Away to Newcastle, it was never going to be the easiest of fixtures.
The Magpies had been rattled as a result of losing their manager Eddie Howe on top of the heart of their midfield being ripped out with Bruno Guimaraes and Sandro Tonalis seeking out pastures greener. Anthony Gordon off to Barcelona left the forward line less sharp than it would like to be. It was the youngest Newcastle side to take to a field in more than a decade, and it seemed as long since Newcastle last beat Liverpool at St James Park. All things considered, it was a game a slightly better than average Liverpool side would be expected to take three points from even if the game was tough. In the end they were lucky to take a point, Dominik Szoboszlai doing in the closing seconds of the game what Rio Ngumoha had done last season. It was hard on Newcastle and their fans but no less than a dull but worthy Liverpool deserved given the possession they had.
But possession is not penetration. Up front Liverpool were poor. This is the season where both Wirtz and Izak must deliver but neither showed any indication of being able to do so. If Ngumoha is to lay claim to the mantle of Salah, now extracting Turkish money, he will have to do much better than he did today. Ariola's side has more energy than Slot's ever did but a busy fool has has plenty of energy which just can't be turned into productivity.
If the Liverpool fans were expecting a quick transition under a new coach, they can put it on hold. Unfortunately, in the post Slot era the side played too much like a Slot team. The Slot rot has burrowed deep and it will take time for the new coach to weed it out.
I was in Dublin visiting my daughter and had rushed back home to make the game which I had promised my son I would watch with him. It is one of those things we like to do - watch soccer together. I am more restrained about it than he is. He reminds me of my earlier years when I both played and watched it avidly in the prison where I was a lippy pest on the jail's all weather pitches, always on the back of others. Not that I had any right to - my own performances were hardly top drawer.
The train was on time so I arrived four minutes into the game, missing the joint tribute to the late Kevin Keegan, my favourite all time Liverpool player. When I met him at an event in Dublin prior to his cancer I said to him that I felt he was the best Liverpool player ever. He smiled and said most would say that about Kenny. The two never played together, Dalglish taking Keegan's place when he moved to Hamburg.
Both players wore the coveted number 7 shirt. No one on the field today could fill it.
€ 50 @ 40 / 1 on a # 2 - 3 outcome would have been a tidy earner . Unfortunately , my outlay yielded as many gaols as Isak ( most times he's played in a Red top ) .
ReplyDeleteCheck out the Caicedo goal @ the Bridge last September V the Reds - it was replayed on the double yesterday . Not signing a badly needed # 6 / d m defies belief . L F C conceded a club P L record # 53 goals last season ( 78 in all comps ) . Expect similar leakage over the next none months .
Hughes is off to Saudi next month . Why couldn't he repeat his alchemy @ the Cherries by turning rough diamonds into gems ? Wirtz , Isak , Frim , Kherkez cost £ 280 million & have done little since their arrival .
Purchasing two more expensive wingers won't solve long standing defensive decline . Next up is Forest @ 12: 30 next Saturday . Don't be surprised if they again return to the midlands with a point or three .
They got a point because of VAR and the ridiculous time some 'fourth official' ruled to be played. Once again VAR has given a team an undeserved point, the same happened in the favour of that pile of blue garbage known as Man City. My team, Man Utd, lost away at Hull and deservedly so. Had we been rescued by bent VAR it would have been wrong, I'd rather go down 2-0, as United did, than rely on crooked technology to get a point. At Man City the new bloke in charge even tries to look like their former manager, Pep Guadiola, it's pathetic. Bournemouth and Newcastle were robbed by VAR in my view. Referees have less and less say in officiating games these days and time keeping, once their preserve, is now the role of the 'fourth official' much of the time added on is VAR time.
ReplyDeleteAll the same, Anthony, from Liverpools new man at the helm point of view, a good result
Liverpool deserved a point from the game. They also got the penalty they deserved because it was a clear foul and not as soft as the Newcastle manager believed.
DeleteTime added on is for the benefit of the fans who are being shortchanged by the players, wasting time on the pitch. The price fans pay to see 90 minutes of soccer only to be cheated out of it players feigning injury,
I also like the throw in rule - waste time and you lose it.
VAR would be fine if it made instant correct decisions. The biggest problem for me is that it takes the intense joy out of a goal because of the pause factor.
I would also like to see a penalty introduced for contact in the box at corners. What is going on at the minute is like something out of a wrestling ring. A penalty sanction would put an end to it.
VAR, and over 90% of attending fans, the ones who count which I am no longer, has to go. It is corrupt, adds ridiculous amounts of time for certain teams, not for less fortunate ones, and it is not wanted. Armchair fans, like I now am, do not count. I have no doubt Liverpools penalty was exactly that but in normal time or injury time, not bogus add ons by the unwanted VAR. When will they get it, football fans do not want VAR. Then again, fans views count for fuck all in this modern farce.
ReplyDeleteIt is most unlikely to go.
DeleteIf it did - and I would not miss it - I would still like to see the same time added on.
Fans pay for their tickets to watch 90 minutes of football, not players rolling around feigning injury or the other tricks they pull.