Premier League 2023/24

This game has been an eye sore

No pen for that? Did they change the rules AGAIN? XD

good result for this depleted team, terrible for Pool

Firenze wrote:I honestly don't think I've ever seen a big team with consistently bad passing as us post SAF

just seems to forever be an issue for us

big team?

biggest in the world yeah

even at our worst we win trophies, unlike a certain team that have been irrelevant for about 2 decades now

Firenze wrote:won the treble a few years ago pal

BarcaLearning wrote:Only Salah looking WC in this game, not believing they can challenge Man C

??? City should be focusing on top 4, title is slipping away

The treble that you won was in 1999. That was well over a decade ago!

Arsenal have been looking like the most stable team in the league since the start of the season, from what I can tell. I haven't watched all of their games, but they do seem to have a sense of stability that other clubs haven't had up until now. They have looked unexceptional in a few matches, and I don't think they've displayed the same peak level of performance that Man City have shown once or twice, but unlike City, they've never looked outright poor and they've mostly managed to pick up the right results when the performance level hasn't been great. It remains to be seen if they can keep it up, but consistency will get you far.

A lot of people seem to expect City to nonchalantly reclaim the top spot in the league once Haaland and KDB return to fitness and form, but besides injuries and poor form in certain players, they've also displayed the same complacency that they had during the two months leading up to the world cup last season, and in contrast to Gundogan and Mahrez who hit peak form after being sparingly used prior to the world cup, their summer signings, who aren't at the same level, have not been giving the same chance to rest due to their injury issues. I personally don't think City will win anything this season. They will likely improve once KDB returns, but they no longer have the strength of depth that they had last season, and they can't afford to be complacent when there's no competition for spots. Even Kalvin Phillips has been getting game time lately, and despite the outrageous praise he's getting in The Sun and it's comment section of prideful Brits, you can clearly tell why he was hardly featured in the past

As i said a page ago, grinding results will catch up to you in a league that is so unforgiving. Absolutely disgusting performance, 34 shots yet i remember 0 clear cut opportunities.

Nunez is not it, the improvements he requires to be a better player unfortunately cannot be learned. I doubt he will ever be a 20 goal league striker. Not to mention, playing him limits Salah and Diaz out wide rather than being inverted.

Arsenal should be able to get the Anfield result this time, especially if Endo continues to start at 6 and Jota is not back. If United pressed Endo harder, they would have got the joy that Palace got and broken us apart right at midfield. Arsenal will not give him that time and space.

Man C not having a RW is really puzzling... sold Mahrez without getting a replacement, and then sold Cole Palmer so Chelsea was really wtf... Foden n Bernardo has been the RW alternatively when they are not wingers... so that means the creating has to come from the above, the middle or LW which has been Doku since Grealish has been miss more than hot for a while now.

But Arsenal v LFC means Man C will already catch up some points next week The gap is small anyway n there is a long way to go.

That's my point as Nishy said about grinding, that it simply will catch up to you and our place in the table is flattering. Already LFC-United does not have anywhere near the same atmosphere or quality like it did 10 years or more, ago. The worst part is this had to be the game resulting in dropped points, of course when City drop it as well. Missed chance.

Glad there is a second voice on Nuñez here as I just dont see what he can provide. He looks like Zlatan when he moves in his height and choice of hear but has none of the vision or anywhere near the skill. When he moves half the time he looks like that player in 5 a side who wants the ball but no one will pass to him. He just isn't adding much to the team at all.

BarcaLearning wrote:Man C not having a RW is really puzzling... sold Mahrez without getting a replacement, and then sold Cole Palmer so Chelsea was really wtf... Foden n Bernardo has been the RW alternatively when they are not wingers... so that means the creating has to come from the above, the middle or LW which has been Doku since Grealish has been miss more than hot for a while now.

But Arsenal v LFC means Man C will already catch up some points next week The gap is small anyway n there is a long way to go.

Man City aren't playing this weekend coz of the Club World Cup, and who's to say they'll win their game in hand vs Brentford considering their current form

Arquitecto wrote:Already LFC-United does not have anywhere near the same atmosphere or quality like it did 10 years or more, ago.

