Footy: Yaya Ascendant

[AncalagonTheBlack]

1 hour ago, polishgenius said:

 

I'll tell you something, he went down in my estimation when he said that.

haha you're just jealous he isn't a United fan!

[polishgenius]

Hey, we have Usain Bolt. And, I just discovered, Ian McShane. I'll take that.

[Lord Friendzone]

14 hours ago, AncalagonTheBlack said:

Only thing that made me happy today was finding out Sam Jackson is a Pool fan.Did not know that!

 

Daniel Craig and Liam Neeson are fans too.

[AncalagonTheBlack]

54 minutes ago, polishgenius said:

Hey, we have Usain Bolt. And, I just discovered, Ian McShane. I'll take that.

 

51 minutes ago, Lord Friendzone said:

Daniel Craig and Liam Neeson are fans too.

@polish: ok, you have 1 badass,we have 3.Though Neeson would fuck up 10 guys by himself!

also,just read up on wiki that McSane's father played for United in the 50's

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_McShane_(footballer)

[Lord Friendzone]

Clive Owen, Jason Isaacs or John Oliver. I heard about Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie don't know how much of fans these two are.

[polishgenius]

1 hour ago, AncalagonTheBlack said:

 

@polish: ok, you have 1 badass,we have 3.

I'm not sure if you're suggesting that Usain Bolt isn't a badass or Ian McShane isn't, but either way you're wrong.

But if it's a fight you're after...

[BigFatCoward]

On 24/11/2016 at 3:37 PM, baxus said:

 

[BigFatCoward]

I have no idea what happened with the previous quote.  

Anyway, tonight it is the final of the shit towns cup.  Can anyone think of a less inspiring fixture to cheer you up on a Monday night.  

[Rorshach]

4 minutes ago, BigFatCoward said:

I have no idea what happened with the previous quote.  

Anyway, tonight it is the final of the shit towns cup.  Can anyone think of a less inspiring fixture to cheer you up on a Monday night.  

Well, Boro-Hull is on.

[Iskaral Pust]

I'm going to defend Karius.  Just like DeGea, it's too early to expect him to be perfect.  He has done well in recent games at snuffing out half-chances for the opposition.  He messed up on Sunday but he'll get better with time.  We bought an inexperienced keeper with a lot of talent, we shouldn't blame him for being inexperienced.

My bigger problem from Sunday was how we tried to cope without Matip.  Lucas looks ok at CB when we have possession, but his role in some of our worst losses in the past 18 months is not coincidental.  He seems to be doing ok, but he doesn't do enough because the goals go in.  Lovren looks great alongside Matip but he looked hyperactive yesterday as he tried to cover for Lucas all game, and once he loses positional discipline the risk is growing.

But it wasn't just about the defense, Origi and Mane were both conceding possession far too often.  Both them are very attacking and try something inventive every time, but they're not careful enough with the ball.  Bournemouth were very good at using the space of the pitch (look at the distribution of their players when they have possession) and breaking our disrupted, uncoordinated high press.  Similarly, Firmino was much less effective from the left.  Klopp should have switched him and Origi.  I would not have expected that at the start but it was clear very quickly.

And then the midfield: our CMs are playing well at recycling the ball (Hendo) and trying to support and break beyond the withdrawn attackers (Can and Gini), but they clearly got too comfortable with the pattern of recent games.  Once Matip wasn't sweeping behind them and the opposition came out to play, they weren't able to control the central space any more.  A disrupted attack was always likely to cough up possession more than usual and the MF got passed through with ease at times.  They weren't terrible, but they allowed enough to generate chances against a disrupted defense.  The MF was the only part of the team not disrupted, but they weren't a very effective bulwark when we needed to close out the game.

Some criticism for Klopp that he's generally too trusting of Lucas and Kevin Stewart, both of whom do an ok job when things are going well but become a liability otherwise.  And the sad fact is that despite having a deeper squad this season, we looked pretty thin on Sunday.  Matip, Coutinho, Lallana and Sturridge missing is a big gap for any team, plus Firmino hobbled off after taking a kick -- imagine if Koscielny, Alexis, Ozil and Giroud were out, or Luiz, Pedro, Hazard and Costa.  Keeping things in perspective, any team risked a loss with that many key players out.  But when Origi was looking a bit tired and naive, and Mane was still a bit off form (despite scoring and assisting), when Klopp looked to the bench, his best option was a semi-fit Lallana who wouldn't have anyone much to pass to up front.  We had no steel to add to midfield, Moreno wouldn't do much (Milner was playing quite well), three teenagers were hardly going to change the game and Klavan was surprisingly overlooked.  I would have brought on Klavan at 3-1 for Origi or Mane and moved Lucas to DM.

