Topic: CL:Liverpool 2 v FC Porto 0 Keita 4' Si Senor Bobby 26'

[sms1986]

Also, someone said on here awhile back that the away goals rule is being dropped, is that true?  If so, I take it, we'll be resorting to extra time and penalties?

UEFA were considering it back in February but I don't think anything has been decided.

[Waka]

Heard last night that Porto hadn't failed to score away in the CL all season, which says a lot about their quality.  They're clearly a battling side who wont give up easily.

That said, we could lose the return tie 3-1 and still go through, so they'll have to weigh their risks carefully.

Also, someone said on here awhile back that the away goals rule is being dropped, is that true?  If so, I take it, we'll be resorting to extra time and penalties?

Theres talks of it being scrapped altogether as more and more teams seem to be able to score away from home a lot more than 10 odd years ago. Won't happen mid tournament though.

[Perham]

I thought Lovren did pretty well today considering it was his first game back. He kept a clean sheet and was generally solid all game so I'd say that's okay.

[Red Beret]

UEFA were considering it back in February but I don't think anything has been decided.

Theres talks of it being scrapped altogether as more and more teams seem to be able to score away from home a lot more than 10 odd years ago. Won't happen mid tournament though.

Thanks.

[wige]

Van Dijk was majestic. Whoever says otherwise, wasn’t at the game is/was drunk or high.

Henderson’s ball for the second goal was brilliant too.

He was clearly immense watching on the Telly as well.

[Melbred]

Jesus Christ

not entirely sure why Lovren is getting criticism? Oh yes it's Lovren!

Lovren was crucial. Didn’t let Marega bully him, great selection from Klopp.

Lovren was better than VVD in that game. He covered superbly about 3 times when Porto got behind VVD. That's are best centre back pairing for me.

Job done because of Lovren’s best efforts. He was brilliant!

Lovren played well tonight.

Hmmm...confirmation bias is an odd thing

RIght, OK. So having read these comments, I thought maybe I was being unfair. So I decided to watch again to see if my eyes were deceiving me. So here were my observations upon a second viewing.

16:25 – Lovren drops deep playing Marega onside.  Marega flicks ball around him to Soares, passes into the box for a blocked (by VVD) shot on goal.

29:12: Lovren is caught ball watching and well out of position. Ball is played over him, Marega has a shot -  Alisson saves 1-1 with his legs.

30:52 – Lovren (and VVD) ball watching – falls loose to Marega in the box for an uncontested shot on goal straight at Alisson.

Lovren “handball” – Not a handball, but poor defending. No idea why he takes his eye off the ball and turns away from it – ball drops onto his shoulder leading to the VAR review.
 
68:45 - Lovren unable to hold line for offside trap - plays Marega onside - Leading to a Marega shot on goal.

77:50 - Lovren unable to hold line for offside trap - plays Marega onside – leads to a Marega shot one on one off target (Cops a bollocking from VVD for this one)

Now considering we don't really concede many chances a team, Porto had 7 shots on goal. 3 on target, 4 off target. Lovren played a hand in us conceding 5 of those chances. We're just lucky Marega was wasteful last night, despite being in great form in the CL.

I know it was his first game back in months and so some rustiness should be considered, but those saying he had a good game.. yeah I still don't know what game you were watching.

[Mighty_Red]

Great result, probably should've finished the tie in the 1st half but considering they also had a few chances, I will take 2-0 overall. Still a bit of work to do in Oporto but a goal should be enough though I would've mind 3/4 to crush Iker's spirit.

It was brilliant how two TV refs (Walton & Dowd) cames up with different opinions on the incidents in both games, proving that every ref (and VAR) will make differing decisions. Can't why you would give a pen for TAA's, yes his hand moves towards the ball but I believe it was already moving as part of the jump, and the distance was just too small to react. He obviously wasn't trying to gain an advantage. Rose's was a little less clear cut but still a bit harsh.

 I thought Salah was being pulled and and was off balance when the tackle went in, when the whistle blew I thought it was a free kick to us at first. The tackle is bad and probably would've been a red but I think the arm pull saved him.

