Off Topic English football

[Ashez]

Well we have to sign him now 

Who'd have guessed we'd get a Liverpool song to the bloody Tetris theme 😂

The new Torres bounce perhaps 😂

[Rob]

Tetris. Brilliant.

[Felix_is_king]

Im from Boston Massachusetts so we here have a deep history with John Henry because he owns the Red Sox and I don't know if he's like this at Liverpool but he's just uninterested with the Red Sox. What he did yesterday by making an apology video is crazy because he has never done this here.

[Rich]

I love when we’re on early on a Saturday, get the game out of the way 😂

Was hoping to see Callum Wilson start today but nope. We shall see how this game goes!

[Ashez]

That half has worn me out. Our finishing is on a whole other level 😂

[Dai_]

6 minutes ago, Ashez said:

That half has worn me out. Our finishing is on a whole other level 😂

😂

Our Joelinton is on a whole other level. 🤦‍♂️

[Rich]

Well what a final few minutes that was, crazy 😂

[Ashez]

How predictable was that, our forwards have a lot to answer to. They've been like it since Xmas but today was absolutely embarrassing. 

Obviously relieved when the goal was disallowed but it felt dirty. Getting the second equaliser is sickening though 😂. 

[Rob]

Well I didn’t expect that result 

[Aaron Thornton]

Bruceyball is worming his way to a new contract. 

[Woody]

A smash n grab result there!

[Dai_]

15 minutes ago, Ashez said:

How predictable was that, our forwards have a lot to answer to. They've been like it since Xmas but today was absolutely embarrassing. 

Obviously relieved when the goal was disallowed but it felt dirty. Getting the second equaliser is sickening though 😂. 

On the flip side, that high line will kill you. Even with significantly fewer chances for us, it could easily of been 4-4 at half time. 

You must want every chance to fall to Salah. He's the only one you can rely on.

[Ashez]

Just now, Dai_ said:

On the flip side, that high line will kill you. Even with significantly fewer chances for us, it could easily of been 4-4 at half time. 

You must want every chance to fall to Salah. He's the only one you can rely on.

The highline without VVD, Gomez and Fabinho in midfield has hurt us all season, even in the previous seasons we just trusted we'd get away with it. Doing that without two quick dominant CBs though is daft. 

The finishing today cost us though, we could have been out of sight early on which kills the game. Taking Thiago off was a massive mistake though, once we lost the midfield we were in trouble. 

You can tell how much we're missing our captain and leaders. Hendo is a big miss in midfield and obviously VVD, but that's why Milner came on but we shouldn't be relying on a 35 year old. 

Tbh apart from the last 5-10 mins when we bottled it I thought we played well. Kabak was excellent, Bobby was popping up everywhere and Thiago was running the show but Jota and especially Mane shit the bed in front of goal. It's no surprise the one we scored was the one Salah took on instinct, every other chance we had time and space and messed it up. 

That Trent volley though, woo that would have been one hell of a goal. 

Gini and Robbo aren't lasting matches anymore, they've been played into the ground. I rate Gini highly and I'll be sad to see him go but he's obviously off so bin him now and get someone ready for next season. It was crazy he was the one we left on when he looked tired, ghosted through the game and has played too much. It's the issue of not being able to trust Oxlade and Naby though. 

I'm not going to go OTT and say we need a whole rebuild but this squad now needs work. We need a backup fullback who can actually feature, we need CBs so Fabinho isn't needed there, and we need to rejig the midfield. Oxlade or Naby need moving on, we need to replace Gini and ideally bring in one more. Origi and Shaqiri also need to be shown the door so we can bring in a striker/attacker Klopp will want to bring on. There were rumours Jota was out today so I assume he had a knock and that's why he was replaced, but Mane should have came off. 

We've the deadwood to sell to start the rebuild but it'll be tough, especially as we didn't bother doing it when we were in a position of strength. 

We'll win the league next year regardless. This year has just been one thing after another and unfortunately we don't deserve top 4. We were top and clear at Xmas ffs, then the strikers completely shit the bed and we've dropped like a stone due to awful finishing and suspect defending. 

[Rob]

@Ashez what’s your thoughts on how Thiago has been as a signing? 

[Ashez]

5 minutes ago, Rob said:

@Ashez what’s your thoughts on how Thiago has been as a signing? 

Bright start, then Covid and the horror tackle against Everton really disrupted him. 

When he was finally back fit (2-3 months iirc) he came back into a disfunctional and struggling team and he struggled. 

He was signed to play alongside Fabinho which just hasn't happened enough. However we've had spells and games where he's been by far the best player in the pitch, where he's run the show and looked immense, but everything in front of him and behind him let him down like today. 

