Topic: PL: Liverpool (4) Salah 20', Mane 46', 52, S v West Ham (0) 12.08.18 KO 13.30pm.

[jlb]

Yes. He played there against Leicester in the League Cup last year, but besides that I can’t remember playing there for us. He seemed comfortable, which was encouraging.. I’m sure having Van Dijk next to him calmed his nerves too.

Thanks for confirming. A 21 year old in his first PL start at CB - puts the talk of big money signings in some perspective.

[jillcwhomever]

Lovren is out for a bit. Klopp confirmed

A big chance for Joe Gomez to stake his claim then.

[PhaseOfPlay]

A big chance for Joe Gomez to stake his claim then.

Sounds like a plot from Bonanza...

[jillcwhomever]

Impressive figures for Milner.

🍾Man of the Match, @LFC ‘s James Milner
Most in match in all of these categories
122 touches
Completed 95/102 passes
3 chances created
7 crosses
12.55km distance covered

[jillcwhomever]

Sounds like a plot from Bonanza...

 

[SteveLFC]

Great, amazing, superb..
Keita, a revelation!
Milner, work rate incredible, is he a robot?
Allison, supercool and unflappable.
Mo, Firmino, Mane, business as usual

Highlight of the match.. Sturridge and that dance, got quite emotional seeing that again.

[jckliew]

Impressive figures for Milner.

🍾Man of the Match, @LFC ‘s James Milner
Most in match in all of these categories
122 touches
Completed 95/102 passes
3 chances created
7 crosses
12.55km distance covered

BOOM!

Veteran James still running!

[John C]

A big chance for Joe Gomez to stake his claim then.

It is. You know my concerns about our CB position 
Gomez isn't really an accomplished Liverpool player yet never mind a starting centre-back, but he was solid. He tidied up several times, I was impressed (today)

[mercury]

Keita's decision making, when to dribble, the timing and placing of that penetrating pass, love it.

Chuffed for Sturidge.

And, West Ham not a bad team at all.

[jillcwhomever]

It is. You know my concerns about our CB position 
Gomez isn't really an accomplished Liverpool player yet never mind a starting centre-back, but he was solid. He tidied up several times, I was impressed (today)

I think he will make a good CB in the end you know. I have heard about your concerns about our CB position. 

[johnj147]

nice comfortable win

[johnj147]

Impressive figures for Milner.

🍾Man of the Match, @LFC ‘s James Milner
Most in match in all of these categories
122 touches
Completed 95/102 passes
3 chances created
7 crosses
12.55km distance covered

what a trier this lad . is . gives everything

[hesbighesred]

Far too good for West Ham. They have strengthened in forward and wide areas, but their back four look leaky. It was good to see Antonio fail to improve on his impressive record as our Kryptonite. Wiltshire spends a lot of time on his ass - he’s a shadow of the player he threatened to be.

TAA is going to be immense for us, but at this moment in time I’d be tempted, particularly against other top 6 teams, to play Millie at right back. Gini would always be in my midfield so it’s a question of Hendo or Fabinho for the sitting role. Keita is a shoe-in.

TAA took out their entire midfield with a pinpoint pass to set Keita on his way for our opening goal. You can count on one hand the number of FBs in world football who can pull off passes like that regularly. He's a difference maker - and to have one of those is an absolutely massive asset in any match where the onus is on us to score. I see your point, and I'm glad we've got the option of Clyne, but TAA has the potential to be one of the world's best in that position.

[Slick_Beef]

Brilliant that. I remember so many cagey opening day games over the years, it was great to just blow them away. Keita immediately looked the part and all. Well done red men!

[Sir Capon of Debaser]

Andy Robertson in his white boots

Bit tone deaf to the cities culture that

What next? An electric fucking bagpipe?

Flash twat

[PhaseOfPlay]

Andy Robertson in his white boots

Bit tone deaf to the cities culture that

What next? An electric fucking bagpipe?

Flash twat

Didn't Alan Ball wear white boots when he was at The Ev(TM) too?

