[Baneofthegame]

I haven't watched the match recap but my impression live was that Martinez had it covered and considering no teammate was behind him, there was no reason for De Ligt to rush into a 2v1 at the near post especially with other Liverpool forwards taking up those spaces.

As another poster replied to me earlier, de Ligt didn't even turn his head once to check the overall play.

Regardless to check play his immediate danger imo was who was next to him, so he’s covered the near post run and the man next to him, unfortunately he has three players to deal and like I said had he looked and moved away, and salah slots it to the nearest man and they score still people would be blaming him for gambling.

 

[Pronewbie]

Because Maguire proved his worth with the first Brighton goal. Great defensive work there

That's why I wasn't assertive that Maguire would have done better, but knowing Slabhead's passive defending he wouldn't be charging down the near post and is actually pretty good at defending them floating crosses.

 

[Poborsky's hair]

Hard to judge a defensive player in a chaos like this caused by manager. but hes done fairly well in most of the situations. Lets see other games...

 

[Ish]

I mean he can’t just leave the attacker next to him? If he gambles back post and salah slides it across to whoever it is people would be asking wtf is he doing.

Yep, it's stupid to expect him to cover the back post there. So what - he runs away from his man to the back post, Salah has an easier pass and a tap in and people moan about him running away from his man?

Fact for that scond goal is, Casemiro should never be giving it away there - there's a reason Maz pushed up high because we were in possession. Casemiro is the only one to be blamed for that. No one would, hypothetically, have done better IMO. Perfect transition attack for Liverpool, also executed flawlessly.

 

[Pronewbie]

Regardless to check play his immediate danger imo was who was next to him, so he’s covered the near post run and the man next to him, unfortunately he has three players to deal and like I said had he looked and moved away, and salah slots it to the nearest man and they score still people would be blaming him for gambling.

I could have watched that sequence wrongly.

My live reaction while the play was happening, was that he should have let Martinez handle the space at the near post (1v1) and cover a more central area where there was at least 1 Liverpool player charging into. I recall thinking he made it easier for them.

Edit: I've just watched the replay and yes I think I may have come across too harshly. To reiterate, I thought he had a great game overall.

 

[bosnian_red]

I think he did well today and I'm pretty confident he'll be a top CB for us, albeit it'll only show under the next manager I'm sure

 

[always_hoping]

Yellow card aside I thought he was decent on his first start.

 

[Bastian]

Gif of that beautiful challenge?

 

[Lu Tze]

Anyone who thinks he isn't our fastest CB at the moment (tragic as that is) honestly needs an eye test. Clearly the most competent one, too.

 

[Lash]

Gif of that beautiful challenge?

Only time in the match I smiled.

 

[zenith]

He'll only get better as he settles into that defense and plays consistently. Promising signs on a really bad night

 

[Dominos]

What an absolute shit-show circumstance to walk into on your first start.

The midfield losing the ball and leaving the opposition 4v2 time and time again.

There was one bad give away of possession in the 2nd half. Other than that I don't recall any bad individual errors, it was more that he was hung out to dry.

The yellow card, the game was stretched, it happens, and it's a decent foul to give away late in the game, I'm not bothered about that.

 

[Rossa]

Anyone who thinks he isn't our fastest CB at the moment (tragic as that is) honestly needs an eye test. Clearly the most competent one, too.

Yoro? De Ligt has the best top speed of our cb crop for sure - jury out on Yoro. He easily handled Slobozlai in a foot race.

Looks comfortable with the ball and strong in a standing tackle.

 

[Lu Tze]

Yoro? De Ligt has the best top speed of our cb crop for sure - jury out on Yoro. He easily handled Slobozlai in a foot race.

Looks comfortable with the ball and strong in a standing tackle.

Yeah I'm not counting Yoro so far, I'm sure he's the fastest, but probably not with a broken foot!

 

[Rossa]

Yeah I'm not counting Yoro so far, I'm sure he's the fastest, but probably not with a broken foot!

Could still possibly beat Maguire and Lindelof.

De Ligt looks ok. More agile than I thought. With him and Martinez, I do however worry a little about aerial prowess.

 

[NewGlory]

Hard to judge a defensive player in a chaos like this caused by manager. but hes done fairly well in most of the situations. Lets see other games...

100%

 

[Stadjer]

Could still possibly beat Maguire and Lindelof.

De Ligt looks ok. More agile than I thought. With him and Martinez, I do however worry a little about aerial prowess.

If the de Ligt and Martinez duo makes you worry about aerial prowess than a Martinez and Maguire duo would too? De Ligt is very strong in the air, so it must be the Martinez part that makes you worry.

 

[Gabriel Djemba-Bebe]

Thought he was our best player up until they scored. After their first goal went in, no one in a red shirt played well. Panic set in and basic passes were being misplaced.

 

[Rossa]

If the de Ligt and Martinez duo makes you worry about aerial prowess than a Martinez and Maguire duo would too? De Ligt is very strong in the air, so it must be the Martinez part that makes you worry.

Hopefully De Ligt is as good as Maguire in the air. That is a standout for Maguire though. At 187 cm tall, De Ligt isn’t a big centre back.

 

[The Cat]

I thought he was just fine and will prove an excellent signing.

 

[cj_sparky]

I thought he did well overall, especially before Pool scored their first. Felt, like many he seemed to feel the pressure a bit after that and he missed placed a few passes with one going out of play a number of yards behind Mazraoui.

