Official Liverpool FC Thread @ The Phins

Very hard loss to take. How we rebound will determine if we make top four or not. Missed Matips presence at CB.

Huge goal yesterday to salvage 3 points from the merseyside derby. Didn't think it would ever happen. I mean the first half started off with Everton playing extremely aggressive. They could only keep that up for about 30 minutes (kind of reminded me of our LFC vs Real Madrid in the CL a couple of seasons ago). And then we started to take control of the match. Second half was a complete domination but I didn't think we'd score with the way Firmino kept hacking at the ball in their penalty box. And on comes Sturridge to hit the post in extra time, followed up by Mane... how on earth does he stay that fit for that long? Huge 3 points heading into the busy season. As disappointing as that loss to Bournemouth was, this one is equally encouraging. Because we locked it down so well on the back end. Klavan looks really comfortable at times, very confident. Lovren has his moments though.. wondering if Matip/Klavan might be our best CB pairing. And Mignolet being back to help distribute, with his confidence in handling the ball and playing out of the back, just settles everything down.

massive win vs Man City today. That's a sweep vs them which should come in handy when we look at the final standings. I think winning 1-0 was the most impressive thing. After we scored the first (and only) goal, I thought welp, this is going to be a high scoring game. But alas. Our team had different thoughts. I think putting Mignolet back in has really helped solidify the back, that's now three clean sheets in the last four matches. I thought Wijnaldum had his best game in red today. Not just because of the goal but because of how he integrated on and off the ball. All players did well in that respect but GW was the best and I thought he made Toure look old and slow. On the flip side, Firmino had a rough one and could have easily cost us a goal or two with his turnovers. He seems to be missing Coutinho more than anyone else on the team.

Will be interesting to see what XI we put out vs Sunderland in two days. I'd expect a number of changes.

ugh.... such a hard loss to take after managing to come back and level it 2-2. It's clear that when Mane and Matip are out, we're a different team. I'm hoping Klopp and the brass realize that these are two players that were brought in last offseason. As in... there's no depth behind them... as in, we need to add but smartly. Unfortunately, the winter window is not usually a great place to address this. Although, that is when we added Suarez. I mean, sure there's some depth... but it's not enough against teams that are playing behind the ball like Swansea did today. Against these lesser teams. We just don't have the talent to rise above them and break them down. And our defense seems to go cold when they aren't involved, as if they lose focus. On another note, if only Milner and Clyne were more consistent in their crosses into the box. :pity:

The 2nd leg vs Southampton was brutal. Just a brutal loss after all the chances we managed to get inside the box. Not necessarily the quantity of chances but the quality of chances. Sturridge was on fire but couldn't finish. And that save from Foster after he botched it initially, to get enough on the ball to clear the line while swatting at the ball with his open hand. He's stretching for the ball that's behind him, full stretch and manages to knock it OUT of the goal. Fucking amazing.

doesn't appear to be any signings coming in. From all reports :sad:

we're at an all time low in the Klopp era. A bad January and a terrible week. Losses in both cups and to the last place team in league. All at home. I fear that if we don't turn this around, and I mean soon, they will bounce Klopp and that would be a mistake. It's all still to play for though with respect to the league and top 4. It can still be done. We're in 4th. Get Mane back. Now that the cup games are no more, all focus can be placed on just the league matches. That was why we got off to a good start in September/October. Before these other comps got in the way. We don't have the depth to play Klopp's style and sustain thru all these tournaments.

It is amazing what a difference tying the game after trailing 0-1 to Chelsea means vs what could have happened the other way around if we had led initially only to be tied 1-1. I mean that's a big confidence builder after we couldn't score enough vs much lesser teams recently. Now we have to carry that forward. Hard to say @Hull isn't a must win, they'll likely pack it in and force us to break them down. But they need a result just as badly. I think LFC need to find a way to invite teams onto their back 5 (in their own half) and then break them down from their. A difficult task that sounds much easier than it actually is.

Pathetic!

Good to break out of that funk... against another top six contender, who'd have imagined that? :wink2: If only we could play a top 6 team every week. Two weeks "off" now. Good, they could use all the rest they can get. A much better team when they have a week (or more) between games with their style and lack of depth.

Waited two weeks for THAT. :pity: truth be told, Leicester were going to beat whoever they played yesterday. Bad timing for LFC. I do wonder how our record stacks up with us vs Top 5 vs Bottom 5.

