Post Match: Liverpool v Brighton (EPL 30/11/19 3pm)

[AussieLad]

just watched Klopp's post match assessment, and he gave MOTM to Adrian! He has a point though, Adrian comes on cold must be in a state of shock! On the free kick I thought the ref checked with the keeper before blowing, or am I fantasizing! Adrian did make an excellent save shortly after coming on, he also had our hearts in our mouths with that, ahem, fumble! On Alison, he doesn't appear to be as confident as he usually is. Any comments? Also a further question: if a goalkeeper receives a throw in can he pick the ball up?

When we really kick into gear some sides are in for a pasting!

And again, well played Brighton. They surprised me.

Not so sure about that, it isn't the first time he's come into the team cold and done wonders for us

 

[MarcusBerglund]

Well in the prematch thread I said that we will have another difficult game and also wrote that teams learned to hurt us with long balls behind the defence, relying on pace and that's how they scored a goal after a comedy of mistakes. The first mistake came from Alisson /and our brazilian goalkeeper had a poor game, yesterday his distribution of the ball reminded me of Mignolet/, then came Adrian and he needed maybe 2 minutes to give instructions to the wall. He needed to act faster, I won't blame the referee. Against Barcelona the referee was fantastic with our 4th goal and I can't see many differences.

Adrian and the players around the ball just switched off. At least one of the postitve was our dispaly after we conceded that goal, the team came back and did not leave much spaces for their players, Our defensive game became much more tight and balanced and they had one shot from distance from Mooy and a weak header /which Adrian almost put in his own net, yeah I know/.

I am still not pleased with our defending, we let Dunk have two 100% situations /in the 1st half when he had the empty net, but he missed we had absolutely the same situation like Zaha's 91st miss last week. Set piece, we clear the ball, but the players lose the second ball, Palace/Briughton pass it in our penalty area and an opponent is 100% free against the goalkeeper. And Dunk's second chance was a free header after a corner and he missed a sitter/.

Our front three had a second successive poor game. Mane missed two sitters, Firmino looked tired and Salah was poor and not ready for a battle.
Hendo did a good job, playing as the defensive midfielder, while Gini was average. Wijnaldum needs to raise his game, we played with two number 8 and AOC created more offensively from the right side, while I struggle to remember a single moment in the match when Gini was involved in a dangerous moment for Liverpool.

The defence was solid - TAA looked good defensively and added two fantastic assits. VvD - man of the match, but in my opinion Lovren is doing his job pretty well without much fuss till now.

Now comes the derby and we know that for two shit teams these matches are like World cup finals - Manure and Everton. They will always bend knee to our rival and will play their best against us. Season after season. Last season Everton stopped us at their place and had their best match of the season at Anfield and we needed luck at the final minute of the game to win it. At the same time Man City won 6 points from them with ease. Now they will go to Leicester, will lose, but will conserve enery for one of their two finals of 2019/2020 campaign.

It will be the same with Manure, sadly. That is why our players must be ready for a real fight, be smart and careful /I have no doubth that they will try to hurt or injure our players. Two examples - Funes Mori tackle on Origi and that prick Holgate who tried to injure Firmino and then lied calling Bobby racist, trying to suspend him for a prolonged period/.

 

[Jimmyscase]

After a good night's sleep, I've been reflecting on the five minutes that nearly ruined our weekends. Aided and abetted by a pliant Atkinson and a distracted and cold Adrian and wall, Dunk did us a big favour. Klopp's got tons of things to work on for weeks to come that will stop minds wandering forward to May. And we bloody well won the effing game lads.
I forgave Alison pretty much immediately btw. He's not my favourite player for nothing.

 

[spizfromoz]

2-1, is the only scoreline we need for the rest of the season. Its served us well so far.

Had more and better chances all game. Managed fine without Fab. Lowest possession rate I've seen for a while. TBH, I didn't think it was a hard game. Just a freak goal got them close.

Good thing we don't have to play Napoli in the league.

 

[Jimmyscase]

2-1, is the only scoreline we need for the rest of the season. Its served us well so far.

