Liverpool FC - News, Developments and All Seasons

[txj]

I have never understood folks who say VAR is bad for football. The technology is spot on!

The problem is with its application, esp in England where it is being used to protect poor referees.

BTW, he's called Ibou- from his Bundesliga days...

I hear you. VAR is not perfect.

However, even with its imperfections, it is still better than the pre-VAR era when post match talk was dominated by apoplectic fans and managers who raged at refereeing errors.

You brought up a great point re the Ben Mee handball that deflected onto "Ibou" (does anyone call him that?!) for the OG.

A few weeks ago an Everton player smashed the ball against Marcus Rashford's arm about 45 yards away from goal. Rashford then collected the rebound, ran through on goal, went round the Everton GK Pickford and scored. However, VAR disallowed the goal because the ball hit Rashford's arm before ht made the run that led to him scoring.

Why was Rashford's goal disallowed even though the ball hitting his arm did not contribute to his goal, while Mee's handball (which directly caused Brentford's goal) was allowed to stand?

The issue is not VAR, but how it is used.

The first goal came off the arm of Ben Mee. If the next touch to score on goal was from Brentford, its ruled out.
But the next touch came from Ibou, so the handball is ignored, never mind that he knew nothing about it. And VAR cannot intervene. But the ref is there!!!

It also protected Atwell on the Mbeumo goal. The ref was 20-25 meters away from the ball, and again VAR cannot intervene on the grounds of the 'clear and obvious' rule....

[Sleaky72]

TXJ and YeyeMan,
From an outsiders POV, I think the biggest issue for the team is their lack of legs in midfield. It’s football 101 to know that you can’t play a suicidal high line, combined with full backs high up the field without high pressure all over the field, particularly in the middle third.

The lack of closing pace is allowing accurate passes into space and isolating center backs one vs one. A difficult task for any team to survive on especially in a league like the EPL. I had a personal academy story when I had my first team fight at half time.

I had to move from midfield into the center back position after major injuries. I had a Colombian left FB who thought he was a winger. I kept being pulled out to cover for him cuz there was a gaping hole and I finally lost my head at halftime in the locker room. He didn’t know I could speak Spanish so he said something disrespectful and needless to say all hell broke loose. I didn’t get benched cuz the coach needed me but it was not good. But the assistant pulled me aside and had to explain that it was their fault for not going over the team defensive shape and philosophy with me earlier but he was actually doing as he was told. My partner was from Argentina and later I noticed he never complained but he was a fixture in that position so it made sense. The point i was making was that I absolutely hated it as a fill in as a center back. It sucked so bad but some teams train and are used to playing that way (ditto liverpool). Now when they had Hendo and Gigi in their prime they could squeeze those spaces, and Fabinho could mop up but now things are changing cuz teams have sussed them out

[txj]

TXJ and YeyeMan,
From an outsiders POV, I think the biggest issue for the team is their lack of legs in midfield. It’s football 101 to know that you can’t play a suicidal high line, combined with full backs high up the field without high pressure all over the field, particularly in the middle third.

The lack of closing pace is allowing accurate passes into space and isolating center backs one vs one. A difficult task for any team to survive on especially in a league like the EPL. I had a personal academy story when I had my first team fight at half time.

I had to move from midfield into the center back position after major injuries. I had a Colombian left FB who thought he was a winger. I kept being pulled out to cover for him cuz there was a gaping hole and I finally lost my head at halftime in the locker room. He didn’t know I could speak Spanish so he said something disrespectful and needless to say all hell broke loose. I didn’t get benched cuz the coach needed me but it was not good. But the assistant pulled me aside and had to explain that it was their fault for not going over the team defensive shape and philosophy with me earlier but he was actually doing as he was told. My partner was from Argentina and later I noticed he never complained but he was a fixture in that position so it made sense. The point i was making was that I absolutely hated it as a fill in as a center back. It sucked so bad but some teams train and are used to playing that way (ditto liverpool). Now when they had Hendo and Gigi in their prime they could squeeze those spaces, and Fabinho could mop up but now things are changing cuz teams have sussed them out

Football punditry these days is too often about narratives.

Its true that they need to refresh the MF, but its more than that.

If you understand the Liverpool game in the last few years, its a pressing system based on connected parts. And the key was always the front trio.

The old front trio is no more and the new one is yet to become functional. From being new to being injured.

That's the first thing.

In the MF itself, the analytics show clearly that the work rate and coverage level is down.

But in a connected system its hard to look at any one part in isolation.

[wiseone]

There is a Wijnaldum sized hole in Liverpool’s midfield…

[Bigpokey24]

yeyeman, wetin you go talk about this ?

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/64162597

[The YeyeMan]

TXJ and YeyeMan,
From an outsiders POV, I think the biggest issue for the team is their lack of legs in midfield. It’s football 101 to know that you can’t play a suicidal high line, combined with full backs high up the field without high pressure all over the field, particularly in the middle third.

The lack of closing pace is allowing accurate passes into space and isolating center backs one vs one. A difficult task for any team to survive on especially in a league like the EPL. I had a personal academy story when I had my first team fight at half time.

That's definitely part of it. A high line without an effective press is asking for trouble.

Salah, Mané, Firmino were all pressing monsters. Sadio wanted a new challenge, Firmino's legs are catching/have caught up with him; only Salah remains. The others Diaz and Jota are solid but injured. And we all know about the problems in midfield. The team looks unsure of itself.

[danfo driver]

Yeye dey smell

yeyeman, wetin you go talk about this ?

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/64162597

[Bigpokey24]

yeyeman, Virgil van Dijk injury update: Liverpool defender out 'for more than a month' with hamstring issue

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/64187635

[Coach]

Liverpool are, in father of the bride talk, “finished”.

[danfo driver]

Yeyerity

yeyeman, Virgil van Dijk injury update: Liverpool defender out 'for more than a month' with hamstring issue

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/64187635

[The YeyeMan]

Liverpool are, in father of the bride talk, “finished”.

Why, because of VVD's injury? Both Matip and Konaté are more than capable.

[Bigpokey24]

yeyeman , have you see this?

[Bigpokey24]

goallllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll 2-2 Wolves

[Alategun]

We need capable midfielders really bad. I am done with how slow our midfielders are

[YemiBrazil]

How was Wolves' 3rd goal offside?

[The YeyeMan]

How was Wolves' 3rd goal offside?

Possibly the earlier phase of play - when the first cross came in.

[Alategun]

The guy that took the corner came back from offside

[danfo driver]

Very capable, like your womb. Yeye dey smell!

Liverpool are, in father of the bride talk, “finished”.

Why, because of VVD's injury? Both Matip and Konaté are more than capable.

[The YeyeMan]

The guy that took the corner came back from offside

I saw someone else say that. The video replay didn't show it though.

[Bigpokey24]

hey yeyeman, what's you rebuttal?

[balo]

This looks really bad.

[danfo driver]

The guy that took the corner came back from offside

I saw someone else say that. The video replay didn't show it though.

Your ultrasound didnt show anything, as well. Yeye dey smell

[The YeyeMan]

This looks really bad.

In slow motion, yes. Looked like Robertson couldn't get his legs out of the way in real-time.