Topic: PL: Liverpool 1 vs 1 Crystal Palace Zaha 32' Diaz 62’ (Nunez s/o 59')

[RK7]

We will see. 90-95 points seems easy money.

Just got to hope they get complacent, otherwise, yeah they will hit those figures for sure.

[please, I have my reasons for it but...]

We will see. 90-95 points seems easy money.

Hangover after an international competition is a real thing and we saw it with Salah after the AFCONs last year and how his form dropped.

These are the players from City:

 - Sure going to Qatar barring a late injury: Ederson, Walker, Dias, Stones, Cancelo, Ake, Laporte, Gundogan, Rodri, De Bruyne, Bernardo Silva, Grealish, Foden, Kalvin Phillips
 - Questionable: Julian Alvarez, Sergio Gomez (probably not get called up)
 - Not going: Haaland, Mahrez, Ortega, Carson and the rest of their kids

Compare this to our players:

 - Sure going to Qatar barring a late injury: Alisson, van Dijk, Thiago, Jota, Nunez, Henderson
 - Questionable: Konate (recently started getting called up because of injuries to others, however he is down the pecking order for Deschamps), Fabinho (Probably goes to Qatar, however he is not a favorite of Tite and with his dip in form, it wouldn't rule out him not getting picked), Firmino (hasn't been called since November 2021, now not a regular started at club level, wouldn't be surprised if he is not picked), Trent (His issues fitting in Southgate's system are well known, probably gets picked in the end but it is a touch and go decision), Gomez (Fell down the pecking order at club and country, maybe gets picked up if he can get fit)
 - Not going: Salah, Matip, Keita, Robbo, Milner, Jones, Harvey (probably a couple of years too early for him), Carvalho (same as Harvey), Diaz, Nat, Kostas, Ramsay, Kelleher, Adrian, Ox.

I can see them still winning the title ahead of us, but probably dropping few points in the month after the world cup as they get their rhythm back. 90-95 points, they are not getting though.

[Illmatic]

Of course, in reals terms it doesn't really count as an actual headbutt, he barely touched him, and we all know the fall to the ground was for effect. He was sent off for moving his head in that direction and making contact. Not many get away with it in that situation. No point trying to compare it to an actual fight.

It's the same as being sent off for raising your hand, and either way it's not something we've done as a squad.

Anthony surprisingly got away with a yellow when he did exactly the same thing to Darwin in last season's CL in the Ajax against for Benfica. I saw clip today online the incidents are basically identical.     

[iamnant]

Finally calmed down from last night. The levels of cheating by Palace was fucking Burnley-esque and Paul Tierney should never be allowed to step foot inside Anfield again.

Jordan Ayew went to square up to Robbo about 30yds in front of me and with ZERO contact, the little fucker went down -- just like every single one of their soft arse players -- and the ref bought every single one of them, whilst letting their players rugby tackle our honest players just because they didn't go down at the slightest touch.

Maybe I've not calmed down actually. Haven't walked out of Anfield at full time that angry in a long while.

[slaphead]

But they should win. I expect they will be 7 ahead of us by the time we play United.

City are playing Newcastle away this weekend not Palace

[Black Bull Nova]

It's bollocks to waste a season with Virg and Salah at their peak. We need to be winning with this team.

It just means we beat City and it's back to square one. We can do that.

[NarutoReds]

  

[Elzar]

It's in our hands still, not to worry.

[Crosby Nick]

  

As they said on TAW, it was the best day of Tierney’s life being able to dish out that red and know he was right to do so. Look at his smug little face.

[NarutoReds]

As they said on TAW, it was the best day of Tierney’s life being able to dish out that red and know he was right to do so. Look at his smug little face.

I am not going to lie, I thought Nunez was going to headbutt him right away. Haha.

** Nunez is the FIRST player to receive a red card for violent conduct since Jurgen Klopp became manager in 2015.

[JRed]

I am not going to lie, I thought Nunez was going to headbutt him right away. Haha.

** Nunez is the FIRST player to receive a red card for violent conduct since Jurgen Klopp became manager in 2015.

I’m surprised nobody has, or any other of the disgraceful officials that ruin the game.

