31 minutes ago, Malcolm9 said:

Lavia looked great, James shouldn't have started if I'm honest. Would rather bring him on if needed otherwise as Jim said it's a pre planned sub.

He wouldn't have started if Cucurella hadn't been banned.

6 minutes ago, Backbiter said:

He wouldn't have started if Cucurella hadn't been banned.

Should have played Veiga as left back from the start.

I'll take the performance and get over the disappointment of not nicking a point. Think palmer will learn as he was kept quiet today, great to see James back and not go off injured, Jackson again scoring against top table teams, top performance from Caicedo and thought Neto looked useful when he came on. 

Three ponts for us at the bridge, think it was a positive for the team development/ confidence today. we just wern't overawed 

 

Tough place crapfield for most teams to visit. They have a lot of experienced top players w honors galore up against our youngest team of the weekend. Thought overall did well a close game and there were opportunities to get a point. Palmer was quiet no grandstanding on his back this week. Just really demonstrates the points we have taken to date are mostly from lower placed teams and there’s a long way to go for Maresca, whom I think set the team up mostly well today. Wasn’t a beating and our attackers did get some sniffs at goal, Jacko took his well ! 

The kids did OK today but from the off I felt they gave Liverpool too much respect. You can see it in the first 5 minutes, the tempo and urgency was down. They seemed to take the safe route too much and carried on like that till the end. Lack of confidence, inexperience, both...but that's understandable with such a young inexperienced team. 

 

*Liverpool winning goal, sanchez should have saved that but I think he hesitated because of the penalty calls. Even though one was overturned, I can imagine it played on his mind for a sec and hesitated to close him down and go in with full force, and see another Daley impression. FYI...I give that jump and dive a 9.6 😆 

 

Read a similar quote on the BBC Live match reporting as below and I agree with it in a way. I just think if they showed less respect and actually put more belief in themselves then we deserved at least a draw.

Realistically this was a title challenging team vs a young inexperienced top 4 team. 

Onwards and upwards. Next season once are kids are a bit older, experienced and aint scared of anyone then they will kick their arse. 

😁 

This was a rebuilding year anyway, gutted but not too disappointed

2 hours ago, Scott Harris said:

I rarely think at the end of a game that we have thrown everything into it. I always feel like we could have done more.

FWIW I thought we played well today and deserved a draw.

I know what you mean though.

It's a problem, we only seem to "throw the kitchen sink" at teams when the added on time is announced.

The tempo is generally too slow when we really need a goal.

 

Turning draws into wins against Palace and Forest is where it's really noticeable IMO rather than breaking down Liverpool today.

From the outside it may look like teams like Liverpool, City and Arsenal are lucky when they score late winners, but the reality is they are pushing and probing for the last 20 minutes in a match with speed, and the law of averages means more often than not they will finally get their goal.

 

Once we address the problem of beating teams we should be beating then that kind of mentality will also show up in some matches against the better teams.

Getting late goals is a habit, and it's something we haven't been good at for years.

I thought we actually played well, apart from the fine details at the both ends of the pitch ( which is the hardest part). Our build up in attack was fluid, by passed their high press quite easily at times, nullified most of their threats. A draw would have been a fair result, for once Palmer didn't bring the goals, but he created huge chances for others, so no complain. What's frustrating was the ease we conceded the 2 goals, especially the second one when we just switched off completely. Was it just me or Badeshire and GK trying to slow play out from the back just pure madness? We were running out of time, yet there were still pointless short exchanges just around our own box, when Liverpool weren't even pressing.

We weren’t terrible today, but the defence is a serious worry. It’s a country mile off being decent.

The biggest takeaways from today are 1. People who talked about us being title contenders are stark raving mad 2. People that talk about Liverpool winning the title are stark raving mad.

57 minutes ago, Snedger said:

We weren’t terrible today, but the defence is a serious worry. It’s a country mile off being decent.

The biggest takeaways from today are 1. People who talked about us being title contenders are stark raving mad 2. People that talk about Liverpool winning the title are stark raving mad.

Yeah Jones winner gets worse, from our side, with each viewing. Gusto, James and Sanchez so, so poor on that. Have to be extra alert after you score. 

6 hours ago, Conte said:

Lol no, there defence surpasses ours

Their attack is more experienced and more consistent than ours

They got Alisson we got sanchez big difference there in ability

Yah... from the start even though we appeared to have em a bit worried I got the feeling it was going to be a bit of a men vs boys game - very tactically astute by Slot - sort of nullified Palmer and exposed our weakness at the back - surely we can find someone better than Sanchez in goal and Jackson in front of it - Palmer and Neto both put in some great balls for someone to get on the end of...

Having said that, if Cucu had been there I think we might have got a result

6 hours ago, The Rising Sun said:

Well, although we've lost , I think this team knows that Liverpool ain't miles ahead of us.

We all know our keeper and defence are a problem. 

Very early for our new coach and Chelsea, but I really believe this team is far better than what we've had for the last 2 seasons, hopefully getting better too

 

TBF, it couldn't get much worse could it 😁

I blame Maresca/Cucu for that one... unsettled the back 4 - gave them 2 goals.

Thankfully we don't have to listen to Hansen and Lawrensen rubbing our noses in it anymore.

