Genk (h) post-match
- Thread starter rurikbird
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Beat Napoli in the next game and we top the group regardless of the final game.
Means he can rest key players- rather than our normal approach of cutting it fine.
Finishing top will make the next round a lot easier, potentially..
Means he can rest key players- rather than our normal approach of cutting it fine.
Finishing top will make the next round a lot easier, potentially..
Yes beating Napoli next week means we can essentially give our big players a full weeks rest.
Great to see Ox continue his goal scoring run
Great to see Ox continue his goal scoring run
The usual suspects, Virgil, Salah, Alisson and Fabinho were all excellent.
Keita and Ox were very good.
But, the one player I thought stood out derensively was TAA. He’s been getting a lot of stick lately, but I thought he was very impressive. Several last ditch tackles to bail Gomez out, and clever interceptions.
Gomez was a bit all over the place, but he needs regular playing time.
Keita and Ox were very good.
But, the one player I thought stood out derensively was TAA. He’s been getting a lot of stick lately, but I thought he was very impressive. Several last ditch tackles to bail Gomez out, and clever interceptions.
Gomez was a bit all over the place, but he needs regular playing time.
He's definitely playing within himself to build confidence. He's so talented that he was still creative and was a part of both goals (run and pass to initiate the attack, overlaps Chamberlain giving him the decoy he needed). But we do hope to see even more from him and he was frustratingly light on the ball a couple times.
This is a midfield I hope to see often as it really frees Wijnaldum up to attack and makes us very difficult to press against with all the the midfielders being having superb ball control and technique.
Yeah I agree. He kept the ball well and stuck to keeping ti simple throughout first half. As you say he faded a little second half, but this should do him good. They actually highlighted his involvement first half during the halftime talk in the Norwegian TV studio.
He was lively, and he doesn't stop even if his finishing went all directions. It is easy to get frustrated when you stop hitting the net, but he keeps on trying so hopefully he find the net in the City game. What did worry me was that he couldn't set up Mane on a couple of occasions. Hopefully he will not drop his head and stop setting up others when trying to find the net himself.
Let's have some fucking RAAAAAAAATTTTIIIINNNNNGS?! Shall we?
Genk aren't very good, so three points at Anfield after battering them away, is the least we could expect. And we duly got it. It wasn't exactly a marvellous display, and we conceded - as usual - but we won and are top of the Group. Aces.
Alisson (6) Made a decent save to stop an equaliser, and dealt with most things. Had zero chance with the goal. Absolute bullet header.
TAA (7) Keeping up his recent fine form with another quality display. Put in some tasty challenges, gave little away, and was his usual Rolls-Royce self in his passing and crossing. One second-half pass was positively swoonsome.
Gomez (6) Still a few signs that he hasn't played much, but that silky acceleration was working just fine. Getting better, but needs more games.
Virgil (7) More like the usual dominance we have come to know and love from the red titan.
Milner (7) He's not as pacy and explosive as Robbo, but he is effective in a different way. Solid defensively (one stupid pass notwithstanding) and created chances going forward, too. He's as reassuring as a favourite snuggly blanky and a cup of tea.
Fabinho (6) Seemed to take ages to boot up and start working properly, but once he was going, Fabinho.exe worked as smoothly as usual, even if he has much more to give if required.
Wijnaldum (6) Extra point for the goal, and some nice ball retention and simple passing, but I think he still needs to do more, as he has been slipping into anonymity far too often this season.
Keita (5) Noddy zipped about in that tippy-tappy style of his, and was on the ball a fair amount, but apart from one good run and one clever pass, everything was just so, so safe; short 5-yard passes and not enough drive and creativity. He almost totally disappeared in the second half, and did his usual trick of standing around in the inside-right position and hoping Fabinho was near enough to pass to.
Chamberlain (7) Better again. Still makes the odd utterly braindead decision, but he certainly improved as the game went on, and showed some good positive, aggressive attacking football. Scored a fine goal. How Genk must hate the sight of him.
Salah (5) Showed flashes of his quality and looked more threatening than he has recently, but still woefully lacking his usual finishing touch and wasted a few decent openings. Lovely bit of skill to give Chamberlain his chance, but he should be offering much more.
Origi (5) Another who showed glimpses of quality, but just couldn't link it all together properly. Dragged one shot horribly wide.
Genk aren't very good, so three points at Anfield after battering them away, is the least we could expect. And we duly got it. It wasn't exactly a marvellous display, and we conceded - as usual - but we won and are top of the Group. Aces.
Alisson (6) Made a decent save to stop an equaliser, and dealt with most things. Had zero chance with the goal. Absolute bullet header.
