So. I enjoyed the game greatly yesterday. Really great. I left it last night but todays the time for the real debate to begin. We have not had a post match thread in a little while. Perhaps this could be it? I heard a lot of enthusiastic reds fans yesterday on about a lot of things but we do need to pause and reflect on what was after all a terrible spurs performance and a fairly good performance from us. Why? 2-0 we were value for. Spurs got themselves together and were starting to trouble us and a sending off changed everything... 5-0? thats not a signal of anything but spurs losing a man really guys. 2-0 I was dead pleased with and thought we deserved on the day. Thats reality. this result doesn't say we'll do beat city or chelsea just as the everton performance where we should have been 3-1 up had allen not fluffed his lines and we ended up 3-3 and rocking doesn't mean we'll concede a shed load in those games either. We arne dour victory yesterday by outworking spurs and being positive. We must outwork cardiff next. Thats what wins games. In short the same issues that vexed us before still exist and we have a lot of improvement to do over the next 6-12 months to really push on. After all... this is quite quite enjoyable yes? Well we must first sustain it then really push for a title challenging side. This is after all surely the right thing? Enjoy the win then be hungry for more... I'm always wanting a bit more. For example now that henderson has put one goal away I want him to put 5 away and show that Ramsey's not the only one who can win the presses plaudits. Henderson general performance is no shock but he's been just snatching at stuff and missing easy chances, one in the net and now i want more. As for saurez, this reminds me of Blackburn in 1995. You had to score 2 to beat them cos shearer was certain to get one. Suarez seems to be in that form. Finally I think our real weapon in the months to come will be coutinho. If he can get his fitness back up to the point where he gives a consistent 90mins and not fade a bit... he'll make suarez those goals.
As said, defeat to Cardiff next weekend would cancel this whole performance out. It's important for the squad and club to not get too carried away and start running their mouths, we have to show Cardiff the same respect we showed Spurs because in this league a shock is always round the corner. With Allen getting a run of games and now Henderson putting in the performance of his career it wouldn't be unfair to hope they can both push on and give Rodgers a much needed headache when Gerrard does eventually return. It's still early days but from a psychological point of view this win will do us wonders going in to the Chelsea and Man City games. 2-0 flatted Spurs, I did feel we were starting to sit back but we always looked comfortable, AVB kept the high line even after going down to 10 men which was suicide with the pace and guile we have in our team.. It was always going to go sour from that point on.
Scoring 5 goals is great, especially against a rival. But it is still 3 points, same as if we struggled through a lucky 1-0 win and the same maximum points we can get against Cardiff. Yesterday's result was important because it was literally a 6 pointer and it has given us breathing space over Spurs... no one else. As said before, the work would be undone if we lose to Cardiff.
I diddnt get carried away yday because I expected us to best spurs convincingly. but fully agree we must show the same hunger vs Cardiff or it will mean nothing.
Allen has a big point to prove and henderson should be just dying to get out there and stick another couple away. Sterling should alos be eager after skinning naughton and having him hauled off. Maybe 2-0 did flatter spurs as we fluffed a few but we must also say that they could have got a couple on target and troubled us. I was happy with 2-0 but then thats probably me being nervous of a top 6 game. I thought second half the spurs "front 3" press up a bit more and shut off the easy turn and pass for our deeper midfielders but once we got past that there was again a heap of space. SPurs didn't press as a whole team. they did start to come into it for sure as the possession stats in the second half pre sending off showed clearly. The high line issue was 99% the face that they couldn't hold a flat line and play us offside I think. The thing was their line was high but their midfield was not pressing hard at all and we found way too much space between their attack and midfield... again the stats show out possession was mostly in that kind of area around our own half and we set everything up form there. play high, press high...
why is everyone saying it's just 3 points? Spurs are a direct rival for 4th and yesterday was a 6pointer in that respect, today we could be level on points, whereas now we've pulled 6 points clear. Agree that we need to not get carried away, and can't expect Cardiff to roll over
My main concern is, did our midfield put in that sort of performance because they upped their game for tough opposition? Performances like that make you wonder numerous things like *Are we better without Gerrard? *Is this our strongest midfield? Only for 2-3 games later we play nowhere near the standard we were once praising from these same players. Gerrard was our main assist provider (other than Suarez I think) before his injury. But is that contribution spread out across the team more evenly in his absence
Dawson has no pace & relies on his partner covering behind him. Capoue isn't a CB by trade & was atrocious alongside him, offered no cover whatsoever & they were consistently miles apart. You continually undid them with either a simple through ball between the massive gap between their CB pairing or a ball over the top of the furthest CB, which if won pulled him even wider & left an absolute chasm for 1 or 2 midfield players to run into. The situation got worse after they lost Sandro, as Dembele & Holtby offered no cover to the hapless backline. Whilst you played well & took full advantage of the situation, it's not often that you'll play any PL side who'll defend with such ineptitude, let alone one who is supposed to be a CL place challenger.
