GW19 game thread

Pesky Pole

Well-Known Member
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Jul 31, 2001
2,465
Phoenixville, PA
Fabinho got lucky there since his infraction was clearly visible. I do think there was a kick out but no reverse angle to see if there was a little elbow from Barnes. Not giving Barnes anything and keeping Fabinho on the yellow only is probably about fair.
 

67YAZ

Member
SoSH Member
Dec 1, 2000
8,729
Salah & Firmino on to make something happen here.

TAA looks very good this second half.
 

PedroSpecialK

Comes at you like a tornado of hair and the NHL sa
SoSH Member
Dec 12, 2004
27,164
Cambridge, MA
By all means, keep throwing floated crosses in against Mee / Tarkowski / 6 other fuckin guys in the area.

The closest chance with buildup play was floating it to the byline to let Firmino try to cut it back - no idea why they haven't gone back to that
 

PedroSpecialK

Comes at you like a tornado of hair and the NHL sa
SoSH Member
Dec 12, 2004
27,164
Cambridge, MA
Burnley deserve it. We all knew the game plan. Liverpool have played into their hands.
Completely. No composure, conceding the cheap free kicks Burnley is trying to draw, crossing it into the likes of Origi and Oxlade-Chamberlain against a team of giants... Klopp used a 4-1-2-1-2 / midfield diamond against teams like this when Coutinho was in the team to break them down, I can't for the life of me figure out what the benefit is of continuing to go 4-3-3 with crosses from the wings
 

fletcherpost

sosh's feckin' poet laureate
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Jul 15, 2005
12,139
Glasgow, Scotland
It's never easy to break down a team that parks the bus, but Liverpool's movement around the box between the lines has been poor.

Edit: I wonder what club Pope will sign for next?
 

PedroSpecialK

Comes at you like a tornado of hair and the NHL sa
SoSH Member
Dec 12, 2004
27,164
Cambridge, MA
I can't even be mad rewatching the Barnes penalty decision, didn't do enough to merit getting anything out of this one
 

fletcherpost

sosh's feckin' poet laureate
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Jul 15, 2005
12,139
Glasgow, Scotland
We've got so used to Liverpool playing at a high pace, bombing down the flanks, getting behind the defense, feeding low balls and high crosses into the box with the opposition unsettled and on the back foot. Really not seeing much of this lately. Once teams get their two banks set up Liverpool seem really pedestrian and bereft of ideas.
 

Morgan's Magic Snowplow

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 2, 2006
22,345
Philadelphia
Liverpool look tired. Mentally and physically.
Yup.

It has been three years of their top players logging huge minutes without a lot of rotation, playing a very high intensity football, competing for the biggest trophies, treating every match like it was do or die. Then at the end of this run you get a season in which there is no real summer break and the fixtures just keeping coming twice a week. I think this would exhaust almost any team, both mentally and physically.

Its easy to overreact but I think Klopp needs to change things significantly in the summer if he wants to regain their former level. Ferguson once said that he believed teams had a three or four year cycle at the top and then you need to freshen it up and change things.
 

PedroSpecialK

Comes at you like a tornado of hair and the NHL sa
SoSH Member
Dec 12, 2004
27,164
Cambridge, MA
I think part of it is having to be so conscious of protecting the back line. It's no secret that Alexander-Arnold is poor defensively, and with whichever hodge-podge of Fabinho / Henderson / Matip / Williams / Phillips winds up at CB, they can't risk being caught in possession and allowing a counter.

The result is slower / plodding buildup play, overloading the flanks to provide outlets for retaining possession, fewer players making early runs forward and making them easier to spot for opposition back-lines, and overall a pretty stark lack of creativity against teams that know to just pack the central areas.

It's a dreadful five match stretch in terms of finishing, but unless they change shape, I don't see much changing.

edit: to that end, I thought Origi actually played well today - directness and a willingness to shoot are what they need right now. I can't figure out why Klopp insists on Oxlade-Chamberlain on the wing, but I'd love to see a lineup like this in the diamond next time out:

Alisson
Trent - Matip - Fabinho - Robertson
Henderson
Wijnaldum - Thiago
Shaqiri
Salah - Origi
 
Last edited:

coremiller

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 14, 2005
5,846
Eh, Liverpool are mostly fine. Their xG in the last five matches by understat is 6.99 - 4.33. Their actual GD from those games is 1-2. Even the best teams have stretches where they don't cream everyone every game. Liverpool had a bunch of them last year. What made Liverpool's season so remarkable last year is that they had a bunch of games like this where the played only slightly better than or about even to their opposition but they won all of those matches anyway. This year they aren't getting those breaks. It happens.
 

fletcherpost

sosh's feckin' poet laureate
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Jul 15, 2005
12,139
Glasgow, Scotland
Eh, Liverpool are mostly fine. Their xG in the last five matches by understat is 6.99 - 4.33. Their actual GD from those games is 1-2. Even the best teams have stretches where they don't cream everyone every game. Liverpool had a bunch of them last year. What made Liverpool's season so remarkable last year is that they had a bunch of games like this where the played only slightly better than or about even to their opposition but they won all of those matches anyway. This year they aren't getting those breaks. It happens.
This is a simplification by way of using a couple of stats in a small sample that don't really reflect what's happening during the games. XG is a fine stat for stat people, but it doesn't tell you a whole lot about what happens in a match. A goal opportunity where the keeper makes a great save is not the same thing as a goal attempt where the player totally fuckin baffies it or skies it or misses the target by by 10 feet...which we're seeing too much of

PedroSpecialK's post above is pertinent and he watches all the games with a keen eye. Not saying you don't but his observations regarding how the games are playing out is valid. In the last couple of games Firmino has missed some good chances,not by a little but by a lot. If he was getting it on target one wouldn't worry so much. Mane has lost form. But as previously mentoned the build up is so much more pedestrian for reasons already given. Back when Liverpool were getting those close wins, they were still dynamic, running teams ragged, tiring them out and getting late goals, which title winning teams often get as they tire out the opposition. Man U made legacies out of this.

So yeah, 'mostly fine' - maybe...they might return to form...two weeks until Jota is suppsoed to be back. He's been effective in linking play in the final third and adding some creativity and goals; he's been sorely missed.