Coming out of the club shop. I realise all my Liverpool tops are the aspirational size at the moment so I had to give and get a couple that I can actually wear right now..
About the match. Got about seven minutes in as I was late putting my luggage away after getting into Liverpool on the train that was late from London. I sat down and Rio did that dribble and passed to Grav for the goal. Fantastic. My neighbours lauded me for being a good luck charm.
And then the rest of the match happen. We literally have no way of getting the ball from midfield right now. The only way I was working was for Grav to get the ball, turn, get fouled, and one of the other players nearby pick up the pieces and move it onto attack. That was literally it. And this is not a sustainable model. Ryan will be injured within five matches if we continue like this.
The passing backwards was getting on everyone’s wick. And then we conceded from nothing free kick. The rest was shit as usual, especially when giving every freekick possible to Palmer yet we get fouled harder and we get nothing. Then when the intensely frustrating. Gakpo finally went off and Chiesa came on and coupled with Joe‘s assurance on the ball of the back we instantly started looking better. The problem was every time Mama got the ball he literally didn’t have the skill and to pass it out like Ali does or dare I say Kelleher did.
The same theme throughout was that we have literally no movement off the ball. The only people who moved were Dom and Rio and whoever had the ball just couldn’t find them. On top of that, passing it backwards and then forward again means that that initial movement that someone made, and Kirkez has made this move a number of times, no one found that initial runner and consequently the whole attacks stagnated. Over and over and over again. It is so so very frustrating to watch this in real life unfolding in front of you and yes, there was booing at the end of the match.
I think they need to accept that they do. That might actually start the process of improvement.
I did predict 2-2 and with the two disallowed goals I was correct 
Seriously though we are crap and whatever team is put in front of us we struggle. Delighted with the boos at halftime and Rio subbing plus full time.
Slot will talk his usual bullcrap but he needs to be sacked asap.
Doesn’t dispell any concerns about the fitness of the players that half the fucking team is cramping up after 65 minutes on a 60 degree day in May.
If he has some magic plan to change it all around you’d think considering he has entire weeks off at the moment that you’d be working on that.
Instead we see them travelling Europe, at this point it sounds like he isn’t talking to us, he’s talking to the club hierarchy.
He will match the results of his last 4 games last season. Hopefully that’s Mediocre enough for Henry to step in.
Regardless of what Hughes or Edwards think.
https://x.com/footballontnt/status/2053113556158058721
Edit
I just have to leave one of the comments here…
Boos at Anfield after a draw with Chelsea? Harsh, maybe. But Liverpool standards are Liverpool standards. This isn’t a wellness retreat with corner flags.
Missed the match as I was visiting my parents. I recorded it though, although I’m getting the impression I’d enjoy myself more by cutting the grass instead?
MOTM, Dildo for not voting before full time.
It all went about as I expected. We showed a little something - good goal, hit the woodwork a few times, had one chalked off - but ultimately our flaws were on display too. We couldn’t build on a good start, and we gave Chelsea a lot of space to carve out numerous chances as our lack of solidity in the midfield, and a midfielder at right back, saw gaps appear. I also expected Chelsea to raise their game from the rubbish they’ve churned out for a while.
All in all I am past the stage of being upset with it all. This is who we are right now.
I will be upset if we don’t change the manager. It needs a reset and I think we will get it.
I will be upset if we don’t qualify for the CL. I think we will, but it’s an ugly stumble to the finish line.
Agree and I think this has been happening for a while. There is a lot more to being Liverpool manager than just making the Champions League and occassionally a title challenge. That on it’s own is not good enough - it might be good enough if you clearly have a relationship with the fanbase, a connection to the club or city.
Benitez wasn’t exactly a big, cuddly teddy bear but he understood the need to connect with the fanbase and he did that. Klopp of course was brilliant at it. Slot has really struggled to manage the same thing and, in my opinion, has stopped trying.
Precisely…We aren’t pressing like a Klopp team but half the team are down with cramps way before 90 minutes.
What a bloody mess in the fitness conditioning…
I remember listening to a Radio Merseyside phone in. It was either Klopp’s 2nd or third season after a run of poor results. The majority wanted him gone..
I have watched us for over 65 years but am still ignorant about tactics, formations, false 9s 10s 11s etc but I find it hard to believe that he told the team to sit back and defend that 1-0 lead after being so dominant. Pretty sure he has made loads of mistakes this season but it just isn’t possible that he would do that…
Apparently he’s not up to it, according to some
https://x.com/AnfieldSector/status/2053123154172584327
Arne Slot on if he told the players to back off after the first goal:
“Yeah that’s what I told them to do. We scored the 1-0 and then almost the 2-0. Didn’t you see me screaming at the sidelines ‘Go back! Go back! Defend your own box!’ Are you really thinking this is serious?
Of course this is not the idea to back off, we wanted to keep going but we played a team that got more and more comfortable on the ball. They controlled the midfield and played through us more and more. It was difficult to change that during the first half but I think in the second half we changed things… we were much more able to press them. It helped us be the most dominant team in the second half…
I think it’s not fair to me for people to think I tell my players that I tell them to back off and not to press! Maybe you haven’t seen my teams play last season and large parts of this season. But it did look like this but it was never the intention!”
Edit
Feels like he’s watching a different match to the rest of us, I don’t get what he means by “seen my teams play last season and large parts of this season”. We’ve played without intensity for the best parts of 18 months now. It’s definitely minority parts when we’ve pressed, not large.
It’s damning in its own right, but even more when you consider how little work we get through in a game. Physically we are an absolute mess
A match of two halves. A bad one and a worse one. We just look lost.
Though people booed Rio going off, he wasn’t really a bright light. He may be a talent but has a very long way to go and at this rate he is not going to get there - particularly with this team. The individuals are performing so far below their standard I’m almost embarrassed for them.
Some one made a comment in the pre-match thread about one of the Chelsea lads choosing to go there and thus having made a bad life choice - I can think of a number of 100M £ players that joined us thinking the same…