JRC

Really encouraged by that. Only 3 regular starters, but we still played clever, controlled and confident football. Some really crisp passing and good energy. Virtually everyone showed some quality - Minamino and Jones most obviously, but no-one was poor; if anything, 2 of the regulars - Jota and Alisson (with his feet) - had less convincing shows. I thought Chamberlain did perfectly well and took on responsibility as the adult in the (Engine) Room when he had the kids club alongside him. (It is also clear now that Klopp rates him and is happy with his contribution, notwithstanding forum and Moan Stand received opinion) Gomez had a couple of passing ricks (suspect pitch level conditions were worse than appeared from on high - as per Alisson) and should have dealt with the goal better, but he also brought out a couple of those 'Rolls-Royce with an afterburner' runs, where he crushes the spirit of any striker who mistakenly believes they have a chance of getting to the ball but end up a yard behind him. Yes we lost a bit of focus, but even the last 15-20 mins after the goal were nowhere as nervy as could have been expected. Didn't panic, took control again, could and should have scored more. As evidence of our new-found 'squad depth', it was pretty convincing and massively encouraging. Of course, it wouldn't be the Moan Stand without some berk pontificating about how rubbish it was, and how you could see why 'they' never got picked for the first team.

It is only in the context of interfering with play when offside, not a foul

Schmeichel tried the same tricks in the quarters - and was allowed to by the Ref. And he still lost as well. Also didn't like the way Kepa was allowed to wait for the next Chelsea pen taker to come up and toss them the ball. Could pass on some technical advice about Kellehers keeping (go low, left etc). Ref was weak.

Even more, Thiago, as befits a '2 passes ahead' visionary, made a point of congratulating Tsimikas. His covering challenge on Gilmour(?) was outstanding full back play and was why he didn't get a potentially dangerous shot away, allowing Allison to pick the ball up and set Mo off.

Like Jones a lot, as Klopp seems to, and don't really see why some here have decided he won't make it (OK, all caveated, nothing nasty). Thought he struggled last night, but we've all spoken about how difficult the midfield roles are in this team, and he had a debutant in front of him and a determined to be aggressive Robbo behind him, so fair dos - podibly felt the need to think more about what he was doing, as he is more naturally a forward looking player. (FWIW, I also thought Bobby was excellent until he tired, which he is now more won't to do)

Of course you can give a penalty - they just never do. There was an argument under less flexible advantage interpretations that you'd used your advantage when shooting, so the foul can't be given retrospectively, but that's no longer the case.

Looked on top of his game last night. Rarely stretched, but imperiously magnificent at all times.

That's as much re-inventing him - or his contribution - as the postings you're responding to. In the first instance, being picked mainly in the Cups means he will be playing 's***e' teams - that's just the nature of his squad role. And Leicester was hardly 'already-won' He is a second-stringer, of course he is - and I think given the nature of that role, he is pretty well doing at least what can be expected, probably more given the numbers being quoted. (Not you, but the revisionism elsewhere re his performance against us for Salzburg is massive - he was excellent that night, as was the lad now at Wolves. He's never looked as good for us, tbf)

Won't that return be tight in case of ET?

Got 2 of 2 - applied for together (which, tbh, I thought was pretty clearly explained in the ballot process) - suited me as neither me nor my lad would be going on our own, and getting only 1 of 2 for Kiev was painful. So - away day travel plans. Can't wait. Used to have all sorts of hacks for Wembley - park at Stanmore, Ickenham (got back home about 9:30 after the Sunderland final), Watford etc., but just can't be arsed messing about any more, so have booked to park at Wembley itself last 4 times; only a nightmare once, but that was getting away after the City game, the last one, so hope its better this time.

Been pointed out that City have noone above 7th left to play away - but a lot of their few dropped points in recent years have been quite unexpected - Norwich away, Wolves at home, Palace etc. Not giving up yet, we dropped 7 points in 3 games, not impossible they could have a blip yet - and I still fancy us to finish strongly. Unlikely, I know.

Really comfortable with that today, bar a freaky 10 minutes first half when we went crazy. We didn't have the searing pace we normally display, for obvious reasons, but were generally professional and patient. Brentford are clearly well coached and got even more blocks and last tackles in tha Arsenal, yet we still scored 3, hit the post and forced 3 excellent saves. Wouldn't call it scrappy or hard grafting - we did what we had to, and did it, for the most part, OK. Much better than Thursday. Thought Henderson was more dynamic than in a while, Robbo really effective and Jones tricky and creative (also realised who his build and quick footed style and control reminded me of - Peter Cormack, for any arlarses?). Rather enjoyed it, tbh, and rarely unduly concerned, and enjoyed some of what we did. Twitter Reds, and no doubt some match threaders here, probably disagree. Oh and Joel Matip was the best player on the pitch, magnificent in everything he did. He will score a goal for the ages soon.

