First things first. I wasn't happy with the starting line up. I'm a firm believer of never changing a winning team so when I saw that Jürgen had brought Henderson into the 11 and especially at the expense of Keita I was very disappointed. Gini has been excellent in the 6 for us and Keita has also been bossing games so why change it?
I was pleased with how we started the game. The first 20 minutes or so we were completely on top. I thought the football was good, possession play was good and we deservedly took the lead.
Leicester grew into the game after that and became the better team. That said, I was impressed with our shape and how well drilled we were. It's so refreshing to see a Liverpool team that I can now describe as 'solid'. For years we've been too weak and too feeble but I never felt like Leicester were going to trouble us despite them pressing and having a few half chances. You don't always need to have possession to control the game. The opposition can have as much of the ball as they like but it's irrelevant if they can't do anything with it. We were still in control and when Bobby made it 2-0 then I thought it was game over.
The second half we were on the ropes at times and a crazy mistake by alisson let them back into the game. He's lucky we won the match because if that mistake had cost us the points then he would have come in in for all kinds of criticism with huge pressure on his shoulders going into the next fixture at Spurs. I had enough of seeing Mignolet doing cruyff turns and silly sh*te like that so I don't want to see it again with Becker. Ridiculous thing to do. Learn from it and move on.
We held on with some last ditch tackling at times but yet again we showed a different side to us that we haven't seen for years. This team is full of grit and determination with leaders all over the pitch now. They were prepared to battle to get the 3 points so for that, they deserve a lot of credit. Apart from the first 20 minutes the football wasn't anywhere near our best but we dug in and showed a lot of team spirit to get the win. This is the type of game that a year or two ago we'd have drawn or even lost. This is also the type of game that city, Chelsea, united etc always seem to get over the line and hang on but we never could. Who knows, in a few months time we might be looking back on this game and realising how massive and significant the win was for us.
Want to give joe Gomez a mention who I think was immense. He's been immense every game so far in truth and he looks so comfortable next to VVD, it's like they've been playing for years. For me, he has cemented that position as his own now. I feel a lot more calm when he's in the team than I do with Lovren. In my opinion, yesterday is exactly the type of game where Lovren would lose concentration or flap under pressure. Gomez was brilliant and just like VVD, im struggling to see a weakness in his game.
Moving on to Henderson. Didn't want to bash anybody after a hard fought win but I thought he was dreadful once again and the team suffered because of him. With his sideways and backwards passing it allowed Leicester to push forward and press us and we struggled to get out of our half at times. I don't remember him doing anything good, I really don't. I can't remember one positive thing about him.
So henderson had a poor game himself and gini also had a poor game because he was taken out of the position and role he has flourished in recently. I thought that was a bizarre move by klopp. Gini has arguably been our best player so far this season playing as the 6 so why change it just to accomdate Jordan Henderson who isn't exactly a world beater is he? Gini has looked more comfortable in the 6 in these last few games than Jordan Henderson ever has! It just seemed madness to me why Jürgen would change that.
Gini is much better in possession than Henderson and he is much, much smarter on the ball and with his decision making and I thought that was evident yesterday. The difference was there to see.
It was also painfully obvious how much we missed Keita too. So was playing Henderson really necessary? No. Shouldn't have started and I don't want to see that midfield three line up for us again unless we have an injury crisis. So please Jürgen put Gini back as the 6 and get Keita back into the team.
Anyway, top of the f**king league. Well done reds.
« Last Edit: Sep 03, 2018 02:31:33 am by HamannsTheMan »
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