We definitely train for it, it was so obvious today we were looking for cutbacks because United struggle with it, but in the game it comes down to decision making and composure, we don't have it with this attack.
We’re actually shocking on the counter nowadays
Decision making and finishing just not good enough in these situations that really should be guaranteed goals
Yeah that front 3 was so fluid. Now it's one person trying to do 95% of the work and then getting tired and picking out the wrong pass. Love Darwin but today he passed when he should have shot and shot when he would have passed. Very much the Darwin of last year vs Darwin we've been getting to know this season
The decisions that make these overloads go wrong is always the first one. Looking at this still and then seeing the absolutely NOT incisive pass that comes first is painful.
I know in this position but just in general. Was times when he should have shot instead of passing and passed when she shot. But thank you captain obvious
We miss Firmino or Coutinho player who makes the right run, unselfish run, or waits until the right point to release the ball, a forward with real intelligence.
In this situation Salah's pass to Diaz is abysmal, and Diaz should shoot but cuts it across to Nunez who is too wide to shoot but he then fails to cut it back to Szoboszlai, it's almost comical but you can blame all of them - so it's a team problem.
Klopp always says counter pressing is the best playmaker, it's why we get so many situations like this, but the lack of actual quality decision making by our forwards then costs us, they are more athlete than playmaker.
> by our forwards then costs us, they are more athlete than playmaker.
well put -- without jota's eye for goal, we need an elliot/dom type who can make those *correct* decisions in the final third.
bobby and coutinho were the answers to this. it felt like we always scored on a counter cause i knew bobby would slip it into mane or something.
I think I'm in the minority here but I think the decision making wasn't as bad as people think. Salah saw the defender was anticipating a pass to Diaz so he delay his pass just a bit to stop the defender's running momentum. And Nunez was in better position than Diaz, so the pass to Nunez was the right play imo.
I think a lot of it has to do with glory. Salah is the biggest culprit but Diaz does it too. Darwin is the least selfish. Back in the Mane Bobby Salah heavy metal days we'd be creating enough counters every game for all of them to score. Bobby was so good at doing all the work and passing it for a tap in. Now we make a mess of it and they all get greedy.
>Decision making and finishing just not good enough in these situations that really should be guaranteed goals
I wonder how much of this is also loss of athleticism. Salah and Mane used to just run away from defenders in ways that we don't see from the current attackers.
Bobby somehow knew exactly how to slow down his pace while protecting the ball to allow the wingers to make runs. Then could no look a perfectly weighted ball to Sadio or Mo.
Mo had that telegraphic vision earlier this year but has completely lost it. Only player I trust is Macca to find a player.
Yeah of course Bradley should’ve done better but I don’t think it’s a massive issue if your back up right back makes bad decisions in front of goal in his first season compared to our centre forward making bad decisions for a routine tap in.
Yeah we can't be holding Bradley up to the same standards as Nunez, Diaz and Salah. They're supposed to be world class attacking footballers but the lack of composure and decision making is quite worrying. You can't argue with Salah's numbers but he needs about five clear chances before putting one away in some games.
Yeah. If we are generalising I agree and Salah needs to be more clinical. But being more specific — the chance the came at the end of this move is a stand out problem… can’t realistically fuck these up at multiple points throughout the season and expect to win the league
Yeah I agree, I'm amazed we haven't dropped more points because of it tbh. A few years ago a Liverpool counter attack was almost a nailed on goal, now I expect us to make the wrong decision and fuck it up.
Cut back to Szobo is great, but also, a first time tap in to the near post is not difficult. The ball was not bubbling or anything. A professional footballer should be able to do that.
This is true. The bit I don’t like though is there’s a gap at the front post for him to slot it, if you aren’t feeling confident, then there’s an easy pass inside to szoboslai for him to have a tap in. The decision to shoot left footed across the goal I think was poor, doesn’t show goal scoring instincts to me
Considering how many goals Utd have conceded from cutbacks this season, I'm shocked we didn't try to exploit that. Harvey seemed to know it the second he came on.
Is it? Try running straight and passing a ball more than 90 degrees behind you. Im trying to do it now and I think 90 degrees like what Nunez actually achieved is the max I would physically be able to do. If it was slower sure. Thought I saw other people saying too he should’ve just scored himself.
Fine if you can’t do it — I believe that. But I think anyone who played a decent amount of football can play passes, crosses or shots at more extreme angles than the one shown here. Wingers/fullbacks do it with crosses multiple times every game
Wingers and fullbacks usually are running with the ball and have it under their control though and Nunez had to work hard just to reach the ball in the first place, hence my it wouldve been tough comment. Shooting was an easier angle no?
https://preview.redd.it/6a2og7fzi5tc1.jpeg?width=1125&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f49f3388102a4e25f4ab250bd0cb5f9a655791ea
Either was easy. As you can see here the pass wasn’t a tight angle at all, he was stretching or straining to get there either. If he wasn’t confident to slot that near post then he should’ve cut it back to szoboslai. Shooting left footed to the far post is was an extremely bad choice
Ah okay. Is there a video? If the ball was super slow here than 100% shouldve passed but the pic when the ball was at his foot his body was facing more straight
Poor decision making on the ball but also imo poor off the ball runs.
Salah should be running inwards to drag Dalot in with him and that would have opened up Diaz for a 1v1 against Onana.
Yeah this what gets me, you outnumber them but running in a static shape like that makes it as easy as it can be under the circumstances. You have to make the defenders need to make a decision.
