Blog by dedlfc (David Douglas)
Pre match thoughts
After the positive result of getting a draw vs Chelsea we
looked at this game as a chance to stay in touching distance of a top 4 slot.
Klopp makes only two changes to the side with Sadio Mane starting instead of
Wijnaldum and really surprisingly Lucas starting instead of the injured Lovren
who has a slight knock on his knee. The normal back up for Lovren and Matip –
Klavan is out of the squad totally due to illness.
I am very disappointed with the selection of Lucas as we
have a very much more worthy centre back Gomez on the bench but not picked
because Klopp wants to continue picking a defensive midfielder in an
unconventional role.
We start on the front foot with early chances for Can and
Mane both going astray, After 10 mins, Hull then create an even better chance
with N’Diaye hitting a shot straight at Mignolet.
10 mins later we are inches from taking the lead as Hull
keeper Jakupovic spills a Firmino cross into the path of Coutinho, who hits a
shot into the ground and wide of the target via a deflection, from the
resulting corner, Firmino’s glancing header goes straight to the Hull keeper.
We are dominating possession again for the umpteenth game in
2017 but lack the creative nous or conviction to breakthrough with Matip going
close with a header from a Coutinho corner.
We again look like a side devoid of any confidence and a
side with no league wins in 2017. This is summed up after 42 minutes with Hull
getting their first corner of the game which Hull defender Macguire heads into
the ground towards goal, which Mignolet spills under the challenge from
Hernandez with N’Diaye on hand to stab the ball home from about four yards out.
Another Mignolet mess up after his calamitous conceding of
the free kick goal against Chelsea during the week.
So we are now again behind after dominating possession but
are sucker punched to go behind to a side currently bottom of the league at the
start of the weekend.
Half time thoughts
Hull keeper fumbles the ball and we do not capitalise,
Liverpool keeper fumbles the ball and we go a goal behind – sums up 2017 for
our club so far. Klopp will have to change something soon as we seem to
struggle even more after going one goal down in games.
Early in the second half we create half chances for Matip,
Can and Milner but after 56 mins we miss a great chance with Mane’s looping
back post header from a Lallana cross, Somehow the Hull keeper keeps it out.
We have not made any subs 63 mins into the game despite
being a goal down and Klopp not doing anything to affect the game nearly
coincides with Hull getting a second goal, with first Hernandez hitting the
side netting after a long ball over the top by Huddlestone, then a minute later
Hernandez again is played through on goal and Mignolet is quickly off his line
to thwart the danger with a sprawling save.
Coutinho has our best chance of the game after 67 mins when
a scramble in the area falls to him at the back post but he amazingly hooks his
half volley wide of the upright.
Klopp then makes his first sub after 68 mins bringing on
Sturridge for the again disappointing Can
The sad thing is that the substitution made makes little
change to our fortunes resulting in a second goal for Hull after 84 mins.
Replacement striker Niasse on for Hernandez reaches another
long ball over the top by Ranocchia and slides the ball under Mignolet to
double the hosts lead.
Two late chances by Henderson (who has a rasping drive superbly
tipped over by keeper Jakupovic) and Sturridge (who has his shot also repelled
by the impressive Hull keeper) do nothing to dispel the pain of our disastrous
start to 2017 continuing.
This is now our fourth league defeat this season, the
concerning thing is that all the defeats so far have come against sides at the
lower echelons of the table which shows we lack the intestinal fortitude to
fight like these teams to scrape for points we need to achieve our objectives.
Man of the match: Henderson – the captain was man of the
match for us as the only player in our midfield that attempted to get things
firing for the side, we are in such a slump but he kept going with his personal
highlight his late drive saved well by the Hull keeper – he may not be the long
term answer to our captaincy problem though.
HULL
CITY (4-4-1-1): Jakupovic: Elabdellaoui (Tymon 62mins), Ranocchia, Maguire,
Robertson: Grosicki (Meyler 79mins), Huddlestone , N'Diaye, Clucas: Evandro:
Hernandez (Niasse 65mins)
SUBS
NOT USED: Marshall (GK), Maloney, Mbokani, Diomande
GOALS: N'Diaye
(44), Niasse (86)
BOOKED:
Maguire, Tymon
LIVERPOOL
(4-3-3): Mignolet: Clyne, Lucas, Matip, Milner (Moreno 83mins): Lallana
(Origi 83mins), Henderson, Can (Sturridge 67mins): Mane, Firmino, Coutinho
SUBS
NOT USED: Karius (GK), Wijnaldum, Gomez, Alexander-Arnold
BOOKED:
Milner
ATT:
24,822
REFEREE:
Lee Mason
Positives
from the game – nothing but negativity at the moment.
Points
of concern – The failure to win any of our first five league games in a year is
the first time this has occurred since 1954, a year we were relegated !!!
It’s
a good job we have the points in the bag or we would be in serious problems
with our current form worse than the sides currently fighting relegation.
