Liverpool Vs Tottenham: Match Thread

[CowInAComa]

Some right crybabies on here

We lost to Liverpool at Anfield. Shit happens, its not like it couldnt have gone either way. You thought we were now going to lay waste to every team we play home and away?

 

[Cavehillspur]

Bit of a sickener to give it away at the end, but nothing to be too disheartened about. Could have gone either way, some good spells together with some very sloppy play indeed.

As others have said, the game highlighted a few issues.

We have a very young team and it showed at times, but they'll learn. Bentaleb needs to realise that the quick, blind balls across the back four/CM are risky when you have a team that presses high. Arsenal basically let us have the ball and defended deep. It backfired spectacularly, but nevertheless that's what they did. Can't approach the game the same way against this Liverpool team at Anfield.

Not sure about the overall approach either. Under Harry we were always accused of being far too open, but if anything we are more open now. Just because we don't play 4-4-2 and have an extra man in midfield, the high press and fullbacks pushing on means any turnover of possession basically leads to the opposition having a free run on our goal. I like our aggressive approach, but feel it needs to be a bit more controlled at times. Sometimes it feels like players a just diving in all over the shop and if it doesn't work we are left exposed and have to rely on our superior fitness to bomb back like nutters. Again though, this could be just as much about inexperience as tactics.

Still not convinced by our full backs. Both can be such an asset, but then often can't deliver the simple consistent balls into the box that makes their attacking play amount to anything meaningful. And both (especially Rose) can be easily got at.

Finally, after losing both Bale and Suarez respectively, I don't think there is much between the 2 sides quality wise. Liverpool have greater strength in depth though, when you looked at their bench and ours and consider that Sterling was also injured.

Things are improving nicely, but the squad still needs a fair bit of work imo.

Great post!

 

[Chris12]

Some right crybabies on here

We lost to Liverpool at Anfield. Shit happens, its not like it couldnt have gone either way. You thought we were now going to lay waste to every team we play home and away?

People are upset at losing. Nothing wrong about that.

 

[CowInAComa]

People are upset at losing. Nothing wrong about that.

There is being upset, then there is being completely hysterical.

People are whining about blowing top 4, the tactics suddenly being all wrong, the manager unable to pick a side.

Just coming off the back of top of the league form, an upcoming final and smashing our two biggest rivals to pieces,.

 

[DiscoD1882]

so my morning perspective. we lost. We are where most of us thought we would be at the start of the season. BUT. we are a lot closer to where we want to be than any of us would have hoped.

 

[robbiedee]

Bit of a sickener to give it away at the end, but nothing to be too disheartened about. Could have gone either way, some good spells together with some very sloppy play indeed.

As others have said, the game highlighted a few issues.

We have a very young team and it showed at times, but they'll learn. Bentaleb needs to realise that the quick, blind balls across the back four/CM are risky when you have a team that presses high. Arsenal basically let us have the ball and defended deep. It backfired spectacularly, but nevertheless that's what they did. Can't approach the game the same way against this Liverpool team at Anfield.

Not sure about the overall approach either. Under Harry we were always accused of being far too open, but if anything we are more open now. Just because we don't play 4-4-2 and have an extra man in midfield, the high press and fullbacks pushing on means any turnover of possession basically leads to the opposition having a free run on our goal. I like our aggressive approach, but feel it needs to be a bit more controlled at times. Sometimes it feels like players a just diving in all over the shop and if it doesn't work we are left exposed and have to rely on our superior fitness to bomb back like nutters. Again though, this could be just as much about inexperience as tactics.

Still not convinced by our full backs. Both can be such an asset, but then often can't deliver the simple consistent balls into the box that makes their attacking play amount to anything meaningful. And both (especially Rose) can be easily got at.

Finally, after losing both Bale and Suarez respectively, I don't think there is much between the 2 sides quality wise. Liverpool have greater strength in depth though, when you looked at their bench and ours and consider that Sterling was also injured.

Things are improving nicely, but the squad still needs a fair bit of work imo.

Agree with all this.

It was a disappointing result but on balance it was a good game with both teams fighting hard.