My worry with Robertson is that he always now seems to position his body to receive the ball to take a touch and look/pass inside - rarely does he look to push it in front of himself and bomb at the defender or space behind them; probably a confidence thing, maybe related to how poor his crossing has been, or was last night at least. Re Minamino - I thought he was the least bad of the 3 forwards, and the 2 crosses/cross-shots he had were our most dangerous moments other than his miss (and at least he was in the right place to miss it, yada, yada...). But not a high bar, agreed Trent gets a post-Covid free pass - he took a while to get his form back last time he had it - but Neco Williams offered more in his 20 minutes, which is not the way the world is supposed to work.

That was rubbish last night, for sure, but feel some takes on here are overreaching. Of course we missed Salah and Mane - who wouldn't - but when we lost 2 of the 3 against Barcelona, the replacements were Origi and Shaqiri, so not clear we were in a better position then in terms of squad depth. As often with 10 men, the opposition can focus on low-block, resilient defence. Their commitment to that is no indicator of them 'wanting it more'. They had one job, and did it well. Whilst the 3 at Afcon would have given us better options for breaking them down, the 3 we had up front didn't shine by any means, but it was incredibly packed in their area and we didn't create anything for them. FWIW, I though Minamino did best of them, but that miss put a top hat on the evening. Yes the midfield was too ponderouis - Jones improved it, Ox as well to a lesser extent - but they are not really the engine of creativity in this team,and tbf, Robertson and Trent had the worst combined performance I've seen from our FB - plus an attempt at a World Record sequence (succersful, sadly) of genuinely terrible corners and free kicks. Matip was excellent btw. Anyway, Half Time, they still need to score and so come at us, we wont be as bad again. Up the Mighty Reds.

Away fans singing wool and lower league songs - maybe because they are wools and play in a lower league? Nothing malicious like Leicester, seemed to enjoy themselves, good turnout, so no problem for me. Ref was surprisingly good. Didn't play the usual underdog exemption rules - gave an early booking, good advantages, very quick to warn goalie about time wasting, so nipped potential shithousery in the bud. Liked some of the touches and signs of potential from the kids, with obvious caveats on youthful inexperience. In the main the clearly non-standard crowd didnt do anything too cringy that I saw - just plenty of kids thrilled to be there, majority by me seemed to be young girls who were absolutely loving it. So - pretty enjoyable match experience, tbh, if not obviously shared by some of the posters in the thread.

How did Madison not get a second yellow for sarcastically clapping in the Ref's face when he got booked after Naby megged him? Good job really, as it was his timewasting that gave us the time to equalize...

The penalty was another reason Saturday reminded me of the Southampton game about 4 years ago - piss-poor referee allowed extreme s***housery and lost his bottle (including a performative run to, in that case, Gabbiadini, but then not getting the necesdary card out). We got a penalty that day as well, but Forster was allowed to get in Milner's grill and intimidate him enough for him to miss. Ward-Prowse's contribution to that - he ran into the area as Milner was lining up to take it, took a swig from a bottle Forster had in the net and tossed it away as he ran back out, studiously ignoring the befuddled, hapless ref as he waved a yellow at him - was such blatant s***housery you had to admire it.

Truth is, Klopp was the one showing respect for AFCON by referring to it for the journo who said there were no more international breaks. Moreover, Klopp's words showed more understanding of nuance and irony in his second language than some professional wordsmiths appear to have in their own first language. Ironically.

As the QR Code thing works instead of NFC, surely that's not phone specific or linked in any way, so could be physically copied - to paper, any other phone - and would still work? I assume screenshotting or printing is disabled, but I doubt that's a huge barrier to the technically competent and committed.

A combination of that and the Porto players remarkable sensitivity to the force of gravity.

I suspect he is the very definition of a footballer's footballer. Not suggesting that fans can't judge quality, but there are plenty who don't really go for that kind of style and technical ability. But I can't believe there is a professional player, even the most dunderheaded, who doesn't look at what he does and think "f*** me, he's good. I wish I could do that"

That stat on MOTD was insane - iirc, in the premier league Arsenal had lost by 4 goals or more on only 10 occasions - 5 of which were against us; so 6 from 11 now.

Thought it more to lessen the chance of another sending off in a game of intensity. They need their best players available for the last 2 games in the group.

Taylor appears to be the top man now - didn't he have the Nations League final or something? Doesn't mean he is any good, of course, as we know. My dad just told me that Chelsea objected (unsuccessfully) to him reffing them (maybe Brentford last weekend? Didn't watch it anyway) after the game against us - the one where he wouldn't have given a clear penalty without VAR telling him to (and which made the sending off inevitable); and which decision, just before half time, was amazingly the last free kick we were given in the game despite a 45 minute, backs-to-the-wall rearguard defense by Chelsea

We did, but I think he was still - maybe wrongly - regarded as the second-stringer, to be played as a rotation option. Not sure we would ever go full playing the Under-18s in the Champion League - dead rubber or not. Presumably the CL doesn't have the same exemptions as the Premier League - eg youngsters - about who can play over and above those registered in the squad at the start? In which case, there will always be someone at least first team adjacent playing; an injury to Tsimikas or Origi, for example, would still be a blow to the squad. (BTW, I agree with the earlier post suggesting that we might see a better Origi this season, he has looked noticably sharper to me)