What was our second dodgy goal? Firmino wasn’t tall enough.
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And actually I think Robbo was aiming for Ox as he tried it twice already.
Hahaha…that works for me.
Tbh, I completely missed it, but have seen some chat in here suggest we were lucky.
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I had it on mute so to me I didn’t see anything, was listening to Dylan in the back ground.
Only realised they may have thought Firmino when I saw it at half time, Palace goal was close to offside on the initial pass but we didn’t see that 15 times.
To me its a goal, cant see Firmino ever getting to it or what he would had done with it and Palace were not appealing.
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Its a game of 30 min vs the rest of the game.
we played for 30 mins, after that we were lethargic , slow and tired .
yesterday man city lost 2 but the way they press, sprint and retrieve the ball is unbelievable and they maintain this for 85-90 min, for some reason we are not able to do this. This will be the difference this season and to beat man city we need to up our games.
Re today for 30 we played a great game but after the 30 min with the exception of Alison we were poor
especially Matip, Curtis ( turn right turn left and loose the ball is not dribbling) and Jota were exceptionally poor.
i would like to see Gomez in defence especially against mobile forwards like palace.
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I was thinking on with that. We played midweek. Palace didn’t. Do you think it made a difference with the energy levels?
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I just don’t agree, Jones is generally excellent at ball retention and the irony is Thiago gives the ball away in equally shit places multiple times per game, doesn’t diminish how good “generally” he is with the ball.
The whole team just looked knackered and we play a very high risk high reward tactical game. The high line only works when our forwards and midfield press and put pressure on the ball, we dropped the intensity only a little and they started to get joy with balls over the top. Maybe a bit of practicality was needed, everyone drop a little deeper and condense the space between defence and attack for 10 mins.
My biggest concern is the sloppiness, I really hope it’s fatigue because it’s nuts how we can go from basically dickslapping them around for 35 minutes to looking like we’ve never played footbal before within a 5 minute gap, all from 2 or 3 utterly atrocious passes. Hence the point above, condense space, take less riskier passes and just take the sting out of the game.
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I realize that there’s a big psychological factor in the 3-1, but I never saw Palace score a second so it’s not like there was a decision that gave us the 3 points or that denied Palace a point.
That said, I do think it was a penalty. Anywhere else it would have been a foul. Keeper didn’t get the ball. Got Jota to the ground. Jota forcing it doesn’t change any of the above.
Massive win.
Where’s the poll, Hope? 
MOTM for me, Alisson, Robertson, Fab.
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Klopp giving some beers away… wonder which player is having a dry January.
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Don’t remember being this fuming after a 3-1 away win. But here we go
- We have got to get to grips with the psychology of going 2-0 up. I’ve got to the point where I’m dreading scoring the second, because the whole mentality of the team changes. The whole lot of them relax, sloppy passes creep in, a few of them start showboating, the control disappears. Lads, you haven’t won anything at 2-0. Ironically, if you did what you were supposed to do at 2-0, you would be home and dry.
There might be something here about opposition approaches changing at 2-0. They haven’t got anything to lose, they decide to have a go etc. But we have to both manage this, and our own complacency.
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We are simply appalling, and have been for two years, at allowing teams to dictate terms to us. We allow ourselves to be dragged into whatever kind of game the opposition want it to be. At 2-0 we should not be being drawn into games of chaos like today.
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I’m really sick of seeing us playing fucking head tennis and aimlessly punting the ball up in the air when under pressure. Creating fifty fifties that aren’t necessary. Panicked half clearances under no pressure, when we could just bring the ball down and recycle possession.
On to the game. Matip is shite again, coughing up possession in dangerous positions and just being too casual. He’s a great player, but him and Van Dijk together are just too laid back as a pairing. One of the reasons why Gomez dovetailed beautifully with Virgil was they had complimentary skillsets. Virgil can be Virgil with Gomez playing, because Joe is fucking brilliant at sensing danger and reacting to it. Would love to see a pre injury Gomez partner Virgil again.
