Author Topic: UEFA Cup Final Round Table. Liverpool 1 Sevilla 3  (Read 14489 times)

Offline hesbighesred

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Re: UEFA Cup Final Round Table. Liverpool 1 Sevilla 3
« Reply #40 on: May 22, 2016, 07:31:43 pm »
The gross mismanagement in the transfer market the last few years will take a while to be corrected. Bloated squad with overrated and overpaid high transfer fee players.
Hold on a minute. There's been some howlers - every team makes them, but we brought in £120 million off Suarez and Sterling. Milner, Lallana, Allen, Lovren, Sakho, Henderson - a whole bunch who have proved worth what we paid, and are well worth a place at least as squad players, and are not going to lose us loads when/if we sell. Sturridge for £12million, Coutinho for £10million. Firmino, Origi, Clyne, did we screw up there as well? Balotelli was a disaster but we won't struggle to shift anyone we want rid of other than him.

Seems to me that what we've got is a very decent squad that's lacking a touch of magic to bring it together, or at least the ability to compensate for that with fitness, teamwork and belief like Spurs have this season (plus an extremely hard working and reliable goalscorer, something we may just have found in Origi). We're a club, and I know this isn't particularly romantic to say, that is finally running on sound financial basis. We have owners who want to compete, but who will not put in more than they can afford, and they will not take out of the club either (all six Glazer sons take £2.5million a year from Utd). Again, it's not romantic, but do we want to be City or Chelsea, dependent on the whims of their owners and, in the latter case, absolutely and completely unsustainable without them? Run by vultures like we used to be, or like Utd are? Or do we want to be like Spurs and Arsenal? Clubs that do the unglamarous thing of being sensible, season after season, knowing their limitations, but having extremely solid foundations that allows someone like a Pochettino, someone with a touch of class about them, to lift them up to a new level? We won't spend billions we don't have chasing a dream, we'll spend what we do have building foundations that mean, if we can find someone to lift us in to dreamland, we have a chance to actually reinvest and go up a level sustainably, to build ourselves into a machine that can compete season after season. I don't see a disaster when I look at our transfer dealings over the last few seasons, I see a system that seems, increasingly, to be providing money in the bank, that could do with some improvement and guidance perhaps but, then - look who we got in charge. We got in charge someone who did exactly what we're aiming for, the kind of manager Spurs perhaps have with Pochettino, only we arguably have a better (certainly wealther) base than they do. And we didn't have his pre-season for building that base of fitness.

I don't know. Maybe I'm the only one, maybe I was a bit pissed or maybe my life is just generally going pretty well at the moment, but I really didn't feel the doom and gloom everyone else seems to have done after that final.

They had, what, 4 shots on target, of which 3 went in, one of which was a marginal offside call? We had a similarly marginal call in the first half (correct but you've seen 'em given) and another 3 penalty shouts which were all, again, at the very least in that category. How often do that many decisions fail to go your way in a match? I thought two of their finishes were pretty outrageous too. We've been getting more and more reliable in the league, winning a few games with our reserve squad. We may have too many players, but I don't think we need to replace loads. A bit of magic, GK and CM for me, and all of those things are in the pipeline already. We've got a manager who, while I have a slight question mark over his flexibility, does have a winning system and the absolute ability to build belief, togetherness and to get people working for him, in a situation that isn't way over his head - he's done this before, he knows the blueprint, he wants to build with young and hungry players, he wants to build sustainably.

For my money we're in a far stronger position than we were in, say, 2005, or even when Rodgers took over. I can't wait for next season, heck, I'm excited already because we've already got Matip and Grujic in the bag, two players who add class and competition, respectively.

Sure it's a shame we lost but, for me, it's been a seriously, seriously long time since I've felt this club has solid foundations and a bright future ahead of us. And for the players who stay along for the ride, the pain of this final will absolutely help them grow, and if they're not that kind of player, Klopp will weed them out, no doubt about that.

