Liverpool Banter Archive February 08 2018

08 Feb 2018 18:53:53
Imagine if Kent, Wilson, and Ojo all stayed on next season and along with Woodburn, broke into the first team!

Screw Lemar or whoever, maybe we'll have a team of kids next year and we'll take over the division for the next decade!

Maybe.

Probably more likely that we'll sell them all and spend a fortune on newbies.

08 Feb 2018 22:15:01
More likely that none of them will make it anywhere.

08 Feb 2018 23:22:17
Ojo would make a handy impact substitute at LFC. Woodburn is at least 2 seasons away from being a match day pick. Kent and Wilson will definitely leave in the summer.

08 Feb 2018 23:58:24
For that to happen we’d have to have lost a lot of quality from our first team or get a lot of injuries.

09 Feb 2018 00:27:47
I’d be happy if one of them made it, very happy if two.

I think we need to be realistic about how many young players actually make it at the top level given the step that’s required from being a talented youngster at u23 level to playing at the top of the PL.

Realistically looking back over the last decade there have been very very few, so it’s unlikely (ie. impossible) for 4 in one year unless we plan to downgrade our attack significantly.

09 Feb 2018 01:36:55
Id be happy if the best players make the team. doesn't matter if they are LFC youngsters or bought from outside. Be nice to have more scousers though.

09 Feb 2018 03:29:28
Sorry, those kids are great prospects and need a couple of years playing regularly elsewhere before we can realistically expect them to make an impact on the first team. If any of them lot were playing for the likes of Brighton or villa right now you ( and not owned by LFC) you would not be suggesting we sign them to be part of our title challenging squad next year.

09 Feb 2018 06:08:03
I think that's too much to expect, mate. If Ojo was a Fulham player (not a Liverpool loanee) and we were to sign him for our first team next year, I am not sure if all us would be as excited.
We tend to wear rose tinted glasses for our youth prospects, but we have seen so many of them not flourish over the years. of course there are the likes of Suso and Gulacsi who leave the club and become super successful, but for every Suso you also have Coady, Kelly, Robinson, Brannagan, etc.
Of the current crop, I expect Trent and Woodburn to be the most likely first team players in the future. Others would likely be rotation prospects or will leave for greener pastures.
One player on the first team who I am not able to assess is Solanke. In the summer I thought the kid would be a world beater, and I really want him to get in the goals and grow as a footballer - but the jury for now is still out.

09 Feb 2018 06:46:21
Ojo and Woodburn are good enough. Ojo just needs consistency, and Woodburn needs to bulk up a bit.

As for Wilson and Kent, I'm not convinced either play is good enough for the Premier League. Championship may be there level in my opinion. They still have time though.

Highly unlikely that all 4 will make a career with us. In fact I'd bet my life savings that it won't happen! Anybody wanted to take that bet? I've got £13.62 😂.

09 Feb 2018 09:21:09
Of the 4 I reckon Woodburn has what it takes, I really want to see him getting minutes.

Ojo I had high hopes for but injuries have been tough on the lad and towards the end (before his loan) he looked like he wasn’t working as hard off the ball as I’d have liked to see. he should look to Salah as someone who’s always on the move, but Ojo was just receiving the ball static way too often, and too predictable for defenders (a bit like Ibe was towards the end too) . Hope that’s getting coached out of him now and he can get fit again, if so he’d be a great backup on the wing with his pace and finishing.

Wilson I just don’t know. Scores a bucket in u23 but not sure why he’s not getting chances. Hopefully he goes on to smash it on loan and prove us all wrong.

Kent for me looks pacy and can beat a man, but never been convinced by his finishing or his vision/ passing. You need to be great at least one of those in the PL, if not both which is why Ibe has struggled. I think he’s a championship player personally but let’s see.

09 Feb 2018 09:54:32
Ojo and Woodie for me.

09 Feb 2018 11:44:05
Lemar is a very good kid btw!

09 Feb 2018 11:48:19
I feel for Kent trying to get into that front three. I reckon Woodburn could do a job, he is in that strange situation of becoming a star of his international team before breaking through proper with his club. Needs to be given games or he may be tempted to leave.

