Yup. At half, I was thinking maybe a draw was the best option. Solid 3 points, IMO. Gotta win games like that ugly sometimes.
Further forward midfield, mostly on the right side. Had been on as a winger recently and in preseason.
Yeah Ox looked good. I really hope Naby can get healthy. Our midfield would look so much better with him in it.
I know it’s looking back and we’ve moved on....but it’s crazy to think that if today happened (us win, city draw) over any of the last 14 matchdays of last season, we’d be double defending champs
Three days ago, in Turkey for a trophy for 120 minutes and having to stress over possibly going with our 3rd keeper. I’ll take it.
Has anyone here watched any games in Montreal? Planning a Chelsea supporters bachelor party first weekend in May and fuck it he's going to watch LFC/Arsenal and like it.
So if United drops points tomorrow, there will be only two teams who have won all of their games - us and the gunners. And they come to Anfield on Saturday. Sure would be nice to sit alone atop the table again.
How videos, NASA technology and ‘carb power’ helped Liverpool avoid ‘the biggest banana skin in history.’ James Pearce - The Athletic Spoiler As soon as the lap of honour was complete in Istanbul’s Vodafone Park, Liverpool’s backroom staff swung into action. By that stage it was already the early hours of Thursday morning. There was little time to dwell on the glory of being crowned UEFA Super Cup winners after a penalty shootout victory over Chelsea. There were ice baths to run, recovery shakes to be dished out and video analysis to be pored over. The next assignment was just around the corner and Jurgen Klopp knew that it was laced with danger. Privately, the scheduling had angered the Liverpool manager. He couldn’t understand why his side had been handed a Saturday afternoon showdown away to Southampton in the Premier League so soon after a 3,500-mile round trip to Turkey. But Klopp also knew that publicly complaining would achieve little other than giving his players a ready-made excuse to stumble on the south coast. Instead a detailed plan had been drawn up to ensure that Liverpool did everything in their power to ensure that fatigue wasn’t a determining factor against Saints, who had the luxury of a full week to prepare and were smarting from a heavy opening weekend defeat to Burnley. The decision had been taken to stay at the luxurious Ritz-Carlton Hotel close to Besiktas’ home in Istanbul post-match rather than immediately fly home to Merseyside. It was just after 2am local time when the squad returned to their base but all the clocks in the players’ rooms had been put back two hours in line with UK time. Captain Jordan Henderson didn’t return for a further hour-and-a-half as he was forced to wait in Vodafone Park, desperately trying to rehydrate after an exhausting night in order to provide a urine sample. Xherdan Shaqiri was also randomly selected for a drugs test but, having not featured over the course of the 120 minutes, had no such issues. The following morning brought an early start for head physio Lee Nobes and long-serving masseur Paul Small as they got to work on weary limbs in the hotel. Among their five-strong team was physio Jose Luis Rodriguez Robledo. The Spaniard had enjoyed an eventful evening in Istanbul. Having gone into the stands to get his national flag for goalkeeper Adrian during the post-match celebrations, stewards mistook him for a pitch invader when he returned to the field. Twice, they tried to drag him away – much to the amusement of his fellow staff members. After breakfast, those squad players who didn’t get on in the Super Cup embarked on an intensive core session in the gym led by head of fitness and conditioning Andreas Kornmayer. On their four-hour afternoon flight back to Liverpool the treatment continued for Klopp’s walking wounded. Nobes, who joined the club from Manchester City last November, spent three of those hours working solidly on Adrian’s ankle. It had swelled up considerably overnight after he had been wiped out by a supporter who had ran on to the field after the penalty shootout. Without Nobes’ expertise, the former West Ham keeper would have had no chance of playing at St Mary’s. James Milner was also regarded as a major doubt with a heavily bruised leg after taking a kick against Chelsea and was tended to on the plane. The ‘Game Ready’ icing machine was regularly filled and passed around the players. Developed by scientists and doctors using NASA space suit technology, it circulates cold water from an ice reservoir through a wrap which is applied to the injured area of the body and provides compression as well as ice treatment. Having landed back in Liverpool just before 4.30pm on Thursday, the players had cars at the airport and were able to head straight home to their families. For Klopp and his staff there was still work to be done as they got together to study the video analysis assistant boss Peter Krawietz and his team had pulled together on Southampton. They talked about dealing with Saints’ threat from set-pieces, their direct style and how crucial it would be to win the second balls. At 1pm on Friday the players reported back to Melwood where the importance of rest and nutrition over the following 24 hours was drummed into them. Signs around the inner sanctum of the training ground read ‘Carb Power’. A light training session lasted less than an hour with Klopp knowing that overexerting his players would be counter-productive on what was essentially their second recovery day. Going