I thought Frank got his tactics right in the first half. Played compact in defence and got few good half chances on the counter. 
This likely would have paid off in the second half provided we finished 0:0 first half with 11 players on the pitch (actually with Kepa in goal it’s always 10.5 players)

However, by the end of the first half players got that false sense of security of having Liverpoodlo under control, committed too many bodies to their half and paid the price going a player down. What Liverpool players are well drilled of is spotting openings in a split second regardless which part of the pitch that is and how far that is from the passer.  
To mitigate that, you either should always have lots of bodies at the back to block those runs and double on their players or better have damn good defenders if you try to play an open game with them. 
Since we don’t have those awesome defenders we should never be in position for only Christensen handling Mane without backup player nearby. Our half should always contain at least 4-5 players to make it hard for them. 
Nevertheless, here we are and this team will get better once all the players get fit.

I feel we would need another 3-4 games to get this team buzzing. 
 

A few points from my side:

• Kepa shouldn't have played in this game
• Alonso is infuriatingly slow and just passes backwards constantly. Can't wait for Chilwell as long as he's not the same.
• Christensen did an AC special.
• Kante is back to full fitness but he keeps messing up so many attacks. He shouldn't be the furthest midfielder forward when we're attacking.
• Mount is wasted out wide. He should be playing way deeper near to Kante or not at all.
• Werner is making great runs but the rest of the team are way below his level currently. It's almost embarrassing to see how many opportunities we waste sometimes.
• Havertz should be played centrally. Get him the ball and watch him make things happen.
• Why did Frank not bring on Giroud to play with Werner towards the end of the game. It seems the most logical thing to me? He will thrive off Oli just like he did off Poulsen @ Leipzig.
• Barkley is not the player to change the game against top opposition.
• Reece James seems to be getting better at defending.
• Tomori looked decent when he came on.
• CHO must have had a Jonny Big Bollocks moment. He's in the dog house for sure.

My team for West Brom:

                      Mendy

   James   Zouma   T Silva    Azpi

           Kante         Mount/Kova

                  Havertz

CHO       Giroud/Werner     Werner/Pulisic

 

 

Ooh, I came in 5,197th out of 87,280 in the app's match predictor. Absolute silver lining 

just a thought :

 

Lampard's way of play  lacks  urgency unlike Klopp's liverpool

Edited September 20, 20205 yr by ZouMan

1 hour ago, Jangz said:

Gawd ppl criticising lamps for setting the team to defend first and use counter attacks have probably not been long here enough to remember the mourinho era against big sides.. we were very solid but AC lost his concentration close to half time.. very frustrating sh*tty luck but happens.

Yes, this. I liked how we set out, completely matched them till the red card.

I'm not even going to assess the 2nd half but for me, our worst player in a solid first half was Kante. He messed up so many excellent attacking transitions either by not looking up or being too slow. Werner, Havertz and Mount made excellent runs that were missed so often.

I believe Havertz will slot in at midfield when some of our wingers are back. So maybe Kova, Kante and Havertz will work much better. Or Kova, Havertz and Mount or Kova, Havertz and new signing.

Some of Havertz's passes and touches were fantastic, especially this one pass back to Kovacic after Kovacic went on a nice run and lost control right at the end.

21 minutes ago, Valerie said:

Ooh, I came in 5,197th out of 87,280 in the app's match predictor. Absolute silver lining 

Do you get money for it?

3 minutes ago, sonic90 said:

Do you get money for it?

No, only the top 5196 get money... Unlucky Valerie... 

1 hour ago, Jangz said:

Lol this is naivety.. we may go toe to toe if we have the full squad and even then the big matches are about winning.. Wenger always wanted to go toe to toe... how many trophies did that get him post 2004? With our options we clearly HD an inferior team.. David didnt beat Goliath by going toe to toe..

conte never went toe to toe.. neither did Mourinho.. he tried to tactically outplay the opponent. 

 

 

Does Mayweather enter the ring and charge at this opponents and exchange blows like Tyson? Heck no, he takes different approaches  with his opponents.

However, what's unquestionable is that Mayweather always have the believe and confidence to take on any one, and take them down. If you enter the ring thinking: "I can't go toe to toe with this guy, there's no way I can beat them", then you've already lost before the bell ring. It's about the mentality.

 

 

 

 

Lampard with piss poor tactics again. Mount on the f**king wing? We could have Messi and Mount playing together and Lampard would sub off Messi first.

 

Really frustrating game - everything that could go wrong did. The first half was even but a simple hoof up the middle of the pitch catches us out and we gift them the game. 

