Match Day Thread Liverpool away

A little unhappy with the result although Liverpool dominated possession they posed no real threat in front of goal. We have to look at this as two points dropped as opposed to winning a point. Kante was immense as usual and Luiz was perfection.

Costa worked tirelessly with the little service he received, also Moses was brilliant as was Cahill but Stan called it right with Hazard and had we started Pedro instead we probably would have won. Hazard is proving to be an enigma when he was in form earlier in the season he was unplayable and the team looked unbeatable.

For me Conte has to show his strength here and bench him for the Arsenal game. That apart I thought we were compact and looked dangerous on the break but for a rare penalty miss we missed the chance to put it out of reach for the chasing teams.

 

Dropping your star player may look unconventional.
But decisions like that will make us Title contenders or Top 3 contenders.
Time to drop Eden.

 

Conte's job isn't an easy one as he has to manage the players egos as well as the game but you're correct it's time for him to show some strength. For me how he handles this will be his most difficult decision so far. It is without doubt ours to lose and a strong manager is essential.

Ps Stan theres no way on this earth Jose can pull back 15 points with just 16 games remaining.

 

Ginge, them used to win leagues with money muscle & crooks. Now they have the best PL manager ever added to that.
So, I will not rule them out until we have 12 pts lead with 7 games to go may be.

 

Contrary to belief Stan Jose can't perform miracles when he inherited the fat Dutch pillocks team there was too much dead wood there. Having already spent somewhere around £150 million he needs to spend another £300 million to have a team that can fight for a title.

Next year will see the likes of Rooney, Fellanin, Schwinsteiger leaving and will need to replace Smalling, Carrick & Valencia. If they are to be title contenders they're looking at at least another six class players.

 

DP

 

Can just about forgive Costa for the miss as long as he scores saturday!!
Think i'd give Hazard the first half saturday and sub at half time if need be.

 

A good point turned into a great result thanks to Arsenal and Spurs dropping points. Hopefully West Ham can get at least a point tonight as well as City have a fairly easy run coming up which could see them claw their way back in.

Would be lovely to put Arsenal 12 points back on Saturday as well

And....what a hit from Luiz!

 

Disappointed to be drawing with that lot.

Again a cross into our right side and moses doesn't deal with it brilliant (Was a cracking ball though). I think Luiz looked a big leggy because of the injury. I think he would have covered the space better as he was a bit lazy for wijnaldums goal but nothing big or obvious.

Shame costa didnt smash it in (pretty sure his penalty record is sketchy, remember him missing a few at athletico) but he's been a key player for us so we should keep backing him.

Onto Arse

 

I didn't see the match.
Again the cross comes from the left isn't it?
Alonso? Not just for that cross but my mate commented he was awful for the entire game.

input to Conte.
Swap Dave & Cahill.
Dave has few miles on the left side of defense.
Dave can communicate better with Alonso and make him more responsible?
Am sure Cahill can communicate better with Moses than Alonso.
Or Sub Alonso instead of Moses in the last 10 or 15 minutes and ask him to give his 100% in the first 70 or 80 minutes. This may be a risky option where we are leading only by 1 goal. But certainly can try in other matches.

Not sure why Conte hasn't tried these.

 

ok, just saw condensed highlights. Alonso is not very much at fault.
Could be a tactical thing.
He is essentially holding the Defense line making it back 5 alongside Cahill.
No pressure on the ball, with a free cross from the left. Cahill & Alonso were standing idle, no player to mark in the box.
this is where I think, Dave + Alonso can be better.

Moses not at fault for that Milner assist. Ball was bouncing around. Luiz more culpable.
But Moses should have tested Mignolet on the other end, when score was 1-1. He hit side netting with just Mignolet to beat with no pressure. Moses needs to improve his finishing a lot.
Ironic, but on his current form - Costa would have scored it if he didn't go down

 

Bit harsh, from what i remember the ball got cleared and henderson played it in first time. Hard to fault anyone in particular but if i had to nit pick it was Moses playing Milner on side (getting out late) and Luiz not covering the middle properly.

I was thinking of switching Dave and Cahill around as i've noticed crosses in from the right (eriksen had 2 from a deep midfield position e.g. not alonsos fault) is dangerous.

At the same time Moses gets forward far more and i would not feel comfortable with Cahill having to defend 1 on 1 which Dave has to do a lot more as he covers for moses.

 

That is a good cal Stan. Dave can play left and Cahill should have no trouble playing right. Can't see it would weaken us, and just might improve us. Definitely worth a look see. I also agree that Eden should start on the bench. Willian and Pedro are on fire and a killer start would be a bonus. Hope we fly at them out of the gate, not sit back and counterpunch from the off.

 

I think Eden's weak effort in the box to clear the ball caused this goal .
That is below par and expected of someone like Eden who hasn't done Defensive work.

when it comes to Moses & Alonso. They are always same. Both bomb forward equally, both found out defensively equally. So i would prefer the swap of Dave.

 

A bit unlucky with the deflection off Moses back, as I think Luiz would have cleared it.

 

Well we missed the chance to go 11 points clear, but as the goons were spanked at home by Watford and the Spuds could only manage a stalemate against the Mackems we still end up a point further ahead than when this round of games started, despite dropping points

A draw is much better for us than it is for Liverpool, as they are clinging on to 4th place with the Manc clubs breathing down their necks.
Still, would have been nice to get that 11 point cushion
9 will have to do

I think if we are still 9 points ahead or thereabouts after 5 more games, then the title is looking very very likely.

 

The one thing that concerns me a little is the sheer number of teams chasing us. If you only had 1 challenger, 9 points is a lovely gap. But I could certainly see a Spurs or a City going and winning 4,5 ,6 games on the spin and then any dropped points by us really starts to bunch things up.

It only takes one of the chasing pack to have a good run in and it'll be tight as we still have plenty of difficult fixtures I,e Arsenal, City and West Ham (their cup final), United and Everton away.

We are favourites but I suspect it'll be closer than it currently is and will probably still go down to the last 2-3 games.

 

They all have to play each other as well though, Spurs and Arsenal, Spurs and City, Arsenal and Liverpool.....so points will be dropped there.