Liverpool v Crystal Palace - Build up

[gratziani]

Think that first goal sums Lovren up and why he wont be a great defender , anyone with a brain there smells the danger and takes out Cabaye.

Too nice our players , need some meanness

[Irishnev]

It was the first game I've missed in ages but just watched the "highlights" and it was every bad performance we've had this season replayed.

• Shambolic defending - check
• Concede from a set piece check
• Unable to win second balls - check
• Dominate possession but create very little - check

I am not a fan of Lovren, never have been. His front foot type of defending is an all or nothing type scenario - he flies in to win the ball regardless of where it is on the pitch and if he doesn't win in then he is exposed. Cabaye for the first goal and Townsend in the build up to the second goal. Two shocking errors and he continues to make them, for me he is not reliable enough to be our first choice CB. The amount of teams that attack the channel between him and Milner is very telling because they know a mistake will come from there eventually.

From the highlights Matip didn't crown himself in glory either - too many balls bouncing around the box without a dominant CB winning it. A top CB in so badly needed and again in a game like today where their strategy was always going to be hit us on the break we needed someone in DM to stop them doing this. From what I saw Lucas was waltzed past a few times without him even fouling them. Our age old problem in the spine of our team was brutally exposed again yesterday.

The corner they scored from was actually a very poor delivery and we had a comedy of errors - Firmino fresh aired it, Can & Matip watched it go past them and Lovren lost Benteke. ****ing schoolboy stuff and so disappointing that we continue to make these mistakes.

I am a massive Klopp fan but it is alarming that statistically our defending has actually got worse under him:

[ame="https://twitter.com/StatsSwearwords/status/856251577618837506"]https://twitter.com/StatsSwearwords/status/856251577618837506[/ame]

Finally the ref - Coutinho was kicked twice and he never went down so no penalty was given. Another joke in a big game that has cost us points - I despair with that.

I still think "if" we win the rest of our games we'll get top 4. Lucky as United are they won't win all their games, far too many tough ones and missing players + Europa will affect them. The thing is that i don't think we will win all our games so it will be right to the wire.

It was depressing looking at our bench yesterday - 4 teenagers, Grujic (21), Moreno and Karius. What bad planning on our behalf and I really hope it doesn't come back to haunt us. Like many this is our best chance of top 4 - we can't afford to blow it now and it will affect us for years to come.......fingers crossed we don't.

[Lecter]

They won that game with two monumental defensive cock ups from Lovren, they offered very little for me as well.

Chatted to a sports psychologist that has worked with Zaha, doesn't think he's got the right mentality to make it at a big club, I think the words used were "mummies boy". We talk of weak minded players and that sort of endorsement is exactly the sort we don't want to be in for.

Agree about Palace

Interesting about Zaha

[Lecter]

Think that first goal sums Lovren up and why he wont be a great defender , anyone with a brain there smells the danger and takes out Cabaye.

Too nice our players , need some meanness

I think I said this about Lovren 2 or 3 years ago when he first came

Hes terrible outside the width of the penalty box, the fundamentals of being a centrehalf are when you go outside the width of the box you either win the ball, clear the ball or take the man

Twice in the game he was enticed out and twice he failed to deal with it and ultimately both times resulted in a goal (2nd led to the corner that led to their goal). The second one where Townsend (was it?) outmuscled him was criminal

[BigChief]

I think I said this about Lovren 2 or 3 years ago when he first came

Hes terrible outside the width of the penalty box, the fundamentals of being a centrehalf are when you go outside the width of the box you either win the ball, clear the ball or take the man

Twice in the game he was enticed out and twice he failed to deal with it and ultimately both times resulted in a goal (2nd led to the corner that led to their goal). The second one where Townsend (was it?) outmuscled him was criminal

I've said our most important acquisitions this summer will be TWO top class CBs. Because we will need one to partner Matip and the other to ensure that when (not if) Matip is injured for long periods than Lovren still doesn't make it on to the pitch.

