The positives

I think it helps that it is pretty obvious exactly what we need to do to improve... and the subject starts with D. But stepping away from that, the very depressing result, the tendency to exaggerate how bad things are (I was one of them on the match day thread...) and the inevitable finger pointing, there were some big positives to take from the game:

(1) Naismith - what a player he looks like he could be for us. Energy, creativity and a touch of class. The fact that he looked like he'd been playing next to Mbokani for months was hugely encouraging and he also had an understanding with Hoolahan.

(2) Poor form of some improved - namely Redmond and Hoolahan. Neither were perfect (Redmond still had his shocking moments for example letting Lallana get that cross in) but both looked hugely improved on their recent form and Redmond certainly seemed to enjoy having the pace of Pinto to give him some space. That pass from Hoolahan to Naismith was sublime.

(3) Pinto - he's not perfect and we knew he had his defensive problems, but I thought he grew into the game defensively and was let down by his fellow defenders after half time. However, his delivery was excellent, offering us a real threat with the right foot and his pace is obvious for everyone to see. We can't expect as a club like Norwich City to be buying complete players, but I thought he will fit in well with our club ethos.

(4) Mbokani - some of you might be getting bored with the plaudits this guy is receiving, but I think they're deserved. I had the misfortune of being sat next to a Liverpool fan in the pub, who at the end of the first half said to me something like "I've never heard of this bloke and we're making him look like Drogba". Now you can look at that as a criticism of the Liverpool defence, but the fact is Mbokani has been excellent recently - his touch is good, he is immense in the air and he is always trying to bring his teammates into the game. He also has a predatory instinct in the box and his goal did not get the plaudits it deserved because it was overshadowed by subsequent events, but at half time one of the commentators described it as "one of the great back heeled goals" and the pace he hit it... I think he could be tremendous for us if he maintains this form and our attacking midfielders give him the support he is looking for.

(5) the Manager - now I know this is a positive thread, but I just want to put a bit of negativity in to set the scene properly... Neil made mistakes on Saturday (and has made multiple throughout the season), in the line-up and I thought (yet again) the timing of his double substitution was poor. I wish he'd stop doing that - so often we concede within a few minutes of the double sub. But my god can the guy read the game. Let's face it, the set up was excellent in terms of how to exploit Liverpool's weaknesses and while he has to shoulder the blame for the team selection, ultimately it was quite clearly individual errors which played the biggest part in the loss (as they have all season). It's now up to Neil to prove he can also iron out those. And we shouldn't forget that Liverpool are underachieving this season - they have some excellent players worth a hell of a lot more than ours and yet for large parts of the match we dominated and showed a serious attacking threat.

 

More to the point, we scored 4 goals and most of the ones we conceded were to individual errors rather than being short of numbers. So if we could sort those out we shouldn't have too many problems.

 

Very relevant point. For an hour the same players who made the individual errors were part of the team who had controlled a top team and forced a 3-1 lead. Neither the Manager nor the team can legislate for individual errors of judgement although it will probably help that we have got 2 weeks on the training ground before the next game.

 

You're really coming out with some excellent post this evening 1950.

I think if we could just have held out for say another 10 minutes on Saturday, we could have seen a different result.
Not quite 2 weeks on the training ground, as the game against Spurs is a week tomorrow.

 

Agree with all of this. We shouldn't let a hugely disappointing result take away from the positives in attack.. Naismith looks to be a really good signing and gives us something we were missing. Our goals were excellent and skilful as well and that promises much.

 

I can see Naismith being the next Grolt

 

Sorry but Liverpool aren't a 'top team'. They are a upper mid table team. To concede a 2 goal lead to them within 15mins is embarrassing.

 

Their players are though. They are underperforming as a team.

 

Let's agree to disagree. I see no top players. Who from there team would get in top teams such as Bayern, City, Madrid, Barca? Heck, even throw Arsenal, Atletico, Juventus, Dortmund, PSG into that equation.

