A bad day at the office happens. What's concerning is that 1) every man and his dog could see it coming and could have predicted Swansea's defensive play. Why were we not more prepared? 2) the complacency. Yes I mean that. Despite the protestations, our players were indeed complacent. Our players were less hungry, were second to every ball and always chose the easy option like passing to the defence and the midfield instead of forwards. They were just waiting for the mistake to happen and for the goal to be scored3) Klopp's slowness to change things. It was again obvious that the team was hitting a brick wall. It needed a change of plan in the second half. But Klopp's persisted with it. 4) Yet again it was our poor defending of a set play. This is like ground hog day. Same frailties despite having the most expensive defender in the world.6) Ings and Solanke have had very little game time and they hardly improved our attack. Do we have real alternatives to Mane or Salah when they get tired or off form?
Only ****ing Liverpool could conspire to beat the top one week and get beaten by the bottom the week after
There are only 3 sides in the Premier League who will as you put it play into your hands, and that's City, Spurs and Arsenal, and you've had mixed results against those sides this season. As you could argue you are playing into their hands too. It was certainly the case when you where thrashed away at Spurs and City. The other 16, including us under Mourinho are going to make things difficult for you. No side outside the top 6 is going to go toe to toe with you, and if any manager does then they shouldn't be in a job. So your going to have to get used to it, as teams in the Premier League know exactly how best to play against you.
Should we set up against teams who sit back similar to Mourinho and just sit back ourselves? More likely to draw than to lose, more likely to draw than win too. It would be boring as fu<k but would cut out crap like yesterday. Just dont think Klopp could set out a game to not try and win from the off. I don't really want him to either, but maybe its necessary we do.
the thing that worried me was after just 15 mins we had panicked , due to not getting an early goal , exemplified by Matip & VVD being midway in Swans half . All that does is compress the play making it easier for the defensive team to ensure space is almost impossible to find.Though being clinical in front of goal would have helped last night. Later our game plan looked like the games i used to play in the nearby field , when i was 7 ,with half the kids from our neighbourhood i.e. everyone charging towards goal with absolutely no structure at all. Really need to do some work on our plan(s) for this type of game .
I'm not, by nature, a pessimist, but we've just missed a ****ing massive opportunity which I think could prove pivotal this season. Just one result, but it heavily underlines a massive weakness at this club. A serious slip up, that was.
That is basically the description of a bad day in the office. It happens we havent lost for the better part of 3 months so it was going to happen sooner or later. When Lallana missed that open goal you just had to put up your hands and say it was not going to be your day Sometimes we forget how hard these players have worked to go 18 unbeaten and won most of those matches scoring a record number of goals. We get carried away expecting to win every other day. Swansea deserve as much credit for their resilience What is important is our reaction. Everything is still in our hands and we have the best opportunity in our next league game to correct yesterday's result
We shouldn't underestimate that: they worked hard, but until the last ten minutes including injury time it wasn't frantic for them. Teams like WBA, Everton and Uniturd have completely sussed us out, and I expect WBA to do it again at the weekend, as will Huddersfield next week.
When Salah, Mane (2) and Bobby all missed sitters we knew it was game over, even before Lallana missed (though I truly don't remember the latter).
Thought Bobby's miss was the worst: Lala just wasn't set for it when it came, but he should have used his left rather than get it on his right, no argument.
the issue for me is not how well swansea played. how hard they worked or how wise their manager was. That's a given going into any match and if its not there then it makes it easy for any team to play against. The issue is form the first 5 mins you could tell. a) Can was bothered as much as he was v City. Against city he had a big game head on. in the shop window and he was absolutely working his arse off. Yesterday first half he barely moved. he let Matip take up the slack. b) someone decided that ox and wijnaldum should got right up the pitch and be central. Not wide.. central. so all swansea did was play round them or one touch and out wide and long. They were absolutely useless to us. c) you could tell the team work wasn't there. We had zero press pressure on our team on half way and even in advance of that and we conspired to play about 6/7 balls behind the full backs so they had to check and just keep it in play and then inevitably pass back. We were sloppy, slow and about 60% work rate and it show all over the park. By the end cbs and full backs were shooting form bizarre places... says system is shot and out the window. Not of this IMO is down to swansea's genius or application. Its down to just not being that up for it early on, not showing urgency and just not being bothered TBH. I said before their goal we'd need a big slice of luck and it went the opposite way. The game in many ways was very similar to the west brom game TBH. 0-0 there. it happens consistently with LFC because the standards drop big time and the consistent theme is slow play and players not putting the shift in.
You add to that in the last four months of the season teams in the bottom half/last twelve places (as it's still that tight) are going to abandon, in general, any attacking strategies in order to grind out precious points (even draws, never mind the bonus of a victory that Swansea got last night) and it'll get worse, not better. And who can blame them? If the boot was on the other foot, I'd want my team to do what it takes to get out of relegation. The Swans have got a tradition of playing good football, but there's nothing noble or admirable about going down with all the pundits patronising you about what a great team you were and the fabulous football you tried to play - **** that. Good luck to the Swans - hope they stay up.
the reality is LFC have 2 CBs and can max to aim a corner or set piece at. We should have scored off one yesterday before they socred I said vvd was our only goal threat to a 732 formation. If we had scored the look seriously unable to get a goal bar off a break of luck. Swansea sadly will need a lot more luck to stay up or a new forward. they just cannot get goals so far this year... sorry swansea... you know this better than us. Once LFC took off ox for lallana (crazy decision btw) we lost all set piece threat. harsh lesson there. Ox must stay on and be thrown wide right in these games. you CANNOT take of the only guy who can take a damned corner.
I said earlier in the thread when that happened it was insane. No probs with bringing Lala on, but I'd have taken any one of Windy, Can or mane off. Could even have taken Gomez off and gone to three at the back.
I'd have had gomez off at HT. I saw no reason at all he was out there. TAA has proved time and again he's the better ball crosser. Windy was absolutel plants and would have also been off at HT. zero point in him. Ox was TBF only worth leaving on for corners IMO milner, TAA and lallana could all have come in. I say milner purely cos he's have gone wide right which ox should have done
More than happy with the win, as for you guys, think of it like a bump in the road. First loss in 19 competitive matches, Spurs and Arsenal are behind you and that's where they'll stay. Spurs don't have the bottle and Arsenal don't have the team to catch you. I see you catching Chelsea because moody Conte isn't into it right now, I reckon he's already looking for another job. They're flat-track bullies anyway, get stuck in and they don't want to know so I can see you catching them. Its Champions League Football for you next year and when you beat Barcelona, PSG and Real Madrid on your way to winning it I can bask in the light of a squeaky 1-0 win at the Liberty. Good luck guys, its just a glitch, you'll be fine.
