Liverpool 2016/17 - Performance and chat thread.

Liver_bird said:
Our season literally hinges on a spine of Karius Matip and Can hitting the ground running. If not then its going to be a marginal improvement league wise on last season.
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Christ. That's asking a lot of a Bayern castoff, a 23 year old keeper with 1 under-21 caps and no senior caps and a CB who Kicker had outside the top 15 at his position in the Bundesliga for the 2nd half of last season. None of these players being near the normal prime years for their spots.

It was criminal for Klopp/Liverpool to have spent 25M on Winaldum when they could have bought a proper LB, CB or DM for that kind of money. There's still not a guy in their back 6 I'd feel comfortable trying to win a league or get to the final 8 of a CL with apart from Clyne, who is a solid no-frills FB without much upside but who is mobile, competes hard and rarely seems to end up badly out of position. I guess Karius could be at least that good but I haven't seem much of him.
 
They're starting today with no striker, no 'true' wingers, five AM/CF type players and two CMs although one is playing at LB. What an absolute mess. Saying that, they'll probably go onto win and Klopp will be a genius again.
 
They are the type of team you just can't place. The way they set up means they are weak against deep, organised teams, but if they overcome that and get some momentum I think they are a good side. Having said that could finish anywhere between 4th and 9th.
 
I don't think Sturridge and Klopp fancy each other. Dropped again. Noises last season and doesn't look any different this time around.
What do Liverpool fans think?
 
Adisa said:
I don't think Sturridge and Klopp fancy each other. Dropped again. Noises last season and doesn't look any different this time around.
What do Liverpool fans think?
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I think if Sturridge had a choice of playing out wide or not playing, he'd choose the latter.

As good as he is at finishing, I don't think he fits the way we want to play.

@SilentWitness square pegs round holes all over the side today.
 
SilentWitness said:
They're starting today with no striker, no 'true' wingers, five AM/CF type players and two CMs although one is playing at LB. What an absolute mess. Saying that, they'll probably go onto win and Klopp will be a genius again.
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After which they'll lose next week and say it's not his fault he has average players.
 
Adisa said:
I don't think Sturridge and Klopp fancy each other. Dropped again. Noises last season and doesn't look any different this time around.
What do Liverpool fans think?
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I think they'll do well to find a better or even as good a striker as Sturridge, who would move to Liverpool. Admittedly, Sturridge has big fitness issues hanging over him, but if he was to leave, I think it would still be a huge loss for them.
 
Klopper76 said:
I think if Sturridge had a choice of playing out wide or not playing, he'd choose the latter.

As good as he is at finishing, I don't think he fits the way we want to play.

@SilentWitness square pegs round holes all over the side today.
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The weird thing is when he starts in the centre he loves drifting out wide, he gets all over the place looking for the space, definitely isn't a traditional stay between the posts number 9. When Liverpool were looking great with Suarez he essentially was a winger.
 
If Spurs have enough of the ball Liverpool have a chance of winning.

Milner at left back is bordering on Wengerism.
 
Liverpool has looked good at times going forward, especially in the first half with Mane looking a constant threat. But what are they doing leaving Alderweireld unmarked two times on set pieces? He really should have put the second header on target.
 
Decent performance but I hope somebody makes the highlight package of that Origi performance. Jesus christ, he was hilariously bad.
 
Liverpool will have moments of brilliance when attacking; they have great pace. But as a team they aren't formidable, they have glaring weaknesses. They shouldn't be any threat to us.
 
Awful, ugly, low quality match. Spurs made it as scrappy as possible. Woeful start to the season from Liverpool.
 
If you can keep it tight and not get blown away, you have a good chance of winning. They always run out of steam around the 70th minute mark.
 
I don't see what Wijnaldum adds to Liverpool. Was a strange signing to make as he wasn't all that for Newcastle.
 
Woodenlung said:
I don't see what Wijnaldum adds to Liverpool. Was a strange signing to make as he wasn't all that for Newcastle.
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At that price too, it's really a baffling transfer.

Buying another attacking midfielder who likes to be central, when they've got James fecking Milner at left back, it's poor management from Klopp.
 
Klopp is too passive with his substitutions I think. Liverpool looked to have run out of legs but he delayed for too long. Should have brought Sturridge on instead of Origi too IMO. They should have won anyway, were the better team for most of it. Matip looked decent, Mane looked threatening and I thought Firmino wasn't too bad. Wijnaldum does nothing though. Still not sure why they even signed him. Clyne has made some pretty bad errors the last few weeks also.
 
Woodenlung said:
I don't see what Wijnaldum adds to Liverpool. Was a strange signing to make as he wasn't all that for Newcastle.
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Let's call a spade, a spade. He's kind of shite and looked it for Newcastle. I'll be surprised if he changes my opinion.
 
Conte showing how easy it is to beat Burnley. :( Klopp you idiot. Pace man!! Pace!!
 
