Superb Liverpool man remains a weakness; Man Utd star a game changer

Trent Alexander-Arnold TEAMtalk

A brilliant Liverpool star remains the only weak link in Jurgen Klopp’s side, while a returning Man Utd ace makes a massive difference – all in Your Says of the Day.

Join in the debate here…

 

A HUGE THREE POINTS FOR THE ‘MENTALITY MONSTERS’

Job done they got a fortunate goal we played well after that for most of the game didn’t like our lack of control in the last 20 mins but we just don’t have enough of those kind of players.

AK

Huge 3 points and fully deserved. We easily could have had 4 or 5. Just 1 more top 6 side this year. Fabinho for me MOTM. TAA as well did well other than some shaky moments. Salah looking better and deserved his goal. Credit to Henderson for his goal.

Razor

Stunning comeback, the mentality monsters strike again.

Total credit to Klopp for turning the game around, boy has he earnt his money today.

On to the next league game and the aim is 100% to get the 3 points

Songman

Spurs were very lucky to lose only by one goal!! We had chances for 3-4 but their keeper saved them. We were lucky with son’s crossbar because by 2-0 down the match would have been extremely difficult to turn…

Pinezes69

Yes, Henderson was at fault for the Spurs goal, but he got us back into the game with a superb equaliser, and that got the momentum going for the win.

And I didn’t leave that conveniently out as you wrongly say. I was just making an observation about TAA, as he was exposed several times today

Songman

We must keep winning to keep the difference above 5 points. Of course last year we had 7 points in Jan/Feb and we lost them in 3-4 games.

Pinezes69

Harsh to blame Henderson for the goal. Losing the ball like that happens 10+ times a game and nobody bats an eyelid.

Players behind should have anticipated the transition, a few were sleeping, maybe because it’s so early in the game. They still had a lot to do after beating Henderson.

Henderson and Gini are tactically so important, to the way we pin teams down and win the ball back quickly when we lose it.

I remember a few years ago we struggled against these teams that sit deep.
Back then we were calling for more creativity in midfield. But inviting teams to sit back and simply making it hard for them to break out of it, while attacking wide, has been working well for us.

Where did Spurs find this keeper? Tough start to the game, but good performance, glad we got the result we deserved.

j c

Yes, you could say technically that Henderson was to blame for the goal as he lost it in midfield, but as JC said, ball transition occurs loads of times throughout 90 mins and a lot happened between the ball being lost and the goal itself. But what I did notice that when Sissoko picked up the ball, Henderson was 10m ahead of Fabinho, but it was Henderson that was back facing up Son on the edge of the area much before Fabinho had even got there. Look, this isn’t a Henderson vs Fabinho point – Fab had a great game – but just to say that all individuals in the team have different strengths and weaknesses but Henderson only gets judged on his weaknesses by far too many people who categorise themselves as supporters. Fabhinho’s strength is not turning and tracking back opponents who have run past him; but dictating and controlling play when in possession certainly is. We need a midfield blend and Klopp is clearly convinced that, for the big games, that Fab, Henderson and Wijnaldum offer that the best.

Red Herring

 

 

BRILLIANT TAA STILL A WEAKNESS

Don’t like being too critical of our players, but TAA really needs to improve on his defensive positioning as he gets caught out far too often.

Going forward he’s world class, but defensively he’s not at the same level

Songman

Songman I agree to an extent regarding TAA but he is asked to play so high up the pitch it is inevitable he is going to get chough out a couple of times. What then needs to happen is a quick CB should cover him n Fahbino drop in to CB. The team as a whole need to read the situation. If you watch Matip he covers that area rather well Lovren simply doesn’t have the brain n Gomez has the pace but lacks the intelligence Atm.

AK

Ak sure, someone has to cover for Trent when he drives forward, and I even saw Henderson doing that in the right-back position occasionaly today. But I was surprised at how poor Gomez was in this task today, which he was brought on to do.

But you don’t see Robertson out of position too often, yet he attacks just as much as Trent.

I just hope our opponents don’t see our right side as a weak point to target

Songman

I think we need to keep in mind Trent is still only 21. He has plenty of time to learn more about his defensive responsibilities. He’s spent his entire right back career playing in an extremely attacking team where he spends most of his time with us in possession and attacking. Contrast that with Robbo who played for Hull previous to us where he had to do A LOT of defensive work and that is where he would have gained that valuable experience.

I think sometimes we are very critical on this fantastic team and individuals in it.

gingerlfc

Mane tracks back much better to help Robbo out n he also has the best CB in the league to cover him. Salah although not lazy has a different role so we play slightly differently on both flanks. What TAA does not do well enough is when he is back he doesn’t track the runner in behind he so teams can play it long n flick it in behind him because we play a high line. He has space to improve in the same way Robbo has space to improve in his delivery.

Trent Alexander-Arnold vs Tottenham Hotspur:

– 1 blocked shot
– 1 interception
– 2 tackles
– 9 ground duels
– 130 touches
– 69 accurate passes
– 20 crosses
– 11 long balls completed
– 7 key passes
– 1 big chance created

Not bad for a day’s work

AK

Going forward he’s superb, but there were 2 or 3 occasions where our right side was completely exposed, and a better team would have ruthlessly exploited this

Songman

 

MARTIAL THE DIFFERENCE TO END AWAY DAY BLUES

One of the best away games of season by far. Martial made a difference for sure. Thought we should have won that by 5 in fairness. Still some sloppy stuff at times but happy to take the points

N1xer

Missed making my prediction. Would have gone 2-1 Utd, but hey ho.

