Pizy

Matic's passing is SO poor!

Same exact shit every time we play them and Spurs lately. Cannot get a sniff of the ball. Literally. Then when we get the ball we instantly give it away. Infuriating!

I'm not. It's what I'd have done too. He's better in possision and at keeping the ball in tight spaces when pressed than Pedro who often lets the ball get away from him with heavy or loose touches. The worry for me is that on top of their pressing, we'll be outnumbered in midfield.

My fear, too. Like with Spuds, we know exactly how Liverpool are going to approach this. The same way they and Spuds approach every game. Press constantly, run endlessly, control possession. If we just allow them to do those things and sit back they can kill us. When teams have deployed those tactics against us so far this season our passing gets super sloppy and we can barely hold onto possession for longer than a pass or two. We need to keep composure or we'll lose this. Don't let the occasion get the best of us with them feeding off the crowd. We need our leaders like Luiz taking control here.

Lamest transfer window ever? Not a single big name signing anywhere in Europe. Not even from a team panic buying which we always see.

Guess the only selection question these days is whether Pedro or Willian starts. Doubt Cesc would play from the start even though the best way to beat the press is to play balls over the top which he does better than anyone. Just really hope we play this like its a cup final and don't think "eh, we don't really need to win this." We should be treating this like the biggest and most important match of the season because it is.

This dude apparently can't even get a game for a mediocre Inter side but is good enough for us!? The hell? We surely have better players already on our books that can be a fill in squad player in the wide positions. Musonda for instance.

Having only seeing him on YouTube about 15 minutes ago, he looks like a fantastic young striker. Excellent technique, good pace, power, and athleticism. Can finish in a number of ways. But these are all things I saw in Batshuayi when he moved here and he can't get a sniff. Plus, the impressive highlights I'm seeing are against pub teams. Would be dumb to sign a striker now.

Yeah right...

Yep. We'll have to go with what we have. Of course, if we beat both Liverpool and Arsenal its title race over so none of it may matter.

Think it's pretty clear that Conte wanted a player or two this window but the club have probably told him to wait until the summer for his primary targets. Hence why Aké is back. Begovic and Iva will be gone tomorrow, probably. Highly doubt we'll sign anyone other than another backup keeper to replace Bego. We still have that risk where a significant injury to quite a few of our players can potentially be huge. If any of Costa, Hazard, Luiz, Moses, or Kante pick up a big knock the team will really struggle to replace their quality. We've seen that Conte can adapt without someone for a match or two but fingers crossed none of the above get a serious injury.

Hope so. Going to Anfield with every advantage for us we can get is what I want. He's the exact sort of player our defenders struggle against so he'd be an absolutely massive miss for Liverpool.

Why not? He played a match today just like our players did. What's the difference? Sure, he's going to be on a plane for longer but he's a world class athlete so I'm not sure that'll bother him.

I'm sure in normal circumstances they'd let him recover a bit before throwing him back in, but they've been woeful this month. They'll be absolutely desperate to win Tuesday and since its at Anfield they'll want to have all of their best players available to avoid defeat. Klopp will know that a defeat to us ends their title hopes and puts their top 4 shot in serious jeopardy. I'd bet my house he plays.

Looks like Mané might be back just in time for this. Of course.

Doing a lot of things well but when it comes to the final touch he rushes. He needs to settle down and use his instincts instead of overthinking it over and over again.

Perfect illustration of why Fabregas should be the first name on the team sheet against these small teams. Premier League included. He dominates the game with his passing.

Come on, Bats. Score a couple here.

Yeah, was just gonna post about that quote. I just watched his latest press conference and he again moaned about us without having the balls to directly name us. Every week he seemingly moans about fixtures congestion and how "some teams" have so many days to train and for the coach to get his ideas across to their players. Well, José, we wouldn't be in this position if you had done your job well. I really do hope like hell that they miss out on the CL again this season. Another year of PL + Europa League + the other domestic competitions would be hilarious for them. José might actually cry.

Money doesn't really matter. Even his age wouldn't be a huge deal. The Oscar money would more than cover it and if we get a good 3 seasons out of him in his prime then it's worth it. Especially if he contributed to a title win this season. Not that I believe any of these reports. Too good to be true.

Yeah, to me Forster is a big, immobile lump. Not a top class keeper. Courtois is pretty irreplaceable with a like for like keeper in terms of quality right now. Anyone we'd get in will be a young keeper who can one day reach his level. Which is why it's imperative that we convince him to stay. I wasn't really bothered about him going over last summer because he was coming off a poor season. This season he's back to being his world class self and has improved his distribution and ball playing abilities under Conte and the new goalkeeping coach. Too good to sell.

Every month or so the rumors about Courtois leaving flare up again. I'm not believing a word of it now. I think he's happy here now when maybe he wasn't before. If we win the league he's got no reason to leave and he'll probably be offered a new deal he can't say no to.

Imagine if we now go and strengthen the squad by the end of the month. Just a piece or two and I don't think there's any looking back.

It's like we expected them to give up after conceding so late in the first half. Instead, they came out and did the opposite and took the game to us. We have no controlling midfielder who can take the game over and settle the side down with Matic and Kante. Cesc is the only one who can do so in our squad which is a problem. We also weren't helped by the fact that the ref called every ticky-tack foul against us and we got none ourselves. I was fucking raging! Every time one of our players would lightly graze a Hull player Swarbrick would blow his whistle. This may seem odd to say considering we're 8 points clear, but we could REALLY do with a midfield signing.

One of our poorest halves this season. We just let a fucking awful Hull team completely dominate the ball and they were winning every 50/50 tackle. Fabregas coming on completely changed the game (again!) and we took control from there. HUGE improvement needed next week.