Andy King

[americanfox]

Yeah he was better for sure but if King is getting criticised so heavily then Kante should also, he gave the ball away too much today, way too much.

 

Kanté's pass completion was 84%. Given, many of those passes were simple and he did have moments where he seemed "out of control", but hard to argue he gave the ball away compared to others who were far more culpable (or invisible). 

[Thracian]

Today's game, sadly, went exactly as I expected. And people are right, King did so nearly snatch a draw from the jaws of defeat. And yes, we did lose the midfield.

And the attack. And our distribution from the back wasn't too good either. And the crosses from corners weren't quite accurate enough. And Kante tried to do too much too often, bless him, whlle Mahrez (one shot plus next to nothing), Shinji (very little all round), Vardy (one shot and nothing to remember but his injury etc. etc.

We lost today because Klopp played our own game better than us, and he did that because his up-and-down team didn't seem quite as worn out as ours.  

We tried so hard to play the ball from the back and then make single touch passes to force an opening but the passes weren't accurate because of Liverpool's presssure, because we didn't have swift and strong enough back-up to the snookered Vardy and Mahrez and because King and Kante alone couldn't cope with being smothered in midfield when no-one around them had and more space than they did.

To blame Kingy or any one individual is shameful. Liverpool played at such an intense tempo today they'd likely have beaten anyone in the division as they've shown themselves capable on on other occasions. And, for the record I don't think even a fit Drinkwater would have found it easy to play well either...and he certainly wouldn't have got deep into the box for those two chances.  

I wouldn't even say our players did badly. We still competed for everything and had about five half chances to score and take something home.

Even the goal wasn't a careless giveaway. It was a good choice of pass and a damn good finish for all that anyone can say "if" and "but" afterwards Was anyone outstanding for us outside the back four? I don't think so and the substitutes weren't any better for all that they were fresh.

PS: I thought Kante tried and tried but didn't quite release his passes fast enough or accurately enough. It didn't help that Klopp covered almost every base but Kingy stayed involved as much as everyone and if he had snatched a point it would have been valuable as a ship full of pure gold.     

[americanfox]

Today's game, sadly, went exactly as I expected. And people are right, King did so nearly snatch a draw from the jaws of defeat. And yes, we did lose the midfield.

And the attack. And our distribution from the back wasn't too good either. And the crosses from corners weren't quite accurate enough. And Kante tried to do too much too often, bless him, whlle Mahrez (one shot plus next to nothing), Shinji (very little all round), Vardy (one shot and nothing to remember but his injury etc. etc.

We lost today because Klopp played our own game better than us, and he did that because his up-and-down team didn't seem quite as worn out as ours.  

We tried so hard to play the ball from the back and then make single touch passes to force an opening but the passes weren't accurate because of Liverpool's presssure, because we didn't have swift and strong enough back-up to the snookered Vardy and Mahrez and because King and Kante alone couldn't cope with being smothered in midfield when no-one around them had and more space than they did.

To blame Kingy or any one individual is shameful. Liverpool played at such an intense tempo today they'd likely have beaten anyone in the division as they've shown themselves capable on on other occasions. And, for the record I don't think even a fit Drinkwater would have found it easy to play well either...and he certainly wouldn't have got deep into the box for those two chances.  

I wouldn't even say our players did badly. We still competed for everything and had about five half chances to score and take something home.

Even the goal wasn't a careless giveaway. It was a good choice of pass and a damn good finish for all that anyone can say "if" and "but" afterwards Was anyone outstanding for us outside the back four? I don't think so and the substitutes weren't any better for all that they were fresh.           

 

Albrighton and Fuchs were really really poor today, and that hurt a lot.

[crisp packet]

As a TEAM ,we didn't perform. As others have said our passing wasn't upto scratch. Yes they harraessed us all over the pitch ( some legal a lot wasn't)We just didn't perform today ...

But we are SAFE. Top of the League..

It's Boxing Day , we have had a tough December

And took a lot of points .

We cannot win them all ? We win together we lose together !!!

[Sleepy Fox]

Albrighton and Fuchs were really really poor today, and that hurt a lot.

 

 

 

There were several times today when we were passing it well through midfield after a takeaway and it would come to Albrighton who would just hoof it down field.  Thought he had his worst game in a long time today.

[Grewks]

There were several times today when we were passing it well through midfield after a takeaway and it would come to Albrighton who would just hoof it down field.  Thought he had his worst game in a long time today.

 

Personally think he has been bang average for weeks.

 

If we want to achieve top 4 he needs to contribute with vardy and mahrez, he currently isn't.

[Thracian]

Albrighton and Fuchs were really really poor today, and that hurt a lot.

 

 

 

Add Dyer and Kramic when they came on. It didn't matter where in the field it was apart from the last 30 yards, we were too often second to the ball or beaten for strength or pace if we did get there.