Had more and better chances all game. Managed fine without Fab. Lowest possession rate I've seen for a while. TBH, I didn't think it was a hard game. Just a freak goal got them close.

Good thing we don't have to play Napoli in the league.

In the league we'd smash them 2-1. Like everyone else.

 

[Dutch]

Should have scored many more goals. A big loss for us is losing Becker against Everton since we don't have a proper replacement. Overall a not so bad Saturday, City draw and a Chelsea loss while we won.

 

[SirBillShankly]

Should have scored many more goals. A big loss for us is losing Becker against Everton since we don't have a proper replacement. Overall a not so bad Saturday, City draw and a Chelsea loss while we won.

Adrian is decent. He was generally superb when Becker missed the start.Did you miss the start of the season or something?!

 

[Dutch]

I did not miss anything that why I know Adrian is rubish.

 

[Wilkored08]

Honestly lads, there is no issue with their goal. The rules changed about 10yrs ago. The team I play with have got the odd goal taking advantage of this. You basically let the ref know that you don't need 10 yards, and thats it, take the free kick.
I even saw the look from Dunk to the Ref, fully legit.

Should the ref, to be non bias, have checked with both sides to see if they we're ready....just a thought.

 

[Jimmyscase]

I did not miss anything that why I know Adrian is rubish.

You have entrenched yourself a bit here. What would he have to do for you to support him in our side? It looks like you have set him a bar he'll hardly be able to jump over.
He's our player now anyway and automatically gets my support when he has a game. I'm a huge believer in Alisson by the way too.

 

[SirBillShankly]

Just reading about the Brighton manager Potter saying we have "no weaknesses".


We can't argue against that can we?

 

[mikodelniko13]

the good news we reached 40 points but the last 15 min were hard to watch . how did a very good press ended with lovern chasing a 1 to 1 situation and yes alison did a silly mistake but lovern and VVD had let their guard down and didn't execute the offside well . we still got 3 points increased the gap .

 

[Rambler]

Should the ref, to be non bias, have checked with both sides to see if they we're ready....just a thought.

Quick Free Kicks (QFK) Definition: The attacking team takes the kick as soon as the ball is properly placed, with no separate signal needed by the referee. The attacking team does not ask for (verbally or visually) the minimum distance to be enforced.

According to Dunk on MOTD that is what happened. He asked to take it quickly. I see no problem with that and would applaud our players quick thinking if they did the same thing.

 

[Lowton_Red]

the good news we reached 40 points but the last 15 min were hard to watch . how did a very good press ended with lovern chasing a 1 to 1 situation and yes alison did a silly mistake but lovern and VVD had let their guard down and didn't execute the offside well . we still got 3 points increased the gap .

The last two players were Lovren and Trent, not VVD. They could do nothing about offside because the two BHA players started their runs from inside their own half. So they couldn't be offside, no matter what Lovren & Trent did.

I have no idea what Alisson thought he was doing. It's all well and good "taking one for the team" but in the end we went down to ten men and conceded a goal. If Alisson had left the ball alone, we might well have conceded a goal, but we would have still had eleven men on the field. So his actions make no sense at all.

And can someone explain our shape at that stage of the game. We were two - nil up, so we had no reason to throw caution to the wind and chase
the game with only two at the back (on the halfway line) to defend a breakaway counter attack. It was obvious that BHA would take every opportunity to lump one up into our half, for their speed merchants to chase. What were Hendo & Gini doing, fannying about in no-mans land? As for Origi, he cannot press - he always slows up as he gets close to the player with the ball, as was the case yesterday.

Still, a win is a win, and three points are three points, especially when shiteh drop another two points. However, we cannot keep riding our luck like this. My poor old ticker just won't take it.

