Napoli vs Liverpool - Champions League (Group Game 1)

[Irishnev]

Was annoyed by the loss last night and straight after the game turned off the tv and zero internet to avoid the noise around it. We’ll still get through and away to Napoli is a very difficult game.

The positives are we played far better than last year and were deserving of a draw. I thought the defence was excellent for the most part and Adrian produced an unbelievable save.

The VAR thing is nuts - I thought they’d intervene if the ref made a mistake but the Matip one and the Callejon one last night are ridiculous. In normal time I thought pen so I can understand why the ref gave it but surely VAR can see clips like below and overrule them? Technology should help the game, not cause more frustration for fans and miss glaring errors.

[ame="https://twitter.com/jhiggins3/status/1174065906693169152"]https://twitter.com/jhiggins3/status/1174065906693169152[/ame]

[Norbs]

I worked all evening, haven't seen any of the game.

Obviously the 3pts are irrelevant as we'll get 9pts from our home games and 3pts from the Genk gimme away so not bothered about the points. But were there any positives?

[Irishnev]

I worked all evening, haven't seen any of the game.

Obviously the 3pts are irrelevant as we'll get 9pts from our home games and 3pts from the Genk gimme away so not bothered about the points. But were there any positives?

We played v well up until the pen I thought. A very solid performance away from home in a hostile envi6agsinst a good side.

They bullied us last season but I also thought we matched them physically. Our front 3 were a little wasteful and that was the difference

[Kenneth]

We played v well up until the pen I thought. A very solid performance away from home in a hostile envi6agsinst a good side.

They bullied us last season but I also thought we matched them physically. Our front 3 were a little wasteful and that was the difference

and being ****ed by the officials.

[The_weatherman]

Kind of feel Ancelotti has our number, Napoli are a difficult side, was strangely relaxed about us losing yesterday though, if given the choice I'd take three points against Chelsea anyday, hope the team comes back focused against them. Barkley might get a game which is good

[Exiled_red]

Was annoyed by the loss last night and straight after the game turned off the tv and zero internet to avoid the noise around it. We’ll still get through and away to Napoli is a very difficult game.

The positives are we played far better than last year and were deserving of a draw. I thought the defence was excellent for the most part and Adrian produced an unbelievable save.

The VAR thing is nuts - I thought they’d intervene if the ref made a mistake but the Matip one and the Callejon one last night are ridiculous. In normal time I thought pen so I can understand why the ref gave it but surely VAR can see clips like below and overrule them? Technology should help the game, not cause more frustration for fans and miss glaring errors.

https://twitter.com/jhiggins3/status...65906693169152

I've said this in the VAR thread but it seems to be the case that if the referee has given the penalty the only way it can be overturned is if VAR shows that there is no contact, if there is contact regardless of who initiated it the penalty will stand. Clearly this is wrong and there is nothing to stop players throwing themselves to the floor as long as they make sure they make contact with the defender and getting a pen. On the other hand looking at the Matip one it's really unclear what is required to give a penalty with VAR that the referee didn't give on the pitch.

VAR doesn't do what it was intended to do, it's just there to back up referees, there's no point in it.

[dizzycat]

Bad day at the office and tbh probably the best match to have it.

[Buzzo]

The diving going on last night was epic.

Every single contact resulted in maximum diveage. With three or four Napoli players then going ballistic at the ref. It puts enough pressure on the ref that sooner or later he will produce a red or give a pen.

It’s been a staple of Italian teams for as long as I’ve watched football.

VAR was supposed to affect this kind of behaviour but so far as I can see it will be ineffective. Also the media have clearly all been briefed to allow it time to bed in, as most commentary was on the fact that it was a debatable decision.

Result wise, it was a tough game, we played pretty well and missed a lot of chances - that happens. But to lose to blatant opportunism is pretty galling.

[BigChief]

Positives: we looked like CL champions against a team who were playing this game as their CL final. Luck and bad reffing cost us this game rather than being overwhelmed by the opposition.

Edit: Napoli rested all their players for this game whereas Fabinho, Firmino and Robertson needed a break. Which shows that we are not willing to sacrifice our domestic campaign for a meaningless CL opener.

[Zapater]

It was a close, well contested game against a strong side, with a brilliant manager which we've had trouble with in recent seasons. We were the better team and had some bad luck. It's football, it happens. First CL group game away to our closest competitor. It's not ideal, these things happen. Confident we'll win on the weekend and will most definitely qualify from the group. Let's not overcomplicate things on the basis of a single game.

