Liverpool post match 1-4

[daddylonglegs]

4-4-2 won us the league last year so I can completely understand us persevering with it, however.

 

What made 4-4-2 possible was Kante. He was a freak of nature, we literally will not find someone as good as him in that position. Amartey did very well 2 weeks ago, at home, against Swansea. Away at Anfield, it was difficult to tell whether he was actually playing or not.

 

We simply cannot play 4-4-2 away from home anymore, especially against the better teams. If Vardy finishes his sitters against Hull, we'd have gotten away with it, but yesterday, 7-0 wouldn't have been an unfair result.

 

Furthermore - when we are picking players based on the qualities they bring to the defensive side of the team, and we lose by 4 goals to 1, things need to change. Simpson (although he went off early), Albrighton and a few others are brilliant defensively on their day - but when it comes to the actual footballing bit they really struggle. A few times yesterday Albrighton had 3 players (in blue shirts) around him, but instead of playing the logical pass seeked out the 40 yard, Gerrard esc crossfield pass to Mahrez.

 

Certainly more worrying signs to start the season than positives.

[sycokilla]

always thought we would have had a good season if we finished 8th or there about this season. I still think its possible. I would like to see more of the younger and newer players in the side for premier league matches so that they gain some more experience. We were lucky not to be more embarrassed yesterday.

[Guest Col city fan]

28 minutes ago, Sol thewall Bamba said:

You've nailed it there. People who went into this season thinking "well we won it last year why can't we win it again?!" need to have their heads checked. We will not win the league again and will most likely lose 10, 12 maybe even 15 games this season. Like you say people need to manage their expectations much better. 

We've gone straight from being the underdog team from the underdog city to the entitled, arrogant set of fans that we laughed in the face of all last season. 

No, not for me. I'll take a defeat on the chin. It's the MANNER of that defeat that will worry and annoy. We lost to the 94th min winner last season at Arsenal. Was anyone angry with the team? No. We have it our all and we're unlucky.

Yesterday was very different. Yesterday's performance is not that of a side who won last season easily in the end and who are just about to embark the Champs League. 

2 completely different state of affairs.

[yorkie1999]

11 minutes ago, sycokilla said:

always thought we would have had a good season if we finished 8th or there about this season. I still think its possible. I would like to see more of the younger and newer players in the side for premier league matches so that they gain some more experience. We were lucky not to be more embarrassed yesterday.

I think singing about steven fvckin gerhard slipping with such gusto more than embarrassed us enough.

[sly1]

Champions of England its embarrassing back to basic leicester get it sorted&quick .

[Guest Mickyblueeyes]

37 minutes ago, KingKante said:

This season could be 'the great escape - part 2!' Id be happy to go back to Nigel pearsons escape plan and play 352 again which worked wonders for us before Kante arrived 

3-5-2 May be the way forward. We do not lose the width that we rely on and pack up the midfield. We were beating teams without Kante playing that way. 

 

It would mean Mahrez goes more central which would require him to do a lot more leg work. That's the only issue.

[Number 6]

We only had 3 losses in the whole of last season but 2 of those fixtures have cropped up in the first 4 this. 

 

It's a huge month for us with so many games to manage, I feel like we had one eye on Wednesday's game yesterday. Manner of the defeat was a little troubling but I think we're still getting up to speed. 

[Moksky]

11 minutes ago, Number 6 said:

We only had 3 losses in the whole of last season but 2 of those fixtures have cropped up in the first 4 this. 

 

It's a huge month for us with so many games to manage, I feel like we had one eye on Wednesday's game yesterday. Manner of the defeat was a little troubling but I think we're still getting up to speed. 

 

I agree with your points. Hence no need to panic.

i think many fans are concerned with some elements of the manner of defeat, and there are those who are in simply meltdown.

 

i don't agree with having one eye on Weds though. We put out our best side , who started and got 3 points v Swansea. 

[shen]

1 hour ago, Fox 4 Life said:

Haha some sweeping assumptions there. I haven't thrown any towel in or lost patience I am simply saying we shouldn't just accept mediocrity because we had an unreal season last year. We need to kick on and this has not been a good start. I do however have every faith that we can turn it around. 

See if you just say the highlighted bit, we'd completely agree. "We shouldn't accept mediocrity because we had an unreal season". You do realise that's an idiom, right? It's because we are "mediocre" that it gets described as an unreal season. I fully understand fans hoping we'll use this title win as a platform to more regular success and consistency, but it's unrealistic to expect it.

We would likely have to keep 'punching above our weight' for more than a season to accomplish this along with flawless investments in the club and squad.

The average age of this squad alone means it will probably only have 2-3 years where it peaks, and we've already experienced 1½ years of it now.

[fuchsntf]

1 hour ago, ttfn said:

We were dreadful, and this is the second time in a month we've been that bad.

 

Losing at Anfield is no disgrace but we got absolutely humiliated yesterday. In addition to the 4 we conceded Sturridge (twice) and Henderson (quelle surprise) missed when it was easier to score and the one goal we did get was absolutely gifted to us. Had we lost 7-0 we couldn't have complained.

