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Liverpool 0-2 Everton…
It’s been hard work watching Liverpool since Christmas but we shouldn’t lose sight of the bigger picture. Over the past 3 seasons this Liverpool team have been phenomenal and last season were probably the best Liverpool side that I have seen in over 40 years supporting the team. They were, and still are, a fantastic team made up of very special players working under a very special manager.
Injuries this season have been unprecedented, 3 first choice centre half’s out for the season and the 2 recent backups, Fabinho and Henderson, now out also. That leaves inexperienced/new players trying their best in very difficult circumstances. They have had 14 different centre back partnerships since the start of the premiership campaign (18 in all competitions) with the longest lasting 2.5 games and that’s just the centre half’s. There have also been lenghty absences for Becker, Milner, Kieta, Thiago, Shaq and Jota. You couldn’t make that up. That coupled with a thin squad and the impact of having to play other players out of position, it’s not difficult to see where the problems lie.
I believe the lack of supporters have also had a big impact on the team. Klopp spent quite a bit of time when he arrived emphasising the importance of the connection with the fans and always looked to the crowd to raise the team when needed, that’s just not an option this time around.
This season is a write off and all of us Liverpool fans need to get behind the team and the manager and let them know they have our full support. The last 5 years under Klopp have been fantastic – back in the champions league, finals lost and won, a first premier league title, a first club world cup and of course a champions league thrown in for good measure. It’s been an emotional rollercoaster of highs and lows (mainly highs I’d argue) and I wouldn’t swap it for anything.
Anyone calling for Klopp to go needs to remember how bleak things were before he arrived. The goal this season isn’t to win the league, its not even to get into the champions league. The goal this season is to keep Klopp, get the players back from injury, rebuild the teams confidence and then go again.
Steve, LFC.
I’m a Liverpool fan, but I am from Stockport and love both equally. Stockport have a whole load of issues going on, but this is about Liverpool and Klopp. This season is an unprecedented season in the most peculiar of times. Football is dishing up amazing results throughout the leagues. It feels like silly season, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Leicester win it again regardless of City’s run.
Liverpool though, christ, how many 1st team players does one have to lose before you write it off? Going full tilt for Champions League and then League glory. Klopp has beasted this team to breaking point, he’s directly responsible for the breakdown in players. We can complain about luck, form, whatever. The whole squad is one note relying on a forward line for brilliance, but the moment a team defends we are clueless, offering deep crosses ad nauseam.
It’s Klopp’s fault, he had the same run at Dortmund, everything went to shit when the team broke apart. So, he gets this season as a freebie. Whatever happens happens. But we need to see if Klopp can create a 2nd great team, or does he walk?
Where does Liverpool go if Klopp goes? I don’t see a real fit. What manager would want the job where half the squad is youth, and the rest is broken, peaked or aging out? I hope Klopp finds a way, I hope the club backs him. Unfortunately, there’s no evidence to support a bright future. A return to mediocrity beckons and whether we do change or stick, i don’t think it changes the direction.
Daz (Stockport)
16 Conclusions: Liverpool 0-2 Everton
Liverpool once again weren’t good enough to beat a team that set up to defend and hit them on the counter. I hope Leipzig are taking notes and refrain from playing with a high line if they want to go through next week. Pretty poor stuff from Liverpool TBH.
Pretty poor from the referee for the penalty as well. That can’t be a penalty surely. Did he even properly look at the monitor I don’t even know. And then having given the penalty, why not give a red card to Trent as he was the last man and DCL would have taken a shot if he didn’t go down. What’s the point of VAR again?
Either way, record breaking Klopp has now managed to lose 4 straight home league games for only the second time in LFC’s history, after overseeing the heaviest defeat suffered by a PL champion earlier this season. I can at least respect Liverpool for sticking with him, as I’m sure if this was Real Madrid or Chelsea, he probably gets sacked tomorrow.
MM, Man United, India (Now watch us drop points and lose a golden opportunity to extend our lead over Chelsea, Liverpool and Everton)
The game V Everton is concluding and this is just a who’s who of who can be the shittest. Mane wants it. No wait Roberto ‘I can’t hit a barn door’ Firmino wants it. Kabak? Definitely trying his best. Oh wait here comes Trent ‘I am going for the record possession lost in a game’ Alexander Arnold. Salah? Robbo? Gigi? Absolute muck. MUCK!! I think the winner is MANÉ today. It’s embarrassing watching some of them sometimes. The simplest things they can’t do. Oh here comes Origi. He wants to keep his ‘I’m the shittest’ crown!
Alex
The current Liverpool team reminds me of Manchester United under Moyes.
