Topic: FT Sunderland 2 vs Liverpool 2 (Sturridge 19', Defoe pen 25' 84' Mane 71')

[Priest078]

We gained a point , friggin knee jerkers

[stockdam]

We gained a point , friggin knee jerkers

Yes we did against Chelsea, stayed constant with Arsenal but we dropped two against City etc.

We don't want to let the chasing teams gain on us as things can change very quickly.

[Olde Dog]

Yes we did against Chelsea, stayed constant with Arsenal but we dropped two against City etc.

We don't want to let the chasing teams gain on us as things can change very quickly.

we beat City, no? How is that dropping two? We dropped nothing - no losses over the Christmas period, that's all points gained - behave ...

[Alonso_The_Assassin]

5 points behind now which is nothing, but in saying that I don't feel that afraid of the teams below us in the table. Given we play these teams, bar United, at home I think we're in the best position out of the lot.

It's strange how it all works, isn't it? The mood on here would be different had we drawn with City and beat Sunderland, however that set of circumstances would have left us worse off in comparison with City.

All told, 13 from an available 15 with wins against Everton and City is a fucking good return. We're on track.

[Mr_Shane]

well what a surreal set of results from the christmas fixtures. The top of the table has become even more bunched up than before Christmas, and it almost sees like a case of "is the glass half-empty or half-full"?

 

[ggcc14]

great point that red men

[harleydanger]

well what a surreal set of results from the christmas fixtures. The top of the table has become even more bunched up than before Christmas, and it almost sees like a case of "is the glass half-empty or half-full"?

 

And Chelsea won 12 in a row, still only 5 ahead. That would be demoralising for them

[alonsoisared]

. Up the reds

[mikeb58]

And Chelsea won 12 in a row, still only 5 ahead. That would be demoralising for them

Think it was actually 13, but yeah you've got to be gutted you're not further ahead after a run like that and only a better GD of 2 than us as well!

[deFacto please, you bastards]

We play City and United away, everyone else has to come to Anfield. The next match is massive, and so is the one against Chelsea at the end of the month.

[jckliew]

We play City and United away, everyone else has to come to Anfield. The next match is massive, and so is the one against Chelsea at the end of the month.

Chelsea game wiil be like a cup final. Winner takes all.

[sideshowme]

so if city, arsenal and spurs all win their next games comfortably (everton, swansea, WBA respectively), we could be in 5th (with a game in hand) before kick off at OT, only one place above our perennially underachieving hosts.

strange old league.

[deFacto please, you bastards]

Chelsea game wiil be like a cup final. Winner takes all.

Even if we win, imo it doesn't guarantee anything, it just puts us in a better position than we are now, but it's still a long way to go. Ideally I would like to nick the title on the last day of the season, that way the pressure is on them and not us.

[bornandbRED]

The United game is huge. We need to go and beat the c*nts - our record there doesn't fill me with confidence but our big game record under Klopp soothes me somewhat.

[jooneyisdagod]

The United game is huge. We need to go and beat the c*nts - our record there doesn't fill me with confidence but our big game record under Klopp soothes me somewhat.

Absolutely. It's two weeks away now and I'm pumped as fuck already. Have to beat those bastards.

[deFacto please, you bastards]

Absolutely. It's two weeks away now and I'm pumped as fuck already. Have to beat those bastards.

I hate playing those twats.

[Frizzo]

Think it was actually 13, but yeah you've got to be gutted you're not further ahead after a run like that and only a better GD of 2 than us as well!

I actually look at that as us having the edge in goal difference, given that if we make up the 5 points we will definitely make up more than 2 goals difference. We also have the goals for tiebreaker.

[Number 7]

We play City and United away, everyone else has to come to Anfield. The next match is massive, and so is the one against Chelsea at the end of the month.

I don't know who it was that said it on here but I agree with them that if we win our next 3 we'll be in a really good spot going to in to February. Winning at United and Chelsea at home would be huge, because it would again be 3 points each against a top 6 team, and the others will have to play each other. We are better than all 3 of United, Swansea and Chelsea. Just have to do it on the pitch. I think we'd be close to top if not top if we managed to pull it off, and although it wouldn't decide anything but it would put us in prime position. The problem, and I think it's another one of those prioritization problems, will be how much energy we exert in to the 2 legs of the semi final.