And the roller coaster ride continues. Can we play a top 6 team every week? I don't think we've lost to one all season. Really frustrating to be so convincing over CL contenders Tottenham and Arsenal. Why don't they struggle vs bottom five teams? Depth?? That has to be it right? As in LFC don't have the quality depth that these other "top" teams do.

Well that might have been a first... win a game in an ugly fashion. I think they were even out shot by Burnley this time... after what 26-3 back in August. But losing 0-2.

I guess that was the right result yesterday, 1-1 draw... but the three points would have been sweet. Lallana's sitter.... ugh... but then Man City had a couple of there own. Man, these games that LFC play against the other top six are fun to watch. Undefeated vs the top six. That has to mean something... need to get the CL spot. It's a must have.

GDI, Lallana out for an extended period of time with a thigh issue. Good news is that Coutinho looked really good playing for Brazil last night. Was able to watch that here on BeIN Spanish. That was a sweet left footed finish. He and Mane are going to have to play lights out for LFC to finish top 4.

TBH though Lallana hasn't been the playing at the level he did earlier in the season. I think the amount of miles he was putting in during matches was starting to catch up to him. Maybe a bit of rest he'll get while recovering will help. Most supporters would look at our remaining fixtures with enthusiasm because we face no one higher than 7th (and only 3 of the last 10 are in higher than 10th right now) in the table, but to me it scares me lol. We have to figure out how to win against teams that aren't in the top 6.

Well, that was a nice win today vs Everton. It comes at the likely loss of Mane (for at least a game, he's already ruled out for Wednesday vs Bournemouth). And as much as I like beating Everton, I can't help but think and fear the worst for Mane. I mean there's really two players on this squad that you can't lose to injury, Mane and Coutinho. Now Coutinho looks to be back to his old self... his 24 year old self. I think his down time coming out from that injury he had and a loss of confidence in the final third just mixed together for some bad form. He looks to be full go now though and it couldn't have come at a better time.

I'm actually kind of happy that Everton came out the way they did today and tried to press and outnumber the midfield. That really played into our hands once we could get our front three on their back three in some one on one situations. First two goals were clear products of that. Third goal was a nice insurance policy for Origi past the wrong footed Everton GK. Coutinho involved in the last two of course. First was all Mane really. And the youthful Everton defense couldn't hold up. Some anxious moments defensively. Set pieces are a struggle and looked to be the only way they could score. I thought the first half we also had some struggles coming thru midfield... the passing not as crisp as it usually is. A little credit there (I GUESS!) to the opponent, but it looked to be more of the unforced error variety. it just looked like we could have scored every time we broke fast only to lose the momentum due to a bad pass... a little erratic that first half, but the scoreline didn't really reflect it... but that's me being a perfectionist. Lucas played well defensively, along with Lovren and Matip. It's when Lucas gets on the ball it's not his strength with THIS team.

Will await the news on Mane anxiously. IF he's out an extended period of time, Klopp will need to work some serious magic... and Origi will need to play at the highest of confidence levels... top 4 would be in doubt. Good news is that the opponents are "mediocre"... bad news is that we've struggled against that all season. But you can't change your style and invite them on right? Have to keep playing the same pressing way, right?

Well it's looking likely that it will be season ending surgery for Mane :no::no:. The only positive new is that it's surgery to repair the meniscus and nothing to do with ligament damage. As Klopp said earlier in the week can't we just have a perfect game without someone getting injured.... Sturridge is pegged to be fit again, and boy are we going to need him to say healthy and score some goals. If Origi can find that early season form he had this year we might be able to survive all these injuries.

If we go on to finish top 4, this result will likely be the reason why. I mean really, down 0-1 against Stoke, probably should have been 0-2 if not for a first half brilliant save by Mignolet... go in at half time and Klopp brings on Coutinho and Firmino and the game changes for the better. Stunning strike by Firmino to lift us to a 2-1 lead. And another brilliant save by Mignolet to seal it. Did find it ironic that we exploded for 2 goals, 120 seconds or so apart from each other, as soon as Sturridge was brought on to replace Origi. He absolutely had an effect on that first goal, drawing the defense and leaving space for Coutinho's put in. I'm not sure what to think about the 3-5-2 formation. Certainly in that first half it didn't work with TAA and Woodburn being subbed off (although Woodburn did win a penalty that wasn't called). Second half we stayed with three at the back, but the MF and F shape was different. Think it was more of a 3-4-3. Whatever it was... it was clear that the Brazilian duo changed the game. I believe from here on out we're playing 1 game a week and that should help tremendously.