The offside was so tight, I can't see why the linesman flagged, I think he guessed because Bobby was in the way (and was actually offside). Its hard to be definitive on VAR let alone in real time.

Let's get ready for Chelsea, another good atmosphere and do our jobs then hopefully City will stumble and we can take advantage.

[Fabulous_aurelio]

I thought we were gonna score more at half time but I'll take that. Really professional performance.

Goals scored at half time dont count.

[UNO]

RIght, OK. So having read these comments, I thought maybe I was being unfair. So I decided to watch again to see if my eyes were deceiving me. So here were my observations upon a second viewing.

16:25 – Lovren drops deep playing Marega onside.  Marega flicks ball around him to Soares, passes into the box for a blocked (by VVD) shot on goal.

29:12: Lovren is caught ball watching and well out of position. Ball is played over him, Marega has a shot -  Alisson saves 1-1 with his legs.

30:52 – Lovren (and VVD) ball watching – falls loose to Marega in the box for an uncontested shot on goal straight at Alisson.

Lovren “handball” – Not a handball, but poor defending. No idea why he takes his eye off the ball and turns away from it – ball drops onto his shoulder leading to the VAR review.
 
68:45 - Lovren unable to hold line for offside trap - plays Marega onside - Leading to a Marega shot on goal.

77:50 - Lovren unable to hold line for offside trap - plays Marega onside – leads to a Marega shot one on one off target (Cops a bollocking from VVD for this one)

Now considering we don't really concede many chances a team, Porto had 7 shots on goal. 3 on target, 4 off target. Lovren played a hand in us conceding 5 of those chances. We're just lucky Marega was wasteful last night, despite being in great form in the CL.

I know it was his first game back in months and so some rustiness should be considered, but those saying he had a good game.. yeah I still don't know what game you were watching.

Thanks for the detailed report, I thought I watched the wrong match before your summary. They had too much of half chances than I like. With a bit of luck, they could have scored 2 or 3 goals.

[deFacto please, you bastards]

They had too much of half chances than I like. With a bit of luck, they could have scored 2 or 3 goals.

Massive exaggeration. Their expect goals was 0.8

[Goalposts for Jumpers]

RIght, OK. So having read these comments, I thought maybe I was being unfair. So I decided to watch again to see if my eyes were deceiving me. So here were my observations upon a second viewing.

16:25 – Lovren drops deep playing Marega onside.  Marega flicks ball around him to Soares, passes into the box for a blocked (by VVD) shot on goal.

29:12: Lovren is caught ball watching and well out of position. Ball is played over him, Marega has a shot -  Alisson saves 1-1 with his legs.

30:52 – Lovren (and VVD) ball watching – falls loose to Marega in the box for an uncontested shot on goal straight at Alisson.

Lovren “handball” – Not a handball, but poor defending. No idea why he takes his eye off the ball and turns away from it – ball drops onto his shoulder leading to the VAR review.
 
68:45 - Lovren unable to hold line for offside trap - plays Marega onside - Leading to a Marega shot on goal.

77:50 - Lovren unable to hold line for offside trap - plays Marega onside – leads to a Marega shot one on one off target (Cops a bollocking from VVD for this one)

Now considering we don't really concede many chances a team, Porto had 7 shots on goal. 3 on target, 4 off target. Lovren played a hand in us conceding 5 of those chances. We're just lucky Marega was wasteful last night, despite being in great form in the CL.

I know it was his first game back in months and so some rustiness should be considered, but those saying he had a good game.. yeah I still don't know what game you were watching.

There is a third option...

Possibly, and I'm just playing Devil's Advocate here, both sides of the argument are correct - the majority of their chances did come through Lovren's play/positioning, but he did have a good game given the circumstances (first game back for a while, some good recovery tackles, stronger in the air).

And given that we won with a clean sheet some people might think it's not the first thing worth mentioning.

That said, I though he had a pretty uneven game and our lack of solidity was down to 2 main factors - 1: Lovren was a bit off the pace, and 2: Fabinho had a few occasions where he committed to a block or tackle and didn't make it, allowing them to play around us right through the centre of the park.

