Europa League 2015/2016

VorZakone said:
But come on...top 3 is pretty much secured in the Bundesliga, why not go all out today.
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Can't get inside Tuchel's head, but I'd imagine it's either due to fatigue, the local derby factor or maybe the fact they're still only 5 points behind Bayern and don't want to give up in terms of chasing the title. Maybe even a mixture of all these factors.

Or what Sphaero said.
 
A very dull and lethargic display. No urgency in attack, lots of sterile possession with no threat, and a goalkeeper keeping them in the game. Like watching United play.
This is a shadow of the Dortmund team who tore Spurs apart.

Hope they get past their Klopp love and smash Pool at Anfield.
 
Sphaero said:
It is more likely because a conceaded goal would hurt us way more than scoring one ourselves. Tuchel is banking the tie on the return leg.
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Yes. Away Rule arithmetics. You have to be very careful in the home match when the home match is first.
 
Beachryan said:
One of Rafa's great qualities as LFC manager was to make his opposition teams play like crap. Even when the teams themselves were high quality.

That's what this feels like tonight. Great stuff from Klopp.

Wonder what it would feel like to have some optimism about an improving team. Sigh.
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You're talking about a team that has won less points than the likes of Stoke, West Ham, Southampton and Chelsea (+ United) since Klopp joined...
 
McManaman just made to look like an absolute pleb:

"The knee injury for Henderson may benefit him by allowing his heel injury to heal."

Cue utter bemusement on Humphrey's face. :lol:
 
Brwned said:
You're talking about a team that has won less points than the likes of Stoke, West Ham, Southampton and Chelsea since Klopp joined...
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Agreed. A bit early to knee jerk over one performance. We're the sort of side at the moment that we'll probably drop points at home to Stoke on Sunday.
 
I simply wasn't worried at all as the match wore on, or far less than before the match started anyway ! In fact I thought we may even have a chance of a breakaway goal .. and nearly did. We had the better chances, were defensively superb and deserved at the very least the draw we earned. Brilliant play from the players and the manager.
 
Klopper76 said:
Agreed. A bit early to knee jerk over one performance. We're the sort of side at the moment that we'll probably drop points at home to Stoke on Sunday.
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We may well do .. but that doesn't matter because our best chance of playing in the CL next season is undoubtedly the EL and we are now in a strong position to knock out the favourites, it may not happen but only a fool would not go for it from here. Dortmund play a local derby vs. Schalke on Sunday, it is unthinkable they would rest any of their top players for that .. the fans would crucify Tuchel. However I don't mind one bit if Klopp rests 3-4 of ours and brings another 3 off as the match against Stoke wears on.
 
Irrational. said:
McManaman just made to look like an absolute pleb:

"The knee injury for Henderson may benefit him by allowing his heel injury to heal."

Cue utter bemusement on Humphrey's face. :lol:
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It's just good time management.

He should break his arm now as well, may as well get it our of the way now when he's off anyway rather than having two injury periods.....
 
Rafateria said:
We may well do .. but that doesn't matter because our best chance of playing in the CL next season is undoubtedly the EL and we are now in a strong position to knock out the favourites, it may not happen but only a fool would not go for it from here. Dortmund play a local derby vs. Schalke on Sunday, it is unthinkable they would rest any of their top players for that .. the fans would crucify Tuchel. However I don't mind one bit if Klopp rests 3-4 of ours and brings another 3 off as the match against Stoke wears on.
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Yeah don't get me wrong I think we're in with a good chance at Anfield against Dortmind. I'm just making the point that we're still quite a long way away from being a great side again. There are some promising signs though.
 
Rafateria said:
Small picture, big picture.
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You mean big picture like this?

Rafateria said:
Of course form is a fickle thing, we may lose to Burnley and our confidence, on an absolute high at the moment, evaporate overnight. But if you look at Rodgers' record over the 2nd half of seasons at Liverpool (I posted the table above) then you will see that (not only Liverpool) his teams come on strong in the second half of seasons. I believe we will comfortably get Top 4 (and maybe even 3rd if we beat Arsenal) if we manage 7-2-2, however 6-3-2 or even 6-2-3 may even be enough for Top 4 when considering the form of other teams.
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Just as a reminder, the team subsequently finished closer to 9th than they did to 4th. That's big picture foresight for you.
 
