Thursday Night Lights: The 2014/15 Europa League thread

no, I think it was Firmino

edge of the box, right hand side?

Nah that was Lallana, that was unreal. Lallana is thriving. He was sensational against City last week.

https://twitter.com/realfootballhub/status/708045762849087494

Oh I didn't even see that one! This was what I was thinking of:

https://twitter.com/LFCMostar/status/708046671465172992

lallana ftw imo.

not gonna get wildly excited, but i do feel liverpool are a bit like spurs post-bale, a lot of the signings that seemed a waste are growing in confidence. people even dismissed firmino earlier this year. lallana is really playing well, can is looking like the midfielder we've needed, clyne has been good from the beginning, and allen coming on seemed to steady us a lot

Also both Rodgers and AVB gave every impression of not wanting half the players they'd just been given. Unless you have a really exceptional player or one whose playing style is particularly attuned to the EPL then it's always going to take time for them to find their feet, often time that supporters and pundits aren't willing to grant them. Obviously not an issue with Lallana but that was more an issue with injuries/confidence.

Some people even dismissed Vidic and Evra when they arrived in the Premiership, which looks ridiculous in hindsight.

Suarez's first season he was p sloppy

I mean obviously if it's one or two players they get a bit of leeway unless there's a massive fee attached, signing five or six with the money from a talismanic player is pretty much asking for trouble. Was kind of exasperating to watch Liverpool repeat that exact same mistake barely a year on from Bale.

there's the interpersonal element of large scale squad overhaul which does take time and trial/error - poch was insistent on shipping out who he perceived as bad apples spoiling his ideal most receptive group - but imo it's simply the difference between a manager thinking deliberately about specific pieces in a specific puzzle versus recruiting and having around players who just represent endless bloating ~options~ . i mean brendan might have had vague glimpses of possible tactical formulations but there was no clear-sighted vision of plans a b c (and no i don't excuse him from the actions of the transfer committee) and it seems mainly he was driven by his kind of sick vanity backing himself to whip something together ad hoc as he went along, with his talent presumably outshining all the expensive broken toys it left behind. basically the "time to find feet" line is bullshit mostly and applies to the coaches 100x more than the players

like not that brendan didnt come up with solutions in his time but he also spent huge swathes of seasons experimenting before he happened upon them. and by the end they were all knots he'd tied himself anyway

klopp's use of joe allen as 10 these days is quite cool ja

it's motivation as well. dunno if liverpool have ever had a boss who could keep a squad happy, in the way that fergie was so brilliant at doing. klopp seems good at this.

the allen substitution last night was genius, though at the time i cursed it. instantly ended man united's threat.

agree that rodgers seemed to act as if he constantly had to start again, rather than finding ways to use players and keep them happy. it's actually hard to work out how any sort of klopp overhaul in the summer would pan out. he's kinda brought most of the players into the fold again.

man imagine if brendan could wangle himself a gig at like roma or one of the pozzo clubs (place ur bets if quique runs aground), the wholesale clearing house ventures, he'd be like a pig in target-ambivalent shit

Nah that was Lallana, that was unreal. Lallana is thriving. He was sensational against City last week.

― japanese mage (LocalGarda), Thursday, 10 March 2016 22:45 Bookmark

him fronting yaya in the cup final (lol was there not one single ilf mention of this entire occasion btw?) was the peak berserker kloppness

basically the "time to find feet" line is bullshit mostly and applies to the coaches 100x more than the players

Yeah I should have caveated that by saying you need a manager who can actually use them in a way that will play to their strengths AND fit the system. Rodgers had a system in mind that seemed to work okay at Swansea (and for some of his time at Liverpool) but he never really bought (or adequately developed) central midfielders with the sort of intelligent passing and movement required to make that vision a reality, or for that matter decent CBs. By the end he was just attempting endless fudges to offset shortcomings or imbalances in every area of the pitch and that sort of clarity of approach just disappeared. AVB had a more coherent system as well, it was just the wrong system for most of the players he had.

There's no doubt in my mind that both Poch and Klopp are superior communicators to Rodgers and AVB, players seem aware of exactly what they're meant to do, and are coached properly to fit into that system. Klopp is a way behind Poch in the curve but, signings allowing, he'll get there. You can just *tell* when players are slotting neatly into allotted roles and when a load of square pegs are being torturously hammered into a succession of round holes.

I suppose what I also meant by finding yr feet is the situation of a player like Etienne Capoue, who was part of the perceived bad apple/shipped out group at Spurs but has been doing fine at Watford. Flores in general doesn't get enough credit for taking virtually an entire team's worth of new signings, most of them new to the Premiership, and quickly getting them to look like an actual team.

Im excited

A reasonably strong Lazio side is currently 0-3 at home at half time vs Sparta Prague.

Im excited

― i;m thinking about thos Beans (Michael B), Thursday, March 17, 2016 2:02 PM (9 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

same

Carrick and Fellaini midfield

https://media.giphy.com/media/TeDpSbeCLAPtu/giphy.gif

Not sure if I can be bothered to watch. I spent the vast majority of last week's match looking at my phone instead* and that was when the tie was still in the balance.

*surfing the internet, not just watching it sit on the table

Srsly? No room for Ander? Xp

groin strain

Amazing assist from Susaeta vs Valencia. There was a clear handball in the buildup and GNev is going nuts.

Assist from Garcia, handball from Susaeta.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3ygajq_aritz-aduriz-decisive-goal-after-brillaint-assist-by-raul-garcia-vs-valencia-2-1-hd_sport

Flick is pretty sensational

That's some strike

https://vine.co/v/idzO22b2llu

Aww fuck it all to shit

both pool and united looking woeful

Not fussed about that really, match has got a pretty good boil going on

that Darmian sub

vintage van Gaal

89 min: Ryan Giggs has made his way down to the touchline, making a point of looking miserable. A political play, perhaps.

he's at it again

Crowd trouble

really?

Listening on the radio, so no idea if it's any big deal.

"I have seen three red seats from the Liverpools ection being thrown into the Manchester United fans. Seats are being thrown.

"Uefa will take action - mark my words."

from bbc sport. : ( - ffs.

huh I was watching at a bar with the sound off and had no idea

propah nawty

dunno - think that might be a bit dramatic from bbc sport, i'm not seeing any significant mention of it elsewhere.

for LG:

http://www.balls.ie/football/watch-an-apathetic-paul-scholes-rues-uniteds-recent-departures-after-liverpool-loss/327778

that one is more just strange - welbeck would solve everything? but not chicharito obviously since he's foreign.

lol welbeck, evans, fletcher are obv what utd are crying out for, di maria and hernandez not so much.

In fairness Scholes has been banging on ad nauseum about how they should sign Modric, Pogba and Varane as if it's that easy.

thought mcmanaman mentioning evans and fletcher was a subtle dig tbh, jonny evans was a liability more often than not

braga v shakhtar
villareal v sparta prague
bilbao v sevilla

oh fuck
dortmund v liverpool

well thats that then, still will be fun to watch. didn't fancy our chances vs any of dortmund, sevilla, villareal tbh

damn

rigged, surely

Aubemayang is going to do some pretty humiliating things to Sakho and Lovren.

sahko and lovren are good now