UEFA Champions League/Europa League 30th April - 2nd May *** Spoilers ***
- Thread starter Cosimo
- Start date
Not much you can do with either the 2nd or 3rd goal for differing reasons but if you don't take your chances then you're at risk of this sort of thing. Right up until the 2nd goal we were in control of the 2nd half but so wasteful in the final third. It's easy with hindsight but as soon as Coutinho came off we should have had Trent on - we were getting a lot of ball down the right but Gomez really lacks the quality in attacking positions.
You can only shred Barca to pieces if they overcommit and leave space for you to break but Barca didn't do that. We created as many if not more chances than them today so I'm not sure you can be overly critical of the overall performance but poor finishing from us coupled with a massive slice of luck and then some absolute genius from Messi decided the game.
You can only shred Barca to pieces if they overcommit and leave space for you to break but Barca didn't do that. We created as many if not more chances than them today so I'm not sure you can be overly critical of the overall performance but poor finishing from us coupled with a massive slice of luck and then some absolute genius from Messi decided the game.
Exactly this. I really think that if we had been bold and believed we could have actually beaten Barca today, or at the least drawn. Salah and Mane showed time and time again that they had the beating of their defence. Seems that Klopp bottled it though and set us up too defensively and not attacking minded enough.
I think this match also highlighted again how our midfield is significantly weaker than our defence or attack and really does need strengthening in the summer.
Yea, I'm not sure that's what I said. It's easy to say after the game that we could have been more adventurous at RB in the 2nd half but if Klopp makes that change and Barca score on a break down our right then he gets criticised too. At the end of the day we created more than enough chances to have still been in the game today but we didn't take them. As I said in another thread today, these sorts of games are often decided by tiny margins and Barca had a massive slice of luck with the 2nd goal and then Messi does something only Messi can do.
I meant where you had said bringing on TAA soon as Coutinho went off. Instead I think Klopp played it too safe and cautious with his setup imo.
Gomez was the wrong choice but easy in hindsight, given is was coutinho though it should’ve been obvious.
The difference between the best two in the world at their position and two world class players but not finishers, second goal was insane luck but nothing about the game was concerning until we brought on Origi and tried to lose the tie.
First goal was all round poor but the others are just whatever, no point being upset at Barca acting as usual, we knew it was coming, just surprising from Messi
Felt surreal seeing our team against Messi, relatively quiet but utter ******* class at times, wish I could be at Anfield to see him
The difference between the best two in the world at their position and two world class players but not finishers, second goal was insane luck but nothing about the game was concerning until we brought on Origi and tried to lose the tie.
First goal was all round poor but the others are just whatever, no point being upset at Barca acting as usual, we knew it was coming, just surprising from Messi
Felt surreal seeing our team against Messi, relatively quiet but utter ******* class at times, wish I could be at Anfield to see him
I agree but that's with the benefit of hindsight. It's easy to see why Klopp didn't make that change though. There was a very clear risk to making that change from a defensive point of view and we were on top in the game. He didn't bottle it. It was a calculated decision - he clearly felt as if we could get back into the game without exposing ourselves defensively.
I see what you're saying, thing is, whilst I think Gomez is far better defensively than TAA in a centre back position, I actually think that TAA and his pace is better defensively in the RB position. I personally would have started Trent, not Gomez. I think Barca are one of those teams who just arent used to opposing teams going at them, they are used to teams being in awe and fear and respectful of them. I really think that if we had setup and played more attacking minded then we could have gotten something from this, its something I said from the moment I saw the team selection. We will never know for sure but I feel like Klopp gave Barca that very awe and fear that benefits them and he set out a more defensive tactic than we use when we play at our best.
Klopp is all about being bold. Tonight he decided to be pragmatic rather than brave; he concluded that his team couldn't go blow for blow with Barcelona and was balanced (against all his prior tactics). I think that absolutely Liverpool would have come out on top if they had got into that type of game.
With Barcelona - you are generally trying to shut out 3 players. With Liverpool, there are 5
With Barcelona - you are generally trying to shut out 3 players. With Liverpool, there are 5
Klopps interview was funny, who is Des Kelly and how does he have a job by literally asking the least interesting questions, in fact half are just statements with no question.
What game did you watch? Liverpool opened up Barca a lot and simply couldn’t finish + we had no striker which killed us various times.
We aren’t like last year where we have to score 3-4 to win (ignoring today
)
What game did you watch? Liverpool opened up Barca a lot and simply couldn’t finish + we had no striker which killed us various times.
We aren’t like last year where we have to score 3-4 to win (ignoring today
)Gomez is far quicker than Trent and a better defender too. I have no problem with the Gomez selection from the start, I'm pretty sure I said I'd have played him the other day too. The decision to start with him and even the decision not to make a change in the 2nd half wasn't the difference today. How many sides go away to Barca and control possession as much as we did in the 2nd half today? That's not the sign of a side that's in awe. We didn't take our chances and were punished for doing so. Yes there might have been small tactical changes over the 90 minutes that would have benefited us but this idea that the manager ****ed it up or bottled it is crazy. We created more than enough chances to have scored a couple of goals today and conceded an incredibly unlucky goal and 1 stroke of genius. Sometimes **** just happens.
I couldn't disagree more with this. Klopp's always been pragmatic in games like today. Look at every one of our performances vs City, even the games we've won and you'll see that we never go gung-ho. We've always been as solid as possible defensively and then looked to spring on sides. What you're seeing more and more this year is sides that come up against us being more pragmatic and not allowing us to break on them. In both City games this season Pep played far more cautiously than ever before, vs Bayern it was clear that they didn't want to commit players forward and to a lesser extent it was the same today from Barca.
edit: what we lack, particularly with no Firmino and neither Ox or Keita in midfield is that little bit of extra creativity to pick sides open when we don't have space to break into.
I'm not disagreeing with you regarding the selection. We lost 3-0 so yea, we couldn't have done much worse had we started with a different line-up. My point was that there was very obvious and understandable reasons why Klopp made the selection he did today and despite everything we were still competitive in the game and on another day come away with a result. Had we been played off the pitch, been under constant pressure and never looked like scoring then fair enough be overly critical of the managers decisions but after a game like today? Not for me.We'll just have to agree to disagree on our interpretations of the team selection Baz
Thing is, I believe that we would have done better had TAA and Firmino started the game, so by that logic I have to be critical of the team selection. Like I say, we will just have to agree to disagree on that team selection and whether it lessened the chances of us getting a result or whether the team selection was fairly inconsequential to the result. I wont comment upon Klopps reasons for the decisions made because I dont know the guy and I'm not a football manager, so all I can do is look at it from my armchair and give my own thoughts and then stand by them. Which is why we will just have to agree to disagree