re: tOfficial Liverpool 2017/2018 Thread: “Upgrades Incoming Edition: A Great Season!”

Juventus v. Tottenham

Porto v. Liverpool

Its Porto!

Real Madrid v. PSG

What a powerhouse matchup!

Chelsea v. Barcelona

Go Chelsea!

Favorable draw!

Quality piece about what *actually* happened in the Merseyside Derby (i.e. not what the talking-heads are saying).

https://liverpooloffside.sbnation.com/liverpool-fc-tactics-longform/2017/12/11/16761378/liverpool-everton-unearned-draw-klopp-mistakes-allardyce-brilliant-pundits

quote:

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It’s frustrating and annoying for a Liverpool fan, and for Everton there is joy in stealing an unearned point from a local rival. For professional pundits to turn it into a Blue masterclass for Allardyce or a blunder by Klopp’s Reds really just shows them up as poor pundits, more focused on creating narrative then helping people to understand.

It’s fitting a narrative to the result, even if it doesn’t fit—Everton stole a point and Liverpool didn’t score as many as they usually do, therefore it must be because Everton did something brilliant or Liverpool did something daft. The reality is Everton were awful and very, very luck while Liverpool played well and were very unlucky.

These results happen, inevitably if occasionally, and as such extreme outliers mean very little—about the teams, players, and managers. There is nothing much in the larger picture, good or bad, for Liverpool fans to take from it. For Everton, there’s a point and that if they consistently play as poorly as on Sunday they may yet be relegated.

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Accurate.

Wayne Rooney celebrated an undeserved point like he had just won the Champions League. That's all you really need to know.

I agree with this (from the article linked at bottom):

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While you'd expect neutrals to say it was a penalty (there is always a desire to see big clubs come unstuck against plucky underdogs) it was surprising to hear so many Liverpool fans agree and condemn Lovren for his part in it. Even many of those that didn't believe it was a penalty still blamed Lovren for "giving the referee a decision to make".

Former Reds defender Jamie Carragher agreed it was a penalty and feels Lovren got too tight to the striker. That's amusing because had that decision gone against Carragher in a derby game the referee in question would still be in hiding today.

How is the defender getting more criticism than the forward in this type of situation? We see it all the time these days; an attacker takes a dive over an outstretched leg and the defender is castigated for "giving him the chance to go down".

When did we reach this point? Calvert-Lewin is praised for being "clever" while Lovren is seen as the fool who got played. Surely this is all backwards?

No wonder Klopp was so frustrated. Criticise Lovren for not cutting out the initial pass by all means, but blaming him for the penalty is unfair. Lovren was running alongside a striker who diverted his run away from the path of the ball and jumped directly into the Liverpool man before tumbling to the floor.

Lovren did not initiate any contact with Calvert-Lewin and there was little or nothing he could have done to avoid it. From the referee's vantage point you can understand why a penalty was awarded and no blame should be apportioned to the official, but numerous replay angles showed the young Everton forward had duped him.

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https://www.espn.com/soccer/club/liverpool/364/blog/post/3308174/dejan-lovren-hard-done-by-over-penalty-call-but-liverpool-ace-isnt-trusted

So... didn’t get to watch.. was it a handball??

Prob gonna skip the replay... it’s been a helluva day already..

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