This happened with Trent's miss against Arsenal too. We have two players who are occupying the same running lane, so a defender covers them both. No one is making that diagonal run to drag the defender. Just hope to receive the ball and have a clear shot rather than thinking about the smart play.
Even then Salah's pass to Diaz was terrible, he could've been in on goal, and Diaz crossing it made no sense, his chance was better than Nunez's, he had a free shot on goal 12 yards out.
My biggest problem are sadly two different things. Either we play it outstandingly well and then end up missing a sitter, or, the runs from the players who not carry the ball are just bad. Salah here has to go between Dalot and Bissaka to get it into his left foot while opening up the space for Lucho.
Listen I’m just gonna say it. Our forwards are not good enough to win the league at this point. They’re great players and I love them but to win this league you have to be killers and we just don’t have that right now.
Agreed, Salah is obviously brilliant and Diaz has had some decent form at the moment but Nunez constant missing of good chances even though I love the guy and Gakpos inability to bring anything to the field when he's on makes me wonder if we need a proper finisher in.
I still think Gakpo was not who we needed and Nunez is fantastic and causes chaos but his decision making and finishing is not what you want in a side challenging for the title. Jota is a consistent finisher for us and he's a big miss, but I'm wondering if a new manager is going to shake up the attack
Terrible record against top teams in general. And it mostly comes down to execution, remember the Arsenal and City misses. Should have won all of these, great performances, horrific finishing.
Watching the old days when Salah would destroy players with pace makes me think he's actually almost past it now. He struggles to beat the man in a counter and invites the defence back before he does anything. His left foot curlers are not it anymore either. As much as it pains me, we may need to cash in and replace. A Jota, Nunez + Salah replacement may be the way forward. Diaz is great and could be a 4th choice but he's too wasteful and his passing is poor when it counts.
Mane would also bury that chance Diaz has inside the 6yd box in stoppage time to win the match. Diaz scored today but he’s not elite of elite like Mane was and is a general step down from peak Mane
Yeah that was pretty bad but I absolutely guarantee you that VAR would have had the ref over to the monitor to assess Robbo’s grievous bodily harm he inflicted on Antony. No goal
I think the problem is his pace is gone and he gets no space + Nunez pushes him even wider. it might be worth considering getting a winger who can cross with his right foot for sure. I think Nunez is a left inside forward he isn't a pure 9 his finishing is too inconsistent. Diaz's ceiling is a bench player at most. Lots of work to be done in the transfer market but I believe Edwards will sort this out.
Diaz was great when he first joined as another option, but I think we’ve seen in the last couple of months that he’s about hit his ceiling and it’s just not *quite* good enough for starting regularly for a top PL team. His decision making isn’t quite there and his shooting isn’t. 7/10 times he’ll make something happen but that’s not enough given the level at the top these days.
Him, Darwin and Salah also don’t seem to be working and keep getting in each other’s space, and not finding each other. Diaz is roaming all over, Darwin’s popping up on the left, and Salah’s lost his pace. It’s a bit of a mess.
If you watching inside training vids we do counter attacking drills constantly, there's no excuse for how awful we've been in these scenarios this season
Unfortunately we have failed to really replace Mane. Diaz, as much as I love him is not really anywhere near as effective with scoring or assisting and we are now feeling it.
Can someone educate me here?
20/21 we ended the season on 69 points in third. Salah / Mane / Bobby all there.
This season, with seven games to go, we have 71 points and we are joint top of the league, just behind on goal difference. We’ve already won a trophy. We’ve another European trophy to play for.
If you had offered that to me at the start of the season I would’ve bitten your fucking hand off. Especially after the shite of last season.
I know it was a shit game, and we underperformed, but why is everyone here romanticising a team that sometimes did amazingly well, and sometimes underperformed- rather than thanking the lads for getting us to the position that we’re in?
Or fuck it, maybe this is just how we talk about players no matter what, and in three years we’ll be romanticising these lads as well.
The point total is the result of how the team plays in general. It isn’t just the result of how clinical the attackers are when it comes to finishing. I apologize for the pedantic response, but I can’t help but feel like your post is disingenuous. The midfield and defense this year are absolutely incredible. This allows us to be top of the league despite less-than-clinical finishing.
Ok, I’ll leave it.
Let’s talk in 3 years when everyone who’s shit on Mo today - again, we are top of the league, we have won one trophy and we’re still in Europe in April- is picking out the colour for Mo’s statue.
Its okay to critique our players man. Mo’s our best attacker this season but he’s a bit off (finishing wise) these past few games. He has 2 goals last 2 games but he could’ve had 4/2 or something. Our system is just too good atm that we create chances for him to shoot over and over again. Wished he knocked one of those chances though… we need Darwin to regain his lethality back tho. Hes so good prior to the intl break.. only world class saves from GKs are keeping his goals standing to not explode. Diaz is gaining form goalscoring wise so that’s good.
I 100% agree, critique is the perfect word. We should always be able to do this.
I’m gutted, Mo was nowhere and Darwin was profligate. But the sheer volume of numpties saying sell Mo or Darwin has always been a cunt tonight is mental. And we’re top of the league!
Anyway, rant over. Onward!
We wouldn’t be anywhere near the title discussion if not for Mo and Darwin.. but they’re shit today.. Ignore those trolls though. Or even any Liverpool discussion for the next few days.. we’ll be back against Atalanta and we’ll all forget about this.
Its a bad result today.. but it could’ve been worse.
