5 hours ago, BedfordBlue said:

The line was drawn from his arm! Shocking decision

That's why we have no chance for a title challenge unless we buy the referees & VAR like pool & city have. How many decisions have we seen go their way. It also helps when their players moan & complain about every little nudge in the penalty area & go down as if they're shot in the back. It all seems nicely orchestrated.

Really have not seen enough of that Lukaku move this season. More to the right side, running on to the ball, cutting to the left side and left footed strike. That is his main move, along with being around the 6 yard box for headers and tap ins.

When we see him come in from the left, bar the odd occasion like at home to Villa, the effort is usually nowhere near as lethal. 

8 hours ago, Gol15 said:

Remember Liverpool has like 3 top scorers in the league and we kept them all silent, take the positives because we went toe to toe with one of the hardest teams to play against.

I don't want to go toe to toe with them. I want to beat them and we didn't. Once we start using 'toe to toe' and 'take positives' arguments we're well on our way to becoming another Arsenal.

3 minutes ago, abramovich said:

I don't want to go toe to toe with them. I want to beat them and we didn't. Once we start using 'toe to toe' and 'take positives' arguments we're well on our way to becoming another Arsenal.

We can at least make sure our fourth place trophy is shinier than theirs.

11 hours ago, Scott Harris said:

I hate to say it, but maybe this is a hard lesson this group needed to learn. You cannot keep getting away with these missed opportunities. They can use today as motivation to put it right next time. The Champions League final, the Super Cup, the Club World Cup final and again today, all of these games we have made it hard on ourselves by not taking our chances, today it finally caught up with us. 

I was about to say we missed a lot of good opportunities in the UCL final as well and it easily could have gone a similar way as today. We need to start putting chances away rather than scoring one goal out of 10 missed chances.

Are they still out there taking penalties?

8 hours ago, PhilH930 said:

Yep, 4 consecutive domestic cup final losses.  That's what happens when you score one goal in those four games.  Not good enough.

This is the important point Phil.

If we are going to win the big games, we have to do better in front of goal. No scapegoats from me, just overall we are not good enough at putting the ball in the old onion bag !! The number 9 shirt at Chelsea should be permanently retired, never worn again. I was delighted with our starting line up today, would probably have picked the same men, but, we cannot overlook the missed chances in all of the four domestic finals we have lost, for a club that is European and World champions it is just not good enough.

6 hours ago, axman2526 said:

I don't think he is interfering personally. 

Way I look at those things is how would I feel if that had been us on the receiving end. Would I agree they got it right or say they got it wrong? And it was the latter for me.

Van dijk can just stand there and block reece and it is still offside. You absolutely cannot impact the play whatsoever let alone clearly pulling your opp.

3 hours ago, coombsie said:

This is the important point Phil.

If we are going to win the big games, we have to do better in front of goal. No scapegoats from me, just overall we are not good enough at putting the ball in the old onion bag !! The number 9 shirt at Chelsea should be permanently retired, never worn again. I was delighted with our starting line up today, would probably have picked the same men, but, we cannot overlook the missed chances in all of the four domestic finals we have lost, for a club that is European and World champions it is just not good enough.

What I would give for a Didier or a Frank  

8 hours ago, abramovich said:

I don't want to go toe to toe with them. I want to beat them and we didn't. Once we start using 'toe to toe' and 'take positives' arguments we're well on our way to becoming another Arsenal.

Yep, we have been going toe to toe with Liverpool since Klopp arrived, but they surpassed us and we haven't found a way to get one over them since. We keep outplaying them but it's worthless if we keep choking when it matters. 

1 hour ago, Scott Harris said:

Yep, we have been going toe to toe with Liverpool since Klopp arrived, but they surpassed us and we haven't found a way to get one over them since. We keep outplaying them but it's worthless if we keep choking when it matters. 

We are evenly matched everywhere except up top.

Firmino,  Jota, Diaz, Mane and Salah are all better than any of ofnour forwards. They got their recruitment and bedding in process spot on there, we did not.

Still flabbergasted that Keita wasn't sent off... it honestly feels like we don't play by the same rules as some clubs

My thoughts... 

1. Liverpool deserved the win. Chelsea not clinical enough, which has cost us a lot this season. Mount & Pulisic cannot miss those types of chances, and Liverpool likely wouldn't. 
2. Rudiger is irreplaceable. A real force. Give him what he wants.
3. Kovacic has gone up another gear this season. What a player.
4. Considering the time Klopp has enjoyed and the squad he's been able to build versus Tuchel, it's impressive that we're so close to them. Chelsea had the majority of play & best chances (again). I think Lukaku's form will improve, but the question is, is he the right fit. We can't be in the same position next season where we're struggling for goals - consistency is going to be a problem until we have that genuine goal threat that both Liverpool & City possess. That aside, we are there or thereabouts, but being clinical makes all the difference. 