[Fosterbloke]

I think I said this about Lovren 2 or 3 years ago when he first came.

He's terrible outside the width of the penalty box, the fundamentals of being a centrehalf are when you go outside the width of the box you either win the ball, clear the ball or take the man.

Who would you ideally buy to replace Lovren and complement Matip?

[Roboklopp]

Chatted to a sports psychologist that has worked with Zaha, doesn't think he's got the right mentality to make it at a big club, I think the words used were "mummies boy". We talk of weak minded players and that sort of endorsement is exactly the sort we don't want to be in for.

Whilst that's interesting, "chatting" about a client / patient / whatever must be one massive breach of professional ethics.

[Doc_Piptorious]

Who would you ideally buy to replace Lovren and complement Matip?

Dream signing would be Laporte. Natural left sided CB with a bit of everything to a high level in his game. Still young but plays like a ten year veteran



van Dijk would be high on my list too as he is quality and can play in the RCB or LCB positions. My one reservation is that he could cost as much as Laporte would.


If we wanted to gamble a bit on young centre backs who are already first teamers at their clubs but who look that may have something special about them then Jonathan Tah, and Niklas Stark (who plays just as well as a DM as he does as a CB) come to mind.


Keane at Burnley might be worth a look if we wanted to buy with nationality in mind

[Lecter]

Who would you ideally buy to replace Lovren and complement Matip?

Virgil Van Dijk for me is the obvious choice, there may or may not be better than him out there but I've watched him and like him

[Charly]

I've said our most important acquisitions this summer will be TWO top class CBs. Because we will need one to partner Matip and the other to ensure that when (not if) Matip is injured for long periods than Lovren still doesn't make it on to the pitch.

Agree 100%

[gratziani]

I think I said this about Lovren 2 or 3 years ago when he first came

Hes terrible outside the width of the penalty box, the fundamentals of being a centrehalf are when you go outside the width of the box you either win the ball, clear the ball or take the man

Twice in the game he was enticed out and twice he failed to deal with it and ultimately both times resulted in a goal (2nd led to the corner that led to their goal). The second one where Townsend (was it?) outmuscled him was criminal

Then we get to half time 1-0 up and Palace have to change their game to force the issue a bit for the equaliser

It cost the team all round that stupid mistake which we have done in so many games , Bournemouth , Hull , Swansea spring to mind.

We gift goals and don't make teams fight for them

[Maxiedge]

Can't blame any individuals for that result. That was a collective ****wittery.

Anyway, don't we have a really good record when Lovren and Matip have played together?

It's so bloody typical of this club to shoot itself in the foot when things are going well.

[Lecter]

Can't blame any individuals for that result. That was a collective ****wittery.

Anyway, don't we have a really good record when Lovren and Matip have played together?

It's so bloody typical of this club to shoot itself in the foot when things are going well.

Poor performance yes but we gift teams goals and chances week in week out through daft individual mistakes

I am tired of the number of times we dont deal with 2nd balls in the box, I bet we are bottom of the league in this department

To me the mark of a good team is they can play poorly but still have enough to deal with teams

We cant even play well, without creating ourselves problems

[Slinky Skills]

Replacing the keeper and getting in two centre backs are a priority, more important than any other position in the squad. It's imperative we do that and really work on our defensive game. I was level with Lovren when he dived in and got skinned, he's too busy moaning he got booted instead of getting back into position for corner, we all know what happened next.

Lovren is ****ing atrocious, such a bad team performance though. Clyne as well is another who offers **** all, he's crap and can't take his man on. He's another I'd be happy not see play again. As Lecter mentioned above, second balls is another major issue and lads in the crowd could even see that. Too slow at getting into the overall play and we end up being destroyed every time.

[Maxiedge]

I've said it before so I'm reacting to yesterdays result and it would be f*cking boring but I would happily have us spend all out transfer budget on the two best CBs we can get and maybe even a keeper.

If we could let in 10 less goals, that's possibly 20 extra points. We would be top of the league.