It's the ancient cliche but here's to next season, and it's not a cliche, but here's to sustainability too. Given where we've been, I find that exciting too.
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Offline Penfold78

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Re: UEFA Cup Final Round Table. Liverpool 1 Sevilla 3
« Reply #41 on: May 22, 2016, 08:22:14 pm »
Hold on a minute. There's been some howlers - every team makes them, but we brought in £120 million off Suarez and Sterling. Milner, Lallana, Allen, Lovren, Sakho, Henderson - a whole bunch who have proved worth what we paid, and are well worth a place at least as squad players, and are not going to lose us loads when/if we sell. Sturridge for £12million, Coutinho for £10million. Firmino, Origi, Clyne, did we screw up there as well? Balotelli was a disaster but we won't struggle to shift anyone we want rid of other than him.

Seems to me that what we've got is a very decent squad that's lacking a touch of magic to bring it together, or at least the ability to compensate for that with fitness, teamwork and belief like Spurs have this season (plus an extremely hard working and reliable goalscorer, something we may just have found in Origi). We're a club, and I know this isn't particularly romantic to say, that is finally running on sound financial basis. We have owners who want to compete, but who will not put in more than they can afford, and they will not take out of the club either (all six Glazer sons take £2.5million a year from Utd). Again, it's not romantic, but do we want to be City or Chelsea, dependent on the whims of their owners and, in the latter case, absolutely and completely unsustainable without them? Run by vultures like we used to be, or like Utd are? Or do we want to be like Spurs and Arsenal? Clubs that do the unglamarous thing of being sensible, season after season, knowing their limitations, but having extremely solid foundations that allows someone like a Pochettino, someone with a touch of class about them, to lift them up to a new level? We won't spend billions we don't have chasing a dream, we'll spend what we do have building foundations that mean, if we can find someone to lift us in to dreamland, we have a chance to actually reinvest and go up a level sustainably, to build ourselves into a machine that can compete season after season. I don't see a disaster when I look at our transfer dealings over the last few seasons, I see a system that seems, increasingly, to be providing money in the bank, that could do with some improvement and guidance perhaps but, then - look who we got in charge. We got in charge someone who did exactly what we're aiming for, the kind of manager Spurs perhaps have with Pochettino, only we arguably have a better (certainly wealther) base than they do. And we didn't have his pre-season for building that base of fitness.

I don't know. Maybe I'm the only one, maybe I was a bit pissed or maybe my life is just generally going pretty well at the moment, but I really didn't feel the doom and gloom everyone else seems to have done after that final.

They had, what, 4 shots on target, of which 3 went in, one of which was a marginal offside call? We had a similarly marginal call in the first half (correct but you've seen 'em given) and another 3 penalty shouts which were all, again, at the very least in that category. How often do that many decisions fail to go your way in a match? I thought two of their finishes were pretty outrageous too. We've been getting more and more reliable in the league, winning a few games with our reserve squad. We may have too many players, but I don't think we need to replace loads. A bit of magic, GK and CM for me, and all of those things are in the pipeline already. We've got a manager who, while I have a slight question mark over his flexibility, does have a winning system and the absolute ability to build belief, togetherness and to get people working for him, in a situation that isn't way over his head - he's done this before, he knows the blueprint, he wants to build with young and hungry players, he wants to build sustainably.

For my money we're in a far stronger position than we were in, say, 2005, or even when Rodgers took over. I can't wait for next season, heck, I'm excited already because we've already got Matip and Grujic in the bag, two players who add class and competition, respectively.

Sure it's a shame we lost but, for me, it's been a seriously, seriously long time since I've felt this club has solid foundations and a bright future ahead of us. And for the players who stay along for the ride, the pain of this final will absolutely help them grow, and if they're not that kind of player, Klopp will weed them out, no doubt about that.

It's the ancient cliche but here's to next season, and it's not a cliche, but here's to sustainability too. Given where we've been, I find that exciting too.

 I want to see more posts from you, more often. Sensible chap, you.

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Re: UEFA Cup Final Round Table. Liverpool 1 Sevilla 3
« Reply #42 on: May 22, 2016, 09:01:44 pm »
Well, I'm sad to say I am not so optimistic.  I'd go further and say, the reason why we finish 8th is largely because we have 'the worst midfield in the top 8'. We offer very little in that area. Sure criticisms can be made (and have been) about some of our GK/defenders, even about Sturridge, even (sadly) rumblings already about the manager.