 

With Vardy clearly less than 100%, Mahrez almost a nonentity and no-one to offer the raw threat of Schlupp's pace and deceptive strength we just couldn't soak it all up.

 

It actually showed what an amazing achievement our players have delivered in even getting to the top of the league and doing so with such consistency.

 

Ranieri aluded to leaning on Klopp for advice when he was at a low ebb and that only emphasises how lucky Liverpool are to have the guy.

So credit where it's due to Liverpool and Klopp instead of knocking a bunch of players who've done us so proud and for so long. They'll come again, I'm sure, both stronger, faster and sounder.         

[TJB-fox]

Kanté's pass completion was 84%. Given, many of those passes were simple and he did have moments where he seemed "out of control", but hard to argue he gave the ball away compared to others who were far more culpable (or invisible).

Just rewatched the game, and my opinion remains the same. Constantly ran into danger and did give the ball away a lot, wether through passing or dribbling- I didn't just say 'oh he misplaced lots of passes' now did I

[1972 Fox]

If Drinkwater is not fit to play on Tuesday night then surely Inler has to start alongside Kante?

[Beliall]

I think we need 5 in midfield with no drinky. king can slot behind vardy for attacks while kante and inler hold the fort

[dannythefox]

King 1 bad game! 7 players didn't perform today and people are having a ago a the one player who hardly EVER has let us down!

[americanfox]

Just rewatched the game, and my opinion remains the same. Constantly ran into danger and did give the ball away a lot, wether through passing or dribbling- I didn't just say 'oh he misplaced lots of passes' now did I

 

Pass completion is usually the statistic most would cite to measure how much a player gave (or didn't give) the ball away -- or at least, that's what first came to mind in response to your original comment --, so that's why a few (including myself) cited the percentage when you brought up your point.

 

Now given, he didn't complete many dribbles, but that's also not his role. His teammates failed him.

 

WhoScored had him as Leicester's best player today, fwiw: http://www.whoscored.com/Matches/959645/Live/England-Premier-League-2015-2016-Liverpool-Leicester

 

Stop being so antagonistic.

[TJB-fox]

Pass completion is usually the statistic most would cite to measure how much a player gave (or didn't give) the ball away -- or at least, that's what first came to mind in response to your original comment --, so that's why a few (including myself) cited the percentage when you brought up your point.

Now given, he didn't complete many dribbles, but that's also not his role. His teammates failed him.

WhoScored had him as Leicester's best player today, fwiw: http://www.whoscored.com/Matches/959645/Live/England-Premier-League-2015-2016-Liverpool-Leicester

Stop being so antagonistic.

Just my opinion. He tried to make stuff happen and he might've been the best of a bad bunch, but he did the basics very poorly today and from such a fantastic midfielder that is disappointing

[EnglishOxide]

King 1 bad game! 7 players didn't perform today and people are having a ago a the one player who hardly EVER has let us down!

He's just a bit of a 'nothing' player. I've never seen him take a game by the balls. He's too passive.

The midfield is incredibly important. There's no place to hide, you've got to dictate things.

Just keeping things ticking over is all well and good when it's going well, but its not enough when the team needs the midfield to take control of the game.

Kings problem is that he can't carry the ball.

[americanfox]

Just my opinion. He tried to make stuff happen and he might've been the best of a bad bunch, but he did the basics very poorly today and from such a fantastic midfielder that is disappointing

 

I don't disagree with that. Have more consistent and incisive distribution and he's truly a world-class midfielder.

[Len Finsbury]

King 1 bad game! 7 players didn't perform today and people are having a ago a the one player who hardly EVER has let us down!

 

 

You're quite right, he wasn't the only one. I'd still start him on Tuesday over Inler

[Thracian]

You're quite right, he wasn't the only one. I'd still start him on Tuesday over Inler

 

 

Is anyone seriously suggesting Inler would have made a significant difference against Liverpool's concerted pressure today? Because, if they are, they're having delusions.

 

Never mind King, even Kante found it hardwork and several of our players were considerably worse.

We were short of numbers in central midfield for a start, had had Vardy struggling from the off by the manager's ambition. Even with 11 fit and determined players we'd have found it difficult.

 

But 90 minutes at that pace with what amounted to 10 fit players? I think there's merit in only losing 1-0, and more especially considering we didn't have anyone coming off the bench with the necessary qualities to make a difference, even for 20 minutes or so. I just hope we spend wisely in the window. 

[trabuch]

Liverpool were very up for it and played as well as they ever will this season. I was never irritated by Andy King today until he missed the chance to absolutely ruin the bin dippers' day in the last second of the game.

[Viva]

I don't disagree with that. Have more consistent and incisive distribution and he's truly a world-class midfielder.

Oh come on, you need an awful lot of things to make him a world class midfielder. He is an average player, decent as back up, but not enough quality to start regularly when we have sights on the top 4.

