Topic: CL Sevilla 3 -3 LFC (Firmino 2 30, Mane 21 Ben Yedder 50, 60 (Pen) Pizzaro 93 )

[Jimmy Jazz]

The only team we've beaten in this relatively easy group is Maribor.

Hopefully that changes in a fortnight but the group stage hasn't exactly filled me with any confidence of us in Europe. Hopefully that will change with a win and an exciting (or easy) draw.

[Gnurglan]

I guess it just depends what you prefer to focus on. I'd rather just ignore all football media and wait for the Chelsea game. If we hadn't won 3 in a row in the league, maybe I'd be worried or something. But we've been playing well enough for me to be able to forgive tonight. Even the Tottenham game is a distant memory now.

True. There is no doubt we have qualities.

What bothers me is that we go from being really sharp to being direct poor. I would like to see better stability. When teams get to test our defence, we fold. Spurs, City and Sevilla twice. 14 goals against. We need to be able to stop the bleeding, but we seem unable to do that. Our defensive ability should be much better at this point in time. Our front three and Coutinho is top quality. The rest sometimes feel like bottom half standard and our defending on set pieces is even worse.
We won't go far in the CL with this. We might do quite well in the league if we attack and beat the bottom half sides. But in reality we need to address our defence and midfield if we want to win stuff.

[Gili Gulu]

Mane and Henderson were both not long back from injury, and you could tell, as they both tired badly. Henderson does seem to go missing when we lose control of midfield, he just doesn't seem to ever re-establish a handle on games that we have a rocky time in.

[clinical]

Fuck me we either concede 0 or 3. It's ridiculous.

[rawcusk8]

The lads looked shattered out there, certainly got given the run around by Sevilla. Draw aint the worst result but the manner of that second half certainly feels like a loss. Wonder what Klopp has to say about the second half?

On a side note I thought Lovren played pretty well, won plenty of duels in the air and on the ground. Win or draw the last game of the group and we go through.. I'll take that. Bring on the plastics, beat them and all is forgiven.

[24/7]

Are you the same person who likes to critizise half time comments?

Most half time comments are knee-jerks. Just because they happen to be prescient after the fact does not make them any less knee-jerk at the time they're written. If you believe you can offer a better commentary on our games, in real time, whilst watching, then I'll give you a trial. Until that point, lay off with the cheap shots on a valued member of our team.

[Garnier]

Another positive is that we won't have to play against Seville ever again. We just can't do sh*t against them, it's frustrating

[stockdam]

On balance, we scored three excellent goals. That flattered us a bit as Sevilla had some great chances.

At 3-0 up and Sevilla controlling the game, Klopp needed to flood the midfield. make sure they had no time to pass the ball and also to pick up the 2nd ball. Instead we played as if we could score 6 or 7 goals.

People moan about our defence but the first thing to do away from home is to stop the ball coming into the box and frustrate the other team by holding the ball. We panicked and let them have the ball.

It's a pity that we didn't hang on and we need to start to learn how to turn an open game into a dull and boring one. We were three nil up so leave on Mane for the counter but take off Salah and Firmino and protect the lead.

[aggerdid]

 Any good points I want to make will be lost in fume. I’m relaxed. A poorly managed game, yes. A draw away to sevilla a bad result? No. Beat moscow at home and we win the group nice and easy (with very little chance of going out)

[Lush is the best medicine...]

Regarding the next round

Top seeds (* is definite, ** is good as)
*Spurs
*City
*Beşiktaş
**Man United
**PSG
**Barcelona
**Roma/Chelsea

Second seeds
*Real Madrid
*Shaktar/Napoli
*Leipzig/Porto
**Bayern
**Juventus
**Chelsea/Roma
**Basel/CSKA

So realistically if it’s second it’s Beşiktaş, PSG, Barca and possibly Roma, first we have real, Bayern, juve and possibly Leipzig and Napoli but also Basel, so it’s basically 50-50 on finishing first or second with regards to a decent opponent (although Roma and Napoli would probably be favourites against us)

[killer-heels]

Another positive is that we won't have to play against Seville ever again. We just can't do sh*t against them, it's frustrating

We are better than Sevilla.

[Nick110581]

Weird half where no one covered themselves in glory.

Team has loads to learn.

[Lycan]

The captain of Liverpool, ladies and gentlemen.

Dear oh dear.

[Marcel]

It's human nature to be loss averse, meaning the frustration felt from losing outweighs the elation gained from winning. And after a loss (which this felt like) there is more scope to analyse what went wrong.

That's a genuinely interesting theory. Doesn't seem to be much analysis in post match threads though. Just the same stuff. I'm guilty too, I only tend to post in these when I get pretty bemused by some of the things people say after we lose.