Havn’t won at Old Trafford in forever? Play Moyes’ United.
Everton last won at Anfield when Zidane was a world champion, Bill Clinton just got his cigar lit by Monica, and Mason Mount wasn’t even born.
Not looking good.
Stijn, Amsterdam
If you had any doubts about how desperate Kavangh was for Everton to win then the VAR review of the penalty said it all. He watches it for less time that it takes for the incident to actually occur which means he knew before he got to the screen that he was giving it.
I hope the bet he had on was big enough to make it worthwhile! Either the standard of refs is so low that they literally can’t watch an incident that everyone else knows isn’t a foul and not understand or they’re purposely cheating. I actually prefer to assume it’s cheating because I can’t believe that the “best league in the world” can’t get better standards of officiating than this.
Congrats to Everton. All they had to do was not implode and they did that to glorious effect.
Minty, LFC
Let’s get the obvious out of the way first – Liverpool were poor again and the penalty decision did nothing to change that. After the opening 15 minutes of the second half which looked like it might bring something and Everton were fortunate to survive – Keane was immense – Liverpool ran out of ideas and settled into the disjointed, stodgy, and unthreatening malaise that has been present since Christmas. So, the penalty, while it ended any hope did nothing to change where the result was headed. However, the take by Ian Watson in 16 conclusions is so so bad that I felt compelled to email.
The referee thought it was penalty – yes Ian, he did. The VAR did not or he would not have sent Kavanagh to have a second look. Not sure what this proves.
Twitter wasn’t so sure – surprising that. Liverpool is one of the most hated clubs in the country, ask a rival fan about a decision involving Liverpool and they will argue black is white all day long as is seen by the nonsense around VAR wasn’t an issue for Liverpool fans last season when it was winning them the title despite all evidence to the contrary – armpit gate at Aston Villa and United’s goal at Old Trafford would suggest otherwise.
You could certainly see why Kavanagh stuck with his original decision. Really? What you could see was Kavanagh displaying the most amazing level of arrogance I’ve ever seen by a referee. He barely looked at the screen. Less than 3 seconds on the highlights – not even long enough to see the full incident play out. If you look at the screen, which is visible in the highlights, he actually only gets to see the very end of the replay when TAA’s leg does come up and DCL goes to ground. By that point DCL has already slammed his knee into the TAA’s head which is what causes him to fall not any challenge from the defender.
Alexander-Arnold probably doesn’t mean to stop Calvert-Lewin reaching the loose ball in front of a gaping goal, but he certainly impedes the striker. Is Ian suggesting that TAA used the eyes in the back of his head to place that same head in the way of DCL’s knee? At no point does TAA look at him, know where he is, or make a movement towards him. Compare that to Mane against Newcastle where Darlow grabs his leg and holds it as he is about to put the ball into an empty net and tell me which is
Such decisiveness is to be welcomed if the alternative is for officials to take 25 looks at the same incident. Mediawatch usually does an excellent take on strawman arguments so I hope that is included in the next edition. Also, is it to be welcomed? I thought VAR was there to help referees get decisions correct otherwise what is the point?
I know F365 consider discussion of refereeing decisions as being incredibly boring as has been made abundantly clear the last two times Liverpool have appeared in 16 conclusions but the fact is that they matter, a lot, especially when they lead directly to a goal being scored which changes the outcome of a game. Liverpool’s problems this season are not down to refereeing decisions but they have played a huge part in so many tight games this year from the derby disgrace, the Welbeck penalty, the clear foul in the build-up to Fulham’s goal (admittedly they should have gotten a penalty in that game as well), Darlow’s foul in the Newcastle game, Salah’s disallowed goal against Spurs for Firmino handball, the blatant push on Mane by Evans in the lead-up to Leicester’s second goal (which wasn’t even discussed by any of the typical media channels). None of those decisions may have made a difference, perhaps all of them might have but simply dismissing them as boring does everyone a disservice.
Regards,
Lindsay, Dublin.
As I said last week why do refs buy a collapse from a big centre half when they’re under pressure? Mane complained about Holgate doing it and received a yellow card. Cue silence from Tyler/Carragher on the replay.
5 minutes later Salah makes a meal of a challenge which is less physical than the prior mentioned incident.
Carragher ‘Clear dive from Salah’
Oh? And there’s that ridiculous penalty.
Mane was absolutely wiped out by the defender after taking a shot against Burnley and it was ignored.
Astonishingly the ref has reviewed it and deemed it acceptable that TAA was prone on the floor having made the initial challenge and Calvert Lewin has then run into him. There you go forwards, just run into a defender in the box and earn yourself a penalty.
