Liverpool 3-0 Leicester City - Sunday 22nd November, 2020

[Dan+]

1 hour ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

Yeah I agree with you, I’d be pissed off if it was one of your defenders that got a hand on it. I’m still not sure it was an “intentional” handball but under the new rules that should be a penalty.

I do think we were a lot better than you today and maybe it wouldn’t have made a difference. It would/could have changed the momentum if you got a penalty and scored it though - we’ll never know what happened.

It was reviewed by the VAR ref though... so your prediction from earlier ended up being right 

I was honestly surprised by that performance - I thought it would be more disjoint. Didn’t expect our midfield to be in as much control at all - and that really minimised the threat I thought Vardy would pose to our defense. Pleasantly surprised though.

Midfield is where you hammer us. We have a lot of tidy footballers in midfield but they're a bit of a luxury, and one that we can't afford in games like that. Praet is the only one I think who physically competes against Liverpool and he left him out, which was an error and I thought so at the time.

Our performances against Liverpool are appalling. It's like we're shit scared.

[Harry]

3 hours ago, Burning Gold said:

I think his hand is coming up to grapple with Maddison, to be fair, but I do sympathise. I'd be pissed off if it was the other way around

I'd be ropeable seeing that paid, and I'd be sympathetic to any team who had that awarded against them.

That said you do see these rubbish penalties given more and more.

Bottom line for me a penalty is overkill for such innocuous accidental contact on the edge of the box in a situation that almost certainly would not have led to a goal.

[LFCMike]

Apparently Sky didn't show this part

[Stan]

@LFCMike That first 60-90s especially is great. Good to see a manager giving it back to Sky/BT and being so blunt and honest.

Shreeves at 3m50s says 'it's good to hear' but from a broadcaster's perspective I'm not sure they like hearing it! They hate it. Klopp is right about contracts (and nearly exploding!) - everything about the world has changed for sure. Football needs to as well for the benefit and welfare of players.

[DeadLinesman]

1 hour ago, Stan said:

@LFCMike That first 60-90s especially is great. Good to see a manager giving it back to Sky/BT and being so blunt and honest.

It’s a catch 22 situation though. Liverpool and those players (like every other team) live extremely lavish lifestyles for a few actual hours work a week. Without Sky and BT, that doesn’t happen. You can’t want the money and also control how the person giving you that money operates.

[MUFC]

I really want to see Liverpool vs Bayern in the CL. 

[RandoEFC+]

Oh look, "injury-ravaged" Liverpool actually did okay after all of that hysterical whinging. Colour me shocked.

[LFCMadLad]

3 minutes ago, RandoEFC said:

Oh look, "injury-ravaged" Liverpool actually did okay after all of that hysterical whinging. Colour me shocked.

I wouldn't say hysterical whinging to be honest. Just concern that 6 absolute key players were missing for a game against the league leaders. 

But yeah, in hindsight it wasn't really an issue. Extremely comfortable in fact.

[RandoEFC+]

Salah, Alexander-Arnold and Van Dijk are perhaps absolutely key but I'm hard pressed to think of the others. There's this narrative that Liverpool don't have much depth because the comparison is always made with Man City. The fact is, most of Liverpool's usual bench players would get into the starting lineups of almost any other team in the league. Jota is a £30-40m player, so is Keita, Matip, etc. Looking at that lineup, Curtis Jones is the only one who isn't an established senior player. Other teams have players like that playing regularly, such as James Justin on the opposition. People were saying that the title was gone, Leicester should be embarrassed if they don't beat you. Compared to the reality of the situation, reactions like that were hysterical in my opinion.

[Dr. Gonzo]

27 minutes ago, RandoEFC said:

Salah, Alexander-Arnold and Van Dijk are perhaps absolutely key but I'm hard pressed to think of the others.

Our captain? The world class player we signed that the one cunty player you can’t win without apparently tried to remove the kneecaps of?

[Dr. Gonzo]

I’d actually wait until we play someone with a manager with a bit more bollocks than Brendan fuckin Rodgers before we say we’re in the clear with these injuries and that we’ll still be as good.

I still can’t tell if it was a Klopp master class or a Rodgers bottling

[LFCMadLad]

47 minutes ago, RandoEFC said:

Salah, Alexander-Arnold and Van Dijk are perhaps absolutely key but I'm hard pressed to think of the others. There's this narrative that Liverpool don't have much depth because the comparison is always made with Man City. The fact is, most of Liverpool's usual bench players would get into the starting lineups of almost any other team in the league. Jota is a £30-40m player, so is Keita, Matip, etc. Looking at that lineup, Curtis Jones is the only one who isn't an established senior player. Other teams have players like that playing regularly, such as James Justin on the opposition. People were saying that the title was gone, Leicester should be embarrassed if they don't beat you. Compared to the reality of the situation, reactions like that were hysterical in my opinion.

