POST MATCH: Liverpool v Fulham (EPL 11/11/18 12pm)

[Libero]

Definitely agree with what some are saying in regards to getting use to seeing these sort of performances against teams that refuse to play. Last year was last year and this year we have had to adapt our style a bit to cater for teams refusing to play and set up defensively, especially when you take into account what we were doing to teams last year.

I think there will be glimpses of last season when teams do decide to come out against us, there was some of that against Cardiff. You just have to look back at that game against City to see how they played against us.

The difference for me is we still lack the quality to play possession based football, we keep the ball well enough we just don't have that bit of creativity required to always create clear cut chances. Shaqiri has been good, whilst I don't think he is the ultimate answer, we just lack the finesse and guile to open teams up, this was also a problem even with Coutinho in the side.

 

[Mascot88]

It was offside

It really, really wasn’t. Fulham had about five lads, including the scorer, stood in an offside position. Linesman got it absolutely spot on.

There are photos that demonstrate this earlier in the thread.

 

[Mascot88]

of course i wouldnt swap thats pretty obvious,i partly agree with what you are saying ,but from what i can remember of last season,a lot of teams came to anfield and defended and i think we struggled to beat them and break them down,and if you looked at the stats bt sport showed before the game we only won 7 of our 21 games against bottom 6 i think thats with klopp as manager,dont get me wrong obviously we needed to change something from last year,but to me its not just our style of play but the fact most games we are playing badly,we are just slow and sloppy,YES i know we are getting the results and second in the league,but i cant work out how,can anyone else fathom it out?

What I remember last year was that the shit sides came to Anfield with a plan to get at us. They knew if they stayed in the game and got in our faces we’d possibly wilt.

Sometimes it worked, and the team got a point or three. Sometimes it didn’t and they got a good hiding. But I think the perception was that it was worth playing a bit against us.

 

[legalalien]

Three points the main thing. Teams defend in numbers against us now and give us very little space, so we are only winning by a couple instead of really opening up. But we are winning. Nine wins and three draws is excellent. I still think there’s more to come from the midfield and attack, but I’m not overly concerned.

Man City sort of rain on our parade a bit, as they just keep on winning, but we’re fighting hard and I’m proud of the team.

PS - the set up is wrong up front in my opinion. Mo is central and Bobby is too deep. It should be Mo on the right, Bobby central, Sadio left. The midfield is a work in progress, but when the dust settles I expect to see Fabinho and Keita play most weeks.

Largely agree with this except for not mentioning Shaqiri. Right now, he should be a starter. If Bobby is played centrally then Shaq should be the CAM. Looking ahead to when Keita finds his form and stakes his claim for that position then if Mane is still as inconsistent as he has been then I'd like to see Shaqiri used there.

 

[BigJon]

Thought Fabinho looked far more assured and confident in this game. At times he reminded me slightly of Didi Hamman - keeping calm and playing intelligent accurate passes. Another good signing by Klopp - would pick Fabinho over Can any day.
Robertson had an excellent second half - I think Klopp had words at half time as Robertson was far more attacking in the second half.
Has anyone seen the interview with Mark Schwarzer about the Steve Gerrard slip run at half time of late. Schwarzer nominates it as one of his best moments in football and ends the interview laughing his head off about it. Taking pleasure in the misfortune of a fellow professional - he should be ashamed.

 

[Irishanfield]

It really, really wasn’t. Fulham had about five lads, including the scorer, stood in an offside position. Linesman got it absolutely spot on.

There are photos that demonstrate this earlier in the thread.

Eh ?
I was sure I agreed that the player was offside
Our goal shouldnt have stood though as Allison's pass to VvD from the resulting freekick for the offside because the ball was moving. That goal changed the whole outlook of the game

 

[Irishanfield]

Workman like performance, happy with the win. So much for all the media crap about Mo being finished.. he's 1 goal of being the top scorer in the league and he's not even in top gear yet! Shaq & Robbo were great today they were the difference.

Just to be pedantic , Salah is 2 behind Aguero

 

[Flobs]

Eh ?
I was sure I agreed that the player was offside
Our goal shouldnt have stood though as Allison's pass to VvD from the resulting freekick for the offside because the ball was moving. That goal changed the whole outlook of the game

Becker passed it to TAA.

 

[Flobs]

Just to be pedantic , Salah is 2 behind Aguero

He's only got as many as Mané. Bof rubbish at the end of the season he'll have at least double Mané has. ^^

 

[indianscouser]

Alisson is massive. He is as influencial as VVD.
He made critical saves. His presence of mind for the salah goal is what we have been lacking.
Man of the match for me.
Considering how easily Fulham could have got something from this based on their 1st half chances.

 

[Red over the water]

Largely agree with this except for not mentioning Shaqiri. Right now, he should be a starter. If Bobby is played centrally then Shaq should be the CAM. Looking ahead to when Keita finds his form and stakes his claim for that position then if Mane is still as inconsistent as he has been then I'd like to see Shaqiri used there.