I felt beforehand that this game came too early for us, with the new players bedding in and injuries. Werner looked threatening and as soon as he gets service rather than trying to do it all himself, he’s going to score lots of goals.

And if that’s not Kepa’s last game for Chelsea then you have to question the manager’s sanity. Looks like he’s taking brown envelopes he’s so bad. 

Still a bit too soon for us I'd say. We were playing a settled team at the top of their game and we didn't quite look connected.

We were  competitive, but no surprises to see the holy trinity of Jorginho, Kepa and Christensen let us down in big moments. Hopefully  this is the last time we see them on the pitch together. 

Liverpool are very good. Reigning champions. Champions of Europe the season before. Miles ahead of where we are and able to bring Thiago off the bench. 

Containing them when the squad was depleted was the right call. It didn’t work. Sometimes it doesn’t.

Didn’t expect to get a result here, and we didn’t. Silva, Ziyech, Chilwell, Pulisic, Azpilcueta all out. Plus the new keeper. You’d expect most of them to be starters more often than not. Take 4-6 starters out of this Liverpool team and are they this good? I don’t think so.

Havertz needs to be less passive. We are a power play team, or trying to be. He needed to be making runs, creating options, moving their defenders around. Same against Brighton. You can’t just stand there, get the ball and pass it simple every time. Not at CF, RW, or No.10. He’s drifts through games, and that won’t cut it here. He’s new to the league, and young. There is no writing him off, just saying he needs to offer more. I’ve seen what he’s capable of and he’s an immense talent. But when someone needed to come off for a CB, it shouldn’t be plainly obvious that the sacrifice has to be the £80m signing. He wasn’t doing anything. 

Not mad at Andreas for the red. I’d rather a CB takes a red with some sh*thousery than just allows an easy goal. Almost got away with a yellow too. Mane is an insanely good player. It happens. I think he’s started the season quite well TBH, although I can’t say I’m a fan in general. The back 4 were actually pretty good both before and after the red TBH. No complaints there. 

Liverpool are hard to play against because their widemen become strikers, and their full backs become wingers. You’ve got to have your fullbacks narrow or they overload the middle, so you rely on your widemen to track their fullbacks if you want to stop them. Werner and Mount were tasked with that. They did ok. It’s a thankless task, Robertson and Trent are excellent at what they do, and impossible 10 v 11. But they did ok. Werner looked knackered by it all, but I already really like him. Mount must have chopped up Duracell in his Ready Brek every morning. He just doesn’t stop. 

This game was lost in midfield IMO. 11 vs 11 and we had one shot. The specific incidents that led to the goals don’t matter because we never had control. The incidents are inevitable if you don’t have control. Our midfield couldn’t touch theirs. Kante tried. The other two have qualities but they aren’t starters for a club at the level we want to be at, playing the way we want to play. That’s the worrying take away from the first two games. Our midfield was dominated in both. It’s clear now that’s what the chase for Rice is about. Lamps wants a midfield rock next to Kante. He wants a solid platform. Whether Rice is the answer, I don’t know. 

Saying that, it will all get easier when opponents have to worry about us, as opposed to us having to worry about them. That’s true for everyone in the team. Frank wants us on the front foot, not playing widemen with the sole intent of marking opposition fullbacks, but right now he’s putting out fires and making sacrifices. That’s only bad management if you do it when you don’t have to. 

We weren’t bad until the red card. We weren’t good either. It was a dull h1. Werner was average in front of goal although good at leading the line. 

in-would far prefer to see cho on the wing and either mount or Jorginho benched to make room. Play havertz central but I think there’s a case for having come in off bench while he adjusts  

I think tammy werner and cho would make a great front line 

we didn’t expect to win this game so no great drama  

 

I’m off Twitter and back on here, that place is poisonous. Weren’t bad defensively today until red card, but were never threatening enough on the break. A lot of players to come in and we’ll get better for sure. 

7 hours ago, Spiller86 said:

Still a bit too soon for us I'd say. We were playing a settled team at the top of their game and we didn't quite look connected.

We were  competitive, but no surprises to see the holy trinity of Jorginho, Kepa and Christensen let us down in big moments. Hopefully  this is the last time we see them on the pitch together. 

Pretty much my thoughts too. Kepa's brainfart aside, Liverpool actually didn't create a great opportunity until Mane's one-on-one for the red card. 

In fact, Firmino was having a bit of a mare until that point, not coping with the pressure from Kante or Mount, and his mistakes could and should have been costly. It was really good to see us press and win balls in midfield, something that was distinctly missing against Brighton.

