Topic: PL: Liverpool 0 v 1 Brighton Alzate 55’

[Clint Eastwood]

Please god. In the name that of all that is good and pure don’t give it that

Compare that to us last season and tell me the players don’t look tired?

Whether they are actually physically tired, or as Klopp has just alluded to in his post-match, mentally tired - they look lethargic.

[Schmohawk]

Thiago seemed to disappear around the 70th minute or so (only to suddenly appear again in the last few minutes), leaving Milner to make the passes. Milner is a lot of things, but he is no Xabi Alonso. I don’t think it would have made a difference though.

[alonsoisared]

Thiago seemed to disappear around the 70th minute or so (only to suddenly appear again in the last few minutes), leaving Milner to make the passes. Milner is a lot of things, but he is no Xabi Alonso. I don’t think it would have made a difference though.

He zipped passes in to players a few times and it just bounced off them. He must be wondering what the fuck he signed up for.

[decosabute]

Also. I know we’re not allowed to say this because he’s classy etc - but Thiago was shit tonight. Feels so far like he’s great in the big games but struggles against a low block. I’m sure he’ll be a world beater, but I’m a bit bored with pretending he has been so far.

I feel sorry for him that were relying on him to get us firing now after both his injury and the wheels coming off our season. But having said that, he's disappointed me in a couple of the games and he was as shite as anyone else tonight.

I know if the team were functioning, like the one he came into in September, then he'd be class, but right now he's just part of the malaise in games like this

[Peyres]

Yep. Both Robbo's and Trent's crosses are most dangerous when they play them early and behind the defence, with the defenders running towards their own goal. Teams are not letting them do that anymore. They just sit deep and defend crosses with their backs to the goal. But Trent/Robbo are also too deep to have any chance to get the opportunity for an early cross.

This. And we're not pressing as much because of the lack of pace at the back. We used to score so many goals simply from putting the other team under so much pressure, we didn't always need to unlock them with a magical pass or a bursting run from midfield.

[Fromola]

Just thinking forward to august/Sep now to be honest.

Fans in ground sun shining players back covid under better control and lockdowns gone

Fab Hendo in middle Virgil at back

Ah I can smell the cut grass now.

We need top 4 though or it impacts on the summer and next season and even beyond. I wrote the season off a while ago beyond finishing top 4.

[darragh85]

All the signs are physical and mental tiredness. They just can't string the performances together now. The last 2 years and all the injuries are catching up with us now.

[BJ]

The thing with these late games and a poor performance, you go to bed tossing and turning replaying every kick.  Need a good nights sleep to be able to cope with the next day.  I think I will go and watch the Barcelona 4-0 to cheer myself up and remind me why I love this club.

[keano7]

It’s not really happening for Thiago at the min is it?

He’d no doubt flourish with our best XI out on the pitch week in week out but just like others in the side he’s flattering to deceive atm with only a few glimpses of brilliance.

I think the majority of fans expected him to be a midfield wizard and play eye of the needle through balls to Mane / Salah every game which would result in us scoring a glut of goals. Hasn’t happened. Yet.

[Sharado]

Are we the only side top at Christmas not to win or is it another hideous statistic we have?

Since 1992 we've been top like 3 times (think this is the 4th time) and not won the league. Every other team has won the league if they've been top at Xmas. The slip season, Rafas lot in 09, 2019 and barring a miracle this year too.

[robgomm]

What do you expect he is fucking appalled!

Oh I'm sorry, I read it as fucking appalling

[lgvkarlos]

It's not just speed, it's movement off the ball as well. Players running beyond the oppo's defence. Players being brave and taking risks on the ball instead of playing it safe. It's a shame Naby is made of Weetabix because he is one of the few players that's capable of opening things up for us with his runs as well.

Absolutely this, when Thiago and gini look up the only options are out wide.
Then nobody in the box and the ball is cycled back to the halfway line, rinse and repeat.

I would have played Shaq in midfield again, he at least seems to want to pass and move like Thiago.

[rocco]

City 6 points v Brighton and us just the one , it’s the difference in the 10 point gap ( yet city still to win their game in hand )

[HeartAndSoul]

Klopp eluded to it after the game that the players were tired after putting in a huge shift at Spurs and West Ham in the previous 6 days (including two trips down to London) and it caught up with us. Added to losing Mane and not being able to rotate the squad due to injuries.

I think we should still have made a change or two. Jones could have started for example. Wijnaldum looked goosed.

