Liverpool ‘absolutely deserved’ to beat PSG because they did beat PSG; go and watch the NBA if you disagree. And Spurs are back in their doom cycle.
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Redunancies
I suggest the next person to be made redundant at old Trafford is the guy who chooses what studs to wear. I counted 8 slips to zero. (Yes I’m very sad counting such sh*t but it was a boring game) but the point still remains.
Tony
Bentancur. Bergvall
Hi
“But Tottenham will have to do without midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur in next Thursday’s home leg after his third booking of the season.” reads the 5th paragraph of BBC Sports write up of the Spurs game. Sky Sports News had something similar.
In the words of Vicky Pollard, do I look like I’m bothered though? Bentancur is a lovely looking footballer. Bit Jamie Redknapp. Bit Anderton. A bit every lightweight Spurs midfielder of the last 30 or so years. He hid against Liverpool and Villa in the cup, he hid again against AZ. He plays football like his team are two or three up with 15 minutes to go. He hides so much that deeply promising 18-year-olds (looks like an angel but is a proper hatchet man) make comedy errors because they’re scared no one else will take responsibility. Which they won’t. Bergvall being suspended would be a story. Bentancur isn’t.
And another thing. Solanke got injured after 20 minutes. Romero got injured after 15 minutes on his comeback against Chelsea. I’m not sure that medical team knows how to condition players or get them back from injuries.
Lastly, have you ever seen a more depressing-looking coaching staff? They all just sit there motionless. No one talks to one another. There’s not much plotting or scheming. There certainly isn’t any joy in their work. There are just blank expressions. I’d take Jason Tindall and his questionable antics over that lot any day of the week.
We’re a hot mess.
Cheers
Andrew
Luckypool
Donnarumma should have saved that shot from Elliot but he didn’t.
Alisson had no right to save some of those PSG shots, but he did.
Last time I checked the keeper is part of the 11.
Rob, Hove
Genuinely intrigued to know the MBs objective views on the Konate incident. I get if you dont like Liverpool you’d want him off but as far as I could see it was a shoulder barge. Fair game in the 90s, is it now? If you were playing Sunday league and your defender did that would you be incensed by a red? I kind of think it could be but I’d be livid. It seems like players get away with it ‘cos they are not using their arms. Virgil does it a lot, never gets blown.
PSG were so much better, but Elliot’s goal was the most joy I’ve felt so far this season!
Put your club loyalties aside and discuss!
Tom, Leaning in.
Following our admittedly slightly fortunate win Vs psg arsenal fans have been crying on social media.
For ages I couldn’t understand why. I get Everton fans doing it or even United fans. Why are arsenal fans crying about what Liverpool does or doesn’t do?
Then I realised, the reason they cry is because Liverpool achieves things arsenal fans can only dream about.
Sleep well arsenal fans of social media, it’s the only time you’ll have a chance of a champions league trophy…
Lee
Liverpool kept PSG completely at arm’s length
One of the interesting things I’ve noticed about the PSG v Liverpool game is how perspective can be skewed. Conventional punditry wisdom is that Liverpool were ‘battered’ 0-1 and Liverpool got lucky. However, a trip to Opta might give a different impression if you look at the xG and how they rated the chances. It turns out that roughly half of PSG’s 1.78 total xG came from the one v one against Dembele that Alisson saved that also saw a couple of shots blocked from Barcola in the immediate aftermath. All of those fabulous diving saves we all saw him make actually came from very low xG chances that the PSG forwards hit superbly. It was essentially a masterclass on ball striking by the PSG forwards and a masterclass on goalkeeping in response.
Armed with that knowledge, it swings the pendulum slightly back in favour of a victory built on really good defending by Liverpool as opposed to absurd luck. They by and large limited PSG to taking shots with low likelihood of scoring, with that one exception. Now, make no mistake, I freely admit that PSG dominated possession of the football, and were far, far better with the ball than Liverpool, with superb pressing to boot. I’d just suggest that a day removed from the action with cooler heads suggests that Liverpool actually defended really, really well too, and earned that clean sheet.
Just wanted to push back on some of the utter codswallop I’ve seen making the rounds – even seen one journalist try to claim that Liverpool’s clean sheet was so lucky that saying they had been ‘lucky’ is utterly inadequate, which seems a bit extreme for an xG of less than 2…
Greg, Taunton. (Looking forward to seeing my mail misrepresented for ragebait in the bold bit. Might I suggest something along the lines of ‘Liverpool kept PSG completely at arms length’, or something similar? I know you guys are better at that than I am, so please, go wild! It’ll be fun.)
Celebrate good times, come on!
Derek – LFC
I read this “I must admit it’s the first time I think I’ve not celebrated a Liverpool winner in my almost 50 years of supporting them”
and immediately called bullsh*t and bolox!
