Post match: Brentford v Liverpool (EPL 25/10/25 8pm)

The Albert Match Days
284

I think the criticism of Kirkez has gone way beyond what his faults have actually been, but it does seem clear he has struggled with the ball with what he’s been asked to do. There were times on Satuday we saw Jones picking up the ball in the LB area looked up and saw Kirkez taking up the spaces in CM asking for the ball on the half turn and it very predictably going to shit when he gets the ball. I dont get what we’re even trying to do there, but even more confusing is part of the reason things looked better during midweek was when Robbo came in he played in a far more orthodox role.

I cannot imagine Kirkez is doing these things on his own, especially as he keeps getting picked suggesting he’s following the manager’s directions, and so the confusing thing is why are we doing something he is so ill equipped to do, so different than what flagged him as such an attractive target, and why are simplifying things when Robbo is introduced?

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By taking a team that was leading in a competitive 3 way title chase until the 31st game of the previous season and making nothing more than small tweaks. I never bought the line that last year was to be the transitional season because of how good the side was that Klopp left and the fact Slot was identified as a continuity choice. If we believe Klopp, the reason how allowed himself to step away was because he felt confident the team he was handing over was ready to compete already.

Despite it being an attractive position to start from, Slot winning it is an achievement and no one will ever be able to take it away from him, and even if this goes to shit from here I hope he will always be well received for what he oversaw last year. But it is a completely different proposition to what we have attempted to do this year. Not just with the number of changes but the shake of adding a player like Wirtz. Those are really big questions and the success of last year doesnt do much to answer them.

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Ah sorry, I meant so far this season, now we’re in a tough spot. I think I was pretty clear that wining the league has put him in credit, in my view? Sorry if that wasn’t clear. This is the first time he and the squad has been really tested since he’s been here, so we need to see something from him that suggests he can turn it around sharpish and I think those saying we haven’t seen evidence of it yet are probably right.

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I think this is fundamental misunderstanding of the situation.

The 2nd half of last season wrt how teams played against us is what’s led to the changes.

So both seasons are inextricably linked, as you don’t get to this season without the last.

Peeps act as if the team would’ve won anyways last season even with John Shmoo as coach. It doesn’t work that way. This is not PlayStation folks!!

Now, you can argue that its an overreaction…

But I won’t blame a manager for being proactive.

The task atm is to find a solution that works

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288

about the penalty, did I miss the part (where after a referee makes a decision, and VAR intervenes), he is asked to go to the pitch side monitor and double check if his decision is the right one. It seems that VAR convinced him that the contact was inside the box, and unless, my eyesight is really really bad, it looked like the exact point of contact was outside the box, Therefore the refs initial decision should have stood

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It’s a quirk of how VAR works that makes sense on paper but produces quite dissatisfying outcomes like this. If VAR was questioning whether it was a foul and recommended a change then the ref would have had to to go to the monitor. But as it was reviewing something considered a factual decision - is it in the box or not - then it is entirely on the VAR and does not require the ref to approve the change.

Its resulted in a pen being given for a foul soft enough that the ref almost certainly wouldnt have given it if he thought he’d have to give a pen for it.

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I don’t know from this response what you think I misunderstood. It doesn’t matter what promoted the change or when Slot started thinking about it, it is the addition of Wirtz, a player whose presence has changed the dynamic and characteristics of the rest of the side, that is the new challenge.

291

watched it, only now getting around to posting…

that was dire, absolutely dire…everything that can be said, has been said

our pressing is embarrassingly bad, embarrassingly. at one stage we had two lads closing down a full back… the LFC team from the legends game could play thier way out of that…

whilst i agree with @ILLOK that no forward covered themselves with glory, i can only coutenance that the reason Mo is getting the brunt is becuase he seems on a different radar…if Ekitikes stats look similar, my eyes can only tell me he at least looked like something could happen (ironic given the goal, i know) but to me Mo was the player where it all stopped… that said, in regards to a much earlier point you made, id pop him in a front two with Ekitike…make them a vertical two if it works better, just get them centrally together…, get him more central and get width from someone else

i dont see how its a penalty either…i mean, i do, becuase the ref blew up the foul…so i guess i dont see how its a foul in the first place

maybe the freekick should have been reversed and awarded to us for a dive

the fact there is feck all push back on here is that we were so dire it probably doesnt change the result even if you took the third goal away from them, something else would have happened

ill reserve my comments on slot for the slot thread, i will say however, my view on the last few weeks results are that its squrely on Slot in most instances, i can sympathise with a manager when a player does something ‘off script’…but right now…i dont think anyone knows what the script is

i will also unload about last years ‘party’ during the season. i know @Mascot had a point regarding player welfare (obvs. a lot more expanded than that) i disagreed at the time and now im thinking back and really dissappointed with it…especially the manager on stage at Ibiza shite

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292

It’s a fair analysis, but there is always a debate around where the line between manager and players is when it comes to being a fault.