09 Feb 2018 11:50:42
I really wish the club would focus on youth as a priority, particularly with the insane amounts of money for players at the moment.

09 Feb 2018 15:36:35
I agree aoe, I don't think clubs put enough effort into giving the youngsters their shot, it's not just Liverpool either it seems to be every team. It's a real shame because we can potentially some absolute top talent especially in the names mentioned above but I fear they won't get their chances with us.

09 Feb 2018 15:46:46
That’s the problem aoe.

The club have a balancing act to perform:
1) the expectations of fans in terms of success
2) the ambition of the board
3) the ambition of star players
4) the expectation of fans to spend money every window
5) spiralling costs (transfers and wages)

There is no room for youth players in top level football in this country. If they are not international standard, they won’t get a chance to gain experience. It’s almost futile having a youth system these days.

10 Feb 2018 14:43:41
Fowler, Owen and Gerrard. All youngsters who came through and became massive stars and internationals. My question is. Is the level of our current crop of youth talent much lower than it was in the mid 90s or is there another reason the kids don't get a shot?

10 Feb 2018 14:49:48
Hallo Supersalah, Hal Robson Kanu was star of Welsh team, what happen to him? International performance has no bearing watsoever.

08 Feb 2018 17:32:06
A big 4 days coming up. We seem to be able to mix and match our midfield and defence without really having a significant drop in quality to what we have. We definitely can't do that with the front 3. So the question is are the front 3 going to play 2 very important games in 4 days or will they be rested possibly? . And if so which game is the more important? For me it's the league game on Sunday.

08 Feb 2018 18:54:36
Jay, don't forget our ability to mix and match our defence as well. To your point on our front three rotation for the next 3/ 4 games, Klopp has to try and win the Saints game early (yeah, easier said than done) so changes can be made. T

he Saints game is the most important, as you say cos like it or not, CL is not something we can realistically think of winning. As for personnel, we can always play Ox on either side to give Salah and Sadio a blow esp. since we have enough to options in CM and defence to go to Porto and do a job cos well, we don't really have to win. The Saints game, tho? We HAVE to win and we have to play that game to win it and worry about the rest later. We can then see what happens for the next weekend's game, maybe give Ings and Solanke a go at the start of that one.

08 Feb 2018 19:02:15
Br I mentioned the defence mate.

08 Feb 2018 21:25:36
Winning is a habit, win the next game.
Focus on beating Saints first and foremost.
Get 3 goals up against Saints and bring some players off before the CL game.
That’s my philosophy anyway.

09 Feb 2018 02:54:22
BRover, the champions league is the ONLY competition we are in which we have a realistic chance of winning. Would you really prioritise Top 4 over the CL when the prize for Top 4 is next years Champions League anyway? We are not Arsenal and there's still a chance of silverware this season. Full strength eleven versus Porto for me.

09 Feb 2018 02:57:39
I’m in agreement with Ron, play to win then worry about Porto. My main concern is actually midfield where we need Hendo fit against Porto, and also Firmino and Salah who are key but have been playing an awful lot.

I’d like to see Can playing deep against the Saints to keep Hendo fresh for Porto, and also likewise Ings for Firmino. Then Klopp to make subs at 60min rather than 90 for Salah to protect him a little for the second game and give Solanke a shot.

09 Feb 2018 06:52:09
I also think injuries can happen in training as well as in games, we wouldn’t stop certain players training to preserve them for the Porto game.
If we pick up injuries in league matches then so be it, the league is our bread and butter, there’s no guarantee our full strength XI will beat Porto anyway.

09 Feb 2018 09:58:24
RedLorry, The league is our bread and butter, as Ron said. We have very little chance of winning the CL on paper, fact. We are in the driver's seat to make CL again this season on paper, fact. I am not saying we should not try to win the CL if we can as that would be foolish. What I am saying is that we should focus more on making sure we finish strong in the PL while at the same time trying to win the CL. It is perfectly possible to walk and chew gum at the same time provided you are sure of what your main target is and to me, that is top 4, not the CL.