[rodo]

see there "fans" lived up to the ****house reputation again last night

[Yozza]

Spot on by Lawro

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/49735081

Napoli 2-0 Liverpool: ‘Lesson’ will do Reds some good - Mark Lawrenson

By Mark Lawrenson

MOTD pundit and former Liverpool defender

Liverpool's late defeat by Napoli was a real slap in the face, but sometimes that is not the worst thing that can happen to a team.

Jurgen Klopp's side have coasted through their five Premier League games this season and had probably forgotten what it felt like to lose.

So, this was a reminder of what happens in top-level football if you don't take your chances and also lose your concentration in defence, whether you are champions of Europe or not.


The long road to Istanbul

In the seasons I played for Liverpool when we started our defence of the European Cup - 1981-82 and 1984-85 - I was thinking 'crikey, we are here to be shot at' not 'ah, we are the best team in Europe'.

Yes, we might have been the best the previous May, but that means nothing in September.

That is something Klopp's side have to deal with, and they have to keep churning the results out. It is a long road back to this season's final in Istanbul.

Tuesday's defeat was the kind of lesson every team requires occasionally about the level you need to stay at to keep winning things, and it is far from a disaster that it has come in Liverpool's first game of this Champions League campaign, against the best team they will face in Group E.

The Reds did not perform at their usual standard in attack or defence at the San Paolo Stadium, but I don't think this result is going to affect their progress to the knockout stage.

Last year they only made it to the last 16 by the skin of their teeth after losing all three of their away group games.

But that was when they had Paris-St Germain in their group as well as Napoli. This time around, the other opposition is just not the same calibre and I simply do not see Liverpool finishing below Genk or Salzburg.

That is the biggest reason I see Tuesday's defeat as only a minor setback, because I am totally confident they will still qualify.


Mistakes very unlike Liverpool

Andy Robertson was adjudged to have fouled Jose Callejon in the area and Dries Mertens put Napoli ahead from the spot

A 0-0 draw would have been a good result for Liverpool, and they were less than 10 minutes away from getting it - until things unravelled at the back.

I am far from convinced it was a penalty for Napoli's first goal - the first time I saw it, I thought it was the correct decision, but the more I see it the less I agree it should have been given.

But it was still a lazy challenge by Andy Robertson on Jose Callejon, which gave the referee the opportunity to award a spot-kick in the first place.

When Napoli scored their second goal in injury time, it killed the game completely, and Virgil van Dijk was obviously responsible for that.

To concede from a mistake like that when they are in possession at the back is very unlike Liverpool generally, and Van Dijk especially.

So two late errors cost Klopp's side, but I don't actually think they had been too bad at the back until that point.

They were playing against a talented Napoli team with lots of attacking intent, who forced Adrian into making some good saves - particularly his flying stop from Dries Mertens just after half-time.

But it is not as if Liverpool struggled defensively for 90 minutes, and when Klopp analyses it, I am pretty sure he will think the biggest problem on the night was at the other end of the pitch.


Reds just not clinical enough

Liverpool probably saved their most lacklustre attacking performance of the season for the best team they have played so far.

Part of that was down to the opposition; Napoli were very strong at the back, with Kalidou Koulibaly particularly impressive.

But Liverpool should have done better when they came forward, and it was frustrating to see the final ball go astray so often when they did have chances.

Mohamed Salah forced one brilliant save from Alex Meret but, overall, they were just not clinical enough when they got into some very promising positions.

If that happens, you are always going to be punished when you are facing a team as good as Napoli - and that is exactly what happened.

[Maxiedge]

It was much better than last season and last season didn't turn out too bad...

[Exiled_red]

I thought it was a fairly poor game, we didn't play well, a 0-0 would probably have summed it up and been a fair result.

Obviously the penalty changed the game, and **** happens. At this stage I'm not too bothered, I'd rather a slip up like that in the CL than the PL. Hopefully it just reinforces to the players that we need to focus and keep working hard to get results

[labourRed]

That wasn't the game i saw. I saw two very equal teams ebb and flow at a frantic rate.

We'll have them at ours i suspect.

Erling Braut Haaland (aye, son of) may disrupt these CL league a little. He looks frighteningly good from the very little i've seen of him.