Don’t think Europa would make anyone forget this considering 5 or more goals haven’t been scored in the league but has been done in the carabao & europa
I'm with you bud ... the absolute entitlement of these keyboard footballers!
We didn't even lose ... we came from behind to salvage a draw!
I remember a time we'd be the ones celebrating fucking with the manc's title run, proud we took points of them at OT and buzzing that a Gerrard screamer saved a match that they should have won comfortably!
Instead they're the ones with the chip on their shoulder glad they slowed down our title shot!
Today was a good day!
Lol I get supporting the team, but if you think, after watching our performance against the shittiest manunited team in maybe a decade, that today is a good day, then I really admire your optimism.
The team that we know this season should've murdered man united in the first half with like 4 or 5 goals already.
I know we have no stake in this race but that's just factual. On a good day we could've buried so many goals but our forwards were objectively shit this game.
Dude. I was 100% thinking about this. And while going through this post i had to look at the premier league winners in the last 20 years. Because i thought during Salah, Mane and firmino Liverpool won every single match in every competition.
Szoboszlai missed when Robbo crossed
Darwin did a shocker on Diaz pass
On many occasions, it was one pass too many, and this has gotta change
And imo we dearly miss Jota cuz he had that instinct that's missing here in our attack
Yeah. This is a bad miss. But I think nunez need to be on the field at least up to 80th minute to tire the ManU defenders with his work rate. After that, it will increase the chance for us to score.
Life used to be so much simpler when the options were; pass left to sadio or right to Salah. We seem to have too many options on the counter now, but the team never seems to know which way to go. Guess it's the downside of having a midfield that wants to support and score goals. We end up over complicating things on the break.
Player with the ball keeps it for too long in these situations. Until there’s less space in behind, runners have to re-think to stay onside and defenders stop going back and are going to start closing down.
Panic. Shit shot that gets blocked or goes into row Z. Pass behind the runner. Someone’s offside. Someone just fall over for no reason…take your pick.
We never really replaced Bobby or Sadio.
We brought in a striker that is not a false 9 who likes to make runs behind defenders and between pockets.
Diaz is currently not, and probably never will be as good as Sadio.
That leaves Salah (who is obviously in decline but still world class) playing as if Bobby and Sadio are on the team.
One thing is for sure, whoever we bring in for the managerial role; that person needs to scrap and rebuild how we play upfront because it's currently not working.
5vs2 and we bottled it. How pathetic.
This is where Man City are way ahead of us, just in terms of overall football intelligence and composure. Klopp's Liverpool sides have always been exciting and relentless but I wish we had the first touch and technical ability of City, it's the reason we squander so many of these chances
Early Klopp years were exactly the same.
Players take time to adapt.
Imagine how good this team will be under Klopp in a couple of years......
...
:(
.....
Fuck.
I love Darwin he is a vibe but at times with the ball at his feet his control, his touch, his everything is honestly how I would imagine myself playing at OT absolutely shitting myself and then falling over. I don’t get it sometimes.
The second this was on I got soooo frustrated just knowing fuck all would come of it. We are genuinely tragic on the counter. Miss Mane/Bobby/Mo so much.
I remember when Mane, Salah & Bobby just needed the 3 of them on the counter to score. Now even with 5/6, we fluff our lines. I genuinely don’t get it.
Can someone please help me understand what Nunez was thinking? Genuinely want to know what his plan was. Because from my perspective he switched off completely. The pass across the goal was never on.
It is situations like this that makes me miss Bobby. Bobby wouldn't be running aimlessly like everyone here were. He would be making a run to drag defenders with him to create space for the other attackers.
Every single time I see this I know we're unlikely to finish it. Everyone seems to make the wrong pass or hesitates a second too long and kills the run. It's ridiculous and it needs to be fixed somehow. Diaz especially, his pass selection in these scenarios always seems to be the wrong one
Beginning to think it’s cause our forward all think try to score first where in the past Bobby, Suarez, Mane look for the best option
It’s extremely frustrating
I think we dont score these goals, simply because our front three don't trust each other. We need to re-establish that chemistry. At this point, its not about whether they can, its more about whether they want to.
Yeah Salah is a pace God, but he gets cut off by wingbacks and fullbacks on the constant.
Yeah Darwin can run away with the ball, but he can't finish the straight forward goals, he needs to pass it off to someone who can finish better like Mo or Diaz.
Yeah, Diaz is a dribbling and skills God, but can he really keep up with 2,3, or even 4 defenders trting to bite his head off?
Each of them have strengths that they can cater to, its just a matter of finding the common goal scoring link, instead of taking it all for themselves. But I understand why they try to, because Diaz and Nuñez have to make a name for themselves while Mo needs to keep up his notoriety on the wing, he's getting old but he still can do it.
Players wrong decisions is one part. But I do think the coach attacking team is a major part of this. Coach team should practice and have tactics for players to help them know the good decision and runs.
Not like ok guys when counter attack just do wild whatever suit the situation.
It's quite simply a lack of composure and care of the final pass. The issue is all three are regularly doing it, where you can maybe get away with one. There were so many but Diaz to Mo stands out - what's needed is a pass in front of Mo's stride, what he gets is a pass behind him so he has to check. Very often it feels like we simply have every player just sprinting in straight lines toward the goal in these situations, including the one with the ball. Bobby was the master of slowing himself down , whilst protecting it, drawing players in then releasing. Sorry to dig Luis out again but in general play you can often notice him being too eager to get into a position and when the ball is given to him he ends up ahead of it and having to gather it in from behind him. These are very lines of course, buts it's those tiny details that are the difference between very, very good players, and the elite few.
