Barcelona 3-0 Liverpool: In game and Post Match discussion

Thinking about it, I'm no manager but you cannot play a midfielder as a false number 9 in a Champions League semifinal away to Barcelona. I understand Klopp likes a mobile front 3 but I would rather see Origi up there until Bobby came on. For that matter, I'd rather see Studge up there. At least they are strikers and know their way around. How many times has Gini played there for us?

Let's get some pride back and beat them at Anfield. And let's learn from the experience.

EDIT: Messi was unplayable on times tonight.

Why is a club this size not able to field a decent back up option though? Origi and Sturridge are poor options and they must be moved on.

After watching that I just feel the club has got some sort of curse on it at the moment.   How the hell do you lose a game like that.  We dominated them in their back garden.  This Barca we had the possession, we had the chances but the result says something completely the opposite.  The tie is over we need a miracle.  I can see us winning them even hammering them at home, but 4-1 isn't even enough.

My thoughts.

As good as that free kick was, I have to agree with Macca - it really shouldn't be going in from 35 yards.

Gomez should not have played the full 90

I think losing Keita affected us a bit more than we first thought.

Typical that that's the best I've seen Messi play for years.

We missed Bobby's energy and with Gini upfront, it was like 10 men at times.

That miss will haunt Salah for a bit.

Gutted. We were 1-0 down and well on top and then BAM! Tie over.

Also think that was a penalty on Mane early doors.

Still, win the second leg and get something out of the tie. Score early and who knows.

Gutted gutted gutted.

LFC thread here so don't really wanna speak about Messi, but he was anonymous for large periods and only turned it on occasionally, I have seen him score 3-4 goals on many occasions, and play much better than he did tonight, best player ever for me.

At least we put up a fight unlike the Mancs.
Test of our mental strength now, see how we react vs Newcastle.

Hard to take that, didn’t deserve to lose by that margin.

But, at this level, you can’t waste the Mané, Salah, Milner chances that we had tonight and expect to come away smiling.

And then Messi free kick was just salt in the wounds, the man is a freak. 

Oh You mean Mane's Hendo tribute, Milners shot straight at the keeper or the Salah shot against the post?

The chances were still there though and they were clear cut

Thinking about it, I'm no manager but you cannot play a midfielder as a false number 9 in a Champions League semifinal away to Barcelona. I understand Klopp likes a mobile front 3 but I would rather see Origi up there until Bobby came on. For that matter, I'd rather see Studge up there. At least they are strikers and know their way around. How many times has Gini played there for us?

Let's get some pride back and beat them at Anfield. And let's learn from the experience.

EDIT: Messi was unplayable on times tonight.

Sturridge looked lost against Huddersfields defence at the weekend how do you think he would have fared tonight?

And Origi is just plain awful.

LFC thread here so don't really wanna speak about Messi, but he was anonymous for large periods and only turned it on occasionally, I have seen him score 3-4 goals on many occasions, and play much better than he did tonight, best player ever for me.

Blame bt especially with that messi's been quiet sh*t

F**ker'll overhead kick on the way down the stairs. Some free kick I have to say. (Would like to see that foul again though - looked like Lionel fouled Fab more than the other way round.)

Agree on the foul, maybe Fab should have rolled off the pitch just to exaggerate it a tad

In hindsight Gomez over TAA was a huge mistake by Klopp and so was Gini as a false 9 for so long.

Gomez mispassed a few time from the 70th min mark and one led to the goal. Yes, TAA may have made the difference with his crosses. I think Klopp tried to play Wijnaldum through the middle as Ginny has the capability to bulldoze through defence but he bottled it big time, as usual in big games.

We probably need a world class game changer midfield cum striker player next season. Every winning team has one, we don;t, that;s probably the difference. In the return game we need a much more robust midfield. Fab is out for me, too slow and doesn't mark his man tightly while he doesn't have the speed. When we committed so many players upfield risking our defence, we need to make the most of it but sadly no, we didn;t.

F**ker'll overhead kick on the way down the stairs. Some free kick I have to say. (Would like to see that foul again though - looked like Lionel fouled Fab more than the other way round.)

Thought the free kick was a cracker too, not Alissons fault for me.
We knew before the game Messi was the one to watch, but he showed why he is the best player in the world  [ever imho]

Gutted.

Simply because we weren't 3 goals worse than them.

But you've got to finish chances at this stage and we didn't do that.