MOTM was definitely Mignolet. As you said being down 1-0 over 2-0 going into the second half was a huge, and then the even bigger save to preserve that 2-1 lead. We are extremely lucky to be playing one game a week from here on out, and as you've said it will be a big help. I was actually sick to my stomach the first half cause I thought I was watching our top 4 chances slip away.

Well it's all yet to play for isn't it... two games left, win them both and be assured of CL football next season. drop points in either (@ WHU and v MID), and you're looking at the scoreboard for the other teams. I must say we've gotten a bit lucky with how things have worked out in the last few weeks, while dropping points to CRY and SOU, we're still in control of our own destiny. It's a major struggle though. The scoring opps are way down. Not enough in the final third. Our full backs... I'm not sure why we push them up the field as much as we do honestly (a little bit of sarcasm here) because they con't cross the ball into the six with any form of consistency. Milner's penalty miss made me sick. We have so much to do this transfer window to get better. I just hope that isn't affected by whether we make the CL or not (I fear it will be). A team like Man U or Arsenal aren't nearly as affected by missing CL as we will be. That puts a lot of pressure on the players currently.

I can't imagine that we can't beat MID the final week of the season, the WHU game is much more concerning to me. Is it time to move things around? Do you start Lallana and/or Sturridge or go with the same XI? I'm inclined to start them both, pull Lucas and Origi. We must score first to win.

Well, that was better. One more! And if you can't beat a relegated Middlesbrough on your home ground, you don't deserve to be in the UCL.

Phew! never in doubt! :lol: That first half was difficult to get thru. Thankfully Gini saved the day just before half time with that huge goal to go up 1-0. I mean, if you don't score there just before HT, it's a different conversation going into the 2nd half. And the nervousness just builds. I was getting so frustrated with the announcers (watching it on NBCSN, Proudfoot and Beglin). Beglin was ramping it up there in the first half, talking about the crowd and the emotion more than talking about the game itself! I almost muted them off.

The 2nd goal you just knew Coutinho was going to score from the free kick. Now, I thought it was going to be to the far post, not the near post! What a strike. And the 3rd was pure Lallana effort, not giving up on the ball, fighting and clawing for every last scrap and then rewarded. 3-0 felt a lot better than 2-0.

Now, we're thru to the CL playoff round, I'll have to look to see when that will be (Aug or Sep) and who it will be against. A lot to discuss from now until then. If you lose the CL playoff round, you go straight thru to the Europa league correct?

I'll look forward to going thru the roster (like I did after the last season)... have to admit (upon going back and re-reading what I wrote then), was wrong about Firmino... and mostly wrong on Lallana. Those two are solidly coming back next season. But the areas to improve are quite obvious. A top notch CB. Improving the LB. A top striker. And more speed to match what we have with Sadio Mane. Heard a couple of rumors already. Klopp said in his post match press conference that the work is already done.. meaning that they have already secured their targets... we'll wait to see if that's true or not upon the start of the transfer window in the summer (July 1st), where teams make things official. Already had an offer for Mbappe rejected (75m euros). If you believe it, Real Madrid have offered just over 100m pounds. So we'll see what happens there. And supposed interest in Coutinho (which would be devastating to lose at this point). Lots to discuss! But for now, enjoy 4th, a successful season and CL football.

so CL playoff will be 8/16 or 8/17, with 2nd leg on 8/23 or 8/24. The draw takes place on August 4th.

What a match!! Like you I was getting slightly nervous, but I also felt like it was more of when we got the break instead of "if" we get the breakthrough watching the match. Getting the goal in the first half was a game changer, and let them play like they did to start the first half and really put the game away.

I saw on twitter today that Coutinho said he'd rather become a legend at Liverpool instead of just another player at Real, Barca, Bayern. It would be devastating to lose him, but with that mentality and the upward trend at the club means we are in the drivers seat to resist 100+ million bids for his transfer. I agree with all the needs, another true striker is needed especially if we get sell Sturridge as has been speculated.

Also the losers of the all the CL playoff round matches go directly into the Europa group stage.