Liverpool Football Club Thread

[p b]

Great game so far. Totally against my expectation of getting hammered. Still, some swear-worthy occasions, so basically all that you need

[gospvg]

Cech has made some brilliant saves but Benteke should have buried his tap in effort.

We have been playing very well though which is good to see.

[Gabe]

Well quite an interesting half; after Arsenal were a little unlucky with the the disallowed goal it's been quite attacking from us, albeit I don't actually think we've played amazing, but we've been helped massively by Arsenal playing badly. A bit like the first half at Anfield last season, but without the half-time lead.

Annoyed that despite Rodgers saying ahead of every game so far this season about being able to mix things up now, every single ball from the back has been aimed at Benteke now for 2 and a half games. Also don't see why we are keeping 10 behind the ball when Arsenal are in possession, Beneteke is being isolated as I feared and it means most balls out are hoofs upfield.

On the plus side, think Milner's been excellent, Coutinho has again been our creative outlet we've restricted Arsenal pretty much to the disallowed goal. Think Lucas is superfluous so far, Firmino hasn't really got into things and Benteke had to score, he just had to.

So a mixed-bag really; again, like the game at Anfield, let's hope Arsenal don't turn things around in the second half.

[Timbuktu]

Really needed to score. Hope we keep it up.

[Gabe]

First thought was how the fuck did he miss. After a replay I think it's probably actually a great save.

It was, but only because it was a poor attempted finish, if you get what I mean? He was, what, 3/4 yards out, coming in at pace, it just needed the slightest bit of lift and it was a goal. He alternatively could have just guided it perhaps 6 inches to Cech's left and, again, it was a goal.

[p b]

Is it me or is Firmino disappointing?

[Stig]

Seems like a matter of time before they score. They've been all over us since the restart.

[gospvg]

Is it me or is Firmino disappointing?

I'm putting that down to getting familiar with the pace of the premier league & hope he will get better.

[Sng]

So bloody sloppy now, on both sides. Hoping we hang on now though, after thinking we could nick it in the first half I'll settle for 0-0 now.

[Stig]

Why does Skrtel do stupid things like that push? Sanchez wasn't exactly in a threatening position. Just a silly found and yellow to give away.

[Gabe]

For his full debut you can't read much into Firmino's performance, especially in a game as sloppy as this one. He's done ok and is building sharpness.

Much better from Arsenal this half as you would expect and we're dropping deeper and deeper. Need to settle it down for 5 minutes or so.

[p b]

So it's me then. Well, that's probably ok, I didn't cost a lot of money

[Stig]

Fuck sake it's coming isn't it.

[Sng]

Jesus how hard did Milner hit that?

[Gabe]

As dogsout correctly predicted, they are killing us down the left.

[Stig]

Gamble.

[Kelthink]

Since Ibe has come on, we've gone so flat. He's off the pace.

[JohnnyNolan]

Ibe has been awful. You could write a 10000 word essay in the time it takes him to make a decision.

[Stig]

Why don't he give Ings or Origi a chance. Get 2 up top.

[JohnnyNolan]

I'll take the draw. Played well first half, got lucky their goal was disallowed, but we were holding on for most of the second.

[Stig]

We really made that hard work, should have finished our chances better in the first half and we're lucky to have their goal ruled offside.

3 clean sheets and 7 points from our first three games though. I think we'd have all taken that when the fixtures were read out.

[SMD]

I'll take that.

[ryodi]

Moreno should have passed when Liverpool had the break at the end but I'll take a goalless draw and 7 points out of 9 and no goals conceded. It was a very positive performance but as we all feared Benteke was very isolated up front for most of the game had had to rely on Coutinho coming forward for any support.

[JamesTW]

Happier watching us tonight than the 2 games we won

Benteke had to bury that tho, wouldn't matter if it was a league 2 striker with that chance

[Gabe]

Always happy to take a point at the Emirates, given our terrible record there, and I think it's probably a fair result over the 90. Benteke had the best chance of the match, Arsenal the most concentrated pressure (mainly down their left.) It was an entertaining game, but both teams took turns to pass like a pub side. Thought Skrtel - silly booking aside - was the best defender on the pitch, thought Milner was very good and Gomez was pretty solid.

Good start to the season, let's hope we can maintain it whilst we aren't exactly firing on all cylinders yet.

[gospvg]

Tough 2nd half, happy with a point but we really need to take our chances.

[Chewylegs]

I really enjoyed that game, we approached it in a much more sensible way than we would of last year. We've got an extremely hard away run at the start of the season, 7 games we could possibly lose, and currently we have 4 points from 6.

Pro's for me would be Clyne and Gomez, both looked excellent, both confident with the ball and great at going forward. Can looked good in midfield, but I do think he needs someone to sit with him as he loves to go forward. Benteke looked strong, stubborn and has plenty of ability. Cech did superbly for the close range effort, I think people aren't giving him enough credit and rather focusing on Benteke 'missing'. Lastly, Lovren and Skrtel looked great together, the best i've seen them play.

Cons, well, we didn't win. We hit the post, the bar, Cech made some great saves, we could have won. Overall though i'm more than happy with the result.

Would have liked to see Ings introduced at some point though.

Can someone clarify, what part of the body has to be offside to be offside? I've seen it before when a players leg has been in an offside position and everyone says its a correct decision, but Ramsey's upper body for the disallowed goal was offside, but everyone is saying it should have been allowed. Clarification please?

[dogsout]

Very pleased with that. It's a little frustrating to not have taken one of our chances in the first half but there you go. Very organised and disciplined performance. Are people convinced by O'Driscoll now? Because this medium block is one of the reasons I was excited about him coming in. I don't want to be harsh on Ibe, but I'd love to know what he's doing in training to justify getting minutes. Where is Markovic?

Edit: regarding the offside, it's any part of the body that you can play the ball with. The only still I've seen shows him as being on. There were a few penalty shouts that were just as bad. The one on Benteke was possibly even worse because it was so blatant and the referee had a very clear view of it, too.

[Adrock]

Any part of the body that can score a goal. So basically not the arms or hands.

Edit : That was an answer for the offside question.

[Gabe]

Happier watching us tonight than the 2 games we won

Agree with this - even though we were under much more pressure, it felt a bit more reassuring and positive going forward.

That said, we need to see somebody other than Phil providing the spark; you get the feeling that if the opposition nullify him (which Stoke did for long periods) then we look a bit bereft of ideas. Would have preferred to see Markovic rather than Ibe, as he would provide better cover down the right. Is he injured?