Outplayed and outcoached - BATTERED, they said. If Arsenal had scored all their big chances (3 were in the same sequence) we’d have been buried at half time. 

TAA did hit the bar in the game the first Half.

Formation needed a bit of working out - Odegaard and Havertz pushing high, creating problems with the press - season high 5 recoveries in our half.

We are really good at blocking, or are Arsenal just poor at creating open play chances. Gomez (Joey!), Quansah and mostly Konate - immense

Team selection - very strong compared to what it could have been

Second half…. 

Diaz chance, good save from Ramsdale, Jota header off the bar, Nunez snapshot was close

Trent’s cross and then our one big chance Luis Diaz buries

Lots we could say about Arsenal, but safe to say they are not on the same level as us right now.

One narrative is that Havertz took too many touches - and when he shot ‘there were purple shirts everywhere’ unlike in the Liverpool store.

Note on John Brooks - Harvey gets a yellow for one moment of dissent, Odegaard has multiple moments and the key foul and ….nothing. As for the man with Oompa Lumpa skin tones at right back:(). Oh and there’s Jorginho telling him to fuck off.

First half - figuring things out with changes - still need to effectively assimilate Gravenberch (saw some Szobozlai moves in that second half).

Be better after a full pre-season?

19 minutes - not great defending from VVD, but preoccupied by Jimenez and the Willian shot squeezes through.

Before their goal we were just lacking a little bit of quality in their final third. Last ball just wasn't there

They had a bit of momentum for a few minutes but overall it was a game we dominated. Second half the pressure ramped up. Commentary did their best to big up the Decordova Reid moment - only had to make a good pass for a tap in… That second goal was a work of art - Curtis, Diogo, Darwin and Cody’s flick finish.

This team is relentless - there’s a reason they don’t lose many games. And the subs are a cheat code - Nunez and Gakpo, after being tested by Jota and Luis Diaz for 56  minutes.

Conor Bradley - he is not an inexperienced footballer, but he’s not played much at this level. Love the Academy boys coming through - CURTIS!!!

We have to mention Darwin’s offensive contribution (19 G/A) on the season. As well as his contribution to an impending coronary. 

Let’s parse through our individual feelings about him. 

The  chaos line is a lazy bullshit narrative that misses his incredible contribution. 

Coote performance was not as bad as I feared - the non foul for Pereira in the second half was probably a result of him being told he was duped by the same player in the first half.

Formations hugely impacted by availability.

Darwin has looked so unmanageable in the last 4 games - more of that and goals at the Vitality would not go amiss

We think Bournemouth will be tricky. They lost 3-1 away to Spurs and should have got something from that game

Lineup + prediction. 

Best performance of the season from the Reds so far, in less than ideal conditions.

Reds were a threat all the way through - in the first half alone chances in the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 11th 17th (offside), 23rd, 25th (2)  and 35th minutes. Dropped off after a series of decisions went against them and they quite rightly appeared to be furious with Taylor.

Missed penalty at 19 could have derailed them. Came out with real attitude in the second half.

48 -  first goal - great from Diaz and Nunez to set up Mo. 150th league goal for Liverpool. Followed by Dubravka saves from Nunez at 50 and 52.

53 - really should have done better with Gordon and Isak. 56 - VVD foul on Almiron. Worst we’ve seen from him this year?

Diaz, Nunez, Salah. Best from Diaz in a while, Darwin? Salah’s 2nd half was great

64 - Jota, Gravenberch and Gakpo. That feels unfair. By 68 Liverpool are relentless again

73 - Jones goal from Salah and Jota. Passed it round him twice.

77 - Lesson for Darwin, don’t hit it so cleanly! Mo’s pass!

80 - No one blocked Botman from the corner (looks like an enforcer from a crime movie)

84 - Mac Allister pass to Jota; Jota never reestablishes his balance. Salah 151 - 

94 - Nearly scored again through Jota and Salah.