Henderson is really struggling, and looks 50% his best.
Jones did really well again, and some of Trent’s passing was outrageous, but Alisson is head and shoulders the best player on the park.
We had complete control of the game in the first thirty and I think that might be one of the best half hours from us this season. But the 2-0 problem mentioned above hit us just before half time.
Our second goal should not have stood and I don’t think it was a penalty either.
We were very lucky today.
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Made up with that. The main thing was the all important three points, which we got. Job done in the absence of our AFCON players. Keeps us in the hunt.
As for the game, it showed both sides of the team. Played them off the park for a while, but then got sloppy and let them back in. It easily could have been a draw.
Alisson man of the match.
And a word for Jota. He had a below par game by his own standards, such as we saw in the League Cup against Arsenal, but I want to make a comment about Portuguese nous. It was an iffy penalty, but Jota made sure he was in there, drawing all the contact you like with the goalie. It was a coming together and a harsh penalty, so I feel sorry for Palace, but from our side, I’m glad we got a third goal as a draw was looking like it might happen.
Jota’s nous helped to make that happen. If it was against us I would obviously be calling him a sneaky bastard, but since he’s our sneaky bastard, the word of choice will be nous.
Not sure I like it, but since the game has long since gone that way, I’m happy enough to have some within our own ranks.
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I think the only reason it stands is whether firmino heads ball or not the palace defender has totally misjudged it so is never getting it.
Only thing I can think of.
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The rules on off-side are complete bullshit.
All the fuss over our 2nd but take Palace’s goal. VVD clearly steps up to catch the eventual goalscorer off-side and he is clearly in an off-side position when the ball is played. This enables the runner to go through on goal where he proceeds to play it into the bloke VVD caught off-side and it’s a simple tap-in.
It’s bollocks. Edouard, the scorer, has clearly impacted VVD’s decision making and is then allowed to score a few seconds after running off-side in the build-up.
How is that fair? It’s basically all the same phase of play.
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I do think when we went 2-0 if we hadn’t given them those chances in the first half this might have been rather comfortable.
Gave them hope and Gave is the appropriate word.
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Don’t usually like negativity after a win but this summary is spot on. Was a really frustrating watch and we got lucky (though usually we’re on the other side of luck/bad decisions).
Need someone like Carra in there, screaming at any signs of complacency or lack of concentration. Hendo does a fair bit of shouting but seems more to cover his own lack of form these days
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Well today we were superb for the first 35-40 minutes and sloppy for the rest of the game.
I think the main reason for the sloppier performance in the final minutes of the first half and in the second half must be tiredness. This team, almost unchanged, played 4 intense games in just 10 days. And it caught us up in the middle of the match.
Sure, Klopp did not have much choice at certain positions, especially in midfield and attack. But why did Matip start his 4th game in 10 days, if it had been clear since the last season that he cannot play more than two games a week, especially taking into account whatever concerns there were with him at half-time against Arsenal? Konate could have easily been given the start today. Same goes for VVD: why did he have to play his 5th full game in 13 days? We have enough options at CB and could have used them.
Of the other players, I believe Hendo is the one that was the most worn out today. There was not enough control in midfield. Hendo is a deserved captain and an outstanding player when rested, but 4 games in 10 days is clearly too much for him to handle in the engine room. And as much as I do not think Milner can play full games, it would probably be better to swap Hendo with Milner earlier today to get some kinda fresh legs in the second half.
The winter break could not come at a better time. Hope all our players that are sidelined or on international duty come back fit after a fortnight. I look forward to having Mo, Sadio, Thiago, Naby and Harvey back.
What is the most important: we did very well during the AFCON time: 6 points from two PL games and progressed to the next round in both domestic cups. That is all we could have hoped for after our Africans left for their national teams.
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Which one are you?