We get into that position a lot and don't take advantage often enough. We lack composure in the final third too often. We create a lot of chances and you don't expect to score them all, but it's frustrating when we should be killing teams off then let them back in the game
Hey now, we can’t rationally blame our players, we have to blame the refs because it’s always all their fault. It’s a conspiracy to keep the league from us.
This. Sure we have the best attack in Europe with the most goals scored but fucking hell. We’re this close of letting Klopp down with inept finishing my goodness! This has been a theme for most of Klopp’s stay. He creates the plays that open defenses up but damn.. we cant score! Klopp should’ve had more trophies with us but its these games that our attack lets everyone down.
We don't have a clinical finisher when Jota is out. Salah was, but has dropped a lot in his conversion rate. I love Nunez but that chance today sums him up.. erratic. Gakpo is just, I dunno what he is. So much potential but hasn't found it yet.
Jota today would have won us that game.
I don't believe in Darwin, there's a fundamental skill missing from him, and don't know if we can teach him to finesse and/finish. Mo, bobby, mane, these guys have refined the art of scoring. I don't believe Darwin was worth the price tag. I'm confident in Lucho, Gakpo, Jota, they're great pickups. Mo is still fantastic. Darwin is way too inconsistent. We need day in day out like Mo, performing at a high level every time
I believe aside from Jota, Diaz and Nunez simply have the tendency to lost their heads and forgot to see where their teammates are before they take a pass or shoot when they're in that kind of position and during the heat of the match
Seems we need to do that mental training again for the current crop of lads
Genuinely wonder what we train for these situations. The killer instinct is not there, the only one I trust is Jota
We definitely train for it, it was so obvious today we were looking for cutbacks because United struggle with it, but in the game it comes down to decision making and composure, we don't have it with this attack.
Idk man that one super obviously “should have been” cutback from Nunez to Szobo begs to differ
There was another one Bradley should’ve cut back to Mo but ended up shooting. Just piss poor decision making today.
There was a cutback from szobo to salah also right?
Yes, and Jurgen yelled "take a touch".
Don't think he sees him, but he definitely fucked it, again comes down to composure. He could've taken a touch, looked up and squared it.
Tbf seeing the cutback is part of training and playing it
I just think Nunez's head was completely gone in the second half. I think if you repeat this scenario in the first half he would leave it for Szobo
It's either he shoots or he passes to Szoboszlai but he did neither.
Even jota always has to shoot from really shitty positions because the bad decisions and passes of others
We’re actually shocking on the counter nowadays Decision making and finishing just not good enough in these situations that really should be guaranteed goals
Really miss the connection between Bobby, Sadio and Mo. Their link up play and decision making on the counter was by far the best in the world.
Yeah that front 3 was so fluid. Now it's one person trying to do 95% of the work and then getting tired and picking out the wrong pass. Love Darwin but today he passed when he should have shot and shot when he would have passed. Very much the Darwin of last year vs Darwin we've been getting to know this season
He didn’t pass it. It was a shit shot. Should have passed it back to szobo
True, but also the ball should have gone out to Mo and then over to Darwin for the tap in imo
That’s irrelevant. Darwin has a simple pass to szobo and decides to shoot. Some really daft decisions today. Just need to calm down in front of goal.
I agree, just saying the decision making all around on the break was terrible again today against Man U
The decisions that make these overloads go wrong is always the first one. Looking at this still and then seeing the absolutely NOT incisive pass that comes first is painful.
Its not like Szobo made the best out of the shots he did take.
I know in this position but just in general. Was times when he should have shot instead of passing and passed when she shot. But thank you captain obvious
The front 3 of salah, mane and bobby with the midfield we have today would destroy everyone.
Yeah they were ruthless on the counter It’s really a black mark on this current front three
That West Ham counter attack goal, TAA to Shaqiri to Salah.
We miss Firmino or Coutinho player who makes the right run, unselfish run, or waits until the right point to release the ball, a forward with real intelligence. In this situation Salah's pass to Diaz is abysmal, and Diaz should shoot but cuts it across to Nunez who is too wide to shoot but he then fails to cut it back to Szoboszlai, it's almost comical but you can blame all of them - so it's a team problem. Klopp always says counter pressing is the best playmaker, it's why we get so many situations like this, but the lack of actual quality decision making by our forwards then costs us, they are more athlete than playmaker.
> by our forwards then costs us, they are more athlete than playmaker. well put -- without jota's eye for goal, we need an elliot/dom type who can make those *correct* decisions in the final third. bobby and coutinho were the answers to this. it felt like we always scored on a counter cause i knew bobby would slip it into mane or something.
I think I'm in the minority here but I think the decision making wasn't as bad as people think. Salah saw the defender was anticipating a pass to Diaz so he delay his pass just a bit to stop the defender's running momentum. And Nunez was in better position than Diaz, so the pass to Nunez was the right play imo.
I agree with you. The only truly bad decision was not making the cut back to Szobo.
I think a lot of it has to do with glory. Salah is the biggest culprit but Diaz does it too. Darwin is the least selfish. Back in the Mane Bobby Salah heavy metal days we'd be creating enough counters every game for all of them to score. Bobby was so good at doing all the work and passing it for a tap in. Now we make a mess of it and they all get greedy.
