A game of contrasting half's, we were so good in the 1st half, pressing was excellent. Then we in some way capitulate & hand them 4 or 5 serious chances but for Ali... Thought matip was dodgy out like the last game & should have been swapped for konate
Great match, Palace can really play abd lots of tools to hurt you but we had regained control of the game before the penalty I felt. I thought it was a penalty, Carragher probably has the whole world convinced otherwise as he really didn't want to accept it was one.
Where did Mateta and Olise come from? I was thinking with no Zaha and Eze on the bench we would have it handy enough…feck they were dangerous
Yes, I feel like I've been his biggest critic but I'll happily eat humble pie on it. I always feel like he needs games to get into (insert cliche of the day) 'rhythym' and his role as a squad player doesn't really marry up to that. With a run of games now he has been very good and hopefully playing with his chest out and feeling part of it more leads to better impacts off the bench. Shout out to Minamino too. His goals to minutes ratio must be excellent.
That was a tough game, thought midfield was pretty poor in second half, couldn’t string two passes together. Trent looked tired also, a couple of sloppy passes. I’d be fewin if that peno was against LFC. Technically it probably is a peno however before VAR that never gets given. Don’t know why it took so long to make the decision. Anyway great 3 points against City dropping 2 yesterday. It’s far from over. Nice break in the league hopefully VVD, Trent, Fabinho and Jota get a good break as they have been flat out lately.
Could not agree more reminds me of when Rafa came in with the revolutionary zonal marking that everyone criticised, mocked when it didn't work, ignored when it did and before long incorporated it into their game plan. Carragher at one stage today said, I don't mind them playing the high line but they should run back towards the goal. Emmmm... Not sure you can do both Jamie.
What makes it infuriating is the pundits invariably point out an instance of the opposition "breaking the high line" which was ruled offside. They seem to be unable to accept that if our defense catches you offside - its WORKING, and its not the opposition creating a chance against it. Have to admit I didnt think it was a peno.(but I still want to be given it!) Jota played the ball to his left and then shifted to his right to run into the keeper - it reminded me of the peno Man Utd got against us in Old Toilet in that 4-1 won, cant recall the utd player who "won" the peno but he played the ball past Reina to his left and moved right to make sure of the contact. What DID irk me was Carra and the other commentator spent the last 10 minutes making out that the peno was the decisive moment - even though we were 2-1 up before the peno so it really had no effect on the outcome. Allison was exceptional today - the save from the backheel was unreal, His reflexes are ridiculous
The VAR is mental when compared to rugby. 1 lad makes a decision, another man reviews it. The man who had reviewed it will always then show the worst angle to justify his decision to essentially overrule his mate. The token jesture of sending the ref to the screen is nothing but theatre. Take the pressure off the ref, overrule or don't. Don't send him over to compound it. It's a nonsense. Also seems to be terrible communication as it appears the VAR does all the talking with very little explanation of the refs view of the incident and reason for the call or no call. Surely any review should be initiated and led by the decision maker. Anyways we won VAR today. Never a pen and a ref has to overrule a correct decision because he's shown the worst angle in the slowest motion.
Edit, somehow managed to interpret your zonal marking as a completely different thing to what I meant but I'll leave it there anyways
Football is a strange old game, I was genuinely questioning my understanding of football and my red bias. I couldn't fathom how Carragher (and Redknapp afterwards) could see anything other than a stonewall penalty. Goalkeeper misses the ball and cleans out the striker. When has that ever not been a penalty? On the game itself I thought we looked as good as we have since we won the league, but that only lasted 25 minutes. Hendo, Bobby and Matip became sloppy, Virgil went looking for a one two high up the pitch and suddenly Palace were in the game. Its happened a few times that once we lose a bit of control we struggle to get it back, hopefully Jurgen knows why that is because I sure don't.
. With the usual condescending ‘I’ve never seen space score a goal’ comment. I could be wrong but didn’t we also get grief for employing a throw in coach and now most other teams have followed suit?
The reaction to our peno yesterday has led to Liverpool fans posting some of the dodgy penalties given against us and not given to us in the least few seasons,and Jesus there's been some shockers. I think it's fair to say when it comes to dodgy penalty decisions we're on the unfortunate side of them far more often than we're on the lucky side.
There seems to be a real attempt to call into question any decision we benefit from, be it Firmino jumping for the Ox goal to suggest that could have been disallowed to the penalty. I think we got the rub of the green with the penalty but the way they were going on about it, it was like one of those blatant dives you see Sterling or Kane get when there is absolutely no contact. In this case no-one could argue that the keeper didn't make contact or got the ball but the way they were talking about it, it was like it was one of the worst penalty decisions ever given.
Micah Richards said it was the worst decision he's seen this season. When you take into account the penalty City(his team) got against Wolves and the one Newcastle didn't get against them for Ederson absolutely cleaning someone out, you have to wonder whats the point of football pundits? Jenas was furious, but he wasn't too bothered by the one Jota didn't get against Spurs(his team) which was a far worse decision. And then you've Carragher who goes the complete opposite way to most pundits with a connection to a club,and is far harsher when he's judging us than on any other team. Imo the failure to dissallow Oxlaide Chamberlains goal was a worse decision than the one to give the peno. Palace got shafted but there does seem to be a far bigger reaction to us benefitting from poor decisions than any other team.
The thing is the more noise they make about any decision that benefits us, the more chance we won't get the next one that comes up. And I think that is exactly the point of the faux outrage. The amount of decisions that united and citeh get consistently that no one bats an eyelid about.
I'd be interested to hear the audio between the VAR and the officials for Ox's goal. That looked a classic example of officials that don't understand the game, Bobby's actions 100% influenced the fullbacks, he would have been close enough to Ox to at least apply huge pressure. That decision was pure wrong, the penalty was an objective call, I don't see if as been any different to Milners foul on Havertz, the type there are hundreds of each week.