Until we get some sort of coherent midfield three that can complement each other with some balls, with a proper ball winner, a controller and a box to box player (which we havent had since the heady days of 2009), then we're doomed to midtable.

The midfield has got to get sorted as a first priority. We've been overrun there by virtually every half decent team for years.

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Re: UEFA Cup Final Round Table. Liverpool 1 Sevilla 3
« Reply #43 on: May 22, 2016, 09:12:15 pm »
Winning breeds winning, however we haven't had much of that in the last couple of years. I'm sure the lads learned plenty from the cup loss against City, but I'm sure they learned even more from this cup final loss as well. Bayern Munich several years ago lost two finals in 3/4 years, one of which was at their own stadium, after they took the lead in the last several minutes, conceded a minute from time, failed to convert in extra time via a penalty, and lost on penalties in the end. What followed after that was a treble. I'm sure they had the fire in their bellies to achieve that.

That is what I am hoping will happen with this club, with these players [the  ones that will be still here] and be able to achieve success with Klopp.

As far as the match goes. The first 15 or 20 minutes were rather cagey, there was no flow from either side, however we managed to create two good opportunities before Sturridge put us ahead. Following that we should have had a penalty, and had two additional chances to score. Which would have seen us go into the half a couple of goals in the lead. We got a goal late in the first half as well, exactly what you want going into half-time in a game, let alone a cup final.

However, what you don't want is to concede early or late, and we managed to do that immediatly after kick off. Whatever we had in mind during half-time, went out the door. We got sucker punched, it stung, we wobbled, couldn't get balance on our feet and boom got chinned with a second goal soon after. We got a bit unlucky with the 3rd goal in terms of how it deflected off Coutinho [I believe] and into the path of the Sevilla player. But we never recovered from the first goal, we never got ourselves together, never put our foot down and Sevilla dominated the 2nd half in eveery aspect because of that. We couldn't get any rhythm, we lost control of the midfield [perhaps Allen should have been brought on a lot earlier but] and our heads dropped completely, we looked scared and devoid of confidence of getting back into the match. What was really shocking was the atmopshere from our lads, it was really quiet in comparison to what we are usually capable of. It was a nightmare in the 2nd half.

We have Klopp, things will get better, we will learn from this [with him I don't have any doubts]. I didn't expect him to get to two cup finals this year all things considered. It fucking sucks that we lost in both finals, but its not the first time in our history and won't be the last.

Offline LiverBirdKop

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Re: UEFA Cup Final Round Table. Liverpool 1 Sevilla 3
« Reply #44 on: May 23, 2016, 12:07:37 am »
Hold on a minute. There's been some howlers - every team makes them, but we brought in £120 million off Suarez and Sterling. Milner, Lallana, Allen, Lovren, Sakho, Henderson - a whole bunch who have proved worth what we paid, and are well worth a place at least as squad players, and are not going to lose us loads when/if we sell. Sturridge for £12million, Coutinho for £10million. Firmino, Origi, Clyne, did we screw up there as well? Balotelli was a disaster but we won't struggle to shift anyone we want rid of other than him.
You're easily pleased if you think most of the players you mentioned have "proved worth what we paid" even though most of them haven't been consistently good for a long stretch- then to call them squad players that "are not going to lose us loads".  ;D

Feel free to include the £32m man on your list. I will touch on one player you mentioned and that is Clyne. VERY good buy at £13m and somehow amazingly not £20m-ish. SFC must've felt guilty from previous transactions (or sorry for us).

I look forward to Klopp bringing his type of players in and Ian Ayre f-ing off next year.

Offline Alonso_The_Assassin

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Re: UEFA Cup Final Round Table. Liverpool 1 Sevilla 3
« Reply #45 on: May 23, 2016, 03:13:17 am »
As always, great stuff from Yorky.

Still absolutely gutted and to be honest, I've never felt like this so long after a final. Athens, FA Cup against Chelsea, even when we went tumbling out of the FA Cup back in 1999 thanks to two late goals at Old Trafford...

Make no mistake about. This one fucking hurts.

One thing I will say (Yorky may disagree with me here). Out of those penalty shouts the third was a cast iron job, while the first really should have been given, too. Does it balance out for how we played in the second half? No. We were horrendous and really got what we deserved from a Sevilla side who have the smarts to win when it counts.