Can't we just have Monday to enjoy the game and get carried away before you bring us down to earth MITO ya bloody grinch After two good home wins we all had feet firmly planted as we knew the opposition was poor in both games. We didn't actually play particularly well as a team against Norwich, West Ham were still in the game until Nolan the Bitter lost the plot and Spurs were undoubtedly as bad yesterday as we were good. However.....I've seen far better Liverpool teams than this struggle against far worse spurs sides. No Heart Lane has traditionally been a ground where we either play extremely well or extremely badly and recent form has seen pretty much every performance being the latter. I won't deny I went into yesterdays game with trepidation because we are still very inconsistent and have looked devoid of ideas away from home at times this season. Of course the issues we have are still here and of course that result doesn't catapult us into the stratosphere but that WAS our BIGGEST EVER MARGIN OF VICTORY at their place and ****ed if I'm not going to get a bit carried away by it If we are using this as a post match thread I'll run through a few positives and negatives: Not many negatives from a 5 - 0 win but we do still need to handle corners better (both attacking and defending), Mings distribution from the floor is pish, Glen Jo still seems somewhat deflated, Skrtels shirt pulling can now officially enter in to Anfield folklore (not sure if this is really a negative as he does somehow get away with it all the time ) and also yesterday highlights yet again what we all know...if/when Suarez goes we could quickly sink back to looking a lot more ordinary, good but not great. Negatives maybe but certainly nothing we didn't already know. Now for the good stuff....positive attacking football from the off, an attitude to get at spurs straight away which immediately put them on the back foot, Allen and Lucas playing better and Hendo providing probably the most effective performance of his LFC career (apart from maybe Sunderland at home last year), Sakho looking a top top beast, Flannel playing like an attacking version of Maldini *exaggeration alert*, Coutinho's through balls, Alberto playing a lovely pass for the 4th, AVB looking like a dead man walking, Suarez, the result, the league table. Enjoy the next few days lads and come back down to earth before the Cardiff game
I know we are all saying that Cardiff is a must win. And it is, we should be beating these teams. But if you were to be guaranteed 4/6 points in the next 3 games, I'd take them against City and Chelsea. Obviously because you're taking points away from our rivals. No disgrace losing to City though.
I still think we will take 7 points in the next 4 games. that is my prediction. that's one draw and one loss in 4 games? City will be very hard but I feel they are playable if aguero is out. Cardiff and hull are home games we should be winning. have to be winning. Chelsea are the great imponderable. They have every ref in their pocket at the bridge and it was robbery v west brom. but we'll see, they have improved a bit but are inconsistent so if they are flying... well... 3 points is all we get off tottenham. we matched the majority of our rivals, arsenal lost so we are 2 off the top and COULD if things go our way be top for Christmas... what a marvelous present that would be.
Question is which Chelsea will turn up? I'd take your seven points. I don't expect anything at all from City. 2 home wins and a point against the chav's would be a pretty reasonable return. Any more than a point versus either Chelsea and City and I'll be a very happy man!
I think we'll beat one of City/Chelsea, don't ask me why, just a gut feeling All 4 meetings against them last season resulted in draws, but we seem to be clicking a bit better than either and I can see City's 100% home record ending.
Ach, who's getting carried away? So we asked questions (rightly after the likes of hull etc) of parts of our squad. They responded in one game. It's bloody stating the obvious to say they need to continue this level to stay in a team looking to be consistent top 4. A bit like saying to win games you need to score goals....or not concede them. Does our squad need strengthening? It did Sunday morning and it still does Monday morning. As the current champions have found out your squad ALWAYS needs strengthening. It obviously doesn't compare to City's or Chelsea's on paper.....Well except the current league table, the one fact that matters. You can point to ifs and buts about spurs yesterday but then that's no different than when we pointed pointlessly after the fact to ifs and buts in our draws and defeats. The facts are, in this one game, 5-0. I keep hearing we have to do more because these teams are going to kick on, go into hyperdrive. Really? When? it's December already. There's only one team with more points than us (2) and only one team that has scored more goals than us and that team is below us, yeah the team on paper that's so vastly superior has struggled just as much as us away from home so far this season. What's their excuse? every pundits favourite, most expensive squad, same problem we have had so far..... The team above us seems to have issues besting the teams around them just like us (with two to go) We've conceded no more or less than the teams round us in a league where defending seems consigned to the past. So when we talk of a reality check, do we mean those facts or a negative rather than positive view of those facts? I mean let's say in the unlikely event that we win the next three games , are sitting top of the table going into January, is there anyone from Rogers down to me who would think, "hey! Job done. No need for new players, we''re clearly going to win the league"? Of course not! So reality check: we can and must continue to improve because all those around us have the capacity and I assume will to do so. But let's not downplay what we've achieved so far, we can if we beat Cardiff on Saturday go into two games against the two most expensive and powerful squads in the league knowing that so far we've been as good as them against the rest of the league. I'd rather have my team believing that than believing they are inferior.
Have to say, reading all the papers online and looking at their player ratings yesterday, the general consensus outside Anfield is the Tobes view that Spurs were abysmal, rather than we were any good, evidently. Don't think the Mirror, for instance, gave any of our players any higher than 8, whilst Spurs were averaging 4. That seems incredible to me - Should have been 9's for Henderson and Suarez, and then 8's for Flannagan, Sterling, Sakho, Allen (!) and Coutinho, with 7's for the rest. Agreed that Spurs deserved their ratings, but Walker got 1 less than Johnson in some papers yesterday. What? So maybe it is a case that Spurs were more awful than we were good. Be interesting to see what happens IF we do pull off a shock win at the Etihad or the Bridge. Doubtless that will be down to the opposition if it happens too.
Yes Frank! Live for the moment I say. Am I going to be less pissed off if we lose to City because that's what we 'should' expect? Not at all, completely the wrong attitude - if we lose at City I will be just as pissed off as if we lose anywhere. On our day we can beat any one - City may have a great home record but these records are there to be busted.
I'm getting carried away, just loving it at the moment, our performance is what beat Spurs yesterday.
