Post match: Liverpool v PSG (UCL 11/3/25 8pm)

The Albert Match Days
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If our forwards were more clinical we wouldve been out of sight by time they scored.

We need an upgrade up front and need a clinical forward.

Nunez was abysmal when he came on - he just cannot judge where the ball is going and is never in the right place 9/10. Anyone thought he would score that pen? Excactly.
Jota - so out of form. 0 goals in 27 CL games.
Gakpo - not fit but i totally forgot he had came on.
Diaz - Cannot fault his work rate but so often there is zero end product.
Salah - Been superb so can excuse an off night.
Cheisa - a cheerleader on a decent wage. Clearly not faniced or trusted.

203

You what?
Come on Maria heā€™s really weird.
Oh and he worked for PSG and Arsenal, you canā€™t get much worst than that. I suppose you could give him not being stupid enough to work for Manure but thatā€™s about it.

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204

We started really well, and the PSG goal came from no where unfortunately. In the second half, we started to build up pressure.

So much so, that Donnarumma took a, imo, fake injury to disrupt our play (he sat down, had a smirk on his face, and then when the physio came on, you could see it was a nothing injury). But that stop in play never actually slowed us down, and a couple of minutes later, shouldā€™ve been a yellow card and free kick to kick from the edge of the box. But the ref was like a Prem ref unfortunately, when officiating Mo. Then a couple minutes after that, Trent, who was bossing the right side, had to go off.

All that happened in a 5 minute period, which I feel was crucial to the game. Quansah nearly got the goal that wouldā€™ve seen us through, though. Unfortunately, the assistant (who up to that point would delay the raising of the flag for ages), decided to flag for offside, even though Alexis didnā€™t actually get involved in the play. Had he allowed the game to continue by delaying the flag, as he had all game, I feel that passage of play couldā€™ve led to some more chaos in front of goal.

Extra time, we didnā€™t push on though. Donnarumma followed the suggestions in the penalty analysis created by his team, and used his big frame well to keep out Darwin and Curtis. Felt that Darwin tried to do too many things. First he did the Mo style start straight on then shuffle sideways and then to the ball, and then added the extra stutter motion before hitting a shot that would always be saved if the keeper went the right way. Curtis as well did a poor effort that would only result in a goal if the keeper went the wrong way.

Anyway, Slot will learn a lot from this first season, in how to manage playing in so many competitions. He cannot rely on Alexis, Grav and Dom being able to play most minutes of every matches. I feel he will do more rotation next season. He has started to trust Endo more, and I expect hell be in a for a midfielder in the summer.

Letā€™s see whoā€™s fit for Sunday, and push for a trophy. Then itā€™s back to the bread and butter to be professional in our remaining games to pick up number 20.

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205

Was he really in the game before Trent went off though?

Unless some kind-hearted statistician has decided to collate his touches, I felt he was pretty ineffectual in that second half. He obviously did well in that early period (fucking Craig Foster here in Aus trying to suggest PSG had all the chances early in the game! What game was that fuck head watching?!) but he fizzled out badly.

Itā€™s true that once Trent went off, there was no penetration on our right side as Quansah went back to the keeper almost every time he had it (no blameā€¦ Heā€™s a CB after all in a big match). But I felt Salah lacked touches whether Trent was on or not.

The French media have been brutal with Salah. Have any of them ever fasted while playing elite sport? Maybe there are Muslim PSG players going through what Salah is going through. But boy Iā€™m already sick of people suggesting he choked or whatever when we know what is probably the biggest factor right now.

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Haha, I wasnā€™t disrespecting you or your opinion but stating why I believe it wasnā€™t a foul.

The laws of the game are constantly evolving / changing and that was not a foul last night for me. If it was given against us this place would be up in arms. Other qualifications in other sports are irrelevant when discussing one particular sport.

And my dick is way bigger than yours.

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Omg, nooo! I forgot he was manager for PSG.

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We werenā€™t good enough two legs ultimately. PSG have actually built themselves a good team there, I thought it before the away game that their starting XI looked really good - although to be fair theyā€™ve spent ā‚¬1b on it in the last three seasons.

Media seem to enjoy the ā€œPSG with no superstars are better, how?!ā€ But theyā€™ve bought 7 players for Ā£50m or more in the last two years so its not like theyā€™re just fielding a random bunch of youth players.

I did mention when Klopp left that I was a little disappointed with the recruitment side of things when he earned more control of it. Not that we were doing anything wrong but I see football becoming increasingly physical and I think we didnā€™t pursue some of these young physically gifted, quick players where as PSG have done. Looking at someone like Willian Pancho, when he was at Frankfurt plenty of us thought heā€™s be an ideal van Dijk protege but we didnā€™t see any credible links - thereā€™s been about 5/6 players Iā€™ve been a little disappointed that weā€™ve allowed other teams to get over the last few years.

Hopefully we start taking some of that initiative back, I think Kerkez is an absolutely essential signing as Robbo ages into a backup role and Tsimikas isnā€™t good enough. So Iā€™ll be disappointed if we arenā€™t going hard to get him.

Anyway, back to this game and PSG probably deserve it over the two legs. Disappointed for sure but I find it hard to be too upset when we sre strongly on course to win the league and have a cup final in a few days.

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Quansah was the only sub that actually came on and did well.

Saying that Trent was bossing it before his injury.

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You mentioning the keeper faking injury just reminded me of the worst one for breaking the momentum, the time when the ref stopped play cos one of their lads was on the deck in our half. But weā€™d turning the screw and building pressure for a while, had the ball and were looking to test them again and the ref just stopped play and let all the air out the tyres. Was livid.

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211

Possible, I canā€™t recall any off hand but that still doesnā€™t make the challenge on Szoboszlai or Salah fouls. Not every challenge that leads to a player falling is a foul.

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They also were able to rest a lot of their players at the weekend

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TAA going off really stunted is didnā€™t it. He was started to really influence the game and getting into good positions.

Be a surprise if he is available for Sunday.

Presume Konate was cramp?

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To be fair, I think it was when Vitina got blood on his face, after colliding on Salah. (And he let attack movement finish first)

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Ah fair play mate, thanks for pointing that out, couldnā€™t see the blood from the upper main stand. Iā€™m calmer about this one now. :joy:

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He lacks both the belief, touch and most importantly the football brain to be a top level striker

217

There are worse ways to go out than the manner it happenedā€¦

Penalties most certainly are a cruel way, but I would take that, rather than getting beat 2-0 in 90/120mins by themā€¦

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But mine looks bigger because I have smaller hands :kissing_heart:

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I thought it was the turning point in the game. We looked far more likely to get the goal until that point.

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I know, that not every challenge leads to a foul, but I have seen lots of fouls given in Europe for a hand in the face.

Hakimi got 2 fouls with little or no contact

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I just had a bad feeling throughout the game to be honest. Youā€™re always hoing to regret missed opportunities like that. If we could have only grabbed one.

To be fair they are the best side Iā€™ve seen this season. Oil cheats hurts though.