Match Day Thread West Ham v Liverpool

Yeh I said that as from what Klopp has said (little or no activity this window) I thought that maybe he'd had some transfer constraints ie sell before buy etc etc These are only my thoughts from what he's said mind..

I see what you mean by not adapting to become more effective today though it seems that it was obvious to everyone but Klopp that things were not going to change..

 

No argument he did over Benteke.

 

Klopp as another foreign manager that cant master the premier league. He is in good company with a clutch of top managers who are no more than average to poor in the premiership....

 

How was Mahrez last season?

 

The board mate lol see my last reply to donga also...

 

He's better at it than most of our side. It's just a shame he can't come on the pitch and is confined to that tiny technical area

 

He's not even had one season FFS

 

Yeah, I know; I said injuries were partly to blame, and don't the other teams know it. They see us as easy pickings, but let's face it, out of that list, three, maybe four players are actually missed: Sturridge, Ings, Henderson; and they're never the same after coming back from an injury. Look at Sakho.

 

Well let's hope that actually translates into something, otherwise it just reminds me of the Private Eye spoof column of John Major getting "Considerably angry, oh yes!", but doing **** all about it. Let's see what happens against Stoke on Tuesday, for starters.

But even against Exeter on Friday night, I can't see them having much trouble containing Benteke if that's all we've got.

 

Way better than Firmino this...

He's a massive flop Jimmy, face facts

 

Not sure about that as Klopp seems quite keen on Origi plus the team itself would be stronger if the FB's could be rotated but anyway the bench would look stronger

 

I said maybe four and at a push I would add Origi, but he's nowhere near the real deal yet.

Actually, I find the Ings injury the most annoying as he was getting to be the biz. Sturridge's injury we are used to but remain unhappy about.

 

I may add well talk to Dribs

 

Was he? Ok fair enough.

Point is - players take time to adapt. Labelling a player flop after a few months in a new league, country and playing under 2 managers isn't smart.

 

Top drawer players adapt quickly and even if they don't set the league on fire early on, you can see something in their play that denotes they're something special.

This lad is exactly what I expected him to be, a You Tube player. Produces the odd flash that looks great on a season long compilation, but is largely anonymous and disappointing over 90 minutes. He's a poor mans Mirallas mate

 

Didnt watch the game as I was at work, but im not sure i needed too unless it was vastly different from most of our performances against counter attacking sides this year.

I refuse to write off Firmino and Benteke completely until we bring in some geniune width. But I agree that for £29 million i'd be expecting much more from Firmino

 

I don't think it's a lack of effort, desire - I think it's simply a lack of quality.

Lovren has improved up to an average level recently but he was badly out of line with the rest of the defence which would have ruled the first goal offside, combined with Clyne's poor marking, and Lucas's nonexistent defending.

The second goal saw Clyne being targeted by Carroll, and Clyne had to deal with two players!! Again, what is Lovren doing there?

The midfield without Can and Henderson isn't good enough, and even with both, it's still not enough. Lucas isn't good defensively and he won't offer anything going forward. Allen is the same and Milner is just a yard dog. Again, lack of quality.

The attack is incredibly disjointed. Since Coutinho had his child, he's been poor. Firmino has lost his touch. Ibe is positive but still raw. Lallana has good movement but offers little on the ball. Benteke is Benteke.

Those doubting Klopp are fools, and those thinking that this team is performing Gegenpressing or anything close to it need to find another sport. This is nowhere near it and it won't be for another year or two because a) it requires excellent fitness levels and b) intelligence - pundits think it's just pressing I.e chasing down the ball all the time.

Gegenpressing is far more structured and relies on triggers to start the press and dictates how many players go for it. It's not going to be implemented overnight as so called pundits would have you believe because it relies real game intelligence.

Klopp is not complete excused as I think he could be doing things differently but at the end of the day, he's not been helped by individual errors from the usual suspects and injuries. Rodgers used to moan about injuries but in reality, it was just Sturridge.

Klopp has lost Ings and Sturridge, as well an improved Origi up front. Our captain and the only other half decent CM who rarely got injured suffered a serious injury, and has lost Sakho, Skrtel, Gomez and Lovren at some point in this season. Now, I'm not saying that all are crucial to the team because half of them aren't, but a squad as thin as ours still needs players especially given our hectic schedule. Look at our bench today.

This season is a write off - let Klopp get his feet under the table, get used to the league, assess the squad and implement the basics which he has done to some extent. I used to think it's imperative to get CL in order to track certain players which is true, but Klopp can attract quality players with his name alone. If we miss out on CL, I don't care because I know we are building something special.

 

Certainly better than Firmino and worth his £0.5m costs. Firmino will need to change to astronomical proportions to justify his fee and to merit comparison to Mahrez

 

He probably forgot he wasn't playing with Skrtel who would normally be a futher 10 yards back anyway

 

Did you think the same of Pires, Bergkamp, Henry, Ronaldo, De Bruyne, Lukaku etc? Because these players are struggled in their first seasons and became world class or on the road to top class.