And then Everton take a ‘player coming back from an offside position’ free kick 5 yards inside the Liverpool half and the ref signals play on.
Can’t wait for next season.
James Outram, Wirral
I know that it wouldn’t have affected the result, but how was that a penalty?
Dan, Plastic LFC
I guess we’ll just have to win the Champion’s League then.
Aidan, Lfc (fair play to Everton, we just weren’t good enough)
– How did we put in that performance against Fulham???
– Carlo got his tactics right on this one, and the players mostly played up to it. The back three of Holgate, Keane and Godfrey were superb in keeping Mané, Firmino and Salah fairly quiet. Less so Coleman and Digne keeping Robertson and Alexander-Arnold quiet. Was lovely to see Ancelotti’s emotion at the win.
– Special shout out to Holgate. I think Mané is Liverpools most dangerous player, and has been for years – so for us to stop Liverpool scoring told of a sterling man marking job by Holgate. He doesn’t get the new boy praise of Godfrey (which I’m not denying), nor the England PFM of Keane, nor the international respect of Mina, but he was top notch today.
– Godfrey will be at Citeh in 2 years, He’s an immense, versatile player and will be coveted by huge clubs.
– Alongside our “wing-backs” Doucouré had a bad game. He was let off in the first half by the industry of Davies and Gomes. To be fair this is a one-off and I think he’ll enjoy having a more confident Davies playing and Allan returning as it will allow him to focus in the attacking third where I think he’s best.
– James and Sigurdsson can’t play together (as Fulham showed) but my god it’s great to have them both. When James brought the ball down for the opener I felt this weird feeling that Arsenal fans must have felt in 2002 when Pires got the ball down the inside left-channel – you just knew a goal was coming. And it was great to have Gylfi lord over the last ten minutes when we went two-nil up, with more physicality than Rodriguez can offer.
– I praised Tom Davies after the Spurs win, then went quiet after the losses to Fulham and City, but he was great in the first half, especially. He’s really maturing and very happy for him. He’s certainly becoming more than a walking Mundial.
– Richarlison took his goal well, and I think we all wish he took a similar approach early doors in the second half when he wasted a chance.
– The penalty didn’t decide the game, but I’m sure you’ll get lots of whinging and vitriolic Liverpool fans decrying it as the reason they lost/games gone/stop the count style conspiracy against Liverpool winning the league. Yes, Calvert-Lewin goes down easily, but I think your boy “Trent” (Alexander-Arnold too long to say, Jamie?) is sticking out a leg to ensure he doesn’t get to the ball to tap it in… I think the referee made the correct call to award a pen for denying a clear goal scoring opportunity, but didn’t send Alexander-Arnold off as he couldn’t get out of the way, I also think that’s why he was called to the monitor, to check if he wanted to send off Alexander-Arnold – he was right not to. End of the day, if Bolsanaro’s #1 boy keeps hold of the ball, I don’t think it’s a pen or even a notable incident other than a nice counter attack by Everton as they hold out for 1-0 win. Fortunately, it didn’t impact the result.
– To be clear, my view on VAR is that it should follow a cricket/NFL style challenge system; and it didn’t really look like Liverpool wanted to challenge the decision.
– Salah is a diver. I get he needs to ground easily to show refs he’s being fouled, but he also goes to ground when he’s not fouled; and that’s diving.
– Since he joined in the summer I’ve felt that Thiago is the footballing equivalent of Metallica playing with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. It’s great on paper, but it’s not true to what the band/team have ever been about. I thought he was alright, and we gave him a lot of space, but he didn’t really do anything with it, which I guess is the problem for the kopites…
I’m off to celebrate, I was 13 last time we won at Anfield so time to party like it’s 1999!
Matt, EFC, London
I’m sure you’ll get a lot of emails from Liverpool supporters but I just wanted to say we were full value for the money in that match.
However…….
….we can’t be winning matches like that and losing to Fulham at home. We just can’t. I consider this progress but it’ll mean nothing if we lose at home to Southampton, which we very well could.
I’ll enjoy this, no doubt about it. 20 years was too long. Looking forward to Ancelotti’s working in building some consistency into our game.
TX Bill (Pickford was fantastic…need that EVERY week) EFC
I can’t believe it. 40 points and it’s not even the end of February.
Also:
YEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!
There had better be 16 Conclusions…
Aidan, EFC, London
Sincere congratulations to the Toffees for such a superb victory. And, whilst they may be partying like it’s 1999, I have to say this. For me (Clive)?
This means more.
Ba-dum-tish!
Mark (I’ll get me coat) MCFC.
