....who was the Palace manager who brought Benteke....oh it was Alan PardewPremier League Gameweek 2 fixtures (18th - 20th August 2018)
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....who was the Palace manager who brought Benteke....oh it was Alan PardewHe also looks like Kanan from Power. Which makes me think the real Benteke has been killed off and Kanan has replaced him as part of a get rich quick scheme.
Similar crap is posted about Zaha not being good enough for a top six side, how he's mid table quality etc .. when it's so clear how fantastic he is on the ball. Would easily slot in to any side in the league and look excellent, end product can be lacking at times but he's massively improved it, and he offers physicality and technique that few players possess. People just don't like signing unfashionable players from lower sides, they think only the Bale's and Sanchez's of this world are worth a damn, not realising that these players too once played for the likes of Udinese and Southampton.
Can we have this conversation in a few months please .
Yep finally we have an Alonso replacement.
Thought Palace played quite well tonight, matched Liverpool well for the most part. They’ll take points off some good teams at Selhurst.
All players have the odd off game. Since signing for them though Mane's shown himself to be worth what they paid for him. Last season he scored 20 goals and had 9 assists in all competitions. Think our only player with similar/superior stats to that was Lukaku.
Agree with you.
So let's call it what it is:
He's not such a good ref and he's been against us many a time.
Lovren is back soon. But yeah, Gomez looks ready for the challenge. Quality performance. Him, Mané and Van Dijk for MOTM.
He’s decent alright.
Think Palace has a decent chance at an Europa League spot if they can keep it up, well organized and nice wing play, too bad they will rely on Benteke.
Weirdly I thought he wasn't all that good last season, but statistically he did really well. Certainly thought he looked better when watching him in 16/17, but I guess some of that has to do with Salah taking over as the 'main man'.
Yeah I agree with all of that. Think his stats in the CL beefed things up - his numbers in the PL were nothing special but he scored 10 in the CL.
This is what will stop them getting anywhere near that spot. You simply won't pick up enough points with a striker who is at the moment only worth 5 league goals a season, will have far too many draws and games like today where every single time the ball went near him he fell over. That and they just don't have the depth, one injury to Zaha and they look utterly toothless.
Think with VAR, red card gets overturned into yellow. Salah lost the ball before the foul, by then it was effectively no longer a scoring opportunity. Live though it was impossible to tell, so red was fine
Oh my.
Had a good laugh about that comment.All Champions graft out a few games a season . Dont know ? 6 or 7 ?
Now that's me not saying we'll win it , right ?
Its official - Oliver motm for Liverpool.
Ive got a hunch about Chelsea being honest.
Many a time did i write that we should have tried to get Zaha.
He would have definitely solved our winger problems.
He would have definitely solved our winger problems.
Palace did ok, most of their counters were quite poor though.
They didnt batter palace but it was more then a deserved win, not sure why people saying it was cause of the ref or they were lucky or something. Palace had a few half chances, and are going to be a good side this year, but Liverpool controlled it and had a good amount of chances (as many shots in this game as we had in our 2 combined I think).
Think City will be too strong in the end thankfully (you know it's a fecked up time to be a United fan when you are somewhat relieved City is as good as they are, just to stop Liverpool), but this side is as good as Liverpool has been in the premier league era. Without a doubt IMO.
Think City will be too strong in the end thankfully (you know it's a fecked up time to be a United fan when you are somewhat relieved City is as good as they are, just to stop Liverpool), but this side is as good as Liverpool has been in the premier league era. Without a doubt IMO.
Liverpool are a fantastic counter attacking side, arguably the best in Europe at it with Mane & Salah being some of the best in the world in such situations. Even the likes of Wijnaldum and Keita are fantastic when moving the ball quickly up the pitch, they have a side which is perfectly suited to that quick transition play. I don't think they will win the league though, they simply don't exert the same control over games like City can, which means the likelihood is they'll drop more silly points against sides City will simply choke the life out of.
Palace today looked solid and organised, and Liverpool couldn't break them down, relying on a penalty decision to do so. That's a big problem - they really don't have the creative passers that City possess, and I think Guardiola's style is far more suited to defeating teams who sit deep, City simply pull those sorts of teams apart. In a league situation I think a Guardiola team will always win over a Klopp one, but in the cups is where Liverpool can do the most damage with their style of play, and I honestly think they could win the Champions League this season. Much more likely than the league, I see City getting a similar points tally and don't believe Liverpool are capable of that.
Palace today looked solid and organised, and Liverpool couldn't break them down, relying on a penalty decision to do so. That's a big problem - they really don't have the creative passers that City possess, and I think Guardiola's style is far more suited to defeating teams who sit deep, City simply pull those sorts of teams apart. In a league situation I think a Guardiola team will always win over a Klopp one, but in the cups is where Liverpool can do the most damage with their style of play, and I honestly think they could win the Champions League this season. Much more likely than the league, I see City getting a similar points tally and don't believe Liverpool are capable of that.
