Topic: LC: Liverpool v Arsenal

[reddebs]

We hate playing against 10 men!!

[WorldChampions]

Limp as fuck, we always struggle against 10 men but tonight without Mo and Sadio it was hopeless.

Just seemed like constant crosses into a packed box with no movement, no plan b and zero creativity from midfield the key issues. The sooner Thiago is back the better.

[Red_Mist]

Very frustrating. Will just have to win at their gaff instead.

[ac]

He isnt good enough. Some of his decision making when he arrived was mad.

Yep. He lacks the game intelligence to make best use of his obvious gifts

[stockdam]

It took over 60 minutes with no shots on target to realise that we needed to do something different. TAA struggled and Henderson hardly helped and never really tried to get Dow the right. Neco should have been on much earlier as should Jones.

Against 10 men you are going to get room on the wings but we hardly used the extra man.

Arsenal will have to come out of their penalty area for the next leg which will give our forwards much more room.

Final comment…….how many times did Saka push our player but the referee didn’t see it.

A match to forget.

[NarutoReds]

Against a deep packed defence, low block line, where all of our attackers are guaranteed being surrounded, I do hope our midfield is going to chip in a goal or two actually.

Not going to blame our full-backs, as usually people are not going to blame defenders on not being able to score goal.

Second leg then. I am expecting penalty shootout.

[Guz-kop]

We look like we've lost so much momentum in the last 4 weeks. One paced football, not enough movement. We'll probably be ok next week if arsenal come out against us a bit more but that was really poor tonight. Hopefully no more COVID disruptions and we build some momentum

[Tonyh8su]

Should probably just open the FSG thread back up as I'm sure that's what this thread will devolve into. 

And probably rightly so. 10 players out of the first choice 11 that started the first game of the 2018 season are still our first choice. The drop off in quality is fucking seismic.

[Banquo's Ghost]

Could have made a clip of one minute’s pointless passing with a stupid decision in the final third and put it on loop, and it would still have been more interesting than that farrago of a performance. Everyone associated with that should be be thoroughly ashamed.

We’ll still win it in London, but my goodness what a shit show. How we can have no change of play to deal with packed defences bemuses me.

I think we will need to substantially start the replacement of this team in the summer. It’s too old, too stale, too predictable.

[duvva 💅]

we’ve still got a decent chance of reaching the final.

That’s said we’ll need to be a lot better than we’ve shown of late. This isn’t just about not being able to score without Salah and Mane, we’re not looking dangerous enough when we’re faced with a packed defence. It’s been a little bit like it since the Derby. Was Curtis shot on 91 out first on target?

Circumstances with Covid and injuries to most of our creative players are really hitting hard at the moment but bizarrely perhaps the Leeds game being called off hasn’t helped our rhythm either. Just need to keep going through this funk and fight for the goals and wins harder.

[Fromola]

You knew how this was going to end the moment Van Dijk booted the ball 10 yards out of play early in that second half. God help us until Mane and Salah return. We'll do well to stay in second place.

That was absolutely horrific. Not a single player comes out of that with any credit. As lazy, insipid, and uninspiring as can be.

I feared a performance like that tonight after watching the Shrewsbury first half. Our game needs rhythm. Hopefully we'll be more at it next week but we need more presence up top. So lightweight and slow and Arsenal are hardly known for their defensive prowess.

[killer-heels]

Some miss that by Minamino. Some mad decisions from him and all the forwards as well.

[Coolie High]

He isnt good enough. Some of his decision making when he arrived was mad.

He’s better than Milner, that isn’t even an argument at this point.

[RedEire]

Milner is past it too, he isn't as effective as he was last season. Jones should be starting ahead of him.

[kasperoff]

Trent having an off night is understandable as he's just back from illness. Unfortunately.

Clearly miles off and should not have started. He could barely kick the ball.

[Racer]

To be fair that was painful to watch for 85 mins we were very poor. This felt like a game that highlighted that Milner cannot ever start alongside Hendo again especially when we have Jones and Ox on the bench. They lack energy and creativity as a pair especially alongside a DCM in Fabinho. Jones played well on the left when he came on, I’m surprised Gordon didn’t get 15-20 mins playing against 10 men when we needed a goal. Neco did well

I still think we will go through.

[Lubeh]

That was really bad , on the plus side arsenal cant play 8 at the back at home, however we were so toothless tonight, a few bad games for quite a few players unfortuentely Milner seemed to lose the ball or knock it straigh to an arsenal player, TAA had pretty much the same as milner, might be time to see Neco at RB and move trent up to mid for a game or two, upfront seemed so disjointed and trying to play through the middle against 8 in defence was a major error , at the end when Neco came on and was crossing in from wide, we caused them more trouble than in the entire rest of the match it seemed.

[Kekule]

What’s the plan against ten men? Do we even have one? All we do is make the pitch as small as possible and let them defend the width of the box with two banks. If that is the plan then it’s ridiculous. It can’t be, but we keep doing it.

That’s the third time against 10 men at Anfield this season. Red cards on 45, 35 and 25 minutes. We’ve scored 1 goal after those three red cards, and that was a penalty that was a result of one of them.  The Atletico game is perhaps different as we were already 2-0 up and cruising the group. But the other two have been dreadful attacking performances.

It’s not fatal, we’ve still got a decent chance, but we have only ourselves to blame if we go out next week. And it’s a distinct possibility.  Arsenal know exactly how to defend against us, and they came close to breaking through on a couple of occasions. They’ll do the same, we have to do more than whatever it was we were attempting tonight. Awful.

[misscowred]

we don't quite look the same side after this outbreak to be honest. gotta be a lot between the matches and recovering.