You play 3 games in 6 days with the same team (minus more injuries which further weakened the quality of the side) and that's what happens.

So he starts 35 year old James milner who's played 4 games on the bounce now and he plays him for the full 90 mins. There were definitely some changes that could have been made out there tonight. Robertson on the left could be doing with a little break. What's the point of buying Kostas if we're not going to give him a chance? Milner for Jones is another one.

We couldn't really do much change wise with the front line but surely we could have played 2-3 players who have not played much lately.

[Big Dirk]

We really need another Mane type player because when he doesn’t play we are putting square pegs in round holes,Shaq is a luxury player who has no real position and Origi is just awful.

[Macphisto80]

Just thinking forward to august/Sep now to be honest.

Fans in ground sun shining players back covid under better control and lockdowns gone

Fab Hendo in middle Virgil at back

Ah I can smell the cut grass now.

If fans aren't back in the ground next season, that season can get to fuck and all. I'll not be watching. Football without the fans is fucking bollocks.

[rushyman]

Compare that to us last season and tell me the players don’t look tired?

Whether they are actually physically tired, or as Klopp has just alluded to in his post-match, mentally tired - they look lethargic.

I literally hate millionaire footballers for as a fiddle being called tired

Brighton played spurs Sunday ran their bollocks off.

That was attitude

Just 3/4 injuries too many to cope with. Stay in top 4 go again next season

[killer-heels]

The set up is all wrong. Phillips was telling Trent to get up the field and Trent hardly moved, almost like he didn’t trust what Phillips was telling him.

[Pistolero]

Btw, did anyone else want to throttle the laughing Steve MacMoneyman with his own microphone cord?...buzzing his bitter tits off throughout the entire game...one bluenosed Judas shitebag that

[Butcher Knife Roberto]

The flip since Christmas is just, well, heartbreaking. Having said that, to have even been in contention up until now with the sheer fuckery of the injuries we've had to endure this season is actually pretty remarkable. If we had Alisson, Gomez, Van Dijk, Matip, Fabinho, Keita and Jota available on a regular basis, and hadn't missed Thiago for months, then this season would look very different (while I'm here, cheers Pickford and Richarlison, you fucking whoppers). I'm not even upset any more when we lose, because the team is operating way beyond its limits. Securing top 4 is non-negotiable, it has to be achieved, but I want a fucking good run in the CL. I still believe it's there to be won this year.

Credit to Brighton tonight, although in any other season with our full squad firing on all cylinders they wouldn't have stood a chance. This isn't just any other season though. The sooner it's done, the better. Without the support in the grounds it just isn't football, however there are bigger issues in the world to worry about than that.

Next year though, the league is ours again. YNWA

[yes]

There's been some games where we've never looked like scoring, then there's been games where we never looked like creating a chance. And then there was this.
We couldn't even get the pass *before* the pass right. It was like a study in postmodernist football. It feels like the inevitable progression is that we start taking shots at our own goal.

[Circa1892]

If fans aren't back in the ground next season, that season can get to fuck and all. I'll not be watching. Football without the fans is fucking bollocks.

Absolutely no chance of full grounds until after Christmas.

[Ratboy3G]

I literally hate millionaire footballers for as a fiddle being called tired

Brighton played spurs Sunday ran their bollocks off.

That was attitude

Just 3/4 injuries too many to cope with. Stay in top 4 go again next season

It's mental fatigue rather than physical tiredness and how much they get paid has nothing to do with it.

[goalrushatgoodison]

Just keep mindlessly slinging high balls into the box. It will eventually result in a shot on goal, won't it? Looking forward to that day.

Well you know it might, if we got enough players into the box to compete for it. We are just lacking ambition at the moment, not taking risks. Some people are saying we are tired, maybe we are but either way we need to be braver. If sides are playing a low block, push four players up on the last line and make them drop extra players deeper. Yes we might be caught on the break but these sides are not down the bottom for nothing.

[Clint Eastwood]

I literally hate millionaire footballers for as a fiddle being called tired

Brighton played spurs Sunday ran their bollocks off.

That was attitude

Just 3/4 injuries too many to cope with. Stay in top 4 go again next season

I was saying they looked tired. Everything they did looked laboured. Mentally I think they’re struggling for motivation and that’s reflected in the way they’re playing.

[So… Howard Philips]

We really need another Mane type player because when he doesn’t play we are putting square pegs in round holes,Shaq is a luxury player who has no real position and Origi is just awful.