True, they were showing the 2010/11 (I think?) game yesterday before the game, the famous Nani crying one after Carragher horror tackle, and that just had an entire different feel to it.

Not sure if this is a nostaglic take.

It isn't nostalgic at all. There isn't any atmosphere in it now.

During the SAF time who was hell bent in ruining LFC he would not take a single player in his squad who would not share the same drive if not instill it into him.

Paired with with rivalries he had with the coaches who are Rafa, Dalglish and co.

Klopp and the coaches that followed dont have that in any form whatsoever and let's not forget to mention United's squad half of whom seem to be social media stars and Twitch etc than really anything. Pathetic club really as the culture is just completely and utterly lost.

Why the moment SAF left I could breathe and accept he is the greatest manager of all time.

nothing will come close to early 2000s Arsenal vs Man Utd tho

As long as it is healthy though I mean as much as more entertaining the intensity was, I think it shouldnt go too far like it did with Mou v Pep in Spain for example . Its not just intensity n rivalry though, I know MAn U parked the bus for a draw, but just the quality of football atm with both teams are so far off their best... in LFCs case pretty sure its the midfield? Or its been the case for a while?

Even better Man C will play their game in hand later when more players are back n form regained

BarcaLearning wrote:Its not just intensity n rivalry though, I know MAn U parked the bus for a draw, but just the quality of football atm with both teams are so far off their best... in LFCs case pretty sure its the midfield? Or its been the case for a while?

Mixture of injuries and new signings adapting. This is a very rough post so feel free to pin point your questions on a specific statement so I can expand on it:

Nunez limits Diaz. Stays uptop that pushes both Diaz and Salah very wide and if they cut in, they get in the way of each other (Nunez and the inverted winger). Nunez cannot solve this on his own, Jota can improve the link up once he is back as he drops deeper, pulling a defender out to link up rather than playing on the shoulder and maintaining the opposition line. This would allow more space when Salah or Diaz cut inside.

Endo cannot receive the ball on the turn, takes out the no8's of the game with his backward passes to the CB after receiving it. Gravenberch is too far ahead to receive it while Szobo is too far wide because Trent is inverted. The slow progression to Trent or the no8s allows compact opposition teams to stay organized and we can't cut them through and just keep passing sideways. Szob also plays as a Henderson work horse just incase Trent is caught out because Endo and Mac and even Thiago are slow to cover.
Thiago would solve this by a lot once he is back. Mac can improve it when he is back. We still need a pure no6: the likes of Rice or Rodri who are essentially "progressive destroyers"

Diaz cuts in a lot (in general) and Tsimikas does not make the overlap, if Tsimikas does, he is no Robertson and isn't able to get the cross in, turns back and passes it to the LCM and rinse and repeat. And when Diaz does cut in, Nunez is too close to him to make a play so Diaz either shoots (not possible against low block teams) or tries to switch to find Salah (how we scored against City). Robertson would solve a lot of this once he is back.

Edit:
For me, the current Liverpool best eleven is: Alisson, Trent, Matip, VVD, Robertson, Thiago, Mac, Szobo, Diaz, Jota, Salah. We are missing about 5 of them in this festive period.

Edit no2: Not having a Rice or Rodri is why we will finish 3rd. Fabinho was key to all our trophies.

Both Liverpool and, of course, Man U need to refresh players.  Liverpool is a solid team... but Salah is getting older and the rest of the attack is not exciting.

Van Djik is really a shadow of himself too sadly.

Thx Nishankly, thats very detailed

I think its fair to say dont expect too much from Thiago, its just a shame hes more injured than not basically so hes not a consistently long term reliably just for that...

Anyway, taking in all that think Klopp still doing very well with what hes got, absolute legend

Nishankly wrote:

BarcaLearning wrote:Its not just intensity n rivalry though, I know MAn U parked the bus for a draw, but just the quality of football atm with both teams are so far off their best... in LFCs case pretty sure its the midfield? Or its been the case for a while?