[vinothmct]

One of my Manc mate saying Chelsea have peaked early. And Manchester United Can win the title.

I don't remember us peaking either. Can we have a better second half of season? January is massive especially with Mane missing.

We need iron out stuffs like losing points from comfortable position. Kill games off. It will come with experience. Just win against manchester United.

[deFacto please, you bastards]

I don't know who it was that said it on here but I agree with them that if we win our next 3 we'll be in a really good spot going to in to February. Winning at United and Chelsea at home would be huge, because it would again be 3 points each against a top 6 team, and the others will have to play each other. We are better than all 3 of United, Swansea and Chelsea. Just have to do it on the pitch. I think we'd be close to top if not top if we managed to pull it off, and although it wouldn't decide anything but it would put us in prime position. The problem, and I think it's another one of those prioritization problems, will be how much energy we exert in to the 2 legs of the semi final.

We haven't won anything in a while and I really want us to start this chapter of Klopp's management with a trophy, however it will be hard not to put more importance on the league fixtures imo

[deFacto please, you bastards]

One of my Manc mate saying Chelsea have peaked early. And Manchester United Can win the title.

I don't remember us peaking either. Can we have a better second half of season? January is massive especially with Mane missing.

We need iron out stuffs like losing points from comfortable position. Kill games off. It will come with experience. Just win against manchester United.

United have 10 points to make up on them and they're behind everyone else, and they have to do this whilst playing in Europa League. It ain't going to happen. Their run is partly to do with Ibrahimovic, and we saw what happens when they play midweek in Europe.

We and Chelsea have that advantage.

We survived without Coutinho, we'll survive without Mane.

[thisyearisouryear]

Guys, it is very simple - Chelsea will drop points at Leicester and we will beat them at Anfield. Top of the table at Feb start. Simple.

[n00bert]

The Chelsea result this morning just makes the result against Sunderland a bigger kick in the guts. Fuckin' Anthony Taylor and his never-a-freekick-but-giving-one-anyway arse. Should be 3 points behind, not five. Spewing. They say these decisions even themselves out through the season, let's see how true that is.

[Number 7]

We haven't won anything in a while and I really want us to start this chapter of Klopp's management with a trophy, however it will be hard not to put more importance on the league fixtures imo

Yeah, it would be nice to win a trophy. But it's that catch-22 situation now. Do we prioritize the semi final or the 3 league games? It was be a tall order to win all 5 games with the same first 11 and squad isn't deep enough to handle it. I think if there is a realistic shot at the title, which there is, you have to go with a slightly weaker team for the semi finals. At least that's the way I see it. Maybe rotate Lallana, Firmino, Henderson, Wijnaldum and Coutinho.

[Frizzo]

The Chelsea result this morning just makes the result against Sunderland a bigger kick in the guts. Fuckin' Anthony Taylor and his never-a-freekick-but-giving-one-anyway arse. Should be 3 points behind, not five. Spewing. They say these decisions even themselves out through the season, let's see how true that is.

I see it totally the other way.

It turns it into a point gained rather than two points dropped. If Chelsea draw one more game then the title is in our hands and we're over halfway through the season.

Not that we won't drop points again like, but imagine being Chelsea and going on that run, then within two weeks the cats are right back amongst the pigeons.

[Fluke]

Nope, you're wrong.  Neither of Sunderland's games (Burnley away and Liverpool at home) were televised but they had to play on the same days.  So too Burnley (Sunderland Home, City away), neither of their games televised.

People are looking for excuses here and tiredness can not possibly be one of them when other teams (Chelsea apart - surprisingly) had to go through the same thing.
Modify message

Televised in the UK and televised around the world are separate things.  Selling the rights to televise overseas is where they make their money.

[him_15]

We have only ourselves to blame, both penalty could and should have been avoided.

[Fluke]

Its easy to over analyse some things.
The main point i was making was both teams played within 48hrs & it would be difficult to argue that we are a fitter squad.
Which is why i think blaming tiredness for the result looks a bit of a poor excuse.