09 Feb 2018 10:51:04
I'd like to see solanke start against Southampton as I believe even without firmy we can still be very dangerous going forward. Maybe mane and ox on the wings. as long as we defend properly and the linesman has glasses on I can't see Southampton scoring. As for Porto we must go full strength and get some away goals under our belt. Porto won't be able to handle the anfield effect so as long as we score and win in Portugal we should be ok for a quarter final spot at least. Imagine 7 European results could see us lift the trophy. YNWA.

09 Feb 2018 11:13:54
Not a bad shout there, Ftaboynotslim re: Solanke and don't be surprised if Bobbie and/ or Salah do not start the Saints game.

09 Feb 2018 11:42:47
I disagree, I think Porto is by far and away the most important game. What is the point in worrying about finishing top four if once you do qualify, you don't bother trying to win the tournament. I believe we can win ucl. We have beaten City who are arguably the best team in Europe atm. We beat bayern Munich 3 0 in Munich in Pre season. My point is we can beat anyone on our day. I understand your point about the importance of top 4 finish but the world's biggest club tournament has to take priority for me. I think we will field a slightly weaker team for Southampton with maybe solanke or ings getting the nod and salah and co playing a bit part role.

09 Feb 2018 11:45:42
Anyone missing a world class replacement for Coutinho ( 7 goals and 6 assists ) .

09 Feb 2018 13:49:51
Just because you write ‘fact’ at the end of a sentence, doesn’t tmake it correct. We have every chance of winning the CL this year, especially with a bit of belief. Im sure Klopp won't be looking at it as a long shot. Good job Rafa never had that mentality too.

09 Feb 2018 18:01:57
RedLorry, you are right. I just do that "fact" thing for fun. Seriously, of all the teams touted to win the CL, we are the ones with the least amount of chances (chance nonetheless) to win it and since we are playing the law of averages game, that is all you can go by. We have to be realistic here until something changes and that is my point. CL is out of reach right now. Top 4 is not. That does not mean that we tank one competition for another. We go out to win every game, for sure. I'm just saying that we should know where our realistic priority or as Ron said, our bread and butter, is and that IMO, still remains the PL and top 4.

10 Feb 2018 09:15:44
I’m not saying prioritise one game over another, I’m just saying we should play “full strength” every game. If we win the first CL game 6-0 then we can play a weakened team in the 2nd leg. 🤝.

10 Feb 2018 11:21:20
Neither am I, Ron.

08 Feb 2018 10:17:18
Jesse Lingard has had to apologise for a tweet made from his Twitter account moments after the Munich Memorial minute's of silence, due to an error by somebody on his social media team.

Forget the timing of the tweet - why the bloody hell do players even have their own social media teams?! Doesn't that defeat the whole purpose of players having public accounts to engage with their fans? Where is the fan engagement in having some random 'social media pro' make posts to supporters? Are the players too busy in their jam-packed lives to use social media by themselves?

08 Feb 2018 10:36:37
Spot on, Nicky. No athlete with his head screwed on right. should dabble in SM at all. A SM team? Now, you're just asking for trouble cos something happens regardless of who does it or not onyour team, you will get the blame.

08 Feb 2018 10:50:06
Exactly BR, at least without a SM team you can blame stupid posts on excuses like the phone shifting around in your pocket while you are driving.

For real though, the laziness required to employ a social media team just baffles me. It's not like these footballers are spending 8-10 hours behind a desk every day trying to meet deadlines - they spend a few hours at training and then the rest of the day playing on their f***ing phone anyway.

08 Feb 2018 15:15:05
Times have changed, being on SM is essential now a days . Even governments are being elected thru SM
Footballers should be active on such media just to in touch with fans and it’s excellent medium to connect with young fans . Nothing wrong.

{Ed001's Note - that is not true, they do not need to be on it, it is not an 'excellent medium' to connect with young fans. They could take their lazy arses out into the real world to do that like they should do. Sign some autographs at the end of matches etc rather than fake it on social media. No footballer needs social media, in fact no person needs it. It is nothing but a bane on existence and the most antisocial experience there is.}

08 Feb 2018 16:33:09
Here here Ed001. I totally agree but im guessing we are in a minority.

{Ed001's Note - more than likely, sadly.}

08 Feb 2018 17:04:53
I’d rather they didn’t have SM accounts but if they do I prefer it to be managed by a team. I don’t want players:
1) being upset or distracted by SM nonsense
2) getting themselves or the club in trouble.