Yep,As gutting and imho underserved scoreline you have to take your chances at this level  and we didn’t ,the Salah chance and the mane one where bad misses but I’m still extremely proud of that performance tonight and it may be a monumental task ahead next Tuesday but still 90 minutes away from a European cup final & I’ll never right this team of ours off.
Oh and as for Suarez what a reprehensible individual he is ,will never call him a legend for us because he has no class and I doubt he’ll play in the return leg as he is on a booking.
We go again on Saturday

Thinking about it, I'm no manager but you cannot play a midfielder as a false number 9 in a Champions League semifinal away to Barcelona. I understand Klopp likes a mobile front 3 but I would rather see Origi up there until Bobby came on. For that matter, I'd rather see Studge up there. At least they are strikers and know their way around. How many times has Gini played there for us?

Let's get some pride back and beat them at Anfield. And let's learn from the experience.

EDIT: Messi was unplayable on times tonight.

The point being though for the way the manager likes to play neither Origi or Sturridge are suited as the 9, it's why Origi plays wide when he comes on and Sturridge has hardly had a look in.
Our '9' has to be able to control, hold and distribute.. Gini is more adept at that than either of those two

I was surprised Mane didn't get the nod as the 9 with possibly Divock left but I think the plan was to try to keep possession in their final third rather than be in ours where Messi can do his stuff

With Divock and Sturridge the ball retention would have been near on zero not allowing us control

I think what tonight has shown us is that the squad is still in a building process and we aren't a finished product
Which for me highlights even further the manager's achievements with this group of players

Why is a club this size not able to field a decent back up option though? Origi and Sturridge are poor options and they must be moved on.

We should have shipped Sturridge out two seasons ago and replaced him with a good striker.

Can't believe we lost that game 3 nil. We were the better team for large periods and had three boss chances. This tie is not over we can beat these 3 nil and go to extra time an pens. They were happy at one nil and took off coitinho to shore up the defence. Keep the faith YNWA

Sturridge looked lost against Huddersfields defence at the weekend how do you think he would have fared tonight?

Perhaps he'd have been terrible. Perhaps he'd have scored.

We'll never know.

And Origi is just plain awful.

Yet put himself about when he came on and arguably did as much as Gini did for the entire time he was on.

Once again Gini did his impression of the invisible man. The boss made a huge mistake with his selection of the team, and as for his timing of the substitutes, it was awful.  Firmino was ready to come on long before the second goal went in. Not one of the better nights for the boss.

Think your being unfair to both Gini & Jürgen, hindsight is a wonderful thing isn't it ?
Gini as a false 9 was and is a one off, Klopp played him there because he was better equipped  for this particular tie, had we been 2 or 3 up we wouldn't have seen Bobby at all, Klopp throw him n as a last desperate measure to get a goal, Gini has pace, his ability to break up play up front and link up with Mane & Salah and for balance is why Gini played there, so get off his back,
If you want to have a pop, have a go at Mane Milner & Mo for missing 3 golden opportunities to take the tie beyond Barca.

Why is a club this size not able to field a decent back up option though? Origi and Sturridge are poor options and they must be moved on.

Don't think the lack of back up was really the problem. Jürgen could've played Mo up front and Milner (or Shaq) out wide. He made a tactical choice to go for the most hard pressing CF option he could think of. I don't think it entirely worked myself (although it wasn't too bad - since we still created a fair bit), but I think it was more a tactical choice than a lack of options.

Well M&S didn't deliver tonight, and a spot of S&M punished us big time, WE GO AGAIN!

Origi and sturridge are not good enough. Lovren and moreno can go too and lallana who never fit now

Agreed on all.

If we can sign de Ligt there is no place for Lovren even on the bench.

Klopp might keep him here though just to keep his bezzie Mo happy.

Thought the free kick was a cracker too, not Alissons fault for me.
We knew before the game Messi was the one to watch, but he showed why he is the best player in the world  [ever imho]

He done next to nothing all game, we had kept him quiet and everything he tried was easily dealt with. But he was in the right place at the right time for his first goal and then his 2nd, well there’s nothing to say, sometimes you just have to tip your hat and accept the brilliance.

It’s funny because just before that, he took a free kick and they ended up going all the way back to the keeper, I was thinking to myself that we’ve got them here and we were going to snatch something. Then he does that.

We outplayed the cu*ts at their gaff..we ll F***ing hammer them at ours....I hope

A bridge too far 

G'night Reds

EDIT: One last thing, if ever a scoreline flattered a team, it was tonight's.