Topic: CL QF: Liverpool 3 vs Man City 0 - Mo 12' Ox 20' Mane 31'

[redprodigal]

we'll need to score one or two.

As long as we keep eleven men on the pitch one will be enough.

[jepovic]

Jesus clearly wasn't resurrected.
He had one touch in the box. We defended very well, but that's incredibly poor

[Filler.]

Just watched the Talking Reds show from today (great tequila start ) - and I'm sure it's been mentioned by many, but agreed 100% with Paul Cope about the switching ends bit before the match after the toss. Heard the boos, and knew they'd won the toss which intially miffed me a little... but only a few seconds later did I (and many others) think.. 'Hang on... we're attacking the Kop first... this is perfect'. And it was wasn't it?

[Hazell]

Very soft from Ederson too.

And Kompany might have stopped it on the line had Ederson not got his gloves on it.

[mersey_paradiso]

Exactly!

The state of their forums saying the ground was like a cult last night. They just don't get it. They think they're some massive European power-house because they've won a few things over the past few years.
What exactly did they expect us to do? Just sit there silently for 90 minutes and bow down to the might of Pep, the Arabs and all their riches on and off the pitch? Letting them win 8-0 in the process. Same as in January in the PL game their players absolutely shit it in the noise and Atmosphere. They did exactly the same last night despite what they said in the post match interviews.

Jealousy. Mancunian inferiority complex.

They're rapidly becoming as bad as United fans.

[princeoftherocks]

Here is to our assistant coaches: the Brain and the Eyes ---- may you continue to give Man City a constant surprise

Sorry, i really don't mean to overburden this thread with nonsense....  But!  That is just the coolest picture.

[Timbo's Goals]

snip

Great stuff mate.

In the same vein have you seen Rory Smith's superb piece in the New York Times which refreshingly and quite beautifully represents last night in the way it actually was as distinct from the way the self-righteous pricks within our media seem to crave to misrepresent it.

It's almost as if Rory is the only guy in the media who really understands what actually happened last night which is a shocking reflection on the British media as an entity

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/04/sports/soccer/liverpool-manchester-city-champions-league.html


 

[mc_red22]

And Kompany might have stopped it on the line had Ederson not got his gloves on it.

It's also possible that it strikes Kompany's arm which would result in a penalty & red card.

[Timbo's Goals]

Great stuff mate.

In the same vein have you seen Rory Smith's superb piece in the New York Times which refreshingly and quite beautifully represents last night in the way it actually was as distinct from the way the self-righteous pricks within our media seem to crave to misrepresent it.

It's almost as if Rory is the only guy in the media who really understands what actually happened last night which is a shocking reflection on the British media as an entity

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/04/sports/soccer/liverpool-manchester-city-champions-league.html


 

And also in the same vein as one who has been to nigh every home European game since '64/65 I can only reiterate what I put in the 'Anfield Atmosphere' thread which is so pertinent to what you wrote and what Rory Smith wrote.

I had a feeling leading up to the game that all the ingredients for something truuly special were falling into place not least the arrival of the perfect vehicles to propel the support - namely the user friendliness of the two new songs [Egyptian King and Allez, allez].

Prior to last night the best for me out of a dozen or more special nights rested between Inter in '65, Ettienne in '77 and Chelsea in 2005. My favourite had always been Inter because I felt that night more than any of the others had inspired the team to perform above themselves.

For me, the entire scope of last night both prior to and during the game certainly matched those other three nights and I honestly have to say is very probably now ranking as my favourite, very possibly for the fact that it has surely put to bed even within the darker recesses of the most cynical mindsets that football at this level becomes an altogether different animal when team, fans and manager somehow fuse into one unstoppable communion as we witnessed last night. The power that Anfield is capable of unleashing is most definitely no imagined ideal, rather a boneshaking reality when it does so wondrously come to pass.

At such times tactics and formations play a distinct second fiddle to the raw emotion that Anfield invokes. And thank fuck for that. And thank fuck for a real journo with real insight, perspective and honesty like Rory Smith.

 

[JackWard33]

I’ve watched 2 ninety minutes and a 30 minutes of us playing them this season
They have very little chance of keeping a clean sheet against us ... very little. They’ve not looked remotely like keeping us out
I expect us to score in the first half next week and end the tie

[mersey_paradiso]

Enjoy. 