It should be made clear on the account that a team of people are responsible for the content and not the player or the club.

08 Feb 2018 17:04:12
completely agree with the ed here. plus it really irks me that people are paid (probably a damn good wage too) to 'manage' footballers social media. ugh.

08 Feb 2018 17:11:34
Well said Ed.

08 Feb 2018 18:56:16
Like Ed said, SM is a waste of time, IMO and that's why I'm not on it. Klopp nhas even said he would prefer that our players not be on it cos it is nothing but a disaster and a distraction.

08 Feb 2018 19:21:58
It raises their profile and that is important to their career.
Beckham made more money from endorsements than he did from football contracts.

I don’t like it but I understand why they do it. They are encouraged by those who manage their careers.
If someone is getting paid for doing it then I’m pleased because it’s someone in employment who might otherwise be unemployed.

BTW BR - this site is a form of “social media”.

08 Feb 2018 19:37:11
I’m sorry Ed but to say that is wrong. I know many, many people who use it, including myself, who don’t use it as an anti social tool.
Due to my working hours and days I don’t get to meet many folk with an interest in running. Instagram has led to to meet well over a hundred people who have taken their time to get to know me and me them and formed friendships and running partners.
People who I’ve met up with many times.
If you don’t like it, that’s your choice, but to put it down as anti social is so far from the truth for a lot of people who struggle to make friends or find the time in their busy lives, is embarrassing.
You can all say how much you hate it whilst having a chat on your own form of social media, which this 100% is.

{Ed001's Note - whatever. Disagree all you like but that is my opinion and your bizarre claim that you couldn't just have joined a running club just shows how ridiculous some people are.

As for this being social media, maybe so, but I wouldn't call this chatting, and I would not refer to this as being social. Shows how out of touch with reality the world is when responding to a post is now considered social, rather than actually spending time with people in the flesh.}

08 Feb 2018 20:30:25
AS I suggested ed, the hours and days I work means I can’t. My training runs generally happen between midnight and 3am. Not many people fancy joining you at that time.
It has helped out many people in their time of need, maybe when they feel they have no one to turn to, a stranger may be all they have.
If you think that’s a terrible thing, again, your choice.
Whilst I agree that there are a lot of idiots who use it, most actually aren’t.
Responding to posts is social media. Twitter, Facebook and all the others all start as 1 post. Just like this thread, the one above it, the one below it and all the others.

08 Feb 2018 20:40:39
Ron, I don't consider this site as SM. It is a blog, IMO.

08 Feb 2018 21:31:38
Well you can argue about semantics but it’s taking away from the original topic.
Players will do it, it raises their profile, it potentially increases their marketability. Its their career, they have to do what is best for them. I’m not happy with it either but there’s a lot about modern day footballers which I object to. This is just another one of the uglier sides of football which is fairly easy to ignore. 🤝.

09 Feb 2018 00:53:54
I don’t have any social media account, I have real friends.
Let’s not lose the art of conversation.

09 Feb 2018 11:49:58
Social media is ruining things incredibly but some people are too into it themselves to actual see the problems social media is causing, especially amongst stars.

This site isn't social media at all, its a blog and people have discussions on it. It's not as if we can go liking eachothers page or profile pictures or send each others pm's. We simply discuss certain topics, a blog. How is this social media?

Don't even get me started on it, having been in a profession where I see youngsters bullied (cyber bullying) due to these sites like facebook, twitter etc etc, I have reasons to be totally against it, it causes nothing but hassle day in day out, it did from the myspace days and it is still continuing and getting worse.

'being on SM is essential now a days' How, why? It's obvious you have no idea about it by saying such a comment, it's essential lol ok. I think I can speak for many people when I say it's far from essential, I actually like to communicate with people in real life not just online. Shame because kind of what you are saying is true, to youngsters. They don't know how to go outside and play on their bike anymore, they just want to go on facebook and see how many likes they can get on facebook etc. But we're talking about professional footballers here, is it really necessary?