[PoetryInMotion]

These moments where a player is played onside happen almost every match. No match has perfect coordination for 90 minutes. But we dealt with them pretty well which is what is important. The opponent had '3' shots on target (yes we're spoilt in a way that some opponents have 0 or 1 shot on target against us in certain games), and we're complaining. But then we don't micro-analyze for every game we have, that too for clean-sheets? No way. But then those games didn't have Lovren, so why not pull this game & do a surgery on it?

I thought they had 2 decent chances in the entire game. A couple of saves for Alisson & that was it. 0.8 xG clearly shows that. They created maybe just enough for 1 goal, but Alisson is Alisson and that's what he has done this whole season, intervening & cancelling out around 1 xG has been his forte.

[hesbighesred]

Theres talks of it being scrapped altogether as more and more teams seem to be able to score away from home a lot more than 10 odd years ago. Won't happen mid tournament though.

I hope not, for two reasons:
1) It's one of the things that makes European competition different and interesting. For me the away goals rule has always been one of the defining features of playing in Europe.
2) It would inevitably mean more games going to penalties.

[LovelyCushionedHeader]

RIght, OK. So having read these comments, I thought maybe I was being unfair. So I decided to watch again to see if my eyes were deceiving me. So here were my observations upon a second viewing.

16:25 – Lovren drops deep playing Marega onside.  Marega flicks ball around him to Soares, passes into the box for a blocked (by VVD) shot on goal.

29:12: Lovren is caught ball watching and well out of position. Ball is played over him, Marega has a shot -  Alisson saves 1-1 with his legs.

30:52 – Lovren (and VVD) ball watching – falls loose to Marega in the box for an uncontested shot on goal straight at Alisson.

Lovren “handball” – Not a handball, but poor defending. No idea why he takes his eye off the ball and turns away from it – ball drops onto his shoulder leading to the VAR review.
 
68:45 - Lovren unable to hold line for offside trap - plays Marega onside - Leading to a Marega shot on goal.

77:50 - Lovren unable to hold line for offside trap - plays Marega onside – leads to a Marega shot one on one off target (Cops a bollocking from VVD for this one)

Now considering we don't really concede many chances a team, Porto had 7 shots on goal. 3 on target, 4 off target. Lovren played a hand in us conceding 5 of those chances. We're just lucky Marega was wasteful last night, despite being in great form in the CL.

I know it was his first game back in months and so some rustiness should be considered, but those saying he had a good game.. yeah I still don't know what game you were watching.

The only reason I responded to your initial comment was that I couldn't believe that your first thought after the match was to criticise Lovren. To say "job done despite Lovren's best efforts" is a very, very shitty comment to make. He might have made mistakes but none were outlandish or out of the ordinary for any centre half. He obviously gave 100% and was part of the team not only winning but keeping a clean sheet.

The fact that you then decided to go back and watch the match again just to justify your criticism of him sums it all up. If you focus solely on any player during a match you will be able to a list numerous things that they did wrong. Keita had a great game yesterday but gave the ball away numerous times, as did Fabinho. Van Dijk was very sloppy by his high standards.

May be when I re-watch later I'll list all of the things he did well. When I include all the occasions he wasn't "ball watching" or "unable to hold a high line" I think it will be a bit longer than yours.

[Xanderzone]

I loved that piece of defending by Lovren at the end when it looked like the attacker done him but he managed to get his body in between ball and man and drew the foul.

Carragher was the master at that.

[Lynndenberries]

I hope not, for two reasons:
1) It's one of the things that makes European competition different and interesting. For me the away goals rule has always been one of the defining features of playing in Europe.
2) It would inevitably mean more games going to penalties.

Number 2 is my biggest fear. Penalties are a necessary evil in some cases and are exciting for neutrals, but it seems like a cruel way for a team to get knocked out of a tournament or lose a final.

[Robinred]

Well I also watched the game back in it’s entirety.

We were, in truth, not at our best, despite some glorious moments. No one should shoulder the blame exclusively, nor should we be afraid as supporters, of saying we’ve had better nights.

I’m always wary of too many changes, particularly in defence. We got away with it on a few occasions last night, when better finishing or decision making by Porto players would have punished sloppy defending. They are a dangerous team.

