It’s January 11th - welcome to the latest show after Liverpool have been absolutely battered in 1 cup game and outplayed in another and miraculously find themselves in the FA Cup 4th round and ahead in the League Cup semi-final. I’m Paul and I am joined by Sean and Daz. We’ll talk about these 2 games and the upcoming Bournemouth game and the 2nd leg of the finely balanced League Cup semi-final.
Part One - Arsenal 0 - Liverpool 2 (xG 1.76 to 0.64 - 5 big chances to 5 to 1)
Outplayed and outcoached - BATTERED, they said. If Arsenal had scored all their big chances (3 were in the same sequence) we’d have been buried at half time.
TAA did hit the bar in the game the first Half.
Formation needed a bit of working out - Odegaard and Havertz pushing high, creating problems with the press - season high 5 recoveries in our half.
We are really good at blocking, or are Arsenal just poor at creating open play chances. Gomez (Joey!), Quansah and mostly Konate - immense
Team selection - very strong compared to what it could have been
Second half….
Diaz chance, good save from Ramsdale, Jota header off the bar, Nunez snapshot was close
Trent’s cross and then our one big chance Luis Diaz buries
Lots we could say about Arsenal, but safe to say they are not on the same level as us right now.
One narrative is that Havertz took too many touches - and when he shot ‘there were purple shirts everywhere’ unlike in the Liverpool store.
Note on John Brooks - Harvey gets a yellow for one moment of dissent, Odegaard has multiple moments and the key foul and ….nothing. As for the man with Oompa Lumpa skin tones at right back:(). Oh and there’s Jorginho telling him to fuck off.
Part Two - Liverpool 2 - Fulham 1 (xG 1.99 to 0.48 - Fotmob had 1.77 to 0.29)
First half - figuring things out with changes - still need to effectively assimilate Gravenberch (saw some Szobozlai moves in that second half).
Be better after a full pre-season?
19 minutes - not great defending from VVD, but preoccupied by Jimenez and the Willian shot squeezes through.
Before their goal we were just lacking a little bit of quality in their final third. Last ball just wasn't there
They had a bit of momentum for a few minutes but overall it was a game we dominated. Second half the pressure ramped up. Commentary did their best to big up the Decordova Reid moment - only had to make a good pass for a tap in… That second goal was a work of art - Curtis, Diogo, Darwin and Cody’s flick finish.
This team is relentless - there’s a reason they don’t lose many games. And the subs are a cheat code - Nunez and Gakpo, after being tested by Jota and Luis Diaz for 56 minutes.
Conor Bradley - he is not an inexperienced footballer, but he’s not played much at this level. Love the Academy boys coming through - CURTIS!!!
We have to mention Darwin’s offensive contribution (19 G/A) on the season. As well as his contribution to an impending coronary.
Let’s parse through our individual feelings about him.
The chaos line is a lazy bullshit narrative that misses his incredible contribution.
Coote performance was not as bad as I feared - the non foul for Pereira in the second half was probably a result of him being told he was duped by the same player in the first half.
Part Three - Bournemouth and Fulham to come in just over a week’s time.
Formations hugely impacted by availability.
Darwin has looked so unmanageable in the last 4 games - more of that and goals at the Vitality would not go amiss
We think Bournemouth will be tricky. They lost 3-1 away to Spurs and should have got something from that game
Lineup + prediction.
We will likely be back after the second leg against Fulham. Thanks to Sean and Daz. And thank you dear listener for joining us.
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