Liverpool Banter Archive February 13 2017

13 Feb 2017 14:53:19
Just want to say if it's true about Hendo calling a team meeting through the week then fair play to the lad, deserves credit for that.

He was superb along with all of them at weekend.

Only thing I'd say is and this isn't being hegatuve it's more just a subject to discuss.

Spurs were never going to be a problem, hzve we really learnt anything? Spurs played directly into our hands. We know how good we are when teams come to play. It's when they sit back we have the problem. Still can only beat what's in front of you so onwards and upwards.

Bournemouth fan tonight :)

13 Feb 2017 16:22:54
Yeah, despite the past month I was quite confident about beating Spurs. Our real test will be in the weeks to come against the struggling teams.

13 Feb 2017 16:27:40
Spurs were never going to be a problem? They started the weekend second in the league, unbeaten in 9 (including a win vs Chelsea) and the best defensive record in the league. I'm not saying our problems are magically cured but genuinely TTNT, what more could you ask for in terms of a challenge? Could you possible be more negative than writing off a smashing, dominant victory against one of the best teams in the league as a match that was 'never going to be a problem'?

Play the other one lad. You don't look thoughtful or insight for calling that we might still struggle against teams that play 9 at the back. We all know that and we all know that there are different challenges ahead if we want to get back to the CL at the very least. But to write off the achievements of the weekend just makes you look like you have no idea what's going on in the league at all.

We broke the defense that on paper has been the best in the league so far, and shut down one of the most dangerous attacking units. Nothing about that was inevitable.

13 Feb 2017 17:10:08
Are you guys joking? "Spurs were never going to be a problem". Funny that as next to no one thought we would perform that way and win so convincingly prior to the game so as always, hindsight is always right. We struggle vs teams that park the bus. Guess what? many other big teams do so not sure why this is being portrayed as only an LFC thing.

The problem we had in Jan was not the system. It was the absences and lack of a cutting edge in our play and approach play that cost us. We missed injured players and since our squad players like Origi and Studge didn't step up to rplace Mane and play the press the way it is required, results dipped. Also, our approach to playing lesser sides was poor cos it seemed like after pressuring them for 20 minutes and couldn't score, we just gave up and stopped trying. No forward runs from midfield, no press from the strikers bar Firmino and no desire to just break them down. These qualities are what we lacked in Jan cos we have beaten parked buses like West Brom, Watford, Boro, Hull, Sunderland and CP. Why? Cos we never stopped trying and our attitude was great. This was not the case in Jan. Therefore, it had nothing to do with fatigue, or being sussed out cos Spurs knew what we would do and still got blown away so that "sussed out" nonsense.

Now does Klopp need to adapt his tactics? Of course and he's already doing that. Notice, we didn't go after Spurs in the second half? Cos it was up to them to come at us and we just snuffed them out gradually until their lipeople keep mentioning makes no sense.

13 Feb 2017 17:02:02
Any team who plays a high defensive line will get severe punishment from Liverpool. Did we not beat the same Spurs 5-0 under Brendan again playing high line?
We'll never struggle against teams like Spurs, City and Arsenal. Playing high line against Sadio Mane is an offense.

13 Feb 2017 18:33:16
I'm sorry but Noah and hike you have no idea what our strengths and weaknesses are.

13 Feb 2017 18:50:54
If we move the ball about fast which we know we can and make runs in behind the defence then the so called lesser teams shouldn't be a problem.

The only problem is when teams come and defend we stop making runs and seam happy to just pass the ball about in front of the defence.

13 Feb 2017 21:38:16
On the one hand Spurs will be Spurs, and beating them, especially at Anfield is nothing out of the ordinary. On the other hand they've been bloody good and we've been awful. Anyway- good job, good confidence boost and a possible turn around.

14 Feb 2017 00:02:28
TNNT, please enlighten us with your unrivaled knowledge?

14 Feb 2017 10:26:05
Absolutely ridiculous TTNT. I know exactly what our strengths and weaknesses are. But that does not make a positive result, never mind such a dominant performance, against such a strong team and top quality defensive unit a forgone conclusion or even a likely one. To say that they do is basic level popularism and a ridiculous comment, not to mention incredibly disrespectful both to LFC and the performance we put in, and to the quality that Spurs have on offer.

14 Feb 2017 10:58:45
Noah - if you still don't get it my attempts will be futile.

Hike - by rambling on again your just showing the world you don't get it.

