Saw the whole game again, and im so delighted for Ali and us that we got the three points.
We controlled the game, and should have scored more goals. Thiago and Taa were the outstanding players, even tho i gave my motm to Ali.
I feel bad for saying this but we cant play Williams next game, we cant have this pairing of cb and expect us to hold a clean sheet.
I noticed that specially in first half, Williams wasnt challenging in the air outside of our box, which ended with Nat going for them. I dont know if it was planned nor the reason for it. But when nat missed those, he was caught out of position.
He was overloaded and to me it looked like that he was burdening williams responsibility too.
Williams was much better in the second.
If i was jk and no other cb was available, id play fab with Nat. Not where i wakt him, but it cant be this pairing again.
Feel bad pointing out a young lad, but the next games are must win to save this season.
It was Williams that was overloaded for their goal today, he's marking his fella, Phillips is zonal marking in the RCB slot, Fabinho comes for a header and fails to get there so their fella gets a flick-on, Phillips is ballwatching as per usual and doesn't notice Robson-Kanu who makes a clever run down the back of Rhys, Phillips is too far to the right and can't react in time, neither can Robbo who is probably too far forward but maybe he was trying to stay in line with the CBs.
This follows on from Old Trafford where Phillips was at fault for their second goal (as well as the ridiculous first) in a not dissimilar fashion, but that time he was caught chasing one of their players 10 yards out into midfield. This time he was too far to the right rather than too far forward, although to try to be fair to Nat it was a brilliant run by Robson-Kanu who is a very experienced player, and it left so little reaction time that even Robbo couldn't quite get back. That's what happens when your centre backs are too far apart.
If they're gonna play together in the last 2 games - which they will unfortunately - then they need to play a bit nearer each other. Burnley are going to try that all night, two forwards, one gets the flick on and the other one strolls through the massive gap between the centre backs. Klopp needs to set them up better to deal with it. Better for the lads to be too narrow than too far apart.
To be fair it wasn't even a free kick today so we shouldn't even be talking about conceding a goal. There was nothing wrong with Thiago's attempt to win the ball in the first place. Mike Dean has had an absolute shi**er of a game there, absolutely woeful. The free-kick that should have been a dropped ball - that we scored from - was farcical.
If they're both fit then Chris Wood and Ashley Barnes are gonna be rubbing their hands with glee at the prospect of playing our 2 lads. It's gonna be long ball, one wins the flick-on and sends the second striker in behind the centre backs. All night long. They're experienced, wily forwards who are good at what they do, even if it's ugly to watch.
Problem with Phillips is he's just not played enough first team footie at his age. Half a season at Stuttgart isn't enough for someone in their mid-20s. He's played years of u-23 football (which is an absolutely sh*te standard - all the good kids are already out on loan) and learned absolutely nothing by the look of it. He should have about 3 years of lower league loans behind him by now, or just been got shut of.
Yes Fabinho should come in at CB as he reads the game so well. Fine, leave Rhys out, let Phillips and Chris Wood have a headsmashing contest and let Fabinho pick up the pieces. Good idea. Fabinho offers no sort of protection against a team like Burnley anyway. They don't play on the ground. If they wanna bypass Fab they'll just kick it over the top of him. Waste of time him being there then. Should play Thiago at 6 and let him dictate play from there. Gini and Curtis at 8, or Milner if Klopp wants to play it safe - I hope not, we should be going for the win.
Fabinho's a far better centre back than he's given credit for, and his ability at 6 is overblown. There's not that much difference between his effectiveness in the two positions. He's probably my player of the season actually although it's a tough call this year and most will go for Mo. If Fab's a better centre back than either of the lads playing there, which he is by a country mile, then it's daft for people to categorically state that he's not a centre back. I bet he'd absolutely boss it at CB playing for Brasil.
Unfortunately Klopp seems to have decided he's made his 2 inexperienced centre back bed and he's gonna lie in it, so it's squeaky bum time for the next 3 hours of football. Personally I think it's tactical suicide playing those 2 lads together, even more so with a high line, so I just hope the quality of the rest of the team is enough to pull us through. And if it isn't enough, it's not gonna be the 2 lads' fault, it's gonna be the manager's fault I'm afraid. They're playing to the best of their ability and that's all they can do.
We're so open. We're set up to concede goals to 3-touch attacks: 1) long ball; 2) flick on; 3) striker shoots into the net. 3-touch football. It's ridiculous for a club like ours to be so vulnerable to such shithouse tactics.