[classycarra]

  

Him complaining to the ref aggressively was barmy, there was literally no defence and the daft lad had just ensured the ref watched him do it

Milner interrupting him, and trying to ensure he got off the pitch quicker (so the more professional lads on the night could get on with the job) might have saved him from an additional game ban (and a worse fine, although I doubt we ever hear anything on fines publicly, only weird clubs do that to try and shame their staff)

[iamnant]

Andersen got up from his oscar winning acting pretty fucking quickly didn't he. To then have the absolute balls to cup his ear to the Kop pretty much popped a vain in my head. Nunez should have gone back and given him a proper butt just for that.

[thaddeus]

Andersen got up from his oscar winning acting pretty fucking quickly didn't he. To then have the absolute balls to cup his ear to the Kop pretty much popped a vain in my head. Nunez should have gone back and given him a proper butt just for that.

The stuff on social media was over the top but Andersen fully played up the pantomime villain part.

[bird_lfc]

Finally calmed down from last night. The levels of cheating by Palace was fucking Burnley-esque and Paul Tierney should never be allowed to step foot inside Anfield again.

Jordan Ayew went to square up to Robbo about 30yds in front of me and with ZERO contact, the little fucker went down -- just like every single one of their soft arse players -- and the ref bought every single one of them, whilst letting their players rugby tackle our honest players just because they didn't go down at the slightest touch.

Maybe I've not calmed down actually. Haven't walked out of Anfield at full time that angry in a long while.

We failed to beat mid table fodder at home in a game we should be winning. Of course they are going to act a certain way, play a certain type of game in an effort to get under our skin. And it clearly worked.

Nunez fucked up. We didn’t do enough to win. We move on. To focus purely on the refereeing is just daft

[Realgman]

Yeah, I agree with this, in this particular game he didnt have to find a reason...

We failed to beat mid table fodder at home in a game we should be winning. Of course they are going to act a certain way, play a certain type of game in an effort to get under our skin. And it clearly worked.

Nunez fucked up. We didn’t do enough to win. We move on. To focus purely on the refereeing is just daft

[Believe]

Just watched the highlights. We defintely created enough to win it.

I'd say in terms of 'big chances' Salah had one, Nunez two and Elliot had one - plus the volleys from Salah and Carvalho which were very close.

Fine margins and all that, annoying as fuck we have to wait until Monday night (again!) to play.

[keyop]

It's understandable though. They are a monumental shit stain on the game. A monstrous elephant in the room. Their existence is genuinely cheating us and other actual football clubs out of much deserved success.

If it were sour grapes over being regularly pipped to trophies by a better, legitimate team, then I'd agree, but LFC and the game itself is being cheated on a monumental, industrial scale by a nation state.

The entire game should be up in arms over it.

If Lance Armstrong nips past you ten yards from the finish line more often than not, you are going to be mighty pissed off by him. He's going to do your head in, especially when you know that those running your sport know exactly what he's up to.

In running terms, the football league season used to be a marathon. You had to pace yourself. Now, because one or two 'athletes' are using sophisticated doping techniques, that marathon has become something totally different. It's now a 38 game sprint where you can't afford to hang back or pace yourself. You simply have to go for broke from starting post to finishing post. Now that is insane, and cheats will win out in that scenario the vast majority of the time.

That is what we are witnessing in football now, so it's absolutely no surprise to me that it sticks in the throat of all those who can see what's going on. Abu Dhabi are a stain we cannot afford to ignore.

Of course, we can only do our own thing and look to be masters of our own destiny, but that cancerous elephant will always be in the room with us. Rather than ignored, it should be pointed out and shamed at every opportunity.

Spot on.

It's not an obsession - it's an annoyance, a frustration and a travesty that it's been allowed to happen in plain sight.

They're a nothing plastic club that won the lottery, but they are not to be ignored or dismissed. Once this cheating becomes accepted and normalised then the sportswashing is complete.

As you say - the reason we talk about City is because we need to. They have skewed the whole league, and the fact we pushed them all the way for 2 seasons and walked the league in 2020 is to our credit, considering the chasm in net spend. Since 2018 we've had our best team in the last 30 years, just as they've hit their peak. It's the injustice of that fact that makes it such a talking point - not because they have a better team or manager -but because they're cheating bastards.

As for this season, it's hard to believe some are giving up already. 108 points still to play for including 6 against City. If we were 4 points behind with 2 games left then we could still win the title. If City lose at Newcastle and we beat Utd then we're a point behind after 3 games each, which suddenly looks better - it's pure masochism to worry and make judgements after only 2 matches. After 63 relentless games and 3 cup finals it was inevitable we'd stumble at some point, and here we are.