19 hours ago, carrickblue said:

Yes but I can't remember seeing Mendy ever save a pen

Didn't he save one in the Afcon final? 

10 hours ago, abramovich said:

I don't want to go toe to toe with them. I want to beat them and we didn't. Once we start using 'toe to toe' and 'take positives' arguments we're well on our way to becoming another Arsenal.

It's our own fault that we didn't beat them, it's not like they ran over us they beat us after our second keeper missed the penalty so in this context taking the positives isn't becoming Arsenal if you ask me...

47 minutes ago, Gol15 said:

It's our own fault that we didn't beat them, it's not like they ran over us they beat us after our second keeper missed the penalty so in this context taking the positives isn't becoming Arsenal if you ask me...

You could argue we are similar to Wenger's Arsenal in the fact that a crucial part of our team (the attack) has a weak mentality. Werner and Pulisic are often nervous in front of goal, maybe some of the players who lost so many english finals like Mount have a mental block. Then you have Lukaku who is not a fighter and doesn't get stuck in. CHO is another without a killer instinct.

Ziyech is the only attacker we have with some f**k you mentality.

1 minute ago, sonic90 said:

You could argue we are similar to Wenger's Arsenal in the fact that a crucial part of our team (the attack) has a weak mentality. Werner and Pulisic are often nervous in front of goal, maybe some of the players who lost so many english finals like Mount have a mental block. Then you have Lukaku who is not a fighter and doesn't get stuck in. CHO is another without a killer instinct.

Ziyech is the only attacker we have with some f**k you mentality.

At this point I'm not sure if that's an issue in training or an issue of personnel. Either way we might have a very different team after the summer. 

6 minutes ago, Gol15 said:

At this point I'm not sure if that's an issue in training or an issue of personnel. Either way we might have a very different team after the summer. 

I believe in most of these players, Pulisic in particular I think can be a world class match winner like Hazard was for us, that is his potential so it's hard to let go. Look at Christensen he was the biggest wet paper towel and he managed to get over his demons.

Personally I think Werner is the only one with no real potential, his mentality is too damaged by now and he just doesn't have the technical ability. Willian was probably faster and better at springing counters than him. Useless and has to go.

Classy bunch those Liverpool players. Although I suppose it would be difficult for Carragher to condemn spitting with a straight face.

 

43 minutes ago, sonic90 said:

You could argue we are similar to Wenger's Arsenal in the fact that a crucial part of our team (the attack) has a weak mentality. Werner and Pulisic are often nervous in front of goal, maybe some of the players who lost so many english finals like Mount have a mental block. Then you have Lukaku who is not a fighter and doesn't get stuck in. CHO is another without a killer instinct.

Ziyech is the only attacker we have with some f**k you mentality.

Spot on, all of them basically are do mentally weak.

Honestly would it be any worse brining in Vale or other youth players than Werner?

22 hours ago, Sexyfootball said:

And with 4 of what is probably our best XI not starting as well ... James, Chilwell, Christensen and Ziyech.

We are a lot closer to City and Liverpool than many think ... JUST NEED TO PUT THE DAMN BALL IN THE NET 🙂

Absolutely. No coincidence that we started to drop points and City closed gap we had opened when the WBs a lot of our attacking play was built from got injured. 

A striker suited to TTs style would help too as our current crop not made the best use of. 

3 hours ago, Gol15 said:

It's our own fault that we didn't beat them, it's not like they ran over us they beat us after our second keeper missed the penalty so in this context taking the positives isn't becoming Arsenal if you ask me...

I mentioned Arsenal because that's what gooners do, their expectations are so low, they salivate for weeks over a "great performance" vs City in a match they lost. I don't want us to become that. Failure is still failure in my book, regardless of how well we played overall. That's the kind of mentality that separates winners from everybody else. No one remembers the performances after a while, only the results/trophies matter. This team is still missing a bit of quality and ruthlessness up front and we won't catch up with City/Pool until we address that.

I like Mason very much but I singled him out because a top class player should finish at least one of those chances. He didn't and we lost. At that level you don't get too many clear cut chances and you either deliver under pressure or you eventually end up on the bench or worse, in some inferior side more suited to your level. He and a few of our other underperforming attackers need to realize that.

Amazing what a difference a missed pen makes. People w**king over Liverpool winning…even Diaz, who is clearly a good player, is being made out to be maradona yesterday when Chalobah kept him increasingly quiet (after a difficult start). 

8 minutes ago, The Brit said:

Amazing what a difference a missed pen makes. People w**king over Liverpool winning…even Diaz, who is clearly a good player, is being made out to be maradona yesterday when Chalobah kept him increasingly quiet (after a difficult start). 

They did beat the world Champs to be fair 🏆 

3 hours ago, PloKoon13 said:

Classy bunch those Liverpool players. Although I suppose it would be difficult for Carragher to condemn spitting with a straight face.

That is disgusting. I'm guessing they were Chelsea fans below. Salah looked puzzled.