Jump to content

Football: The art of lowering expectations


Consigliere

Recommended Posts

Net spend by clubs since Klopp arrived at Liverpool in October 2015:

City: 404 million GBP
United: 320 million GBP
Chelsea: 208 million GBP
Arsenal: 162 million GBP
Liverpool: 126 million GBP

I assume Spurs are lower again, but they were not mentioned.

Just a few weeks ago there was speculation that Klopp's job was at risk.  Now the narrative has fully shifted back again.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 minutes ago, polishgenius said:



Who from?

I'm too lazy to find links.  Liverpool became the new crisis club after losing to Red Star on top of a few draws (e.g. Arsenal) and shaky performances elsewhere.  And then got outplayed and out-acted by PSG too.  So some pundits switched from fawning to scolding, reminding us that Klopp hasn't won anything yet, the team is struggling to score or even create.  Now three wins within a week against Everton (fortunate late winner), Burnley (came back from 1-0 down) and Bournemouth (probably best performance yet) and the narrative has switched again.  Even if we might still exit the CL tomorrow.

Those are all true facts, and all exist simultaneously in a state that is neither black nor white, genius nor disaster.  But I guess you get more clicks if you swing from one extreme to the other.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, lmanion said:

Its great to have Champions League football and make the knockout stages but missing out might not be the worst thing for Liverpool this season

I agree, although are Thursday night EL games any better?

Besides, by the time March rolls around we might be glad to have a European title to chase.  We can always make it a second priority then if we’re still in contention for the PL title.  I don’t want to assume now that we’ll be able to keep pace with City. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

True that but right now we are keeping pace without our attack really flowing like they did last season. If we were to drop to the EL we can give the backups more game time and concentrate on an FA cup run and really try to push city in the league.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 hours ago, Iskaral Pust said:

Just a few weeks ago there was speculation that Klopp's job was at risk.  Now the narrative has fully shifted back again.

 

10 hours ago, Iskaral Pust said:

Those are all true facts, and all exist simultaneously in a state that is neither black nor white, genius nor disaster.  But I guess you get more clicks if you swing from one extreme to the other.

That's the state of football journalism. It's becoming more and more difficult to find something that is actually well written and insightful. Sarri came under fire as well after Chelsea's defeat to Spurs. I saw articles suggesting that all a team needs to do to nullify Sarri's system is to shut down Jorginho. It's like the idiots genuinely believe that nobody in Serie A ever thought of doing that. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 hours ago, Iskaral Pust said:

I'm too lazy to find links.

I'm not sure any exist. Klopp certainly faced some criticism, but I can't find a single article suggesting his job was at risk or even that the club was in crisis. 

Football journalism is certainly hyperbolic, but I think on this occasion there's no evidence.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I mean, I find it amusing. You are top of the league, and you still have a chance to advance from a really challenging group. Then an hour before kick off time. "No, the manager is a total ass. we will crash out because Wijnaldum is just horrible. We won't get a shot on target."

Btw. that was just a sitter Salah did not convert.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If Liverpool goes out of the CL, it was definately not the creation of chances, or allowing too Napoli to create too many. It would've been down to putting the ball in the bak of the net. Salah and Mane (also Henderson) could've put that game to bed easily, and put the game out of reach for Napoli.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just imagine if we could actually finish our chances.  Thankfully Alisson made the big save when needed.

We're through, good news for now.  Let's see what the draw offers us for February.  It sounded like both TAA and Milner had injuries as they went off, which brings us back to the RB cover problem for the United game this weekend.

I'm not thrilled that we started with the same stodgy MF for such an important game, but we did create plenty of chances and overall it worked out.  Klopp knows what he's doing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well done to Spurs.  They got a late equalizer against a rotated Barca team, and that allows them narrowly through ahead of Inter.  Considering they had only one point after the first three games, they did really well to turn it around.

Liverpool's record looks pretty odd: they won all three home games but lost all three away from home.  And the defeats to PSG and Napoli were closer than the one to Red Star.

All four PL teams will be in the knock-out stages.  Porto looks like the best available opponent for Liverpool/United/Spurs.  All the other potential opponents look tough but not impossible.  Dortmund would be a fun tie, but not easy.  This year all the groups have been won by the top seed, except for Dortmund narrowly edging out Atletico.  So fewer surprises to cause unexpected match-ups in the next round.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I hope United draw Real Madrid or one of the other big boys. We are playing so shit that even if we draw Porto, we'd probably still park the bus and get eliminated. Since it's highly unlikely we get beyond the next round regardless of the opponent, I'd much rather we go out in a glamour tie. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
×
×
  • Create New...