Neil Atkinson is joined by John Gibbons, Gareth Roberts and Mike Nevin as they try and analyse the madness that was Bournemouth 4 Liverpool 3.
The lads discuss how Liverpool found themselves two goals ahead on two occasions, and how they contrived to throw it away. In particular they focus on whether it is working up front, how we struggled in the absence of Joel Matip and the performance of the goalkeeper.
The show finishes with a conversation with Neil Wilby about Norman Bettison’s book “Hillsborough Untold”.
The Anfield Wrap is the flagship show for TAW – a weekly free show on The Reds. Other shows are available as a part of a subscription model. For £5 a month you can subscribe here and receive up to 15 new shows a week, along with every show done for TAW Player to date. It’s a fantastic world of Liverpool FC content and we hope you can join us for it.
Direct: The Anfield Wrap – Bourne Of Frustration
Was it just me or did the team look surprisingly knackered when there was about 20 minutes to go?
I noticed Hendo and Milner in particular do that kind of “deep-breath, head-down” type run people do when they’re blowing out their arse when they realised we’d ceded possession and they’d have to press.
Mike, if good looks won leagues I’d be in goal myself.
A few weeks ago I read an article on Lovren and how he’d been a refugee.
Not as a result of that, but it did come into it, I thought I really hope he succeeds at Liverpool. There’s something about him that I’ve warmed to. At the end of the day though I find I have a ruthless streak and in some ways it manifests itself in the way I see Liverpool players.
Anyone who’s played football will know the importance of a strong centre back pairing. All positions are important but one could argue it starts there. All the good title winning teams of the past still hark on about their centre backs. Think of any great side of the past. To accentuate the point (though this doesn’t apply to ours) imagine a centre back who was scared to head the ball or got bullied in one on ones regularly. Imagine what that would do to the confidence of the keeper and defence and those in front. More realistically, imagine one who withdrew into himself when the going got tough or occasionally lost his calm and was prone to panic moments. I played there myself later in life. I know firsthand the value of the perception of that position. The point is, you absolutely have to be a leader.
Ok, I’ve made my point on here far too many times since the defeat yesterday and I’ll call it a day now but I want to say yesterday wasn’t a one off. It’s not a freak event. We’ve seen it for years. We’ve seen it much less this season and there has been talk of Klopp’s improved him or him. He hasn’t in this case. We’ve got half the centre back pairing exactly right and it’s a good platform to carry the whole team forward. He was missing yesterday. He’ll be missing again. Ok, he’s said he’s not going to African Cup but among other things it’s a result of a fall out. It could get resolved. We can’t be on tenterhooks to this extent. Without Coutinho we can still challenge. Without Matip we can’t. This isn’t a new problem. Someone needs to get a Rob G special up where he scouts Europe looking for a decent centre back. It’s not a huge price to pay for what the benefit could be. Yeah, it’s tight on certain players and all that but no one is bigger than the club. Time to be ruthless or suffer the consequences.
Good honest show that. Yeah, we’re all gutted but actually, these fears aren’t the result of yesterday. They’ve just been suppressed due to circumstances.
I had a proper knee jerk reaction to the game yesterday, after calming down a bit and looking at the game sensibly, it’s not the end of the world. We had key players down the spine of the team missing, a few players didn’t have the best 2nd half, I don’t think many people expected us to be pushing at the top in December, if we smash West Ham next week, the Bournemouth game will be a distant memory.
up the Reds.
Its ok that the team was knackered with 20 to go..We were 3-1 up.
Again I look at the little things we do (or did not do) to kill the game and take the sting out of the game.
Its that little unsaid game intelligence to subtly nullify the oppos momentum.
1) Kicking the ball out of play for injured players. There were instances when Mane went down and stayed down and we played on and lost the ball. Booting it out of play just stifles the game and chews up clock. We did the same for Can who was forced to limp back into position:::Go down, stay down kick it out…Get the trainer on to sap the game..We are 3 -1 up…
2) Playing percentages.. Loveren had no need to head the ball back into play for the penalty…let it run out of play or boot it out, he conceeded a poor header and we we left all over the place..Result? penalty.
3) Substitutions…How about getting Klavan on for Origi…push Lucas into central and just flood the game in midfield with mere numbers..Sit in there for 5-10 mins..Kill the momentum and the game..
Woodburn is an insane substitution…Bmouth were just hoofing it foward..
We should never have sold Reina.