I thought at times, especially the last 20 mins, that we looked knackered. All through the match there were lapses of concentration and I'd put this down to fatigue from Saturday and youth/inexperience.

I agree that at times Walker and Rose let too much past them or were out of position but I suppose they are pushing forward constantly so this is likely to happen.

I think Liverpool have a very similar squad in terms of quality and we'll be fighting it out with them and any others (Arse, Man U and Southampton) for 3rd/4th spot. I really don't think there'll be much in it come the end of the season.

A draw would been a fair result but it wasn't to be. Oh well, Hammers at home next in the league and I'm going to that so we're bound to win

 

[14/04/91]

Every time they were in our final third we looked vulnerable, not helped by the fact we were so loose in possession.

We didn't look comfortable against their numbers and movement & it highlights the fact we're still missing a proper screening DM. As dagraham said it's fine when teams (like Arsenal) sit back but last night was a whole different game.

The way we set up with Eriksen nominally on the left leaves us exposed on that side defensively, especially when Rose plays like he did (diving in when he should stand off and vice versa). This is where a holding midfielder can spot danger and shuffles across to help. Last night NB or RM should've done that, with at least one of the 3 behind Kane dropping in to help (Lamela did all night in fairness).

Really disappointed this morning. We didn't defend well as a unit or individually and that is going to have to improve substantially if we want consistency next season.

 

[DiscoD1882]

There is being upset, then there is being completely hysterical.

People are whining about blowing top 4, the tactics suddenly being all wrong, the manager unable to pick a side.

Just coming off the back of top of the league form, an upcoming final and smashing our two biggest rivals to pieces,.

i dont think anyone can argue that the substitutions didnt work. I would have prefered Townsend to Paulinho and moved Eriksen inside. Chadli for Lamela and if we were going for the draw. fazio on for dembele and move dier into the denfensive midfield to shore things up.

I dont think we have blown top 4 but im disappointed with the defeat especially after coming back twice.

 

[Archibald&Crooks]

Did anyone see the camera catch Poch in the first half telling someone "no long ball, play, play"

It made my old chap twitch.

 

[CowInAComa]

i dont think anyone can argue that the substitutions didnt work. I would have prefered Townsend to Paulinho and moved Eriksen inside. Chadli for Lamela and if we were going for the draw. fazio on for dembele and move dier into the denfensive midfield to shore things up.

I dont think we have blown top 4 but im disappointed with the defeat especially after coming back twice.

Fucking right. I dont disagree that I would have done things differently too. Especially with hindsight. I wouldnt have Paulinho anywhere near the first team for a start, I would have had Chadli on for Lamela too.

But we and Poch are getting a hell of a lot more right than we are getting wrong. And its only wrong in hindsight isnt it, go and see the Chelsea and Arsenal threads before we turned them around. to see how many things Poch was apparently getting massively wrong.

I just dont think it warrants the amount of wailing its getting.

 

[dagraham]

Fucking right. I dont disagree that I would have done things differently too. Especially with hindsight. I wouldnt have Paulinho anywhere near the first team for a start, I would have had Chadli on for Lamela too.

But we and Poch are getting a hell of a lot more right than we are getting wrong. And its only wrong in hindsight isnt it, go and see the Chelsea and Arsenal threads before we turned them around. to see how many things Poch was apparently getting massively wrong.

I just dont think it warrants the amount of wailing its getting.

I haven't seen any hysterical wailing, just a few observations. Although I wasn't following the thread last night.

 

[Gaz_Gammon]

Southampton conceded 46 last season...only Citeh. Chelsea, Arsenal and Everton conceded less. Can you name 2 fullbacks (that might be available) that are better defensively than what we have? Most full backs I can think of have come to the fore because of their attacking strength.

I would start Davies over Rose any day of the week, so there is one option. Can i name two fullbacks that are better then defensively?. Well the options are boundless, but to be honest isn't that what Levy is paying Poch,Baldini and Mitchell to do?

