So bias and up liverpool's arse. A neutral could have been forgiven for thinking it was a 4th round fa cup tie, the mighty liverpool vs plucky lg2 side Newcaste.
Barring his misplaced pass that lead to one of their goals, great to see Joelinton back in beast mode, I've missed watching him slap the opposition around. Gutted for Murphy though, you could hear the groan from some fans when they saw the team sheet, but he played well and one another day one of his 3 chances would have went in.
Gordon left Joelinton in the middle and no longstaff. I also think Murphy while he's frustrating plays better rw than Barnes. Howe tried to reinvent the wrong areas of the pitch ,but has finally realised.
There’s a few reasons it clicked better yesterday. I think with Tonali in the 6, his athleticism and command allows Joelinton to cover the wing better, allowing Gordon to almost play nearer Isak which stops our CF being isolated. On the right, Murphy holds a wide position because he’s a traditional crosser which then gives Bruno a little more space. The growth of the full backs is also helping a lot. I think it’s ok to have a natural lop sidedness to the side, it makes us less predictable. Tonali has to stay as the 6 and Bruno has to now come into that 8 role better. I still think we could go 4231 and I think it’s Bruno who has the ability to play as a deeper 10. With Tonali/Joelinton, there’s so much athleticism. At times - for Isaks goal for example - that was pretty much how it looked! But it’s a fluid balance and also an attitude to the match. The only thing left is to find consistency.
Both Tonali and Big Joe were in full on beast mode last night. Tonali looks absolutely class and covers so much ground it's ridiculous. Lost track of his man for one of their goals (can't remember which), he's ****ing head and shoulders above Longstaff and needs to stay in the team for me. No mention from the commentary team about the fact that every one of Liverpool's goals was pretty much gifted to them by misplaced passes from one of our players, we need to cut that **** out and get back to doing the simple and basic things better but last night was far and away our best performance in a long time.
Our second goal was a prime example of what many of us have been calling for for ages, Tonali as the deepest of the 3, plays it into Bruno further forward, then onto Isak and Gordon, don't know why it's took this long for Howe to figure it out mind but better late than never.
Probably be back in the starting 11 at the weekend. Rotate Tonali out as he'll be a bit tired after the midweek exertions... Unlike Dan Burn, who never tires .