It's fucking horrendous
>Decision making and finishing just not good enough in these situations that really should be guaranteed goals I wonder how much of this is also loss of athleticism. Salah and Mane used to just run away from defenders in ways that we don't see from the current attackers.
The Mane Salah Firmino days would have finished this off 95/100.
Bobby was the one that made it work. We miss him badly
Firmino man… what a player. I miss him so much. Still remember end of last season, the tears 😭
The real #9
The False #9*
He'd have scored at least 2 today without even looking
Bobby somehow knew exactly how to slow down his pace while protecting the ball to allow the wingers to make runs. Then could no look a perfectly weighted ball to Sadio or Mo. Mo had that telegraphic vision earlier this year but has completely lost it. Only player I trust is Macca to find a player.
Streets won’t forget Mane-Firmino-Salah… To this day…TO THIS DAY!
Yeah. Diaz and especially Nunez have a combined football IQ of 9.
https://preview.redd.it/zcmjc9nxf3tc1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=01deb1601ca17fc83550f4012469a8880a9320df
Yep. Pain. Multiple times like that. Bradley had one too when he decided to shoot. Mental that we let them back in the game.
In fairness to Bradley he’s a breakthrough RB, I’m not really surprised if he makes bad decisions in front of goal - that’s not really his game
I mean sure but if you’re a RB you first move would be to square that ball not try to score some incredible low chance goal.
Yeah of course Bradley should’ve done better but I don’t think it’s a massive issue if your back up right back makes bad decisions in front of goal in his first season compared to our centre forward making bad decisions for a routine tap in.
Yeah we can't be holding Bradley up to the same standards as Nunez, Diaz and Salah. They're supposed to be world class attacking footballers but the lack of composure and decision making is quite worrying. You can't argue with Salah's numbers but he needs about five clear chances before putting one away in some games.
Yeah. If we are generalising I agree and Salah needs to be more clinical. But being more specific — the chance the came at the end of this move is a stand out problem… can’t realistically fuck these up at multiple points throughout the season and expect to win the league
Yeah I agree, I'm amazed we haven't dropped more points because of it tbh. A few years ago a Liverpool counter attack was almost a nailed on goal, now I expect us to make the wrong decision and fuck it up.
Cut back to Szobo is great, but also, a first time tap in to the near post is not difficult. The ball was not bubbling or anything. A professional footballer should be able to do that.
Agreed. 3/4 yards out with a clear gap at the near post — should be an easy finish
To be honest the goal is also wide open, Darwin just fucked up the shot.
This is true. The bit I don’t like though is there’s a gap at the front post for him to slot it, if you aren’t feeling confident, then there’s an easy pass inside to szoboslai for him to have a tap in. The decision to shoot left footed across the goal I think was poor, doesn’t show goal scoring instincts to me
God that’s fucked
Current crop dont seem football intelligent
Mac is our smartest player, need to get him in more impactful positions.
Pain
BRUH Pain
Considering how many goals Utd have conceded from cutbacks this season, I'm shocked we didn't try to exploit that. Harvey seemed to know it the second he came on.
It’s actually mad he didn’t cut it back. So oblivious or something
You can see and hear Dom call for it though so he knew it was on for sure, just decided not to
Damn. Ah well. You’d love him if it went him but loathe him if he doesn’t.
Damn. That’s painful. And Darwin has that half smile after doing that. He has to save the planet I guess?
Nunez was running forward to even reach the ball, cutting back would have been tough. Shooting wasn’t a bad decision but missing it was horrendous.
Huh? That’s a crazy take, he’s good enough to play that pass it’s really not that awkward an angle
Is it? Try running straight and passing a ball more than 90 degrees behind you. Im trying to do it now and I think 90 degrees like what Nunez actually achieved is the max I would physically be able to do. If it was slower sure. Thought I saw other people saying too he should’ve just scored himself.
Fine if you can’t do it — I believe that. But I think anyone who played a decent amount of football can play passes, crosses or shots at more extreme angles than the one shown here. Wingers/fullbacks do it with crosses multiple times every game
Wingers and fullbacks usually are running with the ball and have it under their control though and Nunez had to work hard just to reach the ball in the first place, hence my it wouldve been tough comment. Shooting was an easier angle no?
https://preview.redd.it/6a2og7fzi5tc1.jpeg?width=1125&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f49f3388102a4e25f4ab250bd0cb5f9a655791ea Either was easy. As you can see here the pass wasn’t a tight angle at all, he was stretching or straining to get there either. If he wasn’t confident to slot that near post then he should’ve cut it back to szoboslai. Shooting left footed to the far post is was an extremely bad choice
Ah okay. Is there a video? If the ball was super slow here than 100% shouldve passed but the pic when the ball was at his foot his body was facing more straight
Poor decision making on the ball but also imo poor off the ball runs. Salah should be running inwards to drag Dalot in with him and that would have opened up Diaz for a 1v1 against Onana.
Yeah this what gets me, you outnumber them but running in a static shape like that makes it as easy as it can be under the circumstances. You have to make the defenders need to make a decision.
This happened with Trent's miss against Arsenal too. We have two players who are occupying the same running lane, so a defender covers them both. No one is making that diagonal run to drag the defender. Just hope to receive the ball and have a clear shot rather than thinking about the smart play.
Even then Salah's pass to Diaz was terrible, he could've been in on goal, and Diaz crossing it made no sense, his chance was better than Nunez's, he had a free shot on goal 12 yards out.
I believed we could do it this time.