Curtis Jones, Joe Gomez - could probably name the whole team

Newcastle:

Showed some threat on the break - 30, 36 (narrow offside)

Went full Athletico at the end with some of the challenges

Dubravka - 11 saves

What happened to the rule on the technical area?

The disingenuous Mr. Howe… the xG was made up of penalties. And claiming Longstaff was fouled at 72 (deflect, deflect, deflect)

Officiating:

I counted at least 10 situations where Anthony Taylor gave them the benefit of the doubt - I thought he helped them throughout the game to avoid even more pressure. Soft fouls, non-calls (Diaz shoved in the back, and he ends up with the yellow card). Joelinton - how many fouls for 1 card in the 66th minute?

Reds are ‘flawed’. Losing Mo could be the end. 

18 games left - Arsenal, Villa and United away

City will go on a run

Anyone else?

Hard not to see them as linked and the latter more important right now

Formation - solutions to the gaps?

And predictions 

Solid performance from the Reds or a Rice, Saliba masterclass (London newspaper ™)

Solid commitment to overselling Rice at the expense of the other 21 players (Barney Ronay). Quietly misses how effective Waturu Endo has become.

Arsenal create very little - apparently half of their goals have come from set pieces, Saka is the leading scorer with 5, Martinelli has 2.

Arsenal had the better of the first half perhaps - but then there’s the Odegaard handball, what a strike from Mo Salah (202 - 149 fro Liverpool in the league). 

Martinelli has an open goal(?), Konate effectively blocks this shot and pretty much everything else he did.

Second half - Liverpool dominate the game till the Trent miss at 72 - Salah, Diaz, Gomez and Elliott have chances but we don’t always seem as composed. 

53 - foul given against VVD - what have you been drinking says Virg to Kavanaugh. 82 Kavanaugh books Mo Salah! For what looked like an Nketiah slip.

Strange chummy interaction between Arteta and Kavanaugh

Surprisingly low xG - 0.74 vs 1.98, but that’s without the 2 disallowed goals.

Feel like their chances might have been inflated - VVD and Allison moments

Tierney and his big chance reputation shows up again. Books TAA for what probably wasn’t even a foul. The canceled out goal changed the game - after 53. Felt like Tierney was going to rule out anything we scored, gave them real hope.

Oh his name is Diogo

Poor Newcastle, but they could sit deep and try to frustrate us.

Formation and predictions

Theme - Liverpool have given up as many fouls as a bottom half team - before the Arsenal game, we were at 202 and City and Arsenal were at 162. Just looks like they find it easier to give fouls (and soft yellows) for us. 

Andrew Beesley - 5 teams have gone unbeaten at home since 2016

FOOD BANK support and community

It was perhaps too good to be true…. They sat deep, the crowd was not as big a factor

‘Two teams played poorly’ One of them had 34 shots and the other a generous xG of .66

Arsenal had 26 shots and were worthy title contenders

Nobody actually said defensive masterclass but you spent 1bn GBP on this?

Should they leave Fernandes (#42) out more often? Guardian’s latest list of 100 best world footballers has him ahead of #44 VVD:()

What could we have done?

Performances weren’t bad - link up play was not optimal

Gravenberch was not to blame as much as Michael Oliver

Jurgen said that we were good in so many ways

 A ‘Hairball’ need to be rejected

West Ham were terrible - didn’t show up

They said we needed a performance - isn’t that it?

Isn’t this the formation they used to beat Chelsea and Brighton?

Harvey Elliott , Endo, Quansah, Curtis, Szobozlai, Darwen

Fulham in the next round

Arsenal 

‘Liverpool are flawed title challenges’ - not as good as 2019-20

Build up suggests Arsenal have some of the greatest players in the world (#14, #18, # 22). Their results are so scary, are they really?

Formation, predictions

Burnley - 

50th anniversary of us losing 2-1 on Boxing Day - Roy Evans played

They aren’t very good are they - looked good in moments, but they do lose in key moments don’t they?

4th anniversary of our Club World Cup 

Kieran Trippier (#63) - TAA would have been crucified (#57)

Number of Dewey crushes consumed in this show?