City could also stumble, and there's plenty of things that could yet affect the title outcome - not least our games against them and the rest of the top 6. The WC break could also have an impact, as could injuries to their players - De Bruyne has a hell of a lot of miles and injuries in those legs, and Haaland has missed 26 games across 7 injury spells in the last 2 seasons alone (plus they've sold Sterling/Jesus). They also have Grealish which bodes well.

There's a long way to go and no doubt plenty of twists and turns to come. Anyone giving up now might as well not watch the games or post on here.

[Sudden Death Draft Loser]

They're a nothing plastic club that won the lottery, but they are not to be ignored or dismissed. Once this cheating becomes accepted and normalised then the sportswashing is complete.

As far I as can see it already has. I never hear any other football fans mention it.

[tubby]

As far I as can see it already has. I never hear any other football fans mention it.

I see it everywhere.  But mainly from teams around the top - Spurs, Arsenal, Utd, etc fans all complain about it constantly.  Strangely, not much from Chelsea fans.

[Son of Spion]

Spot on.

It's not an obsession - it's an annoyance, a frustration and a travesty that it's been allowed to happen in plain sight.

They're a nothing plastic club that won the lottery, but they are not to be ignored or dismissed. Once this cheating becomes accepted and normalised then the sportswashing is complete.

As you say - the reason we talk about City is because we need to. They have skewed the whole league, and the fact we pushed them all the way for 2 seasons and walked the league in 2020 is to our credit, considering the chasm in net spend. Since 2018 we've had our best team in the last 30 years, just as they've hit their peak. It's the injustice of that fact that makes it such a talking point - not because they have a better team or manager -but because they're cheating bastards.

As for this season, it's hard to believe some are giving up already. 108 points still to play for including 6 against City. If we were 4 points behind with 2 games left then we could still win the title. If City lose at Newcastle and we beat Utd then we're a point behind after 3 games each, which suddenly looks better - it's pure masochism to worry and make judgements after only 2 matches. After 63 relentless games and 3 cup finals it was inevitable we'd stumble at some point, and here we are.

City could also stumble, and there's plenty of things that could yet affect the title outcome - not least our games against them and the rest of the top 6. The WC break could also have an impact, as could injuries to their players - De Bruyne has a hell of a lot of miles and injuries in those legs, and Haaland has missed 26 games across 7 injury spells in the last 2 seasons alone (plus they've sold Sterling/Jesus). They also have Grealish which bodes well.

There's a long way to go and no doubt plenty of twists and turns to come. Anyone giving up now might as well not watch the games or post on here.

Sadly, as others have mentioned, I think sportswashing already has become normalized.

Before Putin went into Ukraine there were even some people on here pretty much seeing Chelsea as more or less legitimate now. For me, that was real evidence that the Chelsea sportswash programme was pretty much complete. They'd more or less been absorbed into the league as a legitimately successful club. Only Putin's insanity threw a new spotlight on them.

Now we have Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia. Abu Dhabi in particular fawned over by pundits. Actually lauded as good for the game they are killing, by people who used to make a living playing that game. We also see fanbases of once reasonably honourable clubs praying for a sportswasher of their own.

Who'd have ever believed we'd see the fans of once respected clubs like Man United and Everton absolutely desperate for their own rich murderer to fund them?

Who'd have thought we'd have the likes of Gary Neville inciting riots on television in order to oust one billionaire family from his ex employers so they can bring a dubious nation state in?

They said on Granada Reports last night that United fans absolutely don't want owners like their neighbours or Saudicastle, but they are 100% wrong on that. A few wise and principled heads within their number might be against it, but most are begging for it.

So not only has sportswashing become normalised, it's become desirable to an incredible number of fans.

Let's face it, where is the opposition towards it? Government? The PL itself? Journalists? Ex players, current players, pundits...?  A few murmurings out there, but lost in all the fawning noise made by turkeys happily clucking for Christmas.

Sportswashing is the new norm. As is sweeping it under the carpet. Highlighting it and questioning it has almost become the new taboo.

[G Richards]

I heartily agree with all the sports washing posts. It is galling that the authorities haven't been able to stop it. Anything Man City win is meaningless.

On our end, we have to do what we can. We are a brilliantly run club, but with the deck stacked against, we have to be much closer to our maximum in order to compete. If it wasn't for us the Prem would have been a one horse race the past few years.

