Liverpool 2018/19

[ShadesOfTomato]

My original response was to somebody declaring you as title favourites based on the first three games, which is obviously nonsense.

We really haven't learnt much, other than VVD/Robertson continue to improve your defence .. which we've been seeing for ages. You haven't been that poor defensively for a while now. I think you'd have won these 3 opening games without your new signings.

Like I said, this 'evolution' you're talking about will be proven in the next couple of games, where you have some tough away matches, which you've struggled with in the past. Win those? Then we're talking a proper change in this Liverpool team.

Today, I wasn't impressed. You allowed Brighton to stay in the game and towards the end they had a couple of chances to score. Is that title winners luck? Maybe, too early to say.

So the 'people that need to calm it down' refers to one fan in isolation who doesn't even support the club? Looks like there isn't much that needs calming down.

We outplayed Brighton and could have had 2 or 3 more goals. They rarely threatened us. Luck has absolutely nothing to do with it. The clearly better team won.

Three in three clean sheets is pretty indicative of improvement and can be credited to the new goalkeeper in large part. We're the only team in the league to have maintained that record thus far.

Leicester and Tottenham will show us where we are in terms of winning the title. Two wins would be dreamland stuff. Although in general, the side have improved vastly from a defensive perspective thus far.

 

[SquishyMcSquish]

So the 'people that need to calm it down' refers to one fan in isolation who doesn't even support the club? Looks like there isn't much that needs calming down.

We outplayed Brighton and could have had 2 or 3 more goals. They rarely threatened us. Luck has absolutely nothing to do with it. The clearly better team won.

Three in three clean sheets is pretty indicative of improvement and can be credited to the new goalkeeper in large part. We're the only team in the league to have maintained that record thus far.

Leicester and Tottenham will show us where we are in terms of winning the title. Two wins would be dreamland stuff. Although in general, the side have improved vastly from a defensive perspective thus far.

I'm not talking about your own fans calming down, I'm talking about the general hype around the side, which in my (and others) opinion is too much. You have a few in this thread, and in a couple of others, talking you up for a title challenge, which is very premature since you were fourth last season. IMO your side has a lot to do still to prove that you're ready to challenge for the title, I don't see much difference between you and a few other top 4 challengers like City or us.

You did outplay Brighton, and yes you deserved to win. They were however, still in the game going in to the last 10 minutes, and when a side like them are only a goal down with very little time to go, you run a high risk that they'll create a chance or two. Which they did. You were lucky because despite not being able to kill the game off, you weren't punished .. it should be a lot more comfortable at home to Brighton. Of course you were the much better side, you're at home to a vastly inferior team, but I didn't see that ruthlessness today which to me is what makes a title winner.

Your goalkeeper hasn't had a difficult save to make in any of those three games, nothing I wouldn't expect a decent Premier League keeper to do. Palace hit the bar and it was a tight game until the penalty call, then they went down to 10 which hampered them. West Ham was a whitewash. He hasn't been tested yet..

Agreed, the improvement defensively is obvious looking at the beginning of last season to now, but that's mainly down to phasing out a couple of players in favour of Robertson and VVD who have been class acts. The new keeper will be a major asset I feel in tigher games where an error/world class save can make all the difference.

 

[ShadesOfTomato]

I'm not talking about your own fans calming down, I'm talking about the general hype around the side, which in my (and others) opinion is too much. You have a few in this thread, and in a couple of others, talking you up for a title challenge, which is very premature since you were fourth last season. IMO your side has a lot to do still to prove that you're ready to challenge for the title, I don't see much difference between you and a few other top 4 challengers like City or us.

You did outplay Brighton, and yes you deserved to win. They were however, still in the game going in to the last 10 minutes, and when a side like them are only a goal down with very little time to go, you run a high risk that they'll create a chance or two. Which they did. You were lucky because despite not being able to kill the game off, you weren't punished .. it should be a lot more comfortable at home to Brighton. Of course you were the much better side, you're at home to a vastly inferior team, but I didn't see that ruthlessness today which to me is what makes a title winner.