Admittedly he does look to play his own game and doesn't seem to be functioning like we do, I dunno if that's by design or if he's not buying into what we do though. When you think of the Klopp midfield you think of the energy, the press and the graft. Henderson, Milner, Gini and Fabinho were the successful midfield, especially in Europe and it says alot Klopp reverted to that against Madrid. Obviously Thaigo was signed to be the lockpick, all those "he slows us down" reports are nonsense imo, but he doesn't offer what we've had success with in the past. With Fabinho and Hendo/Gini alongside him we could likely carry him a little more and allow him to be freer but without Fabinho in midfield he's restricted. 

It's no shock we've dropped points in the two league games Fabinho has had to go back into CB. He played 3 at DMC in the league and we won, he goes back to CB and we drop points. Today we were "okay" until we removed Thiago, without Thiago, Henderson and Fabinho in midfield we've little. 

Klopp has made mistakes this season and persisting with Fabinho at CB has been the biggest one. Obviously we didn't know Phillips could do a job and I get why Klopp was hesitant to throw him in but that period was painful, the second Fab was back in midfield we looked strong again. Phillips misses out against Leeds and Newcastle and we drop points. Interestingly when we conceded to Leeds Fabinho was moved to CB. 

If the club had a CB agreed and done for January 1st I guarantee we'd be comfortably top 4. Waiting until the end of January is what killed the season off, it meant we played players into the ground to cope and then had to bed a new CB in once the shit had hit the fan. For what it's worth I really like Kabak, for a kid he's brilliant. 

The story though isn't really the CBs, losing then was seen as the big deal and don't get me wrong we've been sloppy at the back but it's the drop in the front three that's hurt us. Salah is a freak of nature and such an underrated player, Mane and Firmino though have dropped off a cliff. Bobby has been out of form for like two years now, I think his time has come and he needs to go into the rotation, even if he has looked better recently. As for Mane I have no idea, his drop off has been scarily huge, I pray he's just tired and will be back to himself next season as on his day he's unplayable, he's just been awful since Xmas. Not taking chances cost us verse Leeds, Madrid and Newcastle, that's where the issue is. 

[samhardy]

57 minutes ago, Aaron Thornton said:

Bruceyball is worming his way to a new contract. 

7 points from 3 games including fixtures against West Ham and Liverpool isn’t acceptable for them I’m afraid. They needed minimum 10.

[Aaron Thornton]

1 minute ago, samhardy said:

7 points from 3 games including fixtures against West Ham and Liverpool isn’t acceptable for them I’m afraid. They needed minimum 10.

I hope you're right

[Ashez]

I really starting to like this lad 🤔

[Rich]

2 minutes ago, Ashez said:

I really starting to like this lad 🤔

His Twitter is great, he comes across really well on there. He’s awesome 😁

[Rob]

2 minutes ago, Ashez said:

I really starting to like this lad 🤔

What a bloody classy thing to do.

Interesting that Thiago has been good, as the lazy assumption from outside is that he’s changed how you play and that’s the downfall... which is nuts when you consider that he’s world class. 

[Ashez]

3 minutes ago, Rich said:

His Twitter is great, he comes across really well on there. He’s awesome 😁

He's one I just like watching, even today it was almost exciting when he got on the ball. With better players around him i wonder how good he could be. 

3 minutes ago, Rob said:

What a bloody classy thing to do.

Interesting that Thiago has been good, as the lazy assumption from outside is that he’s changed how you play and that’s the downfall... which is nuts when you consider that he’s world class. 

That's the lazy Sky theory imo. 

Obviously our style of play changed, and it changed when he came into the team because that allowed us to drop Fabinho back with Thiago as the DMC. 

When he came into the team we were still trying to play high, with a front three that were too knackered to press with wingbacks who lost their way as they never knew how attacking to be without the protection of VVD and the midfield shield of Fabinho. The lack of press gave the opposition time and space, the highline left space in behind which caught the WBs out which also impacted our width and attacking out put. 

He's a world class midfielder, a generational talent and apparently he ruined us? Like nothing else was going on at that time 😂. We've thrived on quick and direct balls into space, yes Thiago is a tad more "tiki-taka" but who else is better at direct and clever balls? Milner? 😂. 

Our longest CB partnership happened in March/April with one being signed in January. We've rarely had our first choice midfielders in midfield with injuries or them at CB and the front three have miss fired but sure Thiago slows us down 😂. In the matches you want his creativity it's against the low blocks where you want his measured passing and lock picking anyway for crying out loud. I never got the he's slowed us down narrative. 

