Post match: Liverpool v Newcastle (ELC 16/3/25 4.30pm)

We all have our strong points! :grin:

You’ve called Trent shit and Szoboszlai useless in the last few weeks but I’m vindictive? Its not ā€œcoveringā€ with anything to say I don’t blame him, I don’t blame him. What I am taking exception to is treating finals of cups as opportunities to rotate our starting goalkeeper. We should be at full strength wherever available.

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Oof that was a tough loss to take. The lads didn’t show enough intensity or desire. Slot denies that it was fatigue, but you have to wonder if it wasn’t physical fatigue was there some kind of mental fatigue after the way we lost to PSG?

I’m just hoping this doesn’t lead to a slump and we can bounce back with a win in the league against Everton. At least the Lads will have a little time off to regroup and recover before then.

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You should have listened to the commentary on Bein sports. They made out Szobozlai was more than useless. :rofl:
As for Trent well many have been making out he’s shit on here and want to see the back of him. I just find it funny.

Your posts on Kelleher have been very angry in this post match thread. Either assume it or take it back.

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Folks need to move on. We have a League to win…

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my humble opinion of the last three matches edit

Our transition from defense to attack has been poor, sluggish.

I see other teams sitting back on the press until we try to move the ball through the midfield, then they spring the press on the ball carrier and his two lateral passes. because our wingers are so wide, it becomes very difficult to move the ball up the pitch unless we hoof it up to the forwards, who are all on the smaller side and don’t hold the ball up well. we give the ball up so easily on 50/50 challenges and second balls in the middle of the pitch that we are losing the game in the trench battles. a hungry, aggressive team dominates us in the middle, consistently. And the ref’s are allowing the body contact so we are not getting the niggly foul calls that we were seeing earlier in the season.

Things must change looking at next year and Slot MUST trust his bench. back line is very thin and Mac/Grav look exhausted out there. Grav is already moving like Fabinho in his last season and he’s in his early 20’s.

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The more I thought about it, the more I am aligned with you. Initially even my reaction was why should Alisson play in this one when the second goalkeepers typically are for cup games.

But then context wise, this would have been fine if we were close in the league or still had the other cups to play for. Being out of 2 cups and being this far ahead in league, it makes lot more sense to get the best players to win the first silverware. We have an international break coming in and just the league games after that. We do expect squad players to be given time in these kind of games to avoid risking injuries and for them to get game time, but that’s when we are in the thick of the season with games coming in thick and fast. Maybe not in the cup final which not only gives us a chance for first silverware under Slot but also pick us up after the CL defeat.

But not too fussed about it. Just that the agreement argument seems a bit off as he has not consistently played squad players/ youth in these games. So the rationale might be something different.

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The Plymouth game was whole sale changes, which we aren’t talking about, it is intergrating/using a couple or 3 squad members more to keep fresh legs and minds

Sure. But look at the injuries we have had. It’s not always possible. Slot definitely doesnt trust them all and I agree on that being a reason him not using them though. But that doesnt mean he can sell them all this early. He’ll need time to get players he trust or get them to play the way he wants. And till then he probably prefers to favor the players doing what is asked of them to atleast win the league.

Lot of our league games were by a margin of a goal or so and it could have gone the other way had he been fixated on rotating everytime on 60 mins.

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After fuming last night, the only bright spark is Chiesa! Fucker came on, occupied the CAM/LW position and did what Jota and Diaz failed to do…Break the offside trap and Score.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Jota and Diaz and Nunez are sold in the summer to finance a proper CF and possibly a new RW, allowing Chiesa to be the primary back up from LW to CAM to RW…

I haven’t mentioned selling players, also, regarding injuries, we have had far less this year and mostly they have been in our back line.

We could have rotated in the Everton game or games where we know it will be a battle and where Endo’s skills would be more prevalent, a little lost why he didn’t come on yesterday to help counter Newcastle’s long ball tactics.

Then you have games where Chiesa and Elliott could have been used where teams sit deep and you need a more creative spark.

I just feel with the amount of games played we should have rotated more and have the options to do so apart from in defence.

Mo also failed to break the offside trap and score

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You haven’t but I replied initially to the original post by Walshy that mentioned about selling players he doesn’t trust.

Chiesa and Elliott have featured in games recently and have at times helped and at times did nothing. Don’t think they were fit the entire season.

Additionally having to make changes in our backline does affect the decision making for the rest of the players and which ones you would want to put out having to already play with a makeshift defense.

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I’m guilty of being the one who keeps pushing back against that argument, because it’s absolutely wild.

There has never been any talk of any such ā€œagreementā€. It’s literally just been what Jürgen, and then Arne, practised. It also makes sense if you want your backup goalkeeper to be getting games so they are definitely in good shape to be ready if called upon.

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Which is fine if this were initial set of games. But not at this stage where we just got dumped put CL, leading comfortably in league and have nothing else to play for after this.

Dare I say playing Kelleher is a comfortable excuse for what was the worst Liverpool display since Arne arrived.

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The display, I suspect, was largely down to exhaustion. I wonder what the meltdown on here would have been if Arne stuck out a second choice XI?

I just had a quick scan through the past two months schedule, and it has been brutal. Slot has rotated where possible but you get to the point that you have to press ahead with your first choice players.

I think the thing that has pissed me off over this is the brutality of the schedule has in part been down to international breaks squeezing up the schedule, but also that the extra games have also come from this competition. It’s an absolute kicker to fall at the last hurdle having run our players into the ground getting this far.

In future, would it make sense to let the squad player lead on the League Cup? If they win, then it’s their trophy. If they fall short, then so be it.

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Agreed.

February was a brutal month not to mention someone thinking that sticking that Villa game in before the cup as opposed to Newcastle’s additional fixture being moved later was a good thing for us.

There are three game weeks that it could have gone in but whoever agreed to it being moved to where it was needs a wobble unless it was forced on us.

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I think we’ve done this for a long time now, including this season?

Third round (25 September 2024):

Fourth round (30 October 2024):

Fifth round (18 December 2024):


I’m pretty sure we played Alexander-Arnold only for his experience (and really the lack of other options).

Semifinal away (08 January 2025):


It’s only here that the lineup starts to get serious. I think the next game was Forest away on the 14th, and you’d ideally not leave that long a gap between games.

Semifinal home (06 February 2025):


While it seems like such a serious lineup, it’s important to bear in mind that the next game was Plymouth, i.e. we’d want to play the regulars in either one of these games, and this was probably it.

I really don’t think the League Cup made that huge a difference. I’d say it’s more to do with the 6 league games we had in February.

EDIT: And it’s precisely because of this that I’m relatively comfortable letting our backup goalkeeper take the game. This really is that one competition that tests our squad depth.

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