Yeah, it was a big disappointment…the first half was even enough, although I thought we were only just hanging onto their coattails. But in the end 0-3 didn’t flatter them.
I’ve not seen any replays, so I don’t know about the sending off. Live, it looked like a clean challenge, but then we saw lots of the folk around lad running away holding their hands to their mouths, and so knew it was a bad injury. I think in time Bielsa might want to switch Raphinha inside into a no.10 role, behind Bamford, with Harrison and James on the wings. But there has to be better coherence between the full backs and the wingers. Ayling has started the season at quite a low level, he seems to be struggling…a lot of unforced errors. Cooper can’t be any more than a squad player. Llorente is class, I hope the injury is not serious. Firpo, I actually think had his best game for us yesterday…whether that is good enough long term is another thing. In midfield, I think Phillips was very good, but can’t do it alone. Dallas was curiously absent - or the game passed him by. Oddly after an invisible first half, Harrison was having a good 15 minutes when he was taken off. Don’t know what to do with Rodrigo, he has played a lot in that advanced midfield role and is not a success there. He has done ok as a centre forward, but he is not the same kind of forward as Bamford, and Bielsa sees that Bamford brings more to his preferred style of play. We continue to be grateful for having Meslier in goal. He is a future star. What we need are a couple of wins, to settle the nerves. The atmosphere in the ground was bouncing. Sent from my iPad > On 13 Sep 2021, at 08:40, Richard Walker via Leedslist <[email protected]> > wrote: > > My first PL game for donkeys and what a disappointment it was. Totally > outclassed and outplayed for most of the game. If anything we showed some > spirit second half with only 10 men and could / should have got 1 back. > For me, there's a big question as to whether we can play with 2 wingers and > Rodrigo against opposition like this. Phillips and Dallas didn't stand a > chance and Liverpool took total control in midfield which meant Raphinha and > Harrison never really had a kick. Rodrigo had an early chance which he could > have done better with but apart from that he was totally ineffective as the > no 10 and was hauled off for Roberts at half-time which is now becoming a > regular change. We've seen what Rodrigo can do as a striker but as a > midfielder he hasn't the legs to do what Hernandez did. > It was a good atmosphere but all around me agreed that going in 1-0 down at > half-time was a real result for us because it should have been more - a lot > more. Time and time again the Liverpool midfielders and attackers seemed to > have all the space in the world as they passed it around our box. > Occassionally we would get a last ditch tackle in but we really struggled to > contain them and struggled to get out of our half. > Second half, Liverpool continued to control the park and were soon 2 up from > a corner. The ball just seemed to be on the floor for an age until Fabinho, > unmarked, poked it home. Poor defending again. Then Struijk got sent off and > from the stands it looked like a great tackle and having seen it afterwards I > still think Strujik is unlucky and was sent off for the injury not the > tackle. The incident caused a bit of upset between the South stand and the > away fans which then spiralled into a tit for tat sing song. "Always the > victim, never your fault' to which the scousers replied "Yorkshire Police - > murderers". A few scousers got really upset and ended up bein dragged away. > We did show some heart with 10 men and Dan James came on and looked ok > without really threatening. Liverpool scored a deserved 3rd late on and we > all went home thinking that this is going to be a tough season and any > thoughts of Europe and bettering our 9th place from last season need to be > reassessed. Yes we've played 2 of the top 4 teams but I think it's clear that > there's something missing and we are not playing with the fluidity and > movement that we know we can. > Bielsa's response to the first half debacle was to put Roberts on for > Rodrigo. That was it. We were getting the run around in midfield but he just > replaced like for like and carried on. He knows no different to his system > and that is definitely a limitation. There was an argument to put Klich and > Shack in a 4 man midfield with Raph on his own up front. At least we would > have competed and seen some of the ball. We definitely needed another body in > the middle. > Scores: > > Meslier - 7. Made some great saves to keep the score down. It could have been > far worse. > Ayling - 3. I thought he was really poor and if you look at his performances > this season I think he's not started well. He did have our best chance first > half but couldn't decide whether to volley or head it and I think it just > ended up cannoning off him into the South Stand > Cooper - 3. Let's face facts, he's not up to the job and against the better > team this is really obvious. He was booked early on when he was turned and > just pulled his man back and from then on he really struggled. > Llorente - 4. Llorente also struggled it has to be said and then got injured. > The lad has been unfortunate with injuries and looks like he might be out for > a few weeks now. > Firpo - 4. The general opinion on the P2 back was that Firpo isn't up to it. > He's no Allioski going forward, in fact he rarely does get forward and that > means Harrison sees little of the ball. His defending is also suspect. He did > manage a few last dith challenges against Salah but he looks really dodgy. > Dallas - 4. His worst game for a long time and that was mainly because he > didn't see much of the ball and was just chasing shadows most of the > afternoon. We keep buying wingers but surely central midfield is where we are > really light for options. > Phillips - 7. I thought he was our best player. Never gave up, tackled well > and got around the park. He can't do it on his own though > Harrison - 4. Ineffective > Raphinha - 4. Ineffective > Bamford - 3. Ineffective - had one speculative effort well saved but just > didn't get in the game at all. > Rodrigo - 2. Worrying performances from our record signing. > Subs: > Strujik - unlucky > Roberts - one or two moments but didn't really influence the game. Maybe his > running and ability to cover more ground than Rod was a factor in our > improvement 2nd half. > Newcastle will be another test. > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Leedslist mailing list > Info and options: https://mailman.gn.apc.org/mailman/listinfo/leedslist > To unsubscribe, email [email protected] > > Find us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/leedslist/ > > Rest in Peace Guy, and wear your hat! _______________________________________________ Leedslist mailing list Info and options: https://mailman.gn.apc.org/mailman/listinfo/leedslist To unsubscribe, email [email protected] Find us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/leedslist/ Rest in Peace Guy, and wear your hat!