I didn’t say anything about Shaqiri but he’s doing well. I like him as the attacking midfielder, playing centrally. I see no reason why he couldn’t play in a three with a top form Fabinho and Keita, when they get there. Arguably against a tougher opposition one of the other midfielders will come in instead of Shaqiri, to give us more solidity.

 

[Chung]

It does feel strange to have this negativity around the team performances when we're 2 points behind the leaders and undefeated in the league. Though I do think we've been lucky in a few games against the lower placed teams, but we've won those games where in the past we would have drawn or lost.

 

[ptt]

fair enough,you may be right,but i feel theres a lot of people on here saying similar to me.

That we’ve not lost all season and currently sat second?

 

[Zico Nealy]

Solid win, without much fuss. Our games with a City could decide the title. I honestly think if Vidit and Gomez stay fit Clem’s 16 goal season might be under threat. Some spin that from shipping fifty not so long ago

 

[Steve_LFC]

Some were opposed to the signing of Shaqiri. But so far has proved a shrewd signing by Klopp... Would like to see him start more games.

 

[lfc.eddie]

Some were opposed to the signing of Shaqiri. But so far has proved a shrewd signing by Klopp... Would like to see him start more games.

Yeah been doing well so far, but I would not play him against the top sides though. He doesn't defend too well..... and we need that from our mids as well.

 

[GermanRed]

Sure, but we're actually winning these games. Our record last season against those two sides was won 1, drew 4, lost 1. We've won all 8 games against similar competition in the league this year and 5 of those games were by 2 goals or more.

I have no Problem if we go on winning in that way but that wasn't my point. The teams i've mentioned above defended much more in quality and quantity and our Team is much better this season than last year.

With a performance like last week (and this was almost the starting11 many see as our strongest if Keita is included) there is no chance we will win at Vicarage Road. Actually, i'm not a bit worried about Paris but a few days earlier and after the break at Watford will be very tricky. Maybe Klopp is already thinking about resting some players for PSG and will start some of the non internationals like Lallana, Sturridge, Matip, Milner - doesn't make it better.

 

[santana]

you see the plan or play style in controling the game otherwise you win by players quality not by plan or play style so my advice go to standard formation 442 to close gaps or try 343 352 to control midfield , fulham match is another .. proof !

 

[Gone Kloppo]

Alisson is massive. He is as influencial as VVD.
He made critical saves. His presence of mind for the salah goal is what we have been lacking.
Man of the match for me.
Considering how easily Fulham could have got something from this based on their 1st half chances.

Just FYI, VVD very clearly directed AB to move it on quickly . Makes me think it's something this Fulham team do regularly enough that our coaches mentioned it.

 

[Gone Kloppo]

It really, really wasn’t. Fulham had about five lads, including the scorer, stood in an offside position. Linesman got it absolutely spot on.

There are photos that demonstrate this earlier in the thread.

 

[Noo Noo]

So would you swap where we are now, for where our breathtaking football had us at this point last season?

It clicked for me today. I’ve thought for a while that Klopp has the team set up differently. That he is sacrificing attacking flair for defensive solidity.

But seeing what Fulham did today, and reflecting back on previous games, I think the difference is in the opposition.

Fulham has no interest in anything other than getting out with the score as respectable as possible. Maybe nick something on a set piece, but just get out.

At 1-0 they had no intention of opening up and trying to get something from the game. At 2-0 they had no intention of opening up and trying to get something from the game.

You have to be allowed to play that fast attacking football of last year. The big difference, I think, is that last year teams were a bit more open in how they played. We were the kind of time it was worth being a bit more attacking towards because we might crack and let in a soft one (or three).

But now we are not getting that space. It’s contantly 10 behind the hall whether we are 0-0 or three up.

Times have changed. We need to get used to it.

I'm not 100% sure to be honest. There were plenty of parked buses against us last season. Perhaps its been ramped up a bit more this season?

But I do agree that we seem to be more rigid in our approach.

that said I'm still not convinced by the Firmino deep, Salah central thing.

 

[Mascot88]

Eh ?
I was sure I agreed that the player was offside
Our goal shouldnt have stood though as Allison's pass to VvD from the resulting freekick for the offside because the ball was moving. That goal changed the whole outlook of the game

My mistake. I thought you’d said it wasn’t.

 

[Caradoc]

Some were opposed to the signing of Shaqiri. But so far has proved a shrewd signing by Klopp... Would like to see him start more games.

I anticipated all 4 of our summer signings to go on and play a huge part in our side over the coming seasons but as you say there was opposition to Shaqiri’s signing from some on here and he is already proving them wrong.

 

[jaffod]

Definitely agree with what some are saying in regards to getting use to seeing these sort of performances against teams that refuse to play. Last year was last year and this year we have had to adapt our style a bit to cater for teams refusing to play and set up defensively, especially when you take into account what we were doing to teams last year.