 

Our recent record against Liverpool is so poor,  so the result was expected. It's the manner of handing them the victory that hurts. We were decent until the red card, and were still in with a chance until Kepa passed the ball to them to score the second.  Hopefully we learn from this and not let the season get away from us. 

Thought we did ok up until the red card. We were obviously sitting back and letting them have the ball and trying to counter them. Before the red card, I don’t recall Kepa having to make many saves. 
 

The first goal was disappointing, so soft and easy. 

Am I the only one that doesn't really blame Christensen all that much for the sending off? 

For me, that's unfortunately on Kepa as well. If he stays back instead of rushing out for a ball he has no chance of getting, Christensen can just run with Mane instead of fouling him.

When Kepa comes for it, Christensen has two options - pulling Mane down and risking the red or letting him go which would surely mean 0-1.

30 minutes ago, AndyDowsleftflank said:

Am I the only one that doesn't really blame Christensen all that much for the sending off? 

For me, that's unfortunately on Kepa as well. If he stays back instead of rushing out for a ball he has no chance of getting, Christensen can just run with Mane instead of fouling him.

When Kepa comes for it, Christensen has two options - pulling Mane down and risking the red or letting him go which would surely mean 0-1.

This may be the old blue tinted specs on but at first I though Mane fouled AC and caused him to fall, you could see mane contact AC's leg and then he falls. 

14 hours ago, Osgoodwasgood said:

Unfortunately, i was'nt wrong, Alonso Ball watching as usual for the first, The less said about the second the better,

 

I don't think it was really much of a choice for Frank, Azpi was clearly not fit to play the 90 & Emerson has had his foot out the door for 6 months now.

Even though Alonso didn't cover himself in glory but the decisive moment of the game was the madness from Chrstensen.

Watching the penalty save again, we really aren't at the races in following up afterwards ... maybe they're all just used to the ball ending up in the back of the net, but isn't it basics that you follow in after a penalty just in case it is saved and you can knock in the rebound ?

1 hour ago, Bonzodog29 said:

This may be the old blue tinted specs on but at first I though Mane fouled AC and caused him to fall, you could see mane contact AC's leg and then he falls. 

Very strong those lenses of yours :-)

1 hour ago, AndyDowsleftflank said:

Am I the only one that doesn't really blame Christensen all that much for the sending off? 

For me, that's unfortunately on Kepa as well. If he stays back instead of rushing out for a ball he has no chance of getting, Christensen can just run with Mane instead of fouling him.

When Kepa comes for it, Christensen has two options - pulling Mane down and risking the red or letting him go which would surely mean 0-1.

He lost us the game there, no excuse. Poor positioning and poor decision making and also, not his first big blunder in a big game.

For someone that had the privilege to be behind JT and other great defenders he learned absolutely nothing...

This is supposed to be our next JT? With that mentality and making blunders in big games he will always be a backup...

13 hours ago, driller97 said:

Lampard with piss poor tactics again. Mount on the f**king wing? We could have Messi and Mount playing together and Lampard would sub off Messi first.

 

Did Mount piss on your chips or something?  Every other post of yours is whining about Mount and Lampard picking him, despite it being the general consensus across the world of football that Mount is a great prospect and, for the most part, does exactly the job that the manager asks of him.

More frustrating than angry about the result and performance, Frustrated even before the kick off, considering our best 3-4 players did not even make the team. For the game up to 45th minute, we matched them well and were pretty comfortable. Then few seconds of madness cost us big time. Chritensen 1 on 1 verus Sane ( or any striker  ) chasing the ball is a disaster. I know it's fraction of a second decision, but he really f* himself and the team up for throwing a rugby tackle like that. I'd think even with a goal down but 11 vs 11, we'd still have a chance in the next 45. We conceded a soft goal, really poor marking for not following the runner to the by-line, and how easy did James lost out on the header. Second goal was pure disaster from Kepa, enough said. Then the penalty, had we scored at least we'd make it interesting. The way Jorginho been hitting the PK, once the GK decided to not making the first move, there's pretty good chance of saving it, because the PK is usually rolled in rather than hit. Having said that, he managed to score so many up to date, so who am I to doubt his technique? The media will write whatever they want, but in reality we just be let down by a couple of moment of madness. There will be 100 pieces written about Lampard under pressure, but in reality unless he got on the field, he could have done nothing about those moments. We got another game in a few days, have to move on and forget about this one quick.