Your goalkeeper hasn't had a difficult save to make in any of those three games, nothing I wouldn't expect a decent Premier League keeper to do. Palace hit the bar and it was a tight game until the penalty call, then they went down to 10 which hampered them. West Ham was a whitewash. He hasn't been tested yet..

Agreed, the improvement defensively is obvious looking at the beginning of last season to now, but that's mainly down to phasing out a couple of players in favour of Robertson and VVD who have been class acts. The new keeper will be a major asset I feel in tigher games where an error/world class save can make all the difference.

Can you find an example of a Liverpool fan on here that is saying we will win the league or certainly challenge? The hype is almost entirely external.

Brighton not punishing us isn't due to luck. They didn't score because they couldn't score, there was nothing lucky about it. You can't win every game 3/4-0.

The goalkeeper makes a pretty good save from a FK vs Palace, and then from a last minute header vs Brighton. These are the kind of chances that have been going in when we had Mignolet/Karius in between the sticks.

Vardy won't be available for Leicester, which is a nice boost.

 

[SquishyMcSquish]

Nah, Palace are a better side than Newcastle. I don’t think they’ll win it though, City are too strong.

They finished on the exact same points last season, and Newcastle are better at home than Palace are, generally. There really isn't much in the two fixtures .. Newcastle last season drew to Liverpool at home, and beat Arsenal, Chelsea and United. It's a difficult away game for most clubs.

 

[SquishyMcSquish]

Can you find an example of a Liverpool fan on here that is saying we will win the league or certainly challenge? The hype is almost entirely external.

Brighton not punishing us isn't due to luck. They didn't score because they couldn't score, there was nothing lucky about it. You can't win every game 3/4-0.

The goalkeeper makes a pretty good save from a FK vs Palace, and then from a last minute header vs Brighton. These are the kind of chances that have been going in when we had Mignolet/Karius in between the sticks.

Vardy won't be available for Leicester, which is a nice boost.

I haven't claimed that exists, I agree the hype is mostly external. I think people are getting prematurely scared, probably a few United fans on here being too OTT after losing last week.

Brighton not scoring wasn't luck, but you're lucky you weren't punished for not killing the game off. These were the kind of games that 99% of the time City last season were killing off well before that, they didn't give the opponents a chance to stay in the match. Of course you can't win every game 3 or 4 nil, but late on you surrendered a couple of key chances to Brighton which, with a tad more quality in the final third, they could have capitalized on. It's not a big deal and I think when your forward players get a bit more sharpness back after the WC, you'll start killing these ones off.

I don't remember the FK save, but the save vs Brighton was nothing Karius/Mignolet haven't done for you in the past. Both had great saves coupled with horrible blunders, but that was a routine save that you expect a Premier League keeper to make. Gross put it too close to him at a good height.

Vardy missing is big .. Iheanacho has been pretty toothless for them, will be interesting to see how Maguire copes. IIRC he got turned inside out by Salah last season.

 

[SER19]

Early in season but september will be a big month and reveal alot about where liverpool are at.

Leicester, tottenham and chelsea away.

West ham h, palace and brighton h are games im sure theyd expect 9 points from

 

[Liver_bird]

Tottenham and Chelsea will be huge tests . we don’t look sharp at all and we dropped points at both those grounds last season.

 

[zonaldefending]

There's keeping sensible possession, and then there's repeatedly taking silly risks in spots where you're guaranteed to concede a goal whenever your "trick" doesn't come off. Defend it if you want but Klopp certainly won't let him continue with that stupidity.

He held on to the ball too long once and got away with it. It wasn’t stupidity.

 

[Dumbstar]

Leicester, Spurs and Chelsea away. Then City at home I think. 12 pointer banana skin. Would love to get more than 50% of those points but would settle for 6.

Would put us on 15 points and City on 17.

 

[zonaldefending]

31s - He didn't need to come off his line for that. 4 defenders back.

1:35 - Takes an extra touch on his right foot, ref blows for a foul.

This was unnecessary at 1 nil up.

Yeh it looks fancy but when one of those go wrong it will look really bad.