It's a competition for them, you can just imagine it ' how many likes on your facebook/ twitter do you have' it's absolutely pathetic whichever way you want to look at it, social media has many more cons than pros. To me, it should be all shut down but I'll accept that'll never happen.

09 Feb 2018 11:48:54
Hilarious people defending social media as if it enriches their lives 😂. It is about as anti-social as you can get and is all about people parading how fantastic they think their lives are. When in actual fact they’re so busy posting about their amazing time at such and such a place they are forgetting to live in and enjoy the moment. Socialising is going to a friends house or out for a few drinks.

It also promotes total vanity and means people become completely outraged about the smallest thing as it goes viral.

09 Feb 2018 23:18:46
I'm pretty certain there is a positive correlation between growth of social media and growth of mental illness and suicide. On the whole it hasn't enriched us at all.

08 Feb 2018 09:51:10
{Ed's Note - we have posted a new article entitled, Liverpool v Spurs - A Belated Liverpool Perspective

08 Feb 2018 10:15:32
Great read, Ed. I do have to make some points tho. On the Karius thing, many say he should have tried to catch it BUT I have watched Eriksen's cross again and there was some bend and power behind it and Karius, not know what was around him, decided to punch it and he did punch it a good 25 yards away and had Can and Ox been switched on esp. Can who let the punched ball get past him for no reason, Wanyama's goal does not happen. Also, GK's are coached to punch way too much now so there's that problem as well.

Also, Klopp made the subs that were right to be made, IMO BUT the boys simply added nothing to the game nor did they even execute what Klopp may have asked them to do and that is a shame To me, Lovren was unfortunate with the sliced kick cos Alli passed the ball and it deflected first off, Wiji which made it a prob for Lovs, IMO.

As for the refs, they were a shambles and you described that perfectly. On first pens, the refs were not even sure nor did they even know the offside rule (the media is trying to make up new interpretations to protect them which is sad) so based on that damning convo we all heard, they pretty much gave a pen w/ o having the NEEDED info to determine if pen or not AND gave the second pen cos the ref was not even sure. They gave it on a whim or cos well, they could. Allowing a lino to influence a game this much is damning indictment of the ref himself. That is the incompetence we were served with and I am still gutted about it. As for VVD, we will have to persevere with him, I guess.

{Ed001's Note - sorry I disagree, Karius SHOULD have caught that, the curl on the ball was predictable and there was no one near him to make it difficult. It was poor goalkeeping, end of. Can could not be expected to deal with it being punched past him from there. He is expecting the keeper to take a simple catch. No goalkeeper is coached to punch a simple catch away when under no pressure. The punch is coached to use under pressure to avoid dropping it at the feet of an attacker, not when you have 6 yards of room to slip up into as Karius did. It is even more bizarre when he has shown that he will try and catch those balls in other games, no idea why he suddenly flapped at that one.

I disagree completely on the subs, in particular Matip was just inviting pressure on, not just because he is not good enough, but because it signified an intent to try and hang on. Wijnaldum was the completely wrong sub as he offers nothing.}

08 Feb 2018 10:20:13
Thanks ed
I was watching Robertson quite closely that game, I wanted to see his crossing in particular, got to say it was truly terrible in that game, even when under no pressure his “crosses” where not only not on target but not actually landing on the pitch half the time, you would think a player playing for an elite club in an elite league would be able to cross a football to within a few yards of where it’s supposed to go 90% of the time, 90% of his “crosses” where wildly off target.

{Ed001's Note - it was really frustrating as he was given plenty of space and time to deliver and made a complete hash of it repeatedly.}

08 Feb 2018 10:34:37
Thanks for the review Ed, very well written.

{Ed001's Note - sorry it took so long. This laptop is driving me mad lately. Each Windows update seems to make things worse! I must have written that review about 5 times before I managed to actually get it to save and post without the pc rebooting and losing it all.}

08 Feb 2018 10:40:13
I agree with your assessment, Ed. I am just trying to figure out his thinking in that split second, that's all esp. when like you, I have seen him catch balls under more pressure than that before.

