Match Day Thread Liverpool v Crystal Palace

Spurs are very difficult to read at the mo., the Chelsea v Citeh game will be fascinating

 

Being positive isn't the same as getting carried away though. I'd rather be that way than constantly fearing the worst and being negative about our achievements so far.
There's enough serious **** in the world to worry about without letting football get you down, so when it's going well we should just enjoy it, imo.
Just because they're not top 6 doesn't mean those games can't be tricky - granted Norwich giving us a hard time would have been a major upset but the others are all potential banana-skins in their own way.
Anyone really expect City to stumble at home over Saints?

 

Wasnt aimed at anyone in particular and certainly not saying shouldn’t be positive. As you say no real easy games in this league and 13/15 is almost a perfect start so can’t complain. Just silly writing teams off or saying we’re back to best yet. Think we’d have been disappointed to drop points against those 4 teams we’ve beaten even if a couple are potential banana skins.

Everton we’re too this time last year, still plenty games to go and for table to change yet. Old saying of don’t look at the table until 10 games gone as gives far better understanding of where teams are.

 

@Chief

 

Cheeers for popping by hiag, we miss you.

 

One game at a time lads. one game at a time

 

The league is ours to lose, was the same before a ball was kicked too

 

We didn't get the three points against Chelsea, but that was the performance that impressed me the most. Even before the red card we looked the dominant team and most likely to win. Funnily enough, I think the red card is what robbed us of those two extra points because it made Chelsea focus 100% on defence.

I'm not saying we're going to win anything this year, but we have already put in a dominating performance against a touted title contender already.

Our main problem against Chelsea has been the same as it has against lesser teams, lack of finishing prowess.

Too early to get too excited and our early match performances have been shaky at best... But I'm slightly optimistic.

 

Dont remember chelsea game like that. I think we could have been there still and not scored.

 

As I said, only thing missing was finishing prowess... And that was true before the card and they went into turtle mode.

Chelsea's goal was a freak accident that they weren't likely to repeat. Replay that game and 9 times out of 10 that would have been three points.

 

Nah. Replay it 10 times and 8 are draws. Once it was 0-1 they were taking those 3 points imo. We turned it round.

 

I haven't see the full game but I did catch a glimpse of compilations and extended highlights - 3-0 flattered us but ultimately, we deserved the win. It's unsurprising that we didn't look as dominant / solid when you have 3 of the back 4 changed.

The takeaways from the game:

- Kostas is a more than capable option at left back and it shows that it is possible to improve the squad on a budget. There were a lot of fans who believe we cant do the same for Trent but it's imperative that we do. With that said, Milner did a good job. Kostas is seriously good going forward and is a real threat.

- Midfield is a worry given we've lost Thiago. I hope he's not out for long but I am worried that we will now overplay Hendo which will lead to another injury. Hendo should only play one game a week. Midfield is now contributing more goals and we definitely look far more fluid - the RCM is definitely pushing higher and wider to create the overload on that side but I also do think not having Gini is also making us more fluid.

- Salah looks even better than before. His all round game is stunning. When he first joined, he would be a devastating goal scorer but it would be easy for him to go missing. Since then, he can go through games without scoring or assisting but he still plays brilliantly.

- Our threat from set pieces is back! We relied on these heavily in 18/19 and 19/20 and it was a big source of our goals. And we lost that source last season when Matip and VVD were out. We can score in so many different ways now.

- Allison is the best keeper in the world for me

- Konate had a solid enough debut. Some dodgy parts but overall was ok. He's absolute unit.

 

Robertson and tsimikas prove theres 100s of talented players out there to pick out of that you don't need a 100mil billingham.

yes its almost a 424 in possession for the press.

Salah still loses the ball too much

VVD and matip attract attention. its interesting both mane and salah were hanging round the near and far post areas. both scored off the ball drooping to far post and both were free at near post zones for a shot/header should someone not pick them up. I think jota missed his kick totally on one first half to that zone.

VVD panics sides.

 

I know you weren't pointing the finger - I was just discussing the point, and the way I look at it.

 

I'm quite happy by the general attitude and fitness levels. I think they look up for it (although i dn't think we can expect that all business look like in 2019/20 when we had to set it to rights) There's improvements possible in players like ketia and vvd still and alisson, trent, henderson, fabinho, salah look absolutely on it.

I'm looking forward to seeing us push on here for the next while and see where we get to come the january fa cup debacle to come

 

Given everyone was writing us off before the season, I'd say we started off very nicely

 

not sure who "everyone" was cos those of us who watched preseason closely would know we were going to be much sharper

 

The usual media pundits and rivals fans were writing us off after last season.

I think most of us knew that last season was certainly a freak season in terms of injuries and that caused a lot of our issues.

 

All 22 bbc pundits for one.

Loads in n the prem board too, not one has us as champions.

Im very good with that tbh

 

Oh yeah, now I remember that bbc pundit board!!