Klopper76 said:
Yeah don't get me wrong I think we're in with a good chance at Anfield against Dortmind. I'm just making the point that we're still quite a long way away from being a great side again. There are some promising signs though.
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It was always going to be a process, which is why Brwned comment above comes across as very sour grapes. Nobody expected an overnight revolution, especially since Klopp doesn't have a single player he bought in the squad yet (at least not physically) but tonight proves that given time and resources he can make us a far stronger team than the 2015/16 version.
 
Brwned said:
You mean big picture like this?



Just as a reminder, the team subsequently finished closer to 9th than they did to 4th. That's big picture foresight for you.
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No, it isn't. The big picture now is a change of manager hence tactics and no doubt personnel. But please do continue to waste your time dragging up as many old quotes as you like, it won't change the current situation one iota.
 
Just seen the replay of the Moreno scissor. How is that not a red card? Macca saying that Webb agrees it's not a red either. It's a lunging two footer. Excessive force, no control, ticks all the boxes. What stops it from being a red?
 
Reus and Aubameyang in the front line lacks a player that's comfortable receiving the ball with his back to goal thus dragging centre halves out of position. Given the amounts of times they had a break attack going on and both of them decided to make runs instead of collecting, its fair to say one must go.
 
Blackwidow said:
Yes. Away Rule arithmetics. You have to be very careful in the home match when the home match is first.
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Yep. I´m surprised about the comments about the lack of urgency on our part in the final phase of the game. It was uncharacterisitc (the last 15 minutes is actually the phase were we score the most goals), sure, but we also were never in this situation before in this season. We used containment tactics to see out the game.

What advantage would have been to force (aka taking more risks to get hit on the counter) the second goal here? The only outcome in the return leg which would have been favoured by a 2-1 win would have been a goalless draw, which is something Tuchel simply does not set up anyway. Neither does Klopp for that matter (they don´t have the defensive stability for that in the first place), so essentially Tuchel used his tactics and substitutions to turn a two leg elemination fixture into a single leg one.

Whoever scores the first goal at Anfield will pressure the opponent, scoring more than once favours us massively. Given that we scored at least one goal in all our away matches bar two this season, the lieklihood that all offensive players underperforming again being low and both Gündogan (most creative player) and Ramos (best sub) being likely to return for the return leg, I can get behind Tuchel´s tactics. Certainly better than eating a counter and lose this game, which would have really put us with the back against the wall.
 
RooneyLegend said:
Reus and Aubameyang in the front line lacks a player that's comfortable receiving the ball with his back to goal thus dragging centre halves out of position. Given the amounts of times they had a break attack going on and both of them decided to make runs instead of collecting, its fair to say one must go.
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That is a very advantagous way of thinking given that both vitally contributed towards an offensive, which scores around 2,5 goals per game this season.
 
Will be interesting to see if Liverpool can repeat such a defensive approach at Anfield. I think they will receive a good spanking from Dortmund if they dare to open up the game a bit more than today. If they give Dortmund any space behind their defense they will be toast but on the other hand they can afford sitting deep and trying to counter attack since a 0-0 would be enough to see them through so they definitely have a slight advantage here.
 
NoLogo said:
Will be interesting to see if Liverpool can repeat such a defensive approach at Anfield. I think they will receive a good spanking from Dortmund if they dare to open up the game a bit more than today. If they give Dortmund any space behind their defense they will be toast but on the other hand they can afford sitting deep and trying to counter attack since a 0-0 would be enough to see them through so they definitely have a slight advantage here.
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I think we can afford to play the game like that considering we have an away goal. If we keep them to nil then we're through and I think we'll take a similar approach to tonight at Anfield. It'll be interesting to see how both teams line up next week. I'm sure Dortmund will analyse the game and look to fix what didn't work for them tonight.
 
NoLogo said:
Will be interesting to see if Liverpool can repeat such a defensive approach at Anfield. I think they will receive a good spanking from Dortmund if they dare to open up the game a bit more than today. If they give Dortmund any space behind their defense they will be toast but on the other hand they can afford sitting deep and trying to counter attack since a 0-0 would be enough to see them through so they definitely have a slight advantage here.
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Second leg is going to be very interesting tactically.
 