Having said that, we created great opportunities too, which weren’t converted because of poor finishing or decision making. For example, Mo had two shots on target which struck team mates, Bobby blazed a good chance over, and Milly was “in” when Mané scored his offside goal.

It’s going to be a nail-biting climax to the season for sure.

[SinceSixtyFive]

I loved that piece of defending by Lovren at the end when it looked like the attacker done him but he managed to get his body in between ball and man and drew the foul.

Carragher was the master at that.

Is that the one where he seemed to turn his body so he could play the ball with the foot that was furthest away from the attacker? If so I thought that was very clever defending.

Overall, I cant say I was too alarmed to see his name on the team sheet, nor did he give me any particular sense of disappointment during the game. I certainly didn't feel like it had been a great evening and result but "That Lovren was disappointing though". The thought never entered my mind. I thought "That's been a great evening and result". End of.

Opinions eh?

[Jon2lfc]

I loved that piece of defending by Lovren at the end when it looked like the attacker done him but he managed to get his body in between ball and man and drew the foul.

Carragher was the master at that.

This type of defending never impresses me.
It's not hard to master. You just play the man and not the ball.


Lovren can be a great defender though so he doesn't have to resort to this 'old man defending'. His performance in the CL final last year was pretty spot on.

[wige]

I loved that piece of defending by Lovren at the end when it looked like the attacker done him but he managed to get his body in between ball and man and drew the foul.

Carragher was the master at that.

The grin on his face after this moment was fantastic too. Totally knew he'd defended it well and bought the foul all at once. Great moment.

Thought he was ok. Moments out of position or a bit slow. Other moments where he was strong and decisive. Was pretty good on the ball throughout.

[Yorkykopite]

The grin on his face after this moment was fantastic too. Totally knew he'd defended it well and bought the foul all at once. Great moment.

Thought he was ok. Moments out of position or a bit slow. Other moments where he was strong and decisive. Was pretty good on the ball throughout.

I agree. I suppose you could say that the best thing for Lovren (and the team) is that he managed to get through it. There were times when he looked to be running through cement and we haven't seen that in one of our centre backs for a while now. But he's coming back after a long lay off and although never lightning quick he isn't normally glacial slow either. He also declined any attempt to make a positive forward pass, but that was ok as well, since the Porto team sat back and there were was lots of space for other Liverpool players to make progressive plays. All told, for a fourth choice centre back, Lovren is pretty good. He's obviously not as good as he thinks he is, but I quite like the fact that he thinks he's better than he is. There's nothing worse, after all, than a centre back who lacks self-belief - and we've had a few of those over the years. Hi Martin.

[Enders]

Danny Mills , not for the first time let his spiteful agenda against us get in the way of his 'reporting'  tonight. It just made him look like the clueless, biased hateful tosser he is when it comes to us.

Haha...6 clear cut chances for Porto, Salah shite, blah blah blah.

This is a man who simply can't hide his distain for us.

Found it

Danny Mills is, and always will be, a penis.

[the_red_pill]

I hope not, for two reasons:
1) It's one of the things that makes European competition different and interesting. For me the away goals rule has always been one of the defining features of playing in Europe.
2) It would inevitably mean more games going to penalties.

And less tactics. I like smart tactics and weeding the cream from amidst the shite- from my armchair. It's a different sort of game and a break from the hussle and bussle of the league and domestic cups. All of these- tactics, intelligence, coaching ability, pressure that leads to memorably spares moments of genius on the pitch all add so much weight to it and it's mostly down to the away-goals rule.

In that light, I can really appreciate it being likened to eating caviar once in a while.

[BrandoLFC]

I thought Lovren did pretty well today considering it was his first game back. He kept a clean sheet and was generally solid all game so I'd say that's okay.

Almost all their best chances were due to him though.  Might have been rust but he made Hendo's turns look quick.  It didn't cost us and Higuain isn't fast but going back to Matip might not be a bad idea either.

[sms1986]

@Coral

Most #UCL goals for Liverpool in the Champions League era:

🔴 Steven Gerrard (21)
🔴 Roberto Firmino (13)
🔴 Mohamed Salah (13)
🔴 Sadio Mané (13)

[Funky_Gibbons]

Almost all their best chances were due to him though.  Might have been rust but he made Hendo's turns look quick.  It didn't cost us and Higuain isn't fast but going back to Matip might not be a bad idea either.

