Liverpool 2-5 Real Madrid: In game and Post Match discussion

Reality check present team not good enough for CL football. Players need to shut this result out, if at all possible. Simply concentrate on improving league form and see where this takes us at the end of a long and frustrating season.

On a positive note I think this defeat will make us better, when Jürgen and the players watch this back they can only learn from a masterclass from Real. Things like shape, tempo, defensive frailties, cohesion and individual errors should all come out in the open.

Hopefully all this will make us better and at least we won't play them every week.

Jürgen needs to be ruthless with some of our ageing players as well, we all know who they are.

It will in a way but how many times can we think like that? I accepted the result, I had no choice obviously but I've decided a long time ago not to let football results make me different or too sad, millionaires on the pitch who I can't relate to in all honesty, owners who give us the bare minimum to seem like they are doing enough.

My main worry, a fella mentioned this in the pub like many here, he was like arr well it's a rebuild season, I said yeah most think that too but the only problem is we haven't started the rebuild now or who even has faith the rebuild will happen all in one go in the summer transfer window because there is no way even the popular signing choice of Bellingham alone will fix this, we need about 5 players of true quality and what with all the expert bargain transfer scientists gone.
Sign one big name (all of a sudden hyped) player and he gets injured then what?
 Big massive questions need to be asked about the medical side of the club and the coaches. Because we are just a mess.

The whole thing was a nightmare come true. Probably narked one or two. The only way is up. Fight back. There's 4 league games before we go to Madrid. That'll sort the men from the boys..12 pts...10 at the very least.

It will in a way but how many times can we think like that? I accepted the result, I had no choice obviously but I've decided a long time ago not to let football results make me different or too sad, millionaires on the pitch who I can't relate to in all honesty, owners who give us the bare minimum to seem like they are doing enough.

My main worry, a fella mentioned this in the pub like many here, he was like arr well it's a rebuild season, I said yeah most think that too but the only problem is we haven't started the rebuild now or who even has faith the rebuild will happen all in one go in the summer transfer window because there is no way even the popular signing choice of Bellingham alone will fix this, we need about 5 players of true quality and what with all the expert bargain transfer scientists gone.
Sign one big name (all of a sudden hyped) player and he gets injured then what?
 Big massive questions need to be asked about the medical side of the club and the coaches. Because we are just a mess.

A mess is the perfect description

Liked the way Nunez dropped back to help out in defence, which was obviously needed ! Enjoyed his flick scoring the opening  goal, for me was the highlight of our game.

Liked the way Nunez dropped back to help out in defence, which was obviously needed ! Enjoyed his flick scoring the opening  goal, for me was the highlight of our game.

Brilliant...but in a bizarre way it might've worked against us....score with a brilliant back heel flick...then their keeper plops in front of Mo...I mean how easy is this...false sense of security kicks in..intensity goes...they took control, we dropped off. Their second was the most annoying..Ali has saved us numerous times but you can't nonchalantly try and pass it past an attacker bearing down on you.

Second half their quality shone through. 0-3....our defense for the third was a comedy of errors..bout 6 of them stood in a row like statues.

Thankfully the great European nights at Anfield still outnumber the 'nightmare' nights...but that was a 'nightmare' to the power of 10..or 5..

one of the strangest matches that Ive ever seen,  for one side to be two nil up after 14 mins and then loose the match five two?
its like ancelotti quickly sussed Kloppos match plan, like he said he could,  then quickly switch to plan B

Yeah i don't see it that way. There was mistakes here and there but we just couldn't match the quality of their players.

When they settled in then we started to struggle, it wasnt that we didnt tried or players had given up after mo scored. Its that they have better players.

Real in CL is a different beast then la liga real. They are more motivated to play against a English opposition in a cl night.

It wasnt the formation nor the heart. It was a team full of quality players against a team with lesser quality.

Losses against Brighton and so on could be blamed on tactics ir motivation but it wasn't the case last night imo.

https://twitter.com/carra23/status/1628157609223094274?s=61&t=mg_X0LyyoihpLxWxSiKSkg

As I stew on that game this morning, what really hurts is that they didn’t even need to play that kid they stole from us this past summer. The one we apparently put all of our eggs in the basket of. Beat us without him and oh what a difference he’d have made for us if we’d had him.

15 minutes of us at our absolute best and saw us wipe the floor with them. But after they scored their first, we just stopped playing. Yet another cock up from the keeper gifted them the second. A dodgy free kick but poor defending from the set piece gave them the lead and at that point we'd just capitulated.

Never mind, at least it makes this place entertaining again.

15 minutes of us at our absolute best and saw us wipe the floor with them. But after they scored their first, we just stopped playing. Yet another cock up from the keeper gifted them the second. A dodgy free kick but poor defending from the set piece gave them the lead and at that point we'd just capitulated.

Never mind, at least it makes this place entertaining again.

Yet another cock up is a bit harsh considering the amount of world class saves he’s made for us over the years & has been our player of the season by far

15 minutes of us at our absolute best and saw us wipe the floor with them. But after they scored their first, we just stopped playing. Yet another cock up from the keeper gifted them the second. A dodgy free kick but poor defending from the set piece gave them the lead and at that point we'd just capitulated.

Never mind, at least it makes this place entertaining again.

As soon as the intensity started to disappear, Real grew back into it.
Instead of pressing players just constantly kept dropping back to their position.
For one of their goals Gomez and Fabinho literally ran into each other as they both backed away from the player with the ball.
Nobody presses in that moment and they play a nice little one two in for the goal.

Fabinho had dropped in to cover Gomez. Gomez at that point has to press the player with the ball as he's the nearest player.

Nothing anyone can do about Alisson smashing the ball straight at Jr.

