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Burnley post-match

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rurikbird

Part of the Furniture
Honorary Member


Some key points from Klopp:
  • Burnley players were too aggressive in sliding tackles, "those days are over."
  • Gomez injured, scan tomorrow
  • Keita was really good, "other players should use him more"
  • Matip, Moreno, Studge and Origi were "rusty," but grew into the game
  • Klopp criticized Shaqiri's performance – he better not be fooled by the gentle tone!
 
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Anybody who's missed the match might want to watch this:



Finally looking like the player we thought we signed. A note of caution – he made his opponents look like mugs, but they were mugs for the most part, probably the most agricultural and pedestrian midfield in the EPL. It won't be as easy against others.
 
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Naby was fine. Virgil a head above him. Imagine if midfielders could turn the direction of play as Virgil can!!
 
Anybody who's missed the match might want to watch this:


Finally looking like the player we thought we signed. A note of caution – he made his opponents look like mugs, but they were mugs for the most part, probably the most agricultural and pedestrian midfield in the EPL. It won't be as easy against others.


Part of the reason we struggled against Burnley in the past was our midfield was similarly "agricultural and pedestrian".

Keita should help against such low block teams with his ability to do something different and run with the ball. I hope he starts against United when the bring their bus to Anfield.
 
I think its safe to say we got away with that to a certain extent. A heavily rotated side away from home in the middle of a congested fixture list. Its typically where we stumble and in the first half we looked flat disjointed and unlikely to score. When the first goal went in it felt very much like a a case of 'here we go again'

This team has shown on a few occasions this season they are capable of grinding out a result even when playing poorly, something we probably havent had in the team for a very long time. In Alisson and VanDijk we have 2 players who haved improved the spine of the team enormously.

Thats the platform this seasons challenge is being built on. Even with an unbalanced midfield and a misfiring attack the spine of the team is making us competitive in every game.

Bring on Bournemouth and lets see how City respond to the pressure cranking up
 
When's the last time one of our midfield three made mugs look like mugs. He turns, drives, and makes people make decisions. With one or two speedy options running in behind, let them figure out who should come to the ball, quickly. We bought him for a reason. I'm expecting more of this.
 
Burnley 1 Liverpool 3: The Match Ratings

by Ben Johnson | Dec 5, 2018 | 2 comments



ARE we still doing this footy watching thing? I mean, seriously?
I thought we all decided that it couldn’t get any better than Sunday, for as long as we live, even if we find the pool off Cocoon and double bubble it with the magic mouse off The Green Mile and live till we are a million.
If these ratings are shite blame my complete and utter indifference given that I thought we had binned this nonsense on Sunday, and also the fact that I am trying to watch this in a hotel restaurant, with no commentary, in the middle of I don’t even really know, next to a table with a really rather lovely elderly gentleman who absolutely loves having his dinner.
I mean I have missed the first 20 minutes listening to him read out the menu and its pros and cons to his lady guest. “What about black pudding? That looks lovely. Asparagus tips, now they come with a lovely soft poached egg, dear. It’s quite the choice, apparently.”
Make no mistake, that is as impressive a Liverpool win as you will see. I honestly think that is up there with our best performances of the season. Didn’t panic, got ourselves back in the game, backed ourselves, made some smart changes to bladder them on the break. These Reds are going to take some stopping, you know.
Alisson: 8
Had his hair cut. Looks like Superman now as in how Superman was first imagined. Like an actual super man. Whereas, Joe Hart hasn’t had his hair cut, but really looks like he has, right down the middle. Get shut Joe, your self esteem will go through the roof, lad. Unless you have a weird head.
Has hard lines for the goal, doesn’t he? I mean, how’s that lad who goes for the first not offside? He’s offside, isn’t he? Unreal for the third goal there, you know. Does he save that one onto the post? Who’s arsed? Keeps it in, stops a corner, gets The Reds on the march with a great throw, 10 seconds later its 3-1, pressure off, undies on head, under me hat as I’m in a restaurant, and that.