[dmorgan]

As comfortable as you would expect from the incumbent league champions

[Sir Capon of Debaser]

Didn't Alan Ball wear white boots when he was at The Ev(TM) too?

Part time baker and Karate instructor tho mate

[PhaseOfPlay]

Part time baker and Karate instructor tho mate

That explains why his voice was so high

[Sir Capon of Debaser]

That explains why his voice was so high

Cos Chinas pre pubic?

[Shaved Crossbar]

TAA took out their entire midfield with a pinpoint pass to set Keita on his way for our opening goal. You can count on one hand the number of FBs in world football who can pull off passes like that regularly. He's a difference maker - and to have one of those is an absolutely massive asset in any match where the onus is on us to score. I see your point, and I'm glad we've got the option of Clyne, but TAA has the potential to be one of the world's best in that position.

He takes our possession game up so many levels

Poor game today but we saw glimpses of his best and that’s a guy not too far off world class

[cipher]

Honestly, despite the 4 goals, my highlight of the game was the double crotch-shot on Noble and Wilshere. That had me in stitches.

That moment and Klopp's double pump "balls of steel" celebration had me going.  It really cracked the boys up at half time.

[Alonso_The_Assassin]

So it begins.

Great performance without getting out of third gear.

Milner was sensational today. Covered every blade of grass. Really liked Gini's display as well.

Can see Mane bagging 25 goals this year. Was unplayable at times.

[Coolie High]

One of the reasons I really like Brendan Rodgers' coaching is his emphasis on mobility. "Positionless" attacking is nearly unstoppable when you have good quality technical players to play it.

The past 3 seasons for Klopp has been a slow evolution to the same type of football - not that he didn't want it from the start, but that he didn't have enough players to risk it, because it is a physically demanding way to play, especially with the pressing defence.

Today was a great example of where we're heading, and we weren't even at full pelt. Salah was right side, central, left side, Mane was the same, but also up front and dropped back, Firmino was every where, Milner was right side, left side and central midfield, Keita covered every line on the field, and even TAA was outside and inside the field. The only constants were Robertson, VVD, Gomez and Wijnaldum. Impossible to mark, causes consternation in defence, and the only real solution is to defend deep and stay compact - which entirely nullifies your attack if you have any ambition to play a passing game, like West Ham did.

This season will be a good 'un. I could see us losing less than 5 games in the league.

Robertson looked like a winger out there as well.

[Giono]

I was almost worried Sturridge was not gonna do his dance after the goal

Saq’s facial reaction to the dance was priceless.

[alonsoisared]

Well, that was fantastic wasn't it? It's tempting to use the cliche of "we won't play an easier game all season" because we coasted it from start to finish, but we probably will have a few more of those at Anfield. Teams can't live with us when we play at that intensity, and with Keita looking bright, the full backs seemingly stepping up to another level and that lethal front three, as soon as we score one it's going to be curtains for most teams in the league.

It all feels very different for us at the moment. The opening day last season we were repeating many of the same mistakes and the same old frailties seemed to be getting carried over. You can't draw that much from today but on the evidence of the last six months plus the fact that we've all of a sudden got such strength in depth, you just feel total confidence in this team. Van Dijk has changed a lot of that almost single handedly IMO, there is a new found assurance about us which you could see throughout our run in last year.

They say that to become a great team you need to win something, anything, to give the players that final bit of belief to kick on and to get the taste of winning. Man City did it with that League Cup the other year. For us, I wonder if the experience of those huge Champions League nights and getting all the way to the final will be what kicks us on. We feel like one of the big boys again, and everybody knows it. We've not got silverware but we've got a burning desire to be on the right end of those nights in Kiev now and I hope that can drive these players on to the next level.

As for winning the league, it's going to be so tough. Man City are just so good and have even more strength in depth than we do. But we can't and won't be thinking of them. If we win our first 10 games, we'll be top. It doesn't matter what they do. We're going to need some luck on the way with injuries and maybe even the odd refereeing decision or two. If we can keep Sturridge fit then I honestly think that makes an unbelievable difference. We just have to go out and do what we can do, and keep winning. It was the perfect start today and I can't wait for the next game already.

