Freefall at the moment
Hope we can finish top 4 but going the worst of any of the clubs immediately around us on the table so dont think that is a given.
Have faith in Klopp to turn it around though, was inevitable that the injuries and fixture pile up would catch up with us at some point. Fingers crossed we are up for the FA Cup game. A win there would restore alot of confidence and give us something to build on and hopefully relaunch our season from there. Still a long way to go.
We have not become a poor team. We still have the majority of players that won us the Champion’s League and Premier League, but so many things are conspiring against us.
We have been hampered by injuries and we have failed to use the transfer window to bring in cover.
The team and our manager are tired, both physically and mentally and there are no crowds to give the players a psychological lift.
As a consequence our in game decision making is poor; players don’t move into the spaces, don’t make the correct pass, give the ball away etc. etc…
As a consequence, we struggle to break down teams that park the bus; they just wait to hit us on the break.
And we cannot buy a decision from the referees or VAR. Our players are pushed, pulled and kicked off the park with apparent impunity. Opposition players only need to fall over to be awarded free kicks and penalties.
Klopp knows all of this. I believe that he is the best manager, and that he will work out how to get us back to winning ways.
We just might have to be patient. 
Oh, and the owners could stump up the cash for a new centre back. 
I agreed with him last night at the time.
It’s just a cumulative thing I think. The unreal start to the season when we seemed to be playing every couple of days , the fucking horror show at Goodison which deprived us of two world class players , the niggling little injuries which just kept piling up and robbed us of any real rhythm , no fans in the grounds (which I didn’t mind that much at first but realise now it’s just helping to kill our football) , and now it’s apparent how it’s taken a mental toll as well on our players.
It’s just a fucking chore at the moment even having to watch football as well as having to deal with all the rest of the crapt that’s going on around us.
Roll on September and (hopefully) full grounds. I’m done with this shit for now. (Well at least until Sunday when we batter Utd.)
We’ll be even sorrier if that kind of mindless garbage drives him out even sooner.
The league hasnt gone although it feels like it.
We still have to play all the teams at the top again and we normally play better against those.
Weve been spoilt by the last 2 years and constantly winning every match. It doesnt normally happen like that.
Have to say I feel with everything else going on, the injuries etc, I can’t wait for the season to finish. The squad is looking exhausted after giving everything for the last two seasons. Not that a break is coming with the Euros maybe happening. I’m currently reading Andy Robertson’s book and you can tell they’ve given so much physically, and emotionally. We can’t under estimate all of those factors.
Last but certainly not least no fans I think makes a huge difference to the team.
It’s shit like this.
Now, I think that’s soft but if it was the other way around I would definitely be wanting a penalty for Liverpool. The thing is, we all know we wouldn’t get one. There are already numerous examples of far worse fouls on Liverpool players not being given as penalties (several on Mane and Salah immediately come to mind). Opponents are allowed to get away with constant hacks at our players (and worse) without sanction, but ours get booked for the merest touch. The amount of fouls that have been given against us (including penalties) for challenges which were actually fair (and on occasion outside of the box (Fabinho)) is beyond absurd now. Barnes shouldn’t even have been on the pitch but somehow he escaped a red for his challenge on Thiago and then wasn’t booked for his set-to with Fabinho, who was…surprise surprise.
If some fans are saying that then they really are losing the plot.
Very disappointed with last night. Thought Matip did well but that was about it. I can’t even really place what has changed but we have the bulk of those players looking knackered and simply passing the ball around as if they are seeing out the last 10 minutes of a comfortable 2 goal lead.
I’m often perplexed as to why we come back from mini breaks in the schedule looking off form. The current run goes back to the break before Christmas. Before that we seemed to have games that we were smashing the opposition (Leicester, Wolves, Palace) and others that we struggled with (Fulham sprang to mind.)
Now we seem stuck in a rut. We can’t just go through the motions and grab a goal. I think many teams have realised that if they sit back and let us have the ball we are largely toothless. Our defence are still pretty competent but 0:0 is our default score.
I’m not sure where we can improve. The wing-backs are not tying up with the forwards - Trent, in particular, looked off form again last night. I think we missed Hendo. He needs to be running the midfield and his absence or playing him out of position isn’t doing us any favours.
Could it just be that most sides have our system sussed? If that’s the case then a switch in formation might be all that is needed. Maybe go for 4-2-3-1?
We have to stick by the boys and manager right now. Let’s acknowledge the issues, and yes let’s express disappointment with the things we could have changed but didn’t. Let’s discuss what we could do differently, but the club needs to rally and dig a way out of this.
For me the issues affecting us are obvious, some our own doing, some circumstantial, some done to us by others.
The officials have conspired against us, whilst opponents have deliberately tried to maim our players.
Covid has hit our club hard, as the club was finely tuned and using a perfect synergy of supporter passion, good commercial management, and good player acquisition and player management in order to compete against benefactor clubs and clubs that were bigger financially but not as well run (like United). It worries me that just as the aftermath of Hillsborough took its toll and ended our period of domination back then, covid will do so now.
I think having the fans back then being banned again has hit the team, as has the draining past three seasons.
Our manager did mess up by playing players in that CL dead rubber that he didn’t need to. It is no coincidence that since Jota got injured our goals have dried up. He wasn’t the only one scoring, but his impact as a 4th genuine forward option, whether in rotation or from the bench, was massive until then.
The club did also mess up by not addressing the issue of having three injury prone senior centre backs, and then selling one of them without replacing them.