[Bend It Like Aurelio]

The bigger question is why? We didn't exactly press the hell out of them in the first half and they were awful defensively. Why did we looked fucked as soon as the second half got underway? Maybe we just thought we had it won.

When things happen and players get mentally deflated, it is easy to get fatigued.

[harryc]

Anyone found out why Henderson and Gini decided to stay in the dressing room at HT.........

Henderson pass completion tonight 55%!........from the deepest lying midfielder no great surprise why we were over run...

[slaphead]

I'm not that bothered about the result. And overall we're in a excellent position to go through. It's just incredibly frustrating that the "Liverpool's defense let them down again" line will be the phrase of the day tomorrow. It's true of course, but for me, in games like this when they get maybe the first, and definitely the second, that's where you see the value of having a top drawer defensive midfielder to really take the sting out of a game.
Aah well. Moreno had a mare, yeah he's had plenty of them in his time, but hopefully it will be the exception not the rule for the new version of Moreno
I wanted to see a real captains performance from someone out there when it looked for all the world that Sevilla were going to get something from the game but incredibly, we just don't have someone with steel and leadership.
A good result on Saturday thought and we're away again

[vicar]

On balance, we scored three excellent goals. That flattered us a bit as Sevilla had some great chances.

At 3-0 up and Sevilla controlling the game, Klopp needed to flood the midfield. make sure they had no time to pass the ball and also to pick up the 2nd ball. Instead we played as if we could score 6 or 7 goals.

People moan about our defence but the first thing to do away from home is to stop the ball coming into the box and frustrate the other team by holding the ball. We panicked and let them have the ball.

It's a pity that we didn't hang on and we need to start to learn how to turn an open game into a dull and boring one. We were three nil up so leave on Mane for the counter but take off Salah and Firmino and protect the lead.

All fair but in reality they were back in the game due to two silly mistakes. No free kick and no penalty and time ticks away.....

[Giono]

You were right!

We were superb going forward in the first half, but vulnerable to being split through the middle. As usual there was little protection for the centre backs. Henderson - as usual - was a menace to his own side when he had the ball under pressure and Sevilla were very clever in their movement in and around our box.

It’s not the end of the world, as you say, and we ought to qualify. But until we get a defensive midfielder who can shield the centre backs, knows how and when to press, and is able to use the ball intelligently when under pressure himself, we will continue to fall short against teams as clever as Sevilla.

56% pass success for Henderson in that match.

[Phil M]

Bollocks. Some of us were brought up on decades of teams that could not just attack but could defend as well. I'd much rather be getting pissed in celebration, rather than using this thread to vent in frustration - I'm sure the same goes for everyone.

We all know this squad's limitations defensively. People getting outraged now because we conceded away from home against a side that got our number at home as well in the end. The lads who travelled will be leaving the ground dejected they're not celebrating a win, but what a fucking first half performance that was! Moreno then made two individual errors that led directly to their goals but I see half the team is being singled out. One fella started with Karius ffs who did fuck all wrong as far as I can recall.

We also had chances to win the game. Can's cutback which was cut out and Mane's volley etc.

Horrible end to the game but in the end that's an invaluable point and we top the group.

We have a huge game at the weekend to focus on and then Spartak at home to dispose of.

We've been on the up since Huddersfield, we need to keep the momentum going and focus on the positives.

[Studgotelli]

I guess it just depends what you prefer to focus on. I'd rather just ignore all football media and wait for the Chelsea game. If we hadn't won 3 in a row in the league, maybe I'd be worried or something. But we've been playing well enough for me to be able to forgive tonight. Even the Tottenham game is a distant memory now.

Same. Im not overly mad in the grand scheme of things currently. I’m worried for us in the CL knockouts though assuming we can get there.

In the league we can get away with our team. In the CL, our performance in this group proves were not good enough. In particular in central midfield I see where our major issue is.

[thelinnen]

What’s wrong with that?

Maybe as captain he could of, you know, inspired the rest of them to 'cope with it'? Been a bit more vocal to get them to stop giving the ball away constantly? He was a passenger in the second half in every respect.

[Felch Aid]

Glass half full half empty.

Still top and unbeaten.

Yet again a team drives at us in the second half and we wilt. That midfield loses its shape and balance. An old head like Lucas calms it down but we dont have that player.

Onwards and upwards.

[Syntexity]

Really, Moreno is our best defender this year, through all the good and bad. But I can’t help but think that he was probably doing a few favours for his boyhood club. I think if he is emotionally affected, he generally tends to have a poor game, which isn’t a great quality to have.

I was angry at his performance there, but I think the crux of our downfall was that no one was putting pressure on Ever Banega. That job I think would have fallen to Coutinho, I can see why Klopp made the sub in that situation. But I think Can was ineffective too in that role, and collectively we lost our heads. Henderson too was culpable, I think the whole team was behind in tempo in the second half. Hendo I think could have done a better job pulling the team together.

