1.) 01 Apr 2018
01 Apr 2018 19:12:10
I think VVD is a good centre half, but he worries me. He seems to think he can play at the top level walking, and I don't like the stopping when he thinks he gets fouled. Only one needs not be given at the opposition will be 3 on one. I think he'd be great with a leader of a CB, just let him mark his man and play football. But for the money he should be the leader and that.
On a different note, a midfield overhaul may make us challengers next year. Hendo should stay, he has days where he wins everything and has a great passing range, it's just not for him when he has to do lots of chasing. The attack is as good as it's going to get and despite the issues mentioned, the defence is stronger than its been for a few years. A few more goals from midfield and a bit more ability in there, and the defensive issues will look less worrying. Having three anonymous cms doesn't help!

2.) 01 Apr 2018
01 Apr 2018 19:12:25
Really good write up once again mate
on the henderson comment do you feel ed 001 he is a long term player for Klopp or is he just there to klopp gets who he wants to to replace him?
I can only imagine a dembele from spurs in our midfield or better yet a kante who actually take control of games and make things happen when their team need them most.

{Ed001's Note - Klopp is looking for a player to take on that role as replacement/alternative to Hendo. Unless Henderson's fitness comes back, which is looking less and less likely, I expect him to be phased out in the next couple of seasons. Too many injuries to be trusted any more.}

3.) 01 Apr 2018
01 Apr 2018 19:13:09
A very fair write up Ed001, my points from the match are thus, if I was karius I would play to the player in other words back myself in a one on one with zaha not always come charging out as zaha has no compsure in front of goal, he was unlucky with the penalty I feel, spot on as regards the defence and the midfield which is quite frankly shocking, mane was also very lucky to stay on the pitch, luckily the standard of refereeing in the top flight is appalling, we got away with one yesterday and a better team would have punished us, we need to sort out the slack attitude as regards to the early kick offs as you rightly point out they are not going to go away. Happy easter mate and keep up the good work.

{Ed001's Note - it is really worrying that we have so many of these early kick offs. We always struggle to get going in them.

Cheers mate, happy Easter to you too and all the posters that celebrate it.}

4.) 01 Apr 2018
01 Apr 2018 19:37:51
Really nice write up, i was drunk when i wrote a small review and when watching the game, hehe! Nice observation about Matip and van dijk! Enjoyed reading this.

{Ed001's Note - cheers mate.}

5.) 01 Apr 2018
01 Apr 2018 20:20:44
Fair play Ed. Really worrying about hendo.

6.) 01 Apr 2018
01 Apr 2018 20:37:48
Great read, Matip of all the players yesterday is the biggest concern. I would not play him against City but would let him stroll around against Everton alongside Klavan. We need VVD and Lovren in both ties v City.
Early kick offs and games against inferior sides on paper are Klopps biggest challenge to fix, we are motivated for big games so need a big personality to rattle into them in the bread and butter games.

Man Utd are poor but they find a way to put Stoke, West Brom, Bournemouth, Newcastle et al to bed and rarely concede against those teams at home, accepted they have DDG, notice he made 2 great saves again yesterday to bail them out at critical times.
Midfield signings x3 please Jurgen in the summer (on top of Kieta) and ship Milner, Can, Lallana, and Gini.

7.) 01 Apr 2018
01 Apr 2018 20:49:33
So true about gini wjilnadum, there is a really top notch centre mid in there somewhere but we only see it 10/ 15% of the time.

And very true about lovren, I don't understand how matip gets in the team with dejan fit. I liked Joel when he arrived, I thought if was a real shrewd signing, a free. Little did we know the reason matip's former contract ran down was because he was too lazy to go upstairs and sign a new one. The thing with matip is he has a few good attributes that keep him in with a shout of a start, height, solid tackler (when he bothers) can pass but he is SO poor positionally and is so lazy going backwards he is always going to be a problem.

Vvd had his worst game for us but I don't wanna knock him too much as the liverpool "collapse" seems to be a thing of the past and it coincides with virgil's arrival. Thing that worried me about Vvd was his lack of covering and energy in getting back. Maybe him and matip shared a reefer before the game.

8.) 01 Apr 2018
01 Apr 2018 21:09:34
Hendo is struggling. I can cope with one of Him, Milner and Gini in the team. But when 2 or all 3 are in midfield it's just slow and clueless.

9.) 01 Apr 2018
01 Apr 2018 21:59:19
Thanks for the report, as always, I really forward to reading these. I totally agree with all that you said. My view is that it was a good result away to a battling team at a difficult time for us. It is worrying that our midfield and defence are playing so poorly when we play city on Wednesday. What are your thoughts for the game ed? Worried? Excited?