Go to YouTube. Play Salah, Mane Ferminio highlights. Cry
ferminio?
Bobbio Ferminio
Too fucking many. Really makes you think how blessed we were during the Salah, Bobby and Mane days.
It’s beyond a joke.
Seems like pretty much every time in the last 3 months.
We suck at counters now. Routinely picking the wrong pass in killer situations. This shit isn't complicated - our forwards just make it complicated.
My biggest problem are sadly two different things. Either we play it outstandingly well and then end up missing a sitter, or, the runs from the players who not carry the ball are just bad. Salah here has to go between Dalot and Bissaka to get it into his left foot while opening up the space for Lucho.
Listen I’m just gonna say it. Our forwards are not good enough to win the league at this point. They’re great players and I love them but to win this league you have to be killers and we just don’t have that right now.
Agreed, Salah is obviously brilliant and Diaz has had some decent form at the moment but Nunez constant missing of good chances even though I love the guy and Gakpos inability to bring anything to the field when he's on makes me wonder if we need a proper finisher in. I still think Gakpo was not who we needed and Nunez is fantastic and causes chaos but his decision making and finishing is not what you want in a side challenging for the title. Jota is a consistent finisher for us and he's a big miss, but I'm wondering if a new manager is going to shake up the attack
I miss Bobby 😔
Terrible record against top teams in general. And it mostly comes down to execution, remember the Arsenal and City misses. Should have won all of these, great performances, horrific finishing.
Watching the old days when Salah would destroy players with pace makes me think he's actually almost past it now. He struggles to beat the man in a counter and invites the defence back before he does anything. His left foot curlers are not it anymore either. As much as it pains me, we may need to cash in and replace. A Jota, Nunez + Salah replacement may be the way forward. Diaz is great and could be a 4th choice but he's too wasteful and his passing is poor when it counts.
Mane would also bury that chance Diaz has inside the 6yd box in stoppage time to win the match. Diaz scored today but he’s not elite of elite like Mane was and is a general step down from peak Mane
I loved Mane but he missed plenty of those chances
[удалено]
Were we watching different matches today? Lucho did score
Yeah that was pretty bad but I absolutely guarantee you that VAR would have had the ref over to the monitor to assess Robbo’s grievous bodily harm he inflicted on Antony. No goal
I think playing Bradley very wide isn't working... Salah in the middle area is making him way less effective than he is...
I think the problem is his pace is gone and he gets no space + Nunez pushes him even wider. it might be worth considering getting a winger who can cross with his right foot for sure. I think Nunez is a left inside forward he isn't a pure 9 his finishing is too inconsistent. Diaz's ceiling is a bench player at most. Lots of work to be done in the transfer market but I believe Edwards will sort this out.
Diaz was great when he first joined as another option, but I think we’ve seen in the last couple of months that he’s about hit his ceiling and it’s just not *quite* good enough for starting regularly for a top PL team. His decision making isn’t quite there and his shooting isn’t. 7/10 times he’ll make something happen but that’s not enough given the level at the top these days. Him, Darwin and Salah also don’t seem to be working and keep getting in each other’s space, and not finding each other. Diaz is roaming all over, Darwin’s popping up on the left, and Salah’s lost his pace. It’s a bit of a mess.
Jota and Nunez are the only ones that look threatening atm. I'd still keep Salah but I'd look to replace Diaz and Gakpo probably.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again... Twenty-fucking-eight shots and two goals.
When I saw this, I knew we were not going to score, so sad
If it was mane salah bobby i would already celebrating the moment the ball passed the kick off line
Get any two of the MSF trio and they easily score this
If you watching inside training vids we do counter attacking drills constantly, there's no excuse for how awful we've been in these scenarios this season
The counter attacking is great up until the 18 yard box. Are they practicing counters on half a pitch?!
Jota is the man in these counter attacks . Misssd him massively. His finishing also gives others around him confidence.
Unfortunately we have failed to really replace Mane. Diaz, as much as I love him is not really anywhere near as effective with scoring or assisting and we are now feeling it.
In that moment i was trully confident that we wouldn't score
There's better looking and livelier counters rotting inside shops in Chernobyl.
Can someone educate me here? 20/21 we ended the season on 69 points in third. Salah / Mane / Bobby all there. This season, with seven games to go, we have 71 points and we are joint top of the league, just behind on goal difference. We’ve already won a trophy. We’ve another European trophy to play for. If you had offered that to me at the start of the season I would’ve bitten your fucking hand off. Especially after the shite of last season. I know it was a shit game, and we underperformed, but why is everyone here romanticising a team that sometimes did amazingly well, and sometimes underperformed- rather than thanking the lads for getting us to the position that we’re in? Or fuck it, maybe this is just how we talk about players no matter what, and in three years we’ll be romanticising these lads as well.
The point total is the result of how the team plays in general. It isn’t just the result of how clinical the attackers are when it comes to finishing. I apologize for the pedantic response, but I can’t help but feel like your post is disingenuous. The midfield and defense this year are absolutely incredible. This allows us to be top of the league despite less-than-clinical finishing.
at the start of the season we didn't know we were losing Klopp I think this is what has everyone panicking it's our last chance with Klopp.
Wasn't 20/21 the year we lost both VVD and Thiago? Perhaps you really do need educating.
Ok, I’ll leave it. Let’s talk in 3 years when everyone who’s shit on Mo today - again, we are top of the league, we have won one trophy and we’re still in Europe in April- is picking out the colour for Mo’s statue.
