but are totally sterile and toothless with it. Liverpool up the tempo second-half and deservedly take the lead. They should be out of sight by this point given the glaring chances missed. When City equalise, despite riding their luck for the majority of the second-half through which L’pool should have buried them, they deserve to be level. Down to L’pool becoming frustratingly passive again encouraging City on. L’pool then proceed to self-inflictingly throw the game away when the goalkeeper completely loses his head. Which had been a thing with him all second-half. The City ‘keeper then makes one of the finest saves you’ll ever see to deny L’pool what would have been a fair draw. And the game is rounded out by more absolute madness from the goalie. That costs the Reds arguably their best player this season this coming Wednesday night when the officials fail to use an ounce of common sense and understanding of the actual game.
A proper frustrating game that encapsulates a proper frustrating season. Good, bad and utterly ridiculous through the 90 mins. Some of it on the manager. Some of it not. Some of it on the players. Some of it not. But a season where every little thing that could go wrong, out of our control, has.
Let’s start with Arne. As he’s on-line Public Enemy #1-
The manager can’t legislate for his goalkeeper losing his head. He was very lucky he didn’t take Marmoush out earlier in the second-half. His bizarre, ridiculous decision to fly out like that on a player going nowhere the penalty was bad enough and ultimately cost us the game. Just what the heck he was doing spending most all injury-time in their half, which cost us big Dom through that farce, only he could tell you?

The manager can’t legislate for players missing glorious chance after glorious chance. Nor can he legislate for terrible officiating that saw Guehi somehow stay on. Whilst Dom now sits a game for little different. Except his denial of a goal scoring opportunity comes when the ball is in the actual bleeping net! Not sure how much more clear an opportunity you can have than actually scoring!!!!!
And he can’t be blamed for the natural thing most teams do, not least when two top sides play each other, and not least when one has been struggling all year like we have, to drop back and defend a late lead. Something we’ve had to change the style of play to stem the bad run of Autumn losses and have got used to doing. It was frustrating and annoying as all heck. But that’s not a tactical thing per se to drop off again. It’s a natural mentality thing if you add the context of everything. Just where we are this year.
What he can do is be far better in his substitutions. As limited as they are. The gulf of Guardiola’s riches to bring on compared to Arne’s realistic 2/3 players was massive. Reijnders, Foden and Gonzalez alone don’t even come on! We end up, game in, game out, with goosed players after 80 or so minutes having to play all the time. Who continually come up short in injury time down to a combination of having very little option to change and rotate. And them having a truncated pre-season down to tragedy they are still trying to catch-up on. Thats not an excuse. That’s just factual reality. But regardless, he HAD to use them better yesterday and didn’t. Curtis should have been on earlier. The brilliant Kerkez ran himself into the ground and it was begging out for AndyRobbo. It was crying out for Enrico to replace the largely ineffective Salah or Gakpo. (Mo’s phenomenal ball for Ekitike’s woefully missed header aside.). Although we are now in a horrid situation where taking Mo off is nigh on impossible no matter how bad he is after the Leeds outburst. The moment Arne does, and Mo goes cry A the media again, we are back to square one with that entitled nonsense.
And he can be more pro-active in first-half’s. There were, as in many games recently, a lot of positives to take from that second half and the intensity and attacking flair we played with. But it’s beyond frustrating to see that continually happen after first-half’s of games we look unprepared and disinterested in. I get the logic behind conserving energy the first-half of games when we are so depleted and lads are having to go the full 90 over and over. But there has to be more balance between halves.
Kudos to Konate, Kerkez and big Dom. Who were all excellent and at the level L’pool vs City demands. The other 8 players, not least the abysmal Alisson, Gakpo and Salah, not so much.
City got away with one yesterday. Liverpool were their own worst enemy, yet again, in allowing that to happen in a game we should have been out of sight through. With a Worldie free-kick that deserved to win any game. But didn’t. Again.
L’pool vs City is one of them and often a coin flip. But the frustration after yesterday really smarts this AM. Sunderland is now a must win. The scope for a draw has gone after yesterday. The top 5 is nowhere near done with 39 points still on the board and a league as poor as this/ everyone still to play each other. Not least ourselves with Brentford, Chelsea, the Ev, Utd, Villa et al still to play. But the margin for error is becoming slimmer and slimmer.
Be better Liverpool. Every last one of you.
A last point, whilst II remember, as bouncing as what the atmosphere was (Everyone was just stunned frustrated at he end rather than mad), the booing of Guehi was proper mad and out of order. It wasn’t his fault we never went back in for him. Unbecoming of us that.
Up the frustrating, own worst enemy, Reds.