Left at the 70 minute mark got back to my car just in time for talksport to gloat about Watford fans leaving at the 70 minute mark. The Massina/Rose horror show first half was about as bad as I've ever seen.
How?! He was probably our worst offender for needlessly passing to the opposition in the first half after Masina. He also seems incapable of successfully making a tackle. He runs around a bit while actually doing less than nothing; he still seems closer to a liability than an asset. When the ball is passed to him I'm more worried he's going to cheaply give it away, than I am expectant that he might actually get us forward.
Playing with 5 defenders was clearly an attempt to make us difficult to beat though, problem is 4 of them didn't seem fit.
Yes I don't get the Louza buy at all. Cathcart as 4th choice CB didn't look too bad at the start of the season.
He was far from our worst player and least of our worries based on that showing, your agenda is clouding your judgement.
Masina was a strange choice to play by Ranieri, really shouldn't have been in the starting 11. Cathcart not great but he's 4th choice CB
We didn't "stubbornly drive" Hughes and Chalobah out - they refused to sign our contract offers. As for bringing in Louza for a supposed net talent loss, I'll happily remind you what you said about his signing: "I'm gonna give this signing a cautious, but firm, thumbs up. Its a positive from me."
I didn't really put £10 on Rose to get our first goal silly, I've given up any kind of betting in general. I know too many people who have lost too much money. The bookie always wins
What did we truly expect to get from this game? Anything under 10 goals was a bonus, especially when you think that Newcastle should have stuck at least 5 past us. The players are just simply not good enough for the Premier league. You cannot polish a turd. Where do we go from here? It's between Norwich and us to who finishes bottom. Look at the next 6/7 games coming up, perhaps a point from Southampton, but that is all. The hear the Watford fans jeering the team was the beast part of the game. I will always support Watford, but this season is a bust already. I said we would fail miserably to survive in the Premier league and l will stick to the prediction. I will end where l began and that the only plus was that the score was under 10. Enjoy your weekend.
WD18 not bothering to talk about the Watford performance, instead banging on about Salah. There’s truly nothing that would shake them out of their Stone Island jackets. If they desperately want followers I’m surprised they don’t go and buy them.
Today was always going to be grim. Ranieri did not meet most of the squad as they would have been away on international duty to try and drill in a shape and style. I expect next week we'll see a different and more defined shape and thereafter we should / must see a relatively defined XI and style with some form of interlinking play. Today was always going to be a thumping. If today helps inform him early about what he can and can't get away with in where people play then it's not world ending.
If today was all about seeing the size of the task Claudio has this season, I think he saw it in iMAX 4K. Pretty funny reading on the BBC website all these plastic Liverpool fans' raving about how well they played today. We didn't try to compete - had we at least a little, the scoreline would of been reduced somewhat. Liverpool and all the other Millionaire funded clubs are very lucky to be in the position they are due to the riches they have and the players' they can bring in. We are the total opposite of that, but I would rather support Watford over a bigger side just because their bank balance is the size of Srooge McDuck. Yes, we were shambolic today and deserve every bit of bad press we get for the next week. But the players are much better than what they showed today. I am sure of it.
