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

[rushyman]

League and CL is pretty good.

Anyway, this fan less league is fucking shite.

It’s fuckimg horrible

A lot of the games on play out like training matches

[Son of Spion]

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


Ah fuck.

I remember that one too. 

[Fordy]

BOOM!

We have a winner..

Take Ederson, Dias, Laporte, Stones, Rodri, Gundogan, Sterling & Jesus out of City's side & they drop points..no doubt.
Any other side suffers what we have this year & they're mid table at best.

No, we don't have a winning at all.

We are struggling against teams that block our attack out. That's a coaching problem. We ok West Brom did it but then to allow Burnley and Brighton to do it is an issue no matter which players are missing.

Gini, Milner and Thiago in midfield isn't really the creative spark you need.

I just think we past the ball slow. Robbo taken out of the game. We struggled badly.

[S]

Resigned to the title being over now. Focus changes to the top four.

Kelleher stepped up once again. Everyone else very average. Nothing more to say about the performance really.

We didn’t feel the injury crisis at first, but it’s hit us hard now. No Mane tonight who is so often a difference maker, no Jota to freshen up the attack and test Brighton, no centre backs so Henderson has to drop back, no Fabinho and on and on. It’s all caught up to us. Not that it’s an excuse to drop points here. The team we put out shouldn’t be losing to Brighton.

The fact is when everyone is fit we are the best team in the league and one of the best in the world. For the time being, with so many missing, we’re top four contenders and nothing more.

[harryc]

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.

Too be fair if the forwards could control his passes it would help.

He must be wondering the pass got to my team mate but is there some sort of negative force field around them where the ball bounces straight off their foot!

[kasperoff]

This has been among the worst run of performances at Anfield I can remember for ages.

There was so much wrong with that performance tonight. Is it tiredness, illness? The starting XI was just about ok, but the team that finished the match was a bloody rabble. Oxlade-Chamberlain looks finished as a top-flight footballer, while Origi was just miserable. Quite why we didn't replace him after Madrid is a mystery. That's not hindsight speaking. I said so at the time. All the pace in the world is pointless if you don't see plays develop until it's too late. Physicality? He has none. Ball control? One might stick, but three bobble off. Shooting prowess? Only if you give him a few seconds to get his feet sorted out and set up a shot. By the end the poor lad was just getting in the way - merely another body we could have done without in a crowded box.

Henderson was excellent throughout, Thiago competent and Gini top-notch (as he always is). Trent was ok, with nothing much happening in front of him but Robbo was just mediocre, as he has been a lot recently. Deprived of Mane, things were always going to be tough. But he looks unable to make a penetrating run at the moment, with or without the ball. I'd give Tsimikas a chance. 

Quite what Milner did to stay on the pitch apart from give the gaffer a hard time last time he came off I don't know. Maybe Jurgen didn't fancy having to explain himself again. Sorry James, you're great, but you're being over-played. I bet you're tired now. You looked tired most of the game. I bet Curtis Jones wasn't tired.

The League is probably over now. We may think differently if we beat Man City at the weekend. But it will take a miraculous revival to get the spirit of 2019-20 into these bones. 

City have won 9 on the spin and conceded once in that run. Recently without DeBruyne. Compare that to our form. There is absolutely no chance we turn the tables on that now. I'd be a bit more confident if we had a shred of consistency, but we don't. We don't look like we couldn't beat a low block if we played for 3 hours. We literally need teams to open up for us to be able to score goals. It's a huge issue at the moment. We are far too easy to play against if we play opposition who aren't interested in getting the win.

[BJ]

great plan.... 

What a night (the 4-0, not now    )

Another thing that cheers me up or is a consolation, not sure which, is knowing that we are all in this together - we celebrate together, we commiserate together.  I’m appreciating the positive comments atm so thanks to all for those. 

[Sharado]

No, we don't have a winning at all.