Joey Gomez: n/a
Got whacked there, didn’t he? Need to keep your wits about you up them ways Joe, even when its going out for a corner. They’d kick a dead dog just to make sure. And when I say dead, I mean fucking buried.
Joel: 8
Thought his passing was shite there in the first half an hour. Ridiculous foul for the disallowed pearler. Part of a great line, though. That’s great defending holding a line like that. So well in, everyone. Defended really well in fairness. These are horrible to play against. Big, ugly and horrible.
Virgil: 8
They got in behind a few times first 30 minutes, but then in fairness they were legging themselves into the ground and we still managed to recover every time. Funny when teams try and rough him up, isn’t it? That rugby league lad for them didn’t get a sausage out of him. Brilliant for the goal.
Albie: 7
Thought he was actually pretty good first half. Then they scored and he went berserk a bit, giving it away for a laugh. Does well for our first though, in fairness.

Milner: 8
Scores a great goal, only place he can score, nestles it in the bottom corner. Goes left back and shows who Andy Robbo has been learning from. One of Jürgen’s best subs in a while that. Stretched the game, let us play from full back in a way that Albie and possibly Robbo can’t; mainly because he can play side on and use his right. Not great when you need to break down the line, but boss when you want to stretch the play and keep the ball.
Henderson: 7
Does all the horrible bits that you don’t see unless you want to. Like filling in for Virgil when he lost the ball, and closing space. Not at his best but was part of a functioning midfield which was nice. Remember that game years ago, where the ball bounced around everywhere and you had to get your little platform at the bottom of the screen to bounce it back up in the air to get the things in the sky? That’s Henderson that, acts as a mirror to open up passing lanes. Does it well.
Naby: 9
Excellent first half. Popping it off, always on the half turn. Doing that thing were he blags he’s in trouble and then legs past you, picking your pocket on the way. Like Bubs and his mate in The Wire. Picked up where he left off second half. Really unlucky for the save from auld, baldy Joe.
Could have scored a hat trick in about 10 seconds. (He couldn’t really like, because as soon as the first went in he wouldn’t have got any of the other chances, but you know what I mean.) Tired a little bit but that looked a hell of a lot like the fella we’ve been batting one out over on YouTube for the last two years.
Shaqiri: 8
Sharp when he got on it in and around the box but miscontrolled the one that mattered when he was in at the end of the first half. Feel like I want more out of him, to be honest. Not sure he offered enough. Hang on, he just give us more and offered the third goal. Shut up, bellend.

Dan Sturridge: 7
Another one where you feel like you might want more, but then he pieced it together lovely at times and the ball for the third is brilliant.
Divock: 8
Does it really matter? Didn’t offer much, but then, sets up the first in a way, by not being silly after a bit of a poor touch. To be honest, reckon he could sit in our house on the couch like fucking Jim Royle and I would pay him £500 a week for the privilege.
SUBS
Trent: 7

Puts a ball and a half in for the second. Shifts the angle, lashes it in the corridor. Scenes.
Firmino: 7
First touch, goal. Looked sharp. Probably because they looked bladdered by the time he come on. Not a bad plan all told. Linked up well, tried to boot their fella in the chest. All for that, to be fair.

Mo Salah: 8
Mad how sharp he looked when he come on. Almost like the rest and coming on against fellas with 70 minutes of trying the hardest they have in six months might have done him good. Great for the third, unlucky for a couple of others.
Honourable Mention:
Sean Dyche’s tie. Mad the way he only has one. Reckon he puts it back in the plastic wrapper about 10 minutes after full time every week. Had it 10 years.
 
Thoughts:

Alisson - we have a top top class goalie ... it makes a difference. He's imposing, he's calm, he's a great shot stopper, always seems to be where he needs to be and Pete loves him ... Score.