14 Feb 2017 11:19:16
Utter complacency and arrogance to say we will always beat Spuds. We didn't beat them in August for starters and currently they are a better team than us (albeit by one point) . Its the kind of embarrassing statement that has half the fans flapping like a dodo when we fail to beat the likes of Hull or Burnley.
We can beat anyone on our day and we can lose to Dagenham and Redbridge on our day. We have a decent record against the Spuds. Until the next match.

14 Feb 2017 11:30:11
Arrogance to back your football team to beat another? Give me a break lad. Where do you lot get this rubbish from?

14 Feb 2017 11:58:05
Hjikle

I think you are overlooking the facts. I predicted we will beat Spurs 3-1 on the chat. Like liverpool Spurs play only one type of foootball. And they simply played into our hands. You just cannot play high line against Liverpool.

It doesn't matter how much quality they have Arby's the back if you continue to play high and couldn't keep the ball in your feet. You are simply asking for trouble.

Spurs are one of those teams who relies on width and dye their full backs usually being WB their entire defense play very high.

If I am right we did nothing from the left flank courtesy of a poor show from Milner wnd Coutinho.

If Leicester plays a high line we will smash them off the park. If they sit deep we will struggle to break them down aan usual.

Spurs is a carbon copy of Liverpool except they use width more than us.

14 Feb 2017 13:16:18
If Spurs only have one way of playing then explain to me why against the other top 4 contenders they have usually deployed a back 3 and not a back 4 like they did at the weekend. This fundamentally alters their style of play, they usually play a similar pressing game to ourselves (although not quite at the same intensity) . Allowing them to pinch the ball high, get it wide and cross. This works well with a back 3 as the wing backs are already up field to provide the width.
However, due to our press at the weekend (something that has been lacking recently intensity wise) Poch went with the back 4 and was looking play on the break, this is how a lot of teams have had success against us recently. It failed due to Spur's back 4 being totally disorganised (In my view due to the intensity of our press) .
The biggest influencing factors for me are these. 1- First time since December Gini, Hendo and Lallana have been our midfield 3. This brought composure, pressure and creativity to the middle of the park. 2- Only the 8th time this season Lallana, Couts, Mane and Coutinho have played together, in those 8 games we have scored nearly 30 goals. I've been saying for a long time our slump was nothing to do with energy levels or our system, it was because we could not field our best team with everyone in their best positions (shows lack of depth really)

14 Feb 2017 13:46:06
Popa

Good observation and one of the best analysis of the match so far to me. You are right on couple of points on how Spurs play. Like liverpool they play a high press but their main source of attacking outlet comes from flanks mainly Walker - Rose combo.

I have said on this why we made them look average in another post and the credit goes to Wijnaldum who simply marked out Dembele from the game. Without him they have no one to carry the ball nor link their backline to wide areas as well Alli and Kane.

Alli doesn't drop enough into the midfield and it made our midfielders easy to stiff Dembele out from the game. With no service to Kane and Walker and No Width from the left hand side Spurs were pegged back into their own half. ( Wanyama is just a stopper )

Remember, When you play high line, You need to keep the ball at any cost. Sloppy and misplaced pass and high pressing from liverpool means we dispossessed them easily turning into our own attacks.

Dier has no pace as well Davis and you can't play high line defense without pacy CB's. It's a basic football rule.

Pochetino is a gutsy manager who wouldn't change his style against any opposition no matter what his formation is.

Liverpool will score goals against any team in the world who give us space to run in. Simple and Liverpool will struggle against any team who make it compact at the back playing 11 behind the ball.

The top 6 teams usually don't play negative football compared to bottom teams who would be happy with a draw ( Except Jose who parked his UTD bus against us ) hence our record against top 6 is terrific.

It's a simple case of two systems one in which we are master and the other which we are pro.

I like your view mate. That was refreshing from those usual ". we were good and they were bad analysis. "

Thanks.

14 Feb 2017 15:04:09
Got to add that Spuds really missed Danny Rose at wing back, they had Ben Davis, he was a target, Mane bullied him, and they panicked at times .
also got to say that we played our strongest midfield, Can is good but has no pace, slowing the game down, Klopp kept on playing him during January,
think we might have found our best eleven .

14 Feb 2017 21:04:43
Thanks Mathematics, as you say it's never really as simple as we were good they were bad. It's the nuances of the game that make me love it so much.

