Liverpool Match Posts

24 Aug 2026 09:15:54
I thought Jacquet and Munoz were the two positives from yesterday - in particular for Jacquet given he hasn't played in so long I thought he was our best CB and show how good he could be in progressing the ball up the pitch - he's happy to make progressive passes as opposed to keeping it safe the whole time.

When we scored our first goal yesterday it was the first and only spell in the game where we passed direct and quickly forward through the lines. We didn't do enough of that yesterday in the midfield.

Let's hope there is some serious business done this week because otherwise I think we will be in for a pretty erratic season unfortunately.

23 Aug 2026 22:09:55
Didn’t get a chance to watch the game but listened in. Was wondering what everyone thought of our intensity? Didn’t sound like we fought for second balls. Lots of work to do, but are we heading in the right direction?

{Ed025's Note - what intensity?..

24 Aug 2026 07:44:51
As honest as ever ED025

{Ed025's Note - i just never seen any of it Dave..

24 Aug 2026 09:18:02
Yeah. Like 25 says, players reverted back to the intensity they showed last season. The pace and press that we showed in pre-season was non-existent.

23 Aug 2026 21:48:49.
We don’t have any ball winners in midfield. Both Newcastle goals saw their players strolling through the middle of the pitch with no-one putting a tackle in.
We need a disciplined player who will sit in front of the defence and close up the middle of the park.



It was a scrappy game, typical for 2 teams starting out with a new manager. The only thing which was glaringly obvious is the hole in the middle of our team.

Forget Barcola, sort out the weak middle of the team.

23 Aug 2026 23:36:10
Agree, Ron. It's the biggest issue in our team right now... More than the wings or fullback issues.

24 Aug 2026 01:40:17
When we have two wingers with genuine pace, who can beat a man and run in behind, a lot of other things will fall into place. I agree we need a specialist defensive midfielder though. It is obvious Gravenberch doesn't want to play there. He was the one giving it away twice on the edge of their box, and leaving the big gap.

Bring a number 6 in and let him take his chance and compete with Szobozlai, Wirtz, and Macca further forward. He won't get as many games, but too bad if he won't stick to his position.

24 Aug 2026 05:44:55
I was disappointed with that tbh, Kemlyn, on Gravenberch. I was paying half the attention tbf and only watched like literally that first half for all pre season, so I cant tell what happened for the other games, but I thought he was mainly staying back.

On today's game, with him also joining the attack, the midfield again was missing on the counter.

Hopefully it's a first game, still needing to readjust, but we really cant be having all 3 just joining the attack with no one covering behind. Someone shouldev dropped at least, but that didnt happen, I think. Just too easy for that direct pass in the middle on a counter.

24 Aug 2026 08:16:02
I agree with Ken, all three of our midfielders instinctually want to go forward and not sit, this is the issue. As soon as we equalized the first time we looked threatening and they looked vulnerable albeit only for a couple of minutes. Then we had a brain fart, and back to square one.

Like others have said, a couple of speedy wingers and some midfield discipline and this team can start evolving. Rio should never play right wing again, he's just not good enough there. Why are we buying a winger who's just had surgery and is out till December? Surely this is some sort of joke?

23 Aug 2026 21:35:57
Whilst I think it’s obvious that we need a ball winning midfielder - I don’t see that solving any issues by itself. Our issue is more around the balance of our midfield 3 and at times both Dom and Wirtz are too far apart and leave huge gaps.

In the first half they were both closing down opposition full backs, with our wide players falling back to our full backs. Loads of room to get played around.

And, tin hat and body armour being put on, Dom has no sense of what is around him at all when he’s defending. The number of times he moves into a space and either leaves his man or doesn’t look around to see who to pick up is unreal.



This can be fixed with coaching and having everyone working on it - until that’s done our back 4 will remain helplessly exposed.

But, coupled with getting a better defensive shape as a 3, Andoni won’t be able to inject them with the desire to put in a challenge or take a yellow for the team.

