21 Mar 2016 06:07:20
Lessons we learned:
1. Sturridge and Origi upfront works.
2. We missed Firmino.
3. Two man midfield only works with Can and Hendo. After watching yesterday's game if you still don't why we need Hendo, then I don't know what else to say.
4. Allen to protect back 4 is a bad idea.
5. Skertel has to be behind Toure and Lucas (when fit) in the pecking order.
6. While the idea to sub Lovren was okay, using Skertel was a bad one. I guess Klopp thought it would be an easy ride in the second half. Well now he knows that no lead is good enough for us NOT to screw it up.
However I don't think this game was a fair reflection on how good we have been doing last couple of games and 45 minutes if this one.
Let's learn what we can and move on. If we let this game get to our heads then the next few games will be nightmare.
My best team going forward and hoping everyone comes back fit.
------------------Migs------------
Clyne/ Flanno Lovren. Sakho. Moreno/ Clyne.
21 Mar 2016 06:31:59
Correction
2 Men midfield only works when your wide players come back to the normal shape when not in possession. It rarely happens at Liverpool so we get exposed and overrun in the middle.
21 Mar 2016 06:40:22
Ye and actually it is normal for our midfield to get turned easily. The way we press and seemingly are ao eager to get out of position it'll take just one pass to fly by and then its scrambled eggs from there.
21 Mar 2016 06:53:49
It doesn't feel like it, but there are still plenty of positives to take out of the game. If not for the capitulation, Liverpool were on course for a second successive resounding victory at St. Mary's in a single season, which is not easy to do. Our attack was crisp, lethal and sometimes unstoppable. The only thing that has let us down in our attack recently has been our finishing. Joe Allen *should* have scored, Benteke should have scored. I'm really excited for Origi's future. He looks a real talent, he did me proud when he had the composure to hold the ball for the right amount of time and then simply lay it off to Sturridge.
Klopp needs to cop criticism for his substitution choices, relative to Southampton's second half team, but seriously, there are no excuses for conceding 3 goals like that, regardless of your manager's substitutions. Southampton may have turned the tables in midfield but conceding 3 goals like that is utterly poor.
It is not double standards to give Sakho a free pass after a dodgy first game back, but give a scathing assessment of Skrtel on his first game back. First of all, I don't care how long you're out for. There are no excuses for that type of performance. As a 31yo international captain, there is no excuse for him to be making basic, rudimentary schoolboy errors. You don't blatantly pull a shirt like that in the box and let yourself get manhandled, and you don't just so hopelessly make a mess of winning Migs' clearance kick when you're in at least a 70/ 30 position to win the duel. I don't care how bad the kick was, Skrtel was virtually unchallenged when trying to win the ball and he completely carked it. Not once, but twice in the space of that moment. Sakho was last man but there was really not much he could do. Yes Skrtel had his first game back, but he was up to his same old rubbish.
Remembering that we knocked out the mancs and still have a tie with Dortmund to come makes the loss a little easier to swallow, but if it weren't for that it'd be virtually impossible to swallow. Man City lost, and that was such a great opportunity that we wasted to make valuable ground on them.
As for Flanno. I was stoked for him to get the captaincy, but I was unsure about whether he was actually fit for the role. I'm happy for people to disagree, but he doesn't strike me as a captain. In hindsight, it should have gone to Sakho.
I'm confident that Klopp will be able to get rid of this spineless nonsense by next season. Because grabbing defeat from the jaws of resounding victory is the definition of spineless.
21 Mar 2016 07:14:26
What I learned is that I don't think any of our current central defenders will be regular starters next season. It will be Matip and another new one. I don't think Klopp can trust any of the current crop. The fact that Saints tactic was the long ball down the middle to Pelle highlighted our problems.
So Kolo will be out of contract, Caulkers loan ends and Ilori will probably go, plus Skrtel and maybe one other.
Moreno, Allen and Benteke will also go IMO assuming suitable deals can be concluded with buyers. Klopp regularly flips out at Moreno, Allen is surplus to requirements and Benteke needs a move more than most.
Also, we do seem to need a CDM to compete for the second ball.
21 Mar 2016 07:28:53
@ Ron : I think Lovren, Sakho and Matip will be rotated.
Lucas/ llori/ Toure as additional cover.
Honestly don't what is Klopp's plan for summer. Is he planning to trim down the squad by shipping out multiple players or will there be just one or two changes.
Maybe the Ed's can give their opinion on this.
21 Mar 2016 07:31:22
It's nothing to do with a CDM competing for the second ball, any player close to the ball should be competing for it.
21 Mar 2016 10:55:41
The problem wasn't a lack of CDM, it was the almost complete lack of structure in Defence. Previous games we had a forward defensive press of an energetic Couts/ Llalana/ Firmino shielding Can and Hendo who sat deeper and worked together to squash out any midfielders that made it through.
Against SH, we had a gap ahead of Can and Allen which Firmino usually filled, Wanyama used it to control the game and when one of either Can or Allen stepped up on him, they left space between them and the CBs which Mane exploited, greatly helped by Skrtel.
We can rightly berate the players given Allen was bullied and Skrtel was headless, but fundamentally it was a breakdown in defensive pattern that could have been fixed with Toure instead of Skrtel and Hendo instead of Sturridge to help shore up the gaps in midfield.
Easy in hindsight though. but I was very surprised to see Benteke on as there was no way he was going to help protect our CMs.
21 Mar 2016 14:12:35
Ultimately leaving aside what the heart would like, this wasn't a surprise because we are unbelievably inconsistent and this just sums it up. The struggle has been to field consistent selections and even then to have those players string 3-4 performances together. You can excuse younger, less experienced guys for being inconsistent but in a set up where we're missing some key players, others have had long injuries and no one seems to be able to hit a real run of form across midfield/ defence then this is just how our season will go. My hope is that the Europa league continues to be a better performance night because that is almost certainly our only hope of European football next season.
21 Mar 2016 14:44:53
origi, sturridge, lallana, allen, lucas, can are what demolished southamptom last time. difference is we had a decent midfield. i wish klopp goes back to that with hendo for lucas, and continho or firmino for lallana.