To be fair, on a broad basis I would not have taken West Ham as a rival too but they played to their strengths as a team and they beat us. So yes Arsenal did not have the best of starts, but credit to them, they got things together and is now creeping up the table so they are strong rivals for this game even if there are still doubts whether they are now strong enough as a team in the long run. But yet we know what happens when we doubt a Klopp team, they come back strong so I go for a 3-1 win for us.
1 Like
VVD is playing 80% where we know he can play.
However VVD at 80% is still better than every other defender in the world.
4 Likes
You are entitled to your opinion but to me that is BS. There are a lot of excellent CB’s out there and Van Dijk is one of them but not at 80%, none of them is.
2 Likes
I wasn’t actually being serious with that but what I would say in a game where the opponent is 2 points behind us, they are in form and we are out of form - VVD plays unless his leg is hanging off… and even then I’d be tempted to start him
2 Likes
I wouldnt start him. He was good V United and poor V Brighton and we need 3 points.
Matips had 2 weeks off so is fresh.
2 Likes
One point from the previous two games. We need the win, so this is a big game, no matter what your opinion of Arsenal is.
6 Likes
Not really arsed about the result, just hoping for no leg-breakers on our lads.
1 Like
1 Like
The whole team was poor against Brighton?
Who else should we drop?
2 Likes
No one just konate because he isn’t up to speed of the PL yet.
I would swap a broken leg for 3 points.
Time for sacrifice and not play at 80% like we did in the last 20 minutes vs Chelsea, Brentford or Brighton.
We’re at home so we need to win. Simple as.
5 Likes
I don’t think we can really question our effort. It’s a key factor, but obviously not the only one. There’s quality of execution, too. Game management, decisions, luck. There’s the quality of the opponent (or on the day or in a certain period of the match), too.
2 Likes
In those three games in the last 30 minutes I question our effort.
Felt like ‘easy peasy’ ‘4th gear’ ‘winning goal will come we’re the mentality monsters’.
Nah, I think it was more about quality in moments, mistakes, understanding. Sometimes the opponent defending really well or being fresher. You mention 3 games there and there were different problems why we didn’t win them. I didn’t question our pure will to win. Sometimes higher gears are counter productive (par example you don’t beat Brentford by allowing them to make it a wild game, you need to put them in their places with the risks they take). I think we gave “100%” we could in that moment, even if it wasn’t a real 100%.
I’m sure we had some games under Klopp where a little bit of effort was also lacking. It’s difficult to know/separate that exactly, impossible. We can only speculate and exchange opinions.
We’ll see what happens in this coming winter time, let’s go game by game together with the team.
3 Likes
Aubameyang is back in training.
2 Likes
Smash 'em we’re shit! 
2 Likes
Wtf is going on in this thread?
Post internationals nonsense. 
1 Like
I’m not sure if it’s lack of effort or if we’re just not in as good a physical condition as we were in in 2019-20. The players certainly do look more worn out. I do agree that we could possibly do better, but it’s not a real thread connecting all the games in which we’ve dropped points so far. Against Chelsea it was the fact that they were almost entirely focused on defending and attacking us on the counter occasionally, while against City it was very much a case of our focus dropping, when you need to be 110% focused against such a dangerous team. Against Brentford, I think again we let our concentration slip, but also they are a good team. I think we were underway with a tactical transition at the time too, which didn’t help things. Against West Ham, I would say they got lucky, and refereeing decisions in their favour.
1 Like