It's a really galling loss but the early scoreline flattered us a bit as we dominated play without actually playing that great -- great in patches, not great overall -- and in the second half we never really regained command.  It was a bit like how we fell apart against Sevilla: an attacking 4-3-3 can be too top-heavy if we lose the connection to the forward players and can get over-run at the back.  Our out-ball requires coordinated passing rather than a long ball to Drogba/Cost/Zlatan.

[A Horse Named Stranger]

On 4.12.2016 at 8:38 PM, Lord Friendzone said:

But Mane is going, but Matip is equally important given state of our defence. Lucas is no CB and Loven is mistake prone but this defeat goes largely on the shoulders of our general play in the second half(also Karius mistake for Aké goal), we were too static, too satisfied with leading 3:1. Bournemouth wanted it more and fairplay to them, they've been brilliant in the second half. 

Nah, Matip is more important for Liverpool. Mane is flashier because he is an offensive player, but Liverpool has quite some scoring depth and Coutinho will probably be back when Mane is away. While Matip, well, you really don't have that many quality centre backs in your squad. 

[Lord Friendzone]

Look like Bilic won't be sacked, got support from the board. It was on Sky Sports.

Just now, Notone said:

Nah, Matip is more important for Liverpool. Mane is flashier because he is an offensive player, but Liverpool has quite some scoring depth and Coutinho will probably be back when Mane is away. While Matip, well, you really don't have that many quality centre backs in your squad. 

Coutinho is minimum of five weeks out and not to mention when he needs to get back in to the rhythm.  ACN is like barely four weeks away, I mean you have to count preparation they have, training camp. Coutinho and Mane are key to our attack. Much like Costa or Hazard are for Chelsea, Sanchez and Ozil for Arsenal. We got some decent options in attack, better than in defence but still far away in quality to Coutinho and Mane. Origi is one time awesome, than missing a sitter, Lallana is incosistent compare to them. Their absence could hurt the team as much as Matip's and curious how we're going to play. 

[Mark Antony]

25 minutes ago, Notone said:

Nah, Matip is more important for Liverpool. Mane is flashier because he is an offensive player, but Liverpool has quite some scoring depth and Coutinho will probably be back when Mane is away. While Matip, well, you really don't have that many quality centre backs in your squad. 

I still rate Sakho over Lovren/Klavan and definitely over Lucas. Shame him and Klopp had a falling out. 

[A Horse Named Stranger]

Klavan was imo never intended to be more than somebody who adds some depth to the squad on that position. Sakho is super inconsistent with his performances. No, idea about Lovren. I still think he is somewhat of a one dimensional defender, who does not have Matip's skill set on the ball.

[polishgenius]

50 minutes ago, Lord Friendzone said:

Look like Bilic won't be sacked, got support from the board. It was on Sky Sports.

There's a reason they call it 'the dreaded vote of confidence'. Gone by Christmas if things don't improve massively.

[Consigliere]

That Lucas Perez doesn't look too shabby.

[White Walker Texas Ranger]

Arsenal manage 1st in Group. They'll probably draw Bayern Munich for the round of 16, then.

[Mexal]

1 hour ago, Consigliere said:

That Lucas Perez doesn't look too shabby.

First time he's really played with Sanchez/Ozil/Xhaka. Looks good out there. In the limited time he's played, he's been really productive even if a lot of the goals are poacher types and the result of other players work.

1 minute ago, White Walker Texas Ranger said:

Arsenal manage 1st in Group. They'll probably draw Bayern Munich for the round of 16, then.

This is going to happen.

[Philokles]

With a league match on Sunday and the knockout round draw on Monday, United might have to play on a concrete pitch tomorrow.

[Consigliere]

The Real/Dortmund game was great entertainment. Kudos to Dortmund for coming back from two goals behind to top the group. Even when they were two down, I never got the feeling that they were out of the game. Even though their defense will concede a few, their attack looks magnificent atm especially with Reus back. Real Madrid wouldn't be too unhappy about finishing second given how the groups have panned out. The toughest opponents they could draw would be either Juve or Arsenal. Other potential opponents look to be quite favourable. Given Arsenal's luck, I'd say there's a 90% chance of them drawing either Bayern or Real.