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Which is a ridiculous compassion. The criticism came from the difference in quality the USWNT had over their opponents, and why, such as simply having a huge pool of players to select from because of the county's population.. or finances/resources for training and preparing. Basically, the players are representing their countries, which have huge differences, differences that are out of the control of that country's footballing organization. Southampton have been in the Premier League 2 seasons longer than us, so their lack of quality and failures are their own as a club. Idealy, (if there wasn't a record to go for and a golden boot to try to win, then) to "let off" without actually doing so in a disrespectful way, after the first half Rodgers could have made some substitutions; give Hamza and JJ some game time. But we only have 3 subs to make and a game a few days later.

WhoScored gave it to Ayoze, with Vardy and Chilwell also gettings 10s. I might have to agree on the basis that it was a foul on him that meant Southampton went down a man, the impact of which was huge - even though that wasn't directly his doing, but rather a mistake from the opposition.

Just watched the highlights again. Barnes and Ayoze both played so well in the build up for most of the goals. Hopefully this gives them the confidence they might have needed. Barnes will be hungry to score himself again, having not last night, and he surely will soon.

Must win... or draw and go through on penalties.

We can win a trophy and secure Champions League football for next season.

Once completely fit, why not have Amartey train to be our backup CB? Was his main position for his country, right? (And it is doubtful he would be ahead of Ndidi, Hamza, or JJ in the other positions.) I hope Rodgers at least considers the possibility.

At this point, I don't expect him to ever learn to deliver great crosses. But he then needs to work on how to contribute in our attacks in other ways. For our 2nd goal, the passes between the triangle of Ricardo, Gray, and Praet were quick and created space. These are 3 players who have barely played with eachother. If I was on the coaching staff, I'd have Chilwell, Barnes, and Maddison practicing those types of plays constantly. If they all are to start together regularly, then they need that chemistry of how to quickly move the ball.

Must win

Without having been on the pitch to hear any miscommunication between Albrighton and Kasper, I can't say who is more to blame. I hope Albrighton gets a start next game though, he otherwise played well, and I'd trust him to 'apologize' more with a solid performance that he is always capable of. As for the penalty. It looks soft, but soft is still a penalty. Yes, Mane dived, but it can be both a foul and a dive to make the ref make the deicison.

When Praet and Tielemans both play, Tielemans is pushed toward the left. I'm really not a fan of that. I think he has shown his best on the right, with crosses and linking up with Ricardo. 4-1-4-1 please. Albrighton on the left wing, Maddison and Tielemans in the middle, Ayoze on the right wing.

Still no. We almost got a point away against a title favourite. We can finish top 4.

Wasn't it a "clear and obvious error" that the ref didn't call for a foul from Salah onto Soyuncu right before? If VAR checked for a red against Hamza, then shouldn't it have been used to give us a freekick? Unfortunately, that's not how it works, but would have loved to see it.

Must win

4-1-4-1 We're gonna win 4-1.

Because we included Silva and Slimani - in case we couldn't get rid of them, and now that we have - we couldn't really have named one of those development players? Not that it is likely they would have played for us in the Premier League, but I feel a bit screwed over. Maybe this early close to our transfer window isn't the best idea if our squads need to be finalized while other clubs can still buy from us. (Imagine if we had players on release clauses that were met by Euro clubs!?)

Beautiful representation of the 4-1-4-1 in attack. Based on average position of all the touches from a player. https://twitter.com/TheLCFCStatMan/status/1167882585311105024?s=19

4-1-4-1!? LET'S GO!

Just going to leave this here. Clubs and players really need to make a stand against this sort of expansion. Or players/stars need to understand that the extra profits of this shouldn't go into their wages but into the purchasing of and wages of a bigger squad. Maybe 25 senior members in a squad isn't enough, when managers can't trust youth when short-term results are so important. Or maybe radically, domestic leagues need to have less games; reduce the amount of teams, or restructure into different stages like Latin American leagues. Regarding the UEFA tournaments, hopefully a compromise is found. Why not just keep it to 2, instead of introducing a 3rd no one, except the clubs in it, will really care about. If they want 96 clubs, expand the Champions League to 48 teams, alongside the Europe League, both with 8 groups of 6 teams. Top 3 advance, and the very top team of each group gets a bye round, awaiting in the round of 16. So 10 games for the worst teams, and likely 17 games (unlikely 19 games) at most for the finalists. Still too many, but it's a compromise.

I didn't think we could get away with playing Hamza and his clone at the same time. Surely the refs would have noticed two players with that hair?!

Diamond didn't look awful, but I'm not convinced we should start or finish games with it.

Ward JJ - Morgan - Soyuncu - Fuchs Mendy Albrighton - Praet - Hamza - Gray Perez

Must win. Curious to see the team selection and formation.

Updated, assuming King leaves... and moved Ghezzal from the wing to backup for #10.

We'll be celebrating winning the UEFA Supercup, after Vardy scores a hat trick. Cambiasso will have retired as manager after winning the Champions League 3 times in a row with us. His assistant manager Andy King will take over to hopefully complete winning the domestic treble treble.

We wont/can't get rid of all of them. We need squad depth, so some will stay to fill out the squad, unfortunately on high wages. Mendy only has a year left on contract, so I think is likely to leave. He can accept reduced wages for this year if it guarantees playing time and decent wages for years to come. Praet already on the bench doesn't look good for Silva's potential playing time here, so hopefully we can move him on too if his wages are high. King can do a job if needed. Ghezzal and Slimani are tricky. An injury to Vardy and we need a striker. Do we trust Iheanacho? Do we move Perez central? Then who takes the winger spot on the bench, Gray or maybe having Ghezzal will be better? Or do we keep Perez wide and trust in Slimani?