Fingers crossed it comes good but it maybe time to acknowledge that at this point in time our midfield 3 isn’t as good as we think, or would like.

24 Aug 2026 01:48:57
Been saying all summer we were too weak in midfield. Until that's remedied we're not winning anything.

24 Aug 2026 08:28:38
Will Isak ever get back to being the player he was for Newcastle?
He contributed nothing to the team yesterday, and it's a worry.
I know he's been injured and had a long spell without playing, but how long will it take.

23 Aug 2026 21:09:38
What about our fullbacks, lads.
Kerkez got away with a full poor season last year which fell under the excuse of slot. The lads' end product and delivery is soo poor, then you're reminded his competition is timikas. Kerkez is extremely lucky of his spot.


I'm not too bothered on Frimpong. He's not a proper fullback and he was never a signing I thought we should have sought. Bradleys hopefully back by October.
Right fullback is actually decent atm for cover. It's the lb position. We've two extremely average players.

23 Aug 2026 20:47:35
How about 3 at the back?

I think both Araujo and Jacket are strong - and then we don't need Kerkez. 🤔

It is impossible for (only) 2 centrebacks to cover for Kerkez and Frimpong. 🤷🏼‍♂️

23 Aug 2026 20:46:43
Summary of the game:

Fullbacks - trash, worse with the ball than without it.

VVD - poor, positionally and decision making.

Jacquet/Araujo - did ok.

Grav, looked tidy on the half turn but his decision making and discipline was poor.

Szobo - worst game I've seen for a while, like Grav, caught out of position a lot and ineffective with the ball.

Wirtz - a real concern, as a player he had obvious qualities but Iraola will need to find a way to get
the best out of him.

Rio - wasted on the right, looked unfit especially when going back towards goal - Munoz did a lot more when he came on.

Gakpo - took his goal well but went back to last season's Gakpo and looked way too one dimensional.



Isak, one nice turn in the whole game, still doesn't look fully fit and think the situation may have got to him.

If we are to play Szob and Grav as a 2, then one of the cb's has to step into the midfield to win/challenge the ball on the break. Their first goal was a prime example of us not doing this.

The space between our mf and our defence is so vast, we have to be making tactical fouls on the edge of their box or else we will be done on the counter all season.

It's only 1 game in so no reason to panic but there are some concerns that most of us had prior to the game, which were glaringly obvious today.

Rant over.

23 Aug 2026 21:28:45
Go back to bed mate.

23 Aug 2026 22:00:36
I nearly fell asleep typing that out to be fair.

23 Aug 2026 19:59:35
It's never a good idea to post straight after a game when the emotions are still high but here we are.

As it's the first game of the season, I think there needs to be some allowance given for the shambolic defending at times as the young lad Jacquet gets up to speed. However, I think it's clear we should really have invested in a new right back this summer.

It's also clear that the young lad Ngumoha is not ready to be the starting RW as he didn't offer enough today.



But I think the most obvious thing is that we still seem to have no bite across the entire team when a strong DM or at least someone getting stuck in would have made such a difference today.

We made Newcastle look good at times today but with a few new signings through the door, I think we can look forward to at least playing some entertaining football this year.

23 Aug 2026 20:15:18
Let me ask the fans sth: why did Liverpool's midfield look so open?

When Newcastle pretty much played Steur and Miley as a double pivot with Wissa ahead in the number 10.

Yet we had a similar formation but Wirtz was not effective at all.

23 Aug 2026 21:02:04
Was Slot's fault.

23 Aug 2026 21:09:31
Dom had a shocker, he is a liability when played in a double pivot. Dom and Kerkez had a summer's rest to cough up that garbage.

23 Aug 2026 21:23:13
In fairness post Klopp, most of game Newcastle sat deep so much easier to be compact. A lot harder for Wirtz to get space compared to Wissa. Particularly when they scored so early it suited them nicely, sit tight and hit us on break.


Don't get me wrong, I do think make up of our midfielders is wrong. None of them think defence 1st and just not aggressive enough.