We didn't use the squad.  Klopp has some to learn about rotation it seems.

[SamAteTheRedAcid]

We didn't use the squad.  Klopp has some to learn about rotation it seems.

Too early to judge whether he's got rotation right or wrong I think.

[redk84]

I would start Can in both semi finals, use him as a sub in the league games

Same for Sturridge (if fit) and Moreno

TAA and Lucas for home leg maybe but I guess it depends on what the score is from 1st leg

That would save legs for a few of our regulars. Coutinho being back is massive, Matip being back would be great. We're not as stretched as last season but im sure Klopp has an idea of how he's gonna manage this

[spider-neil]

I think the only change to the selection I would have made (without hindsight) to the team Klopp chose, is Origi for Firmino.

[Trump's tiny tiny hands]

Plenty of chances to rest/rotate with the FA Cup game at home this weekend. In the end, we finally gained on Chelsea after a difficult fixture run.

I do wonder how Klopp will approach the semi-final first leg mid-week. If he does play a fair few of the reserves against Plymouth, does he reward them for good games by playing them mid-week as well? 

[Medellin]

We didn't use the squad.  Klopp has some to learn about rotation it seems.

Elaborate please,there a quite a few in here who have been critical of JK not rotating (exception of RS) without offering an alternative 11 & system to take the 3pts.

[d1ward]

I don't really think the rotation would have made too much of a difference. Like others have said, 2 goals is almost always enough to win away from home, just a strange game.

[Zoomers]

I find it disgusting how United are just 5 points away from us.

[Fluke]

Elaborate please,there a quite a few in here who have been critical of JK not rotating (exception of RS) without offering an alternative 11 & system to take the 3pts.

There's any number of systems that might have been played, maybe more successfully, maybe not. They would have had fresher legs though.  Klopp himself said he doesn't have experience dealing with this, so it's not a stretch to think he might need to learn how to handle it better. I'm not pretending to know better, which is why I didn't offer my own solutions.

But to just throw out some possible lineups, purely to show that rotation was possible:
   Lovren Lucas Klavan
Mane                    Moreno
           Gini  Adam
                 Ejaria
        Sturridge  Origi

Or

Clyne  Lovren Klavan Moreno
               Lucas
         Adam     Milner
   Mane     Sturridge  Origi

Or

Clyne Lovren Lucas Milner
                Stewart
      Firmino        Adam
 Sturridge   Origi      Moreno

Or any number of combinations.

Again, not claiming any of these would have been better, but we had options. Especially the more we are willing to trust the likes of Ejaria, AA, etc.

[Fluke]

Too early to judge whether he's got rotation right or wrong I think.

Agreed. But I don't think this is something that can really be talked about in absolutes. It's a matter of being better at judging the risks and benefits of different selections. Not having done it to the same extent before, Klopp will undoubtedly be learning lessons as he goes.

[Fluke]

Yep. There is zero chance of corruption in football. We may have corrupt coppers, government members, drug cheats etc in other sports but no way it ever crosses over in to our great sport. Impossible.

And it might be systemic in FIFA, the global governing body, but zero chance of that trickling down into national governing bodies.

[stockdam]

we beat City, no? How is that dropping two? We dropped nothing - no losses over the Christmas period, that's all points gained - behave ...

I was stating that we lost two points compared to City when we drew with Sunderland. Since the league is so tight then drawing will always be bad.

[Fluke]

Yeah I thought that discussion on the anfield wrap was a lot of horse shit to be honest
Klopp picks the team not the players. If a top level player has got to this stage of their career and doesn't understand the marginal gains / losses that fatigue is responsible for then that's on them.
 The idea that you pick senior players for every league game in case you offend them is moronic - whatever Klopp said about it in public there's no chance he's picking the team like that

It was kind of a tough call but not really - picking teams is what the manager does. If he'd made more changes everyone would have understood why.
My guess is he went with the settled team because a) he puts a big emphasis on players being in rhythm and b) he doesn't trust the alternatives - there's a big drop off beyond our first team

Couldn't agree more.