10.) 02 Apr 2018
01 Apr 2018 22:37:13
Another great write up eds1Really enjoy your knowledge of the game and your views on the players. With Hendo your right his fitness will get worse as he won't be able to train as he would wish, klopp will certainly know this. The problem during games you have a fear of sprinting because if it flares up it feels like someone is knocking a 6 inch nail in the bottom of your heel so you take the easy option because you don't want to be out for another month missing the game you love. So frustrating for Hendo.

{Ed001's Note - you can see it mate, at one point Hendo was back to cover Zaha and as Zaha ran past him, Milner also sprinted past him. He just isn't moving freely. The hope is that he will relax if he manages to stay fit for a while, like happens with cruciate ligament injuries. It can take years though for the mental scars to heal.}

11.) 02 Apr 2018
02 Apr 2018 03:09:28
Gutted about Hendo, but it is the harsh reality. I've always backed him up against the haters and will continue to do so but he just isn't getting there is he. I feel sorry for the lad he's had a lot of bad luck regarding injuries and hasn't been quite right for along time now.

Similar to the Sturridge situation for me, Sturridge had a run of injuries and never made it right again, tons of us kept holding our hopes up hoping he'd get back to his best, he never did. I highly doubt we'll see the best out of Hendo again. I don't want him gone, I personally feel there's time for him to work things out but right now it's looking highly unlikely which is a real shame.

Good match review Ed mate always look forward to what you have to say regarding the matches. The first player I wanted to see who you wrote about was Matip and you summed him up in one, I quote 'Matip - awful. Absolutely dreadful. ' exactly! I just don't understand how he is getting games. I'd much prefer Lovren/ Klaven ahead of him, granted they're not fantastic defenders but they're miles ahead of Matip. I thought I'd seen the worst of him until that game yesterday I didn't think he could get quite that bad but he did, he was absolutely useless. The lad gives me palpitations, he needs to go, I'm hoping long term it's Gomez to take his spot, we shall see what the future holds.

I said it the other week and I'll say it again, you called this Ed1 regarding VVD before he was even signed, I'm not writing the lad off, not at all but we're starting to see what you was saying about him before he was signed. I never wanted us to sign him, I never believed he was good enough, I kept reading what you had said about him and then there would be so many people here raving about his abilities which I just couldn't see, I didn't watch him week in week out before he joined us but I saw enough to understand what you was talking about and it's proving to be so true. I also agree when it comes down to this captaincy talk lol anybody can be vocal and wave their arms around, it means bugger all. I'd much prefer a more experienced TAA come 3 years from now to take the captaincy but going on the Hendo situation it may be somebody a lot sooner then that.

{Ed001's Note - Lovren had been injured, he was left out to ensure he was fit for the City game. Hopefully he will be fit to start that.

Fingers crossed van Dijk having Klopp in his ear will gee him up.}

12.) 02 Apr 2018
02 Apr 2018 09:01:04
If you compare the kick from McArthur to Benteke’s kick on Van Dijk there’s little difference. Van Dijk gets a free kick and Benteke gets booked outside the box, Mane gets booked for diving inside the box. At the end of the day if you slide in for the ball and get nowhere near it and kick the player in the ankle it’s a foul whether he goes down or not. I can’t even see why there is a debate here.
That the makes the deliberate handball a moot point as he shouldn’t have been on a yellow anyway.

13.) 02 Apr 2018
02 Apr 2018 12:11:17
Ed is spot on on all accounts. For the penalty, Karius did not need to charge out that far to challenge Zaha cos as I said, Zaha was too far off and should have allowed the cover to come. Not the worst mistake BUT one he should learn from as he does not need to do that all the time.

As for the Mane pen or no pen, I think it was a pen based on the other pen incidents I have seen this season. I do believe that footie is a contact sport and not all contact should warrant a foul or a penalty BUT that was a blatant unintentional kick on Mane and was a pen. If contact is the issue here then that is where my issue lies.

Kane went down at Anfield diving and kick out at Karius while on the ground, and we were told that if there is contact then he had a right to go down. Well if that is what the "experts" say, then there was way more contact with Mane than with Kane and now the "experts" like Shearer (who said Kane was right to go down at Anfield) now tell us that "football is a contact sport and it was not a pen". Consistency is all I ask for, in the end.

14.) 02 Apr 2018
02 Apr 2018 17:41:53
Don't know how you can say ox didn't have the impact he desired. His drive forward and cross into the box was massive for our winner. That is an impact.