EPL Matchday 23

Apr 8, 2007
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He was rushing out to collect it, if Rudiger had of looked or listened it wouldnt have been a goal.
I don't think he's getting there.

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Look how close the Sheff Utd player is and Rudiger hasn't played the ball yet. Clearly by his arm he's calling to Rudiger and Rudiger obviously thought that meant backpass, not.. I'm coming out to get the ball. Calamity.
 
Oct 5, 2007
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I don't think he's getting there.

View attachment 1053501

Look how close the Sheff Utd player is and Rudiger hasn't played the ball yet. Clearly by his arm he's calling to Rudiger and Rudiger obviously thought that meant backpass, not.. I'm coming out to get the ball. Calamity.
Agree its a calamity, but its on Rudiger to me. If he looks or listens then theres no goal scored there.
 

jd2010

Well done boys. Good process, carry on
Feb 1, 2010
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Perfectly logical to suggest Kane may have been subbed in the last 20 mins being 2-0 up against the worst team in the league after coming back from injury earlier than expected
Perfectly logical to suggest Kane may have been subbed in the last 20 mins being 2-0 up against the worst team in the league after coming back from injury earlier than expected
270 mins plus possible extra time across 7 days and we've got Everton, city and wba. You'd think he might get a bit of a rest
 

BuddyHawk

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Mar 17, 2006
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This ain't ment to be trolly, but questions will start to come about whether Klopp can keep this up with Liverpool.

3 European finals, 2 back to back incredible league seasons. 6 years in charge.

Does he and this squad have the ability to get it back again.

This could be the start of his Dortmund decline.

He has definitely earned the right to see if he can turn it around next season, with a few (hopefully) shrewd summer signings and a better run with injuries. He may also need to make a few tactical tweaks to make them more efficient in possession, ala Pep this season - a case in point being today's game, where City had 44 per cent possession and just 8 shots, yet scored 4 goals, even allowing for a missed penalty. They had multiple games last season where they had 20+ shots and only scored once, or not at all.

I reckon Dortmund's decline under Klopp is a bit overstated, too - they followed up their back-to-back titles with second-place finishes in 2012-13 and 2013-14, behind a pretty amazing Bayern team, and did well in the UCL in both seasons. They were poor in his final season - 2014-15 - but who knows if that would have proven an aberration if he had stuck around?

Liverpool should, in theory, be also able to replenish the squad in the way Dortmund couldn't at the time, provided FSG's financial situation isn't too diabolical (time will tell). He definitely won't find himself in a situation where his best forward joins his biggest rivals on a free transfer, like when Lewandowski crossed to Bayern - the equivalent would be Salah joining City on a free, which clearly isn't going to happen (he may join Real, of course, but they'll be stumping up a fair bit of cash to get him).

I still think Klopp's the man for the job, provided he's keen to stick around. I hope the challenge of building his second title-winning side appeals to him - and while things don't look great at the moment, in reality he has a much, much better squad than when he took over a couple of months in to the 2015-16 campaign, so it's not inconceivable to think it could happen again next season.

Re. today's game - big congrats to City, as they found a perfect balance between their own natural attacking instincts and the more cautious approach adopted by several other teams who have recently had success against Liverpool. The upshot was even though they spent a lot of time without the ball by their standards, their defence looked pretty comfortable for the most part and - most crucially - they hardly ever over-committed and left themselves open for the counter. It was a clever coaching by Pep, and may be a blueprint for how they tackle the UCL knock-outs.
 

glenferry23

Brownlow Medallist
Apr 26, 2010
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Clinical from City, very ominous form they’re in. Beautiful to watch when in this touch. Albeit very poor from Allison, uncharacteristically bad. Twice.

It was a pull back sure, however Salah sure does make the most of that kind of contact in the box.
 

jd2010

Well done boys. Good process, carry on
Feb 1, 2010
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Those ppg comparisons are some of the laziest things I see going around. It's so facile to take a selective period of time to compare when more significant underlying factors matter. Klopp had a worse ppg than Rodgers up to a point and even the ppg brigade were out with Arteta v Emery and look how that's panned out.
It was Poch's final 46 games in the league it was comparing to. It's not like it was too high of a base to beat. It's a ppg bar that got the last manager sacked
 
If Liverpool weren’t playing Everton next, I’d say they’d lose 4 in a row at Anfield. Luckily for them, we cannot win there.
 
He was injured. Lol
Regardless he’s just had 10 days or so not running around for 90 minutes. He didn’t need a rest and we were well within our rights to select him agead of Vinicius.
 
Oct 5, 2009
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Interesting decision from Oliver. Dias lucky not to be given a red, at the same time boy did Salah flop very easily.
stones was on the cover. dias didnt need to touch him cos he knew surely just breathing on him gets the sniper in the stands ready. uncharacteristic from dias to panic like that cos salah's touch wasnt too good either.
 

jd2010

Well done boys. Good process, carry on
Feb 1, 2010
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Regardless he’s just had 10 days or so not running around for 90 minutes. He didn’t need a rest and we were well within our rights to select him agead of Vinicius.
He is nursing two ankle injuries. Thats not resting, that's recovering from two injuries albeit little ones. Let's hope his ankles hold up for the next two more important 90 mins against Everton and City because Viniscius and co shouldn't be trusted
 
It was Poch's final 46 games in the league it was comparing to. It's not like it was too high of a base to beat. It's a ppg bar that got the last manager sacked

Didn't Poch get sacked because he'd lost the players? Are you suggesting Mou has lost the players?

Again, a ppg bar is not the be all and end all. It's an incredibly lazy and facile analysis tool which doesn't take into account a multitude of factors.
 

jd2010

Well done boys. Good process, carry on
Feb 1, 2010
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Didn't Poch get sacked because he'd lost the players? Are you suggesting Mou has lost the players?

Again, a ppg bar is not the be all and end all. It's an incredibly lazy and facile analysis tool which doesn't take into account a multitude of factors.
Nah the players were devastated largely. He was gone because our form had dipped and we were achieving sub top 4 results.

46 games is a big enough sample size and we've gone nowhere in them with a manager that it would be fair to say isn't expected to be here for a long term project. Fair enough if you go two steps backwards in the first season and a half with manager you expect will take you three forward over seasons 4-6.
 
Jun 7, 2007
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Interesting decision from Oliver. Dias lucky not to be given a red, at the same time boy did Salah flop very easily.
That would never happen
stones was on the cover. dias didnt need to touch him cos he knew surely just breathing on him gets the sniper in the stands ready. uncharacteristic from dias to panic like that cos salah's touch wasnt too good either.
Should have been a red for Salah then for denying Stones a goal scoring opportunity
 

BuddyHawk

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Haven't read opinions on the incident here but just watched the highlights and typical Salah. ******* cheat.
The touch didn't constrict him or knock him off balance, he just chose to fall.

It was soft, and I say that as a Liverpool fan. Reminded me of the way Drogba used to go to ground whenever anyone "made contact" with him in the penalty box.

I can understand why VAR didn't overturn it, though, as there was contact - Dias first put his right arm across Salah's midriff, then his left hand briefly grabs Salah's arm, although that was probably a reflex action to Salah trying to push him off. But still, not a clear and obvious refereeing error.

I originally thought the Sterling penalty was soft, too, but after watching the replay again I reckon it was fair enough. Fabinho tries to get out of his path, but his trailing leg was still sticking out and running at the speed he was, it was hard for Sterling to avoid the contact.
 
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