Liverpool v Tottenham 5:30pm BT Sport 1

MonkieSocks

Davies hsa two up against him every time Liverpool get the ball.

Dier has been our worst player today, not evening jumping for headers.. When they have a corner.

Alli, Son, Kane, AWOL

_________________________________________


61 Mins gone and we still haven't played at all.

We've done our usual "make Liverpool look like Barcelona" visit to Anfield I see. Unreal the way we continually get raped there.

MonkieSocks

Arry could have been off for that nasty foul.

He needs to keep his head.

2nd Row Donkey

Bottled it again. Like watching spurs v Chelsea last Season. Can't handle the pressure

2nd Row Donkey

Yellow cards everywhere but at least there's been a bit of fight this 2nd half.

KingdomYid

Well that was rubbish, Poch got it all wrong and our bench is muck. Goodnight.

oppiuy

Thats is absolutly pathetic.. and i include the manager in that.

I hope they come out and say that as well..

2nd Row Donkey

Deise Vu wrote:

On form, there should only be one winner but without Rose and Vertonghen we don't look the same confident team. I would take a draw but, because it is Liverpool, I would be afraid we will find a way to balls this up and kickstart Liverpool's season again. That would be a disaster given the Thursday night football and cup football coming our way in the next few weeks.

You were pretty much on the money there.

Sugarlumps wrote:

I can take the loss, but gifting goals, I kinda thought we were past that malarkey.

Same here. Makes the defeat even harder to swallow

Sugarlumps

Liverpool thoroughly deserved the win, murdered in the first half. Especially when you gift soft goals away.

Easily the worst performance of the season, wakey, wakey. Move on to the next game. Worst outcome, we go third.

2nd Row Donkey

Ordinarily, a result like that would ruin my evening /weekend. But **** it. Spurs (poor) performances have stolen enough weekends off me

/out

Watching that was absolute torture. I had an idea it would happen cos Liverpool were due a good result and us a bad one. Our next fixtures are all very winnable so hopefully we can cement a top four place.

jobeenfitz

For de last thirty years I would drown my sorrows with alcohol. Gave it up for de new year. Just have to suffer de reality of how sh1te that performance was. A man should not be sober on days like this!

MonkieSocks

jobeenfitz wrote: »

F. A man should not be sober on days like this!

I'll Drink to Dat :P

tom1ie

2nd Row Donkey wrote: »

As Irish based spurs fans this fixture is 2nd only to Arsenal. They'd break your heart.

To be honest I'd say its more important.

DubPerryman

We have 9 very winnable games coming up. We'll get over yesterday's defeat and move on. COYS!

Kiith

The result isn't what i was most annoyed with, but with how sloppy we were. Dier and Davis were absolutely awful, and regardless of how much pressure Mane was putting on them, on that performance they are nowhere near good enough to be in the starting 11.

As above though, we are 2nd with a run of what should be easy enough matches, which we need to win most of them to secure a top 4 spot.

GS11

The difference between Rose and Davies going forward and at the back is massive.

That's us def out of the title race, hopefully he plays strong teams in both the cups and we can at least get to a final.

Glebee

We seem like adifferent team when Rose and Walker dont start together.
Davis just not good enough im afraid.

Ormus

In fairness we have possibly the best full back pairing in the world. It's bound to be a major step down if one of them is injured. I still think that given a good run of games, Davies is good enough to get into most teams in the Premiership, but at the moment he is rusty and lacking confidence and is a liability.

We've now played all the top 6 away from home. If we can get the lads fit and find some form, we can win every game for the rest of the season.

slegs

I agree with above. The performance was the most disheartening thing. It was the worst I've seen in 2 years. Nervous, wide open to be attacked, no threat.

But to be fair these performances are the exception for the last while now. We are in a great position in the table. Besides from Chelsea I would say we are best placed to get top 4 based on our next run of games. Having only 2 home games left against top 6 is huge at this stage.

Hopefully by the time we play Arsenal and United top 4 locked in as we haven't done well under pressure against the big teams (bar Chelsea/City home games obviously)

Who knows if we go on a really good run there may still be a title shout in May. Unlikely but I've seen stranger things happen.

I would like to see us go deep in EL and FA Cup to really test the squad. I think they need to find out who from the fringes is worth keeping so they can move this summer to strengthen if needed. If they don't find out they won't buy as we have seen from previous windows

Dublin Spur

Our first choice 11 is possibly the best in the league
The team (and formation) that beat Chelsea and Humiliated West Brom was superb

Our problem is we cannot afford to lose anyone, otherwise we become a lot weaker.
Its a simple as that. Its a shame we are so light after the first 11.

Due the to amount of games we have left and the extra potential for injuries and suspensions I would be surprised if our Side v Chelsea will play together more than a few times between now and the end of the season.

I agree. Added to that our transfer dealings from last summer, Wanyama aside, have been a dismal failure. Sissoko, Janssen and Nkoudou haven't made any impact. Would be nice to have an appearance from Lamela too.

Dublin Spur

if you only ever shop in the bargain basement I'm afraid this is bound to happen.

The success rate just isn't there, there are 100 Nkoudous for for every 1 Dele Ali.