We are struggling against teams that block our attack out. That's a coaching problem. We ok West Brom did it but then to allow Burnley and Brighton to do it is an issue no matter which players are missing.

Gini, Milner and Thiago in midfield isn't really the creative spark you need.

I just think we past the ball slow. Robbo taken out of the game. We struggled badly.

Bang on. If this team is good enough to beat spurs, West ham, blah blah then it's good enough to beat Burnley Brighton west brom and Newcastle.

[eAyeAddio]

.... did anyone else want to throttle the laughing Steve MacMoneyman with his own microphone cord?.....

Nope. 

 I didn't hear a word he said.   Mainly because I watch with the sound turned off whenever he is commentating.

I am allergic to verbal diarhhoea.

[RedForeverTT]

Just lack any pace or zest.

Even when we introduced the Ox to inject a bit of pace, it was just trying aimless pot shots at the goal.

In hindsight, playing Jota for a dead rubber game now looked really silly.

[William Regal]

I don't think its rocket science, we are missing Allison, gomez, matip, VVD, Fabinho, Keita, Mane and Jota, theres no depth to us playing 2 games a week

We are playing Henderson and Phillips at centre half

Robertson and Wijnaldum, their worst games of the season, they are fucked from playing every game

When we attack on the counter, we are breaking forward as a team so slowly, its a collective trot forward allowing all teams to get 11 back behind the ball and we cannot break it down like city, that is not our game

We have stopped winning the ball high up the field, Henderson and mane are fundamental to that

We are not gonna win the league this season

Support the boys

[kasperoff]

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.

He's called Jota.

[Sarge]

So what i miss?

[John C]

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

Yep, he thoroughly enjoyed it didn't he.

[slaphead]

So what i miss?

Utd won the league last night

[DangerScouse]

Well done Brighton, fully deserved.

[Son of Spion]

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

Rush Dalglish souness etc

FA Cup 5th Round, Feb 1983.

Our team that day:

Bruce Grobbelaar

Phil Neal

Alan Kennedy

Mark Lawrenson

Ronnie Whelan

Alan Hansen

Kenny Dalglish

Sammy Lee

Ian Rush

David Hodgson

Graeme Souness

Substitute - Craig Johnston (66')

Liverpool goalscorer - Craig Johnston (67')

Prior to this match, Liverpool had gone 63 home cup matches unbeaten.

Result: Liverpool 1  Brighton 2.

At the time, Liverpool were top of the league and Brighton were bottom.

[Reds4Wolves2]

I don’t think it’s making excuses to say that the players have hit a wall.

We saw the upside of being “mentality monsters” match after match over the past 3 seasons. We saw with City last season that even they, with their much deeper squad, could not maintain their 100 point pace for a third season in a row. Now we’re seeing the downside of that mental edge having dissipated in recent months. There was going to be burn out at some point, the hope was just that Klopp could manage it and minimize its effects. This is a snowballing of way too many factors to overcome:

• First and foremost, the mental toll of the pandemic, even on millionaire footballers, is a real thing.

• The lack of any real offseason/preseason, or chance for players to recuperate, mentally and physically, coming off the back of two incredibly intense, and long seasons where many of our squad had already been denied decent rest due to national team commitments/summer tournaments etc. There are also so many matches that it’s difficult to do much real training.

• The injuries. ‘Nuff said.

The boys just look spent. I think it’s easier for them to summon up the mentality for the away matches and the big matches. With these bottom of the table clubs, we willed our ways to wins over last season even when we weren’t playing great, but now the tank is just empty. And these clubs that come to Anfield and have taken hidings in the past are now fired up for exactly the matches we are too mentally drained to get up for. And the lack of the crowd has probably impacted us more than most PL clubs as well.

I don’t think any of that is “making excuses”, it’s recognizing how badly this pandemic, the injuries and other factors have affected many of the players.

[S]

He's called Jota.

Exactly. Easy to forget that we signed a player that was scoring goals at such an impressive rate.