OnlyTwoDaSilvas said:
Just seen the replay of the Moreno scissor. How is that not a red card? Macca saying that Webb agrees it's not a red either. It's a lunging two footer. Excessive force, no control, ticks all the boxes. What stops it from being a red?
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Agree as well. Thought it was a sure red. Horrible tackle. Ref didn't even give him a yellow.
 
Very pleased with that result. Home advantage next with an away goal, would have snapped your hand off for that.
 
NoLogo said:
Will be interesting to see if Liverpool can repeat such a defensive approach at Anfield. I think they will receive a good spanking from Dortmund if they dare to open up the game a bit more than today. If they give Dortmund any space behind their defense they will be toast but on the other hand they can afford sitting deep and trying to counter attack since a 0-0 would be enough to see them through so they definitely have a slight advantage here.
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Do you really see them as solid enough defensively to afford this approach? I certainly did not see the great defensive display by Liverpool that others are seeing. What I saw were two CBs who got nervous on the ball the moment we put pressure on them, I also saw multiple situations (especially in the first half) were we got to or even inside the box , had a player in a good position but failed to play the final pass cleanly enough to set him up to score. That does not even count the three free kicks we had on the edge of the box or shooting opportunities we did have.

The reason why we only scored once are way more on our part than about their "superb" defending. Banking on us being as unable to create cutting edge as this game again and sitting deep to soak up pressure (something no Klopp team was ever good at) when we have our best passer at our disposale again and only one goal having the ability to turn the complete tie on its head, is a recipe for desaster. I mean sure, let them try. Many teams tried that aproach in this season already, nearly all failed.
 
Earthquake said:
It's just good time management.

He should break his arm now as well, may as well get it our of the way now when he's off anyway rather than having two injury periods.....
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:lol::lol:

He realised the stupidity of what he's said the moment it escaped his lips.

How do they employ these nutjobs?
 
Sphaero said:
Do you really see them as solid enough defensively to afford this approach? I certainly did not see the great defensive display by Liverpool that others are seeing. What I saw were two CBs who got nervous on the ball the moment we put pressure on them, I also saw multiple situations (especially in the first half) were we got to or even inside the box , had a player in a good position but failed to play the final pass cleanly enough to set him up to score. That does not even count the three free kicks we had on the edge of the box or shooting opportunities we did have.

The reason why we only scored once are way more on our part than about their "superb" defending. Banking on us being as unable to create cutting edge as this game again and sitting deep to soak up pressure (something no Klopp team was ever good at) when we have our best passer at our disposale again and only one goal having the ability to turn the complete tie on its head, is a recipe for desaster. I mean sure, let them try. Many teams tried that aproach in this season already, nearly all failed.
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I don't think I agree about the first half. There was one point where someone got in behind us on the left via a ball over the top, pulled it back and then Sakho blocked the shot. Apart from that I didn't think you tested us enough. You pressed us and forced misplaced passes from us in some good areas but I was expecting more from Dortmund tonight. I think Sakho and Lovren had really solid games for the most part but maybe that's because I see things from a Liverpool perspective.

I do think Gundogan will be a big factor in the second leg but I'm hoping Firmino can do the same for us. I'm looking forward to seeing how both teams line up, and whether Klopp thinks we can risk opening up and going for it. Personally I think that if we go all out for a goal you'll get us on the break so I'd rather we focus on staying solid at the back, whilst trying to take a chance if/when it comes.

It's perfectly set up for a very good second leg.
 
Weidenfeller kept Dortmund in the tie. We really should have put them to the sword.
 
Sphaero said:
Yep. I´m surprised about the comments about the lack of urgency on our part in the final phase of the game. It was uncharacterisitc (the last 15 minutes is actually the phase were we score the most goals), sure, but we also were never in this situation before in this season. We used containment tactics to see out the game.

What advantage would have been to force (aka taking more risks to get hit on the counter) the second goal here? The only outcome in the return leg which would have been favoured by a 2-1 win would have been a goalless draw, which is something Tuchel simply does not set up anyway. Neither does Klopp for that matter (they don´t have the defensive stability for that in the first place), so essentially Tuchel used his tactics and substitutions to turn a two leg elemination fixture into a single leg one.