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/v/qiriytwC9GY" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="bbc_link bbc_flash_disabled new_win">https://www.youtube.com/v/qiriytwC9GY</a>

[Trendisnotdestiny]

Sorry, i really don't mean to overburden this thread with nonsense....  But!  That is just the coolest picture.

They are in sinc --- its the Wolfgang Frank effect

[Butcher Knife Roberto]

Why let it get to you? They're a bunch of bellends, it's like going onto Bluemoon and getting annoyed at what they're saying.

You really have to let it roll over you and get on with the day.

These guys are pro trolls and live to wind people up.

Ignore them and be happy in the knowledge we are a side going places under Klopp.

Oh I absolutely agree with both of you. If it was written in one of the newspapers or elsewhere online I wouldn't give a shit about it; I'm just annoyed that we fund their bullshit through the TV licence fee. But anyway, that's a debate for elsewhere.

Time to revel, rewatch, feel quietly smug and feel proud of our lads and our management team.

[Alan_X]

Exactly!

The state of their forums saying the ground was like a cult last night. They just don't get it. They think they're some massive European power-house because they've won a few things over the past few years.
What exactly did they expect us to do? Just sit there silently for 90 minutes and bow down to the might of Pep, the Arabs and all their riches on and off the pitch? Letting them win 8-0 in the process. Same as in January in the PL game their players absolutely shit it in the noise and Atmosphere. They did exactly the same last night despite what they said in the post match interviews.

Have you read this:

Jesus fucking Christ.

This is all new to you, so I will explain as simply as possible. I am very good at writing, and I will be very clear.

Your 'shockingly bad record' goes back so far for this reason: until you were bought by the Deputy Prime Minister of Abu Dhabi, you were shit.

You were two divisions below us fifteen years ago. (This date may be out by a year or two, but I cannot be fucking arsed to go to wikipedia.)

Not even money spent by the Deputy Prime Minister of Abu Dhabi can alter the past.

This is one of the basic physical laws of space-time.

This is all new to you.

We have been playing high stakes grudge matches for decades against an English team acknowledged as a global heavyweight. They are called Manchester United, and they are a far bigger and more significant club than you. And those matches are not 'cup finals'. (Cup Finals are parties; we play those against Everton.)

This is all new to you.

Yes, we 'upped our game' when we played you. This is perfectly true.

This is because it was a Champions League Quarter Final.

This is very new to you. But this is what happens when you get so far in such a prestigious competition.

If the Deputy Prime Minister of Abu Dhabi had spent his money on Leeds United, we would have played them last night.

We would have 'upped our game' against Leeds United.

And we would 'up our game' at the return leg in the Etihad Stadium in Leeds, or the Etihad stadium in Bristol, or the Etihad Stadium in East London, or the Etihad Stadium in Birmingham. Instead we 'upped our game' against you, because thanks to the Deputy Prime Minister of Abu Dhabi, who bought you, we were playing you.

We're often called delusional. But you seem to think that the Deputy Prime Minister of Abu Dhabi is rich enough to change the past, and I'm here to tell you that you may now go and fuck yourself.

[newterp]

[Dim Glas]

They are in sinc --- its the Wolfgang Frank effect
(snip)

These two do the sync thing quite a bit 

[John C]

There's a video taken from just behind the coach driver knocking about, have a look at that before you take delight in or minimise the impact it may have on the club or the city and as the 92a said before, lets chats about the chaos that occurred inside the stadium.

[B0151?]

Trent getting a lot of well deserved praise, but he was only one part of a super effective defensive unit. He was told to back off Sane but it was only a result of how tight we were elsewhere that meant that could work. Still, he had to keep his composure and concentration more than anyone, truly rose to the occasion.

[deFacto please, you bastards]

Well Can being out is a hell of a problem, if the story from the mirror is correct.

We don't have a #6 available, who plays there, Wijnaldum?

[JackWard33]

Well Can being out is a hell of a problem, if the story from the mirror is correct.

We don't have a #6 available, who plays there, Wijnaldum?