Considering all the noises coming out during pre-season was how 'brutal' the fitness sessions had been...we are clearly nowhere near fit enough to play a high press or even get to 2nd balls. Or maybe Xisco told them all NOT to press hard & so they haven't got his ideas out of their heads yet. One reason we were offside so often was that the through ball was nearly always delayed too long, a clear sign of lack of confidence. When you're up against a defence like Liverpool's your only real hope is to play the critical pass early. If you don't they will have had plenty of time to reset and stifle the attack. Leaving Rose 1-on-1 against Salah was guaranteed to be a disaster; he would've struggled with that job even in his prime. Not that I think that was meant to happen; Ranieri clearly wanted Masina to act as a double-block on that side; help Rose with Salah or track TAA; in any case, make that area of the pitch as congested as possible. I would imagine Ranieri has now learned Masina cannot be trusted to follow any sort of tactical instructions. And as for his contribution to their 2nd goal....jeeez, as soon as he'd skewed the ball across field to set Liverpool 5 on 4 you just knew they'd score. Not that they didn't deserve to be (at least) 2-0 up at HT, but the team talks in both dressing rooms would have been much different at 1-0. Bringing on 'run-around-a-lot' Clevs had zero effect as I can't remember him touching the ball until it was 4-0, so not sure what the solution is in midfield now. Although JP came on when the game was up, some of the things he did seemed to surprise the Liverpool defenders, because his first touch and control meant the ball stuck a couple of times, and he does have the ability to create enough space to pick a pass that actually reaches a team-mate. And Cucho definitely did better when JP was on, which was necessary as, particularly in the 1st half, his decision making and defensive work was rubbish. I don't think Dennis' control is good enough when he receives the ball with his back to goal, so he is not a real option centrally, whilst we know Sarr is better drifting in to the centre from out wide. This means the only 2 real starting options we have for central striker are King and JP, both of whom are more akin to a 'withdrawn striker'. Maybe we could consider 4-5-1 to try to get some organisation and solidity; not a formation that I'd like to see given the apparent skill-set of our squad, but every other system we've seen this season has seen us overrun in midfield. Obviously, Masina cannot be LB; I'd have Sarr & Dennis as the wide midfielders, starting with Sissoko/Kucka/Tufan centrally and King or JP up top. We'd have to accept that there'd not be many goals, but we'd just have to hope a solid base would allow us use our pace to advantage. It can't be worse than what we've witnessed the last 3 games.
However, many far sighted individuals outside our club hierarchy, managed to foresee that this was a massive oversight. However, people constantly excusing our owners massive errors is why we deserve for them to continue making them.
Why is Rose still unfit? How long does it take for a professional footballer on tens of thousands per week to shed the summer bbq weight?
Well that was a fun afternoon. The farce that is the new entry system gets worse by the game. Twenty minutes to get in and missed the start, with hundreds behind that. Shedloads of Liverpool fans in our part of the SEJ. At one point a clearly aggrieved Dave Messenger told two of them to sit down and shut up, only for a senior steward to go up to them, smirk and exchange what he obviously thought was a clandestine fist bump. Infuriating, to say the least. How many touts were patrolling VR before the game? As for the match, well there wasn’t one.
Also, can any liverpool fans in the home stands please go **** themselves. I don't mind losing and getting thumped but having away fans in the home end openly celebrating from the get go are ****s. Whoever gave away their tickets to allow this farce need to have their tickets revoked.
I think he put on some extra pounds over the break Moog. He was slightly slimmer at Elland Road. Too many hot dogs.
5-0 was about what I expected. Ranieri has a lot of work to do, this team is woeful especially the defence. Ngakia and Sissoko the only positives.
Odds on Foster giving away Salah's shirt on his YouTube channel? Glad he found time for a laugh and joke after the game with that BALLER.
I have my tickets to some neutrals from Nandos. I'm happy to have them taken away, but I'll get my bottomless soft drinks and frozen yoghurt for free. #winning.
I think you are right out of order including Foster in your list of incompetent players, if it was not for Big Ben we could easily lost by double figures
Lack of effort/fight, and lack of fitness have been picked up as issues by a few posters, quite understandably. However I think that the lack of fitness is ultimately the biggest issue out of the two - when you look at players like Rose, Kucka and Cathcart they certainly seem to be trying. Kucka and Cathcart as characters certainly don't seem like the types to not be professional and display some graft - but ultimately however much effort they put in they just don't have the legs any more to get anywhere near the ball when up against PL-level players on form. Even when at full pelt, too many of our team end up second to every 50-50 and chasing shadows.
He will never lose that weight. If he was still fit and good, he'd be earning more playing for someone else.