Gomez - Hope it's not serious ... He was blossoming ...

Moreno - I think it speaks volumes that Klopp pushed Milner there as we were pushing for the lead ... Volumes. He's gone in the summer.

VvD - Worth every single penny. Fucking world class.

Matip - Don't think he's good enough but looks like it's him, or Lovren, for the foreseeable future as VvD's partner.

Hendo - solid.

Milner - great goal, proper leader ...

Keita - WELCOME TO LIVERPOOL. Play him against Bournemouth ... he's ready to start contributing to this team and as we saw, he's the only midfielder we have who picks the ball up in the middle and first thing he thinks is move forward ... refreshing.

Origi - goal and assist in the last 60 minutes of play. rusty but not bad.

Studge - such class on the ball, but doesn't seems so slow.

Shaq - Not sure why Klopp is pissed with him but I thought he played well. Passes well, and ends the game with a goal.

Bobby - well done lad.
Salah - good cameo too.
 
I think its a brilliant result considering the players we rested.

Its been tough mentally I would think constantly having to play catch up with City.

Big opportunity at the weekend to finally put them under pressure. Tough game for us against Bournemouth but they are away at Chelsea so tough for them too. And we play first.

Last 8 premier league games 7 wins and a draw.
Thats fucking ludicrous.
 
Fifteen games, twelve wins and three draws. Just six goals conceded.

..... and we’re still only second
 
Shaq - Not sure why Klopp is pissed with him but I thought he played well. Passes well, and ends the game with a goal.
.

Klopp has called out Shaqiri a few times. It's like he's the only player Klopp notices when shit is going wrong. I had a teacher like that in primary school. There'd be a riot going on whilst she's out of the classroom, things being thrown around, fucking mayhem, and I'm just sitting chatting to my neighbour and she points and screams at me, eyes bulging out and with spittle flying, directing me to the head's office. Happened a number of times.
 
Klopp has called out Shaqiri a few times. It's like he's the only player Klopp notices when shit is going wrong. I had a teacher like that in primary school. There'd be a riot going on whilst she's out of the classroom, things being thrown around, fucking mayhem, and I'm just sitting chatting to my neighbour and she points and screams at me, eyes bulging out and with spittle flying, directing me to the head's office. Happened a number of times.

Obviously, different players respond to different type of motivation – Shaqiri is probably the type that needs to be prodded and challenged, it surely seems to be working so far. Klopp will never allow him to relax and think he's "made it" here. I think Sturridge was just as ineffectual in the 1st half, but notice how Klopp always builds up his confidence, talking about him as a "genius finisher" etc – he would quickly wilt under the Shaqiri treatment. It might seem unfair, but this is not about picking favorites, this is the manager's job to find what works for each player.
 
