Priorities, huh?

[SummerOnions]

Something my dad said to me last night (he's 80 in a few weeks, seen the best of us) came back in my thoughts at the end of this game.

He said screw this game, sort the league out, and I was like yeah but 5 games to go, surely we can get it done. He said there was no way we should risk not winning it.

Klopp off Mane (fair enough with how frustrated he was first half) and then Salah early on made me think Klopp is still putting the league first.

I can't really blame him, but is it just me thinking he wasn't too bothered given this is a very salvageable loss and we have pretty much a game every few days until the Palace game in over a month?

 

[Farkmaster]

Something my dad said to me last night (he's 80 in a few weeks, seen the best of us) came back in my thoughts at the end of this game.

He said screw this game, sort the league out, and I was like yeah but 5 games to go, surely we can get it done. He said there was no way we should risk not winning it.

Klopp off Mane (fair enough with how frustrated he was first half) and then Salah early on made me think Klopp is still putting the league first.

I can't really blame him, but is it just me thinking he wasn't too bothered given this is a very salvageable loss and we have pretty much a game every few days until the Palace game in over a month?

I think, happily, the person with the most realistic sense of this team, its strengths and weaknesses is jurgen klopp. As soon as we looked league favourites the discussion shifted to talk of trebles and invincibles and records, and I don't really see it, and I don't really care. We've had much better performances than what we just saw, but we've had a lot that looked like that, but against worse opposition. This team isn't going to roll through everything like some juggernaut, and it's shown diminished form from some important positions for a month now, especially fullback. And I don't give a shit, because it seems churlish to get greedy. We are playing with the houses money. We should get past athletico but if we dont, and everyone goes into inquest mode, they are welcome to it. I'll be at the parade.

 

[Farkmaster]

Oh and on the mane thing.. I figured he was babying him due to his recent injury, and the fact that he has to plan for the whole rest of the season.

 

[Mersey86]

Yes - I am "league first ... anything else is a bonus". I would like to beat Atletico though - hate losing to teams who play in the unmanly way they do. Maybe kidding myself - I hate losing to anybody, but would prefer to lose in an athletic rather than dramatic contest.

 

[Dreambeliever]

Ya frustrating night. I think Mane came to remove the risk of him being sent off.

I’m not sure we’ll break them down at Anfield but it’s wonderful to see it as a bonus as opposed to a season deciding fixture like last season.

 

[Dreambeliever]

Yes - I am "league first ... anything else is a bonus". I would like to beat Atletico though - hate losing to teams who play in the unmanly way they do. Maybe kidding myself - I hate losing to anybody, but would prefer to lose in an athletic rather than dramatic contest.

I’d rather go out to them than an English side or Real, Barca, PSG or Juve.

 

[singlerider]

I wondered if the taking off of Salah was due to the snidey fouls they were pulling - a number of times, they dragged our players down using the sneaky (well, actually, *not* that sneaky, the ref was just fucking shit) wrap-the-arm-around-their-arm tug that was pretty reminiscent of the shit Ramos pulled in the final that fucked Salah's shoulder - and the ref simply wasn't penalising them for it, not even giving a foul.

Part of me thought it might be a precautionary thing, given that there was zero protection from the ref? Might just be overthinking it though...

 

[Squiggles]

The PL and CL remain of equal importance to me so I'd be gutted to go out at this stage with how well placed we are, but Atletico under Simone are a difficult and challenging beast. They are not quite what they are, but Simone is one of the best destructive tacticians in the game, likely the best, and you do have to be at your best to beat them away. By all accounts we were well off the pace. We'll raise it unquestionably at Anfield. The attacking game has to click. The defense cannot concede without making life very difficult. This tie will be settled by one goal.

 

[Peatcheo]

I think Klopp was right to take Mane off, he has recently returned from injury and they would have continued to try and get him sent off.

When he took Salah off I genuinely thought he was probably content to take a 1 nil loss to Anfield.

The league will definitely be the priority, but I don't think he is sacrificing the CL.

 

[MomoWASright]

Why isn’t all (most) this in the post match thread? There isn’t any point in discussing the same thing across 2 threads.

I know that wasn’t the reason why the thread was opened but it’s headed that way.

Back to @SummerOnions original point, we could be champions by the time we have the second leg. Or we could just require 2 more wins. I think it wasn’t a case of prioritising the league but protection of Mané and Salah for the rest of the season as we are battling on 3 fronts now.

 

[mark1975]

Oh and on the mane thing.. I figured he was babying him due to his recent injury, and the fact that he has to plan for the whole rest of the season.

And the card. Like you say, it's not the end of world and I think Klopp makes the same subs on another day and Milner is there to assist, or Ox scores a 20-25 harder, it's certainly no less guaranteed than Keita doing something. We've got our "not playing that great" run, and if all we've got to mull over is a narrow result away at a notoriously difficult ground, I'll take that on the chin.

We should beat them, but I'm not arsed either way, I just want the league and anything else is a bonus, that for one season I can take a pass on.

 

[Dreambeliever]

The PL and CL remain of equal importance to me so I'd be gutted to go out at this stage with how well placed we are, but Atletico under Simone are a difficult and challenging beast. They are not quite what they are, but Simone is one of the best destructive tacticians in the game, likely the best, and you do have to be at your best to beat them away. By all accounts we were well off the pace. We'll raise it unquestionably at Anfield. The attacking game has to click. The defense cannot concede without making life very difficult. This tie will be settled by one goal.

I really think it was more about them stopping us play than us not being at our best.

 

[Modo]

Why isn’t all (most) this in the post match thread? There isn’t any point in discussing the same thing across 2 threads.

I know that wasn’t the reason why the thread was opened but it’s headed that way.

Back to @SummerOnions original point, we could be champions by the time we have the second leg. Or we could just require 2 more wins. I think it wasn’t a case of prioritising the league but protection of Mané and Salah for the rest of the season as we are battling on 3 fronts now.

Guess people want to highlight their own posts...

 

[manwithnoname]

I really think it was more about them stopping us play than us not being at our best.

It was absolutely both

 

[manwithnoname]

Something my dad said to me last night (he's 80 in a few weeks, seen the best of us) came back in my thoughts at the end of this game.

He said screw this game, sort the league out, and I was like yeah but 5 games to go, surely we can get it done. He said there was no way we should risk not winning it.

Klopp off Mane (fair enough with how frustrated he was first half) and then Salah early on made me think Klopp is still putting the league first.

I can't really blame him, but is it just me thinking he wasn't too bothered given this is a very salvageable loss and we have pretty much a game every few days until the Palace game in over a month?

Your Dad is right that the title is paramount, but it's also relevant to the discussion to acknowledge that we are TWENTY-FIVE points clear at the top, and we should be able to manage the squad and still deliver the measly five victories we need to win it.

But last night was "one of those games". We have another chance to get at them at Fortress Anfield.

 

[Skullflower]

I think we'll go out unfortunately. On away goals.

 

[Insignificance]

Your Dad is right that the title is paramount, but it's also relevant to the discussion to acknowledge that we are TWENTY-FIVE points clear at the top, and we should be able to manage the squad and still deliver the measly five victories we need to win it.

But last night was "one of those games". We have another chance to get at them at Fortress Anfield.

Yes we are 25 points clear. But 25 points was the exact number we were told to make up a couple of summers ago so we are barely at Zero Kelvin here. Plenty of work remains to be sorted.

 

[StevieM]

I think Mane came to remove the risk of him being sent off.

Well, I suppose Klopp literally pulled him off at half time then!