Well, I guess we’ll just disagree on this. He’s a footballer who can do more then just block shots and blast the ball up the field. Yeah, we may lose a goal or two along the way but he’s exactly the type of goalkeeper we need.

 

[LilyWhiteSpur]

I don't think anyone is saying they are favorites but they are certainly up there right behind City. Kieta is a brilliant buy just what they needed but there 2 fullbacks and the Gomes kid as well look solid. I was impressed with them today, should have been out of sight and never really got out of second.

 

[automaticflare]

We’ve got some tough games coming up so we’ll see how we get on.

Yep. To be fair you look like you are missing a spark so far but early days to be honest. But you have also looked more solid with better shape something I have been critical of. The Allison chip and performance today gives me confidence that he will fook up at some point this season in a major way

 

[St Red]

Too early to say whether Gomez could be VVD's regular partner.
He was barely tested yesterday, but played well while not being under any degree of pressure.

Encouraging thing about yesterday was winning while not playing well, and managing to break down a parked bus enough times to win it.

Nothing so far to get carried away about, I'll leave the declaration that we're favourites or contenders to supporters of other teams.

 

[Wooly Red]

Let's wait till New Year. We're very much in the PL honeymoon period at the moment.

I've learnt my lesson; I'll wait until April.

 

[Magnus]

Liverpool love-in is getting to me. They salute Harold Shipman, they thrashed OT during the semi against Chelsea and I won't get Into Munich.

 

[Andy C]

Liverpool love-in is getting to me. They salute Harold Shipman, they thrashed OT during the semi against Chelsea and I won't get Into Munich.

Yet all United supporters are fine upstanding citizens who have behaved impeccably over the years?

I'm not defending the things you're referring to at all but all clubs have dickheads following them, United included. I've heard and seen some awful things from United fans towards Liverpool and Scousers generally as well. Myself included. You need to rise above it and not treat everyone the same

 

[Snash93]

As far as I'm concerned, Man City are the only true favourites for winning the league again. If we're able to competitively challenge them for the title, that is progress. As for posters saying our first 3 matches were against average opposition, while that may partly accurate as you'd expect Liverpool to defeat West Ham, Palace and Brighton with ease, these are the types of matches that used to result in draws or narrow losses. From a Liverpool standpoint, it's good to see that we can win ugly and that we can keep clean sheets.

Ultimately, Man City's strength in depth will be too much and I reckon they will still be very fresh towards the end of the season. Their bench is incredible.

If Liverpool can competitively challenge for the title and win an FA Cup, I'd take that as it's progress and we need silverware this season.

 

[Magnus]

Yet all United supporters are fine upstanding citizens who have behaved impeccably over the years?

I'm not defending the things you're referring to at all but all clubs have dickheads following them, United included. I've heard and seen some awful things from United fans towards Liverpool and Scousers generally as well. Myself included. You need to rise above it and not treat everyone the same

Yet all United supporters are fine upstanding citizens who have behaved impeccably over the years?

I'm not defending the things you're referring to at all but all clubs have dickheads following them, United included. I've heard and seen some awful things from United fans towards Liverpool and Scousers generally as well. Myself included. You need to rise above it and not treat everyone the same

Kind of agree but been to United-liverpool and heard not one or two shouting Munich but the whole fecking awaysupport. Harold Shipman is our Hero aso. Unitedfans are no saints me included but "Build a bonfire" is nothing near the shite you lot spit out. And I know there is some Hillsborough shite when we play you. What do you expect after years of "whose that dying on the runway". Always the victims...... One shouldn't sing about tragedys that made life miserable for familys in Manc AND Liverpool. It's a fecking disgrace. But you lot defended Michael Shields and Heysel was all the Police fault. Get a grip ffs. The day I can wear an United top outside Anfield and you lot outside OT is a dream come true. Banter is Good and we will never ever be friendly towards one another but singing about people and tragedys that killed many people lovedones is fecking a big no no. And ofcourse that included songs about Heysel and Hillsborough

 

[Mick321]

They finished on the exact same points last season, and Newcastle are better at home than Palace are, generally. There really isn't much in the two fixtures .. Newcastle last season drew to Liverpool at home, and beat Arsenal, Chelsea and United. It's a difficult away game for most clubs.