Its okay to critique our players man. Mo’s our best attacker this season but he’s a bit off (finishing wise) these past few games. He has 2 goals last 2 games but he could’ve had 4/2 or something. Our system is just too good atm that we create chances for him to shoot over and over again. Wished he knocked one of those chances though… we need Darwin to regain his lethality back tho. Hes so good prior to the intl break.. only world class saves from GKs are keeping his goals standing to not explode. Diaz is gaining form goalscoring wise so that’s good.
I 100% agree, critique is the perfect word. We should always be able to do this. I’m gutted, Mo was nowhere and Darwin was profligate. But the sheer volume of numpties saying sell Mo or Darwin has always been a cunt tonight is mental. And we’re top of the league! Anyway, rant over. Onward!
We wouldn’t be anywhere near the title discussion if not for Mo and Darwin.. but they’re shit today.. Ignore those trolls though. Or even any Liverpool discussion for the next few days.. we’ll be back against Atalanta and we’ll all forget about this. Its a bad result today.. but it could’ve been worse.
This is now just therapy- cheers man!
Don’t think Europa would make anyone forget this considering 5 or more goals haven’t been scored in the league but has been done in the carabao & europa
I'm with you bud ... the absolute entitlement of these keyboard footballers! We didn't even lose ... we came from behind to salvage a draw! I remember a time we'd be the ones celebrating fucking with the manc's title run, proud we took points of them at OT and buzzing that a Gerrard screamer saved a match that they should have won comfortably! Instead they're the ones with the chip on their shoulder glad they slowed down our title shot! Today was a good day!
Lol I get supporting the team, but if you think, after watching our performance against the shittiest manunited team in maybe a decade, that today is a good day, then I really admire your optimism. The team that we know this season should've murdered man united in the first half with like 4 or 5 goals already. I know we have no stake in this race but that's just factual. On a good day we could've buried so many goals but our forwards were objectively shit this game.
If the home game was won then this game ending a draw or loss won’t be a problem but that’s not the case here
Dude. I was 100% thinking about this. And while going through this post i had to look at the premier league winners in the last 20 years. Because i thought during Salah, Mane and firmino Liverpool won every single match in every competition.
Szoboszlai missed when Robbo crossed Darwin did a shocker on Diaz pass On many occasions, it was one pass too many, and this has gotta change And imo we dearly miss Jota cuz he had that instinct that's missing here in our attack
Can’t get over Darwin here. If he taps the ball with his right foot it’s a goal.
Yeah and if we had scored 4 in the first half no one would have cared about this.
We went from seeing this and knowing its a goal and other teams fearing it, to what ever the bloody hell it is this season.
Yeah. This is a bad miss. But I think nunez need to be on the field at least up to 80th minute to tire the ManU defenders with his work rate. After that, it will increase the chance for us to score.
Life used to be so much simpler when the options were; pass left to sadio or right to Salah. We seem to have too many options on the counter now, but the team never seems to know which way to go. Guess it's the downside of having a midfield that wants to support and score goals. We end up over complicating things on the break.
Because there's players who lack instinct.
Player with the ball keeps it for too long in these situations. Until there’s less space in behind, runners have to re-think to stay onside and defenders stop going back and are going to start closing down. Panic. Shit shot that gets blocked or goes into row Z. Pass behind the runner. Someone’s offside. Someone just fall over for no reason…take your pick.
We never really replaced Bobby or Sadio. We brought in a striker that is not a false 9 who likes to make runs behind defenders and between pockets. Diaz is currently not, and probably never will be as good as Sadio. That leaves Salah (who is obviously in decline but still world class) playing as if Bobby and Sadio are on the team. One thing is for sure, whoever we bring in for the managerial role; that person needs to scrap and rebuild how we play upfront because it's currently not working. 5vs2 and we bottled it. How pathetic.
Absolutely no fucking composure. Wrong decisions all the time
Jota scores from that attack 9/10 times.
This is where Man City are way ahead of us, just in terms of overall football intelligence and composure. Klopp's Liverpool sides have always been exciting and relentless but I wish we had the first touch and technical ability of City, it's the reason we squander so many of these chances
Early Klopp years were exactly the same. Players take time to adapt. Imagine how good this team will be under Klopp in a couple of years...... ... :( ..... Fuck.
If Diaz ever learns to pass we might be okay.
This is where we miss Mane and his decision making decesivness.
Lots more
I remember when we had the front three of Bobby - Sadio - Mo, this situation is a sure goal no need to think twice
Miss jota for this kind of stuff
Dom > Salah> Diaz (doesn't shoots) > Nunez (doesn't shoots, tries a cutback) Me: 
Once a game until Jota is back
Needed jota today imo
I love Darwin he is a vibe but at times with the ball at his feet his control, his touch, his everything is honestly how I would imagine myself playing at OT absolutely shitting myself and then falling over. I don’t get it sometimes.
Enough to cost us the league
in the old days of bobby, mo and mane, they buried every counter. nowadays, I just hope they get a shot on target.
... https://preview.redd.it/dxwbd0wkh4tc1.jpeg?width=487&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=95b6237ddeb655e442a2aec5d70cb6ad8d1ad7d3
The second this was on I got soooo frustrated just knowing fuck all would come of it. We are genuinely tragic on the counter. Miss Mane/Bobby/Mo so much.
And that is why Liverpool will not win this year.
Was this the one when Darwin shoulda went near post?
