Just watched the whole match on replay. Pretty extraordinary. We won 5-1, could (should) have been 6-1, but on another day we could have lost. SP had just as many good chances, but a mixture of brilliant goalkeeping and woeful finishing cost them dear. Darwin’s goals were breathtaking. Neither of them was more than a half chance. It’s fantastic that we got such a result, but if we play like that against MC we’ll be murdered.
It was interesting that we scored with the last kick of both halves.
Great chance to progress in this competition. I have a soft spot for it going back to the seventies when it was a higher standard and a springboard to our European Cup success.
3 Likes
Yeah, people dismissing Sparta as being crap are being somewhat unfair. They were dominating play in the first half, and between a penalty and letting Nunez see a goalpost for a second, they were down 2-0. That starts to weigh on a team, and then Nunez killed them with the second goal. Even then, they came out fighting in the 2nd half, just lacked the edge to convert - and got punished again by Diaz. Being down 4-0 in a game that feels at worst fairly even is not something most teams can get past mentally.
3 Likes
Lost count during the game and especially the 1st half with how our defenders were done by their player receiving the ball and rolling them with all in one movement with us over committing.
Otherwise what a wonderful game of footy, especially if you don’t like the defensive side of the game
We were knowingly playing very aggressively with our wing backs. Having said that even with us pushing so high they didn’t really create a clear cut chance - although that may have been more down to some poor passing from good positions than our own set up.
Essentially I think we went there and said “you can’t outscore us” and were proven emphatically correct. Now the second leg can be a low key affair with lots of changes.
2 Likes
Kudos to the Spartans. They kept fighting even when the game was beyond them. They were beaten but not defeated. A proper football team.
2 Likes
I remain absolutely fucking bemused that these. violent pricks are allowed to compete in Europe. As a fan of a club who’s fans were banned for violent behaviour, it feels remarkably unfair that Roma fans, and other Italian teams, are allowed to continually stab opposition fans and carry on unabated.
5 Likes
It used to be the Lazio ultras who were the scumbags of Rome. Sad times.
1 Like
missed the game as daughter was training. Going by the 5 minute highlight right reel on Youtube looks like Kelleher’s man of the match. The 5-1 scoreline looks like its a bit flattering to us as Kelleher had a blinder.
At start of the season our able number 2 looked like he had forgot how to stop shots. Everything on target was a goal but it just goes to prove that you need a run in the team to get some form.
As much as I love Ali the drop off when he isnt there isnt as half as bad as we first fear, but Kelleher’s form has only come about due to an extended run of playing.
3 Likes
6 Likes
When they were last in Liverpool in 2018 they attempted to murder one of our fans.
3 Likes
He made a couple of good saves, and had a good game. But Spartas handful of chances, don’t alter that it was a dominant performance in which we could have got more goals.
3 Likes
Think you might need to give the film channel a miss for a while @Iftikhar - seems to be impacting on your judgement :0)
1 Like
Seriously? The bicycle kick off the line? The open goal? Etc etc…
4 Likes
I admit I forgot about the winger fucking up on open goal. However, I don’t think the shot that eventually got cleared off the line should have got that far, the angle was poor for the lad but Kelleher made a meal of the save. I think he should save it without much fuss but at absolute worst he should he pushing it over the bar - I don’t think its a clear chance to hit a cross first time on the run its a tough skill and the Prague lad doesn’t hit it very well.
The open goal was a straightforward shot that gets rebounded into a dangerous area by Kelleher’s save, which is a habit of his.
Overall he played very well but he has some moments where his goalkeeping is not clean and I thought we saw some of it yesterday. I’m delighted with his form in recent weeks and he’s done a great job - but he does have tendancies to make great save out of routine shots, or gift the opposition and extra shot by not pushing shots out of danger.
Apart from that I only remember one other cross that Kelleher closed down well before the striker even had the ball under control and a few shots from range. It certainly wasn’t as poor defensively as the in-match thread tried to make out but nothing new there - even in a 5-1 win its just a solid 90 minites of moaning.
1 Like
We wouldn’t have ever lost that game.
They were incredibly bad defensively and for some reason like the Spurs of old had an obsession with playing out the back.
The goalie was also pretty bad.
We were 1-0 up before their first shot, yes if they had done better they may have got slightly ahead but the defence was so poor it would have been a matter of time.
Bradley showing them how to finish was nice of him 
1 Like
Darwin’s two were worldies, but on another day could have ended up in Row Z. Wouldn’t have been the first time.
If they’d scored the open goal and another of their opportunities in the first half we could have been 3-1 down in the middle of the second half.
The game would have been very different then.
Diaz’s goal is a lot about them being tired and dispirited. There is a scenario where we don’t win that game. It’s easy to be smug after the event, but it could have gone very differently.
We need to be better on Sunday.
2 Likes
If my auntie was male she would be my uncle.
Gakpo also misses a chance he should score, you can say it’s Gakpo but that’s the whole point they missed there chances. Also if we aren’t 3-1 up do we start the way we started the second half.
You can only go on what happened. Both Nunez shots were on target. It is up to the goalie to save them. It is irrelevant where they could have ended up because they didn’t.
1 Like
Liverpool win 5-1 away from home.
Sixth goal disallowed for nothing
Several other chances created.
Concede an own goal.
One or two concerning moments…
And we are not universally happy and convinced by the win.
4 Likes
Would you expect anything different here?
1 Like
When Kelleher first came into the side I feared the drop in not having Alisson. And while we’d all rather Alisson was playing, all day long, as he is the best in the world, Kelleher has done really well in his stint in goal. He has looked commanding, made some great saves, and has also been good with his feet, both feet too, as a former teenage midfielder.
If Kelleher is to be sold in the summer - not because we want to, but because the lad has to play and carve out a career for himself, then we should be protecting our future interests by inserting a buy back clause, as well as a percentage sell on clause.
We operate in such rarified air that to be the goalie in this Liverpool side you have to be the best in the world, or in that sort of conversation. Kelleher hasn’t seen enough action so we don’t know how good he will become, but he is doing everything asked of him and making the most of his run in the side.
At the least, the level of teams that might be looking at him should be good. To my eye he is a mid level Premier League goalie, and could improve lots of teams in the Prem, and with time and experience he could go higher again and come into the reckoning as a long term Alisson replacement. But we don’t know that yet, hence he needs a move.
If it is to somewhere like Celtic, that feels a bit too safe, and he might not fulfil his potential there if he stays too long.