 

[okocha10]

We can’t moan about a quickly taken set piece after that corner against Barcelona

The difference is that for a corner kick you don't need a signal from the ref. After that red card Atkinson showed the whistle at players, which means he will make a signal for a set piece. Adrian was only 20-30 seconds on the pitch, this is not the way refs should influence the game. What is the purpose of the officials if you can't trust them? If this is ok for the PL, then i wonder why we don't see similar goals more often? Because this is not acceptable.
This is not a mistake, but i will tell you what is. Atkinson saw Brighton player in our wall which is not allowed by the new rules. VAR should have overule this goal just for that one Brighton player in our wall!
For the people who don't think this is serious, this was a third time this season Atkinson was involved in our games, strangely also a third time we had a serious problem which is created by the ref, not players. I won't live in denial and say he is a prick, people makes mistakes, because mistakes can go both ways, with Atkinson only against us. People can also be rotten and corrupt, especially when big money is around them.

 

[Jimmyscase]

the good news we reached 40 points but the last 15 min were hard to watch . how did a very good press ended with lovern chasing a 1 to 1 situation and yes alison did a silly mistake but lovern and VVD had let their guard down and didn't execute the offside well . we still got 3 points increased the gap .

There's no statistical threshold represented by 40 points in terms of resultant league position at the beginning of any season. An example for getting more than 40 and still being relegated would be the points United got in 73-74 (adjusted for three points for a win and a 38 match season). We have to reach one more than the number of points Southampton or any other 18th place candidate could get assuming they draw in their games with the teams that are beating us week after week and of course also beat us.

 

[LaurazRed]

what a nervy ending...

Yeah we don't have many of those do we?

 

[costared]

We are making hard work of not losing these days. Frankly we are looking like a team ready to drop points. Problem is some really good players are playing poorly at the moment. Hopefully we can see out the year unbeaten in the league and with the Club World Cup in the cabinet, maybe that would take a bit of pressure off and we could return to our best.
Ally has not looked as confident since his injury ( I wish he would get a haircut) , the back four though continue to play well despite not being quite at their best. Problem is the strike force. Mo is well off the pace and has been for some time, he certainly needs to step up. Bobby also does not seem to be as involved as he when he was at his best which leaves us with one in form striker . Teams seem to have sussed this out a bit and Sadio is now being very tightly marked .

 

[jaffod]

The form of Bobby and Mo is a real concern. Might be an idea to mix things up formation-wise, play Salah more central and have Bobby play in the hole.
We were comfortable for half an hour and then our composure went to shit again as it so often does, couldn't keep possession of the ball for any length of time. Inexplicable. We're European Champions who turn into a fucking pub team for large portions of matches.
Bonus is other teams dropping points, I thought we might have our lead cut over the next few weeks so to extend it is fantastic. Leicester are becoming a nuisance so hopefully the Ev will scrape a draw against them later on. Can't see it happening though.
VVD and the two full-backs MOTM.
Not going to say too much on Atkinson. I think he's a cheat but that's just my opinion. I don't know the in's and out's of free-kick etiquette but you don't see that happen too often, just didn't look right. Same as Leicester's equaliser at Anfield last season, free-kick at the end of added on time, every referee blows as soon as the ball is cleared out of the box but not Atkinson, he allowed them to put it back in so a player he should have sent off earlier can equalise. You can draw your own conclusions.

Did anyone notice the similarity between VVD's 2nd and Tommy Smith's header in Rome? After Mo"s header against Abu Dhabi many said it reminded them of Terry Mac's goal against Spurs in '78, maybe these lads have decided to re-create the club's iconic goals from the past?

 

[Rambler]

Lots of other examples of similar situations.

 

[William Clarke]

I don't think we can blame the ref, he blew his whistle. Who cares anyway 'cos we won.

You're right, I didn't realise that he had blown the whistle until seeing a replay Sunday morning. I was wrong, he did blow his whistle.

 

[General Sefton]

After a good night's sleep, I've been reflecting on the five minutes that nearly ruined our weekends. Aided and abetted by a pliant Atkinson and a distracted and cold Adrian and wall, Dunk did us a big favour. Klopp's got tons of things to work on for weeks to come that will stop minds wandering forward to May. And we bloody well won the effing game lads.
I forgave Alison pretty much immediately btw. He's not my favourite player for nothing.

Nowt to forgive there pal. Brave man took one for the team.

