1.) 04 Feb 2018
04 Feb 2018 22:08:16
Well said Seano 100% agree.


2.) 04 Feb 2018
04 Feb 2018 22:13:53
Though I don't agree with some of that, I appreciate your time and effort to write it mate, well played.


3.) 04 Feb 2018
04 Feb 2018 22:25:09
I pretty much agree with all of that Seano. Good post.


4.) 05 Feb 2018
04 Feb 2018 22:46:30
Klopp lost us 2 points with his subs. don't know how many times he is going to do it before people catch on. he took off mane which allowed trippier into the game and gave the width to spurs. Henderson coming off took away our shape and discipline in the middle while Can looked nackered but stayed on. all of Klopps subs invited more pressure from spurs and rather than making changes to help us keep our energy he actually killed the energy and we got overrun. lucky to get a draw in the end.


5.) 05 Feb 2018
04 Feb 2018 23:04:49
Seano, good read BUT I disagree with some of your points. On Karius, the boy can always do better BUT he was awesome today and did not deserve the shafting he and the team got today from the refs. As for the defence, I thought they played well today and the fact that they shut out Alli and Kane who had NO SHOTS on target in 90 mins of open play, tells the whole story right there. As for Lovren and VVD, as a partnership, they were very good. Of course, there is a miskick here and there BUT they covered for each other very well and Karius covered for them when need arose.

I also think Klopp tried the tactics used against us by Spurs at Wembley where as soon as they scored, they played counter attacking football cos we had more possession than them and still lost 4-1. We did the same thing to City last season at home and got the win. I do agree that our boys looked jaded and we missed Hendo in midfield as well in the second half BUT I can live with that cos we limited Spurs no scraps, really. Tho they scored a worldie, Salah got us in position for the win until.

As for the refs, I am with you all the way. These clowns seemed to be making it up as the game went on. As soon as the first non pen was given, the game got away from them and it showed. As for the pundits, they are nothing but salesmen who talk w/ both sides of their mouth so that at the end of the day they are never wrong. If any kind of contact is deemed to be a foul even in the box then we might as well start awarding penalties on every set piece. Also, how can Lamela have been kicked if he jumped on VVD who was pulling away from the challenge? Also, how can a lino see from 25 yards, an incident the ref saw from 10 yards and waved away? The ref should have told him to buzz off and continue with the game. He did not and here we are.


6.) 05 Feb 2018
04 Feb 2018 23:04:58
Just seen match of the day. That linesman wants firing from the premier league. He clearly has a self-importance complex and wanted to try and act like a smart Alec.

Kane was offside. The defender has to deliberately play the ball in the direction it travels for it to count as a new phase of plat. Lovren clearly did not mean that kick to go in that direction, and hence it is not deliberate.

On the second penalty, my opinion is Lamela instructed Van Dijk. Virgil has gone to kick the ball and Lamela has made no effort to play the ball, and only had eyes for forcing contact with Van Dijk. It is never a penalty.

Shocking decisions, but never mind. A point does nothing for Spurs to be honest. We still maintain the gap we already had and any other week we don't get two incorrect penalties against us, and we win. Abysmal officiating from the linesman. He clearly doesn't know the rules of the game based on what you clearly heard him say to the ref.


7.) 05 Feb 2018
05 Feb 2018 02:52:50
I thought Karius was pretty solid today, about the punch, i think he has to come for that, i haven't watched it back, but looks like maybe a tap in for kane? I need to rewatch, 2 players i think first OX? then maybe it's can are ball watching as Wanama beats them both to the ball and hits a worldie. Have to be honest it was a top goal.

Second half we invited pressure and i thought everyone defended decently, Lovren made a pig's ear of the kane pen but he was offside. Didn't think it was a pen though, very little contact and kane just dives. Not that it made any difference karius read it well.

Lamela though so cheap, VVD catches him but as he feels the contact pulls out. lamela Just jumps infront of him goes for the dive.

Don't think the linesman saw the lamela pen too clearly. I think a draw was fair on how we played second half, very spineless. But its a cheap point for spurs. Very weak penalties. Detracted from 2 very good goals from each team. Even my mate who's a spurs fan thuoght we should have walked away with 3 points given how dirty spurs played, Alli dive also, very poor.

I hate cheating in football from anyone, wouldn't be happy if out players had been diving today. It ruins the game, the sooner VAR comes in the better. 1 point for us and 1 point for spurs is better than 3 for spurs. If chelsea can drop points tomorrow then we are still in a good position.

YNWA.


8.) 05 Feb 2018
05 Feb 2018 05:58:08
Spot on, MK and Ali. On the whole, we defended well and shut down their strikers, reducing them to no shots on target in 90 mis of open play. As for the 2nd peno as the first one is not even discussing, VVD tries to clear the ball, sees Lalmela who already decided to go down regardless (as Alli did for his dive thinking Loveren would foul him) and VVD pulls out of the clearance and Lamela jumps on his leg.

The worst thing and that is not mentioned enuff, is that the ref sees the incident and waves play on. Why did the ref change his mind and allow himself to be overruled on something he himself saw? How can the lino see something whereas he is much further away from it than the ref? This is not being mugged. Had VAR been used, we win the game, easy. This was like you were mugged and the cops stood there, watched it happen and laughed in your face.