Those comments were tongue in cheek and were explained if you read back. 

I made some tongue in cheek comments myself, but I also stated that in my opinion we have the best balanced squad in the league, the best first 11 and the best manager, and that even with long term injuries we would still probably win the league.

These injuries have actually given us even more options because going on yesterdays performance, Curtis Jones is going to be an exceptional player. He probably wouldn't have got the chances hes got had it not been for constant injuries to our midfielders. Every cloud as they say. 

[Stan]

20 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

I’d actually wait until we play someone with a manager with a bit more bollocks than Brendan fuckin Rodgers before we say we’re in the clear with these injuries and that we’ll still be as good.

I still can’t tell if it was a Klopp master class or a Rodgers bottling

In between. We made it easy for you but you did the basics right, showed more hunger & desire to win, sharper physically and mentally, and just had a lot more quality than us in every department. 

After some very good results this season I can't get on board with those saying Rodgers bottled it. The phrase 'bottled' is used far too much these days just because one result doesn't go a certain way. When you beat Arsenal and Man City - one of those being a very satisfactory thrashing - away from home in games you're expected to lose, that's not a bottling mentality, for me. 

It's one game we've lost (after a run of six wins) and it's a loss against arguably one of the best sides in the world right now. Even if that side was missing some key players - it's just a testament to how well Klopp has you playing in general. In the nicest way, it didn't take anything special to beat us but at the same time, you were organised and stuck to your game plan. Cram the midfield so our 'technicians' as some would say, can't succeed. In some games we've played, players like Mendy, Tielemans, Maddison all have been able to control the game from the middle. Off the ball, your midfield pressed as a pack and focused on that area. And for us it was more difficult when one of the front 3 dropped in to help. It's why Jones' stood out and rightly so. His partnership with Wijnaldum and Keita flourished because of that. 

You'll 100% come up against better sides than our showing yesterday, but even then when you have such good depth and players like Jones can step up and fill in, I can't see those sides beating you at Anfield.

[LFCMike]

35 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

I’d actually wait until we play someone with a manager with a bit more bollocks than Brendan fuckin Rodgers before we say we’re in the clear with these injuries and that we’ll still be as good.

I still can’t tell if it was a Klopp master class or a Rodgers bottling

Going into the game yesterday there's very few sides who would have been more difficult in the circumstances. Start giving this side more credit!

[The Artful Dodger]

I think Rodgers thought he could do what he did to Arsenal again, but Arsenal are a very average side and Liverpool are not, especially in attack where they weren't so decimated. I think Rodgers might regret not  being a bit more attacking,  probably still would have loss but might have made more of a game of it.

[Dan+]

1 hour ago, LFCMike said:

Going into the game yesterday there's very few sides who would have been more difficult in the circumstances. Start giving this side more credit!

I'm a bit baffled by when we play you. We are in theory probably placed in the top 5 teams in the league to make you worry, yet in reality, we deliver a bottom 5 performance against you every time. I'm not even talking about the freak result against Villa - games like West Ham & Sheffield United where you've been made to sweat a bit. Yesterday was just plain sailing.

[RandoEFC+]

2 hours ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

Our captain? The world class player we signed that the one cunty player you can’t win without apparently tried to remove the kneecaps of?

Thiago has been here 5 minutes and Henderson isn't even a guaranteed starter. I'm not having "absolute key players" for both of those two. I'll let you have one of them because they would have started ahead of Jones. This is not an argument I'm at all arsed about to be honest though so have all 6 if you still need to feel sorry for yourselves, I've had my say.

[Dr. Gonzo]

10 minutes ago, RandoEFC said:

Thiago has been here 5 minutes and Henderson isn't even a guaranteed starter. I'm not having "absolute key players" for both of those two. I'll let you have one of them because they would have started ahead of Jones. This is not an argument I'm at all arsed about to be honest though so have all 6 if you still need to feel sorry for yourselves, I've had my say.

Henderson would have absolutely played against Leicester if fit. Not a key player? You must be joking he was one of our best players last season when we were by far the best side in the country.

I wouldn’t be arsed in an argument either if I’d said something crazy and then listed that we’ve got over half the team of a starting XI out and couldn’t understand why we’d be nervous about that prior to playing one of the better sides in the league 

[LFCMike]

16 minutes ago, RandoEFC said:

Thiago has been here 5 minutes and Henderson isn't even a guaranteed starter. I'm not having "absolute key players" for both of those two. I'll let you have one of them because they would have started ahead of Jones. This is not an argument I'm at all arsed about to be honest though so have all 6 if you still need to feel sorry for yourselves, I've had my say.

