Post match: Newcastle v Liverpool (EPL 30/12/20 8pm)

I’m going to add here; won 10 and drew 1 in our last eleven!

I think he is leaving his last sub very late if making it at all, because of the injury concerns.

Players are dropping like flies, and if Klopp does what gets advocated in the match threads and have all his subs gone by 65’, there is every chance a lad pulls up and we can’t replace them and have to play with ten men.

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I was expecting OX Chamberlain on early second half, before the wba game Klopp was telling us how good he was in training, so maybe something changed as he never came on at all.

I don’t have stats to back this up, but it feels like he’s always waited a long time to bring on subs

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huh ? … we drew our last two.

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He was pants when he came on against West Brom.

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We’ve drawn 5 of the last 10 in the PL. No idea what form table he’s looking at.

It’s a definite penalty. The goalkeeper wraps his arm around Sadio’s right knee, preventing him from taking a shot. He only releases Sadio when he sees the defender is in a position to make a two footed lunge to clear the ball.

So, definite penalty and the goalie sent off as last man deliberately preventing a goal scoring opportunity.

Just goes to show that the player has to go to ground for a penalty shout.

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I said at the time Sadio should go down. They just can’t win. Go down and get criticised. Stay up and get nothing.

At the very least you get round the referee and force him to have a look.

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Maybe it is just me, but when Amazon cover a game, there is very little time given over to VAR discussions or even decision making with the computer lines for contentious decisions.
With reference to the Mane penalty incident last night, hardly a mention, the Fulham and Spurs games also, when the VAR input appeared to be deemed insignificant for discussion.
Sky coverage is almost a polar opposite. As though they relish the VAR involvement and feel it actually heightens the excitement factor amongst fans, when as we know it has the opposite enthusiasm draining impact on us.
Thought provoking and concerning if the TV Networks have some sort of agenda, and different ones at that, with the timeline allotted use of VAR. Will be monitoring this over the coming months.

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Uh oh- you shouldn’t have said that.

@Alright_Now is going to expect a written report from you by the spring.

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You mean he has not already doing his own :rofl:

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Last night yeah, in general though I don’t think this is the case. Matip and Fabinho play out from the back well and Rhys Williams has shown some real quality with the ball as well. Van Dijk is hard to replicate but I wouldn’t say we’re particularly struggling in that area.

Phillips is terrible with the ball though, and a clear problem. I think that’s the main reason Klopp has been picking Williams ahead of him. Nearly got caught out a few times last night and some of his long passing was well off the mark.

He attempted a 50 yard ball last night (not even close) when he had Thiago standing free about 10 yards away from him which just about summed his performance up.

That little sequence where we passed it round the back in injury time for about 2 minutes before Henderson ran it into a Newcastle player was a particular highlight on the night.

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Yes, thoroughly enjoyed that. We always save the best for last, like that corner routine against West Brom the other night…

I think it is one where he probably didnt even realize he had been fouled until he looked at the tape. There is a certain degree of physical contact you’d expect in a situation like that and based on his complete lack of reaction it seems he didnt think it was anything more than that. It’s only when you see the replay you see the clear intent. Unfortunately, it’s difficult for a ref to give something that even the offended player doesnt think at the time is a foul.

One of the themes I’ve seen over the last month or so is the incredible leeway refs have given the opposition in their physical approach of frustrating us. Yesterday one of their CBs had maybe 3 different wild challenges that were left completely unpunished simply because no one got hurt, but in each case that was at least in part because our player was forced to jump out of the challenge to protect himself. Each one of those is a yellow even if the player wins the ball, or doesnt maim our player, and one of those was in the box on an otherwise decent shooting opportunity.

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On the Mane incident, if Alisson does that it gets given.

Looking at it again, I do wonder that if he’d gone down from the position he was being held in, and didn’t check himself, he could have incurred a serious injury.

For me, Mane’s availability is more important than one goal, though it doesn’t change the fact that once again the officials fucked us over.

We should by now realise that we have to win despite officials and ensure we don’t rely on these calls in tight situations.

A couple of other observations from me.

Firstly, look at our results and it’s clear that losing Jota has hit us hard. We’ve drawn three from five PL matches since then, matches similar to those Jota made a huge difference in previously. Having a fourth genuine option to rotate and bring from the bench was a huge upgrade in the squad for us, and I still can’t believe that we lost him because of Klopp’s team selection in a dead rubber.

Secondly, Jones does not currently deserve his place.

Thirdly, the midfield is perhaps protecting the defence more than previously, so that’s impacting our attacking play.

Finally, we clearly have an issue in defence. Of the twenty senior outfield players we started the season with, seven were forwards, seven were midfielders and six were defenders. That was imbalanced, as we were covered more than twice in midfield and attack, yet only had two spare players for defence. Currently four of the six defenders are injured, a farcical situation to do nothing about.

Last night Phillips looked like a Championship centre back, we’ve seen better defenders against us for the bottom sides. I also agree with other comments that Williams doesn’t have the pace we need.

We might have had a clean sheet, but we also failed to score for the first time (I think) this season. The two are connected, as I outlined above.

As I’ve said before, and as Craig Hignett said on the Radio Merseyside phone in after the match last night, Phillips and Williams have helped us out, but you can’t be fielding them
week in week out if you’re going for titles and CLs.

I do agree with Mascot that Henderson could go into central defence alongside Fabinho, and this would mean we largely use three from Gini, Milner, Thiago and Keita (when fit) as starters in midfield, with Oxlade as a further back up along with Jones.

Minimino and Shaqriri can offer something in rotation and from the bench up top until Jota returns.

But I still think it’s absolutely imperative that we sign a centre back who is first team standard in January. We can’t be relying on Phillips and Williams for anything more than the odd appearance and given Matip’s injury record, one other injury to Hendo or Fab leaves us with those guys playing too often.

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One too many match/wine reviews already, if you know what I mean :grinning:

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I like you today.

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Totally agree re CB S
Phillips and Williams have done well in terms of stepping in .
We can’t rely on them as first teamers though.
Cover maybe .
We need to sign a accomplished cb first thing in January .
Someone with experience.
With the Southampton and Utd games coming up ,
Consider a midfield of Thiago gini Milner
Captain a ball playing CB .
He reads the game so well .
Would give me more confidence alas
Than Williams or Phillips cb

Which other teams have run going.