Well a fit Jota would have helped.

[Ratboy3G]

Well a fit Jota would have helped.

Jota being injured has been a huge loss, really need him fit and firing as soon as possible.

[Circa1892]

I was saying they looked tired. Everything they did looked laboured. Mentally I think they’re struggling for motivation and that’s reflected in the way they’re playing.

It’s mental fatigue with this lot. Played insane levels for 3 years, two CL finals, two nearly 100 point seasons. The injuries, lack of fans and constant games have done us in.

I find the number of games we’ve got at the moment a bit constant. Imagine how much it drains the players.

[redbyrdz]

"Brighton haven't won at Anfield for 37 years."


Ah fuck.

[PIPA23]

I literally hate millionaire footballers for as a fiddle being called tired

Brighton played spurs Sunday ran their bollocks off.

That was attitude

Just 3/4 injuries too many to cope with. Stay in top 4 go again next season

our and Brighton squad, managers etc are expected to do totally different things... we can not compare at all, we have more competitions to play, bigger expectations, pressures...

also those are only people also, despite earning millions... the situation must be difficult for players same as for everyone.. no matter the money earned, the circumstances changed for the worse for all...

[OOS]

Dan Burn running down the wing, seen it all.

Intensity down, some players are coasting, tactics wrong tonight. Brighton set themselves up well, and deserved the win. They put the ball between the posts.

Forgettable night, be a waste of energy talking about tonight match. Dreadful.

[Red Sky at Night]

The thing with these late games and a poor performance, you go to bed tossing and turning replaying every kick.  Need a good nights sleep to be able to cope with the next day.  I think I will go and watch the Barcelona 4-0 to cheer myself up and remind me why I love this club.

great plan.... 

What a night (the 4-0, not now    )

[keano7]

We really need another Mane type player because when he doesn’t play we are putting square pegs in round holes,Shaq is a luxury player who has no real position and Origi is just awful.

Difference between us and City is the fact they have; KDB, Mahrez, Sterling, Torres, Foden, Bernardo, Jesus who can all mix and max across the front 5 positions and there’s no obvious drop in quality. We’ve been unbelievably lucky in the previous two seasons that none of the front three were out for a significant amount of time and we didn’t have to call on reinforcements from the bench that much.

[darragh85]

We should have went for cavani. Would be a great option for games like this. I suppose wages would have been an issue

[rushyman]

So fucking pissing off we lose league by 11mm 1 season and pickford in another

Buzzing with league title but being greedy we could be charging towards no 21 this season

Players deserve so much more even tho they’ve got a league and CL

[BobPaisley3]

It’s mental fatigue with this lot. Played insane levels for 3 years, two CL finals, two nearly 100 point seasons. The injuries, lack of fans and constant games have done us in.

I find the number of games we’ve got at the moment a bit constant. Imagine how much it drains the players.

Next week is massive in this context, a mid week off when most of the others are playing. We need to use it appropriately. Maybe Jurgen gives some of the players a day off to regroup while he and Ljinders sit down and map out 2/3 elevens that might be best equipped to get us through this next month or so.

[Caligula?]

You've got EURO 2021 being held during a pandemic that will further run players into the ground that have already been ran into the ground. And then we're losing how many players to the AFCON next season?  Mane, Salah, potentially Keita?

[blert596]

Grealish is good but does he play against low block teams its a different game.

No he doesnt, but we do. Regularly. And we dont have the players/tactics to overcome it.

our full backs, who supply an awful lot of our goal threat, are never gonna dribble past anyone, theyre at their most effective when running onto balls in space.

our only dribbler, Mo, can't take a man on, one on one, outside the box. inside the box he's great... unless the box is packed with 9 or 10 men.

We have no one who can beat a man one on one.

And our tactics dont change against these low blocks. IMO, simply because we dont have the personnel to do so.

Jota and Mane will help against these teams. Personally I'd leave mo out for Mane bobby and Jota in these games.

[killer-heels]

So fucking pissing off we lose league by 11mm 1 season and pickford in another

Buzzing with league title but being greedy we could be charging towards no 21 this season

Players deserve so much more even tho they’ve got a league and CL

League and CL is pretty good.

Anyway, this fan less league is fucking shite.

[rushyman]

"Brighton haven't won at Anfield for 37 years."


Ah fuck.

Min the flip side of that, that would’ve been a fucking good team they beat

Rush Dalglish souness etc