2018/19 Europe Thread - It begins again

[Eagles $5$]

4 hours ago, roysmyboy31 said:

Great result for Liverpool.  Jumped out to a quick lead using their firepower and were able to hold City off in the 2nd.  Getting a clean sheet at home is huge for them.  Man City has a ton of work to do if they want any hope of advancing.  Pep's record in CL knockout games away is shockingly poor for a manager of his stature.

Nope... he's the best and he's underrated.

[Dr LBC]

I'll admit, as a neutral, I was hoping City would nick an away goal just so that there was better potential that the massive slobfest that the media is about to embark on could get potentially turned on its head and made to look completely foolish by a City 1- or 2-nil win at the Etihad on the return leg.  Would have been all the sweeter had Sterling gone down in the box to earn a pen for that away goal.

[UKTexans]

Shocked I found myself celebrating Liverpool goals. 

The look on Peps face was worth it though. 

Liverpool struggled without Salah though, they lost the dynamic shape they had in the first half, hope he doesnt miss the second leg. 

[AustrianNiner]

33 minutes ago, texans_uk said:

Shocked I found myself celebrating Liverpool goals. 

The look on Peps face was worth it though. 

Liverpool struggled without Salah though, they lost the dynamic shape they had in the first half, hope he doesnt miss the second leg. 

Pretty sure the way we played 2nd half was the plan all along, Ox certainly a downgrade to Salah on the wing though, defensive help for TAA against Sane almost vanished too. Having the league game in mind 2nd half was well planned and executed, critical situations certainly went our way too.

Salah hopefully more or less fine, he himself seemed pretty relaxed about it.

[UKTexans]

5 minutes ago, AustrianNiner said:

Pretty sure the way we played 2nd half was the plan all along, Ox certainly a downgrade to Salah on the wing though, defensive help for TAA against Sane almost vanished too

Sane can blow so hot and cold.

I get that once you had the 3 goal lead you changed it up a bit, but City threatened a lot more as a result. 

[AustrianNiner]

2 hours ago, texans_uk said:

Sane can blow so hot and cold.

I get that once you had the 3 goal lead you changed it up a bit, but City threatened a lot more as a result. 

I don't think they threatened all that much, especially by their standards. Came more or less close but never even hit the target.

 

[LeeEvans]

4 hours ago, texans_uk said:

Sane can blow so hot and cold.

I get that once you had the 3 goal lead you changed it up a bit, but City threatened a lot more as a result. 

City definitely had more possession and were under less of a threat from Liverpool but I don't think I would say they threatened. They didn't even have a shot on target. Without that penetration from the wings City looked pretty lost when Liverpool were able to keep City in front of them. 

There was a general lack of inciveness from City and there weren't many occasions were I thought to myself that Liverpool were in trouble. 

[UKTexans]

3 hours ago, AustrianNiner said:

I don't think they threatened all that much, especially by their standards. Came more or less close but never even hit the target.

 

True but shots on target can be a bit misleading. 

They had double the possession, more shots and more corners. They were just inept in and around the box. 

[UKTexans]

1 hour ago, LeeEvans said:

There was a general lack of inciveness from City and there weren't many occasions were I thought to myself that Liverpool were in trouble. 

The build up was solid but they had no end product. 

Leaving Sterling on the bench was a mistake. And Jesus was invisible. Although a big compliment has to be paid to Liverpool's back four. 

[LeeEvans]

21 minutes ago, texans_uk said:

The build up was solid but they had no end product. 

Leaving Sterling on the bench was a mistake. And Jesus was invisible. Although a big compliment has to be paid to Liverpool's back four. 

Absolutely. The fullbacks deserve as much praise as anyone. Lovren and VVD were solid but were never asked to do too much but both were good in possession and helped hold onto the ball. 

I think the midfield was also extremely impressive. Henderson, Milner, Ox and Wijnaldum were excellent on and off the ball. 

It's weird how in a 3-0 win the attackers might have been the least impressive group of players haha.

[UKTexans]

49 minutes ago, LeeEvans said:

It's weird how in a 3-0 win the attackers might have been the least impressive group of players haha

To be fair those 3 players plus Ox won them the game in the first half. 

Defense held it together in the 2nd. 

[LeeEvans]

13 minutes ago, texans_uk said:

To be fair those 3 players plus Ox won them the game in the first half. 

Defense held it together in the 2nd. 

Agreed, just weird that they weren't the standout performers of the match in my opinion. 

Henderson missing the second leg is surprisingly not being talked about much. I think that will be a big loss for Liverpool. Can is a good player but he doesn't have the same sort defensive ability or work rate that Hendo does.

[UKTexans]

I think between them Milner, Ox and Can should have enough about them to hold the middle.

[AustrianNiner]

21 minutes ago, LeeEvans said:

Agreed, just weird that they weren't the standout performers of the match in my opinion. 

Henderson missing the second leg is surprisingly not being talked about much. I think that will be a big loss for Liverpool. Can is a good player but he doesn't have the same sort defensive ability or work rate that Hendo does.

Can's certainly been better this season than Henderson, also had a great game against City in Jan so I wouldn't be worried about that at all - if Can is available next week, which doesn't seem to be the case right now. Having neither Hendo nor Can available would make us very vulnerable through the middle. Milner and Wijnaldum can't fill that spot.

[LeeEvans]

2 hours ago, AustrianNiner said:

Can's certainly been better this season than Henderson, also had a great game against City in Jan so I wouldn't be worried about that at all - if Can is available next week, which doesn't seem to be the case right now. Having neither Hendo nor Can available would make us very vulnerable through the middle. Milner and Wijnaldum can't fill that spot.

Forgot that Can was injured to be quite honest. I agree that Milner, Wijnaldum and Ox would be a little light in midfield.