Liverpool v Real Madrid

[Mr Pink]

Ahhh well, hopefully we’ll be back next year…

I normally hate Madrid but have to say, was a classy gesture to play You’ll Never Walk Alone at full time.

[Rafa Justice]

Yep

Not getting into the latter

Why not?

Not a dig, but so many things get said on here where the cause of which seems to be taboo for many.

[Doc_Piptorious]

We did not play badly at all last night.

First half we did well against a very good and well oiled team.

We had three players have stinkers as well which added to the uphill struggle. TAA (worst of the lot by far), VVD and Jota (Though he is coming back from a long term injury and some players take time to get back to match speed)


The rest of the starters all put in a good shift, some may not have been excellent but they did try to match Real for effort and if a player looks like he has tried and simply gets outplayed then I can take that.

Alisson was excellent (so was Courtois at the other end to be fair)

Konate was excellent too. He had to cover his own position, he was constantly having to go wide to cover the spaces TAA was leaving and to just test him a bit further VVD starting wandering about in the second half.


Robbo was good in a trying his damndest but things not coming off for him kind of way.


Fabinho was much improved on recent months and his timing seemed better for the most part. Not awful, not good sort of a D grade.

Milner gave his all and was a warrior out there. He was up against better players than himself in that midfield battle and was outnumbered but he can hold his head up after that game.


Salah I was happy with. No he was not skinning players and what not, but he worked hard, he did track back and he made better tackles and better attempts at sheparding players around the RB slot than TAA did.


Darwin and Gakpo worked hard and neither ever showed signs of wanting to roll over. Both had decent cracks at goal that on another day might have paid off.


Real though were really good to watch. That midfield simply purred.

Modric at 37 is a freak. Still as quick as players 10 years his junior, still willing to get stuck in and just sublime when he decides to turn the skills on.

Kroos was similar just without the pace.

Valverde showed again how good he is, and how he may be the one that eventually takes Modric's spot when Modric hits 50.

Camavinga was quietly very good too. Was put in that facilitating role to keep their play ticking over and he did it well.


Mad that they could have a player like Tchouameni out and not look even a little weaker in the middle.


Vinicius is just great to watch. A load of skill, tons of pace and I think he does not get enough credit for his willingness to get stuck into duels with players. That assist at the end summed him up. He simply does not have quit in him.

Benzema was Benzema. Guy somehow manages to be both well regarded and underrated at the same time.


Watching Real last night you would never have guessed that they are the team that played almost the same amount of games last season as we did as they were chasing a Quad last season as well.

What is an interesting contrast between them and us is that the season before last they came 2nd in the league, got knocked out in the semis of the CL and Supercopa and also got knocked out of the Copa Del Rey and they followed up a long season that saw them win nothing after much hope/promise by finding a way to grind out results the following season and win three out of four competions.

This season they will play even more games than last season, thanks to being in the Super cup and Club World Cup (as well as a **** ton of their players playing in the world cup) and they are still in with a shout of winning the CL, La Liga (game against Barca this weekend will be a biggie) and the Copa Del Rey (second leg of thr semi finals is in April (against Barca again).


Think the biggest (and most obvious one in a no **** Sherlock way ) thing that stands out though is the difference made by having a strong midfield and strong back ups for the middle. If you can compete with the best in the middle then it covers up a lot of flaws at the back if you have them and gives the front me the support and supply lines they need.

[BG1973]

In the back of my mind I thought we'd put in such a limp-dicked effort against bottom of the table Bournemouth and completely ****ed our chance to nail a top 4 spot with this game in mind. Saving our legs to go absolutely full throttle at them.

But alas, we put in an even more limp-dicked effort and went out of the CL with barely a whimper. Absolutely pathetic showing tbh.

Trent and Robbo at their absolute brain-dead worst all game. The pair of them can get to **** with that ****. Long ball after long ball to our midgets up front. Its the sign of a side that doesn't have a ****ing clue on what they're supposed to be doing.

That midfield was a joke. Fab and Milner are going to create the square root of absolute **** all. Didn't have much choice to be fair, but it just shows how ****e our recruitment has been in midfield. Don't know why we'd shoehorn Jota/Gakpo into some weird slot when Elliot and Keita are there ready to go. Keita has clearly been bombed out the side now, doubt we see him again.