We know that the team worked on defending set pieces all week, pretty much to the exclusion of everything else. And I don’t think Slot is telling Bradley to find himself the wrong side of his man when the ball comes in from the throw.

Regarding Salah, I was fucking furious when he did that. I mean, it’s genius. It really is. Not many players could do that. But since he contributed absolutely nothing outside those three seconds, and it’s ultimately worthless in the grand scheme of things, all that goal does is cement that idea that you don’t drop Mo Salah - he is guy who can up with a big of magic, even though objectively he might only do so one game in six.

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I still maintain it was a fluke. Ok he brought it down lovely but then he just threw his leg at it and it could have gone anywhere. When you’ve just witnessed how bad he’s been for the ninety minutes , barely able to control anything , how the shot can be considered anything more than a hit and hope and a stroke of luck is beyond me. It wound me up too because he’s not going to get dropped even though we might as well be playing with ten men 99.9 % of the time that he’s on the pitch. Well you can make that nine really , because he’s like an extra man for them too the way he continually turns the ball over.

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Great analysis from the Redmen fellas, long watch but worth it and some great pointers regarding some of the players that some of us are lambasting.

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295

People keep going on about size but for what it’s worth, Liverpool’s 10 starting outfielders had an average height of 1.84m against Brentford, the same as their starters, and after Slot’s substitutions, that dropped to 1.82m, just being tall however, doesn’t make you competent at heading.

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Cody Gakpo. Six foot fucking four. And I don’t think I’ve ever seen him physically dominate an opponent.

297

Same can be said of Hugo, but everyone thinks we are a team of midgets and slating the size of our full backs, it is a load of bollox as when you look at both our full backs Kerkez and Bradley v Robbo & Trent, defensively their stats are no different if not better than their opposite number.

298

Isn’t that how 99% of goals are scored when you see someone rattle in a screamer its been a hit and hope.

299

It’s basically people (mainly Evertonians but pretty much anyone who hates LFC) who have lost all objectivity where Liverpool is concerned.
No matter how much shite we suffer at the hands of PGMOL they just refuse to accept it.
Classic example was last years derby at Anfield. The amount of fucking bleating and nonsense from Evertonians was off the scale. They’d been shafted again by the officials in their tiny minds and Jota’s winner was offside.
The reality is Pickford and Tarkovski should both have been sent off and the goal was perfectly legitimate under today’s laws.
Since Saturday I’ve seen loads banging on about our first goal being scored after time was up and how the ref played an extra 5 minutes at the end to give us the chance to equalise but no mention of the fact there was virtually no football played in the first 5 minutes of added time. Nor is there any mention of the match being refereed by a manc sitting in a room 50 miles away.
They are so consumed with bitterness all objectivity, balance and fairness left the building a long time ago and it ain’t coming back.

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They were complaining that our first goal was scored in the fifth minute of added time in the first half, despite the board saying three. Forgetting that they scored on 45’ and spent two minutes celebrating.

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Everton fans conveniently forget the nearly 4 minutes extra added on in the Goodison game we resulted in the last gap equaliser.

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It’s surprising how many people watch this sport without the slightest idea what the rules are. Most of these calculations are detailed on the FA website for anyone who cares to look.

TBH, I was surprised by how long was added before half time until someone pointed out how long the restart took. That’s just poor observation on my behalf.

The other thing is that the goal was scored in the 5th minute, not after 5 minutes. In fact it was barely after 4, which was well within the recommended additional time due.

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303

yep.

that penalty (or foul, TBF) gets given even 2 years ago, there’d be uproar…now they seem so inept we are conditioned to see the foul, his hit foot the other guys foot, get a fucking grip, its not a foul…

VAR getting involved should have lead to a reversal of the freekick and a yellow for simulation…

we are so conditioned that we as fans are now looking for the justification and dont want to push back on pure common sense incase we somehow get scolded for lack of knowledge about ‘how these things work’

no one in football, LFC or BFC or anything inbetween should be looking at that and thinking its a net benefit for football

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