I'd be very surprised if many thought Newcastle were a better side than Palace regardless of last season's table. Though yeah Palace aren't miles ahead or anything. Calling Palace away "easy" and Newcastle away "difficult" is a bit of a stretch though. Beating Palace away is a good win for anyone for me. I definitely don't buy all this guff about beating these sides means title challenge though. They struggled managing the CL and League late last season and I'm not convinced Shaqiri solves all that.

 

[montpelier]

I'd be very surprised if many thought Newcastle were a better side than Palace regardless of last season's table. Though yeah Palace aren't miles ahead or anything. Calling Palace away "easy" and Newcastle away "difficult" is a bit of a stretch though. Beating Palace away is a good win for anyone for me. I definitely don't buy all this guff about beating these sides means title challenge though. They struggled managing the CL and League late last season and I'm not convinced Shaqiri solves all that.

I tend to agree.

I don't think you can really strictly categorize the difficult of away games outside of the Top 6 thing because they can vary so much from month to month and depend on who might be missing (injury/suspension) for the home side, their level of confidence, mood of the ref etc. Easy win at Newcastle/Brighton/Wolves, difficult game at Watford/Southampton/Stoke - I don't think you know which way around this might ever be. And it can be totally different next time for another team.

Therefore however, an away win is always a good result & shouldn't be undervalued.

(The proper top teams don't lose all that many of them nowadays though.)

 

[St Red]

You have to factor in the final few weeks of the season too.
When some of these teams in the bottom 6 suddenly realise they are in danger of going down, they often start producing title challenging form.

I've often thought if they'd played that way for the first 30 games they'd be nowhere near the bottom 6.

 

[haram]

I don't think anyone is saying they are favorites but they are certainly up there right behind City. Kieta is a brilliant buy just what they needed but there 2 fullbacks and the Gomes kid as well look solid. I was impressed with them today, should have been out of sight and never really got out of second.

You was impressed by them against Brighton? They didn't even create anything for the whole of the second half.

 

[St Red]

I was impressed we managed to score against a parked bus.
Good practice for December 15th.

 

[IAmAWinner]

I was impressed we managed to score against a parked bus.
Good practice for December 15th.

Implying Mourinho is still in charge by then

 

[Treble]

I don't think anyone is saying they are favorites but they are certainly up there right behind City. Kieta is a brilliant buy just what they needed but there 2 fullbacks and the Gomes kid as well look solid. I was impressed with them today, should have been out of sight and never really got out of second.

Certainly? It's all hypothetical now. It's far from obvious that they can outperform Chelsea and Spurs. United have problems now but the squad ain't half bad and a new manager such as Zidane can quickly change things.

Fact is Liverpool finished 4th the last two seasons: on 76 and 75 pts respectively. Too early to tell whether they will be able to challenge for the title. They have added quality but the expectations are bigger now. It suits Klopp's Liverpool to start games as underdogs which isn't the case any more.

 

[RobinLFC]

They didn't even create anything for the whole of the second half.

Guess you didn't really watch the game then.

 

[IrishRedDevil]

I was impressed we managed to score against a parked bus.
Good practice for December 15th.

Hopefully you'll leave the diving for the swimming pool.

 

[Obi-Red-Kenobi]

I won’t say with any confidence, Liverpool will win the league, and anyone thinking that, both in the media and in other spheres are deluded. In a normal time, I would say Liverpool have a great chance, but Pep is Pep and City are a rung above all teams at the moment.

They literally have one of the best league teams we have ever seen. A 100 points in a league with Mourinho, Potch, Klopp, Wenger and Conte is nothing short of amazing.

However, we all have to acknowledge (and I do happily) that Liverpool, year on year have conceded less under Klopp, and year on year have scored more under Klopp. If this continues, and there’s no reason to think it won’t, then the team will be pushing for the title, and this year, they will compete for it more than any year since 2014.

