sh*te. Embarrassed with that gutless performance tonight. We sh*t ourselves.
I’ll start with the line up. I’ve been saying for several weeks on here that the partnership of kabak and Phillips was always going to be exposed against top opposition. It was just a matter of time. We played arsenal off the pitch a few days ago but neither of them were tested in any way, just like they weren’t against wolves either. Those two clean sheets have gone against us tonight because it made klopp persist with them but this match was far too big for both.
I also couldn’t believe keita started. I’m a big fan of naby but he’s barely played all season so why throw him in for our biggest match of the season? He was bound to be rusty and off the pace and it showed. Thiago has his critics (never understood why personally) but if you want him to play one game this season then it was F***ing tonight where we need to keep the ball.
So the game starts and we just look like amateurs. We were scared. We couldn’t put three passes together. Although Madrid were confident and playing well, we made it far too easy for them.
We go in at half time 2-0 down and both goals were just a joke. Had Fabinho played in the back four then I’m convinced we don’t concede either of those. The first one was just a simple ball played down the middle where Phillips was all over the place (Fabinho would have dealt with that) and the second was a complete mess by Trent who was in two minds what to do - had fabinho been next to him then I think he would have gave him a shout to get rid or even recovered the mess he made.
Although kabak wasn’t directly involved for either goal (could argue his positioning was poor for their first goal), he too was all over the place and looked out of his depth. He made a couple of recoveries to be fair to him which I’ve seen him do a few times this season, but it’s usually his fault for why he has to make a recovery in the bloody first place. He reminds me of an even shi**er version of Dejan lovren.
I know we’re stuck with these two for now but if anybody thinks they can do a job or wants to see them paired against a top team ever again then they’re F***ing deluded. They got exposed massively tonight.
They weren’t the only two who were awful tonight. Gini in the first half was shockingly poor and keita was even worse. I hope that decision to sub him was tactical because I’d have dragged him off the pitch 20minutes earlier! As stated though he should never have even started. Front three weren't in the game at all either.
Second half starts and we come out with some intent and look a different team. Gini improved massively and I thought Thiago made a difference too, we were a lot better on the ball. The front three started to involve themselves and we got a well deserved goal back.
I thought we would push on from there but we just went back into our shell and conceded another proper soft goal. Kabak was slow getting out to Modric and Phillips wasn’t tight to his man who then bagged. Again, if Fabinho was in the back four then we don’t concede there.
We started to look a bit better towards the end but no player grabbed the game by the scruff and nobody wanted to take responsibility to get us back into it. All just passing sideways shitting themselves basically. Mane in particular was F***ing awful and it’s like he’s wearing a pair of steel toe caps instead of footy boots.
Only positives we can take from tonight are we got an away goal so the full time result is a better one than the half time one. And, it could have been a lot worse. I think Madrid could have won that game by 3, 4 or 5 and we’d have no real complaints.
We can turn 3-1 around but it’s an absolute must that Fabinho plays in the back four next week. If we go with kabak and Phillips then I’ll bet my house on it that Madrid score and the tie will be over.
Very poor night for us this.
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