Didnt see Fulham game but seemingly they were denied an equaliser with this 'handball' in the build up, yet no penalty for us!? go figure...an agenda against us all season imo!
Can someone explain this mental fatigue effect and how would it affect us more that anyone else in the league? Genuine question and how people perceive it? I can understand certain effects ie covid, family deaths, bad form? 'mentality monsters' is what was thrown around for the last few years, so how did that go to mentally fatigued, and so fast?
Very disappointing. At this stage, I'm not sure who I'm more concerned about, the players, or the manager...
I would see it effecting us more than others as possibly Klopp focuses on the mental aspect more than other managers. Maybe he is more demanding and his system is more demanding on the players minds. With a relatively small pool of players being used so much over the past few seasons and maintaining the levels they did, coupled with winning the title, there was bound to be a drop off. Subconcioulsy, for some players the hunger may not be the same now that the goal of winning the league has been achieved. I think it effected some players more (maybe TAA and Firmino) and that explains their poor form early in the season. Then we have the injuries at CB that crippled the team and from there it's a downward spiral that sucks other players in. How do you stay mentally sharp and focused when so many of your teammates are off their game? There's most likely physical tiredness too which leads ot mental tiredness and this can't be relieved because the squad is too small at the moment and players can't be rested. I'm not blaming mental fatigue for all our woes but I'd bet it's played it's part.
Cant wait for this league season to end. 11 poxy games to go so can get some peace and enjoy the summer (still looking forward to winning number 7 though). Id rather finish outside the Europa and if that means no European football next year so be it, regroup over the summer and all out for the league. Might mean losing Salah Firmino or Mane to a Madrid, would be no big deal as needs freshening up anyway. It really just feels like the players have given up mentally at home. They are being sent out with same instructions every game and the same patterns of play and little or no efforts on goal. Tried something a bit different in first 20 with a lot of long balls in behind but when that didn’t work it was some old get it to Robbo or Trent. I wouldn’t question the level of effort, in fact some players are trying too hard, it’s not coming naturally to them. Andy Robertson final balls this season have been shocking in the main but then again even the good ones he puts in there is no willingness to be on the end of them. Firmino for me looks like he was running in quicksand from first 15 minutes. This team needs a long break over the summer as mentally and physically Trent, Robbo, Bobby and Mane look completely goosed. There was the break with Covid lockdown but mentally that would have been exhausting as didn’t know whether it would ever start back up again and get the chance to win the league. I’d say Deep down the players were gutted there was no proper celebration with the fans. The games against Wolves and Spurs were probably best two home performances this season and that was with 2000 supporters in the ground. Absolutely shambles since then. Last season in those games early in the season when backs against the wall, you had players running to take throw ins, corners, charging into opposing players. Now it’s lethargic and run of the mill in a lot of games. No fans plays it’s part but for me it’s a burnout factor as well.
My concern is not this season now but the bigger picture. It took an awful lot of work, and an awful lot to go right for us, to take on clubs who can spend 5 times what we spend on players and beat them. The stars had to align. When we achieved that, it coincided with the worst world medical crisis in a century and we couldn't consolidate. Now we are wrecked mentally and physically and while top 4 is still very much mathematically achieveable, I've seen nothing to suggest what we are seeing now won't play out to the end of the season. Lose Champions League qualification and it's a triple whammy. Lose some of your best players, cannot attract top players, and lose the massive amounts of money to pay for quality replacements. FSG don't have the will or the pockets to spend a few hundred million when it's not coming into the coffers. That is not FSG bashing by the way, just fact. Will Klopp have the appetite, hunger and energy to effectively start half way down the mountain we have climbed and try to repeat something which was against the odds first time around? I wouldn't blame him if he felt he needed to step away and completely recharge, start fresh. This is not a kneejerk from last night, it's worried me even before we started to fall apart when we didn't have the chance to consolidate when we were on top. It's fine margins, sliding door moments like that at critical times that can sow the seed for the club's future for the next decade. Some will see that as incredibly negative and ott but I am genuinely worried, and I'd say a lot of fans are. I saw last night as a massive chance to send out a message but we just don't have it in us, we are wrecked. Could send us back to the also-runs in the pack.
I think we can handle a season out of the CL. Obviously it will be a blow but we're set up to deal with it,our wage bill is bonus orientated and while a year put might hurt us in what we can sign next summer, it shouldn't mean we have to let anybody leave who isn't agitating for a move. Its a bad time for players who'd normally have big price tags to get a move, hardly anybody can afford big fees at the moment. Man U just borrowed 60 million to plug a financial hole,Solksjaer is already trying to temper their supporters expectations on transfers and the two big clubs in Spain are in a bad way financially with another blow coming this week. We've still a great squad and it should only be a year out of that competition. This is another place where we can see the advantages of being so well run and clever in our recruitment. The most important thing for me is that we don't panic and start trying to reinvent the wheel.
Obviously I prefer your version! But still worried we will simply fall back into the pack again. Could do with a bit of freshening up, can handle breaking up the front three if necessary but bringing in replacements is the big thing. Many more bargain buys will only decrease the hit ratio. Hope they don't believe their own hype too much that they can turn anyone into a diamond, it won't work consistently enough to maintain the club.
I don't think our transfer department will ever rest on their laurels or go away from the most basic concept of football,that the better the player the more effective he'll be on a football pitch. How they balance it all against financial constraints is still to be seen. Moving one of the front 3 on while they still have a high resale value was always going to be something to be considered,but I'm wondering what kind of money clubs can get for elite level players this summer? Id say a lot of clubs and players plans are up in the air until it becomes a bit clearer how the market will react to covid issues.
I think that's a handball from Kante but with those two incidents we're comparing different rules. Its 100% the correct decision in the Fulham game. If the ball hits an attackers arm and then directly leads to a goal,it has to be disallowed.
They've just changed the rule. Just like that, a goal that was correctly disallowed last night, will be allowed to stand in any future games this season.
Carra saying it wasn't a penalty last night for handball . If it was Neville he would be breaking his neck saying how it was a pen for utd. Few other times carra calling out salah for going down to easy (other games) , then him amd Neville saying for rashford or kane it's smart play. I'm not getting the anti Liverpool from carra, it's putting me right off him.
Even though LFC lost I have to say my general enjoyment of the game increased 100% by not watching on sky with Tyler, Carragher and Neville. Watched with Peter Drury and Jim Beglin. They were obviously a bit downbeat on LFC but a lot more measured than the nonsense we put with on sky.
Cant listen to Tyler anymore, pure negativity towards liverpool, and as @Irishkop96 said if that was neville last night he would have been screaming penalty all night, we dont seem to get much from carra.
Tyler mentioned that 5 home defeats in a row would be a record every 10 minutes,and got more excited about it as the match went on. He was practically ejaculating over it in the last 10 minutes. Talking about how grumpy Klopp has been lately probably his highlight though. My IPTV was playing up otherwise I'd of been with Drury and Beglin myself.