Three home-grown players… 
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Quansah is too young to rate that status, and yesterday was just unfortunate for him. Alexander-Arnold is there by virtue of his contract situation, which he has some responsibility over. I have no idea of the 300K/week in the match thread has any connection to reality, but between that and the likelihood that he is off to Real Madrid, it should not be a surprise that this decade’s Owen is getting some harsh comments.
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And all English players and managers are crap don’t you know…
I’m sure fatigue exacerbates it, but it’s been present throughout the entire season. It’s not as though it’s something new.
I feel like this season is starting to acquire a little bit of the flavour of 2019-20, when the results we were getting were reflective of some rather good luck, rather than just being utterly dominant the entire game.
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I think this is more reflective of the situation.
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Yeah, he hasn’t said a great deal, has he?
Really hoping Quansah is over whatever it is that took him out, it would be much better if he is able to play this weekend in place of Konate. Better for him I would guess, and certainly better for squad fitness overall. January is a long month
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His only public comments were: “I have been at the club 20 years now and I have signed four or five contract extensions … and none of those have been played out in public. This one won’t be either.”
People are using this and an interview where he said he wants to be a generational right-back (which is odd given how so many were convinced he wants to be a midfielder) and win the Ballon d’Or as evidence he wants to leave.
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Yes, he did rotate somewhat, and the four you mention are the ones to highlight. I would have gone further with it, and the other two parts of what I suggested were that some regulars need a rest and the kids need a chance to impress.
Put it all together and I’m sure we’d have still been competitive with Spurs. Instead we had a pretty strong side that slightly underperformed and looked leggy in some areas, and we came out with a 1-0 loss.
It’s only half time in the tie, and it’s only the league cup. Any trophy is nice to win of course, but I would have still rotated more for this game.
No big deal. We are doing really well, though what I am watching for is the overall level and energy of the side, which appears to have dropped down a bit since the Real Madrid game, and along with some wins we have had 3 draws and a defeat since then. I hope that does not become a longer trend, and that’s why I would have liked to see more rotation against Spurs. If this mini period is the extent of our blip, I’ll happily take it, so long as we get back to previous levels asap!
Onwards and upwards. It’s a cold one here today -15C.
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It is not as bad here only -5 but you are on the safer side very sad for the LA people.
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Taken in isolation, this wasn’t a bad performance and it’s a bit surprising to see posters thinking otherwise. We were better than Spurs who played their best game in months. We pinned them down and largely dominated; the problem was that we created one clear cut chance and at the back we were prone to errors once again. Still, we would have walked away with a positive result, had it not been for suspect refereeing and Konate being bullied by Solanke unacceptably easily.
The worry is that it wasn’t great either and it’s coming after a truly bad one. We’ve now played two games against much worse teams, coming in with a very poor recent record, and we’ve won none. We do look lacklustre and pedestrian. Sharpness and freshness are missing. Too many players seem off and it does look like Slot has had a lot to do with it by overplaying them. Why Elliott can’t get minutes in Jones’ place, whose form has plummeted in the last games or even Salah’s, who is 32 and apart from one pass to Nunez was invisible for 90 minutes, is a mystery. Chiesa too. If he isn’t prepared to use him, unless we are leading by 3 or 4 goals, there’s no point in him making the bench. Gravenberch’s defensive work has been lacking recently, but Endo got in because Quansah was feeling unwell.
There have been injuries, but Slot hasn’t been making the most of what he has. It feels like he’s repeating Klopp’s mistake in his first full season, albeit Klopp had far fewer quality options at his disposal. A bad spell of form seems to be just around the corner if we are not already in it.
On the plus side, it was genuinely nice to see TAA bounce back; and Nunez looked like a football player for the first time in weeks. If that flick at the end had gone it, it would have been the goal of the season.
Last but not least, the away supporters were amazing. Singing TAA’s song when he was introduced was an act of class. If only the Anfield support was half as good as the away.
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I have a hunch that if not for what happened to Quansah, he would have come on. As it was, we already used all our subs, but if Quansah was fine to play the whole game, then we wouldn’t need to bring Konaté in, and Endō could/would have come on for Gravenberch or Mac Allister earlier. That frees up a sub for Chiesa to come on, perhaps as a wholesale front 3 replacement.
I wonder how much of the original gameplan went out of the window because of the Quansah’s illness.
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@JamesPearceLFC
](x.com)
Liverpool’s flight back from London last night couldn’t land at John Lennon due to icy fog. Plane diverted to Birmingham with ground transportation provided for rest of the journey home. Players didn’t get back until early hours, training cancelled today.
this fucking stupid little cup…we have a game in 48 hours
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Should just have taken the train instead. Ridiculous to fly London to Liverpool.
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It’s Accrington Stanley 
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See, there is something wrong with me; I thought it was forest. Maybe I am the one who should be suspended from the forum…
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Forest is the game after that, in the league. Next game is the FA Cup.
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The carbon footprint of football makes me shudder.
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Don’t be ridiculous.
The UK is so vast that flying is the only way. High-speed rail networks would never work here.
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Actually, the UK is so small that a typical privately commissioned high speed rail would be weighed down with the weight of shareholder dividends that by the time it got up to speed it would be time to put the brakes on. It would still be 3hrs late too.
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Are we better off with a higher quality player? Yes, always. There is always a possibility to upgrade on our players.
But many times when we were far ahead or playing a poor team, we chose not to rotate or sub players off early. For example, versus West Ham in the 5-0 game… perhaps Mac Allister should have been subbed off at some point. Or Gravenberch in the 6-3 win over Spurs in the league. There have been many opportunities. Even the draw versus Newcastle… if we decided to shut up shop and brought on Endo for a tired MacAllister, we might have preserved our lead.
Either you trust the players we have on the bench or you get rid of them. Then we won’t have the numbers and you could say we lack depth. We played Morton and Endo in the EFL Quarter Final, why not in the first leg of a 2-leg semi?
It seems like one of his weaknesses (and I’m glad he doesn’t have many) but Slot, early on, looks like he trusts only a small group of players. We know Elliott can play… why couldn’t he come on for a poor Jones?
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