We’ve managed to deal with the defensive issues and keep reasonably tight, but it’s come at the expense of midfield, which in turn has affected the full backs.
Whilst we appear to have a deep midfield squad, it’s clear that the best two players are Fabinho and Henderson, and they are having to be used in defence. Gini/Milner/Thiago are quality players, but they are better with Fab or Hendo in there alongside them. Keita offers something but is rarely available, and Oxlade is way below what he was or what we need.
For me our depth of squad isn’t two interchangeable players for each position, it’s one or two extra similar level options for each department, and then other players who can be used individually within a strong unit, or en masse in cups against weaker opposition.
A midfield of Fab or Hendo, plus Gini or Milner or Thiago, plus Oxlade or Keita, would work in a way which a midfield without Fab or Hendo just doesn’t.
With Matip likely to go down with injury anytime, and Fabinho one booking from a suspension, we’re unlikely to see Fabinho in midfield this seaosn, or Hendo in midfield throughout the coming crucial period.
The forwards are clearly struggling right now, despite all the first choice players being fit, but the quality of service from the full backs and midfield is definitely affecting them.
Personally, I think we have to rotate heavily at United. If Fabinho plays he gets booked and is missing at Spurs. We cannot risk Matip with the run of PL fixtures coming up.
We should use the match to get further match fitness into the legs of squad players, then find a balanced side for Spurs.
For me Hendo needs to be in midfield against good sides if Matip and Fab are available, the midfield we fielded last night was too lightweight. We also need to see more of Milner, whose experience is crucial right now.
The midfield needs to be Hendo, Milner, Thiago at Spurs. I don’t think Shaqiri and Thiago in the same side works without either Fab or Hendo in midfield.
Up top I am sorry but Bobby makes zero contribution right now, and hasn’t for a long long time. The match at Palace was one good performance in about 10. I think Origi gave us more, through the middle, than Bobby did when he came on.
If we have a bit of luck with injuries, keep our heads, and use the players we have in the right combinations, top four is achievable. The title is now unlikely, there are too many teams in good form, but top four is crucial, or next season our finances will be devastated.
Alisson plus a defence of TAA Matip Fab Robertson, with Hendo, Milner, Thiago in midfield, and Mane, Mo, Origi, is maybe a side that can dig some results out.
But if there is one issue with the boss, it’s that he either does what he did last night and changes everything, or changes nothing. It’s finding the balance between the two that’ll see us out of this.
He’s a very good keeper and a shot stopper. Would be interesting to see him at a bigger club, to see if he has the right concentration levels with hardly anything to do before needing to do an Alison.
When Jota is back that makes three in four up top. Harvey Elliott is picking up experience and can take Origi’s 5th choice forward position next season.
I’d rather sort out an extra central defender, pray that Tsimikas is not a sick note, and look to see if something can be done about Ox, Keita, Shaq, and Taki. We could look to move on one or two of them.
If Gomez wasn’t out at the same time as VVD, then TAA could easily have been given rest with N Williams. It’s much easier to come into a defence with Matip, Gomez, and Andy, with Alison in goal. That’s why he hasn’t played much recently and rotated for TAA, as it’s too much risk with midfielders as defenders and 6th and 7th choice defenders to boot playing some games, along with Adrian and Kelleher.
But back to Origi, yes, that one on one was shocking in that there were no defenders around him snapping at his heels. Mne comes to the gym an hour before everyone. Origi should be staying behind after training for extra drills if he really wants to continue.
This is massively, massively glossed over.
Covid is a factor, but its a factor every club is having to deal with.
It does affect us more because we have been relying more on the crowd.
Origi’s miss was awful, but would Bobby have even been in the position to go through on goal like that?
I don’t think Origi is good enough long term, and has offered very little this season, but he had a bit of purpose about him last night.
Given how Bobby is playing, how poor Minimino has been, and that Shaqiri is more a 10 than wide forward, personally I think a forward line of Mane, Origi, Salah could be tried out, especially if we can get Hendo into midfield, put Milner alongside him, and release Thiago to be the creator.
Yes we are playing crap at the moment and starting to plummet down the league table, but we have to remember, we have been there, we have done it before, we have the proverbial t-shirt…!
Nothing wrong with still being right in the mix at the half way point considering the crap we have encountered to date. Nothing wrong with looking at what is in front of ya and knowing what needs to be done to catch and overtake the teams ahead of us…
Lady Luck will redress the balance soon enough, when she does the momentum will shift and we will be coming up on the rails soon enough.
Winning the league at a canter was boring anyway… Lets get back in the scrap asap and do this!
COYR
Shaqiri can play as RW in a 4-2-3-1 formation as well as No.10. In a 4-2-3-1 formation, Gini can even be used as No.10 as well like in the Dutch national team. Salah can play centrally if Shaq plays RW in 4-2-3-1 (which worked well in a few matches in 2018/19).
It happened to City. They went at a phenomenal pace for two seasons, then looked fucked. It wasn’t just tiredness, it was also the mental fatigue of the intensity of going at that pace for so long.
As you say, you’re not a psychologist.
Both are lost causes, especially Ox, and Jones is nowhere near good/consistent enough. Ox should be directly replaced by either Maddison or Harvey Barnes (let’s say replacing an English player by another good English player to meet homegrown quota in a more meaningful way).
It would not be overstatement to say that Maddison > Ox over the last 2 years.