2nd half was much better by the defence. Much improved. Koch warmed in to the game and Struijk looks a real player in the making as long as he learns from his mistakes. I thought we lacked a bit of leadership without Cooper. Thought Dallas struggled and was turned too easily too often but let's face it, these lads aren't going to be facing Mane, Firmino and Salah every week. I suppose if LL isn't here I will take the baton up for Phillips performance. Firstly I thought he was very good however i think his slight lack of pace and zip will stop him becoming a real world beater. Still an excellent player though. Just imagine if he had that 10 yard zip. I'm Bamfords biggest critic. He was excellent today. Hope he keeps proving me wrong. Rodrigo worked hard when he came on. Give it time! These games will pass Pablo by. It's just too quick for him now physically. He will shine in less intense games where he can influence the team a little more. Costa and Harrison were both exceptional. Klich! Someone had a dig during the match on here. Let me tell you something.... that fella put a real shift in today. He never ever stopped running. My MOM. He came off but he must have run further than anyone else on that pitch. Awesome. Meslier.... hope he stays for the next 15 years!
Koch will be good for us. Unfortunately not the dominating centre half we need from set pieces but then neither was Ben White.
Evening all. Absolutely loved watching that. My nightmare would have been to go 1-0 down early, their heads drop, our makeshift CB pairing lose their **** and we lose to a cricket score. Which is what would happen to a lot of teams. We didn't, not even fkn close! Souness and Klopp both said we made them play badly. Klopp expected what they got and in his interview you could see he was relieved. I thought everyone did their bit. They earmarked Pablo as the danger so targeted him. I agree, Moreno wasn't as productive as Paddy WHO SCORED!!!!! I thought Costa was excellent along with Dallas, Ayling and Struijk. The kid was superb. I thought he grew into it and after a nervous start I thought Koch was ok. You're not going to get that kind of delivery into the box every week. Every one was on the button, then you've got VVD on the end of it! That was never a pen. If it had gone straight to arm then yes but he had already blocked the shot, the ball was going for a corner from his knee, shocking decision. We can compete with what we've got. Especially when you watch WHU v New, WALOS. MOT
On paper away to the champions was the hardest game of the season but psychologically the easiest. Next week we have the exact opposite on paper the easiest game against the newly promoted play-off winners but a game we will be expecting to win.
They highlighted how exposed Phillips was at times, getting the ball with 7 Liverpool players around him. I thought he played well considering - though got caught in possession Quite a few times In the second half. We didn’t seem to have the same outlets we normally have but probably due to being up against top class quick players. Will do him no harm to see the pace the very top teams play at.
Was thinking something similar. All good if we win, but pressure on if we lose. Great to be back isn't it ?
yeh a different kind of pressure. Today the fear was not wanting to get a tanking, against Fulham its, ‘we really need to win these types of game’ we beat them 3-0 a few months back but to be honest could have been 3-0 down at half time. it’s the games v the Fulhams that will decide our fate this season not the Liverpools
Just checked in on the Liverpool match day thread. They've stopped talking about pets so we had an impact. The general opinion is that they were poor and made too many mistakes. Some of them credited us with giving them a good game. I think the next game is key, we need to smash Fulham and if they get a result at Chelski they can suck our Koch. We made them look bad because we were in their faces.
Think you forgot Bill. Did no-one notice that world-class(ish) Roberson had his gas put at a peep for the whole game? (He normally only hits that level of performance when he pulls on a Scotland jersey). Very unusual for him to be thwarted in a PL game, so Bill should get all the plaudits. If Robertson had been allowed to operate as normal, we'd have been ripped apart. I thought our team did exceptionally well, given the circumstances. It's not often I walk away from a defeat feeling great. To summarise: * Our CB pairing only met this week * CB pairing was a 3-start kid & an un-Bielsaball'd foreigner. * No Leeds player can rightly be faulted for their performance * We were playing the PL Champions! * We were playing away at Annfield! Just wait until we play Rodrigo! Oh, wait a minute ....
If you think about it we need to average about 2 points per game against the bottom half teams. Have to be honest though I thought Liverpool weren't that difficult to play against and I can't see them retaining their title...think Man City, Chelsea and Scumchester will all be in the mix.
Do you think he’d be more annoyed at Pirlo’s lovely Long ball forward pass to pick out Harrison or would it be the skill composure and finish of Harrison?
Yes you're right and I was going to add him to my list but for some reason left him off... As I did Klich & Dallas, who also did well. Probably because they performed as expected whereas the others perhaps exceeded what we thought they were capable of.
I know Rodrigo's in the 'don't criticise him too much it was his first appearance category' but what an absolutely pathetic challenge he made to give away the second penalty With his experience he really should know better.
Needs to spend a couple of months on the bench thinking about the error of his ways. Or alternatively start banging in the goals as it's not a good look when our Bamdoor £7 million striker outshines you. Seriously though...he'll have found it hard in the changing room after dangling a leg out like that and costing us the game.
When it comes to Klich, think of this and this comes from Bielsa not me. Klich has to do the same job as Phillips in the back and the same job as Pablo in the front. That means he has the most difficult in the team
Just watching highlights of the game, if we'd had de Paul in that team I think we'd have won. I love Hernandez but he's not quick enough for teams like Liverpool. He'll be great against Newcastle, crystal palace etc but pool have bloody quick players. Anyway hope it impressed on Radz the need to get his cheque book out again