27 May 2018 13:36:43
Absolutely gutted for the boys - not for the result but for the manner of it. I was really hoping for some beautiful attacking play worthy of our run to the final, but while the first 30mins promised much, the way Salah was dragged down and injured, and the way we played so poorly after he left, and watching Karius crumble on the big stage was devastating.

I sincerely hope the whole team can pick themselves up from this, as we seem to be on the brink of something truly special. The biggest disaster of all would be if we let something like this impact the momentum going into next season.

Now for some home truths

- I've always felt the gap between our front three and the rest was ridiculously big. So it proved last night, not just in talent but also in style. Our game relies on Firmino dropping deeper to act as playmaker and to create space, with a pair of wide attackers able to use their pace and movement to take advantage, get into the box and score. We clearly don't have anyone else in the squad able to do that apart from Mane and Salah, and with only one of them on the pitch the opposition can shut us down all to easily. We need a top top wide attacking forward in the transfer window to allow us to remain a threat if any of the front three are injured/ need a rest. It's critical. RM must have been laughing when we took off Salah and brought on Lallana. They knew we wouldn't be nearly as dangerous.

- I've been proud of Gini and Milner individually this season, they've given everything, but it is also clear that they both need the front three to click or we look toothless. Without Mane, Salah and Firmino on fire, our midfield is exposed for what it is - workmanlike. We need someone able to pick the game up and create danger if the front three are struggling, and hopefully Keita is that player. Kroos and Modric schooled us once Salah went off and we can't let that happen again.

- GK. I've been one of Karius's backers, mostly because Mig's was clearly not the answer, but I think Karius will take time to get over this, and the team will need time to trust him again. I think it's critical after the final that we go all out for the best GK we can get to start next season. Karius may come back, and I hope for his own sake he grows to live this down and succeeds in the long run, but unfortunately we can't go into next season with him as our no.1, there's too much at stake

- Finally, I think Klopp missed a trick. It was clear going into half time we were struggling with Lallana out wide. I think he needed to shake it up and put Ings or Solanke on earlier and dropped Firmino into the 10, with Lallana in midfield. We should have realised we lacked any threat, trusted our FB's to push up to create the width and pace instead and really gone for them but that's always easy to say in hindsight.

I hope above all we get over this performance and learn, continue to grow and strengthen the squad. We've had some incredible memories from this season and we can do better still if we don't let this get to us.

YNWA lads. Thanks for a wonderful season and here's to the next.

1.) 27 May 2018
27 May 2018 14:53:04
ings wasnt on the bench so you can expect klopp to put him on really can ya.

2.) 27 May 2018
27 May 2018 16:55:41
I don't have qualms with lallan being brought on, throwing an inexperienced player into a game like that would be hard. I think we should have matched their diamond and played firmino and mane up top. We know they'll roam around anyway.

3.) 27 May 2018
27 May 2018 17:08:03
I don’t think Ings was in the CL squad 😄.

4.) 27 May 2018
27 May 2018 18:17:24
Win as a team, lose as a team. Don't care what the results is they are my team and I am proud they made it to the final. "If you can't support us when we lose or draw, don't support us when we win. ". -Bill Shankly.

5.) 28 May 2018
28 May 2018 01:07:30
My bad - of course Ings wasn’t an option, i guess the point was, we didn’t have another wide forward that Klopp could replace Salah with, we were forced to changed our system and we went from being on top to being under pressure the rest of the match.

6.) 28 May 2018
28 May 2018 07:10:17
Hindsight is a wonderful thing. Reality is Klopp watches his players daily and is in a better position to judge. We lost, we will recover and hopefully use this as a great catalyst to go again. Onwards and upwards.

7.) 28 May 2018
28 May 2018 08:57:25
Inexperienced players - Trent alexander and Robinson were pretty inexperienced.

8.) 28 May 2018
28 May 2018 10:08:10
Woodburn should've been given a spot on the bench and would've been a better option than Lallana. He's the kind of player who can come off the bench and produce a bit of magic, like on his Wales debut for example. The fact we had 3 defenders and 2 midfielders on the bench certainly didn't help. I still don't think Klopp did all he could've to get back into the game, waiting until the 83rd minute and then bringing on Can was pretty pointless. If you need a goal, bring on a striker for dog's sake. Or even Moreno could've had more of an impact, and of the options that were on the bench I'd actually have brought him on to play inside-left instead of Lallana.

9.) 28 May 2018
28 May 2018 10:45:30
I would personally have put on Solanke and played Firmino more as a 10 but everyone’s a genius with the benefit of hindsight.

10.) 28 May 2018
28 May 2018 15:19:41
Yeah SGRed that would've been worth a shot as well, and of course hindsight is 20/ 20 but my main point is that Klopp did nothing at all. Seemed like he was as stunned as the players were by the combination of the three shocking moments, but that is exactly when you need a manager with a cool head to put any kind of plan in place to try and save the game. Don't get me wrong, I love Klopp, but it's a definite weakness of his.

11.) 28 May 2018
28 May 2018 23:34:44
Agree Jurgen Meister. Kloppo gets his subs wrong often when we're losing.

First of all, Ings should've been on that bench as the most like-for-like for the front 3. Of course, not in quality but at least in mobility and versatility. He would've been my choice when Salah webt off injured. We needed to keep the width and stretch them.

Even when we went 2-1 down I would've brought Clyne on at RB and pushed TAA forward. Take Milner off as his legs were done and slot Lallana in the middle. Lallana always struggles playing wide.

Oh well, game is done and I'm not a coach lol.

{Ed0333's Note - so glad your not our coach Greg.