If Jota doesn’t get injured, there’s a good chance everyone is currently raving about him being the leagues signing of the season. He was that impressive.

[Sarge]

Utd won the league last night

Cant leave you alone for a year or so and this happens.

[Samie]

Cant leave you alone for a year or so and this happens.

Hello grandad. 

[d_sookoo21]

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.

don’t forget mbappe up top

[LiverBirdKop]

No, we don't have a winning at all.

We are struggling against teams that block our attack out. That's a coaching problem. We ok West Brom did it but then to allow Burnley and Brighton to do it is an issue no matter which players are missing.

Gini, Milner and Thiago in midfield isn't really the creative spark you need.

I just think we past the ball slow. Robbo taken out of the game. We struggled badly.

That midfield would lose a foot race with the nuns of the Archdiocese of Liverpool. Some passes barely get to their destination sloooooowww

[Sarge]

Hello grandad. 

Hello son.

[Sharado]

Exactly. Easy to forget that we signed a player that was scoring goals at such an impressive rate.

If Jota doesn’t get injured, there’s a good chance everyone is currently raving about him being the leagues signing of the season. He was that impressive.

Yep. Weird as we didn't seem.to miss him at first but he is exactly what we've needed in these games. Pace, unpredictability, finishing, hunger.

[Medellin]

Yorky..

Gini was awful tonight, miles off top notch mate.
Would even have put Davies on 2nd half & moved Hendo into midfield..the transitions were pedestrian at best, the movement off the ball was woeful.

[Simplexity]

No surprise we didn't get anything out of that.

Brighton may not have a easier game all season, spent 90 minutes doing sod all.

[Clint Eastwood]

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.

Yeah, I just alluded to that elsewhere. For, pretty much, the same group of players to maintain such high standards over 3 years is impressive. After winning everything they set out to achieve, it’s hard to keep those standards up. Especially playing the way we do.

They are playing in empty stadiums twice a week and are probably wondering what they’re doing it for. It must be so hard to keep that motivation up currently.

[Pistolero]

Yep, he thoroughly enjoyed it didn't he.

Absolutely John...never heard him so animated

[Schmarn]

This season started going wrong when some millennial spanner in Nike’s fashion department was allowed to put green on our home kit and a white stripe under the arm. Kind of a cross between Middlesbrough and late 1990s Liverpool teams that won fuck all. The rest was inevitable.

[slaphead]

Yeah, I just alluded to that elsewhere. For, pretty much, the same group of players to maintain such high standards over 3 years is impressive. After winning everything they set out to achieve, it’s hard to keep those standards up.

While there's truth in that, that's really no excuse for our results against the 6 worst teams in the league. Standards should not slip that much

[Robinred]

I’m utterly pissed off.

Brighton were precisely the sort of team, given our improvement and last two results, to spoil the party.

They needed a good game plan and a bit of good fortune - they had both - Bissouma had Bobby in his pocket for large periods.

It helped them too that too many Liverpool players were injured, out of position, or just flat. When your first choice keeper, centre backs, and wide forwards (Sadio and Jota) are missing, plus you midfield anchor (Fabinho is a big miss at present), the players filling in are either short of matches (because they haven’t played because they’re not trusted other than when we’re down to the bare bones), or they’re knackered because they’ve played too much (and in Milly’s case, showing clear signs age is catching up).

Let’s cut to the chase - when a bit of steel, devilment and sheer bloodymindedness are required, Divock has been found wanting since Funes Mori (fucking Everton, it’s just too often) crocked him. Ox is a shadow of the player who rashly had a flying knee contest with the much sturdier Kolarov. Keita? so much promise, so much ‘not again’.

Some pragmatists argue there are no football gods. It’s all to do with other more rational things when fortune fucks off.

They may be right. I’m too far down the rabbit hole to believe other than what my eyes and brain tell me: we are just getting fuck all from those football goods, the bastards.

