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Football: Insert Ted Lasso joke here


ljkeane

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Last night was Liverpool's worse performance for quite a while. They were static, the press was off for most of the game, they had trouble getting into chances and even when they did get a shot the finishing was poor. Positioning and movement were probably the worst of all. How many times last night was Robertson in front of Diaz and Sallah? How many times there was no one in the box? 

On top of that, Klopp still has an issue with never having a plan B. If plan A doesn't work, the team just does the same but with more intensity. Usually it works but from time to time it doesn't and we look not dangerous at all.

Firmino was probably the worst Liverpool player on the pitch last night. He needs to leave or drop into reserves and rediscover his form. As he is now, he's of no use to a team playing for titles. To be fair, he was far from the only one who wasn't up to the level required.

After 4-0 and 5-0 last season I was really bummed out because United were so poor there was no excitement in watching the match. Be careful what you wish for, I guess?

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Tbf, Liverpool were missing crucial players too - Jota and Thiago injured, Nunez suspended and Fabinho not fit enough to start. Soylent was right – Liverpool are light in midfield and need to make a signing there now in addition to going after Bellingham next season. Thiago regularly picks up injuries, Milner is old and Ox and Keita are walking sick notes with the latter in a contract stand off with the club as well – both need to be replaced.

 

14 hours ago, Darryk said:

ETH really got his tactics spot on that game but his true masterstroke was dropping Maguire.

I know Maguire has become a meme and he is an issue but he shouldn't be singled out either. There are players who have performed just as bad or worse than him over the past year i.e. Shaw and De Gea have been just as bad or worse liabilities but don't receive a fraction of the criticism Maguire does. Ronaldo divided the squad and wrecked all morale. So Ten Hag dropping Shaw and Ronaldo as well was just as important as dropping Maguire. De Gea needs to be next.

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30 minutes ago, Consigliere said:

De Gea needs to be next.

Trapp is on his way. (Altho, I'd have picked other Bundesliga Goalies ahead of him tbh, Sommer and Flekken (also Kobel, but Dortmund won't part with him), if you had acted sooner Stefan Ortega, who is now back up at City is much better on the ball with his feet).

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Liverpool went through a sluggish phase before and came out of it. Injuries might be hurting them. We'll see what happens vs Bournemouth, that will give us some signs as to whether this is just a phase or if they're really burnt out.

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Liverpool have a pretty long injury list right now – Thiago, Curtis Jones, Konate, Matip, Ox, Keita, Jota, and Calvin Ramsay. Nunez was suspended too. Take a look at Liverpool's bench for the game – Klopp really didn't have the options available off the bench to change the game. It's not been a great start but once most of those players are available again, I expect Liverpool will not have much trouble finishing in the top 2. Only a prolonged injury crisis can prevent that.

 

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3 hours ago, Mark Antony said:

He was bad but man VVD was awful too. I know he always puts on a nonchalant demeanor but He really played as if he didn’t care. 

 

Yeah I'm gonna say Firmino was about the least of the problems. Even from attackers I think Diaz was completely nonexistent, but also the entire midfield was dreadful and as well as VVD being poor, I feel like Klopp has to start seriously thinking about another way to use TAA, whether it be by changing his position or via a new formation that offers him some protection, because at the moment he's far too easy to isolate and not good enough defensively to trust once he is, and he's getting absolutely bullied. I mean Elanga had him on toast and Elanga is not a great dribbler. He's gonna be up against Saint-Maximin next week. 

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18 hours ago, Mark Antony said:

He was bad but man VVD was awful too. I know he always puts on a nonchalant demeanor but He really played as if he didn’t care. 

Yeah, his reaction for the first United goal was... well, there was no reaction at all really. He just stood there. I get it that Bruno was close to him and if he lunged forward that pass would've opened up but just standing there with an opponent on his own in the box was much more of a risk.

15 hours ago, Consigliere said:

Liverpool have a pretty long injury list right now – Thiago, Curtis Jones, Konate, Matip, Ox, Keita, Jota, and Calvin Ramsay. Nunez was suspended too. Take a look at Liverpool's bench for the game – Klopp really didn't have the options available off the bench to change the game. It's not been a great start but once most of those players are available again, I expect Liverpool will not have much trouble finishing in the top 2. Only a prolonged injury crisis can prevent that.

For a while now it's clear that Klopp plans for a pretty happy case scenario. Our first 11 are world class, and since that defender crisis 2 seasons ago we have improved squad depth in defense, and with planned replacement of front three we kind of stacked up up front, too. BUT our midfield is sorely lacking if we get a couple of injuries. I mean, Ox, Keita and Curtis Jones are rotation players at best and Calvin Ramsay still hasn't played a competitive match for Liverpool. If their injuries affect the team this much, then something is wrong. Especially when Keita is injured all the time. Ok, Konate and Matip have been missed, as have Jota and Thiago, but that's four injuries, not that unusual in top-level football.

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29 minutes ago, Consigliere said:

Reports in Spain that Newcastle have reached an agreement with Real Sociedad to sign Alexander Isak for €70m. Haven't seen any of the Newcastle journos report on this yet though.

I like this buy for Newcastle. He's young and if given time to rediscover his form, could be huge on that team. I like what they're doing right now without going insane. Seems like they have a plan. 

On flip side, seeing something like 90m for Antony by United... that is insane.

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44 minutes ago, Consigliere said:

Reports in Spain that Newcastle have reached an agreement with Real Sociedad to sign Alexander Isak for €70m. Haven't seen any of the Newcastle journos report on this yet though.

 

Eta.

 

His goals per game record is nothing special, but he's young and I trust Howe. It's getting reported everywhere now so it seems likely.

His wiki page is already updated, so it must be true.  

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Liverpool won the league then came 4th the season after then 2nd the next. They go through good phases and bad phases. To early to say this is a collapse rather than just a phase.

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Liverpool came in 3rd season after winning the league, after having major injury issues throughout the season. Especially with CBs, forcing them to play 20-ish different pairings in the league that season (most of which didn't include VVD who was out for most of the season). All things considered, that wasn't a bad result that season.

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2 hours ago, Darryk said:

Liverpool won the league then came 4th the season after then 2nd the next. They go through good phases and bad phases. To early to say this is a collapse rather than just a phase.

The third place finish was on the back of a season, in which they were massively plagued with injuries. VVD was taken out early on by Pickford, Thiago picked up a long term injury, Gomez went down, too. Then in some order Matip and Henderson picked up long term injuries. I think Fabinho was out for a while, too at some point. The amount of injuries were really a massive hit to their campaign, that no club could just absorb and shake off, not even City. So eventually finishing top four that season was a massive achievement by Klopp, I'd argue more so than winning the league the year before.

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