{Ed001's Note - I think it was just a mistake. It happens, even to the best of them. The big question is how well he responds. The best keepers just get on with it and it does not knock their confidence, the rest let it affect their form.}

08 Feb 2018 10:46:09
Good review Ed. Harsh to ignore all the good Karius did, but his one mistake was a big one so i see your point. He did a lot of good in the game too though. His save from Son in particular was fantastic and one of those saves you don't expect a keeper to make.

Agreed entirely on every other point though. Especially Henderson. The win was lost as soon as he came off to be honest. We totally lost control of the midfield after that. Praying he is fit to do the full 90 in the two legs vs Porto. I think a lot of people under estimate them as a team.

{Ed001's Note - I know I should have pointed out other stuff about Karius, but I just couldn't look past that mistake because it was such a glaring clanger that resulted in a goal.}

08 Feb 2018 10:48:24
Switch to mac ed.

{Ed001's Note - god no, I can't afford a Mac! Plus they do not have the power to do all the stuff I use my PC to do at once. What I need is a return to a desktop, which I will do next month if I can afford one.}

08 Feb 2018 10:59:03
Ed maybe you should save your work after every paragraph rather than only when it is just about all finished?

{Ed001's Note - I do, but sometimes the file gets corrupted, even though I am saving it to cloud storage. I usually have to save more often than that as I rarely get a full paragraph typed up between editing. It wasn't so bad before, as it flickered just before the display driver crashed everything, so it gave me time to save and close all the open files and then open them on my tablet to ensure I had a working copy. However the latest update has taken away that flicker so now I just have to hope it doesn't corrupt.}

08 Feb 2018 11:03:02
Ed I have also noticed that Karius often does things that are completely random in relation to how he usually plays. For instance, you mentioned how he would usually just catch the ball rather than strangely punching it. I think I've seen him do other things like this, for example, his game against Arsenal when he was caught dwelling on the ball by an Arsenal player THREE times. When had Karius ever before even looked like doing that? Never! Yet in one game he does it three times?! It was bizarre.

{Ed001's Note - at least he learnt from that and hasn't done it since, so hopefully he will not make this mistake again.}

08 Feb 2018 11:14:07
That's the thing Ed, they're always these weird and unique incidents that are isolated.

{Ed001's Note - yeah, he is an odd one.}

08 Feb 2018 11:14:44
Jeez Ed, is your laptop from 1995?!

{Ed001's Note - no mate, though it is not top spec now it is decent. 2015 though, so it is getting on in comp terms!}

08 Feb 2018 11:18:09
I'm good with that response Ed as you said, he no longer dallies on the ball like he did at Arsenal so hopefully, he will be more aware next time. Karius is a very competent GK who just needs to improve quickly if he wants to be no. 1 next season. It's all part of the learning process, I guess.

However, I must admit like MK did a while back that Karius regardless of what you may think about punch or catch and there is disagreement on that as I've seen elsewhere, HE saved our season with that pen save. Why? If that goes in, we lose and BOOM goes the dynamite with the fans on SM and all that. We shall see how important that save is in the coming games. Also, if Spurs had to dive, cheat and have the refs on their side just to get A POINT at Anfield, then they are in more trouble than they think. YNWA!

{Ed001's Note - would we have lost if he hadn't saved it? Who knows as everything that happened afterwards wouldn't have happened either. It might have just petered out into a 1-1 draw, we could have snatched a second and won. It is just guesswork.}

08 Feb 2018 11:30:42
A computer is out of date before it is even released into stores, sadly 😂.

{Ed001's Note - very true.}

08 Feb 2018 11:40:55
True, Ed. No one really knows in the end. At the time tho, it did not look like we could have come back from 2-1 had Kane scored the first pen cos to your point, we were inviting too much pressure and personally, I don't think we would have had the mental fortitude to get back ion the game at that time (84th min) . I just thought that the save gave the boys the bounce they needed to go get the second cos Spurs were deflated after the pen miss. All in all as you say, it's all guesswork. Thanks for the replies, man.