15 Feb 2017 14:18:35
Anyone who says Spurs play a similar style to us is incorrect imo. Pundits have been saying it since Klopp arrived and it's winding me up no end. They are built on a solid defensive unit of either 5 (if the play a back 3) or 6 (if they play a back 4) with the defenders and 2 sitting midfielders.

You very rarely see Dembele or Wanyama ahead of the ball which means they are much less exposed to the counter attack but nowhere near as potent as us going forward. We are built on a front 5 with width coming from the full backs meaning we often have 7 players ahead of the ball makings us much more potent in attack but very exposed to a counter attack.

This means the front 5 (or 7) have to take very good care of the ball or risk being counter attacked against 3 defenders (well, 2 and Hendo) . The reason we've been conceding goals is we've been playing too slow and not looking after the ball well enough allowing too many breaks.

For me this has been down to Lallana being taken out of the midfield thus taking creativity away and Can being woefully off form, too slow, too predictable and too sloppy. We play high risk football, Spurs do not. That being said I know I'd rather watch us ripping teams apart than them keeping clean sheets.

Our fullbacks haven't been doing enough either. Too much turning inside into traffic. In the system we play they are quite often spare men and they need to be better offensively than they were in Jan.

15 Feb 2017 18:28:10
Spot on, Pip. Spurs play first not to concede, and then go from there. Same with Chelsea. But us, we play to dominate and score goals first, and then use the overall team system to defend, as a team as we have the ball a lot, we create chances and score goals and while all this is going on, you have no chance of attacking us. We do concede goals but it is mainly due to individuals and collective errors in critical situations, along with a lack of desire and determination in the challenge.

13 Feb 2017 08:40:04
Morning Eds and Reds,

Question for Ed 1 if he's about. You stated that Sturridge might leave this year. Is that because Klopp doesn't rate him or is there some other reason?

I feel a bit sorry for Sturridge but with all the injuries he's had he appears to have lost 1 or 2 yards of pace.

Thanks.

{Ed001's Note - because he is a fringe player that could raise funds to strengthen the team.}

13 Feb 2017 11:14:14
Liverpool cannot bring in another striker without offloading one. Origi looks a decent squad player to me and Ings would want an year of time to get back. That leaves the only possible departure Daniel Sturridge. CL is a different ball game and you would need a fantastic striker in your team.

13 Feb 2017 12:38:39
As you say 'Math'CL is a different ball game. CL teams don't play like Burnley or Westbrom so with Studge being a 'fantastic' striker (look at his international strike rate recently) he would thrive. Studge is not the problem, injuries aside its Klopps high press. The whole squad are regularly injured. Studge is class and the high press is not the only way!

{Ed001's Note - the press is not the cause of injuries. Plenty of teams play a high press without suffering injury problems.}

13 Feb 2017 12:50:59
Not as high a press as us Ed, check the stats!

{Ed001's Note - if that is what you want to tell yourself, you carry on. I am sure you can read any old crap into stats that you want, but simply it is not true that we play the highest press in the world. Oh and we suffer a lot less injuries than many teams that play no press at all, such as Arsenal. So please quit with this complete hokum.}

13 Feb 2017 13:20:35
Whose always injured?

Stirrings hasn't been injured this year. Only couinho isn't it?

13 Feb 2017 13:22:38
Napoli plays a high press infact they are faster than us.

13 Feb 2017 17:46:03
Bayer Leverkusen play a much higher press than we do under Roger Schmidt as well so this idea that it causes injuries is patently false. Suarez played the high press under BR and never missed a game, neither did Sterling, Hendo nor Couts? Who missed games that season through injury? You guessed it, Studge. Arsenal don't play a high press yet they have the WORST injury record in the PL for years now. Your stats don't tell you that, does it? Bottom line is if you are not physically fit and in tip top shape all year round, you will keep getting knocks and niggles and injuries. Why do you think Suarez and CR& are iron men? Cos they train so hard that their bodies can take the beating the amount of games they play, take on their bodies.

{Ed001's Note - he had one ankle injury! Why don't you stop knocking Sturridge and try supporting him? His injury problems are not caused by lack of fitness.}

14 Feb 2017 00:23:36
Ed, I know he had an ankle injury that time and in hindsight, I should not have mentioned that part of it as it wasn't his fault. I do support him BUT I just feel his time is gone and we may need to move on from him this summer, regardless of his talent.