Laboured win for us. Palace will be very difficult this season for all top 6. They played well and had their chances. Very good low crosses into the box that miraculously no one touched. And Zaha will trouble plenty of defences this season.
Imo Alisson showed real composure and very safe pair of hands. Couple of good and rock safe saves but the distribution was just outlandish. I think his pass % was 100 including the long ones.
Salah really got 2 huge calls in his favor. Contact was there in both but he added a little extra. I really hope this not the way he plays this season. Lacked absolute sharpness but was decent otherwise.
Van Dijk was the motm for me.
Imo Alisson showed real composure and very safe pair of hands. Couple of good and rock safe saves but the distribution was just outlandish. I think his pass % was 100 including the long ones.
Salah really got 2 huge calls in his favor. Contact was there in both but he added a little extra. I really hope this not the way he plays this season. Lacked absolute sharpness but was decent otherwise.
Van Dijk was the motm for me.
we still need a creative player for breaking down teams.
Hopefully january will not be too late.
Honestly I think that relates to what I just posted, when Liverpool play games against sides of a similar level they're in their element. The likes of Mane and Salah were having a field day against Roma and Porto on the break, just shredding them apart ruthlessly time and time again, I imagine all of Firmino/Mane/Salah had fantastic stats in the CL? Especially since they scored a ton of goals against Spartak, Maribor and Sevilla in the groups IIRC.
We do, Shaq was on the bench.
It's where I feel we're going to miss a Fekir.
We're relying on Shaqiri/Keita/Lallana to do that from the middle third. Remains to be seen whether they can.
Europa League will put a quick end to any challenge I think
Fekir in January at all possible? Think had you started the season with him you'd be running City pretty close.
Honestly though, credit to Klopp for building this side, it's so ruthlessly efficient on the counter. You simply can't give some of your players space to play in, I dread playing you this season because you can switch it on so quickly, one ball in to the likes of Salah and Mane and suddenly they've broken your defensive line. Your midfield gets underrated too IMO, as said not the most creative but the likes of Wijnaldum do fantastic work in terms of covering ground and laying it off quickly, they're important cogs in a Klopp side.
I doubt anyone will disagree with that.
Are you sure?
Nah, Sarri will need a season to get the system properly in place and iron out the kinks, much like Klopp/Guardiola/Poch needed. Against Arsenal they were very fortunate to not lose, could easily have conceded 5 or 6, and I think they'll be in for a few drubbings. Quite a few of their defenders need to get used to playing in a system which exposes them, after playing under Conte it's a huge change and Jorginho really doesn't offer much protection to the backline despite his quality on the ball.
Top four is a good target for Chelsea this season.
With the money they have spent and their options in attack they should be running City tight this season. I actually think they can do well in the CL too this season. Big, big season for Klopp.
I certainly will, fully expect nobody to get near City again, just far too consistent in the league. Liverpool are very good and have improved the team considerably, but 25 points is a huge gap to make up, can see them perhaps halving it but mounting a proper challenge? Nah.
As I've said, City are perfectly suited to the marathon nature of the league, they have the depth no other side has and their style of play means that they don't at all struggle with sides sitting back, which make up the majority of teams you face. Liverpool could even beat them home and away and I still think City would win it comfortably.
I was waiting for Shaq to be on. He was exactly doing just that in pre-season. Cracking low blocks. Lallana won't do it. Keita provides some but his deep passes found no one today i.e. no one was running into them. Given time this will improve and he will be more in sync with the top 3.
Happy that Firmino got better into the game later on. He was poor most of the match. He kept very intelligently the ball high up in later stages of 2nd half and distributed it well instead on trying a worldie flick on to Mane/Salah.
They were stopped either by a cynical Liverpool challenge that went unpunished, the ref, or both. They were never given any benefit of the doubt to keep going.
Who else do you see in the mix?
Don't agree, to get the money spent they needed to sell Coutinho, who if they had kept could have been their De Bruyne and given them the creativity they can sometimes lack. City can keep De Bruyne and still spend hundreds of millions, I don't think it's really fair to expect anybody to challenge a side with the sheer strength in depth City have, they can field two fantastic sides. There's a reason they managed 100 points, and if they can be similarly consistent again (why not?) it's unfair to expect Liverpool's spending to make up that 25 point gap.
Think the fair expectation should be finishing as the best of the rest, and perhaps winning a cup. For me the CL is entirely possible, as I said their style of play suits the competition perfectly and I don't see a single team who are clear favourites.
Other than City and Liverpool I don't see who would be able to give us a "drubbing." While true that we won't properly challenge for the title this season I don't think we'll be miles and miles away like we were last season.