As for the season so far, we need to do better. We are not firing yet, and have carelessly dropped four points already. Nobody knows what the points required for winning the league will be, but we do know that we are already 4 pts behind Man City, who look to be easing into their stride nicely. Hopefully Newcastle take something from them and we win well at Man Utd, otherwise a proper gap will start to open up.

As for Nunez, he will learn from that. He gave Tierney every reason to blow his whistle and send him off.

The defenders were fouling all game, wrapping our players up, holding, leaning, pulling them back, all of the rough stuff was there. It's unjust and unfair, but you can't take matters into your own hands, even if it wasn't the worst headbutt and the player flopped down embarrassingly.

Nunez was trying to show that he wouldn't be bullied. I liked that aspect of it, but in getting sent off he hurt himself and the team. Train hard, work on strength for the Prem defender treatment, work on the touch and finishing... it will all come. He will be a good player for us, but the sending off is frustrating.

[Garnier]

that Diaz goal was nothing short of incredible, grace under pressure

[keyop]

Hangover after an international competition is a real thing and we saw it with Salah after the AFCONs last year and how his form dropped.

These are the players from City:

 - Sure going to Qatar barring a late injury: Ederson, Walker, Dias, Stones, Cancelo, Ake, Laporte, Gundogan, Rodri, De Bruyne, Bernardo Silva, Grealish, Foden, Kalvin Phillips
 - Questionable: Julian Alvarez, Sergio Gomez (probably not get called up)
 - Not going: Haaland, Mahrez, Ortega, Carson and the rest of their kids

Compare this to our players:

 - Sure going to Qatar barring a late injury: Alisson, van Dijk, Thiago, Jota, Nunez, Henderson
 - Questionable: Konate (recently started getting called up because of injuries to others, however he is down the pecking order for Deschamps), Fabinho (Probably goes to Qatar, however he is not a favorite of Tite and with his dip in form, it wouldn't rule out him not getting picked), Firmino (hasn't been called since November 2021, now not a regular started at club level, wouldn't be surprised if he is not picked), Trent (His issues fitting in Southgate's system are well known, probably gets picked in the end but it is a touch and go decision), Gomez (Fell down the pecking order at club and country, maybe gets picked up if he can get fit)
 - Not going: Salah, Matip, Keita, Robbo, Milner, Jones, Harvey (probably a couple of years too early for him), Carvalho (same as Harvey), Diaz, Nat, Kostas, Ramsay, Kelleher, Adrian, Ox.

I can see them still winning the title ahead of us, but probably dropping few points in the month after the world cup as they get their rhythm back. 90-95 points, they are not getting though.

Thanks for posting - I didn't realise there was such a big difference in players likely to compete from each team. Most of theirs are also almost guaranteed starters in teams that could go far.

That could be a real leveller for the second half of the season. Hopefully Portugal, England, Belgium and Spain make the semis 

[keyop]

Now we have Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia. Abu Dhabi in particular fawned over by pundits. Actually lauded as good for the game they are killing, by people who used to make a living playing that game. We also see fanbases of once reasonably honourable clubs praying for a sportswasher of their own.

Sadly, I think you're right.

The bit in bold is especially galling, as they're just as complicit in the whole charade - all happy to take their wage from Sky/BT/ESPN/Whoever, whilst abandoning any sense of morality, or solidarity for the game that made their careers - during a time when clubs weren't owned by countries.
Nauseating to watch, and they've sold their souls just as much as the City's, Chelsea's and PSG's of this world.

[Son of Spion]

Sadly, I think you're right.

The bit in bold is especially galling, as they're just as complicit in the whole charade - all happy to take their wage from Sky/BT/ESPN/Whoever, whilst abandoning any sense of morality, or solidarity for the game that made their careers - during a time when clubs weren't owned by countries.
Nauseating to watch, and they've sold their souls just as much as the City's, Chelsea's and PSG's of this world.

Yes, it's a sorry state of affairs. Sort of falls right in with the state of the wider world these days too.

Too few are prepared to make a stand, and far too many are in it just for what they can get out of it. The gravy train is creaking under the strain of all those clamouring to climb aboard. One day it will derail.

[Realgman]

It begs the question though doesn't it..
How would you (or any of us) feel, or more importantly act, if our team was eventually bought by an oppressive nation funded front/group.. Would you be able support them after... frankly I don't know if i could..I'd like to think Liverpool's fabric is of better stuff, and it wouldn't happen... But is that just pipe dreams, or rose tinted glasses?