9.) 05 Feb 2018
05 Feb 2018 07:02:07
I think a draw was fair as we failed to make our dominance count 1st half and were so so poor in the second. Why we kept lumping the ball away and encouraging their closing in was just beyond me. That said we defending well enough for the most part that those pen decisions make it a bitter pill to swallow. Everyone knows about the first and it didn’t matter anyway, but how the red can clearly signal no pen and then be swayed 5-10 seconds later by a linesman further away from him with no clear view who has already made a shocking decision is just beyond me entirely. Don’t get me wrong I can see why it was given but these rules need clarifying otherwise VAR will not solve anything.
My overall views:
Better for Karius, encouraging, could do nothing more than what he did and made some good saves. Getting slated for the punch that dropped to the first goal but could have been cleared before shot was taken. More games like that and he may keep his shirt.
Lovren - good defender 95% of the time but always seems to have a mistake or mis-kick in him that costs us. Best partner for VVD currently though.
Midfield - awful without Hendo, in desperate need of upgrading. Gini’s form has just fell of a cliff from last year and he needs to be more consistent.
Attack - Salah quality, Mane is getting back on it, Bobby looked tired and ineffective today. Should of been taken off in my view when he stopped having any influence on the game.
Refs - Just awful. Some schooling or rule clarification is clearly required because once again opinion is split even with replays. 1st pen definitely offside for me. Regardless of the touch the pass was played with intent to Kane who was offside at that time. 2nd pen just shocking.
Spurs - probs deserved a point but they should be ashamed of themselves the way they threw themselves around. Alli’s dive was embarrassing, Kane’s was a pen (ignoring the offside for a sec) although he still left his legs in so cheap play, and Lamela has again gone looking for a touch and gone down stupidly easily. Embarrassing. I used to have a soft spot for spurs but I genuinely hope they finish outside the top 4 in favour of Chelsea after that. Teams that play like that deserve nothing.
Rant over, moving on.


10.) 05 Feb 2018
05 Feb 2018 08:35:14
That is an almost impossible game to sum up I must say.
Spurs did to us what we usually do to others and failed to beat us for all their dominance, mostly in the 2nd half.

The 1st penalty, dreadful decision from both referee and assistant.
The 2nd, the ref who is closer waves the player to get up (clearly thinking he dived) but the further away assistant gives an incredibly poorly informed decision in my opinion - he could not have been 100% sure it was a penalty, he just couldn't have.

We need to move on though and not be too disappointed as we're still in a good position for all Spurs' celebrations after the game and dominance during large periods of it, they're still behind us in the table.

Positives for me:
Salah is just breathtaking at times, that goal deserved to win a football match alone as did Wanyama's to be fair.
Karius was excellent and showed for probably the first time what potential he may have.

I was disappointed at the over all performance I must say - a few players just never showed up, but we're still ahead in the race for top 4, so I cannot complain too much personally.


11.) 05 Feb 2018
05 Feb 2018 09:20:37
Lucky to get a draw? Slimz, were you watching the game backwards? Your post makes no sense, IMO. How can you say Klopp lost us two pints when we got completely mugged by the refs leading 2-1. What's fair about three Spurs players diving to win penalties with one getting booked? What's fair about the refs completely winging it and playing guessing games on critical calls that both had any clue about? Hendo is not fit to play 90mins and Mane was not holding the ball up well enough and Can played his heart out and so did the rest of the team and were it not for the refs, we are not having this discussion. You can't manufacture energy where there is not any. Stop bashing any of our players or Klopp cos that is dishonest and flat out BS.

Klopp had a tactic after we scored and it has worked before vs City last season at home and where we allowed them to possess the ball and even with all that possession, City only had one shot on target in 95 mins. The same with Spurs.

We limited them to scraps with none of their Crap Four having ANY shots on target for 95 mins in open play, FACT. The ref gave them a pen that they themselves did not know if it was or not and we still rose above that to get the save and get the second goal, only for the linesman to play hero for Spurs, nullifying an incident the ref saw and waved away. It would not have mattered how well or bad we played, we were in the lead and if the refs wanna ruin your life as they tried ever so hard to do last night, they will and they did.


12.) 05 Feb 2018
05 Feb 2018 10:04:50
Everyone going on about the refs. If we hadnt allowed Spurs control of the second half we wouldn't be having this discussion. we clearly made defensive changes that caused us to be pinned back in our half for almost the entire last third of the game. Same reason we lost the UEFA cup final. Trying to defend a 1-0 way too early. Klopp is a great coach but his match day performances apart from being animated on the sideline is his biggest weakness. We have a better team than most others but Klopp gets out smarted with tactics in pretty much every game. Anyone remember the Swansea and West Brom games. If this was Rodgers you would all be slating him.


13.) 05 Feb 2018
05 Feb 2018 10:43:49
It would have helped if we came out for the 2nd half and not allowed Spurs to control it, we sat very narrow along our own box and just let Spurs do whatever they wanted, a point is fair but if we had kept up our game it could of been better.


14.) 05 Feb 2018
05 Feb 2018 11:25:36
That was an excellent summation Seano . I did n't think we were bad, just spurs in the second half upped their game and were better.


15.) 05 Feb 2018
05 Feb 2018 15:24:03
A point can NEVER be fair if refs completely screwed up two big time calls just to rob you of them. People need to understand that, IMO. Also, us upping our game would not have guaranteed victory either. What we do know is that Spurs did nothing and they had all the possession cos we let them have it and they created next to nothing. So had it not been for those useless decisions that even the refs were not sure of, we are not having this convo. That is the reality, IMO.


16.) 05 Feb 2018
05 Feb 2018 19:18:18
I think if we’d have won 2-1 Spurs would have felt hard done by. We dominated the first half, they dominated the second. It was a well balanced match.

However, the linesman got both penaltys wrong. They were both offside whether there was contact or not.