Facts are facts and conceding goals for fun isn't going to get us into the top four, irrespective of how many goals Kane is scoring. Any manager from any sport will tell you that if you cannot defend then you stand little hope of winning any silverware. When a team has conceded 1.7 goals a game over almost a third of a season (all competitions) then something has to give.

Arsenal have conceded four goals less in the PL this season with the other top four conceding ten or more less. This is where the real problem lies and the fact is that without Lloris that number would be even worse. Southampton by the way have conceded HALF as many goals, and they too have a new manager. Perhaps Poch, Baldini, and Mitchell will fix this come the summer but fact is we won't win bugger all with the flaky defence that we have.

 

[BSJ93]

Big improvement to how we've played against them in the past. Actually enjoy watching us against the bigger teams now as the outcome is not as predicable as it has been the last 2 or so seasons.

 

[Matrix]

We did alright. It was a hangover from Saturdays high! Yes it is frustrating that we lost but as someone said you can't expect to win every battle. If we did we would be walking away with the league by now! A draw would have been favorable considering how close those scousers are now but we have got 4 points off the goons,3 off of Chelsea,1 off of Yanited with them still to play and City at home. It's better than last season and we have shown we can mix it with the best. All is not lost, we will pick up a lot more wins than losses in the next 11 games. We will be right up there!

 

[Gaz_Gammon]

Did anyone see the camera catch Poch in the first half telling someone "no long ball, play, play"

It made my old chap twitch.

Looking at both sides last night (and i have seen a lot of Liverpool play this season) i think we can all rest assured at which side is in the overall ascendancy. Considering that this is Poch's first season with a team likely to play a record number of games then i think that he is doing a damn fine job.

Defensively we are weak and indisciplined but again fielded a very young side, so once Poch fixes that end of the pitch then the future looks very bright indeed. One or two signings in the summer and wagons will roll come next season, after all we are not a million miles away from fielding a team to be reckoned with week in week out.

I couldn't have said that last season or the season before.

 

[lukespurs7]

Brilliant match both teams high energy going at it.

Not disappointed with the performance at all,shame we lost but largely due to sloppy goals otherwise a draw would've been a far fairer result.

Rose was a bit poor for the penalty and obviously Lloris for the first goal but as a team we played brilliantly the stats say about 51% possession to us and 15 shots us 16 them very even exciting game.

Agree we need to become more solid but liking what I'm seeing a lot.

COYS

 

[cookiemonster]

Every time they were in our final third we looked vulnerable, not helped by the fact we were so loose in possession.

We didn't look comfortable against their numbers and movement & it highlights the fact we're still missing a proper screening DM. As dagraham said it's fine when teams (like Arsenal) sit back but last night was a whole different game.

The way we set up with Eriksen nominally on the left leaves us exposed on that side defensively, especially when Rose plays like he did (diving in when he should stand off and vice versa). This is where a holding midfielder can spot danger and shuffles across to help. Last night NB or RM should've done that, with at least one of the 3 behind Kane dropping in to help (Lamela did all night in fairness).

Really disappointed this morning. We didn't defend well as a unit or individually and that is going to have to improve substantially if we want consistency next season.

We have not defended well for a long time not just this season.

Thought the new manager will be able to address the issue

It's actually not that difficult to coach proper defending

And yet we are still leaking goals at the same rate as teams like Hull WBA Villa

 

[Donki]

Did anyone see the camera catch Poch in the first half telling someone "no long ball, play, play"

It made my old chap twitch.

Your sphincter?

 

[mike_l]

Disappointing result but after the effort of Saturday the performance was bound to drop a little, it was an even game though and a draw would've been the fairest result, however could've gone either way in the end. I'm happy that we played well enough and on the plus side we now have a good week to rest and prepare for the next game and West Ham after that.

After the last 3 results being 5-0, 4-0 and 3-0 I'm just glad we gave them a game this time...

 

[Firsttouch]

Did anyone see the camera catch Poch in the first half telling someone "no long ball, play, play"

It made my old chap twitch.

That was Danny Rose and 30seconds later he said " well done Danny" as he just fizzed the ball on the floor out wide to Kyle Walker