Will Klopp learn from this game? I hope so. He needs to realise that there is no easy match in the premiership. If Stoke can destroy City and Bournemouth can beat Chelsea, then Newcastle can beat anyone at their highly passionate ground. Why nobody bothered telling Klopp this is beyond me.
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Harsh on Allen, thought he was alright. Everyone was poor but the style of our play was so disjointed. That's the worst thing.
There was a stat at HT on the BBC. There have been four games that have had no shots on target in the first half this season and three of them have featured Liverpool. #hashtag
Thought Ibe was meh. Got the ball and ran at the defenders but when playing RW, all he did was run down the line and all his crosses got blocked. His passing was meh like everyone's to be fair.
Klopp out... What was that formation, and ffs we just can not play Lucas, Allen and Milner together in midfield. Dire. Ratings: Migs: 5 Had nothing to do, in fairness. Not one shot to save until practically the last kick. Clyne: 5 Did nothing going forward. Moreno:7 Our MotM, which isn't saying much. But for an inept lino, though... Strtel: 4 Didn't have much to do and ****ed up what he did. Lovren: 5 Won every header in his vicinity. Nothing special in front of goal for set-pieces. Allen: 4 Everywhere doing nothing again. Lucas: 2 Worst game for a long time. Simply dreadful. Milner: 4 Covered every blade of grass, usually after the ball had gone, Fimino: 4 Ok movement in first half, but insipid, really. Ibe: 6 Our only attack in the first half. No threat in the second. Benteke: 3: WTF? Funny how we took him up and started aerial bombardment. Subs: Studge: 4 Play him from the start or not at all. Origi: 5 Puts Benteke to shame, anyway. Lallana: 5 Not really enough time, like Studge, to effect anything. Team 4 Ponderous midfield three set the tone. Fair do's to Newcastle for sticking it up 'em. Shown everyone else the way now - pressurise Lucas and Allen and they simply give the ball away and foul. Jurgen: 4 Ghastly midfield for an away game. Don't become the new tinkerman. Conclusion: we had those six 'easy' games after City before the New Year. Didn't take long for the wheels to fall off. Still not impossible for top four. Not really confident, though.
Simply not good enough to a man, there's no individual blame to be dished out we didn't play as a team and not one of them can hold their head high and say that they played for that shirt today.
He got into some great positions but often makes the wrong decision. Will hopefully be coached out of him. But he did provide some moments of creativity, more than those around him. Lallana played a good cameo as well. I've been harsh on him but at least he suits our style play.
Don't think it was arrogance as much as being cautious with players returning from long term injury. As much as I think Benteke is last ten minute plan B, i think a lot of issues came from our non existent midfield. Hendo nit fully fit and Can suspended. The three on are individually ok when played with the first choice two but bang average when played together. Alternative was to risk starting Henderson. Ibe was our only starter who put effort in so you are talking Origi for Benteke and LALA for Firmino to start...would you? I dunno....think its just a poor job by a lot of second choice players against a team determined not to lose. Hopefully another week gives us a fitter Sturridge and Henderson with Can returning. Just shrug and expect better next week.
It's both... horses for courses. If you play Benteke you can't play the same way as if you play Sturridge / Cout / Firmino but we tried to. If you play Benteke then you need to adapt your tactics, doesn't mean whack it long at every chances (which we tried to do today, reminded me of when we played Carroll & Crouch, the team went into autopilot and just kicked it long), it means you need to work the ball wide and put in decent crosses occasionally. We didn't do that.. we have no plan b. We have a plan A with plan A players, but when Plan B players come in we continue to stick to plan A tactics.
Pretty fair - think 7 for Moreno is a bit generous but he did play ok. Regarding the midfield - Klopp really doesn't have many options in this area. Henderson probably isn't ready and not sure how he could have changed the game. Our midfield has been neglected for the past 3 years. No doubt Klopp will sort it out. Tactics were fine - it's what has seen our success recently. It was personnel, some of whom were forced but choosing Benteke is what hurt us. His style ruins our play. We've only scored more than one goal once when Benteke starts.
Seems to be a lot of comments that we fielded a weaker team out of complacency, but not so sure I follow that logic. Migs and the back 4 would play regardless, there's no better option available. Hendo's been out for so long and badly misses fitness and match sharpness, so it had to be Allen and Lucas in the middle tonight. Up top, Ibe's had some great performances lately, Firmino would be in most people's starting XI and Milner always starts for Klopp. Benteke or Sturridge? One's made of glass and only just returned, the other hasn't been awful and has a goal in him. If we'd played Origi instead, people would be crying. So apart from the unfit Sturridge and Henderson, that's about the best we could field. Unless of course, you all want to do a complete U-turn and claim Lallana should be in our best Xi despite seasons of criticising him... In short, the team was fine. I knew, like many others, that we'd play worse tonight because we always do against weaker opposition after playing well versus a strong one. Players complacency or Klopp's complacency with regards to a lack of passion or effort. That's my question.
You're right - but I question Klopp for choosing Plan B-enteke in the first place. We need to persist with our plan A and invest in it over the next Windows.