Positive result. Losing the clean sheet at the end was frustrating as was the penalty misses, but the away win monkey on our back has hopefully been shook off.

Bigger test at Bournemouth next week.

We seem to do better against teams that don’t sit in, so Bournemouth is a good game for us.

Manthistle

 

Very strange game today, a mixture of great play for the goals especially the third one, and sloppy individual errors at both end of the pitch which continue to haunt us.
Norwich were woeful and look doomed to go down, but it’s job done and move on to Chelsea and Bournemouth away which will both be much tougher tests than this one was.

Blacky

The goal we conceded was hard to watch. Lousy defending from our defense with Maguire as the leading actor.

Rashford`s backheel to Martial was the moment of the game.
Reminded me of York and Cole goal,brilliant.

Zico

It’s a bit scary that we’ve paid £80M for Maguire yet he looks like he needs a proper partner beside him. He needs someone with pace and physicality. He looks much better than i thought on the ball but not great when isolated or has someone running at him. Hopefully Tuanzebe will be the player to add some solidity to the back four.

Thought McTominay had another good game even though he lost possession for their goal. I have to admit i was wrong about him. He is developing in to a pretty decent player. Thought he spoke well in the post match interviews as well. Very good attitude

N1xer

 

 

XHAKA AND EMERY BOTH TO BLAME

After another awful display from this useless carthorse followed by his appalling reaction to rightfully being subbed I do not ever want to see him in an Arsenal shirt again. Utterly disgusting for someone given the honour of captaining the club

The Oracle

Xhaka whilst not having the worst of games, Adams didn’t have a great one either. He’s meant to be (supposedly) good at sustaining attacks and keep the flow of our game moving. He plays one or two good passes every so often and that’s absolutely not enough to merit a starting birth in this team.

The fans reactions were not based off this game as that would mean it was a one off. This is an accumulation of poor performances which has led the fans to boo him. It wasn’t pretty but Xhaka should take a long look in the mirror, as should Emery.

the bsm walk

Just saw it wow someone blew a cap there..

We as fans dont do ourself any favours by acting like we do against our own players. I dont like watching these scenes. If it was toxic under Wengers last years this will become even worse under Emery.

As for Xhakas reaction I dont condone that either disgraceful behaviour from our Captain. I can understand his frustration but you just cant react like that.

muffler_1

 

bsm walk, it was his disgraceful behaviour when subbed and the way he walked off and shouted and swore at fans that’s the issue. He’s captain and should be showing the fans respect. I don’t agree he didn’t have a bad game either, he was responsible for Palaces 2nd goal, he contributed nothing during the match. His performances are so poor when he’s almost average fans think he’s been OK. The guy is useless and another example of the appalling attitude from a member of the Feckless Four. Get rid in January

The Oracle

Oracle, he didn’t have the worst game of his life is what I’m saying. There has been games where he has been worse. The whole point is that booing has been not down to today’s performance but the accumulation of poor performances he’s had prior to this match.

the bsm walk

Not seen the game yet but just feel embarrassed To support our club when we do things like this! Some of our fans are a disgrace to boo our own players and constantly giving him stick for playing because he is picked. WTF! He should not react but he is only human and the fans booing him and giving him abuse are just mindless numptys! He is our captain and this is no good for him or the club. Why he is made scapegoat for our team performances is beyond me as I have said before he plays because he is picked!

stev2bath1

Granit Xhaka TEAMtalk

Xhaka was wrong and he should face the consequences however this is entirely Emery’s making and another showing of poor man management.

Emery dithered all summer over who was to be named as captain. Then he hid behind some ludicrous players vote to name xhaka captain when he was out of form and out of favour with the fans. Stupid decision. He then plays xhaka every game, even when he’s clearly struggling form wise and then takes him – the captain off on 60 minutes.

Did Emery not forsee the fans reaction? I don’t like fans booing , I really don’t, and I don’t like how Xhaka behaved – no excuse. However this is poor management again. And from what I hear Xhaka is very popular in the dressing room – how do you think the other players are going to react?

I like Emery and I intend to give him until the end of the season but the players look void of confindence and he can’t carry on like this. Xhaka cannot carry on as captain either and should be stripped – give the arm band to Bellerin.

fatmop

having been there, from where i sit he didnt get booed because of his performance it washis attitude whilst coming off. at 2-2 we all expected to him to sprint off for Saka, but no the selfish little clown decided to sulk and take his time like nothing mattered but him.
The guy is a disgrace, quite possibly the worst Captain we have ever had. he makes Arteta look like a good choice.

Fatmop – agree with alot of what you said. Emery needs to take an awful lot of the blame here as well. He didnt have the balls to choose a captain, he had a vote of which could have been so marginal it splits a dressing room. emery could have helped the situation yesterday by encouraging Xhaka to hurry up, but he didnt, he just stood there. whilst xhaka threw his arms about and shrugged off the pitch.

I do think Emery should be given the season, but if you said to me he is getting sacked but Allegri, rogers or vieira were coming in i would take that. im now at a point where i would welcome Moreen to the club with open arms.

AndyC