 

I don't buy the "Klopp tactical master stroke" angle - we've played against teams who've played with fluid front lines before and let them get on with it and been untroubled. The problem yesterday was that whereas last season Huth and Morgan resolutely refused to leave the width of our penalty area (as that Troy Deeney analysis on MOTD 2 helped bring out last season), yesterday they were all over the shop, following Firmino, Sturridge and Mane out to the touch line on occasion, which led huge gaps for one of the midfield runners to come into.

 

We can still make 4-4-2 work but I'd like to see us with a different option. A switch to 3 at the back for games like this might give us the extra protection we need and allow us to play an extra, more technically proficient centre back in the form of Hernandez or Amartey. It also strikes me as a sensible way to get Vardy and Slimani in the same side without worrying about who is going to link the play with the midfield, as a 3 at the back allows the scope for us to put Mahrez in behind the front 2.

The point on Huth and Morgan, hit the proverbial nail...

I hope and expect Claudio to sort that out.It was the tightness and not wandering that made those 2

into a top defensive unit, with Simpson mopping up around, and Fuchs blocking the run ins.

Morgan so far has looked out of it.I did say in another post, his last 3 years have seen no rest or respite,

Hes been playing every single month.It could well of caught up with him, especially mentality his jumping

and timing look right off.....But with the CL up next, it would be hard on him to drop him..He more than most

Earnt the right to play and present himself in this tounament. I hope Claudio sees what we see...

[Sharpe's Fox]

Can't see many front lines being as fluid as Liverpools yesterday they were really good and the defence didn't know what to do. Yes we didn't play well but some of the mood swings I'm seeing on here make me think it's not a great time of the month to be on Foxestalk. 

[ealingfox]

Bloody meltdown on here. We were bound to lose yesterday but the performance was a concern.

 

There'll be booing if we don't beat Burnley, absolutely ridiculous.

[Realist Guy In The Room]

We need an extra centre back or an extra central midfielder from now on.

 

We're far too open at the minute and all 4 first choice defenders who served so well last season really do look shaky as hell.

 

 

[Great Boos Up]

This time last season we lost 2 - 5 at home so we must getting better. Win the league by 13 points I recon.

[ARM1968]

As I've said before we are NOT going to defend our title and need to forget about doing so. We need to play with the power and passion of a team of winners. 

 

Under Fergie Man Utd retained their hunger and fought for points in every game. That needs to be our mentality. Forget what we've achieved and fight for every point on offer. 

 

If we don't we just become the fluke everyone saw us as last season. 

[Dr The Singh]

Forget the result.  I didn't matter, however the performance was well shit and embarrassing.  Too many players underperformed, Claudio needs to get it sorted and quick

[erlee]

8 hours ago, matthewgor said:

Can albrighton play at right back as Simpson is out injured?

Nope.  He is not a defender kind

[erlee]

The Thai owners will be sorry for upgrading everybody's pay packet & a sports car.

Too much money leads to complacency & less hunger

[cc_star]

The morning after the night before... And I'm still not disappointed, I'm still angry!

 

I know this is wrong, given our unbelievable heroics. However, it's how I feel.

 

There's so much wrong with the system, tactics & player's effort, that I'm actually worried for the next 34 games.

 

It's only 4 matches but that's 10% of the season already - Unless we get a grip of our tactics quickly... 

[Guest Mickyblueeyes]

2 hours ago, Col city fan said:

No, not for me. I'll take a defeat on the chin. It's the MANNER of that defeat that will worry and annoy. We lost to the 94th min winner last season at Arsenal. Was anyone angry with the team? No. We have it our all and we're unlucky.

Yesterday was very different. Yesterday's performance is not that of a side who won last season easily in the end and who are just about to embark the Champs League. 

2 completely different state of affairs.

I completely agree. The manner of the defeat should be raising alarm bells. We were not unlucky, we were dismantled and lucky to hve only concealed four. That was not the performance of a mid table football team who were having an off day. We can't go into games that disorganised again. In needs to be tweaked and a better set up. The amount of times liverpool had a free man was scary.

[cc_star]

1 hour ago, Great Boos Up said:

This time last season we lost 2 - 5 at home so we must getting better. Win the league by 13 points I recon.

Sick of hearing comparisons to that Arsenal game... We were in that game and it could've finished 9-12.

 

Yesterday we barely touched the ball twice and we're extremely lucky to get 1

 

We made the likes of Henderson, Milner & Lucas (mistake aside) look like best players in the world

[iamafox]

Our defence looked so vulnerable yesterday. We really could have done with an extra CM as we would have made it harder for Liverpool to break us down. I think that was where we lost the game.

[bigboy]

Is it me, but has anybody notice that now some of our players have been given new contract and big pay rises, they think they are now big time Charlie's and don't have to work anymore.

[TJB-fox]

Think it's time to forget the loyalty to those who helped us win last season, if they're not performing then bring someone else in. All of Hernandez Schlupp Gray and Kapustka deserve a chance I think. Clearly the way we played last year/ personnel has changed so we should move on and try and find slightly different ways of playing.

Most importantly, a bad game/start to the season does NOT mean a bad team

[deejdeej]

1 hour ago, ealingfox said:

Bloody meltdown on here. We were bound to lose yesterday but the performance was a concern.

 

There'll be booing if we don't beat Burnley, absolutely ridiculous.

At least nobody has called for Ranieri's head... oh wait...

 

If anybody boo's I sincerely hope they get a slap round the chops with a clapper.