Reds escaped with a 2-1 from South London and are now top of the league - xG 1.77 vs. 1.11 - that includes the 0.75 for the penalty).

Reflections? 76 minutes of not very good then we showed an ability to stretch the play with the subs. 

Use of subs - Harvey Elliott, Curtis and Gakpo, Gomez and Konate

Salah 200 goals

The press continues to be underwhelmed in contrast to Arsenal (‘who are playing wonderful football’).

USG - didn’t feel like we had a plan to score, and playing 2 at the back is very risky without Ali and VVD. Much easier to be the one young lad in an experienced team. 6 were 20 and under, Jones, Kelleher, Konate and Gakpo bringing the experience.

This is too good to be true isn’t it? Their fans appear to be afraid. I used to hate these games (with John O’Shea or some less than stellar player stealing it in the 90th minute)

How much does the 7-0 from last season help them? Are they wounded? Who are they - literally what line up?

Bournemouth and FC Bayern;) They are going to sit deep aren’t they?

57000 crowd

We score early, this is over isn’t it?

Formation, predictions

EFL cup

City, Villa and Arsenal

Chelsea and Man Utd

Few words on 4-0 against LASK of Linz. Goals by Gakpo (2), Diaz and Salah (his 199th for Liverpool). Their fans were spectacular

Let’s dwell on the Fulham game - xG 2.7 to 1.5

Were Fulham difficult or did we make it easy for them? 1-1, 2-2, 2-3. Neil Atkinson said the game was defined by what Fulham did (4-3-2-1 without the ball, asymmetric with Paulinho, Jimenez and Wilson in different positions).

Trent was on, best Tsimikas performance (or did Fulham leave him alone)? Fulham attacked Virgil interestingly - he wasn’t have any of it - won 7 of 10 duels.

Lot of people seemed a little off (e.g. Darwin, Gravenberch, Szobozlai?). Kelleher? Diaz - did he lose his pace with the injury?

Great goals - favorite? ‘Where’s your famous atmosphere?’

Title winning teams win games like this? Surely depends on what happens next

Joel Matip ACL

Having read about their performance at Burnley, there was definitely something different here - snapping into tackles, very (overly) aggressive, press numbers are up, pass completion is 47% (didn’t want the ball).

Were we too passive last night - xG 1.80 to 0.80? Team set up not to concede?

Salah - the 200th goal preying on him?

Endo, Joe Gomez, Szobozlai better performance? Kelleher save.

Fouls around the goals? Trent’s response to you’re just a shit Kyle Walker.

2 points behind Arsenal, 4 points ahead of City and 7 points beyond 5th place

Team selection 

Jet lagged performances? Ali - ‘he needs to be stronger’, 4 missed passes

Overall reflections on the Reds

City goal - 1.3 xG is some defensive performance 

Trent (with his new boots), observations and performance - midfield excitement. 9 possessions recovered.

Our second half performance with Diaz and Gravenberch

A few words about the cheats - League One? The crowd?

No Jota or Alisson for the next few?

Doak against LASK? Chambers? Jones at right back? Endo to start a couple.

Less than 72 hours to Fulham, just over 72 till Sheffield United

Fulham and Sheffield United - the threat? 

Fulham did draw at Brighton but have looked a bit toothless overall. They play the Wolves tomorrow.

Sheffield United will be up for it. Did draw at Brighton, lucky to beat Wolves, but if we score early, they have shown that they will wilt. Face Burnley next.

Formations and predictions

Everton’s punishment

Chelsea sequence 4-1, 4-4, 1-4. Reece James record.

We can contend for this, can’t we? Kyle Walker - ‘not even close’

Arsenal and Villa win, United and Newcastle also, Spurs 3 loses in a row. 

xG - 1.5 to 1.5 on average. Liverpool’s post shot xG was over 3 (under 2 at Luton last week)

Brentford - coming off 3 wins, more center halves than a team really needs. Tierney - arrogant performance?

