Game Thread Feb 2-4: When God closes a window...

Cellar-Door

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I dont envy Pellegrini having to choose between a useless Chicharito and Andy Carroll
CHicha was terrific in the first half, created 2 great chances for others, nearly scored himself and drew a bunch of dangerous free kicks. Ran out of steam though
 

fletcherpost

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I reckon if Liverpool don't get the three point here, City are favourites for the title. They have more strength in depth.
 

Cellar-Door

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If I said we have an exciting title race now would that be better?


What was Klopps beef at the end? I missed the second half aside from stoppage time.
He's a whiny baby. Honestly, his team was thoroughly outplayed and he only avoided an embarrassing loss due to gross incompetence by a linesman and some terrible finishing by West Ham.
 

teddykgb

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If I said we have an exciting title race now would that be better?


What was Klopps beef at the end? I missed the second half aside from stoppage time.
One of them held two fingers up so presumably they were dissecting whether Liverpool had received their two contractually mandated game changing decisions
 

Cellar-Door

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One of them held two fingers up so presumably they were dissecting whether Liverpool had received their two contractually mandated game changing decisions
I believe they were saying, that Origi was given the second blatantly offside goal attempt, and that Liverpool still has to cut the check even if he fluffed it.
 

PedroSpecialK

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Thinking back, the TAA injury to push Milner into RB is probably more pivotal than the Gomez injury. Gomez has a somewhat like-for-like replacement in one of Lovren/Matip, acknowledging Gomez has been better than both. TAA saw his only backup go off to Bournemouth on loan to start every week for some reason, while Liverpool are rolling Jordan Henderson and James Milner out there to get eaten alive by Mark Albrighton and Felipe Anderson respectively.

Liverpool didn't really deserve a point out of that, which is troubling to say the least. Lallana was not the weak link I expected him to be, but going 4-2-3-1 for the majority of the match with Keïta staying pivot with Fabinho was awkward at best. The best spell for Liverpool was early in the second half when they reverted to 4-3-3 briefly, then the substitution of Shaqiri negated that back to 4-2-3-1.

3 points is still *a* lead, but I fully expect City to throttle Everton and put the pressure on Liverpool again on Wednesday.
 

teddykgb

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I don’t trust City on a quick turnaround against Everton. City have faltered to the lower teams who put in a good shift, I’m wary of Everton snapping out of their funk.

On the whole, City have a tough Feb and I think Liverpool need to focus on maintaining or building a cushion now. City are likely to drop points with all this fixture congestion. If City can somehow take the top spot this month then I’d be worried if I were a Liverpool fan. Spurs still have a head to head later in season so they could be Ok even if trailing
 

PedroSpecialK

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Commentators going on and on about Fernandinho finally being booked - on the flip side, Gueye had a couple late ones in the first half without a card.

Credit to Everton, if Jordan Pickford's 6'3" it's still likely 0-0. He bungled another high ball around 60' leading to Aguero nearly making it 2-0
 

teddykgb

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Fernandinho has certainly done enough for a card but this has been a super rough match as Pawson has just ignored most physical play. Zouma and Gueye are throwing themselves around like it’s a derby
 

OCST

Sunny von Bulow
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Much better from Everton. I’ll post more but this game showed me a lot.
 

teddykgb

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Yeah Everton had a plan today and made City’s life difficult. 4-5-1 and they seemed to like Calvert Lewin aerially against Otamendi. Hunted in packs in CM and generally played a very high energy match. Unfortunately Walcott is still Walcott. The only downside if I were you is that you have to wonder why that kind of effort can’t be deployed against lesser teams because you’d finish top 6 on that alone
 

OCST

Sunny von Bulow
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Yeah Everton had a plan today and made City’s life difficult. 4-5-1 and they seemed to like Calvert Lewin aerially against Otamendi. Hunted in packs in CM and generally played a very high energy match. Unfortunately Walcott is still Walcott. The only downside if I were you is that you have to wonder why that kind of effort can’t be deployed against lesser teams because you’d finish top 6 on that alone
I agree 100%.

I think Everton gets a result if Lookman starts instead of Walcott.
 

Dummy Hoy

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Is Everton one of those clubs that gets stuck because they can work hard defensively and counter against better sides but can't unlock teams that do the same to them?
 

OCST

Sunny von Bulow
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Is Everton one of those clubs that gets stuck because they can work hard defensively and counter against better sides but can't unlock teams that do the same to them?
Close but not entirely right. I'm overdue for my State of the Toffees address. Coming this weekend.
 

teddykgb

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Is Everton one of those clubs that gets stuck because they can work hard defensively and counter against better sides but can't unlock teams that do the same to them?
I think if a midfield 3 presses consistently like that you should be able to get in the counter against even teams who are playing deeper. Few will play a true bus park against Everton. I would bet that it may have something to do with City’s formation though, the free 8s are very far forward with wingers hugging the touch line almost creating a front 5 at times. Everton seemed to key on trapping full backs and Fernandinho with fewer passing options or collapsing on the CMs when they received the ball in forward positions. Other teams may play a flatter formation making it harder to spring as many traps. But as much as I am into the formation stuff you can press anyone into mistakes if you’re able to put the shift in and consistently focus on where you want to try to win possession