[Andy82lfc]

Switched off after Origi decided to block Robertson’s path in the box, take it off him and kick it out of play.

Score was inevitable, can’t honestly say if I’ve ever switched off early before but it was literally like Groundhog Day. That’s a horrible thing actually losing faith in the team but we are decimated with injuries right now so are toothless going forward and the result was all but stuck on.

Just have to hope injuries solve themselves. If we can get ourselves together and beat city we still have a shot. It’s a shit time for sure but we’ve been spoiled the past two years or so, we had to have a blip sometime let just hope the team can come out stronger for it.

On another note, nothing stinks up a post game thread than some of the shite posted here. Helps put things into perspective at least.

[Coolie High]

Yorky..

Gini was awful tonight, miles off top notch mate.
Would even have put Davies on 2nd half & moved Hendo into midfield..the transitions were pedestrian at best, the movement off the ball was woeful.

Yh Gini was average, these type of games have been exposing his limitations since his been here, him and Milner in midfield against these low block sides which is the majority of the league(against us) is a recipe for disaster.

[Sarge]

Odd times we live in, we have not scored at Anfield since December 27th, this team, not scoring, odd times indeed. Injuries are not helping and not one club on the planet could be in the position we are in at present with such an injury list, call that an excuss all you want but you know what you would be wrong.

I think the last 3 seasons in some lets have got to them especially with the game numbers and pulling a little more weight that usual, its a round pegs in square holes for me as the loss of VVD/Gomez/Matip taking Fabinho out of CDM/CM is also a loss for me because he gives us something in midfield others do not, cover and control a case in point.

We have been poor, slow, 'clueless i read at times, but you know what we are just putting all our eggs in one Corona season cluster fuck of a season, lets be honest here we all expected us to struggle at the back and not one, and i mean not one of us thought we would struggle to score goalds, mostly at Anfield, bonkers.

Jota for me is one of our biggest losses this season but overall an odd time to be alive.

So how are we all keeping?

[stockdam]

Yorky..

Gini was awful tonight, miles off top notch mate.
Would even have put Davies on 2nd half & moved Hendo into midfield..the transitions were pedestrian at best, the movement off the ball was woeful.

Apart from a couple of his trademark turns, that was one of Gigi’s worst games. However Milner and Thiago weren’t that effective either.
I think midfield defines how a team plays and tonight there was very little in midfield; the Brighton midfield was very good at closing down and getting their foot in.

Up front there was very little movement. Nobody seemed to be dropping into space and dragging their defence around.

Maybe Henderson needs to go back into midfield and leave the defence to the new guys and/or Fabinho when he comes back.

But the malaise isn’t just with one area. We just look slow all over the pitch and there’s no real sign of us getting out of it. We had a couple of good games but tonight we were back to playing with little zip to our game.

We oscillate from playing well again to looking clueless.

[Clint Eastwood]

Yh Gini was average, these type of games have been exposing his limitations since his been here, him and Milner in midfield against these low block sides which is the majority of the league(against us) is a recipe for disaster.

This is precisely the reason why I’m quite indifferent to him leaving in the summer. Incredible memories, a great servant, plays a lot of games, but doesn’t do enough in these kind of games (which make up the bulk of the season).

[kezzy]

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

Me as well.  Was laughing none stop and even said it was wonderful to hear Jesse Lingard back playing and scoring when he heard the West Ham result.   The lad is an absolute beaut.

[BobPaisley3]

We’re always going to miss a player of Virgil’s quality and stature but I think one area where we miss him most is attacking set pieces. When we get corners now, we might as well roll the ball back to the opponents keeper. In this exact fixture last season we didn’t play well but won 2-1 and Virge got both goals from headers from corners. We’ve been pretty poor recently but there a myriad of examples nearly every week of sides playing poorly and then taking the lead from a header from a corner. We simply don’t look like doing that at the moment.

[redalways]

It started to go wrong with that Everton game