[b_joseph]

Fuck scoring goals…a few crisp passes in sequence would have been exciting

[S]

He’s better than Milner, that isn’t even an argument at this point.

Damning with faint praise.

[Gifted Right Foot]

I streamed that while at work but wish i actually did work instead. 

[gemofabird]

Anyone tells me we don't need to invest now...

36 year old starting every big game tells you all you need to know

Not too worry we'll have another new stand for opposition fans to still out sing us soon

[Gnurglan]

0-0. We should have won. We looked promising until the red card. 11 vs 10 for an hour and we hardly created a quality chance. That's not good enough. Thought we waited too long to change our CM. We needed something different and it was too much sideways and not enough initiatives from individuals. Thought both Neco and Jones added something. Should be an interesting second leg.

[MJD-L4]

That was pretty shite wasn't it?

No real stand out performances from anyone really.

We're desperate for improvements in midfield. Milner is done, Ox isn't good enough.

Poor result given the circumstances. We could have made the 2nd leg a mere formality with a better performance.

[CS111]

Disgrace really that. I was about to write could you see any other top team not scoring against that arsenal side but will change that to every team in the prem would probably have scored again at that Arsenal side
Don't forget we were also at home
Absolute shite.
Zero creativity from midfield time and time again.
Any chance of a couple of top players Henry

["Bobber" Thanks :)]

Turgid stuff

[Bend It Like Aurelio]

I think the crux of it all is that Trent probably wasn’t ready for this game post COVID. I counted 3 Arsenal counters off his misplaced passes, all of his corners were below average, he looked out of it, turning over the ball, constantly a half step behind the play. Maybe we should have gone with Neco from the off instead.

And we depend on him so much it feels like we lost a lot of the service to the front 3 because he was ineffectual. Minamino probably had a lot more of the ball than both Firmino and Jota combined. The latter two didn’t get any service at all. Jones helped matters with his energy, but the problem is Trent was never there to provide the width.

[lamonti]

Well, that was fucking dreadful.

[Dirk18Kuyt]

Absolutely chronic watching that, zero creativity, Hendo and Trent just spamming crosses over the box not to mention the absolutely dire set pieces, been happening for weeks.

Milner shouldn't be playing anywhere near as much as he is relied on, him and Henderson is a 2016 midfield that shouldn't be starting a semi final.

Desperately, desperately need at least 3/4 new players, what great luck that it's January... 

[buttersstotch]

We deserved that, we were just not with it - the full backs had an off day and we just couldn't break down Arsenal. Fair play to the, they defended really well but we made it so easy for them. Feels like a defeat, but just feel we are much better against an open team where we can counter press. But dear me do we need some investment in the squad. Either that or just wheel Origi out.

[Caligula?]

Milner is past it too, he isn't as effective as he was last season. Jones should be starting ahead of him.

It pains me to see how much age has caught up with him but he's more of a hindrance these days than a help. He should be nowhere near the starting XI no matter the competition.

[Yorkykopite]

Ah well, great effort and we'll beat them at their place.

But some things are becoming clear. Minamino is not Liverpool standard. Not just the stupid miss near the end, but the lack of physicality. His skill is ok, but it's not enough to compensate. Jones on the other hand is a serious player. By some measure our most potent weapon in midfield when Thiago isn't playing. Williams proved again that he's a terrific back up for Trent. He'll want a move though. He's too good to be idling on the sidelines. And Henderson. Brilliant commitment, full of running, but his technique lets him down more than it buoys him up. If Liverpool reinforce next summer and Elliot recovers properly he could see less and less game time.

As for Arsenal, they're going nowhere fast are they? They played like a plucky Championship side and their fans are deliriously happy. That says it all.

[killer-heels]

He’s better than Milner, that isn’t even an argument at this point.

Its quite obvious that neither are good enough anymore. Neither should really be first choices or second choices next season.

[SvenJohansen]

Did Robbo have any successful crosses? It must be hard to not get at least one half decent cross in 90 minutes. Tsimikas should have come on when Robbo got booked.

[wah00ey]

It took over 60 minutes with no shots on target to realise that we needed to do something different. TAA struggled and Henderson hardly helped and never really tried to get Dow the right. Neco should have been on much earlier as should Jones.

Against 10 men you are going to get room on the wings but we hardly used the extra man.

Arsenal will have to come out of their penalty area for the next leg which will give our forwards much more room.

Final comment…….how many times did Saka push our player but the referee didn’t see it.

A match to forget.

I saw the pushing thing too - and it wasn't just Saka.  Seems an Arteta tactic...

[StL-Dono]

At what point did you realize we weren't going to score?

I think it was about 55 min for me...   

[Drinks Sangria]

You can take option A) Make available a reasonable amount of funds to purchase a midfielder and forward - an amount of funds not even 1/20th of the value increase you’ve seen in your asset.

Option B) Buy a hockey team for £900m

Or you can trade it all for option C, the contents of this mystery box?

[Bird Bird Bird The Bird Is The Word]

Shows how much we rely on Salah and Mane, just a shite performance all around. One or two signings would make a huge difference but we ought to wait for summer (with any luck).

Further compounded by having no-one else in the squad with their unique qualities. No Mo or Mane, and we have no-one in the front three that can consistently dribble past and outpace a defender. So we look toothless in attack, the rest of the team looks stodgy, and we get a performance like that.

Was only when Jones came on that we had any edge in attack.

[Fromola]

That’s what a salahless Liverpool looks like.

Also Mane has got a lot of stick this season but he’s still very important. That was awful

Reminded me of that Southampton League Cup semi when we missed him for that tie due to AFCON. Just nothing there. It was so easy for Arsenal to defend tonight.