Im not one of those who has gone over the top with the injuries thing but I feel I need to question this view of Henderson. The midfield is rotated so no one is 'guaranteed' as such but Henderson and Wijnaldum are about as guaranteed as you can get in midfield when Klopp is picking his team for a game like that. I think he's proved how key he is over the last couple of seasons

[LFCMadLad]

51 minutes ago, RandoEFC said:

Thiago has been here 5 minutes and Henderson isn't even a guaranteed starter. I'm not having "absolute key players" for both of those two. I'll let you have one of them because they would have started ahead of Jones. This is not an argument I'm at all arsed about to be honest though so have all 6 if you still need to feel sorry for yourselves, I've had my say.

Hendo isn't a guaranteed starter? 

He was our POTY last season. When he's fit, he plays. 

As for Thiago.. does it matter when a player is signed? He was signed by us as one of the best teams in Europe because he is world class. Losing him to injury is still a blow whether he has been here 5 minutes or 5 years. 

Feel sorry for ourselves? You are losing the plot just like your team mate. Nobody is feeling sorry for themselves here. In fact when you take into account that we have played Arsenal, Everton, Chelsea and City away, and got Leicester out of the way too, whilst contending with a pretty bad injury list, yet still sit joint top of the league with some top players due to return and our youngsters stepping up big time... things are looking rosy mate.

I think you’re the one who probably feels a bit sorry for himself buddy.

 

[RandoEFC+]

52 minutes ago, LFCMadLad said:

Hendo isn't a guaranteed starter? 

He was our POTY last season. When he's fit, he plays. 

As for Thiago.. does it matter when a player is signed? He was signed by us as one of the best teams in Europe because he is world class. Losing him to injury is still a blow whether he has been here 5 minutes or 5 years. 

Feel sorry for ourselves? You are losing the plot just like your team mate. Nobody is feeling sorry for themselves here. In fact when you take into account that we have played Arsenal, Everton, Chelsea and City away, and got Leicester out of the way too, whilst contending with a pretty bad injury list, yet still sit joint top of the league with some top players due to return and our youngsters stepping up big time... things are looking rosy mate.

I think you’re the one who probably feels a bit sorry for himself buddy.

 

 I'd love to live in your world sometimes. Genuinely hilarious take.

Fine, every one of your injuries is an absolutely key player you can't do without as evidenced by your 3-0 win over Leicester without all of them.

1 hour ago, LFCMike said:

Im not one of those who has gone over the top with the injuries thing but I feel I need to question this view of Henderson. The midfield is rotated so no one is 'guaranteed' as such but Henderson and Wijnaldum are about as guaranteed as you can get in midfield when Klopp is picking his team for a game like that. I think he's proved how key he is over the last couple of seasons

This is the only response so far that's actually worth replying to because you've managed to steer clear of trying to make it about Everton. But I've already said that yes, Henderson and Thiago obviously would have played ahead of Jones. I also don't doubt Henderson's quality like some people somehow still do as you'll see if you read any of my posts analysing England's midfield situation for the last 3 years of so.

I just don't think that you can class every first team player as "absolutely key players". Liverpool's absolutely key players are Alisson, Van Dijk, Salah, Mane and probably the full backs. Players where you're significantly worse off without them. I think if you took Henderson, Thiago, Gomez out of the team in isolation then there isn't that big of a drop off to the players behind if they're all fit. If you're missing 3 of them in the same position and you have to play someone like Jones then yes, you could say that they all would have played ahead of him but they're not necessarily key players on their own.

That's all I was trying to say but I should know better than to comment in a Liverpool thread and be surprised when I come back to 4 notifications and numerous attempts to try and have an irrelevant dig at Everton. If we have to discuss Everton then it's like if we had Sigurdsson, Doucoure and Gomes all unavailable and had to play Davies. Yes they all probably would have played ahead of him but I wouldn't go on to describe them all as absolute key players.

Hopefully that clears things up.

1 hour ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

Henderson would have absolutely played against Leicester if fit. Not a key player? You must be joking he was one of our best players last season when we were by far the best side in the country.

I wouldn’t be arsed in an argument either if I’d said something crazy and then listed that we’ve got over half the team of a starting XI out and couldn’t understand why we’d be nervous about that prior to playing one of the better sides in the league 

When did I say that you shouldn't be nervous? I didn't. In the Liverpool thread there were people saying shite like Liverpool are underdogs for the league now and that Leicester should be embarrassed if they lose this game. Not everyone was saying it, and it wasn't exclusively Liverpool fans, it was just a shit shout that I challenged at the time and then I've come and said I told you so because I was right. There has been a narrative during the City v Liverpool era that City have this massive advantage because of all of their £50m bench players. I'm not saying that Liverpool have that now but with Jota and Thiago coming in this season it's not like you have to live in fear of having a few injuries.

It's mad how defensive you've got. My original comment wasn't even aimed at Liverpool fans specifically, just the general narrative. I've already said if you want to call Henderson a key player then I'll give you that. This isn't a hill I have any desire to die on. You're the one who replied directly to me and started bringing up Richarlison and Everton again.