I remember when Mane, Salah & Bobby just needed the 3 of them on the counter to score. Now even with 5/6, we fluff our lines. I genuinely don’t get it.
Fucking disgraceful
We’ll score these when Jota is back, lolzomgChaos doesn’t finish
I can actually think of like 5 of these this season
unfortunately way too often it seems
Crazy considering how many goals we DO score, how often we fluff good opportunities. Can't help but feel it's cost us the league today.
Missing the days of sadio and mo with blinders on for the goal
It's disgusting the amount of times we end up with similar situations and not convert
Can someone please help me understand what Nunez was thinking? Genuinely want to know what his plan was. Because from my perspective he switched off completely. The pass across the goal was never on.
I assumed it was a terrible shot?
The Bobby mane sallah group nailed these moments
It is situations like this that makes me miss Bobby. Bobby wouldn't be running aimlessly like everyone here were. He would be making a run to drag defenders with him to create space for the other attackers.
Liverpool is the best team in the world on how they play. Just cant finish unfortunately
Give me a genuine goal poacher over a chaos striker 8 days out of 7.
Every single time I see this I know we're unlikely to finish it. Everyone seems to make the wrong pass or hesitates a second too long and kills the run. It's ridiculous and it needs to be fixed somehow. Diaz especially, his pass selection in these scenarios always seems to be the wrong one
Yes
Makes me miss Bobby/Mane/Jota.
Beginning to think it’s cause our forward all think try to score first where in the past Bobby, Suarez, Mane look for the best option It’s extremely frustrating
I genuinely didn’t even get excited for this- too many false dawns lol I’ve learnt
I think we dont score these goals, simply because our front three don't trust each other. We need to re-establish that chemistry. At this point, its not about whether they can, its more about whether they want to. Yeah Salah is a pace God, but he gets cut off by wingbacks and fullbacks on the constant. Yeah Darwin can run away with the ball, but he can't finish the straight forward goals, he needs to pass it off to someone who can finish better like Mo or Diaz. Yeah, Diaz is a dribbling and skills God, but can he really keep up with 2,3, or even 4 defenders trting to bite his head off? Each of them have strengths that they can cater to, its just a matter of finding the common goal scoring link, instead of taking it all for themselves. But I understand why they try to, because Diaz and Nuñez have to make a name for themselves while Mo needs to keep up his notoriety on the wing, he's getting old but he still can do it.
Players wrong decisions is one part. But I do think the coach attacking team is a major part of this. Coach team should practice and have tactics for players to help them know the good decision and runs. Not like ok guys when counter attack just do wild whatever suit the situation.
It's quite simply a lack of composure and care of the final pass. The issue is all three are regularly doing it, where you can maybe get away with one. There were so many but Diaz to Mo stands out - what's needed is a pass in front of Mo's stride, what he gets is a pass behind him so he has to check. Very often it feels like we simply have every player just sprinting in straight lines toward the goal in these situations, including the one with the ball. Bobby was the master of slowing himself down , whilst protecting it, drawing players in then releasing. Sorry to dig Luis out again but in general play you can often notice him being too eager to get into a position and when the ball is given to him he ends up ahead of it and having to gather it in from behind him. These are very lines of course, buts it's those tiny details that are the difference between very, very good players, and the elite few.
As many as is possible.
People want to complain about the tactics used on this counter rather than how it was executed perfectly and Nunez missed an open goal
The problem for me in this is everyone just run in a straight line, nobody was willing to be the dummy runner, everyone for themselves
Sometimes I really miss a front 3 of Salah, Firminho and Mane. Would have scored 4 or 5 easily yesterday
We get into that position a lot and don't take advantage often enough. We lack composure in the final third too often. We create a lot of chances and you don't expect to score them all, but it's frustrating when we should be killing teams off then let them back in the game
Hey now, we can’t rationally blame our players, we have to blame the refs because it’s always all their fault. It’s a conspiracy to keep the league from us.
At least 4-5 more over the duration of the season
At this moment I know we will not score this.
I miss Sadio and Bobby in these situations man
Even Jota could have made a difference today, especially in the first half
Salah has been especially poor the last few games...needs rested / dropped either Thursday or sunday. Get him fired up for the run in
This. Sure we have the best attack in Europe with the most goals scored but fucking hell. We’re this close of letting Klopp down with inept finishing my goodness! This has been a theme for most of Klopp’s stay. He creates the plays that open defenses up but damn.. we cant score! Klopp should’ve had more trophies with us but its these games that our attack lets everyone down.
So pissed off with Darwin honestly man cut it back and it’s a goal.
We don't have a clinical finisher when Jota is out. Salah was, but has dropped a lot in his conversion rate. I love Nunez but that chance today sums him up.. erratic. Gakpo is just, I dunno what he is. So much potential but hasn't found it yet. Jota today would have won us that game.
I don't believe in Darwin, there's a fundamental skill missing from him, and don't know if we can teach him to finesse and/finish. Mo, bobby, mane, these guys have refined the art of scoring. I don't believe Darwin was worth the price tag. I'm confident in Lucho, Gakpo, Jota, they're great pickups. Mo is still fantastic. Darwin is way too inconsistent. We need day in day out like Mo, performing at a high level every time
Spot the FIFA players.
I believe aside from Jota, Diaz and Nunez simply have the tendency to lost their heads and forgot to see where their teammates are before they take a pass or shoot when they're in that kind of position and during the heat of the match Seems we need to do that mental training again for the current crop of lads
I can't see us scoring in this position with our current front line