Looking forward to see more of him in the team as the season progresses.

 

[Adamsk7]

Thought he looked good until the whole team didn’t. Will be fine so long as we sort that gaping hole out in front of him

 

[SER19]

Thought he looked absolutely top class until the second goal and then we all fell apart. I think he'll be very good here

 

[The Purley King]

Thought he was outstanding.
Calm, authoritative, in control.
Excellent performance

 

[Bastian]

Where do people get their gifs from? I'd love to see that challenge again.

 

[Real Name]

One of the few bright spots yesterday.

 

[golden_blunder]

Thought he was ok, made some important penalty box blocks

His passing was hit and miss, but the truth is they weren’t giving him many options in midfield. He kept then looking to down the channel where nobody was there

 

[Escobar]

The only player who did well

 

[RedRocket9908]

He has looked good so far and will hopefully be a good player for us, he drifted out of position on the first goal though leaving 2 Liverpool players unmarked at the back post.

 

[Lu Tze]

He has looked good so far and will hopefully be a good player for us, he drifted out of position on the first goal though leaving 2 Liverpool players unmarked at the back post.

Have you rewatched the goal? https://caulse.com/v/52756

At 15 seconds, do you think he should just let Salah dink it to number 20, 5 yards away for a clear shot on goal? Or perhaps he should be in 2 places at once.

I think the real issue here is why our FBs are instructed to bomb forward so quickly rather than supporting the build up.

 

[Hughie77]

Thrown in at the deep end realy. And I thought he did OK better than OK. All goals were giving the ball away in own half. He will get better you can see that he's more athletic than most CB he's great on the ball, only improvement the more he plays in Prem.. I'd like him and Yoro as the main 2 ..

 

[SER19]

Have you rewatched the goal? https://caulse.com/v/52756

At 15 seconds, do you think he should just let Salah dink it to number 20, 5 yards away for a clear shot on goal? Or perhaps he should be in 2 places at once.

I think the real issue here is why our FBs are instructed to bomb forward so quickly rather than supporting the build up.

Ya its damning that by the time the ball is in the net mazraoui is barely in the picture. Not neccesarily saying its his fault either, it ultimately comes down to losing possession cheaply against one of the worst teams to lose it there to. But in no way is it on de ligt

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Ya its damning that by the time the ball is in the net mazraoui is barely in the picture. Not neccesarily saying its his fault either, it ultimately comes down to losing possession cheaply against one of the worst teams to lose it there to. But in no way is it on de ligt

Pause it at the moment Casemiro hits the pass. Mazrouai is in acres of space. It’s such a simple pass. He just needs to lift it. Or find a gap. He even has Rashford a few yards further forward, also with no defender near him. Plus before Casemiro gets on the ball a simple one touch pass from Bruno would give us a 2v1 on Liverpool’s right flank.

The positioning of Mazrouai is not an issue if we have midfielders capable of making the right decisions and completing passes you’d expect a 15 year old to be able to complete.

What makes it even more frustrating is that the situation begins with two very good vertical passes from Onana, then Mainoo. Which should have allowed us to open Liverpool up. To end up conceding from there is criminal. And yes, nothing to do with De Ligt.

 

[SER19]

Pause it at the moment Casemiro hits the pass. Mazrouai is in acres of space. It’s such a simple pass. He just needs to lift it. Or find a gap. He even has Rashford a few yards further forward, also with no defender near him. Plus before Casemiro gets on the ball a simple one touch pass from Bruno would give us a 2v1 on Liverpool’s right flank.

The positioning of Mazrouai is not an issue if we have midfielders capable of making the right decisions and completing passes you’d expect a 15 year old to be able to complete.

What makes it even more frustrating is that the situation begins with two very good vertical passes from Onana, then Mainoo. Which should have allowed us to open Liverpool up. To end up conceding from there is criminal. And yes, nothing to do with De Ligt.

Yeah I agree fully, we should be looking to play mazraoui high when the conditions of that break were so favourable. Casemiro has unfortunately managed to do probably the only thing that could lead to us conceding from there. Even more frustrating is that he had so much time, and so many options than an extra touch wouldn't have been a problem. It seems silly to say it now after losing 3 nil, but I thought we looked pretty good up until then. Our confidence remains so fragile, hopefully guys like ugarte and de ligt can help this. they seem like strong characters so far untainted by recent failures.

 

[GueRed]

Hopefully he can develop into one of the leaders of the group.

as i've said many times before we don't have enough leaders

 

[dutchred]

Bad misjudgement for the Bosnian second goal

 

[Samid]

Desperately praying Yoro is the one because I have zero faith in this bloke. Bayern sell to us for a reason.

 

[LawCharltonBest]

Bad misjudgement for the Bosnian second goal

Back to the bench ?

 

[Leftback99]

Long way to go to live up to the hype on here.

 

[BeretWearingEnt]

The usual suspects immediately appear in here to jump on any minor flaw in one of our players. Presumably to pour more pressure on our manager? Who knows, but it genuinely baffles me. It’s like you’re waiting for the people you’re supposed to support to fail.

Anyway, that aside. Not great on the second goal but over all a good performance. Van Dijk sleeping a little on the first goal but nothing too egregious. They look a better partnership than we saw with De Vrij at the Euros, interesting to see how they develop.