 

[PhaseOfPlay]

Robertson looked like a winger out there as well.

Yep - but real mobility is lateral, which is why I added TAA, because he had a few occasions where he went into the inside channels without the ball. Very hard to mark.

[Alf]

Just what the doctor ordered today and frankly how I expected it to pan out. Pellegeini’s high line was tailor made for our front 3. I can’t think of any of our players that had a bad game.

[Clint Eastwood]

Keita's decision making, when to dribble, the timing and placing of that penetrating pass, love it.

Chuffed for Sturidge.

And, West Ham not a bad team at all.

Shittest fanbase in the league though.

[deFacto please, you bastards]

West Ham can fuck off with the sign on chants. Wankers the lot of them.

Having the bench that we do [we couldn't even include Moreno,Solanke,Origi,Lovren,Matip,Klavan for instance] will be massive for us once the mid-week fixtures start in September and once we get back from the international break

[trimore]

I really hope Sturridge and Shaqiri embrace their roles off the bench this season. Beyond the importance of rotation to avoid injury and fatigue, having players of that quality and fully motivated to run at tired defenders at the end of games will be invaluable to any league ambitions we have this season. 

[the_red_pill]

First time I can remember a season opener and us looking like champion material!

All the other times, I felt like "Yes, we can do it! We're the underdog, but we can surprise people.", but today was like "Yes, I can see us doing this. We're champion material!"

[sms1986]

I really hope Sturridge and Shaqiri embrace their roles off the bench this season. Beyond the importance of rotation to avoid injury and fatigue, having players of that quality and fully motivated to run at tired defenders at the end of games will be invaluable to any league ambitions we have this season.

Yeah, they're awesome super subs.

[Trada]

A great start to the season.

If the ref had only given us a few more scrums we would had won by more.

[12C]

Sounds like a plot from Bonanza...

“It’s cowboy time!”

[keyop]

Keita is an absolute Rolls Royce of a midfielder - a proper box to box destroyer that will help both our defence and attack this year.

Alisson wasn't really tested but TAA/Robertson were quality, VVD and Gomez solid, Milner was Mr reliable as usual, Wijnaldum was everywhere, and the front 3 scared West Ham's defence to death. Henderson and Shaqiri looked good when they came on, and I'm delighted for Sturridge after all the hard work in pre-season.

Greater tests will come, but its the perfect start. Onwards and upwards

[IanZG]

There were quite a few factors against us today, a lot of players returned late from the WC, quite a few injuries, starting our 4th or 5th choice CB to partner VVD so really impressed both with the performance and the result, left them without a decent go at Allison and forced Fabianski to make a few decent saves to keep the score respectable. Lovely signs for the rest of the season.

[12C]

Didn't Alan Ball wear white boots when he was at The Ev(TM) too?

Recall a kid in school (the one who had all the latest stuff) got a pair of those Hummel white boots endorsed by Alan Ball despite allegedly being a red.
He put dubbin on them and they turned green.
The rest of the class laughed

[Ciara (with a capital "C")]

Great start - took our chances well, created loads and moved the ball around really well.

Still a few rusty players  and the rhythm and sharpness isn’t there yet but can’t ask for much more.

Palace away feels like a harder test so into that one next.

Get in!

[robgomm]

Yep - but real mobility is lateral, which is why I added TAA, because he had a few occasions where he went into the inside channels without the ball. Very hard to mark.

Mendy was at that today for City. Or he'd go wide and Sterling would go in. And then if play shift, Kyle Walker would appear in seconds from being in a back three in the build up to overlapping on the right because whatever other deficiencies he has, he appears to be the fastest fucking man ever at times.

Would you draw a distinction between "positionless play" like Rodgers and the position play of Pep? Or is the former what the latter looks like when it's in full gear? Because although you can see City are playing positionally, they have players whose movement seems unpredictable.