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.
Watched the game last night and while Roma's high press seemed to be working for the first twenty odd minutes or so they never looked like scoring, bar the shot that Karius let through his hands that luckily rebounded off the crossbar. Mane had a couple of good chances and then we suddenly started to open them up at will. Queue Mo Salah and that was that. An absolutely stunning finish for the first and then Firmino weaving his infinite magic to set Salah up for his now trademark 'dink' over Allison for the second. Roma looked really uncomfortable playing that system and i don't know if any of you noticed but they were all starting to argue with each other as indiscipline started to set in as we ripped them to shreds.
Before we knew it we were 5-0 up and as far as i was concerned the game was dead and buried, but then it happened. It had nothing to do with the Salah substitution for me, it was down to poor defending again from Lovren. Up until that error we had shut them down totally, once that error occurred we gave them hope where before there was none. I've had quite a laugh recently with all the blind defending of Lovren, who is clearly an inept central defender and i have also rightly taken some stick for singling him out for some terrible defending. I was going to construct a topic just on Lovren recently but i can't change the opinions (and rightly so) of some of our base, they think he is quality, as much as i disagree. The reason i never constructed that topic was after the second leg of the semi final against City when many of our base gave him the man of the match when he never made a single tackle, not one tackle (please check the Opta stats for clarification). Therein lies the case for the blind defence of an incapable central defender, i can't debate that.
I don't look for Lovren to make mistakes but i do analyse his game more than any other defenders when i'm watching, it used to be Moreno but we solved that problem with the arrival of Robertson, Arnold is turning into a beast and van Dijk is masking so many issues with his class that the limelight has been taken of Lovren's inability to defend properly. Last night was another mistake highlighted by his lack of depth perception, his inability to gauge the speed, flight and trajectory of the ball made him look like a fool again. That single moment of stupidity gave Roma a sniff that they didn't think they'd get.
The second goal was just pure bad luck. That was not a penalty, Milner legitimately tried to block the shot and it hit his arm, the shot was hit so hard there was no way he could have got his arm out of the way, a bad decision but one we have to take. We held out at the end and we take a 3 goal lead (technically a 2 goal lead when applying the away goal rule and the possible variables involved) to Rome for the return leg. All in all a brilliant night and definitely a cause for celebrating rather than lamenting.
What Klopp has achieved with this Squad is nothing short of miraculous, we have absolutely no depth at all which is what makes what we have achieved thus far so special. For those lamenting Klopp's decision to take off Salah it is not his fault that the only options he has are Ings and Solanke, that is the fault of FSG. I don't blame Klopp for picking Lovren, he is the best of a bad bunch, not his fault, the fault of the owners. Quite how the f**k any of these players haven't burned out is beyond me.
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 -
Pessimists - Rather than celebrate and focus on the fact we scored five goals in a Champions League semi final they will hone all their focus on the fact we conceded 2 away goals.
Optimists - Rather than accept the fact that Roma have not conceded a goal at home in the Champions League and turned over Barcelona 3-0 in their quarter final on the away goal rule they will dismiss this possibility against all sound reasoning and are convinced we are through to the final despite the fact we have another 90 / 120 minutes to play in the tie.
Realists - They will accept that our style of football comes at a cost sometimes (sometimes down to bad luck and sometimes down to bad decision making or defending). They will accept that some of our players are just not good enough and that it is not down to the manager, it is down to the Squad he has been allowed to build under direction of the owners. They will also never assume that this tie is done, assumption as we all know is the mother of all f**k ups.
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.
Like Gerrard said last night, get a goalkeeper, top quality centre back and a top class back up for the front three and we are there.
« Last Edit: Apr 25, 2018 05:14:51 pm by hardcoresoldier »
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