Their best chance and highest xG was when when we cleared a corner and they played it back in to Marega who was played onside by two players who were slow stepping up.

[Kekule]

I hope not, for two reasons:
1) It's one of the things that makes European competition different and interesting. For me the away goals rule has always been one of the defining features of playing in Europe.
2) It would inevitably mean more games going to penalties.

You can argue that extra time wouldn't be entirely fair either.  As it is extra time in the 2nd leg it means the team playing at home has an extra 30 minutes with their own fans at their backs roaring them on which could be considered an advantage, however the away side has 30 extra minutes to score an away goal to meaning the home team would have to score two (and so on).   

Now whether those "advantages" cancel each other out is another debate, but each side has something going for them in extra time.  If you get rid of the away goals rule then the team drawn at home in the 2nd leg gets a potential 120 minutes at home, whilst the home team in the first leg only gets 90.

That doesn't seem right to me.

[BrandoLFC]

Their best chance and highest xG was when when we cleared a corner and they played it back in to Marega who was played onside by two players who were slow stepping up.

Why I said "almost all".

[Yosser0_0]

Keita coming into his own at the perfect time.

He needs to stop arsing about with stupid back heels and flicks in the defensive third, he does it on a regular basis. Hopefully Klopp will have him cut that side out of his game, going forward he's improving.

[markedasred]

This is my lesson for you slower/negative types on how to assess that game. 1. Won 2. Clean Sheet. 3 No injuries 4. Barely got out of 2nd gear. If we did the 1st 3 of those every game we would be the finest team ever. As it is, we are doing it more often than most in the 1st class game, so we are becoming that last bit of the previous sentence. Without cheating financially.

[Mutton Geoff]

RIght, OK. So having read these comments, I thought maybe I was being unfair. So I decided to watch again to see if my eyes were deceiving me. So here were my observations upon a second viewing.

16:25 – Lovren drops deep playing Marega onside.  Marega flicks ball around him to Soares, passes into the box for a blocked (by VVD) shot on goal.

29:12: Lovren is caught ball watching and well out of position. Ball is played over him, Marega has a shot -  Alisson saves 1-1 with his legs.

30:52 – Lovren (and VVD) ball watching – falls loose to Marega in the box for an uncontested shot on goal straight at Alisson.

Lovren “handball” – Not a handball, but poor defending. No idea why he takes his eye off the ball and turns away from it – ball drops onto his shoulder leading to the VAR review.
 
68:45 - Lovren unable to hold line for offside trap - plays Marega onside - Leading to a Marega shot on goal.

77:50 - Lovren unable to hold line for offside trap - plays Marega onside – leads to a Marega shot one on one off target (Cops a bollocking from VVD for this one)

Now considering we don't really concede many chances a team, Porto had 7 shots on goal. 3 on target, 4 off target. Lovren played a hand in us conceding 5 of those chances. We're just lucky Marega was wasteful last night, despite being in great form in the CL.

I know it was his first game back in months and so some rustiness should be considered, but those saying he had a good game.. yeah I still don't know what game you were watching.

Did you bother to watch the game though?

[Mighty_Red]

You can argue that extra time wouldn't be entirely fair either.  As it is extra time in the 2nd leg it means the team playing at home has an extra 30 minutes with their own fans at their backs roaring them on which could be considered an advantage, however the away side has 30 extra minutes to score an away goal to meaning the home team would have to score two (and so on).   

Now whether those "advantages" cancel each other out is another debate, but each side has something going for them in extra time.  If you get rid of the away goals rule then the team drawn at home in the 2nd leg gets a potential 120 minutes at home, whilst the home team in the first leg only gets 90.

That doesn't seem right to me.

Agreed, all the talk on BT about teams being cautious because of the away goals rule are forgetting the flip side to that - without that carrot, away teams would simply shut up shop hoping to take a 0-0 back to theirs.

The away goal rule ensures that Mourinho tactics are not necessarily rewarded.

[deFacto please, you bastards]

This lot have been particularly noisy after the match with all sorts of comments.