I'd love to see Salah pick up an injury now. Just to see how we play when players don't feel like they have to pass to him all the time. He create nothing, he loses the ball constantly and when he does manage to get past someone he mostly cocks up the pass. He's still going to score his little tap ins, but peak Mo is gone. Big offer comes in from PSG you have to shift him on that stupid contract.

Cant wait for this season to end now. Sick of the lot of these players

Is there any respect in you for these player's past performances?

Yeah we all know we need changes but most are able to make the point without sounding like such an ungrateful brat.

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[Tribute]

We were sloppy with passing last night, Madrid were sharper and faster. Like we used to be. Shows the gap and how far we've fallen in such a short space of time. We need to regroup and have a go for fourth, build up some results then think about putting decent performances in. It's fourth or bust now, sadly.

[Le Chef]

Why not?

Not a dig, but so many things get said on here where the cause of which seems to be taboo for many.

FSG lack of investment in the team, plus they've took their eye off the ball given all the sheniganns behind the scenes. My views on FSG are well known and i don't want to go through it again as most on here didn't like my view of them.

[dizzycat]

Same as season when they refused to buy centre backs but without the mega run of form to save our asses. Just hope the potential lack of champions league won't limit our options in the market.

[el matador]

last night it wouldnt have mattered what midfield we put out against Real Madrid - it wouldnt have been good enough.

Thats been the issue this season and theres no getting away from it, we cant push teams back because our midfield cant win 50-50's, knockdowns or outballs from the opposition. The full backs cant push high because the midfield cant cover the spaces which means the attack doesnt function.

time to temporarily move away from the 433 to something that might help us win some more games.

[Doc_Piptorious]

last night it wouldnt have mattered what midfield we put out against Real Madrid - it wouldnt have been good enough.

Thats been the issue this season and theres no getting away from it, we cant push teams back because our midfield cant win 50-50's, knockdowns or outballs from the opposition. The full backs cant push high because the midfield cant cover the spaces which means the attack doesnt function.

time to temporarily move away from the 433 to something that might help us win some more games.

I'm not so sure. I think a fully fit Thiago and Bajcetic with Milner just behind them would have given a good account of themselves.

Thiago certainly would not have been out of his depth against the RM midfielders as he is at their level whereas last night we have nobody in the middle at the same level.


Still do not think who we played did badly in the middle though all things considered. It was two vs four for most of the game with three of their four being very mobile and all four being good positionally and two of that four being brilliant positionally.

[Harv]

Is there any respect in you for these player's past performances?

Yeah we all know we need changes but most are able to make the point without sounding like such an ungrateful brat.

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[Harv]

I'm not so sure. I think a fully fit Thiago and Bajcetic with Milner just behind them would have given a good account of themselves.

Thiago certainly would not have been out of his depth against the RM midfielders as he is at their level whereas last night we have nobody in the middle at the same level.


Still do not think who we played did badly in the middle though all things considered. It was two vs four for most of the game with three of their four being very mobile and all four being good positionally and two of that four being brilliant positionally.

Milner shouldn't be anywhere near the starting team.

[el matador]

I'm not so sure. I think a fully fit Thiago and Bajcetic with Milner just behind them would have given a good account of themselves.

Thiago certainly would not have been out of his depth against the RM midfielders as he is at their level whereas last night we have nobody in the middle at the same level.


Still do not think who we played did badly in the middle though all things considered. It was two vs four for most of the game with three of their four being very mobile and all four being good positionally and two of that four being brilliant positionally.

Against a midfield like theirs you need quality and athleticism which are two traits that none of our midfielders possess.

i agree we didnt play badly because we didnt play at all. Real didnt get out of second gear and never went for us. We played the same game as Real Madrid but we were the ones that we three goals down and chasing the game.

[Doc_Piptorious]

Milner shouldn't be anywhere near the starting team.

But he is and looking at the way the injuries are racking up again in the middle for us, we might be glad to have him for the rest of the season.


Come the summer he will be gone after having been a big part, on and off the pitch, of our recent success.

Whilst I think that in an ideal world we would have the depth of quality to avoid Milner having to be a starter in the big games, none of that is on Milner and last night he let nobody down. Not himself, his manager, the team or the fans.

[Buzzo]

****ing Madrid. What a mad stat.

[ame]https://twitter.com/brfootball/status/1636404030611046401[/ame]

[Le Chef]

Yep, Ancoletti has his number !