We won’t play a solo 6 if Henderson and Can are out - well play a 2

[swoopy]

Have you read this:

What an excellent piece of writing and absolutely spot on

[Durlmints]

What happened last night was pure poetry. So many people wanted to try to belittle the Anfield support and the effect it can have, driven by banter pages run by virgins who've never been to a game in their lives. All the talk of how Pep has played and managed in clasico's, Jesus was brought up in the favela's, they've seen far worse, as if Anfield can scare them. But it was obvious that the people who mattered realised what a difference it could make. Klopp knew, the players knew, just as importantly Guardiola and Man City knew it too. From the whining about the bus which finally lead to it being re-routed, to Sterling inexplicably being dropped, they were fucking shitting it last night and we were all vindicated. It will be forgotten by those banter pages and the soccer am generation by the semi finals but then that probably suits us.

It all reminded me of that headline in Marca in the build up to the visit of Madrid in 2009. Esto es Anfield...y que? Another team that fucked off home with their tails between their legs.

City sang in the first ten minutes "just like United, you live in the past." Well, last night I suppose we were living in the past, it was a throwback but not necessarily all the way back to Saint Etienne, or even Olympiakos and Chelsea. Dortmund was only a couple of years ago. Every time we play these big european fixtures we will live in the past and that's because we've got a fucking glorious past that we can use to our advantage in the present. Just like Juve used theirs to get past a younger, fitter and more fancied Tottenham side. Just like how a Real Madrid team struggling all season in the league rolled the other petrodollar club over with ease. It's called prestige and opposition fans want to discredit it as much as they can but last night was proof again of what prestige can help you achieve.

Of course, massive credit has to go to Jürgen and the players too. The fans didn't press City out of existence or smash one in the top corner from 25 yards out. But we were 1 nil up as soon as they began cry-arsing about the coach and they changed their shape to protect Sterling from the cauldron.

There is still a long way to go in this tie and it's too early to celebrate a place in the semi finals but there was a lot to celebrate last night. I've got a mate who hates Liverpool and even he said to me this morning that once the game was on he couldn't help but enjoy the passion and witnessing a genuine footballing institution tear apart a plastic, oil rich nothing club. Just another in a long list of special nights at Anfield, now we've got the small matter of a merseyside derby to look forward to before grounding ourselves and getting ready to do it again next week.

Great post.

I've put off posting because I wanted to find the right way to really go in to what made that match so enjoyable but this is the nail on the head.

All those posts from muppets online and in the press about "Anfield won't scare them, they've  played Napoli away!" and how the coach welcome is "pointless" and blah blah blah. It's amazing how many football fans don't seem to see football in the way that Liverpool (and most European clubs fans) do. I've been asked a few times why Liverpool fans boo and whistle when the other team has the ball! I saw one post online about how "The press are only talking about the atmopshere to make it seem an even match, when really it's an easy game for City". All these utter clowns littering the build up with shite.

Anfield stepped up though in a way only Anfield does.

As you say though, most of the muppets still won't understand it even after seeing it.

[Son of Spion]

... It's amazing how many football fans don't seem to see football in the way that Liverpool (and most European clubs fans) do...

...As you say though, most of the muppets still won't understand it even after seeing it.

It seems, to me, to be cultural. To me, Liverpool is a European club more in tune with European football culture. Moreso than any other club in this country. We just seem to have a different mindset, and I'm grateful that we do. Those who don't understand, simply don't matter. Europe, and this competition in particular, means everything to LFC and its fans. When it comes to European competition and how we approach it, we truly stand alone in England. No one else here has the history we have and the traditions built up through having that historical European experience as a club and a fanbase. They don't get it simply because they've never lived it and consequently just don't understand it. Personally, I see us as a prestigious and proud European club rather than a local club or an English club.

[harleydanger]

Chamberlain should have a song but it's an unfortunate surname.

ox rocks! ox rocks! ox rocks! ox rocks!

[harleydanger]

Bet Alex did.  What a hit son.    

Don't think i've seen a cleaner hit

[Xabier Alonso Olano]

Don't think i've seen a cleaner hit

Not sure which is better, the first touch, second or third.