Just on the opposition. I really feel most are not giving them the credit they deserve. To win this competition once is a monumental achievement but to prevail as victors back-to-back on three separate occasions really is some achievement and an awful lot of praise has to be reserved for them.

Anyway, onwards and upwards. Next season will be something. I really think if we can get the players in that Klopp wants then we're in for a really exciting ride.


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Re: UEFA Cup Final Round Table. Liverpool 1 Sevilla 3
« Reply #46 on: May 23, 2016, 05:09:11 pm »
Great OP.

I think the disallowed goal did us the most harm. They say 2-0 is the most dangerous scoreline in football, and I think both fans and players went in at half time with the mentality of a 2-0 lead without the actual extra goal cushion! Once the first goal was scored the panic set in and there was no one on the pitch in the right mind to shake his 10 teammates out of it, unfortunately.
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Offline kcbworth

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Re: UEFA Cup Final Round Table. Liverpool 1 Sevilla 3
« Reply #47 on: May 24, 2016, 06:55:13 am »
Has anyone watched this back to figure out why Coutinho didn't get the ball the whole second half? Was their midfield that good or was ours that bad? And what should Phil have done differently?

Offline Easy

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Re: UEFA Cup Final Round Table. Liverpool 1 Sevilla 3
« Reply #48 on: May 24, 2016, 08:38:35 am »
Has anyone watched this back

No. I won't be watching this game again. I can't. I'll never watch 2007 again either or the FA Cup with Kenny. These games are one offs and the pressure of the "final" can make players do different / silly things. We suffered a collective brain fart once that equaliser went in. Whilst this was a final, we've done this collective sub-performance before. It's inexplicable. Whilst I understand the "we have no leaders" argument, I'm still amazed that grown men will stand by, see their team being embarrassed, and do little about it unless there's someone telling them. But it's happened in league matches too - that bizarre capitulation after one goal has been conceded or a substitution made.

Jurgen will need to bring in lads with leadership, get rid of players that can't think for themselves when the chips are down, and drill them so that they know what's expected and when they put on a red shirt. The gutting thing is the opportunity that this team threw away. It was a hard earned opportunity, and having climbed the hill, they inexplicably self destructed. LFC don't ever play that badly in finals - let's hope they don't ever again. Over to you Jurgen.   

Offline redk84

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Re: UEFA Cup Final Round Table. Liverpool 1 Sevilla 3
« Reply #49 on: May 24, 2016, 10:06:12 am »
There's not much to add to the OP really.

We had a fantastic run at Europe that I certainly didn't see coming........just wanted a good cup run or two back when Jurgen was appointed never thought we'd get to two finals! Never thought we'd lose 2 in the same season either as we are usually better than that which is why it hurts I guess, but the main aim of the season has been achieved since Rodgers departure in my opinion.

Klopp has his eye in.....he knows the squad, he's been through a lot with this squad in extreme situations. You could call it a perfect season for transition, the cherry on top would have been a cup win to reward all the hard work but hopefully it will add hunger to them. This group of players needs to start winning now they've come close to achieving something in the past two seasons and with Klopp I'm sure we will be a stronger outfit next season.

Whatever happens we will be a better team and I believe there is a lot to be optimistic about. it's time to enjoy the break from footy and be ready for the next bit  8)

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Re: UEFA Cup Final Round Table. Liverpool 1 Sevilla 3
« Reply #50 on: May 24, 2016, 01:13:49 pm »
Rarely does a game hurt like that one but this was a right punch in the ribs.

As pointed out, if we tried our hardest and were beaten by sheer class I'd have taken one on the chin, but we didn't and Sevilla merely took their chances well from our defensive blunders and seen the game out. Boy did they time waste as well, every half nudge and tackle they took to ground like they had been hacked with a samurai sword.

It will hopefully be a different story next year, a shake up of personnel, new backroom staff and arguably one of the finest managers on earth with true spirit and passion for his team. Its not all doom and gloom!
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Offline Suareznumber7

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Re: UEFA Cup Final Round Table. Liverpool 1 Sevilla 3
« Reply #51 on: May 24, 2016, 01:58:34 pm »


Until we get some sort of coherent midfield three
that can complement each other with some balls, with a proper ball winner, a controller and a box to box player (which we havent had since the heady days of 2009), then we're doomed to midtable.