 

Now you're splitting hairs. Their squad is comfortably better than the other "upper mid table teams".

Liverpool's squad cost six times the amount ours did to assemble. Can you imagine what our squad would look like with another £250m to spend on it?

 

Cost of squad is pretty irrelevant when splitting up the top 10. They have all spent a fortune. To be 2 goals up then a goal down within 20 mins is unforgivable unless you are playing truly world class opposition. That's not Liverpool.

There squad is no better than that of Everton, Stoke etc. IE. upper mid table teams

Seriously they have no world class players and now instead of calling them a top team you are calling them expensively assembled.

 

Catagorically disagree with you. Their players are class. Expense doesn't always indicate class, I accept that, but there is a very strong correlation. Their squad is substantially better than either Stoke's or Everton's, which is why Liverpool are ahead of them in the table (yet underperforming) and why their team is filled with players who get linked to top clubs (Can, Sakho, Firmino, Coutinho and even Clyne and Henderson will probably end up at bigger clubs than Liverpool and I can see Ibe going on to big things).

Liverpool's squad is underperforming and they are a top team - they have one of the top 5 squads in England and probably one of the top 15 in the world. That makes them a top team in my book. You can disagree with me, but you would be wrong.

As for this however: "To be 2 goals up then a goal down within 20 mins is unforgivable". You are not wrong. But this thread specifically said it was about positives and you have breached that rule I am afraid - Liverpool have a much, much better squad than ours and therefore it IS a positive, whether you like it or not, that we lead 3-1 and were competitive throughout. The quality of their squad compared to ours is relevant.

 

You could also be splitting hairs a bit, Irdan. When Rob said a top team, I doubt he meant in the Champions League. Liverpool are one of the 6 big clubs in the PL. Everton and Stoke are not. The fact that they, like ManUtd and Chelsea, are having an inconsistent season doesn't change that. To use your logic, Chelsea are a bottom 7 club.

 

I understand where you are both coming from. However Liverpool have consistently missed out on the top 4 other than the odd season. There are atleast 5 squads better than them in the league so I do disagree with you (City, Arsenal, Chelsea, United, Tottenham and for me they are on par with Everton and Stoke) and we have held our own against the majority of them. So like I originally said, to be 2 goals to the good and then 1 down within 20mins is nothing short of embarrassing. This thread is indeed about positives -the only positive for me was the link up play of Naismith and Mbokani...thats where it ended for me.

Rob - The only player linked with a top club from Liverpool is Coutinho and rightly so.

 

Which five squads? Tottenham have achieved CL even less frequently than them. Liverpool came a gnat's whisker from winning the league a couple of seasons ago!

Man for man Tottenham and Liverpool I would say is probably about even stevens (which certainly proves your point about Liverpool overpaying, which I don't deny), but that makes Liverpool in the top six clubs in the country, as RER says. That makes them a top club, particularly on a global scale.

The part in bold I have already said I don't disagree with and if that's your only point then fine we are on the same page, but as I asked can you please leave it off this thread as this is specifically about positivity!

Coutinho is not the only one - Firmino was too, as was Sakho. The other three less so, but big things have been said of Can and the other two are English. So they do have players linked with top clubs.

 

Naismith looks the real deal and his link up with Mbokani was good. There you go ;-)

 

Nice one, exactly (see point (1) above...)

 

Teams are now going to underestimate our defensive powers? We aren't great at the back but we are capable of significantly better than that!

Bah!

 

Dave Freezer ‏@davefreezer
An #NCFC positive: the 4 goals against Liverpool means City have now scored 28 goals -
as many as in the entire 2013/14 relegation season.

 

Mbokani is definitely a big positive for me, he has far outweighed my pre-conceived expecations of him and certainly proved me wrong when I suggested in the summer that he was a 'panic buy'. I think he's great, an absolute monster to play against, works tirelessly, has a good touch for a big fella, links up well with others and knows where the goal is as well - cracking player in my opinion