[Rob]

1 minute ago, Ashez said:

He's one I just like watching, even today it was almost exciting when he got on the ball. With better players around him i wonder how good he could be. 

That's the lazy Sky theory imo. 

Obviously our style of play changed, and it changed when he came into the team because that allowed us to drop Fabinho back with Thiago as the DMC. 

When he came into the team we were still trying to play high, with a front three that were too knackered to press with wingbacks who lost their way as they never knew how attacking to be without the protection of VVD and the midfield shield of Fabinho. The lack of press gave the opposition time and space, the highline left space in behind which caught the WBs out which also impacted our width and attacking out put. 

He's a world class midfielder, a generational talent and apparently he ruined us? Like nothing else was going on at that time 😂. We've thrived on quick and direct balls into space, yes Thiago is a tad more "tiki-taka" but who else is better at direct and clever balls? Milner? 😂. 

Our longest CB partnership happened in March/April with one being signed in January. We've rarely had our first choice midfielders in midfield with injuries or them at CB and the front three have miss fired but sure Thiago slows us down 😂. In the matches you want his creativity it's against the low blocks where you want his measured passing and lock picking anyway for crying out loud. I never got the he's slowed us down narrative. 

He looks incredible when I see him. Like you said, the injured to the other folk, especially a rather good central defender, is the real reason. Not the signing of, for me, the joint best CM in Europe.

Pundits are hilarious. They’re out in force this week claiming Spurs shouldn’t have sacked Jose. The guy is a cloud of negativity. Horrible man, horrible manager. 

[Ashez]

9 minutes ago, Rob said:

He looks incredible when I see him. Like you said, the injured to the other folk, especially a rather good central defender, is the real reason. Not the signing of, for me, the joint best CM in Europe.

Pundits are hilarious. They’re out in force this week claiming Spurs shouldn’t have sacked Jose. The guy is a cloud of negativity. Horrible man, horrible manager. 

Give him a full season in midfield next year partnered with Fabinho and then we'll see his quality. He has underwhelmed but the whole squad has. About 5 players will come out of this season with their head held high, the rest have alot to make up for next season. 

[Woody]

3 hours ago, Ashez said:

I really starting to like this lad 🤔

Blokes awesome. I hope he stays but the big offers will defo come in.

[Aaron Thornton]

Sheer dominance from City

[Rob]

22 minutes ago, Aaron Thornton said:

Sheer dominance from City

Yeah. What a team. And Spurs are a bit naff tbh. 

[Rich]

They were brilliant, should have been a few more than 1-0. If only they had a quality striker like Joelinton.

[Mr Tree]

Championship playoffs are locked with two games left - one of Bournemouth, Brentford, Swansea or Barnsley will be joining the big boys. I know Vibe loves Brentford (why wouldn't you), but any other input? All four teams have significant flaws. We've had "interesting" encounters with the other 3 that I'd bore you with but last year we beat our local rivals home and away before choking against them in the big one, so who really knows....

Bit odd anyway to have 3 weeks now till our next meaningful game...

Edited April 25, 2021 by Mr Tree

[Rich]

6 minutes ago, Mr Tree said:

Championship playoffs are locked with two games left - one of Bournemouth, Brentford, Swansea or Barnsley will be joining the big boys. I know Vibe loves Brentford (why wouldn't you), but any other input? All four teams have significant flaws. We've had "interesting" encounters with the other 3 that I'd bore you with but last year we beat our local rivals home and away before choking against them in the big one, so who really knows....

Bit odd anyway to have 3 weeks now till our next meaningful game...

I don’t live far from Swansea so a few of my mates support them, they have not been good at all last couple of months but have somehow got in there, they have the odd game where they’ll play decent. Would be very weird seeing Barnsley come out of nowhere and get to the prem!

[Mr Tree]

I'm obviously a bit biased but...

Bournemouth going up would be sad cos all three relegated teams would go straight back up... boring. 

Swansea would be a travesty. Just dirty cheating c***s. As ugly as their manager. 

And barnsley....... respect for what they've achieved, of course. (In)famously beat us on the last day of last season to stay up (and deny us auto promotion). I think there's some story about their owners considering us before investing in Yorkshire, so it'd be galling from that aspect too to see them overtake us. 

And yet I'm likely to have to live with one of those realities, cos we might be missing three regulars including Josh Dasilva and our only left-back, Rico Henry. 

Good old Don Goodman pondered on comms yesterday the "damage" that might be done to the bees if we don't go up, but i think we'd be alright... no doubt we'd lose a couple, but hopefully not 6 or 7!