The midfield has got to get sorted as a first priority. We've been overrun there by virtually every half decent team for years.

Doesn't seem to me that we'll be playing with a midfield 3 under Klopp.  It'll be 2 CM's, A more defensive player and a playmaker, behind a band of 3 attacking midfielders and a striker. 

Offline SmallwoodRed

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Re: UEFA Cup Final Round Table. Liverpool 1 Sevilla 3
« Reply #52 on: May 24, 2016, 02:24:53 pm »
Great write up.
Agree in many respects with the view that quite a few have that we lack leaders and certainly some players did go missing or lost discipline.
However, I think the way things panned out was as much about tiredness and the players reaction to the impact that had on the team and confidence.
To me they all looked like they had nothing in the tank even in the first half.
For this reason i disagree that a second goal would have killed it for us in the first half. I firmly believe we could and would have surrendered a 2 goal lead if we started the second half in the same way. At 1-1 there was no reason for us go downhill as badly as we did apart from the fact Sevilla had their tails up and sensed blood and we had nothing left to stop them.
The OP has mentioned the fact that this team would have gone out of Europe a lot earlier than the final had it not been for Klopp and his motivation of the current squad to overachieve through sheer guts and determination. When watching the Chelsea game a week earlier I thought we looked similar but I put it down to prep for the final. My instincts told me different and i think they were proved right.
For next season for sure agree with OP that Klopp was making a considered judgement when saying this could be a turning point. He has a colossal job on his hands where qualification for top 4 is the number 1 priority along with building a squad that can stay there. The experience of Leicester and ourselves in recent years has shown how far a team can go without European distraction and one almost felt this is how Klopp would like it. One step at a time.

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Re: UEFA Cup Final Round Table. Liverpool 1 Sevilla 3
« Reply #53 on: May 24, 2016, 02:43:37 pm »
Doesn't seem to me that we'll be playing with a midfield 3 under Klopp.  It'll be 2 CM's, A more defensive player and a playmaker, behind a band of 3 attacking midfielders and a striker. 

If you are going to play a two though they have to be incredibly disciplined and all of the four ahead of them need to put in a shift. That simply didn't happen especially second half. Can dropped in between the centre backs ala Gerrard 13-14 when the full backs pushed on and Milner did what he does when you start him centrally he drifts out wide where he is more comfortable and can get in crosses.

We ending up being over run in midfield and the pressers became the pressed. When we occasionally tried to play through midfield they harried us off the ball and when we went long Sturridge simply couldn't hold the ball up. Sturridge is a conundrum in a Klopp team, head and shoulders above everyone in terms of ability, guile and finishing when things are going well but pretty much a none event when the opposition gets on top.

As soon as Sevilla pushed us back at the start of the 2nd half we didn't have an answer or more pertinently an out ball. We couldn't hold the ball up and didn't have the pace to play over the top and turn Sevilla. We lost our shape they regained theirs and it came down to which team made the fewer mistakes. Sadly we have too many players at present who make mistakes for fun.

Hopefully Klopp will have more time to work with the players next season, we will improve the squad and even more importantly we will become more disciplined.
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Re: UEFA Cup Final Round Table. Liverpool 1 Sevilla 3
« Reply #54 on: May 24, 2016, 03:20:41 pm »
If you are going to play a two though they have to be incredibly disciplined and all of the four ahead of them need to put in a shift. That simply didn't happen especially second half. Can dropped in between the centre backs ala Gerrard 13-14 when the full backs pushed on and Milner did what he does when you start him centrally he drifts out wide where he is more comfortable and can get in crosses.

We ending up being over run in midfield and the pressers became the pressed. When we occasionally tried to play through midfield they harried us off the ball and when we went long Sturridge simply couldn't hold the ball up. Sturridge is a conundrum in a Klopp team, head and shoulders above everyone in terms of ability, guile and finishing when things are going well but pretty much a none event when the opposition gets on top.

As soon as Sevilla pushed us back at the start of the 2nd half we didn't have an answer or more pertinently an out ball. We couldn't hold the ball up and didn't have the pace to play over the top and turn Sevilla. We lost our shape they regained theirs and it came down to which team made the fewer mistakes. Sadly we have too many players at present who make mistakes for fun.

