Match Day Thread Vs Ajax (H)

it was alight game, a bit frustrating.

Watching mane and salah play the game with each other as neither one wants to play the other in and then the chance vanishes is incredibly frustrating.

we should have scored 2 or 3 but kelleher saved us a couple times as well.

Overall we tried our best, held it together largely but really we need to take a few things into consideration.

First jota tried his best there and ran well but we seem to have just lost our press and our energy. whether our back line is deeper or what we really just were so much easier pass round and one of our big weapons is now missing and has been.

Second mane is way off the level he was at last year, not "bad" but well off.

Third returning to 433 worked a lot better for Williams. he had the support and guidance from those round him to be able to defend a bit better.

Fourth we again missed loads of chances, got caught stupidly offside, failed to control it etc etc their keeper made 2 good saves but not world class. we threw away loads of chances to secure the win before the goal and especially after.

Top of group. Put the CL in the cupboard until February. We now need to just get into the week on week on grind in the league now. we HAVE to score 2 goals a game and defend well to get the results we need to come out of this CRAZY fixture list in a place to turn win something this year.

 

Jota seems like another Salah to me; he'll take players on and he'll get goals but he's not looking for the assist too often.

 

I thought the same thing last night although that's either the first time he's done it or the first time I've spotted it. We need greedy players, as Klopp calls them but they need to take turns as to whose turn it is to be greedy, all three in one game doesn't work. On the plus side, I'd far rather be having these conversations than the VAR ones.

 

seem to remember that at wolves he had a decent assist record ,mainly to Jimenez , but might just i saw the few he made .

 

Good result last night, young keeper did well, Jones again with a decent game, what I like about him is his ability in the final 3rd, always positive and looking to make something happen.

Neco seems to be gaining some confidence again after having it knced at the start of the season.

Klopp can now concentrate on managing the squad in the lge til Feb.

 

Unfortunately, we have to get used to this until we get most of our players back. We've lost our quickest centre backs so the defence has to drop deeper, Allison is in and out of the team but he is the best sweeper keeper in the world, we lost the quick long balls from VVD and Trent, we have a skeleton midfield who have little creativity between.

Pressing is only successful when you compress the space that the opposition can operate in (i.e. defence pushed high and the attack is close to the defensive / midfield line).

Combined with the fact that we lost arguably our best midfielder (Fabinho) by playing in CB in addition to losing one of the best centra midfielders in the world (Thiago).

We just need to grind out the results. It doesn't matter how we play at this stage. We just can't afford to keep losing players to injuries.

 

Exactly this... Every 3pts we get without a fully fit squad are to be savoured.

If we win the league this year for me it goes down as a bigger achievement than last years, how we react to this current will truly show where this squad is at for me In terms of going forward next season. I'm talking about players like chambo, shak, Naby kieta and Origi, players like Wilson and grujic I won't count as they are gonners anyway and don't feature.

Our style of football requires players who can stay relatively knock free, obviously every player is open to injury but those midfield 3of ox, naby and shak are seldom fit and available and for me we shouldn't be carrying players like this anymore, we've been utterly ruthless in terms of ins and outs financially in recent years I just the same energy is applied by the coaches and scouts and medical team in terms of playing staff and value for money on thier contracts.... How much is naby on 80k? Ox 80? Shak 50k pw?

**** load of wages on a bunch of Daniel Sturridges.

If you can't tell I've been fully disappointed with naby kieta in particular all round.

Yeh the lad can play but he's nothing special imho and his the games he not been available for since signing are mounting up to ****ing ridiculous levels.

Anyways... Klopp will keep us up there near enough through this injury crisis (that's If... IF! We don't pick up any long term injuries to key players). God forbid we lose hendo for any length of time we'll be fuked then.

 

Normally I hate those type of games, but under the current circumstances I fully agree. Obviously I don't want us to make a career of it a la Mourinho, but for now we just have to stay in with a shout by whatever means are necessary until some semblance of normality returns.
A real test of character for Klopp and his players.

 

I hear you - it's why I'm trying not to criticise the team or performances at the moment because we really are having to make do. Atalanta and Brighton were seriously poor performances but it's hard to expect anything more from the lads.

As SuckMyKlopp says - if we pull it off again this season, this will be a bigger achievement than last season. Last year we had the quality, steel, consistency. This year will be pure heart and fighting spirit.

 

Salah's got a decent assist record too

 

Tbh, I was pissed off with the Atalanta game because I thought the attitude was wrong. We are all susceptible to having bad days so it's hypocritical to moan at occasional poor performances, but I'm less tolerant of a lack of effort - which is how that game looked to me.

 

I can finally get rid of my crossword puzzles and get back to deciphering your posts in the evenings.

 

Bless.