Our formation against the height and physicality

Fit and firing - VVD, Alisson, and Darwin

Stepping up - Joel, Diogo

In the spotlight - Endo and Kostas Tsimikas

Our home form seems to have gone unnoticed by the wider pundit community. Again it wasn’t on TV in the UK.

Reflections beyond the immediate - oh no, the wheels might be coming off

Looked very open in Toulouse, bearing in mind this was probably their game of the season (and maybe a few seasons). VVD not available

Luton - just don’t think we stepped up the pace at 30, which we did against Brentford.

Season so far - 12 games 27 points, good return compared to most seasons - 34 points from 12 in 2019-20 season being one outlier. Jurgen says let’s look at where we are in March/April. After City we have some very winnable games.

City next - haven’t won there since 2018, but Darwin and Mo have some good history against them. An imperious VVD and Allison Becker. Formation and prediction? Away form generally - giving up breaks and chances from set pieces.

Elsewhere - Spurs regression, Chelsea surprising? Arsenal haven’t been exceptional. Man Utd are not there

Luiz Diaz - libertad para papa

Bournemouth game was a battle with the elements

xG - 3.04 plays 0.81. We have 6 big chances to their 2. Also had 74% possession and were only given 7 fouls with 13 against.

Penalty shouts - VVD is dragged down from a corner - nothing given presumably because they don’t often give these unless you play for an oil state team (and then it’s nailed on). The handball, don’t love it but we’ve seen enough of them given,

Darwin looked dangerous, but in the end, he makes one of the chances he has, we win 3-1, 2-0 like we had discussed.

Dom wasn’t quite as on it as usual (midweek in the storm?). Mac Allister - had his moments. Is it worth discussing starting endo in PL matches. No Curtis:(

Gravenberch

Defense - VVD awesome as usual, Gomez at left back?

Subs? Good bad indifferent?

Carra. Do we agree with his assessment of us needing additional help? Is this a potential title winning season for us? (Lotta “experts” writing is off as a result of today’s match). Doesn’t it always look worse because of the cheats?

Toulouse 

Win and we’re in. 

Do we play the kids? Do we try to get the rhythm back? What mix/blend do we opt for 

Brentford next Sunday 

They have 2 wins in a row

What threat do we think they pose?

Predictions?

First weekend where the stratified didn’t play out the way we expected (Brentford, Villa, us). 

The fraud that is Mikel Arteta?

United are back - ha ha. Ten Hag. By the way Gary, 3 penalties in 10 years doesn’t suggest even handedness back then.

Luis Diaz

xG was at worst 2.95, with Forest 0.48. Most of that coming in the last 20 minutes when the game was pretty much won. Daz said 2-0, I said 3-1 - could have been either depending 

Virgil and those defensive numbers (they are good)

Mac Allister and of course Big Dom, and Ryan Gravenberch - this is cheating isn’t it? The interplay between midfield and forwards is unbelievable - looks like there’s been an elevation since the start of the season

Salah watch - 196th goal for Liverpool

Won all 39 games Jota has scored

Darwin - overhead kick at 41, his ceiling is so high - hit and miss said the commentators

Wasn’t the commentary shite?

First 30 - looked like we were looking to figure out the gaps in a really smart way (haven’t found it easy to break down Forest said the commentators)

Terrible error by Murillo they said for the first goal…. 

Claiming Darwin didn’t know much about his finish - yawn…

Team selection - strong (Salah, Szobozlai)

Weather - absolutely ridiculous 

Darwin - loved that they cheered when he didn’t get the ball first time. Goalie at fault?

Elliott - close control

Klopp’s smile, Cody Gakpo, 8 teams left and we got West Ham at home (I am sure they are thrilled)

Beyond plastic pitches and chaotic games (80s references). Xabi and the 5-3

Luton’s form - are they firmly part of the bottom strata?

Line up and predictions

United have lost 5 of their first 10 games and ETH says they are on their way up!

Spurs have a more difficult run coming up - let’s see what happens in the next 6 fixtures