[LFCMadLad]

19 minutes ago, RandoEFC said:

 I'd love to live in your world sometimes. Genuinely hilarious take.

Fine, every one of your injuries is an absolutely key player you can't do without as evidenced by your 3-0 win over Leicester without all of them.

This is the only response so far that's actually worth replying to because you've managed to steer clear of trying to make it about Everton. But I've already said that yes, Henderson and Thiago obviously would have played ahead of Jones. I also don't doubt Henderson's quality like some people somehow still do as you'll see if you read any of my posts analysing England's midfield situation for the last 3 years of so.

I just don't think that you can class every first team player as "absolutely key players". Liverpool's absolutely key players are Alisson, Van Dijk, Salah, Mane and probably the full backs. Players where you're significantly worse off without them. I think if you took Henderson, Thiago, Gomez out of the team in isolation then there isn't that big of a drop off to the players behind if they're all fit. If you're missing 3 of them in the same position and you have to play someone like Jones then yes, you could say that they all would have played ahead of him but they're not necessarily key players on their own.

That's all I was trying to say but I should know better than to comment in a Liverpool thread and be surprised when I come back to 4 notifications and numerous attempts to try and have an irrelevant dig at Everton. If we have to discuss Everton then it's like if we had Sigurdsson, Doucoure and Gomes all unavailable and had to play Davies. Yes they all probably would have played ahead of him but I wouldn't go on to describe them all as absolute key players.

Hopefully that clears things up.

When did I say that you shouldn't be nervous? I didn't. In the Liverpool thread there were people saying shite like Liverpool are underdogs for the league now and that Leicester should be embarrassed if they lose this game. Not everyone was saying it, and it wasn't exclusively Liverpool fans, it was just a shit shout that I challenged at the time and then I've come and said I told you so because I was right. There has been a narrative during the City v Liverpool era that City have this massive advantage because of all of their £50m bench players. I'm not saying that Liverpool have that now but with Jota and Thiago coming in this season it's not like you have to live in fear of having a few injuries.

It's mad how defensive you've got. My original comment wasn't even aimed at Liverpool fans specifically, just the general narrative. I've already said if you want to call Henderson a key player then I'll give you that. This isn't a hill I have any desire to die on. You're the one who replied directly to me and started bringing up Richarlison and Everton again.

Not sure what is so hilarious about me saying we are in a good position considering the injuries we've had and the opposition we have faced so far? 

But hey ho....

[Storts]

1 hour ago, LFCMadLad said:

Hendo isn't a guaranteed starter? 

He was our POTY last season. When he's fit, he plays. 

As for Thiago.. does it matter when a player is signed? He was signed by us as one of the best teams in Europe because he is world class. Losing him to injury is still a blow whether he has been here 5 minutes or 5 years. 

Feel sorry for ourselves? You are losing the plot just like your team mate. Nobody is feeling sorry for themselves here. In fact when you take into account that we have played Arsenal, Everton, Chelsea and City away, and got Leicester out of the way too, whilst contending with a pretty bad injury list, yet still sit joint top of the league with some top players due to return and our youngsters stepping up big time... things are looking rosy mate.

I think you’re the one who probably feels a bit sorry for himself buddy.

 

Who is top mate? Can you let me know haven’t had a chance to look at the table 

[RandoEFC+]

5 minutes ago, LFCMadLad said:

Not sure what is so hilarious about me saying we are in a good position considering the injuries we've had and the opposition we have faced so far? 

But hey ho....

I didn't debate that, in fact I said all along that even with their injuries Liverpool are comfortable favourites for the league. You have a stronger squad than last season and nobody else is really any good this season, certainly nobody else is near consistent enough.

The bits I was laughing at (and you already know this) were the bold bits making out I was having some sort of meltdown because I took issue with you calling all 6 of your absentees absolute key players, a point I've expanded on and even withdrawn in the case of Henderson in response to Mike who responded like a grown up instead of just seeing the Everton badge next to my name and spaffing a bunch of partisan nonsense and a few laughing emojis into a post because you think it'll get you validation from all the other Reds.

[LFCMadLad]

7 minutes ago, RandoEFC said:

I didn't debate that, in fact I said all along that even with their injuries Liverpool are comfortable favourites for the league. You have a stronger squad than last season and nobody else is really any good this season, certainly nobody else is near consistent enough.

The bits I was laughing at (and you already know this) were the bold bits making out I was having some sort of meltdown because I took issue with you calling all 6 of your absentees absolute key players, a point I've expanded on and even withdrawn in the case of Henderson in response to Mike who responded like a grown up instead of just seeing the Everton badge next to my name and spaffing a bunch of partisan nonsense and a few laughing emojis into a post because you think it'll get you validation from all the other Reds.

Jesus... someone's in a mood today