If you havent celebrated that goal, after being under the cosh for almost the entirety of 87mins, you sir are a liar or not a fan of the scoring team
I have to restrain myself more often than like as it totally freaks the dog out for ages after, he thinks Im mad at him (or something I guess) He just stand and stares at me for almost 90min every game (although non Liverpool games depend on the comms and co comms – He much prefers Lucy Wards calm tones to Darren Fletchers shouting) but briefly lost my sh*t when that went in.. was impossible to contain!
But I digress…
We were def lucky, why pretend otherwise..?
Was a fantastic win and we were pretty much totally outplayed. Im fine with that, thanks!
Al – LFC – Dont be silly Derek!..
Watch basketball
Disclaimer- I am a Liverpool fan, but I watched the game with an Everton fan and no productive discussion was had, so I have come to the famously reasonable and non-reactionary forum of the internet to discuss it.
But Liverpool absolutely deserved to win, because they did.I think the entire appeal of football is that the best team is not at all guaranteed to win. Goals are rare in football, which is why drama and unpredictability is so prevalent, and also why detractors might call it boring. If you want to see the better team win, football is plainly the wrong sport for you, go watch incrementally scoring sports such as the NBA, their season is getting towards the business end right now.
I have seen more times than I remember Liverpool dominate a team and not win the game, and Liverpool did not deserve to win those games, because they didn’t. You only deserve to win a game if you actually win it, barring some complete refereeing calamity such as penalties or disallowed goals I would say.
Maybe my bias is showing, but I don’t class the Konate incident in that category as it wouldn’t have provided a clear goal opportunity to PSG. It’s not like Liverpool suddenly turned on after that, if Konate was off it may not have been so different, I don’t think it was possible for PSG to dominate more anyway. Liverpool were certainly lucky he wasn’t sent off though, clear red.
Many have already written in to point out the stupidity of calling the result lucky as a whole, but it is absurd to say, it’s not lucky that Allison is as good as he is. Maybe you could say PSG are unlucky in that maybe the same shots would beat many other keepers, and the Konate incident.
Anyway, in short, I think it’s worth remembering that the reason we bother watching matches is that the winners often aren’t the best team, but are still deserving winners. And incredible players doing incredible things has nothing to do with luck.
C, Greece.
Trent out of shape
So for years I’ve been a huge critic of Trent. I’ve made my feelings known on this website. He’s a Hollywood passer. He costs Liverpool so much possession every game because he constantly looks for that big pass. When he gets it he’s lauded but never gets criticised for the amount of down right awful attempts he makes and for the amount of times he loses us possession. Commentators and internet ‘experts’ alike never hold him accountable.
I wonder is it because he’s English 🤔 I hope he goes in the summer. For me Bradley, although not as good with the Hollywood type passes is definitely good on the ball, pacier and a much better at defending. The stick Trent got after the United game from Liverpool fans was so uncalled for. Why? Because it’s not the first time he’s looked half arsed in a game. It’s probably the first time they notice it because of the contract situation. It’s amazing how fickle fans can be. I’m not fickle, I just know what I see and I have for years with that chap.
Anyway I’ve anyways wondered, nay, I’ve always known, but without proof, who the player is that loses the ball most in possession. I’m not talking Liverpool, I’m talking the league so here you….. guess who? Surprise suprise!! Go to Madrid please. We’ll be fine without you just like when Owen, Coutinho et al left. The main one we need to stay is Big Virg. The rock and soul of this team!
Alex
Offside or not
A caveat to start off: The example used is just to reflect the thoughts on offside, not about the match itself (Liverpool pulling out that win is just how football can be at times).
On the Kravadona (I would butcher his actual name, so going with the nickname) offside goal, it just makes me question what the offside rule is meant for. Essentially, my understanding is a player is offside if they 1) impact play or 2) gain an advantage from it.
In this case, the player was coming back from a marginally offside position to receive a pass to feet and then cutting inside to shoot. If he had received a pass in front of him or turned toward the outside and shot, totally understand that being called as offside as he had an advantage, no matter how slight. But the actual situation makes me question where that advantage is.
All I’m saying is there should be some flexibility and situational context applied. I’ve seen other similar scenarios before and it’s as though the refs apply the law because it’s safer than going against it.
Jason, Singapore
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Club DNA is nonsense
Funnily enough, I’ve had the “club DNA” type topic on my mind recently, and did a bit of digging (i.e. a google search of League winners and then a quick paste into Excel with a Pivot table).
Whilst in the past 50 years, several clubs have won multiple leagues. As Mark, LFC, An Mhí correctly pointed out, that history/club DNA is very much a manager of the moment not the club DNA.
In the past 50 years, the clubs that have won the league with multiple managers are:
Liverpool = 4 (probably soon to be 5)
Chelsea = 3 (but you could argue, that really, it’s 1 owner)
Man City = 3 (similar to Chelsea, 1 owner)
Arsenal = 2
That’s it.
Even Manchester United with the most titles in the past 50 years (13) won them all with 1 manager. There’s no legacy there, they were even in the 2nd tier in that timescale (just).
