As much as I admire Jurgen Klopp as a coach, his Liverpool teams have never been able to shed themselves of a frailty that has consistently derailed their potential.
When the going gets tough the tough get going but it just doesn't seem to apply to this Liverpool side, who constantly flatter to deceive.
At one point during the match commentary, today's game against Manchester United was described as Liverpool's easiest of the run in. It should have been but they fluffed it. When Quansah, asleep to the danger around him, was selling the pass with sloppiness Fernandes was breaching the gap with sublime intelligence and accuracy. And they have Spurs yet to come.
In underperforming as they did, the Anfield men have given as much fire power to the Gunners as Joe Biden has been doing for the Israelis. How many chances can a side miss before concluding it is time to change the line-up?
Mo Salah is simply not doing the business. If there is such an illness as Squandrapobia, he has been successfully inoculated against it as he never squanders a chance to squander a goal scoring opportunity. It is about three years since he went past an opposing player. Darwin Nunez takes a lot of flak for some profligate inaccuracy in front of goal but Salah is no better. Unless MacAllister gifts him a tap in, or he is fortunate enough to take a penalty, he is not the player of old, perhaps having stayed a season longer than his sell by date.
It is symptomatic of Klopp's sides all too often refusing to convert their dominance into victory. There seems to be a pay check mentality at play - as long as the millionaires can pick up their dosh at the end of the game, the result doesn't really matter that much. But it does to the poor of Liverpool, those who have to sit either at home or in a pub sipping the only pint they can afford in the hope that it lasts the ninety minutes, harder to do these days when dollops of added time are ladled out. Fans not footballers die in the terraces. They have a right to be treated with something better than a pay check mentality.
I would never support a Liverpool side for the players in it. I have zilch loyalty to the team. All of it goes to the people of Liverpool who have suffered so much at the hands of successive British governments over the decades. No sniveling to monarchy there. Liverpool is the best republican city in the geographic area known as the British Isles. The British monarchy might be welcome in Belfast, Derry and Dublin but in Liverpool the people tell it where to go.
If things continue as they are this season might be remembered not as Klopp's successful swansong but as United's rapacious revenge for the 7-0 drubbing they took last season. Erik ten Haag has already stopped Liverpool's FA Cup run and today seriously dented their title ambitions.
The fans can make the short journey back to Liverpool this evening knowing they didn't let the side down.. They were let down by it.
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Took just 8 points from # 24 , no clean sheets v City , Arsenal , Utd , Chelsea this season . Betting odds : City , 3 / 2 , Arsenal 7 / 4 , Reds 2 / 1 . Win 7 remaining games , finish on # 92 points , a tally never reached by Fergie or Wenger ; win the Europa , season is a success .
ReplyDeleteKonate should of started instead of Quansah .
ReplyDeletewhile on the bench I think he might have been carrying an injury. He took a knock in the midweek game. Quansah showed signs early into the game of sloppiness. It might end up causing them the title.
DeleteIf the Reds don't win any more trophies this season , the J K era will be remembered as much for many near misses in the big competitions as trophies won . Defence gives away too many cheap goals , strikers miss too many chances . Jota has been badly missed the last 6 weeks , Szobesalai has only 3 Prem goals all season , compares badly with Bellingham who cost £ 30 mill more & has bagged 20 + . Should of won a second Prem & Champions League . Selling Salah / Nunez will bring in much needed transfer funds .
ReplyDeleteI would keep Nunez as he excites from the get go. Salah - past it. The amount of chances squandered against Brighton breaks the record. And then gets sulky when substituted. He does not get substituted for playing well. If they lose the league they will be regarded as a crowd of bottlers.
DeleteSzoboszlai is simply not doing enough. All the early promise has gone up in smoke,
DeleteMaybe a Republican city now but Liverpool fc were founded by an Orange man who was also a mason and conservative 😆
ReplyDeleteSteve - I used to work with a guy on the sites when I was 15/16 and on his workbag he had Liverpool-Linfield-Rangers. He was called Glen, about three years older than me and got me into Bowie.
DeleteThe only good Glen then! 😆
ReplyDeleteSerendipitously I've recently got 'into' Bowie. Blown away with how insanely talented he was. I always heard his tracks and thought " that's cool" but never explored his catalogue. Clearly a genius.
Shame I didn't listen to him when he was alive. It's like my guilty confession, I've never seen any of The Godfather movies yet love Mafia shows and cinema.
Ah well 😆