[iamnant]

We failed to beat mid table fodder at home in a game we should be winning. Of course they are going to act a certain way, play a certain type of game in an effort to get under our skin. And it clearly worked.

Nunez fucked up. We didn’t do enough to win. We move on. To focus purely on the refereeing is just daft

Of course a shitty team like them is going to try and con the ref with their shithousery, but a decent ref would have booked their time wasting keeper early on not in the 90th minute when it was pointless. A decent ref would also have booked one of theirs early for wrestling our players to the ground at every possibility. A decent ref would have also booked them early for time wasting during throw ins. You must have been at a different Anfield to me if you didn't walk away from that stadium seething with the officiating.

Not once did I say we dropped points because of the referee - I came here to vent on a forum after leaving the stadium rather angry at all of it. I'm so sorry it wasn't to your liking. Stating the fucking obvious to say we didn't do enough to win.

[iamnant]

Now we have Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia. Abu Dhabi in particular fawned over by pundits. Actually lauded as good for the game they are killing, by people who used to make a living playing that game.

Your post is absolutely spot on, as usual.

I saw a video of Neville and Carragher saying what an incredible transfer window Manchester City have had, stating their transfer fees - not once is the huge signing bonus of Haaland mentioned and the fee that was agreed for the agent, his huge wages, and I'm sure similar could be said for the others. As well as the £100m they spent on the flop that was Grealish last summer, where people still mention the £75m we spent on VVD.

Sportwashing is here to stay, it's the FIFA game cheat code, unlimited budget on everything. Buying the league each year and yet we still push them every season.

[spider-neil]

My 10 observations from Monday

1. We are too spread out as a team.
We played a lot of football in Palace’s half and despite the passes seemed laboured with passing options seemingly a mile apart.
I think we need to have pockets of bunched-up players which will ensure we create overloads so Palace have to leave their shape to engage.

2. Trent is playing too infield
There are lots of calls for Trent to be a midfielder and maybe this will happen down the line, but currently, he isn’t a midfielder and all that is happening is that Salah or Elliott are becoming isolated on the flanks. Sarah, Elliott and Trent need to be in close proximity to each other.

3. I really dislike our out-swinging corners
Spurs were causing all sorts of problems with their in swinging corners and eventually scored from one. Robertson should take corners from the right and Trent should be taking corners from the left. If nothing else give it so and see if it’s an improvement on what we normally do game in and game out.

4. Nunez was badly isolated
He didn’t really have a kick and wasn’t involved. Someone needs to play closer to him to give him a passing option

5. A lack of partnerships
Robertson isn’t engaging with Diaz and Trent isn’t engaging with Salah.
We need the fullback to offer passing options and decoys for the forwards and ‘someone’ needs to remain wide. The play is too narrow which means Palace didn’t need to break their shape to engage us.

6. Paradoxically we played better with 10 men than we did with 11
Hard to explain that one. Maybe Palace opened up more because they thought we were there for the taking.

7. Fabinho’s passes are currently way too passive
He isn’t doing anything wrong per say, I’m sure his pass completion is very high but I think Fabinho needs to attempt more passes through the lines, try and cause the opposition more problems. Where don’t Palace want us to play, put the ball in that area. Absolutely hammer the ball through midfield and hope the receiver of the ball has the touch and technique to get the ball under control. High risk vs high reward because Palace are so dangerous on the counter-attack.

8. Elliott must start every game now
He is one of the few consistently trying things even if it doesn’t come off

9. Diaz is coming too deep for the ball
The deeper he is the less effective he becomes. He needs to be dribbling past ONE player to be in on goal. Currently, he is having to dribble past 2 or 3 just to get near the opposition penalty area

10. I don’t think we’ve been as bad as some people are making out
I think the problem is we are fast enough with our passing, we aren’t adventurous enough when presented with safe options, and not calm enough in front of Goal. We’re only two games in, it will come. We’ll also get better as our injury crisis eases. Jota, for instance, is now only a couple of weeks away from returning to action.

[Ghost Town]

One thing that’s been bugging me, do our players have to laugh or smile when they miss a decent chance? Mané was always doing it, giving the impression he wasn’t arsed( I’m sure he actually was) Salah did it last night too. The amount of chances we miss is quite often a real issue. I’d prefer players to be pissed off when they miss a chance rather than walk away smiling.

*insert 'Excuse me, what is this shit?' gif*

I'll never understand the absurd sensitivities of some fans