outside was preceded by the video analysis team meeting as the manager picked out examples of Southampton’s strengths and weaknesses. “Massive,” was how one staff member described the significance of that information to Saturday’s outcome. “It’s so difficult trying to prepare when you only have one light session between games so that’s when using the video becomes such a powerful tool. The manager was calm. He told everyone he wasn’t interested in excuses.” At 6pm on Friday they flew to Southampton and headed to the Hilton at the Ageas Bowl. Nobes and Small were busy again. The players ate together, had treatment and then slept. On Saturday morning Adrian passed a fitness test on his sore ankle before the squad went for a leisurely stroll close to the home of Hampshire County Cricket Club. Klopp had described the game to his players as “the biggest banana skin in history”. “Everybody is waiting for it, probably all the headlines are written already,” he said. “I would prefer the headline: ‘The mentality giants were in town’.” The manager had decided that fresh legs in midfield was vital. Henderson and Fabinho had played 120 minutes in the Super Cup so they would make way. Gini Wijnaldum and James Milner, who had each featured for an hour in Istanbul, would have Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain for company. Shifting Oxlade-Chamberlain from wide on the left to a central role created space for Roberto Firmino’s return to the starting line up. It was a big show of faith in Oxlade-Chamberlain considering how he had struggled in the first half of the Super Cup. But he looked so much more comfortable in the middle and Klopp’s gamble in handing him a first Premier League start since April 2018 paid off handsomely. For most of the opening 45 minutes it was a scrappy, disjointed affair. Possession was tossed away far too easily. As well as a predictable hangover of sorts from their midweek exploits, Liverpool were caught out by Saints’ set-up. Instead of the 5-4-1 formation they had planned for, it was 5-3-2. That gave the hosts more of a threat through the middle but also meant there was more space out wide for Klopp’s men to exploit. Liverpool’s failure to make the most of that in the first half featured heavily in the half-time team talk at St Mary’s. Sadio Mane’s stunning finish had lifted the mood but the bar still needed to be raised. Full-backs Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson were told in no uncertain terms that they needed to be operating further up the field. Switching play quickly from one flank to the other in order to really stretch Saints started to pay dividends as Liverpool dominated the second half. Midfielders were quicker to get up in support of Mane, Firmino and Mohamed Salah. Rather than wilt physically, Liverpool grew stronger. They counter-pressed better as a unit. The value of the gruelling fitness drills during the pre-season training camp in Evian came to the fore. So did Klopp’s attention to detail and pursuit of marginal gains. Some were sceptical last season when it emerged that he had enlisted the services of throw-in coach Thomas Gronnemark. But the players have bought into it and the Dane’s impact is clear. Both of Liverpool’s goals at St Mary’s came via that route. The second involved Mane robbing the ball off Jan Bednarek and feeding Firmino, who hammered home from the edge of the box. Nerves were jangling when Adrian’s blunder enabled Danny Ings to pull one back but Liverpool held on. “It’s a massive result for us,” Robertson told The Athletic. “We got no favours playing Wednesday night in Turkey and being given a 3pm Saturday kick-off away. “I think we could have been looked after a wee bit better but getting another three points on the board is all that matters. We knew we would have to dig deep, especially having had extra time in midweek. “We stayed resilient and compact. Our mentality is so strong. When your preparation isn’t ideal, it’s all about finding a way to win and we did that.” An 11th straight league win – equalling the club’s best run of the Premier League era – was all the sweeter as Manchester City were held by Tottenham later in the day. Liverpool still haven’t dropped a point since March. Despite the body blow of losing No 1 Alisson Becker to a torn calf, they emerged from an energy-sapping week with the Super Cup and six points out of six. Their latest triumph owed much to the team behind the team. A truly collective effort. In the away dressing room at St Mary’s following Saturday’s game, assistant boss Pep Lijnders declared that he had “good news and bad news”. “The bad news is that Adam (Lallana), Joe (Gomez) and Hendo (Jordan Henderson), you have to go back outside and run,” he said. “The good news is that you’ve all got two days off.” Nobody can say they haven’t earned a breather.
I've liked almost all the New Balance kits. Now we're just gonna get the same template as everyone else
Going to have to buy up all the new balance gear I can. Nike looks like shit quality. Like the jacket in the pic, Chelsea wore Saturday, the blue area bubbles out and looks like anyone who wears it has breasts unless you’re standing perfect upright. They have very limited, decent gear and the material isn’t great. Glad we’re getting mad money but my gear buying will probably go down significantly.
My son switched to a new club this season and we have Nike kits. Can't speak to the designs since these are custom for his new club, but the quality is a lot better than what we got with New Balance while at LFC America.