Very good performance and we dominated the whole game. Once you score an early goal then you are in complete control in a fixture like this. WBA still didn't come out or have a go and they were still relying on set pieces. I feel sorry for their fans, it must be horrible having Pulis as a manager. Surely you would prefer to go down by playing football and having a go rather than staying up every season finishing 13th or 14th and watching that sh*te every week. But enough about them, we were a lot more crisp on Saturday than we were on Monday, a lot more movement, better passing, more effort, sharper, winning every 50-50, every second ball. We were very good. Well done Klopp and the boys, another fine performance/result.
Karius - Probably the only weak link on Saturday. He had very little to do but when he was called upon he made a mess of things. He looks short of confidence. I can't believe Im saying this but Id consider putting Mignolet back in for the time being. I think its only a matter of time before Karius costs us dearly.
Clyne - Much, much better. You can always rely on him to defend well but he pushed forward a lot more and delivered some great crosses into the box. He had a good game.
Matip - Signing of the summer. He wins everything. Reminds me so much of Sami. Big, strong, reads the game well.
Lovren - You don't even notice Lovren as much now that Matip is in there. Because Matip dominates and wins everything the other centre half can go on a weeks holiday if they wanted. Lovren was fine though, no mistakes, did nothing wrong, played well.
Milner - I thought we would need some natural width in this game and if WBA got a point or even worse got a win then I imagined Milner in particular would get a lot of stick from us. I thought he contributed to our attack quite well though - the early goal obviously helped and settled us, we could control the game from thereon.
Can - He was better than he was on Monday but he still looks a mile off the pace which is perhaps understandable. He missed a couple of great chances which could have wrapped the game up too.
Henderson - Although he wasn't absolutely super-star like amazing, he played well and I've been very impressed with Hendo so far this season. He looks like he has matured. What I mean by that is, he is starting to take responsibility now and control the pace of the game. He is starting to dominate the midfield and playing in a deeper role suits him. He is nowhere near the finished/complete player yet but he has improved and he is starting to give consistent performances. Last season I thought it was a joke he was our skipper but at the moment I can't imagine anyone else wearing the armband. Keep it up.
Lallana - He is another one who has come on a lot. You could see the difference when he came on against United on Monday and you could see the difference when he was in our starting 11 on Saturday too. His movement and pressing at times is a joy to watch. We are a better side with Lallana in it.
Coutinho - motm by a clear mile, he completely ran the game. Our first goal all came down to his dummy which gave us a 3 on 3 attack v defence. His goal was brilliant too. He set up 2 maybe 3 golden opportunities, put them on a plate to be finished, but we didn't take our chances. It could have been 4 or 5 and Coutinho would have been involved in all of them. I thought he was fantastic.
Mane - I don't think he was as electric as he was earlier on in the season but again another decent performance and he offers us something different. Like Lallana, we are a better side with Mane in it and we may struggle if he picks up a knock. Great finish for his goal.
Firmino - Lead the line well, worked hard, involved himself in our play. I prefer him to play on the left and believe that's his best position but he had another good game on Saturday.
I'd have liked to have given Danny some minutes because he is obviously short on confidence at the moment. We need to sort these set pieces out at the back too, we've been cursed with this for years. Towards the end of the game I had that familiar feeling of we are going to concede another and throw this away. Top performance though, well played reds.
Im 28 years old, and in my lifetime I have only ever thought we were going to win the league twice. The first time was when we went to Spurs a couple of seasons ago, it was start of December I think. We won 5-0 (it was the game Flanno scored a belter). As soon as the referee blew up I said we are going to win the league. Ok, we never did, we finished second but it went down to the last game of the season and that's the closest we've ever come in my lifetime.
The second time I've felt like that was after WBA on Saturday. We are going to win that title this season.
« Last Edit: Oct 24, 2016 10:19:00 am by HamannsTheMan »
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