Nevin needs to get a grip. To bring up “financial constraints” at this point with regards a GK is a sure sign of madness. Further, for Nevin to think that Klopp, Buvac, Krawietz, Edwards don’t have a clue with respect to a GK just means Mike has become a victim of the red mist. Better to make the argument about Karius in this game (very poor) and stop.
This reminded me of Sunderland last year where we kept dropping deeper and deeper instead of defending on the front foot. But history says Klopp won’t buy anyone to bring in in January.
I also believe that the fans think the media is right and we are in for the title but we’re not. This is part of Klopp’s building his team to maybe Mike top 4 but this team won’t win the title and if everyone keeps acting and thinking we will the level of frustration will become unbearable.
Nevin is an arrogant know it all, mate. Knows more than Jurgen, apparently.
He’s not. And can guarantee he’s never claimed that.
Nonsense mate.
This team can win the league. There’s no one noticeably better. For the record I watch all Chelsea games if they’re not on at the same time as us. They’re not as good as everyone says. They’re on a very good run at the minute but so were we till last night. I’ve said from day 1 City will not win this league and I stand by it. Again, over rated. If you think Klopp is building a team for top 4 then you don’t understand Klopp at all. What does it even mean? Does he sit with the owners and say ‘we’re not planning on winning the league so if say, we find we need 6 points to win it with 3 games left we’ll just play youth in the hope we’ll drop points’? Or are you saying he thinks winning it is absolutely so far out of the question that we’ll just coast along and not consider it? Or is it, if we finish in the top 4 then everyone will slap each others backs and say we’ve achieved our goal. I don’t mean to be provocative – I genuinely don’t understand what building a team to maybe make top 4 means. Frustration is part of being a football fan. The only thing worse is not being frustrated because you have so little hope that nothing surprises you. Make no mistake, Klopp is going for the league title and so he should be when you compare our team to the opposition.
2things: 1) Klopp is building his team and I see no sign that he’s done after just 2 transfer windows.
2) I think Klopp sets out to win every game. He has no plan for the title or top 4 or any position other than winning all the points he can.
We may be contenders. We may not. Same can be said of others, we’ll see. Glad you have an opinion. Enjoy.
Bully Beef and Chips
Throwing the baby out with the bathwater this week in regards to the keeper this week. He was poor on Sunday but not much worse than any other player yet he gets 10 mins dedicated to how poor he was. Yeah its a massive opportunity to get the biscuit this year but its an even bigger opportunity to set up a side that is capable of challenging every year for the next decade. The objective for a majority of fans this season was for top 4. If we don’t get top 4 from here we have bigger problems than the keeper. Its fine, hes fine.
Hi lads,
The frustration in Mike Nevin is clear for all to see – and I must stress I love your
writing and opinions nearly all the time – but to think he’ll bomb out Karius and
buy 4-5 players in January – that is just not going to happen. Even if it did, its no guarantee
it would solve things. We’ve been unlucky with key injuries, and a slight drop-off in form/intensity.
I felt this result has been coming – sunderland/swansea/southampton were all just a bit off
of our previous levels. That is all.
I didn’t watch it live as I had to do a reckie to the local maternity clinic –
just to know where the wife and I will be going fairly soon. So I watched it on catchup and
I said to my wife – we are due a crazy loss. And there you go. Note to self: don’t bother with catchup,
it’s like using a toothbrush that doesn’t belong to you. I couldn’t bring myself not to fast forward. At 0-2
I thought cool. But then I got a message on my watch and I knew this is a bad sign. Didn’t look
at the message, but the pressure got to me and I caved — lo and behold BBC site says we’ve lost 4-3.
Fair play to Neil in calling out Mike in asking does he think Klopp is stupid? I fancy myself about knowing
a thing or too but I guess Klopp knows more than me.
One thing I do defo agree with is that I have not been impressed with Karius. He may have 100+
bundesliga appearances, but it doesn’t stack up with the intense scrutiny our players are constantly
under. I’m not sure how it’ll go, but I hope that he does a deGea in express time.
Roll on next week (watch live lads!)
Watching it on the telly, I agree that they were a bit shite first half too. The two goals were a bit fortuitous in that they were basically through-balls which weren’t dealt with properly by their defence.
I know Origi scored but he was very sloppy in possession from early on. The ball didn’t stick up top at all when he was on the receiving end. There was also a moment when we were 2 nil up when Mané tried to lob a ball into the box when we were in perfect control. He didn’t look right. Even so, being 2 nil up away from home should be pretty much as comfortable as it gets.