Everton 0-0 Liverpool: In game and Post Match discussion

Yes. Look at the pace of the game when the substitution was made. Lallana's legs have gone. He couldn't keep up with the pace at the best of times let alone the frenetic pace of the game when he was subbed on. Keita's pace and Shaq's movement both would have given them something to worry about. Like you say, we'll never know but I think it's fair to say Klopp played for a draw with that sub, rather than go balls out for the win.

Don't see you in here very often when we win.

Funny that.

I won't say anything about our title chances in case some feel the need to call me a less than stellar fan. I'll just concentrate on the match. We bottled it. We absolutely bottled it 100%.

Not being able to trap the ball? Bottle. Not being able to play a forward 5' pass (Mane to Salah)? Bottle. Not being able to finish two or three great chances (Salah)? Bottle. Not being able to cross a simple ball (Salah) to a player in space in the 18-yard area (Milner)? Klopp also mystified me. Bringing Milner on (who did nothing) when it should have been Keita (who has been playing well) was strange. And then still refusing to bring him on and bringing on Lallana instead - that's stranger. If the guy wasn't fit enough to play at least 15 minutes, what is he doing on the bench? Klopp got it wrong today. 

Back to the bottle. I think it's bottle because mistakes once or twice a match, you could put down to nobody is perfect and mistakes will happen. But it was all game. It's nerves. It's to be expected. But you have to manage those nerves, compose yourself, stand up and be counted. We didn't.

We have just drawn four of our last six league games. That's 14 points dropped. That doesn't win you league titles. The fact we have only conceded 15 goals all season tells me the problem is our attack.

Mane and Salah were terrible and apart from the odd wonder goal here and there, they have been struggling for a while. Firmino did more when he came on than the pair of them together. Something is not right and it is costing up BIG time. Trouble is, I still don't fancy Studge or Origi either.

It is now out of our hands. We are now hoping City will drop points. And it is sickening because we should have gone 7 points clear against Leicester - but exactly 31 days later, we find ourselves 1 point behind. That's messing things up on a scale I've rarely seen before.

There is a big difference not being happy which right now we are all annoyed between some of the stuff being aimed at the manager and players - people calling Klopp a bottle job etc etc - it’s pathetic but I guess it’s part a d parcel of being an internet fan

He bottled it with those subs, why is it hard to understand? We should have gone for the win instead we subbed like for like players to make sure we didn't become vulnerable on the break.

Is Lallana coming on instead of Shaqiri/Keita not bottling it? Is Milner coming on for Gini not bottling it, we need a win, bring on attacking players.

Nah we bottled it. We did. Only reason people were questioning us was because of what they were seeing.

I'm seeing a well off form Firmino and Salah and a midfield who haven't got a goal in them to make amends.

If we were 20 points behind City we'd be playing better right now. The only glimmer of hope is that we are bottlers and were not comfortable being ahead. Perhaps being second favourites suits us more, but that's not a great thing to have in your teams makeup.

You and along with you plenty others, and I must have a very different definition of bottling something.

"bottle it"

"When you're on the verge of doing something awesome but back out at the last second or fail to accomplish your objectives due to cowardice."

It's a team sport. There are eleven players out on that pitch. We didn't back out of anything and I sure as hell didn't see any cowardice tonight. Was the quality we needed there? No, we weren't at our best, far from it.

There are 9 games left to go. We're nowhere near the end of the season yet and there's only one point separating City and us.

Feel free to call us bottlers if we F**k it up when having a chance to win the league during the last game. Not when there's still a fourth of the season left to play.

Yes. Look at the pace of the game when the substitution was made. Lallana's legs have gone. He couldn't keep up with the pace at the best of times let alone the frenetic pace of the game when he was subbed on. Keita's pace and Shaq's movement both would have given them something to worry about. Like you say, we'll never know but I think it's fair to say Klopp played for a draw with that sub, rather than go balls out for the win.

Not sure if anything It was when Gini came off that Keita or Shaq could have come on tbh. I wouldn't have took Mane off at all tbf but Lallana was not the reason we did not win that much I do know

The angle Salah took on his run for the shot gave him such little margin for error. Wish he would have went more central, even with the defender coming at him he would’ve had time. However, I say this having watched the replay in slow mo from my couch

Yes we want to win the league and still can, but I still believe we should have been more serious in the cups, not putting all our eggs in one basket, win a cup any cup, get that winning mentality.

The best team wins the league, three 0-0 is not helpful, and I would suggest that the expectation is weighing heavy.

‘City won’t drop 3 points’. You honestly think it’s out the realms of possibility of them losing a game?

I think nerves got to us badly over the latest run of form, but the title isn’t gone. We need to hang in there and hope for a slip up, just like City have with us.

I think a good number of us (not talking about you) are making this sh*t that City won't drop a single point as biblical truth. They're so dead sure that I'd like to ask them for some leads in which is the next best bet.

There is a big difference not being happy which right now we are all annoyed between some of the stuff being aimed at the manager and players - people calling Klopp a bottle job etc etc - it’s pathetic but I guess it’s part a d parcel of being an internet fan

"Internet fan"? F**k me dude, you really need to get a grip. Us "internet fans" have been supporting the club since many years.  That is downright disrespectful. Just having different way of looking at things, not being a F***ing "all is well" guy, does not make you any less of a fan.

I think a good number of us (not talking about you) are making this sh*t that City won't drop a single point as biblical truth. They're so dead sure that I'd like to ask them for some leads in which is the next best bet.

De Bruyne and Fernandinho out for them now.

Arguably their 2 most influential players.

It would not even matter if city dropped points which I cant see happening cos we would do the same after cos we wouldn't be able to cope with the pressure. Leicester West ham man united and Everton we have played well under par in everyone of those games. This is the stage of the season we need to be playing well and going for the jugular from. Minute 1 in every game. But we're slow tentative and looking afraid to lose

Well, we actually have more away points than City. But please don't let any facts get in the way of your mental breakdown.