[The Ghost of Titi Camara]

It needs to be said -- not on the TAW thread, but here for all to see -- that Paul Cope is our second most important signing this season after Muhammad Salah. This lad is dynamite. Breathe in his prose. Walk around him. No one does nonchalant needle like this boy on Talking Reds: "This is what should be happening. Evertonians should be doing our work while we celebrate Champions League Quarter Final wins. That's what should be happening. That's what the world is made to do."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WeoEViChBRc

Tell everyone you know. Buy a Copey poster for your lad. Tell those meffs at COPA90 they need to rename themselves COPEY90 as a tribute. LFC should be giving this lad a win bonus for his piece before the game. For those who did not issue it as a rallying cry to every Red they know at 3pm yesterday, here it is again:

https://www.theanfieldwrap.com/2018/04/liverpool-anfield-is-all-set-to-bring-another-set-of-superstars-to-their-knees/

Do not forget his words. They are our catechism.

[Bobinhood]

Don't think i've seen a cleaner hit

I was thinking of it, its the Ghosts of Anfield hit that ball, as channeled and amplified by the crowd. The 20% up for us and the 20%  down for them from the use of the "Force".

the Ghosts leap into action as Milner smashed through the ball on the tackle with the win and that thing just Rockets to Alex. Real world regular season regular game sleepy ghosts that thing goes wild from the tackle or bounces 20 yards away  off the take. Instead it instantly magnets on his foot the sweetest take you could possibly imagine followed by an instinctual Ghostualy prodded perfect first touch and perfect hammerblow strike.The whole sequence of events is highly dubious the Force did the whole fucking thing. Tape needs to be examined under black light or whatever the ghosts hunters use, You'll see those spirits out there  possessing the hell outta the whole thing. You sit Alex at Melwood and fire balls at him see if he can take one like that again.   

[telekon]

Does anyone know why Mané was so restrained after scoring his goal? He seemed to have picked up a small knock, perhaps he didn't want to risk exacerbating it?

[elbow]

Don't think i've seen a cleaner hit

I think Stevie's in the Cup Final just shades it. Boss hit though.

[slimbo]

Here is to our assistant coaches: the Brain and the Eyes ---- may you continue to give Man City a constant surprise

Pinky and the Brain

[Advil]

Does anyone know why Mané was so restrained after scoring his goal? He seemed to have picked up a small knock, perhaps he didn't want to risk exacerbating it?

I think he was confused on how to celebrate the goal as Bob has not scored prior to his goal. Mane is a great footballer but he does not have a mind of his own when it comes to celebrating goals.

[gerrardlucas]

Don't think i've seen a cleaner hit

I would've taken a tap in in that situation

[KopThat]

Does anyone know why Mané was so restrained after scoring his goal? He seemed to have picked up a small knock, perhaps he didn't want to risk exacerbating it?

Maybe because of the gash he got on his knee after an earlier tackle ?

[farawayred]

Does anyone know why Mané was so restrained after scoring his goal? He seemed to have picked up a small knock, perhaps he didn't want to risk exacerbating it?

Just before the goal when Mane slipped, Fernandinho stuck his cleats in Mane's knee. then Mane got up and scored from Salah's lob. He smiled when he went off for treatment though.

[Trendisnotdestiny]

Anyone know if Otamendi's yellow last night, if that puts him out of the Emptihad redux?

[elbow]

Anyone know if Otamendi's yellow last night, if that puts him out of the Emptihad redux?

No, only Hendo missing from the players who got booked.

[penga]

It doesn't really matter but to be fair a lot of pundits actually predicted us to win this game (or unsure what would happen) mainly due to the crowd and the heritage and to even get through the tie. Wasn't that much hyping up of City.

[Fabulous_aurelio]

Just want to say thanks to the commentary team.

In Sri Lanka and the game kicked off at 00.15 here and we had a safari booked for 4.30am! Obviously I laid awake in bed refreshing the commentary thread!

For the 2nd half I managed to find a stream  that worked on my mobile...wife was out cold! I didn't half sleep last night though!

[spider-neil]

Hopefully, Klopp is drilling into the players that this tie isn't over. It's only halftime.
Put it this way, if we were beaten 3-0 away with the opposition to come back to Anfield, would we think the tie was over? No, we wouldn't.