Topic: CL: Spartak 1 v Liverpool 1 (Fernando 23', Coutinho 30')

[Charles Foster Kane]

I dare say people who just "enjoy" complaining were, but most others were quite happy with our goals, it was the other end of the field that more fans were worried about.

Not against bus parking teams, no.

[jillcwhomever]

He said yesterday he loves Harry Kane. He signed Lewandowski.

He's not wedded to Bobby Firmino. He'll be upgraded next summer. It should have been the one just gone though.

He didn't though did he? So he is obviously still calm and confident that things will improve, and I think they will too.

[jillcwhomever]

Not against bus-parking teams, no.

Which was why he changed the tactics at the end of the season, and how we managed to get into the Champion's League.

[lessthanmatt]

Also, Jonathan Pearce was absolutely dreadful on the comms. How did someone not mention that Mane isn't suspended for the Newcastle game? He said Mane was banned about three times (incorrectly!).

And just to add to my other reply, didn't he also call Sadio "Sané" multiple times? 

[Kop307]

Assuming we come 2nd in the group, can we draw another Engish side in the R16?

[Sulla]

Mignolet would have saved that, can was not good and also responsible. Frustrating result given our dominance

[Kopenhagen]

Assuming we come 2nd in the group, can we draw another Engish side in the R16?

No.

[Butcher Knife Roberto]

And Spartak.... Spartak, oh my oh my. If that is the standard of Russian football then I really have no words. Pulis would be delighted by that game plan tonight. Quite easily one of the worst teams I've ever seen in the Champions League. Talk about being dragged down to their level...

[TheShanklyGates]

Assuming we come 2nd in the group, can we draw another Engish side in the R16?

Nope, last 16 still has country protection.

[Charles Foster Kane]

Which was why he changed the tactics at the end of the season, and how we managed to get into the Champion's League.

Not at all what you were talking about.

[WhereAngelsPlay]

Did everything but put the ball in the net,a bit anticlimactic but cannot fault the players or the boss.

[Sulla]

Assuming we come 2nd in the group, can we draw another Engish side in the R16?

No

[Motty]

Yet again on Rawk there is drama queens, super fans and those in the middle but leaning one way or another. Middle ground people (me included) get pissed off with the extreme elements and say so and the extreme elements join in. Same shit different day [emoji23][emoji23][emoji23]

[sms1986]

Assuming we come 2nd in the group, can we draw another Engish side in the R16?

I don't think we can whether we finish first or second.

[koptommy93]

Imagine if we'd lost.

People are going to come here to vent in the immediate aftermath of a bad result. If you don't want to see it then swerve the place.

[stockdam]

That's the whole point though. Doesn't mean he did great.

I'm not sure what you mean. Karius invited the kick to go to his left and was too far over to his right. The ball bent back towards him and yet he still didn't get across to it. It's one reason why we have two players over the ball at our freekicks. One will probably be a left footer and the other right footed. The keeper therefore needs to cover both sides of the goal. Spartak didn't do that and it was obvious where the ball was going. Yes it was struck well but get your positioning correct and you'll save it easily.

[BobPaisley3]

They didn't park the bus, they just had no idea what to do with the ball. Bus Parkers don't get hit 5-2 on the counter atttack.

[slaphead]

Last six games, 121 shots : 6 goals.

Who needs a striker ?

Jaysus
Is that true ?  That's mental.  Maybe we should stick a defender up front, and a striker at the back, swap roles, see what happens. Maybe big Dejan can be a Paul Warhurst flash in the pan for us, or a Chris Sutton. 

[Oddball]

Like we didn't have last season you mean? Remind me again of how many we scored.

And we scraped 4th. Take Sturridge out of the options (which you can do anyway as he isnt the "1st name on the sheet") and who are our actual strikers? We dont have one. Bobby is a "false 9", Solanke is a kid (though id play him) and everyone else is a wide forward. You can look at all the other top sides and answer, who is their striker, with ease. If we had one we wouldnt have to worry about the defence too much

[sms1986]

People are going to come here to vent in the immediate aftermath of a bad result. If you don't want to see it then swerve the place.