Liverpool have not lost at home in 23 games in the league, Salah has scored 29 goals in his last 29 Anflield games, and in 2018, they have so far had the meanest defence.

I’m not saying Liverpool will win the league, and likewise I can’t ignore that something special is building.

I would also add that the Media may appear to like to watch Liverpool at the moment, and who can blame them. The team score loads of goals and are generally good entertainment. Some UTD fans appear to be eluding to media biased towards Liverpool, which I don’t really see, but guess the same accusations were made in years past under Fergie.

The common denominator of course is that Fergies teams were good to watch, this Liverpool team is good to watch, and this version of Mourino, and this version of UTD is not good to watch.

 

[B20]

September will say a lot about our title aspirations.

Leicester (A)
Tottenham (A)
Southampton (H)
Chelsea (A)

If we come out with 9 points from this, I'd say we're flying. I'd take 7 too.

 

[Treble]

I won’t say with any confidence, Liverpool will win the league, and anyone thinking that, both in the media and in other spheres are deluded. In a normal time, I would say Liverpool have a great chance, but Pep is Pep and City are a rung above all teams at the moment.

They literally have one of the best league teams we have ever seen. A 100 points in a league with Mourinho, Potch, Klopp, Wenger and Conte is nothing short of amazing.

However, we all have to acknowledge (and I do happily) that Liverpool, year on year have conceded less under Klopp, and year on year have scored more under Klopp. If this continues, and there’s no reason to think it won’t, then the team will be pushing for the title, and this year, they will compete for it more than any year since 2014.

Liverpool have not lost at home in 23 games in the league, Salah has scored 29 goals in his last 29 Anflield games, and in 2018, they have so far had the meanest defence.

I’m not saying Liverpool will win the league, and likewise I can’t ignore that something special is building.

I would also add that the Media may appear to like to watch Liverpool at the moment, and who can blame them. The team score loads of goals and are generally good entertainment. Some UTD fans appear to be eluding to media biased towards Liverpool, which I don’t really see, but guess the same accusations were made in years past under Fergie.

The common denominator of course is that Fergies teams were good to watch, this Liverpool team is good to watch, and this version of Mourino, and this version of UTD is not good to watch.

Yet you won more points in 16/17 than in 17/18.

 

[B20]

Yet you won more points in 16/17 than in 17/18.

We took 2 points from 9 in the 3 games surrounding the CL semis and still finished five points ahead of 5th. By contrast took 13 from 15 in our last five games the season before with nothing else to play for and finished 1 point ahead of 5th. I'd argue our priorities were different.

I am still disappointed with how our league run ended up last season. Think we should have been shooting for 80 points. The games against Stoke and WBA were very winnable. But I'd still say there are good reasons why last season nevertheless represents solid progress.

 

[RobinLFC]

September will say a lot about our title aspirations.

Leicester (A)
Tottenham (A)
Southampton (H)
Chelsea (A)

If we come out with 9 points from this, I'd say we're flying. I'd take 7 too.

Soton at home and even Leicester away (without Vardy) are games we definitely should be winning if we want to challenge. Losing away from home against other top 6 sides isn't the biggest drama in the world but would be nice if we could grab something at Wembley or the Bridge. Still feel Chelsea can most definitely be got at if you attack them and that's what we will probably do, so I'm happy we play them early on in the season.

 

[LilyWhiteSpur]

You was impressed by them against Brighton? They didn't even create anything for the whole of the second half.

They were good in the first half, that’s the exact kind of game they would have dropped points against last season. No team is perfect and no team will control the game 100% of the time. They did what they needed to and didn’t look like they were even pushing flat out.

Certainly? It's all hypothetical now. It's far from obvious that they can outperform Chelsea and Spurs. United have problems now but the squad ain't half bad and a new manager such as Zidane can quickly change things.

Fact is Liverpool finished 4th the last two seasons: on 76 and 75 pts respectively. Too early to tell whether they will be able to challenge for the title. They have added quality but the expectations are bigger now. It suits Klopp's Liverpool to start games as underdogs which isn't the case any more.