 

9 hours ago, PloKoon13 said:

"...just need to penetrate a little bit more"

You sound just like my missus Jon Champion

Tactual genius....always muttering something around getting around the back and probing the back door. 

7 hours ago, Malcolm9 said:

Should have played Veiga as left back from the start.

or chilly - an actual left back

I am surprised by the comments saying we played well.

I saw the opposite of playing well. Instead I thought we fell into Liverpools trap. They sat back and allowed us to have all the toothless possession we wanted, knowing that we would struggle to unlock them....And they were right. 

Our goal was from a time when they were caught out of possession/position- and other than that we created very little. A Veiga header. A weak palmer shot after a bit of Neto brilliance. Cant recall any other genuine chances. 

This was on Maresca - he didn't change anything. His subs were pretty much like for like, and we continued to move the ball so slowly that even when chasing the game, we created nothing of substance.

 

Then on a player level. Caicedo was passable. Lavia ok given he is just back, and Neto when he came on was decent and willing to run at them. The rest were poor. 

System wise we were well schooled and contained

Player wise we had too many passengers.

Overall - an opportunity lost, as Liverpool were there to be beaten.

20 minutes ago, nonotnowjim said:

I am surprised by the comments saying we played well.

I saw the opposite of playing well. Instead I thought we fell into Liverpools trap. They sat back and allowed us to have all the toothless possession we wanted, knowing that we would struggle to unlock them....And they were right. 

This was on Maresca - he didn't change anything. His subs were pretty much like for like, and we continued to move the ball so slowly that even when chasing the game, we created nothing of substance.

System wise we were well schooled and contained

I think by Liverpool changing the way they played, they got one over maresca tactically. He had the team set up for the Liverpool he's seen in the last 7 PL games I imagined he watched before this game (or at least hope so!).

Slot won their first tactical battle, but i look forward to maresca learning from this and getting wiser. Its been easier for slot than it has been for maresca this season, so I don't actually know if they are at the same level yet tactically (a step or 2 below, pep, tuchel, ancelotti (+son), etc...). I haven't watched much of Liverpool tbh, can't stand them. They come third after spuds and arsenal on my hate/ignore list.

Some of those changes were also definitely planned (due to fitness lvl) so he had to make them.

I do understand his philosophy of working on creating a squad where players can interchange seamlessly as his first priority/task though; and I really do believe he's on the right track. Just think this is such a young inexperienced team that there's a lot on his priority list still. Where are his defensive and set piece coaches? They need to step up and/or that's something I believe should be next on his priority list at the very least.

 

 

20 minutes ago, nonotnowjim said:

Player wise we had too many passengers.

Overall - an opportunity lost, as Liverpool were there to be beaten.

I agree, like I posted earlier, they just gave Liverpool way too much respect. That actually annoyed me more than any of the mistakes by the def and sanchez. It seemed they had no belief in themselves so they stuck with the safest option and slowed down their play. And by doing that they made even more mistakes with passes being played behind their teammates for example, or just being a second slow/hesitating. I heard maresca say "go, go, go" and I think I heard "faster" and "rush!" being shouted too.

 

Saying all that, and going back to your initial statement, I still think the kids did well imo.

Liverpool are ahead of us as a developed team. All slot had to do was implement his tactics and that can be integrated slowly. Maresca's to do list is extremely longer than that but we are improving as a "team and squad" imho.

 

I think I missed it, but just reading some comments on other sites and apparently there was a call for handball by Robertson at the end. Someone said it was one of the last shots at goal by Chelsea.

Did anybody catch that?

I must have been reaching for the snacks, drinks or phone at that point and missed it.

How the f**k is this not a penalty, especially when you see the "soft" one they got.

 

 

Edited October 21, 20241 yr by dkw

Missed most of the game yesterday but just caught up on the highlights. Seemed to control most of the game but when we aren't really troubling the goalie it doesn't count for much. There's definitely positives to take but bits to work on until we're genuine title challengers. 

time Sanchez to be benched, not for the first time he cost us a goal..he should have spread himself it wasn't a hard save

Speaking to reporters after the game, the Italian coach said, "Sometimes in this stadium, the decision is also for the noise of the crowd. The referees are there to make decisions, sometimes they are right and sometimes they are wrong. Sometimes you have the feeling from outside that some of the decisions are for the noise. But overall they were ok."

 

Everyone knows Anfield is a hard place to go because of their fans, i hate them BUT they play their part, referees can't handle the pressure unlike Stamford bridge where most sit on their hands and can barely raise a cheer even when we score

15 hours ago, Nibs said:

Not often I want Arsenal to get a result but wont be disappointed if they beat the dippers next week.

 

I disagree, I’d much rather Liverpool win. F*ck Arsenal and their dark arts sh*te.

12 hours ago, Deino said:

This was a rebuilding year anyway, gutted but not too disappointed

Next season, the lack of experience shouldn’t be an excuse anymore.

This team will have played 2 years together and hopefully go far in Europe and finish top 4 this season.

That should be enough experience for us to start pushing for a title challenge. For me personally, this season is the last season of gaining experience and rebuilding.

Look at the progress of players such as Madueke and Jackson, next season we should be raring to go.

It was a Chelsea player in front of the Kop....you don't get them there!!....🙄