Stadium banners
Further to my email kindly published on (in)appropriately named footballers, it was rude and remiss of me not to mention the best named player ever, George Best of course.
Misleadingly named was the Centre Back (You’ll Never Beat) Des Walker who was actually no slouch and was renowned for his turn of speed. Guess you say the same about Kyle, nowadays.
And I recall Man City having a defender called Paul Power in the 1980’s, who was no pushover. At the 1981 Cup Final, the Citizens had a banner stating ‘City have the Power to arrest Crooks’, which is probably the wittiest banner I’ve ever seen at a football match. (The loquacious pundit Garth Crooks was a striker for Spurs in those days).
This brings me on to MY question to 365ers – if you could bring a banner into a stadium, what would it say? Something nice or clever please, no ‘Klopp/Ole/Mourinho/Arteta… Out’-type responses, please.
Cheers
Rob da Shrimper, Essex
Parker love
As a Villa fan I have to say I have some serious man love for Scott Parker. What a job he is doing.
I hope it doesn’t end like the end of Cool Runnings but all I can say is Go Fulham (Jamaica).
Paul
CHO
Are you on a losing streak? Playing Chelsea? You’re in luck, we will help you out, I may joke but that headline does often come to mind, happened against Crystal Palace and West Ham a few seasons ago, this time it happened against Southampton, is it a mentality thing because it does often repeat itself season after season.
So the big talking point will be the substitution of the substitute, Callum Hudson-Odoi, my thoughts on that issue are that after the equaliser from Mason Mount (he was exceptional I must say) CHO was terrible, quite often in that second half he was stationary, failed to move into space, no reaction to passes and any passes to feet from a teammate were bouncing off him, so from that observation I can completely understand why Thomas Tuchel made the change.
When watching Callum play I have always felt he is at his best when near the touchline, quite often whenever he plays in the number 10 role he just seems to struggle a bit because he has to half turn and make quick decisions, yet when he plays out wide he often wins most of his 1v1 matchups.
At least Atletico lost in La Liga, so Tuesday night could be interesting.
Mikey, CFC
Goalkeeping standards
Regarding the article written by Eoin Mac Raghnaill about Goalkeeping standards.
I think the present tendency is to become as divorced from nuance as possible. Seems like a trend. We still have writers and pundits rolling out a paltry amount of statistical evidence to make a very weak point. Save percentages are a small statistic for Goalkeepers. They do so much more, and I don’t mean with their feet. It’s the overall communication and coordination of the back line and the keeper that stops goals.
Let’s look at Allison because high profile errors are what sparked Eoin’s need to write this piece. All 3 of the big mistakes he’s made that led to goals had nothing whatsoever to do with his hands or stopping shots. He made an incredible save with his hands moments after his big error. This means you have to look at the way the goal is conceded.
Building out of the back is being routinely derided in England and the “hoof it clear” mantra is still used every single time a build out fails. GKs are going to make mistakes and concede some goals because of it. Defenders will also be the culprits. See Betancur for Juve against Porto. Goalkeepers are now part of the team. How awful!!! We’ve actually included them in the game instead of saying “yeah stay over there weirdo, we’ll take shots at you, don’t throw it in the goal.” Now they have a bigger role and need a much wider skillset. Just so Eoin is aware, this is a good thing.
So where are the stats on the saves then? How crucial are certain saves? At what point of the game are you bailing out your team? Rui Patricio made loads of stops and a huge save against Leeds yesterday for Wolves to score moments later. Meslier made some good saves but when the ball hit the post and then off him, he now has an Own Goal to his credit instead of a clean sheet. The stats tell only so much.
I am a youth coach which is a great place to be watching the GK position change. It is evolving at orders of magnitude more than any other position. On top of that, the training is far more diverse, not as brutal on the body, more inclusive with the team, and more tactical as well. Keepers are getting fitter, stronger, smarter, more skillful, and more responsible. Regarding the comment Eoin makes about the training video he saw: they still do an enormous amount of shot stopping. But now this is part of the package.
Goalkeepers are massively misunderstood but as the position changes, that is breaking down. The role they always had made people safe and comfortable. Now that things are getting more complex, a lot of people are uncomfortable and so they invoke Dinosaur Zoff and Gordon Banks. It’s easy to use nostalgia to make a point, but it’s flimsy at best.
The standard of Goalkeeping has not dropped. It has risen in every single way. The standard of defending has dropped. It is not coached or valued as well. 1v1 defending all over the field is really poor from a lot of players. But also, defending is becoming impossible because of this offense we take for any sort of contact anymore. Deriding GKs is, and has always been, the weakest excuse made to attribute the conceding of a goal.
Sebastian North
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