TAA (7) Keeping up his recent fine form with another quality display. Put in some tasty challenges, gave little away, and was his usual Rolls-Royce self in his passing and crossing. One second-half pass was positively swoonsome.
Gomez (6) Still a few signs that he hasn't played much, but that silky acceleration was working just fine. Getting better, but needs more games.
Virgil (7) More like the usual dominance we have come to know and love from the red titan.
Milner (7) He's not as pacy and explosive as Robbo, but he is effective in a different way. Solid defensively (one stupid pass notwithstanding) and created chances going forward, too. He's as reassuring as a favourite snuggly blanky and a cup of tea.
Fabinho (6) Seemed to take ages to boot up and start working properly, but once he was going, Fabinho.exe worked as smoothly as usual, even if he has much more to give if required.
Wijnaldum (6) Extra point for the goal, and some nice ball retention and simple passing, but I think he still needs to do more, as he has been slipping into anonymity far too often this season.
Keita (5) Noddy zipped about in that tippy-tappy style of his, and was on the ball a fair amount, but apart from one good run and one clever pass, everything was just so, so safe; short 5-yard passes and not enough drive and creativity. He almost totally disappeared in the second half, and did his usual trick of standing around in the inside-right position and hoping Fabinho was near enough to pass to.
Chamberlain (7) Better again. Still makes the odd utterly braindead decision, but he certainly improved as the game went on, and showed some good positive, aggressive attacking football. Scored a fine goal. How Genk must hate the sight of him.
Salah (5) Showed flashes of his quality and looked more threatening than he has recently, but still woefully lacking his usual finishing touch and wasted a few decent openings. Lovely bit of skill to give Chamberlain his chance, but he should be offering much more.
Origi (5) Another who showed glimpses of quality, but just couldn't link it all together properly. Dragged one shot horribly wide.
It seems a lot of his work is underrated (see Brendan's 5/10 rating) ditto his technical skill on the ball. Nice passing skills again yesterday (that, no Brendan, weren't all 5m sideways). He doesn't seem to have a real 'highlight reel' yet though and I do expect (hope/pray) that's to come. Defensively he did really well yesterday and only gave it away once, that created a need to defend.
Controlled the game.
Hahahahahaha! Desperate.
Hahahahahaha! Desperate.
Re Salah not passing (again!), presumably people have noticed that this happens way more when he's not scoring.
That's not a coincidence by any means, he desperately wants a goal, & he'll snatch at every half chance he can get to do so. If he gets it, then he'll most likely find his scoring boots again, so it's perhaps not the worst thing in the world.
That's not a coincidence by any means, he desperately wants a goal, & he'll snatch at every half chance he can get to do so. If he gets it, then he'll most likely find his scoring boots again, so it's perhaps not the worst thing in the world.
Keita has the most pretty dribble on our team, that's for sure. He looks like he should be amazing. He's also better at carrying the ball than the rest of the midfield.
But our midfield three isn't structurally that expressive, and it has lots of defensive obligations to fuel how we play. Structurally it has to be disciplined, and it's clear that the primary purpose when we are on the ball is to circulate play, hold the ball, and crucially be ready to win the ball back and close space very quickly. More complicated interplay, especially centrally, is secondary. That's for the forwards. The trick, and no one has figured it out consistently yet, is to know when you can afford to have a bit more freedom and aggression. That is only going to happen with some consistency, so that the fullbacks particularly understand the midfielder on their side of the pitch. If both commit forward, we're one long ball away from conceding a chance.
That's in every one of our midfielders minds. Once we have some rhythm, they can do that more naturally, and figure out when to be a little looser. I hope we get there. I really hope Keita gets there. As enjoyable as it is to watch him run with a ball, I think Ox smashing them in is just a little bit better.
But our midfield three isn't structurally that expressive, and it has lots of defensive obligations to fuel how we play. Structurally it has to be disciplined, and it's clear that the primary purpose when we are on the ball is to circulate play, hold the ball, and crucially be ready to win the ball back and close space very quickly. More complicated interplay, especially centrally, is secondary. That's for the forwards. The trick, and no one has figured it out consistently yet, is to know when you can afford to have a bit more freedom and aggression. That is only going to happen with some consistency, so that the fullbacks particularly understand the midfielder on their side of the pitch. If both commit forward, we're one long ball away from conceding a chance.
That's in every one of our midfielders minds. Once we have some rhythm, they can do that more naturally, and figure out when to be a little looser. I hope we get there. I really hope Keita gets there. As enjoyable as it is to watch him run with a ball, I think Ox smashing them in is just a little bit better.