I agree but I can only go on what I have seen thus far, 3 games, 7 goals, 3 clean sheets is an impressive start. I don’t think you will sack Jose this side of Christmas and he certainly won’t walk, your results will pick up I have no doubt I just hope not tonight .

 

[Treble]

They were good in the first half, that’s the exact kind of game they would have dropped points against last season. No team is perfect and no team will control the game 100% of the time. They did what they needed to and didn’t look like they were even pushing flat out.



I agree but I can only go on what I have seen thus far, 3 games, 7 goals, 3 clean sheets is an impressive start.

United had a more impressive start last season. And had an equally impressive start 16/17 season. It's far too early. Liverpool haven't played a top 6 team yet. If Spurs win tonight, your start will be even more impressive. A big IF though.

 

[Treble]

We took 2 points from 9 in the 3 games surrounding the CL semis and still finished five points ahead of 5th. By contrast took 13 from 15 in our last five games the season before with nothing else to play for and finished 1 point ahead of 5th. I'd argue our priorities were different.

I am still disappointed with how our league run ended up last season. Think we should have been shooting for 80 points. The games against Stoke and WBA were very winnable. But I'd still say there are good reasons why last season nevertheless represents solid progress.

I see. But this time another obstacle may appear: injuries to key players or reaching the finals of domestic competitions, etc. Klopp has to win something this season, you are likely to take cup compets seriously.

 

[LilyWhiteSpur]

United had a more impressive start last season. And had an equally impressive start 16/17 season. It's far too early. Liverpool haven't played a top 6 team yet. If Spurs win tonight, your start will be even more impressive. A big IF though.

It’s a massive game tonight, first top four match up hopefully we will see both teams trying to win and not playing for a draw, I HATE playing United.

 

[B20]

I see. But this time another obstacle may appear: injuries to key players or reaching the finals of domestic competitions, etc. Klopp has to win something this season, you are likely to take cup compets seriously.

Sure.

Think we'll give the cups a pass if we are still in touching distance of the league though. I reckon a title challenge is prioritised higher than winning either of the FA or League Cup..

 

[Perseus]

I don't think anyone is saying they are favorites but they are certainly up there right behind City. Kieta is a brilliant buy just what they needed but there 2 fullbacks and the Gomes kid as well look solid. I was impressed with them today, should have been out of sight and never really got out of second.

That's why Keita was taken off. Pogba caused more problems for Brighton than Keita. 1-0 was a fair enough result from a horrid elementary mistake, two big chances for each side and a handful of half chances for Liverpool, almost all when pressing in the first half. Van Dijk had a touch of Pogba about him, ambling about a bit. Klopp saved the day by bringing Henderson instead of Keita to protect the lead. After Keita was outrun by Knockaert who is slow.

To me Keita seemed a poor replacement for Coutinho. If the Brighton shooting has been up to the standard against United*, and had not blundered, and had the rub of the green (second goal against United) Liverpool would have egg on their face. The big difference was Liverpool got three defenders back when it mattered (the only time Murray got into the box).

* Brighton missed two easier chances than the first two they scored against United.

As Klopp said there is work to do. Liverpool lost the plot in the last 15 minutes. Anyone of five teams for second place.

 

[RobinLFC]

It’s a massive game tonight, first top four match up hopefully we will see both teams trying to win and not playing for a draw, I HATE playing United.

Love how Arsenal-City and Chelsea-Arsenal aren't top four games anymore

 

[Klopper76]

Soton at home and even Leicester away (without Vardy) are games we definitely should be winning if we want to challenge. Losing away from home against other top 6 sides isn't the biggest drama in the world but would be nice if we could grab something at Wembley or the Bridge. Still feel Chelsea can most definitely be got at if you attack them and that's what we will probably do, so I'm happy we play them early on in the season.

Yeah I think we could get something against Chelsea. Spurs outplayed us for about 75% of our games against them last season and look far more solid than Chelsea do.

We should be winning the other two games against Leicester and Southampton. 9 or 10 out of 12 would be a fantastic return from those four games.