After
the Chelsea game our manager Klopp mentioned we need to be more streetwise, we
as a side are incapable of knowing how to win ugly, scrapping a close game
against relegation candidates 1-0 is just not in our locker, until we show
signs of being able to do so, our attempts to finally get that league title
again will fail miserably.
Manager
Klopp’s comments:
On his reaction to Liverpool’s
performance and the defeat…
I have done four or five TV
interviews, three or four radio interviews, and usually after a half an hour
you feel better because you have no time to think about a lot of things after
the game, and then you immediately start answering questions. But this time, it
doesn’t feel better. The assessment? We gave easy goals away and we didn’t play
the first half as we should have played, especially when you saw the second
half. You think then if we’d played from the beginning like this, with this
direction, speed, kind of greed and all that stuff, then I think it would have
been more difficult for Hull to cope with this. We gave the first half away and
from the result side, we gave the second half away. With the first half, we put
ourselves under pressure in the second half. We had the chances, yes, but good
goalkeeper saves, passion and defending from Hull in the 18-yard box and the
six-yard box with a leg here, a leg there, a block here [denied us]. Then we
gave an easy counter-attack away again and [it was] 2-0.
We have to take all of the criticism.
Not even a week ago in the press conference, I spoke about expectations at Liverpool
and said, ‘Come on, it’s allowed to have a positive look on the situation, we
are still fourth in the league’ and everything like this – but after a game
like this, it’s not allowed to say something like this. We expect more from
ourselves and we have to show more than we did today. It is my responsibility
to make it possible for the players to show more than we showed today. A few
things, little, little explanations, you could see – a lack of rhythm in a few
players and all that stuff. A [half-time] break, however it is, always changes
things, so the second half looked much more like it should do, but football
under pressure is difficult. It is allowed to defend with a lot of legs in the
box and that’s difficult. But Hull are not only a defending team – they
played football and were able to, so there were spaces when we won the ball. We
had these few moments but not in the right mood, especially in the first half.
That’s difficult to accept.
On the impact recent form has had on
targets this season…
That’s not my biggest problem. I want
to play much better football with my team. It’s not about where you want to be,
you have to show what you should reach in a season. We showed it a few times,
but obviously it [was] long ago we showed it consistently. This is, first of
all, what we have to change, immediately. We need to show much more consistency
than we do now on the positive side. The Champions League is an outstandingly
big, big, big target. It’s fantastic and so many teams want to play there. To
qualify for the Champions League in England is outstandingly difficult because
of so many challenges – but after the performance of today, we don’t have to
talk about this. We have to show now, really, that we are really ready to go
for everything. I can say it, but it will not change a lot – we have to
show it together. I have to watch the game again, I need to understand it
better – especially the first half and what happened there. Both the goals
really looked like presents in how we created the corner [for the first goal]
and then of course the counter-attack for the second goal, it was not too nice
to watch. There are a lot of things to do and as an overall statement, we have
to change immediately.
On whether Liverpool’s attitude was a
problem today…
I don’t know, I don’t think so. All
football performances are mixtures of everything – a mixture of confidence, of
attitude, readiness, passion, a lot of things. I have to watch the game again,
I have to see to understand more what the reason, especially for the first half
was. I think again it’s not the first time in the season we put ourselves under
pressure [so] that we then [had to] react in the second half. We showed the
reaction and we put them under pressure and we could’ve scored, but still then
if we win 2-1 today, I am still angry about the first half, 100 per cent. I
said to you a few times, I am really interested in performance. Yes, I’m
interested in results too, but I’m really interested in performance because you
can build on performance. This week we had a really good performance [against
Chelsea], but obviously we didn’t build on it, that’s obvious. So we will, and
have to, take all the criticism from everywhere. We have to change it,
immediately.
On his side’s record against fellow
members of the top six compared to other teams…
I can still have a view from outside,
even when I’m inside, but I don’t want to give the answer now. I don’t think so
[that Liverpool have an issue with their attitude against teams lower down the
table]. If it looks so from outside, I can understand that, if you have the
record that we have against these teams and the record we have against the
other teams. But I know the boys and I see them every day, and actually they
don’t show anything of this during the week. That’s why I said, we have to show
the answer, to give the answer on the pitch. It is not allowed, of course, for
us. In the game, we produce our problems most of the time by ourselves. So, our
mistake, my mistake, whoever – we have to show that it’s not like this, but
we cannot show it today anymore. In a few days we have another opportunity to
play football and we can show then that we are ready for all the other games,
because it’s Tottenham, who are a top team in the league. I think it would make
sense to play our best in this game and then we have to prove the other thing
later in the season.
With
Spurs winning the evening game versus Middlesbrough they are now 4 points ahead
of us in 2nd spot so we need to now beat them at home to first
secure our first league win in 2017 and also to keep in touch with a 2nd
place finish in the league.
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