We’ve only won 1 away game this year in all competitions. I don’t know what you call that but I call that awful

Some people here are just deluded. As soon as anybody criticizes the manager or the team in general, they label that person crazy or disgraceful.

Same problems have been plaguing the team for more than 7 or 8 games now with nothing changing and when the first critical comments were made we were 5 points ahead at the top and no bad comment was accepted because we were ''still this or that many points ahead''.

Reading some of the comments here you'd swear were still top of the league and have been playing the best games ever and all that is just a dream. The other half of the ''you're just a fake fan for criticizing'' group on here are worse than 12 yo kids who played more FIFA than they've watched football in their lives and pin ever bad performance on any of the three guys up front while the problem is clearly not there.

Disappointing result but a draw is by far the most usual result between us and Blueshite. Just one of those days where the front three didn't quite click again and all the chances fell to the wrong people, including Salah who's from really is becoming a bit of a concern, compared to last season, As someone said in commentary both his 2 big chances would have been buried last season either by chipping the keeper or blasting the ball in the near post.

Anyway that is our two horrible away games out of the way and we gained 2 points, all the rest of our games are winnable, lets see how Citeh react as the new front runners, by a mighty point!

I think we can and will win the rest of our games, lets see if Citeh do.

One way to look at it - this would feel a lot worse with say 1 or 2 games to go.

At least there’s a fair few matches to play

Yeah, I think the idea that this was going to be easy were always optimistic. There were people on here before the game saying we would win the last 10 games to take the league etc.

Truth is it was always going to get nervy. We were always going to drop points, and we will drop a few more. But City are also going to get nervous, and will also drop a few. We need to hold it together, keep close to them, and they will feel the pressure too.

As you say, there is still plenty of points to win ( and lose). It is better to have a shaky spell ( which we were always likely to have at some point) at this stage rather than in April - May. We were poor today in the second half, and we've been poorish in 2019 in general. But we are still very much in the race. We need to really dig deep and fight hard to stay in it. If we do, we will probably get a chance to go back top somewhere between now and May. Not going to be easy, but it never was likely to be.

He bottled it with those subs, why is it hard to understand? We should have gone for the win instead we subbed like for like players to make sure we didn't become vulnerable on the break.

Is Lallana coming on instead of Shaqiri/Keita not bottling it? Is Milner coming on for Gini not bottling it, we need a win, bring on attacking players.

Stop talking sh*te he didn’t bottle it at all -

Shaqiri has been poor for a while , came on a few times recently and did nothing

Keita has had a poor season where as Milner played superb on Wednesday and Firmino was superb before he got injured

He tried some subs - it’s not bottle and talk of it is disrespectful

we should have gone 7 points clear

We should have won every single game not just 7 points. In fact, we should not have saved game. We should have reloaded and replayed till we won. Only then save game.

‘City won’t drop 3 points’. You honestly think it’s out the realms of possibility of them losing a game?

I think nerves got to us badly over the latest run of form, but the title isn’t gone. We need to hang in there and hope for a slip up, just like City have with us.

EDIT: City have Fernandinho, KDB and Stones our injured too at the moment I think as well.

We’ve blown a great opportunity to control the title race, for sure, but claiming it’s all over with 9 games to go is simply wrong.

Watford
Fulham
Cardiff
Palace
Spurs
United
Burnley
Leicester
Brighton

That's City's remaining fixtures. United may hold them to a draw but without a better goal difference equal points is worth nothing. Other than that, can you point to me where you think they might drop another point? Spurs? They've a terrible record against the top six. So yes, I truly believe the title is now theirs. That does not mean I want it to be theirs. I does not mean I won't be happy as larry to be wrong. It just means that I doubt very much there is enough games left for them to drop enough points for us to win the title. But at the same time, even if they do drop enough points and even if we do go on to lift the title, it does not excuse what happened here today, nor is it justification to tell me to go support another club simply for having an opinion.

We’ve only won 1 away game this year in all competitions. I don’t know what you call that but I call that awful

Yeah, and we played 5. 3 of them our biggest rivals. Still got more away points than City.

You and along with you plenty others, and I must have a very different definition of bottling something.

"bottle it"

"When you're on the verge of doing something awesome but back out at the last second or fail to accomplish your objectives due to cowardice."

It's a team sport. There are eleven players out on that pitch. We didn't back out of anything and I sure as hell didn't see any cowardice tonight. Was the quality we needed there? No, we weren't at our best, far from it.

There are 9 games left to go. We're nowhere near the end of the season yet and there's only one point separating City and us.

Feel free to call us bottlers if we F**k it up when having a chance to win the league during the last game. Not when there's still a fourth of the season left to play.

Lost a lot of finals and now blew a sizeable lead. There's more evidence to suggest that this team for whatever reason can't handle being on the verge of greatness.

Nerves certainly take hold you can see it with the final pass or the final shot.

We bottled it, but you are right it was very early on, I think when Newcastle beat City and expectation really kicked in was where our game went to pieces.

I see one man out there who's kept his performances high and that's VVD. What a player by the way! His looks at his team mates the last few games have told the story.

Bringing on lallana at that stage was like asking me to run the last leg of the 4 x 100 relay.

Asking you to run the last leg of the 4 x 100 relay a good or bad thing though?!

Stop talking sh*te he didn’t bottle it at all -

Shaqiri has been poor for a while , came on a few times recently and did nothing

Keita has had a poor season where as Milner played superb on Wednesday and Firmino was superb before he got injured

He tried some subs - it’s not bottle and talk of it is disrespectful

Lallana, trying to justify your own performance eh?