More minutes in Jota, Firmino and Matip. So that's a positive.
Well that and the first 15 minutes.

Yet another cock up is a bit harsh considering the amount of world class saves he’s made for us over the years & has been our player of the season by far

No it isn't because he's made a number of cock ups. Just because they all don't necessarily lead to us conceding doesn't mean they haven't been made. Also he's only being touted as the player of the year because of how poor the rest have performed.

Well yes we are going to beat ourselves up untill the Palace game. I posted a couple of days ago in the JK thread if it doesn't happen we have to believe he can turn it around.

Well step up to the plate JK...you have the floor Sir..

No it isn't because he's made a number of cock ups. Just because they all don't necessarily lead to us conceding doesn't mean they haven't been made. Also he's only being touted as the player of the year because of how poor the rest have performed.

All goalkeepers make errors, even more so in the modern game because they’re expected to use their feet a lot more, but it brings more attention than an outfield player because normally it’s costly.

Alison has literally made dozens of tops saves this season and has kept us in games. Without him then we would be bottom half no question.

Agree many players have been poor which is partly why he is streets ahead for our payer of the season but he has still been very good.

Great entertainment for the neutrals watching last night's game. Although not for Reds fans, the game turning into a horror show. It is a pity for Ali who in fairness has made plenty of world class saves, has the occasional lapse, making a costly clanger, allowing are opponents to seize control of a game of this magnitude.

Our defence seems not existent at times and surely this must be addressed as number one priority, if we are to return to the elite of European competition.

We all love Jürgen but a criticism for me is his in game management at times.

We’ve got plan A and it’s a good plan. It’s brought us a lot of success.

However for this season, those players have really struggled with plan A yet klopp has been persistent and has very rarely introduced a plan B.

Going back a couple of seasons ago if we went 2 or 3 goals up we could keep the ball and kill games off. Those 10-15 minute spells of having the ball and taking the sting out of the game were crucial. The opposition got tired, frustrated and lost any momentum. We were good at it.

Now, our players just aren’t good enough on the ball for whatever reason. We aren’t as good in possession as we once were. So as a compromise, whenever we take a lead,  sometimes we need to put men behind the ball and make ourselves extremely difficult to break down but we never do.

In hindsight this is what we should have done last night when we went 2 up and frustrated Madrid instead of persisting with plan A that left us completely wide open for 90 minutes.

This squad need a major clear out and I hope the manager is ruthless  this time and ship players who don't deserve to be playing for this club.

Fabinho: massive drop off, we should cash out on him whilst he still has some value.

Ox: Should be gone

Keita: Should be gone


Henderson: Keep as utility player and a bench option.

Thiago: Keep for now, but we should replace him in the future since he picks up too many injuries.

Jones: he's there because of the homegrown quota, he should be sold.

Milner: Thanks for everything but it's time to move on


Next season  our midfield should look like this : New starting DM, New 2 midfielders that can press, Henderson, Bajetic, Thiago, Eliott

Great entertainment for the neutrals watching last night's game. Although not for Reds fans, the game turning into a horror show. It is a pity for Ali who in fairness has made plenty of world class saves, has the occasional lapse, making a costly clanger, allowing are opponents to seize control of a game of this magnitude.

Our defence seems not existent at times and surely this must be addressed as number one priority, if we are to return to the elite of European competition.

The error by Alison in a 5-2 defeat is negligible, had it been a close game losing by a one goal margin the cost of such an error would have been magnified.

In the event it was a F***ing whitewash with a none existent midfield and a pitiful defence!

Our errant owners have a lot to answer for.

The evening started off great, gradually got worse and ended up as completely soul destroying! I have no hope for the rest of this season, and I feel ashamed to say that, but the hope has been literally sucked out of me. This Club means the World to me, but at the moment it’s killing me and I don’t think I can cope!

On a serious note, hope you’re ok. Football is an escape for a lot of people and in times like these can just add to the struggle. Hopefully it’s just frustration at the result and nothing more. We have work to do but there will be good times again.

Boss too slow to react IMO...We have seen how well Bajectic has done since Christmas and Iv'e read on here he was the only player who could hold his head up after that....but for me it was a game too far for him, for the first time he looked like what he is...a boy surrounded by men, and not just men but some of the most experienced players around. He grafted and tried his best but against that quality he was on a hiding to nothing. Should have taken him off at half time.

Disagree, I thought the young lad was brilliant, he’s 18 ffs, yes he made a mistake or two but who didn’t? For Jürgen to trust the lad to start against the best side in Europe is testament to how good the lad is, I cannot for the life of me understand why he’s getting pelters when for me he was certainly one of the best in Red, what kind of statement does it say if you dragged the lad off at HT,

You can’t fill the lad with confidence giving him a start against RM then kick his legs from under him 45 mins later, what kind of message does that relay to him or to those who could potentially follow in his footsteps ?


If anyone is slow to react it’s our owners, most of us would see our demise coming and acted accordingly by providing Jürgen with the necessary funds to keep the wheels in motion, but we have stagnated now to the point where it will cost us Millions more than perhaps it should have.

Get off the young lads back, he’s done absolutely F**k all wrong to warrant all this disdain, he wasn’t a boy amongst men last night, he was every bit as good as those who have been playing for decades, the experience he is gaining is absolutely priceless and will stand him and LFC in good stead for years to come!!

For Klopp to trust and play an 18 year old in crucial champions league game, shows he came to the conclusion that players like Keita, OX, Jones have nothing left to offer to this team.

For Klopp to trust and play an 18 year old in crucial champions league game, shows he came to the conclusion that players like Keita, OX, Jones have nothing left to offer to this team.

Jones and keita never have and never will offer anything. Ox did before his knee injury ...  but he should have been moved on years ago.