 

[wibseyred]

Honestly lads, there is no issue with their goal. The rules changed about 10yrs ago. The team I play with have got the odd goal taking advantage of this. You basically let the ref know that you don't need 10 yards, and thats it, take the free kick.
I even saw the look from Dunk to the Ref, fully legit.

Exactly after all its was there free kick so they are entitled to an advantage.

 

[roydom]

I know it's a fans stance to blame the ref for everything and I believe he could have given Adrian another few seconds as he had just come on the pitch, but we weren't set and had our heads up our collective arse.
Besides, it's wasn't the ref who missed all those chances in the first half when we should have had the game done and dusted.

That's what's killing us the majority of the time, wastefulness in front of goal and it puts added pressure on the defence and keeper to be absolutely spot on.

 

[Lowton_Red]

I don't think we can blame the ref, he blew his whistle. Who cares anyway 'cos we won.

The only complaint we might have about the free kick was, (for the second game in succession) that the kick was taken from the wrong spot. (tw)atkinson allowed the kick to be taken in a more central position, and a bit further back, potentially giving the attacking team a better chance of getting the ball up and over the wall.

However, the real problem was the bloody great big Wijnaldum shaped hole we left in the wall.

 

[SirBillShankly]

The only complaint we might have about the free kick was, (for the second game in succession) that the kick was taken from the wrong spot. (tw)atkinson allowed the kick to be taken in a more central position, and a bit further back, potentially giving the attacking team a better chance of getting the ball up and over the wall.

However, the real problem was the bloody great big Wijnaldum shaped hole we left in the wall.

Didn't notice about the position of the kick. The thing that bothered me was that Adrian made zero attempt to dive. Thought a guy with his experience would've been more aware of the possibility of a quick free kick like that.

I love it when we make a mistake we nearly always manage to win the game by the odd goal. I'm starting to think God is on our team this season. Still getting my head round beating Leicester and Villa the way we did. Loving this league campaign so far.All these narrow victories are stressing me no end though. Must be taking a few years off our lives haha

 

[cynicaloldgit]

I'm starting to think God is on our team this season.

Nah; he’s in Australia at the moment.

 

[Billy Biskix]

You have entrenched yourself a bit here. What would he have to do for you to support him in our side? It looks like you have set him a bar he'll hardly be able to jump over.
He's our player now anyway and automatically gets my support when he has a game. I'm a huge believer in Alisson by the way too.

You can be sure that somewhere on the planet there is a Liverpool fan who is still sticking to the line that Van Dijk has a mistake in him.

To be fair just looking at it again I don't think the Brighton players were in the wall. They were all standing to one side. The wall took so long to form it was ridiculous. Anyway they will no doubt learn from that.

I've just seen it from behind the goal. There's one Brighton player on the end of the wall. Haven't they got to be a metre away? To be honest I've lost the will to live on all the rule changes. No idea what the rules are any more.

Agree on the second point which is why I have little sympathy for us. In that same video Adrian is on the line preparing the wall for a good 25 seconds before it's taken. Atkinson paces out the 10 yards. The wall gets behind it. He then paces back. At that point we should have been ready. He doesn't have to wait until the keeper has sorted his wall out. Even then he doesn't blow immediately. It's only when Dunk asks him if he can take it that he blows the whistle. I think Atkinson is a terrible ref but we can't hide behind him on this occasion. From the ball over the top to the pass into the goal from a free kick it was a clusterfuck of our own making.

 

[Magnus]

I want to mention it. VVD of course MotM, but the much maligned Lovren had a very good game I though. When I come to think of it, he is on a roll now with good games.
As to their goal, that is an unfortunate mistake by us in chaotic circumstances. It happens. It was a valid goal.

 

[Limiescouse]

Quick Free Kicks (QFK) Definition: The attacking team takes the kick as soon as the ball is properly placed, with no separate signal needed by the referee. The attacking team does not ask for (verbally or visually) the minimum distance to be enforced.

According to Dunk on MOTD that is what happened. He asked to take it quickly. I see no problem with that and would applaud our players quick thinking if they did the same thing.

A QUICK FREE KICK IS NOT ALLOWED AFTER A RED CARD OR SUBSTITUTION.