ZDwyr said:
Klopp is too passive with his substitutions I think. Liverpool looked to have run out of legs but he delayed for too long. Should have brought Sturridge on instead of Origi too IMO. They should have won anyway, were the better team for most of it. Matip looked decent, Mane looked threatening and I thought Firmino wasn't too bad. Wijnaldum does nothing though. Still not sure why they even signed him. Clyne has made some pretty bad errors the last few weeks also.
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I felt like Wijnaldum needed to be subbed off after an hour. He didn't look like he was capable of competing against the Spurs midfield in the second half. I agree regarding Origi, but I think Klopp wanted him on because he'd run the lines more than Sturridge. Unfortunately Origi didn't have a great game when he came on so it didn't work out.

I think the big issue we're having is that there's too many players being asked to play in roles they aren't familiar with. Milner at left back, Henderson as a holding midfielder and Wijnaldum in midfield when he should be playing as an attacking midfielder are all examples of this. It's not really great planning from Klopp that we're in this position but maybe he feels like he can make it work. I want to wait and see how we do when Can is back as he hasn't started a league game yet and he's the closest we've got to a decent holding midfielder. We looked better last season with him in midfield so maybe that'll give us more balance.

I know Milner can shoulder some of the blame for the goal but I felt that he had a decent game today. He's very slow so he may struggle against more pacier players than whoever he was up against today (Alli?), but I think I prefer him to the erratic displays we've had out of Moreno.
 
Adisa said:
Don't think you guys were awful. Far from it.
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Yeah, having watched the highlights and calmed down we had a decent first half. Just incredibly frustrated to have dropped points and to be significantly behind the three favourites so early in the season.
 
Looks like you're set for another 6th place finish because of Klopp's stubbornness. Refusal to sign a left back, relegating Sturridge to 3rd choice striker, persisting with a midfield duo of Wijnaldum & Henderson :lol: & of course his inability to improve the defence.
 
4 points out of 9 for the first 3 games ain't brilliant, but considering we've played Arsenal & Spurs away then I suppose it can be classed as satisfactory. Obviously a lot of improvements need to be made if we're to put in any sort of fight for the top 4.
 
Ruffian said:
Yeah, having watched the highlights and calmed down we had a decent first half. Just incredibly frustrated to have dropped points and to be significantly behind the three favourites so early in the season.
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True but having to play first 3 games away was never going to be easy, and that is followed by Leicester at home & Chelsea away also!
A very tough start.

4 points isn't brilliant but 4 points from Arsenal & Tottenham away is very good, it is the Burnley game that has let us down.
 
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It's just the start but it does looks weird that Sturridge is seemingly below Origi in the pecking order and the complete refusal of Klopp to sign a left back. Clear blind spots IMO.
 
johnny boy said:
True but having to play first 3 games away was never going to be easy, and that is followed by Leicester at home & Chelsea away also!
A very tough start.

4 points isn't brilliant but 4 points from Arsenal & Tottenham away is very good, it is the Burnley game that has let us down.
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This. I don't understand the negativity of some other Liverpool fans. Three points against Arsenal and one against Tottenham isn't a bad start for you anyway. Burnley was one bad game.
I'm only guessing, but i believe, that Sturridge is either lazy in training or whining about not starting. Klopp hates that kind of behaviour.
 
Zippy20 said:
This. I don't understand the negativity of some other Liverpool fans. Three points against Arsenal and one against Tottenham isn't a bad start for you anyway. Burnley was one bad game.
I'm only guessing, but i believe, that Sturridge is either lazy in training or whining about not starting. Klopp hates that kind of behaviour.
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I just think Klopp feels Sturridge doesn't always suit the way we play, especially away from home.
 
RAWK et al are very unhappy with the referee but I think it was just about even on the decisions. Liverpool played plenty well enough to have won for me and had clearcut enough chances to do so. It never helps when you miss them though. Harsh disallowing of the probably decisive 2nd goal, how he sees that I have no idea, in the run of play it looked fine. You might say Mane was a bit fortunate to stay on the park but I thought the refereeing evened itself out overall & I'm not saying Mane definitely has to go off. only one of his tackles was an outright yellow - this obvs being one of the ones he wasn't booked for. Tottenham were fortunate to get anything out of the game, LFC were stronger & sharper in every department for 65-70mins.
 
johnny boy said:
I just think Klopp feels Sturridge doesn't always suit the way we play, especially away from home.
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Maybe you're right, but does Origi? I understand, why he starts with Firmino, but Origi isn't pressing very effectively (not diligently, i know, he is always diligent) either or am I wrong?
 
Zippy20 said:
Maybe you're right, but does Origi? I understand, why he starts with Firmino, but Origi isn't pressing very effectively (not diligently, i know, he is always diligent) either or am I wrong?
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I think he had a bad game yesterday but if you watch Origi's performances from the back end of last season you can see why Klopp prefers him up top. Sturridge is a much better player but when Origi is having a good game he does what Klopp wants from a forward. Firmino is better than both of them at bringing others into play when he's playing up front in my opinion.

Anyone know how long Gomez is out for? We can't carry on playing Milner there for the rest of the season and Gomez is the only alternative to Moreno now.
 
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