I'm far more annoyed by his shit passing, than his not passing or his desire to score. He misplaces more simple passes than anyone else on the team. Not threading the needle passes that might result in a goal, but a side footed 10 yard pass that keeps an attack going.
I'm definitely in the minority with Salah, and for some reason have never embraced him as a forward to the extent that I probably should have, but I think he's actually becoming a problem. He makes our team slightly lopsided, and it's only worthwhile if he's doing more in attack. When Suarez had off periods, he worked harder, but that's not in Salah's game. When Mane isn't on form, he helps his fullback. When Salah isn't on form, we finish less chances, AND give the opposition more.
It seems very clear that unless we are desperate for a goal then two of our midfielders are told to be the midfield fulcrum, to sit and distribute, with the third more advanced and given more freedom, whether that is Hendo (not very good at this to my mind but he does have the legs to get back) or Ox.
It's only when we need to break through and time is running down do we see the other midfielders start to push forward in support of the forwards, both to occupy defenders, create space (as Keita did yesterday for Ox's goal) or be an extra creative force. Both Fabs and Keita can do this, Fabinho actually has a very impressive record as a creator for the attack.
I thought Gomez was pretty good, one of his best games this season.
Fab looks a little distracted, not his usual standard as he lost the ball a few times with some wayward passing.
Keita was good in the first 20 mins, ok for the rest of the first, then faded altogether in the second.
He seems too easily brushed off the ball when they start to press us in the 2nd half.
Fab looks a little distracted, not his usual standard as he lost the ball a few times with some wayward passing.
Keita was good in the first 20 mins, ok for the rest of the first, then faded altogether in the second.
He seems too easily brushed off the ball when they start to press us in the 2nd half.
Wacist!
There are a select few in this side who are allowed by klopp to regularly lose possession.
Salah is amongst those few. The reason is obvious, because they're the risk takers, the players who try to make the difference which can lead to a goal.
The problem is obviously when those risks don't come off cos they're not in form, cos then they just become wasteful & a reason we're losing possession & in turn more likely to invite pressure.
Like everything in football, is scoring goals will make these issues just vanish, despite them still being there.
Fans can forgive eight wasted chances if two go in, or four chances to pass to a team mate if the fifth goes in.
Fine in a game like yesterday's. Absolutely shit if he does it on Sunday.
He seems to do that as he's hitting his stride again, you can see the tricks coming back and it's just that final moment that's not there. It'll come.
Hopefully on Sunday.
Perhaps we need to recallibrate how performances are judged? A player is often pigeon holed on this forum. What is considered neat and tidy to some is considered laughable and invisible to others. If a player has contributed to us winning a game as being a sum of the parts then I'm usually okay with that. It would be amazing if all players could have an 8 or 9/10 performance each match day but we are always going to witness average 6/10 performances from a host of players. Unless its a big European night, we spanked City and it's 10's all round.
I've always enjoyed Brendan's rating as they have grown to become a part of forum culture but I never see the point in making my own as I'd be plucking arbitrary numbers out of the sky. I know Brendan has his 'system' (extra point for a goal scored) but I've never agreed with some of the scoring. For example, when Frimino plays below his usual standard and gets a 3. Or Gini getting a 3 or 4 for just keeping it neat and tidy. I'm all for Gini to assert himself more and some of his performance are immediately forgettable but I would still factor in the fact he has still performed a secondary role in a game we've won. That's not a 3. It's a 6 no? A 3 is having a full blown Lovren vs Spurs.
Keita is the latest victim it seems in a skewed rating system. He's a 4 for some, 6/7 for another. Do we factor in the fact he cost 50 million and we expect more? Obviously it's all down to opinions but bias for and against makes a match rating system a bit redundant IMO.
I've always enjoyed Brendan's rating as they have grown to become a part of forum culture but I never see the point in making my own as I'd be plucking arbitrary numbers out of the sky. I know Brendan has his 'system' (extra point for a goal scored) but I've never agreed with some of the scoring. For example, when Frimino plays below his usual standard and gets a 3. Or Gini getting a 3 or 4 for just keeping it neat and tidy. I'm all for Gini to assert himself more and some of his performance are immediately forgettable but I would still factor in the fact he has still performed a secondary role in a game we've won. That's not a 3. It's a 6 no? A 3 is having a full blown Lovren vs Spurs.
Keita is the latest victim it seems in a skewed rating system. He's a 4 for some, 6/7 for another. Do we factor in the fact he cost 50 million and we expect more? Obviously it's all down to opinions but bias for and against makes a match rating system a bit redundant IMO.
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