Buying youth/potential should only be part of our transfer strategy. There needs to be a few ready made solutions. The mentality at the top of the club needs to change, why for example weren't we in for Mane - I imagine due to the fee and the wages - but we have a zero net transfer spend since 2009.

Its such a shame because we could win the league with a little bit more quality in depth.

Deise Vu

Dublin Spur wrote: »

if you only ever shop in the bargain basement I'm afraid this is bound to happen.

The success rate just isn't there, there are 100 Nkoudous for for every 1 Dele Ali.

Buying youth/potential should only be part of our transfer strategy. There needs to be a few ready made solutions. The mentality at the top of the club needs to change, why for example weren't we in for Mane - I imagine due to the fee and the wages - but we have a zero net transfer spend since 2009.

Its such a shame because we could win the league with a little bit more quality in depth.

Apparently we spoke to Mane and Poch wanted him but Levy vetoed the deal. Regardless of what difference that might have made to our current league position I think that was the right decision. It is not just the initial outlay, it is setting a new bar for wages. Mane went to Liverpool who spend about 66% more on wages than we do, yet their squad was knackered by Christmas despite having no European Football.
All those long-term contracts we signed in the last few months would have had at least another 20 or 30K a week added to them if Mane was sitting on a 150K a week contract or whatever he got from Liverpool. Let them have it, we have a stadium to pay for and I don't want to go the way of Bolton (Stadium) or Glasgow Rangers (players wages).

On top of this, I don't think you can have it both ways. Would we have persisted with Gareth Bale when he was struggling at left back if our policy was to go out and buy the best? What would be the point in having the scouts who picked up Dele Alli? Chelsea sign more players than people attended Trump's inaugration and then loan them out. How many of them come back and break into their into their first team? FFS they let De Bruyne go!

I think the clubs policy is open to criticism at times but to me it is by far the most sustainable in the league. (Apart from Southampton - there is obviously some despicable gene-splitting experimentation going on there that churns out tasty footballers!).

Dublin Spur

the evidence is pretty clear in my view

Our first choice team and formation (the one v Chelsea and West-Brom) is easily one of the best 2 teams in the country.

However look how weak we become when we lose a player or 2 to injury or suspension, we become a shadow of our former selves. We're seeing this now with Rose and Verts and we have seen it before when Kane was injured.

Basically, we go from a top 2 side to 6th at best. The reason for the gap in quality beyond our first 11 is down the the clubs transfer policy IN MY OPINION. If we could attract a better level of player we would be less affected by injuries.

top 3 in the league with a zero net spend is remarkable but the flip side to that is what could be have been if the club spent a little bit more than just what they took in from player sales.

That's the frustrating part for me - no personal anti-levy crusade - just frustrations as we're so close.

Ormus

Deise Vu wrote: »

Apparently we spoke to Mane and Poch wanted him but Levy vetoed the deal. Regardless of what difference that might have made to our current league position I think that was the right decision. It is not just the initial outlay, it is setting a new bar for wages. Mane went to Liverpool who spend about 66% more on wages than we do, yet their squad was knackered by Christmas despite having no European Football.
All those long-term contracts we signed in the last few months would have had at least another 20 or 30K a week added to them if Mane was sitting on a 150K a week contract or whatever he got from Liverpool. Let them have it, we have a stadium to pay for and I don't want to go the way of Bolton (Stadium) or Glasgow Rangers (players wages).

On top of this, I don't think you can have it both ways. Would we have persisted with Gareth Bale when he was struggling at left back if our policy was to go out and buy the best? What would be the point in having the scouts who picked up Dele Alli? Chelsea sign more players than people attended Trump's inaugration and then loan them out. How many of them come back and break into their into their first team? FFS they let De Bruyne go!

I think the clubs policy is open to criticism at times but to me it is by far the most sustainable in the league. (Apart from Southampton - there is obviously some despicable gene-splitting experimentation going on there that churns out tasty footballers!).

Very well said. It's also unlikely we'd have ever given Kane a run in the first team. Walker and Rose were bordering on liabilities for a good few years, no way we would've persevered with them.

As for Mane, it all seems so simple in hindsight, but it wasn't hailed as a masterstroke by Klopp when he signed him. A lotta people thought it was too much money. Anyway, you could drive yourself nuts looking at players you shoulda signed. If only we'd signed him when Southampton were after him. If only we'd signed snapped up Jesus 3 years ago etc.

Glebee

Imaging being able to pay out 27m for Jesus at the drop of a hat when you have already quality strikers.:(

Until we can do that we wont be able to compete fully

Dublin Spur

Glebee wrote: »

Imaging being able to pay out 27m for Jesus at the drop of a hat when you have already quality strikers.:(

Until we can do that we wont be able to compete fully

"can do" or "won't do"

Ormus

Glebee wrote: »

Imaging being able to pay out 27m for Jesus at the drop of a hat when you have already quality strikers.:(

Until we can do that we wont be able to compete fully

Can't agree with that. City and maybe Real are the only ones who throw money around willy nilly. The likes of Atletico have been very successful without huge money.

09_09_09

Ormus wrote: »

Can't agree with that. City and maybe Real are the only ones who throw money around willy nilly. The likes of Atletico have been very successful without huge money.

Don't forget Sevilla. They have chance to win the league (I bloody hope so) by playing attractive football without spending loads.