Match Day Thread Liverbird Reds v Cockeral Whites

ÌMO:

no lovren v kane.

He panicked last time out of fear of a player who'd got shag all pace. Ridiculous.

Matip doesn't deserve his place. He was at it again v huddersfield. they are just too poor to take advantage. He's weak, and he's not decisivie as well. He's gone for me.

But with klavan out we have no choice now.

 

There's 13 games to go.

For arsenal to get 8 points back out of 13 games means both chelsea and liverpool need to lose 3 games more than they do.

It seems to be that they should focus now on europa strongly instead. they would need to win 11 or 12 of the last games imo.

Spurs on 48 points with 13 to go is pushing the lot of us on for higher points. Last night was a disaster not only cos it brings the ga to just 2 but it also means they can get 76/78 points in theory.

That means LFC need to win 9 games minimum out of 13.

Tottenham
Southampton
West Ham
Newcastle
Man Utd
Watford
C.Palace
Everton
Bournemouth
West brom
Stoke
Cheslea
Brighton

IMO this means the game sin bold we have to be just about perfect in. Not easy.

Beating spurs would open the gap, reduce their theoretical finishing points range and really give us that little extra ability to recover form a misstep.

Most of all though.. games will start running out.. the closer to the end the more pressure comes on. Spurs have been known to crack and lose discipline. We have been serial bottlers. If we could just win.... they might just lose the rag v arsenal or something.

 

Then you have Arsenal being turned over by Swansea and Bournemouth doing Chelsea so it is clear that it wont be so simple.

 

Have you seen what Paul Merson said before the game luv?.

Swansea City v Arsenal
"Arsenal head to Swansea, hoping to succeed where Liverpool failed just over a week ago at the Liberty Stadium. Swansea will play in exactly the same way as they did against Liverpool. They'll defend in numbers but for me, Arsenal have got a bit more guile than Liverpool. They'll create more chances than Liverpool did and that will be the difference.
We could see the debut of Henrikh Mkhitaryan and if it was me, I'd definitely play him. Some people might say he hasn't had much football in recent months but with the way Swansea will set up, Arsenal will have a lot of the ball. They could have up to 70 per cent possession so his creativity will prove useful"
PAUL PREDICTS: 0-2

 

Yes its a dogfight everywhere.

Its hard to eliminate bias on here. Some people just have to be totally ignored when talking about other teams as they wouldn't even admit it exists


Who do you have most faith in?

That's is to say not to do anyone down in the top 6 as they are all clearly good teams, but which if the top teams would you have most faith in their side delivering?


Utd - World class keeper, Strong midfield and attack options, but on the flip side the full back slots are weak and they miss bailly every time he is out. 4-3-1 over last 8, 3-1-1 over last 5.

Chelsea - top first 11, hazard.. but on the flip side you have the conte situation and is the camp happy? they have draw 2 and lost 1 in last 5 but over last 8 are 4-3-1 record

Liverpool - its all about the forwards and then work rate for me. On our day we can beat anyone but we are flaky and are playing the dodgiest keepr i've seen in a LFC shirt. our form over 8 games is 6-1-1... best form in league over last 8. over 5 its 4-0-1

Spurs: really strong first 11. mean defensively, top striker. On the flip side they have bottled it before and discipline can go. They have been on a 5-2-1 record last 8 games. 3-2-0 record over last 5.

Arsenal: can go on a run. we all know it. lots of talent there and a positive outlook coming from new buys but they are poor defensively. have a huge points tally to overhaul. Over 8 games they are 3-3-2, over 5 its


Thats the record they have.

My view is:

Arsenal don't have what it takes and 2 teams would need to fail for them to get any chance.
Utd have too much to **** this up, the tactical straight jacket approach only works if they don't concede silly goals so they need bailly back in
Chelsea cracks showing? They have shown in the past that they can have a tool down situation. I'm interested to see what hazard does if he's thinking move to real.
Spurs... once they have momentum they are flyers. Utd have given them it.
Us.... we could do anything. Our form has been good. but the dodginess is always there.



The form last year over final 13 games:

Spurs 12-0-1
Cheslea 11-0-2
Liverpool 8-3-2
City 7-5-1
Arsenal 8-1-4
Utd 5-6-2

Now last year is an entirely different set of circumstance the only real value in this is to show what a team on form can do over 13 games at the business end of the season.


If our form over last ten is 6-3-1 or 2.1 points per game. that should put us on 77 points if we can sustain it.

 

Arsenal are 9th on away form (the biggeest home-away difference in the PL) and you can't get top 4 only playing half the games

Man Utd have a crap squad, no midfield, and have been living on momentum from the easiest starting fixtures in history. Once they lose that momentum Mourinho has proven he is incapable of restarting it.

Chelsea haven't got a clue what they're doing.

Spurs are good but thin squad. If they get top 4 it won't be at our expense so fair enough.

Yesterday proved the point we had all been discussing. A mindset of conceding second and third to Man Utd and Chelsea just in the hope we could have 4th would be ridiculously defeatist. It's the equivalent of putting 11 men behind the ball to defend a 1-0 with 60 minutes to play, not our style.

 

1. away form . very true

2. Man utd.. matic? Pogba? (the inwincible) Granted fellinai is in there and they sold mkhitaryan and won't play mata.

3. Given cheslea made the CL last 16 Sf on league cup and were eaily thrid until this Month of january I don't think anyone could agree. At boardroom level or whoever is buying maybe.

4. Yes spurs are thin. Kane is crucial. Alderweirld is too. Is this you acknowledging the data shows that with a full teams they can absolutely be devastating

 

We all know how Chelsea are capable of downing tools. Destroying the tools. Burning down the tool factory.

Spurs have been playing proper football for a few seasons now. They should come 3rd or 4th. But we should come 2nd, so not our problem.

 

North London power shift. Wenger said it's not possible.

 

Yeah Pogba and Matic don’t hold a candle to Horrenderson and Can

 

Yes cheslea can... especially if it suits hazard to do so. With WC coming and then Real maybe interested in him a loss of form might not be ideal unless he's tapped up.

Spurs have played yes but are capable of losing it and being indisciplined too. thye are all about kane.

like we are all about salah....

Really this coudl all change with one sprint and torn hamstring.

 

I understand Roman Abramovich is lining up Luis Enrique to replace Antonio Conte.

 

interesting!

I can see conte going in may back to italy anyway but it would be interesting if the wheels come off.

It solves all our worries.

 

yeah i've mentioned it a while back but i can't see anything but conte leaving after this seasons done.

no idea where to as he wants to win the CL and he was pissed off that Juve didn't spend.

Maybe he'll go to Real

 

And us being turned over by Swansea

 

The word "patient" is not in the dictionary of Roman Abramovich

 

I was avoiding that point.

 

I'm still convinced that VvD and Lovren is Klopp's preferred choice, and that's what he will try to make work.

 

I got most of the way through that.

My point being that you can look at stats all you want but because of the amount of teams that can be relegated there will be shock results as they dig in, you have to be ruthless to beat these teams at the moment. Swansea wasn't a defeat I was happy with but I got it and don't blame the players too much as Swansea stuck to the task and made it difficult. WBA there's no excuse but Swansea simply deserved a point and got lucky with a goal to get all 3.

 

I'm convinced of the opposite that he understands that his best 2 CB's are VVD and Matip.