[NewEnglandFox]

I think we need 5 in midfield with no drinky. king can slot behind vardy for attacks while kante and inler hold the fort

 

We can't do that for 2 reasons.

 

The compact 4-4-2 is a minefield and creates tons of defensive protection and has allowed us to become the thieviest team in the league.

 

We simply don't have the cover. Without Drinky we only have 3 CM's and it would mean playing all 3 of them.

[old koppite]

What's the latest on MJ?

Just watching motd - God Spurs fans so quiet, and Steve Mac gets on my nerves so much I want NU relegated just to get him off the telly with his silly excuses

[StanSP]

our fans are weird and this thread emphasises it. 

[C-man]

Amazing that we've been happy to concede possession all season (even with Drinkwater/Kante combination) because it's what suits our game but as soon as we lose its because we (read: King) didn't dominate the midfield.

People have an irrational hatred of the man and I am fairly sure it is because he has shown them to be retarded 323 times.

[Charl91]

Amazing that we've been happy to concede possession all season (even with Drinkwater/Kante combination) because it's what suits our game but as soon as we lose its because we (read: King) didn't dominate the midfield.

People have an irrational hatred of the man and I am fairly sure it is because he has shown them to be retarded 323 times.

 

I'm sorry, but he was so poor. Admittedly not the only one (Albrighton was abysmal also), but probably the worst offender.

 

Conceding possession in unimportant areas is one thing, but you also then need to be able to A) win the ball back, and B) Pass it forwards to one of our players. King did neither of those things - he was pretty much invisible, and it was like playing with 10 men (well ten and a half - we had Kante still). I said in the pre-match that I was worried about King playing, after his performance at Goodison (true we won that game, but we were entirely dominated in the midfield there as well) and it was the same again. You can't afford to have any passengers at this level.

 

I respect what he's done for the club, and he's fine to make the odd 20 minute cameo off the bench, but we're going to be dropping more points if he's a starter - especially in a midfield 2.

[Thracian]

I'm sorry, but he was so poor. Admittedly not the only one (Albrighton was abysmal also), but probably the worst offender.

 

Conceding possession in unimportant areas is one thing, but you also then need to be able to A) win the ball back, and B) Pass it forwards to one of our players. King did neither of those things - he was pretty much invisible, and it was like playing with 10 men (well ten and a half - we had Kante still). I said in the pre-match that I was worried about King playing, after his performance at Goodison (true we won that game, but we were entirely dominated in the midfield there as well) and it was the same again. You can't afford to have any passengers at this level.

 

I respect what he's done for the club, and he's fine to make the odd 20 minute cameo off the bench, but we're going to be dropping more points if he's a starter - especially in a midfield 2.

 

I'm sorry, but he was so poor. Admittedly not the only one (Albrighton was abysmal also), but probably the worst offender.

 

Conceding possession in unimportant areas is one thing, but you also then need to be able to A) win the ball back, and B) Pass it forwards to one of our players. King did neither of those things - he was pretty much invisible, and it was like playing with 10 men (well ten and a half - we had Kante still). I said in the pre-match that I was worried about King playing, after his performance at Goodison (true we won that game, but we were entirely dominated in the midfield there as well) and it was the same again. You can't afford to have any passengers at this level.

 

I respect what he's done for the club, and he's fine to make the odd 20 minute cameo off the bench, but we're going to be dropping more points if he's a starter - especially in a midfield 2.

 

 

We'd be dropping points two with Drinkwater in a midfield two - or anyone else - if we were up against the sort of calculated intensive pressure that was central to the Liverpool tactics.  Even worse given there was virtually no help from Mahrez (after his shot) or Vardy (with his fever and probably more). 

 

We tried and tried to play our one-touch football but, all over the field, we simply had no collective availability. Once a first time pass was a yard or two off target it was gobbled up by Liverpool and there was never really time for two and three touches.

 

As other mentioned Liverpool's system meant we had nothing on for us out wide - neither Mahrez or Albrighton had the pace or space to make any headway and poor Vardy finally found himself so under the weather that he couldn't occupy one defender never mind the two he often takes and therefore, with Shinji neither operating as a striker nor a midfielder, we were well and truly snookered.

 

More than anything it emphasised how vital it is to work on our set pieces. Once again, although Fuchs' delivery was so promising, they were largely inaccurate and we failed to score the goal that might have stolen a point. We really need to attend to this detail. There will be games like yesterday's and we can't afford not to work on making other goalscoring opportunities other than from open play because we simply don't have the depth of squad to cope with the consistently high demands of the Premiership.

 

It's not a matter of condemning players either. Our team has performed like heroes since way back last season. There's 13 or 14 players who've made massive individual contributions. But we don't have enough cover, we don't have enough options and we don't have enough people to retain the pace on which our success has been based.