Liverpool 4-3 Leeds - Saturday 12th September, 2020

[Mel81x+]

1 minute ago, Lucas said:

Bielsa normally would stick to the well drilled players but we were forced into starting Koch with the lack of defensive cover. Rodrigo never got into it in the 20mins he came on and it showed what great work off the ball Bamford did for us up there. Rodrigo had his eyes opened yesterday but he'll 'get it' in time.

Didn't know Koch was filling in. He was your worst defender yesterday and at one point I was hoping our front-three found their way to him because he was quite error prone. 

[LFCMike]

8 minutes ago, Gunnersauraus said:

Well we'll see won't we. Chelsea went from champions to tenth place. Burn out happened at Dortmund under klopp before. 

Klopp was losing his best players at Dortmund, mainly to their league rivals, after he'd won the two Bundesliga titles. That hasn't happened with his Liverpool side and is unlikely to. 

[LFCMadLad]

34 minutes ago, Lucas said:

I expected defeat and we got it. But I just didn't expect to come so close to a point, that's what actually stung. We have a lot of plaudits for the performance but we still won't get points for that, just a pat on the back. But having slept on it, it's easier to reflect now.

I have no explanation to what Rodrigo did for the last pen. Fucking plant pot. Typical forwards 'pussy' challenge. What a way to throw it away, no complaints.

The first pen is harsh. It has hit Koch's leg and deflected up to his hand. Unnatural position or not, that shouldn't be a penalty. I can't wait to see that happen somewhere down the line and it not be awarded. Anyway, that's the two pens cleared up on my side.

Apart from that, I thought we deserved a point. Liverpool did have more chances but to go there and have more possession than them was impressive. I know they weren't at their best but I also think that was down to us. We really shocked them yesterday with the press and relentlessness.

I know a lot of people will mention the defence of ours and yes, the two centre backs were a shambles. We have conceded 4 goals from set pieces which is poor, but please remember the context.

Last year, we had Cooper and White. They were exceptional and settled. White has gone back to Brighton and Cooper was injured yesterday. So we had a new signing in Koch who has only had 2 days training at the club and a youngster in Struijk, paired together for the first time against the Champions on Thursday and it showed. I can't be too harsh on them given the circumstances.

Thought Ayling was supurb keeping Mane quiet. Harrison and Costa were threats out wide and Klich ran himself into the ground. As for Phillips, he showed why he got an England call up by playing decent in his natural position. Take note Southgate.

Hopefully we will be ok anyway. It's nice to be back and showing some pride. We might be a little naive in some games but Bielsa is going to do it his way and its going to be interesting how many teams look at that and decided to play a little less expansive against us.

Its great to have Leeds back where they belong. Don't worry, no way are Leeds getting relegated. 

[Guest]

1 hour ago, LFCMike said:

Klopp was losing his best players at Dortmund, mainly to their league rivals, after he'd won the two Bundesliga titles. That hasn't happened with his Liverpool side and is unlikely to. 

But he still had enough to do better than his last season. His high intensity game will undoubtedly create tiredness. Theres no real point in debating it we will just have to wait and see. 

[The Artful Dodger]

Dortmund were decapitated by a ruthless Bayern Munich who seek to destroy any sense of competition and have succeeded. It would take a miracle worker for morale and performance not to drop at some point.

Having said that I think Liverpool should be looking to improve whilst at the top. This season is likely to be extremely burdensome on the whole squad, you look at Man City and Chelsea and see better options off the bench. That could be a crucial.

[RandoEFC+]

3 hours ago, Lucas said:

The first pen is harsh. It has hit Koch's leg and deflected up to his hand. Unnatural position or not, that shouldn't be a penalty. I can't wait to see that happen somewhere down the line and it not be awarded. Anyway, that's the two pens cleared up on my side.

This is the classic letter of the law penalty that I have an issue with. In an attempt to find categorical consistency they've tried to make the rule black and white instead of leaving room for some common sense, any time the ball hits a hand now is a penalty. The Leeds defender was particularly unlucky here. With his arms out at his side, a direct hit from the ball is pretty widely accepted as a penalty now. But as this one was heading towards his legs, it isn't instinctive for him to get his arms out of the way. I would say his arms were in a totally natural position there. What's unnatural is expecting players to play the whole game out of possession with their arms behind their backs just in case a stray shot ping pongs its way onto their arm. It could go anywhere off his knee and it happens to hit his arm. Yes you can argue that defenders should know by now to get their arms behind their back but how far do you want to take it? Koch was unlucky but the referee has to give the penalty. By the rulebook, it's the right call. By the spirit of the game as we once knew it, I think most people would say it's harsh to be giving a penalty for that, he had already blocked the shot with a legal part of his body and the handball wasn't intentional or even useful to Leeds. 

The sad part is yes, you'll probably see an almost identical incident later in the season where the opposite call is made, and the FA and the referees' association will back both decisions to the hilt, and pretend that there's no contradiction until everyone gives up and just accepts it.

[Dr. Gonzo]

Speaking of the penalties, I think it’s hard to argue against them tbh. They’re pretty stonewall, obviously I’m biased. But the first one he sticks his fucking arm out to interfere with the path of the ball... you can’t not give that. That’s a textbook handball.

The second penalty I literally couldn’t understand what he’d done or why he’d done it.

You know what I really can’t understand though? Why Virgil’s second goal was ruled out. I know @Mel81x explained it but I’m not sure I agree with that interpretation because you look at loads of corners in the league and in a lot of cases that goes unpunished. Someone convince me that was the correct decision, because I just can’t see it.

[Burning Gold]

2 hours ago, Gunnersauraus said:

But he still had enough to do better than his last season. His high intensity game will undoubtedly create tiredness. Theres no real point in debating it we will just have to wait and see. 

Liverpool are consistently mid-table in terms of distance covered and haven't played particularly high-intensity football for years now. So yeah, there probably isn't any real point in debating this particular theory

[Dr. Gonzo]

Chelsea players also down tools to get managers sacked when they’re sick of working with them

[Cicero]

That was only Mourinho in 2016 tbf 

[Dan+]

8 hours ago, Stan said:

Makes it even more of a mockery that they had to be played at this time. 

Not sure when they could have postponed it to, but for every club experiencing a shorter pre-season as it was, it was illogical to have those internationals played.

I personally would've scrapped this Nations League.

[Bluewolf]