{Ed001's Note - I do agree, but sometimes those kind of things push teams to respond, when they feel harshly done by. Whereas they felt justice had been done so never had to respond when it was saved.}

08 Feb 2018 12:01:55
Thanks for the review ed. Just to add on the whole karius issue, when I watched the replay it seemed as though he planted his feet, deliberately or otherwise, and punches it out. So not sure if he had a misstep and didn’t sort out his feet or something.

And it was weird with TAA as well, as in more than a few times I thought he was leaving a lot of space out wide. As though he was acting like a 3rd cb ala Gomez.

08 Feb 2018 12:16:37
The Robertson thing is a weird one.

When he played earlier in the season his crosses had exceptional shape on them, they were whipped in, almost possible for the Defenders to deal with, but they weren't going to the right places. (This could well have been because he was just hitting them aimlessly, but I personally believe that it was because he was not used to how we play and the other players in the team were not used to the art of flying in at the near post to try and get on the end of crosses) I was hoping that everything would click and it would be excellent.

However, his crosses appear to have got worse and worse and still none of our players are making the darting near post runs to get on to them if they were decent.

Ed do you think this is just a case of a player just not really fitting the way we play and losing his confidence because it wasn't coming off for him straight away?

Would love to have a battling Scot in the team but for me LB is still an area that needs work and Robertson may well be replaced.

Cheers in advance.

08 Feb 2018 13:25:53
RD, this is where Robbo needs REALLY improve and where Moreno is way better than him. Robbo is a battler who won't back down from a challenge, ever. However, he gets the ball a lot with a lot of space to work with and then, nothing. Must do better, man.

08 Feb 2018 14:56:16
I think it’s a tough one but he should have caught it, minor mistake as it was a split second decision and he punched it far but was punished badly, overall I’m happy with how he played.

Great review Ed, well balanced. We probably didn’t deserve more than the draw and it some poor play from the subs, particularly Gini who I like was anonymous (glad I wasn’t the only one but the subs didn’t help TAA at all, he looked badly confused and exposed on right midfield, and we had no out ball) but also the refereeing was so so poor. Penalties should both have been overturned on both accounts, both offside and both minor touches with significant simulation. A touch in itself doesn’t mean a penalty is definite decision.

08 Feb 2018 15:01:22
think that I had mentioned it before how we sometimes are too narrow at the back, Erickson was totally unmarked out wide, and his cross was a volley of sorts, quality cross, pity we didn't clear it, also the throw in for their second goal, I think that we should have defended that better, even putting a man in front of Llorente, he was the obvious target, but still with all the diving and messing about from the ref and lino, Spuds could still only manage a draw,
now onto Football Karma, things will swing our way soon .

08 Feb 2018 19:02:58
Spot on, Happy. Spurs had to dive and cheat that much to get a point. I wonder how much diving and cheating they would have to do to get a win. Like you said, football karma is a b-word esp. after Spurs perennial loser manager, literally came out to support his players diving to "trick" the ref, I expect him to get a taste of his own medicine. Just ask Big Sacam after he ran his gob, supporting the fake pen in the last PL Merseyside derby while the same thing happened to him in the FA Cup derby with Lallana (both were non pens, btw) and his face said it all.

09 Feb 2018 11:43:05
Excellent assessment Ed, my only observation would be you were kind to Bobby who I agree worked his socks off again but was really poor with the ball in this game.

08 Feb 2018 05:31:31
{Ed's Note - we have posted a new article entitled, Review Of The Day 8th February 2018

08 Feb 2018 08:09:10
How can the FA ever hope to have some credibility if their referees can't even be consistent away from the pitch? Deeney should have git a one match ban just like Alli did for the same offence. It really isn't rocket science. Did they even need a panel?

08 Feb 2018 10:42:15
MK, Suarez got a one game ban vs Fulham in 2011 after he flipped at the fans there. Deeney, a true piece of work by the way, gets nothing. And yet we all sit here and we wonder why English football is in the toilet from a disciplinary and officiating point of view.

08 Feb 2018 11:06:07
Forgot about that BRover.}

08 Feb 2018 11:31:51
No fun Ed 😉 just remember steel beams can't melt jet fuel! Or something like that. Cheers anyway guys.