WOW! What a f**king game!
I've always been an advocate of playing the first leg of any knockout tie away, i think most people would agree with that assertion as you've always got the opportunity to rectify any issues in the return leg with the bonus of home advantage. Klopp has changed my outlook on this view, i feel that when you are home in the first leg the pressure is greater to get a good result as it is harder to get away results, especially in the European Cup. I was gutted when we had both first leg ties at home in the quarter and semi finals but Klopp has shown with his 'destroy everything' attitude that maybe it isn't such a great determiner after all. Instead of the onus being on us his style of football is throwing the onus onto the opposition. I love what Klopp is doing here and he is changing my outlook on the way i view various aspects of this beautiful game.
We now have taken a 3 goal advantage to both away legs and considering the opposition that is some feat. We are ripping them apart in the first legs and then saying 'come at us' in the return legs. We are dominating from the outset and stamping our mark.
This was our bench for a Champions League semi final - Mignolet, Klavan, Moreno, Clyne, Wijnaldum, Solanke & Ings, that is absolutely shocking, not Klopp's fault, the fault of the owners.
There are three types of supporters at our Club -
I am in complete understanding of all the above viewpoints and everyone is entitled to that. All in all for me i just think that where we are with what we have is an incredible achievement. I have total belief that we will win the Champions League this Season. Give Klopp what he wants and he will deliver the Title, i have absolutely no doubt of that whatsoever, now that is realism.
All in all i am delighted with the result last night, barring the defensive error and the bad luck for the penalty (which never was) then the performance was nearly perfect. I believe that the result will now force Roma out of their block in Rome and we will be ready to kill, i think they will play into our hands and we will be ready for them. In the same breath i am not arrogant enough to convince myself this tie is over, it is far from over. Once we get the away goal, that is when that optimism and pessimism becomes reality.
Detailed post with some good points, but also with material to debate.
We might need more than one away goal out there. We certainly will need more to feel that the job has been done. They will have to have a go at us, but if that results in a goal, what then? Will we stand up and be counted like at City, or wilt as at the toilet, Spurs, and Seville? Suddenly that 3 goal lead isn't all that secure. It could be gone by half time if the latter happens.
I said before, the penalty was the correct decision. I will agree that Milner was unlucky, but by the letter of the law, it's a pen unfortunately.
I don't agree that the depth of the squad is exclusively the owners responsibility. Klopp has had 2 years to sign his own players, and doesn't sign as much as he could. Partly by choice, partly by circumstance. We bought 5 players this year, breaking our transfer record 3 times, not the 10 players I said we needed. We send a lot of players out on loan, some to get experience, others because Klopp just doesn't want them. We still had the time to adequately upgrade in January after the sale, we didnt do it, even though we had a fair idea how demanding the schedule would be. It's too late now to complain how threadbare the squad is, we have what we have, so we have to make the best of it. He made the decision to take off Salah last night, not FSG, and it didnt work. Ings has taken a lot of stick, the man who has come back from 2 long term injuries, but it's hard to score goals if you don't get service. And he didn't get any. All attacking stopped once Salah was replaced. That's also not the owners fault.
I always want the second leg at home, for the reasons you outlined. That doesn't change because of results this year. I don't think we would have made the UEFA Cup final if we had to travel to Dortmund or Villarreal second and get a result. But we had the second legs at home and could celebrate winning the ties in front of our own fans. We can't do that next week, we won't have the crowd behind us, we are going to have to deal with pressure, and we are going to be tested. It's a huge pitch there as well as an intimidating atmosphere, and I don't know how the players will cope under the pressure. It's a new experience for most of them. Losing a 5-0 lead looks impossible but anything could still happen, so there's still a job to do.
« Last Edit: Apr 25, 2018 08:44:47 pm by lfc across the water »
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