Fulham didn't refuse to play. They attacked us in the first half especially and the frustrating thing for me was how slow we were in moving the ball when we had a chance to get at them on the counter.
Fabinho and Gini need to improve in this area and I'd probably be saying the same about Hendo and Milner had it been them. Slow in the turn, ponderous and laboured passing.
Another thing is the vast majority of our passes are to players who are static instead of on the move, those split seconds make all the difference. Much to improve on.

 

[Caradoc]

Eh ?
I was sure I agreed that the player was offside
Our goal shouldnt have stood though as Allison's pass to VvD from the resulting freekick for the offside because the ball was moving. That goal changed the whole outlook of the game

With freekicks these days the moving ball/taken from correct place rules seems to be regularly ignored by officials. Its almost like the crooked feed rule in rugby.

Fulham should have played to the whistle - they didn’t. Jokanovic talks about his side being disrespected by the officials. The reason they ended up 1-0 down instead of 0-1 was because his players disrespected the officials and a fundamental principle of football - always play to the whistle. They should also have known what we were capable of in those situations from our catalogue of breakaway goals last season.

Jokanovic is understandably a desperate man right now but Fulham only have themselves to blame.

 

[Irishanfield]

With freekicks these days the moving ball/taken from correct place rules seems to be regularly ignored by officials. Its almost like the crooked feed rule in rugby.

Fulham should have played to the whistle - they didn’t. Jokanovic talks about his side being disrespected by the officials. The reason they ended up 1-0 down instead of 0-1 was because his players disrespected the officials and a fundamental principle of football - always play to the whistle. They should also have known what we were capable of in those situations from our catalogue of breakaway goals last season.

Jokanovic is understandably a desperate man right now but Fulham only have themselves to blame.

If the shoe was on the other foot we would be whinging like a baby with cholic over that and the lone gunmen brigade would be out shouting ref/fa/ global conspiracies against us. Yes you have to play the whistle but that still doesn't take away from the fact the goal shouldnt have stood and its a bit worrying that we needed the ref to fuck up for us to get ahead against a really shit side. Once we got ahead I think the out come was basically a foregone conclusion but upto the point of the goal we were pretty poor and they missed a guilt edged chance to score.

 

[Caradoc]

If the shoe was on the other foot we would be whinging like a baby with cholic over that and the lone gunmen brigade would be out shouting ref/fa/ global conspiracies against us. Yes you have to play the whistle but that still doesn't take away from the fact the goal shouldnt have stood and its a bit worrying that we needed the ref to fuck up for us to get ahead against a really shit side. Once we got ahead I think the out come was basically a foregone conclusion but upto the point of the goal we were pretty poor and they missed a guilt edged chance to score.

Absolutely but we’re supporters, its what we do. And I’m sure there would be posters on here (probably myself included) who would have pointed out that you play to the whistle - ALWAYS - and we only had ourselves to blame.

And as I said in my previous post, moving ball free kicks and taking them from the correct place is being enforced less and less by officials just like throw-ins from the correct place.

Fulham’s manager and players know how these things work. The rolling ball is a bit of a side issue. Had Fulham actually faced up instead of allowing themselves to be distracted then maybe the rolling ball would have been noticed and play pulled back.

 

[Irishanfield]

Absolutely but we’re supporters, its what we do. And I’m sure there would be posters on here (probably myself included) who would have pointed out that you play to the whistle - ALWAYS - and we only had ourselves to blame.

And as I said in my previous post, moving ball free kicks and taking them from the correct place is being enforced less and less by officials just like throw-ins from the correct place.

Fulham’s manager and players know how these things work. The rolling ball is a bit of a side issue. Had Fulham actually faced up instead of allowing themselves to be distracted then maybe the rolling ball would have been noticed and play pulled back.

Its a little bit shit that we needed that bit of help from the ref though to breakdown the worst defence in the league though. At the end of the day though , a win is a win and we controlled the 2nd half and while I get what you are saying but the fact remains Fulham have the right to be annoyed because the ball was moving because I would be bugged if it happened to us and I'd assume you'd see a lot of people moaning about it on here.

 

[Gone Kloppo]

and its a bit worrying that we needed the ref to fuck up for us to get ahead against a really shit side. Once we got ahead I think the out come was basically a foregone conclusion but upto the point of the goal we were pretty poor and they missed a guilt edged chance to score.

But say the ref correctly called it back and AB took a normal free kick. Who's to say we wouldn't have taken it down the other end 2 mins later and scored? It's true in parts it looked the same old performance where we weren't being clinical up forward, but I don't think there was any question we were getting the ball into much more dangerous positions in the first half than in previous weeks, thanks to Fulham's poor defence. I do think us scoring was inevitable in yesterdays match.

 

[Caradoc]

Its a little bit shit that we needed that bit of help from the ref though to breakdown the worst defence in the league though. At the end of the day though , a win is a win and we controlled the 2nd half and while I get what you are saying but the fact remains Fulham have the right to be annoyed because the ball was moving because I would be bugged if it happened to us and I'd assume you'd see a lot of people moaning about it on here.

I can’t really add anything to what I’ve already said. Sorry!