Anyway, we are through, but could have done better.

We are not through yet though.. We need to avoid defeat in the last game. As well all know, nothing is certain in football. I believe we are more than good enough to beat Spartak, however it is not given.

[MULLENEDWINE]

Wish people would stop reacting like we deserve to win every game against teams like these or those lower in the table. We haven't spent anywhere near the other clubs at the top in Europe or the premiership so why is everyone so surprised at results like this?

We're a work in progress and we'll get better and better over the next few seasons, the fact is we want instant success and it ain't happening anytime soon, at all.

Let's just grab a hold of something or someone near and dear and ride this wave of instability until we've added a few more key signings and then we can really start to compare ourselves with the others around and above us who we want to compete with. It's just a sloppy second half from a team who's not quite there yet. Chill.

[Six Beardy]

It's human nature to be loss averse, meaning the frustration felt from losing outweighs the elation gained from winning. And after a loss (which this felt like) there is more scope to analyse what went wrong.

Exactly and this result has to be taken in context - if we'd come from 3-0 down to draw we'd all be ecstatic. If this was a one-off defensive capitulation it could be written off as an abberation- but it's part of a continuing trend that undermines the confidence of the players and the fans ... and gives hope to every single team we come up against that they can go 2 or 3 goals down to us and still be in with a chance. It's so frustrating.

[sms1986]

We all know this squad's limitations defensively. People getting outraged now because we conceded away from home against a side that got our number at home as well in the end. The lads who travelled will be leaving the ground dejected they're not celebrating a win, but what a fucking first half performance that was! Moreno then made two individual errors that led directly to their goals but I see half the team is being singled out. One fella started with Karius ffs who did fuck all wrong as far as I can recall.

We also had chances to win the game. Can's cutback which was cut out and Mane's volley etc.

Horrible end to the game but in the end that's an invaluable point and we top the group.

We have a huge game at the weekend to focus on and then Spartak at home to dispose of.

We've been on the up since Huddersfield, we need to keep the momentum going and focus on the positives.

Think the momentum will continue even after tonight, the team just have to remember that they're the team that we saw in the first half.

[johnj147]

pathetic second half so bad ,, europa final all over again..

[Nick110581]

Could have made changes at half time to freshen it up.

Anyway, we should qualify as only need a draw.

Hope the Team react positively on Saturday.

[dangerpuss]

Has anyone actually ever listened to Kevin Kilbane?

It's torture. He's the co-commentator on TV3 in Ireland. He was wetting himself with excitement in the second half. Trotting out clichés every minute.

[rob1966]

Fight backs go both ways you know. For every Istanbul and Dortmund there's a Palace or Sevilla. A team unbeaten at home in 25 won't just lie down, same way we don't.

Top of our group, unbeaten and just need a point from a HOME game, fuck all to start crying about.

[SMASHerano]

Anyone found out why Henderson and Gini decided to stay in the dressing room at HT.........

Henderson pass completion tonight 55%!........from the deepest lying midfielder no great surprise why we were over run...

This is shocking...

[Sarge]

We are far from a title winning side.

[Gerry Attrick]

Anyone found out why Henderson and Gini decided to stay in the dressing room at HT.........

Henderson pass completion tonight 55%!........from the deepest lying midfielder no great surprise why we were over run...

Pass completion of our starting midfielders; Henderson 57%, Coutinho 56%, Wijnaldum 75%. Not nearly good enough

[killer-heels]

I desperately want us to play them again. Like, this weekend.

[nico 8]

That's my opinion too: we kept three up front the entire game and they were too tired to press effectively.

Totally agree. Perhaps we needed to go 442 or 451. They sliced through our midfield with short triangular passes.  Needed more bodies in the midfield.

[Kop307]

Anyone found out why Henderson and Gini decided to stay in the dressing room at HT.........

Henderson pass completion tonight 55%!........from the deepest lying midfielder no great surprise why we were over run...

Also made 0 tackles and didn't contest a single header. Liverpool captain.

Fucking blows me mind. I wouldn't even have him in the squad.

We're letting Emre Can leave on a free to Juventus or Bayern, and yet Jordan Henderson is Liverpool captain. If he was availble on a free in the summer he'd be lucky to get a game at a club like West Ham.

[Charles Foster Kane]

We should have made the subs when 3-1 up. Clearly some players had lost their heads.

Yes.

We should have dived more as well. Sick of getting cheated by all these foreign sides who revel in the cheating element of the game.

No.

[gazzam1963]

Well all of us who've paid £60 for the last game will have a decent night to look forward tom rather than a dead rubber

[ScubaSteve]

We are far from a title winning side.

I agree although I don’t think a KO comp is passed us!