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I re-watched the 2nd half, some observations:
  • We won this game Man City style – with possession and crowding the midfield. At half-time Klopp instructed Sturridge to drop deeper and always play between the lines like a #10 rather than a second striker (I think Klopp's phrase was that in 1st half Sturridge was "too much a 2nd striker"). By the end of the game we had not 2, but arguably 5-6 playmakers: Firmino, Sturridge, Shaqiri, Keita and also Milner and Trent from the wings (the last two ended up there not entirely by design), which resulted in lots of eye-pleasing combinations and ball movement in a type of stadium and weather that would seem the least pre-disposed to it (not true – rain and slick grass actually helps, it's the dry slow bumpy grass that Klopp hates).
  • The reason this was effective, I think, is that for all of their brawn Burnley actually has a soft underbelly – I think they are either 1st or 2nd team in all of European top leagues in goals conceded from shots from outside the box. Their CMs are slow on the turn (as Keita's cat-like movements so clearly exposed) and poor at staying with the opponent – they either win the ball right away with a crunching tackle or drop off, with nothing in between. So Klopp's plan of sticking as many players in the #10 role as possible was absolutely spot-on as it exposed their biggest defensive weakness.
  • This is why Klopp was so frustrated with a couple of errant passes in the beginning – because the plan was to outplay and outpass them, make them chase the ball like a pack of big clumsy dogs and not allow ourselves to be sucked into playing the game Burnley's way.
  • The biggest underlying trait of this Liverpool team is undoubtedly trust. It's really striking how much the players trust their teammates – passing to a player under pressure and trusting them to make the right decision, trusting that someone will cover their position if they need to follow the opponent into a corner, trusting a teammate to bounce back after a mistake or two. This is 100% Klopp's personality reflecting on the pitch. Watch United play if you want to see stark contrast.
  • Sturridge needs to be taught to move even less. He should literally stand in the middle of the attacking third and wait for the ball to come to him and the space to open up because the opponents are too busy marking players who actually run. He is not a striker any more and should stop trying to be one – but he can be a damn good #10 in certain games like yesterday, because he can think of ideas no one else on the pitch can, like that delightful nonchalant chip to Salah for the 3rd that automatically drew the defender in and made the goal almost inevitable.
  • Rewatching the 2nd half, I noticed quite a few things that Henderson did well and I missed the first time around (at this point @Modo will probably take away his "like"). Like chasing down a counter and just nicking the ball cleanly or more often than not just appearing in the right place to block an opponent's space to run, then immediately dropping deep to help out on the next phase of attack. For the kind of "preventive defense" that Klopp demands of his midfield, sniffing out danger before it becomes truly dangerous, he is really effective or at least he was in this game, particularly when we were 2:1 up. He's not an easy player to like for sure, but Fabinho, Keita and others would do well to study how and why he moves around the pitch.
 
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Yeah Henderson was doing that when we put Burnley under pressure in the second half. An easy job, he's a DM he's supposed to win balls. It's like someone saying "I take care of my kids", "you're supposed to motherf!" (Chris Rock).
So did he do anything of note?
Imo no. When the tide is against us he falters, we've seen it time and time again from Captain not so fantastic. Ask yourself where he was during the first half when Burnley were waltzing through our midfield.

Pisses me off that Fabinho probably won't play against Bournemouth either despite doing well against Everton because of that, non tackling average fucking shite.

Why even highlight him after the game?
Was he even in the same stratosphere as Milner and Keita?
 
Youve reverted to type Modo.
We know what you think. You know what you think. Why keep fucking quacking on about it? Write to Jurgen and give our heads fucking peace.
 
Youve reverted to type Modo.
We know what you think. You know what you think. Why keep fucking quacking on about it? Write to Jurgen and give our heads fucking peace.
I should be allowed to reply if people call me out. Wasn't planning on saying shit.
 
And on that note.
Fabinho v Everton:
6 tackles
1 interception
2 Clearances
2/2 aerial duels won

Hendo v Burnley:
0 tackles
2 interceptions
0 clearences
1/2 aerial duels won

That's all.
 
I didnt see anything special from Hendo in this game, the most notable thing for me was how timid he was on the ball. We had Virgil launching 50 yard cross field passes from defence, Keita turning on a sixpence in the middle of the park and taking on all comers. By contrast Henderson seems to be an easy player to put off, the slightest sign of pressure from an opponent and he reverts to a safe pass back to to keeper or sideways to a defender.
 
He didn't call you Modo. He jokingly said you might rescind your 'like' to his post because he was complementing a player you despise.

It is odd and boring the way you carrying on about Henderson though. It's not as if Henderson has people clamouring to defend him or insist he plays every game.
 
I should be allowed to reply if people call me out. Wasn't planning on saying shit.
He didnt call you out at all you fucking snowflake.

You really improved for a while there. Now youre being a repetitive boring cunt again. Pity.
 