You'll still get people moaning until the weekend in this thread, some will keep this thread going until we kick off against Newcastle if they could.

[goalspaytherent]

This same side , that frustrates and pleases in equal measure , will stick 3 or 4 past United and everyone will be on cloud 9 ... It's a ride I know but it's nice to watch

[adamski29]

If we win, like we did on Saturday, they'll just find something their pet scapegoat did wrong or something. You're certainly right about a minority who only ever seem to be around to complain.

Running out of ridiculously positive ways to spin our shit form are we?

[Charles Foster Kane]

I don't think we can whether we finish first or second.

Correct on both accounts. No team from the same country (or group) in the R16 whatsoever.

[Motty]

Half the extra pages are people whinging about the whinging. They'd do a lot better if they just accepted that people want to vent a bit after a poor performance/result.

By the same token you should except people aren't as pissed off and just accept that it was one of those days before you call them the fuck out. Can't gave it both ways lad.

[dangerpuss]

That timewasting was quite something? So blatant and yet the ref didn't nothing. Not a single booking for timewasting. Criminal.

[LallanaInPyjamas]

So simple/easy that not one other team did it?

Not a point about the need or otherwise for a striker but seriously talking about building a side like it's just bang down  £60 million for this 28 year old striker job done is a fucking nonsense.

You improve your squad via two methods: coaching your existing players and signing new players to provide qualities they can't or are lacking in.

We have a mabager who places more emphasis on the forner. I admire that. But he does sign players you know. And with the exception of a couple of bargain basement Bundesliga players more suited to the Championship, they've all helped improve us.

Aubameyang is a player who has played successfully under our manager. He's proven at the highest level. He has the second best strike rate in Europe this calendar year. He has blistering pace. These are qualities we are lacking through the middle. And he could have been ours for 1.5 Oxlade-Chamberlain's.

Seems fairly simple to me.

[jckliew]

This same side , that frustrates and pleases in equal measure , will stick 3 or 4 past United and everyone will be on cloud 9 ... It's a ride I know but it's nice to watch

THAT would be redemption for the past sins of 121 shots and 6 goals.

[rushyman]

He didn't move quicker, because he didn't see it. As in, he didn't actually know where it was going. He could have moved quickly the wrong way. We might ask why Mane didn't jump and block it.

His footwork is terrible it ends up dead centre almost, he sets the wall up so if he wants to be using that as an excuse the whole wall should be a yard or two to the left and he covers right.

The shot itself his footwork is terrible. And it ends dead centre almost

It was poor goalkeeping start to finish indefensible

[jillcwhomever]

And we scraped 4th. Take Sturridge out of the options (which you can do anyway as he isnt the "1st name on the sheet") and who are our actual strikers? We dont have one. Bobby is a "false 9", Solanke is a kid (though id play him) and everyone else is a wide forward. You can look at all the other top sides and answer, who is their striker, with ease. If we had one we wouldnt have to worry about the defence too much

Well we had a young lad called Origi last season who did very well for us around Christmas I seem to remember. But of course certain people on here claimed he wasn't good enough. Now though because he's not around they suddenly start talking about him. I have always thought he has all the tools to become a good player, but sadly that is not enough when the fan base is so impatient for success as we are now.

[rushyman]

Also, Jonathan Pearce was absolutely dreadful on the comms. How did someone not mention that Mane isn't suspended for the Newcastle game? He said Mane was banned about three times (incorrectly!).

I suspect the twat doesn't know league cup also counts

[sms1986]

Running out of ridiculously positive ways to spin our shit form are we?

Do you say anything to the ones who post ridiculously negative posts?

[NaivetyinBlack]

And we scraped 4th. Take Sturridge out of the options (which you can do anyway as he isnt the "1st name on the sheet") and who are our actual strikers? We dont have one. Bobby is a "false 9", Solanke is a kid (though id play him) and everyone else is a wide forward. You can look at all the other top sides and answer, who is their striker, with ease. If we had one we wouldnt have to worry about the defence too much

Wait for the "well you don't like Firmino as striker while Klopp does, so your opinion is crap" retorts.