Whoever scores the first goal at Anfield will pressure the opponent, scoring more than once favours us massively. Given that we scored at least one goal in all our away matches bar two this season, the lieklihood that all offensive players underperforming again being low and both Gündogan (most creative player) and Ramos (best sub) being likely to return for the return leg, I can get behind Tuchel´s tactics. Certainly better than eating a counter and lose this game, which would have really put us with the back against the wall.
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You've also gone out in 5 or the 6 matches in Europe that you've drawn at home in the first leg whilst Liverpool have won 11 of the 12 ties where they drew away from home in the first leg. This is of course not in any way to say Dortmund are not dangerous and foro sure it's going to be a very close match that can go either way - but you seem to be putting a rather more golden gloss on the result than I would if I were a Dortmund supporter.
 
Sphaero said:
Do you really see them as solid enough defensively to afford this approach? I certainly did not see the great defensive display by Liverpool that others are seeing. What I saw were two CBs who got nervous on the ball the moment we put pressure on them, I also saw multiple situations (especially in the first half) were we got to or even inside the box, had a player in a good position but failed to play the final pass cleanly enough to set him up to score. That does not even count the three free kicks we had on the edge of the box or shooting opportunities we did have.

The reason why we only scored once are way more on our part than about their "superb" defending. Banking on us being as unable to create cutting edge as this game again and sitting deep to soak up pressure (something no Klopp team was ever good at) when we have our best passer at our disposale again and only one goal having the ability to turn the complete tie on its head, is a recipe for desaster. I mean sure, let them try. Many teams tried that aproach in this season already, nearly all failed.
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This is what we often hear from supporters when their team failed to gain their expected/desired result. "it was our fault, it's not that the opposition played well but that we played badly". You didn't play well because we actually play a very similar system to Dortmund. The superb pressing from both sides led to a huge number of turnovers. The main difference being Liverpool defended that space a little deeper than Dortmund did. The defending was superb because Dortmund, for all their pressing, failed to create clear cut chances, a large part of that goes also to how well our midfield shielded the back four.

As far as our defence is concerned it is often berated, especially on RC, however just very recently we went 8 matches conceding only 3 goals (inc. 2 matches vs Man City and 2 matches vs United) before the Southampton aberration, so it's not beyond the realms of reason that Liverpool could prevent Dortmund scoring at Anfield. I wouldn't put money on it and I'm not confident we can (but I am confident that we can score at the very least once - Dortmund's defence seems particularly unsuited to our style of play and we had by far the better chances and maybe should have won on the night) but certainly there is a case to be made for a clean sheet. if however you were to ask me for a forecast before the teams are announced, then I'd go for a nervy 2-1 home win.
 
If we come 4th, City win the CL and Liverpool win this, we'd lose out on the CL spot wouldn't we?
 
Brwned said:
You mean big picture like this?



Just as a reminder, the team subsequently finished closer to 9th than they did to 4th. That's big picture foresight for you.
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To be fair you could bring up about 500 quotes from this place telling the world how astute the LVG appointment was - lauding his big club mentality.

Forums are great places to chat football but we all get it wrong loads.
 
LInkash said:
If we come 4th, City win the CL and Liverpool win this, we'd lose out on the CL spot wouldn't we?
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If we come 4th and if Liverpool win the EL, it wouldn't have any bearing on us, as we'd still qualify. City winning the CL would feck things up.
 
PickledRed said:
To be fair you could bring up about 500 quotes from this place telling the world how astute the LVG appointment was - lauding his big club mentality.

Forums are great places to chat football but we all get it wrong loads.
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Yup. That's why it's hilarious for someone like Rafateria to berate someone for not looking at the big picture when he's been proven wrong many times before.
 
Klopper76 said:
Agreed. A bit early to knee jerk over one performance. We're the sort of side at the moment that we'll probably drop points at home to Stoke on Sunday.
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I'd say that's quite likely given the league lost interest for Liverpool a while ago.
 
KM said:
Yup. That's why it's hilarious for someone like Rafateria to berate someone for not looking at the big picture when he's been proven wrong many times before.
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As have loads of United fans whose bigger picture has been undermined by the underwhelming record of the current management.
 
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