Klopp has called out Shaqiri a few times. It's like he's the only player Klopp notices when shit is going wrong. I had a teacher like that in primary school. There'd be a riot going on whilst she's out of the classroom, things being thrown around, fucking mayhem, and I'm just sitting chatting to my neighbour and she points and screams at me, eyes bulging out and with spittle flying, directing me to the head's office. Happened a number of times.

In the current legal climate, I'd estimate that EXACTLY enough time has now passed for you to sue her for damages and get her locked up for life. Go for it!
 
I didnt see anything special from Hendo in this game, the most notable thing for me was how timid he was on the ball. We had Virgil launching 50 yard cross field passes from defence, Keita turning on a sixpence in the middle of the park and taking on all comers. By contrast Henderson seems to be an easy player to put off, the slightest sign of pressure from an opponent and he reverts to a safe pass back to to keeper or sideways to a defender.

I only saw the second half, on a rubbish stream, so this isn't definitive, but Henderson did pretty well from what I saw, making some important interceptions, closing down space well, and generally "putting a shift in". One great tackle in there too. Yes, he was eclipsed by Keita and Milner, but he wasn't awful or anything. Certainly massively improved from his last shit-show.

He was also more positive with his passing, too. The issue with his safe, sideways and backwards passing is an easy thing to criticise, but there is a simple reason for it. You know how dogs can't look up? Well, Henderson cannot receive a ball and turn 180 degrees so that he is facing forwards. Watch him if you don't believe me.
 
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And on that note.
Fabinho v Everton:
6 tackles
1 interception
2 Clearances
2/2 aerial duels won

Hendo v Burnley:
0 tackles
2 interceptions
0 clearences
1/2 aerial duels won

That's all.

It's strange how some things just don't show up on the stat sheet – I clearly remember in the last 15 minutes Hendo tackling a player from behind (standing up, not sliding) and thus very cleanly preventing a dangerous counter – it was a brilliant defensive play, but somehow he has "0 tackles"?

And needless to say that I don't mean to start Fabinho vs Hendo flame war – each one has their own strengths and style and overall I think Fabinho can be an upgrade on Hendo if/when he fully settles. His attacking game, for one thing, if far superior. But at the moment I think Fabinho is not even close to Hendo in terms of preventing danger before it happens; his work is more noticeable, but that's not necessarily a good thing.

BTW, to shift the topic a little bit, I thought Keita did quite well on the defensive end – any thoughts on that? Like they say in basketball, he is a two-way player.
 
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He didn't call you Modo. He jokingly said you might rescind your 'like' to his post because he was complementing a player you despise.

It is odd and boring the way you carrying on about Henderson though. It's not as if Henderson has people clamouring to defend him or insist he plays every game.
Well in that case maybe I should be allowed to say why I'd possibly remove the "like" right? Which I didn't do btw.

Anyway, I'm not saying stuff I haven't said before so you're right, it is fucking boring.
 
He didnt call you out at all you fucking snowflake.

You really improved for a while there. Now youre being a repetitive boring cunt again. Pity.
I obviously can't control myself. Especially when I see a better player languishing on the bench.
 
I obviously can't control myself. Especially when I see a better player languishing on the bench.
But then 11 wins 3 draws man. You have to trust the process. Fabinho will play a lot. But the gaffer thinks he needs to be brought in slowly. Henderson is an average player, but he does the job Klopp wants of him, until such times as hes happy to move on from him.
 
I only saw the second half, on a rubbish stream, so this isn't definitive, but Henderson did pretty well from what I saw, making some important interceptions, closing down space well, and generally "putting a shift in". One great tackle in there too. Yes, he was eclipsed by Keita and Milner, but he wasn't awful or anything. Certainly massively improved from his last shit-show.

He was also more positive with his passing, too. The issue with his safe, sideways and backwards passing is an easy thing to criticise, but there is a simple reason for it. You know how dogs can't look up? Well, Henderson cannot receive a ball and turn 180 degrees so that he is facing forwards. Watch him if you don't believe me.

The problem is every other player in the league has noticed this too and exploits it
 
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