[LallanaInPyjamas]

Well we had a young lad called Origi last season who did very well for us around Christmas I seem to remember. But of course certain people on here claimed he wasn't good enough. Now though because he's not around they suddenly start talking about him. I have always thought he has all the tools to become a good player, but sadly that is not enough when the fan base is so impatient for success as we are now.

Klopp loaned him.out, not you. Only his opinion matters.

[arab88]

That timewasting was quite something? So blatant and yet the ref didn't nothing. Not a single booking for timewasting. Criminal.

Really shocking...I totally agree with you. Frustrating night....

[jckliew]

Well we had a young lad called Origi last season who did very well for us around Christmas I seem to remember. But of course certain people on here claimed he wasn't good enough. Now though because he's not around they suddenly start talking about him. I have always thought he has all the tools to become a good player, but sadly that is not enough when the fan base is so impatient for success as we are now.

Guess Klopp thinks Sturridge is good enough to cover.

[jckliew]

Klopp loaned him.out, not you. Only his opinion matters.

[Giono]

That timewasting was quite something? So blatant and yet the ref didn't nothing. Not a single booking for timewasting. Criminal.

Time wasting? No way! They were all injured from our bullying tactics and thuggery.

Glad that the ref decided that the match was travelling too fast and everyone needed to take breathers every 10 minutes in that scorching 7 degree Moscow heat.

[jillcwhomever]

You improve your squad via two methods: coaching your existing players and signing new players to provide qualities they can't or are lacking in.

We have a mabager who places more emphasis on the forner. I admire that. But he does sign players you know. And with the exception of a couple of bargain basement Bundesliga players more suited to the Championship, they've all helped improve us.

Aubameyang is a player who has played successfully under our manager. He's proven at the highest level. He has the second best strike rate in Europe this calendar year. He has blistering pace. These are qualities we are lacking through the middle. And he could have been ours for 1.5 Oxlade-Chamberlain's.

Seems fairly simple to me.

Do you not think though that if the manager really thought Aubameyang was the answer he would have gone for him pretty quickly. Yet he has shown not one bit of interest in him, maybe he feels he wouldn't be the answer for Liverpool.

[Redman78]

Why are people moaning about Mane coming off?

We literally created 4 or 5 sitters after he went off.

Mane's our best finisher, so if he's on the pitch, more chance those sitters are put into the back of the net, no?

[Rob Dylan]

Like we didn't have last season you mean? Remind me again of how many we scored.

The defence is our main problem, but it's a bit misleading to just point to the number of goals we scored last season - we scored in clusters, often against average teams, but there were several games where we dropped points because we failed to convert out dominance into goals, or missed one or two clear cut chances in a tight game...and even when we scored 3 or 4 we created enough to have scored 10. And the problem seems to have got worse this season, ironically because we now look even more dangerous going forward, with the addition of Salah. We're getting into even more good positions, creating even more half chances and clear chances yet still not scoring as often as we should. Classic example being the day we played Burnley, we had more shots than Man City but we drew and they won 5-0. This is not a fluke anymore, it's becoming a pattern. We've played 11 games this season and dominated all but one, yet we've only won five of them. Even in that City game, we had a couple of good chances before we went behind, but didn't take them.

Firmino is great but he's just not a reliable finisher. Having a reliable, clinical goalscorer helps you make sure you get the goals you deserve when you're dominating a game, or helps you take the one or two chances you get in a tight game. It gives the attack a focal point, and gives the rest of the team confidence that if we dominate and create decent chances, we will score. It also takes pressure off the other attacking players so that when they find themselves in a goalscoring position, they can be more relaxed and focussed as it doesn't all depend on them. I'd like to see Mane played through the middle, he seems to be more clinical than Firmino and we could try that now, with Coutinho on the left and Salah on the right.

I love the way we're playing but it's SO frustrating that we throw away so much of our good work through wasteful finishing and bad decision-making (and bad defending obviously). I don't want us to be a negative team, but there's something almost, what's the word...unprofessional about our lack of concentration, focus and effectiveness in both attack and defence. I don't think it's that the players don't care or don't try, they just seem to lack a certain intensity, focus and determination to make absolutely sure that we win.