Hopefully Klopp will have more time to work with the players next season, we will improve the squad and even more importantly we will become more disciplined.
The problem with Can and Milner/Henderson in midfield is none of them can beat a press and they need far too much time to control a ball and move it on, invariably the way they’re facing, which often kills momentum. We saw exactly the same as this against Chelsea at Anfield who, after we started the game brightly, pressed us high up the pitch and we couldn’t get the ball to our forwards. It almost like Sevilla copied the Chelsea tactics that game, press us high up the pitch and run at our defenders. I’d hate to see some of the ‘dribbled past’ stats in those games as we didn’t seem capable of winning any one-on-ones.

It’s interesting that Klopp’s comments after both games were very similar:

After Chelsea:

"In the first 15 minutes we were brilliant, but after that we lost patience completely, we lost our formation because we lost patience and that's a problem,"

"We didn't defend well because we weren't compact, because we always lost formation”

And after Sevilla:

"The first [Sevilla] goal is not a problem -- what happened after that is the problem. We lost faith completely in our style of play, we lost shape and we were nervous in defence. "We didn't defend well because we weren't compact, because we always lost formation” “We changed from passing simply and quick to slow and complicated and lost our formation, it was not compact any more.

In both those games we were being outnumbered and outfought in midfield and couldn’t keep possession or get the ball to our forwards. Changes needed to be made tactically but instead we tried to stick to the game-plan rather than change to a plan b. At the end we were just throwing on forwards in the hope of getting a goal rather than addressing the area of concern.

For me, five minutes into the second half I’d have brought Joe Allen on for one of Coutinho/Lallana/Firmino to add some movement, mobility and passing to the midfield. We could have matched Sevilla in midfield with Allen, Can and Milner or pushed Milner wide.
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Offline G1 Jockey 4(betfair)

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Re: UEFA Cup Final Round Table. Liverpool 1 Sevilla 3
« Reply #55 on: May 25, 2016, 01:17:38 pm »
think once the high pressing gets tired thats when we dont have the right setup to be able to counter some sides who are then able to come onto us.

having allen and can in that situation is not going to match up to a lot of midfields let alone the pole and nzonzi.

i can sort fo see why he brought origi on for firminio ...maybe he though firminios pressing was poor....maybe he shoudl ahve replaced sturridge with origi before changing the midfield?
if the high pressing failed then and we were still 1-1 the logicla thing would have been to pair lucas and milner to battle with the two sevilla midfielders.

but we went 2-1 down so see why he went for it.
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Offline JackWard33

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Re: UEFA Cup Final Round Table. Liverpool 1 Sevilla 3
« Reply #56 on: May 25, 2016, 06:40:41 pm »
There's some nonsense about our midfield in this thread - I guess an understandable over reaction to this game
When Can has played with Henderson in a 2; especially with Milner on the pitch as well we've dominated most games. We've out shot most teams when those 3 have played and conceded very few chances (go and check the numbers)
Yes it needs upgrading but then the whole side does but people are talking like we're a million miles away when we're clearly not

There is a problem with a Can and Milner midfield against good teams that's true - but this was never first choice.
It's odd that Klopp didn't change it in the first 15 minutes of the 2nd half where it was crying out for an extra midfielder to get a grip of the game - that paralysis cost us a chance to get back into the game. I'm a Klopp fan but he has shown a tendency to be passive in games - didn't watch enough Dortmund games where they were struggling to know if this is normal for him (they usually won)

Finally I want to talk about Sturridge and his goal. He is absolutely exceptional. I can't even name 5 LFC players in our history that would have tried that in a major final let alone pulled it off.
Since his return to the team not only are his individual numbers outstanding but our attack is at another level - both to the eye test and the numbers. The shit on here about his pressing, fucking tackling (?!) and stamina totally misses the point - he's an elite attacker and the only one we're likely to get our hands on in the near future. It's a shame that goal will mostly be lost as we lost the game but it was an incredible moment. I hope people can enjoy him while he's here instead of finding reasons to criticise him which a weirdly large amount of our fan base seem hell bent on doing.