Mixture of injuries and new signings adapting. This is a very rough post so feel free to pin point your questions on a specific statement so I can expand on it:

Nunez limits Diaz. Stays uptop that pushes both Diaz and Salah very wide and if they cut in, they get in the way of each other (Nunez and the inverted winger). Nunez cannot solve this on his own, Jota can improve the link up once he is back as he drops deeper, pulling a defender out to link up rather than playing on the shoulder and maintaining the opposition line. This would allow more space when Salah or Diaz cut inside.

Endo cannot receive the ball on the turn, takes out the no8's of the game with his backward passes to the CB after receiving it. Gravenberch is too far ahead to receive it while Szobo is too far wide because Trent is inverted. The slow progression to Trent or the no8s allows compact opposition teams to stay organized and we can't cut them through and just keep passing sideways. Szob also plays as a Henderson work horse just incase Trent is caught out because Endo and Mac and even Thiago are slow to cover.
Thiago would solve this by a lot once he is back. Mac can improve it when he is back. We still need a pure no6: the likes of Rice or Rodri who are essentially "progressive destroyers"

Diaz cuts in a lot (in general) and Tsimikas does not make the overlap, if Tsimikas does, he is no Robertson and isn't able to get the cross in, turns back and passes it to the LCM and rinse and repeat. And when Diaz does cut in, Nunez is too close to him to make a play so Diaz either shoots (not possible against low block teams) or tries to switch to find Salah (how we scored against City). Robertson would solve a lot of this once he is back.

Edit:
For me, the current Liverpool best eleven is: Alisson, Trent, Matip, VVD, Robertson, Thiago, Mac, Szobo, Diaz, Jota, Salah. We are missing about 5 of them in this festive period.

Edit no2: Not having a Rice or Rodri is why we will finish 3rd. Fabinho was key to all our trophies.

Man this is one fantastic post.

Thanks Arqy, I actually thought it was more of a ramble. Quite sure we will see the proper Liverpool 2.0 starting from February. If we can keep pace with Arsenal and City until the AFCON is over, anything is possible.

sportsczy wrote:
Van Djik is really a shadow of himself too sadly.

Not sure if you've followed us extensively this season, VVD has been MOTM even in games where we've conceded 3. He is almost back to his best. There have been 3 players who have constantly given a 7.5/10 or higher this season in every match they have played, it's Alisson, VVD and Elliot (from the bench)

We certainly can get caught out with the system we are playing but hey! we're joint best defense with 4 out of those 15 goals coming in 2 games Alisson didn't play.

I certainly thought it was a huge mistake giving Van Disney the aura merchant, the arm band but he has elated himself back to Van Dijk levels.

I generally am critical of VvD but I agree he has come back into form. He is arrogant and has the tendency to take threats a bit lackadaisically and often delegates too much without doing but he is not the one to criticise here.

I think both LFC and Arsenal fans can both agree that a draw would be the worst result here between the two if we want City to remain off their current perch.

I've been thinking about this, VVD did look very good in every game I saw this year. Aside from maybe losing a step or two of pace, looks like his old self.

Arquitecto wrote:I generally am critical of VvD but I agree he has come back into form. He is arrogant and has the tendency to take threats a bit lackadaisically and often delegates too much without doing but he is not the one to criticise here.

I think both LFC and Arsenal fans can both agree that a draw would be the worst result here between the two if we want City to remain off their current perch.

speak for yourself, i'd take a draw if you handed it to me now

Arquitecto wrote:
I think both LFC and Arsenal fans can both agree that a draw would be the worst result here between the two if we want City to remain off their current perch.

With KDB out, Haaland out for the short term, and Rodri possibly being ruled out for the longer term, I think City’s title hopes are quite slim.

Rodri was clenching his right knee and looked like he was in real agony during the match against Fluminense, but according to Sky Sports’ Kaveh Solhekol, Rodri himself claims that he’ll be ready for their next match despite experiencing the «worst injury of his career». Seems a bit odd, but I suppose the injury might not be long-term after all.