dee25

Wish we could work out openings like this. Credit to City though.

Nothing anonymous about that pass that almost sent Hazard through.

Oh come on we outplayed them for long periods in the first half. They couldn't pass through our midfield. Were you expecting them to come out in the 2nd half and continue to roll over?

Any news on the injuries to Ibra and Verratti?

Can you fucking sort out your feet Ramires?? Christ.

I just don't get how we could look so toothless in front of goal. These are really good positions we're getting into but we're not even making their centre backs work.

David Luiz and Ramires are seriously two sides of the same coin. Why foul when you have him cornered?

Luiz looks like he's tiring. And Ramires is on a yellow, don't know how much longer we can hold on.

Shocking. Shocking defending from Silva there.

Just a heads up - the Chelsea Simpsons episode is going to be airing tonight. Something to cheer us all up a bit. :blue scalf:

Really couldn't have said it better myself. Absolutely spot on. I think most reasonable fans all appreciate the work Mourinho has done this season but to argue that there aren't any flaws in the way Mourinho sets up the team at times and that the reason we struggle against sides like Palace is down to the striker or lack of grit and has nothing to do with our over reliance on counter-attacking is just.....pure fantasy. It's fantasy. You're better off arguing with a brick wall imo.

God Liverpool fans are so far up their own asses. They think they're so fucking special.

Was it mind games though? I think he was just being honest. The team is not strong enough to be called title favorites, there's no point in Mourinho pretending that we are. Doing so would only raise false hope among the fans.

I can't remember what game it was but there was a point in a home match we had just scored and the camera showed Ash sitting in the stands beside MVG and Emenalo. He was like going mad celebrating. It was just so touching to see. This man has gone from being one of the first names on the teem sheet to not starting a match in the league since January and yet I've never once seen him sulking on the bench. He's normally the one celebrating the most whenever we score. My respect for him has grown even more this season.

Completely agree with the bolded part. I like that Mourinho has at least instilled a recognizable style of football that has taken us from competing for 4th to competing for the title. That much has to be acknowledged. Last season, we basically had no identity. Now at least you can say that we're a counterattacking team. At the same time I'm not sure how entirely comfortable I feel with a system that requires players to be better off the ball than they are on the ball. It's a system that maximizes results and performances only when we have less possession and something about that unsettles me. We have young talented players in the team that need to improve on their skills. How are they to do that when the manager's philosophy is one that doesn't demand quality on the ball from his players but rather work rate? I mean you look at Hazard and here is an extraordinarily talented kid, future ballon d'or and all of that. But the kid literally has no idea what to do with fucking ball when we're the team with most of the possession. That tells me that there is something not right with the way he's being coached. Oscar and Hazard are players that are nowhere near being the finished products. If we're expecting those two to help us win the title next season then they need coaching on their offensive abilities because there is a lot they need to improve on. Are they getting that from Mourinho? Like I said, lots of positives to take from this season but these questions need to be asked.

I'm really trying to find an ounce of progress made between our earlier performances against West Brom, Newcastle, and this one against Palace. Even if it's a smitten of progress. Just something for me to hold on to as solace for next season but the truth is, I don't see any change at all. We've made improvements overall, and the foundation of a system is in place (I guess that's the one solace) but against weaker sides the players look just as clueless on the ball as they did at the beginning of the season. I get that the squad is not perfect and there are obviously weak areas but I'm worried that Mourinho has coaching weaknesses when it comes to setting up a team against compact defences. Maybe 'weaknesses' is not the right word but I don't think his coaching style/philosophy is one that favor sides that get men behind the ball. It was a similar story with his Real Madrid side. Against sides like palace it just seems to me that we need better offensive tactics. Mourinho needs to take more risks right from the start. It would help if we had a player like Mata, Kdb etc in the team because we need that kind of skill set. Hopefully next season we can bring in someone like Kroos to play alongside Matic. Title or no title there're many positives to take from this season but at the same time there're some red-flags.

Well it was fun while it lasted

So I'm just going to come right out and say it but I really don't rate this Liverpool side at all. Not only do I not rate them but I'm very skeptical of their so called 'progress.' Comparing their players to those of Everton's and Southampton's, strikers aside I don't think Liverpool has a better team than those two let alone having a comparable team to that of Spurs, Arsenal and us. They have mediocre players like Sterling and Henderson, (I'm sorry but come on he's damn average) who are producing performances of world beaters; good players like Sturridge producing numbers comparable only to elite footballers like Cavani, Zlatan, Messi etc and then there's Gerrard who is past his prime but looking at his stats, you would never know it. Even Skrtel for god's sakes has something like 5 goals this season. And it's not as if their progress has been gradual. It's almost like a 180 degree transformation that has taken place within short time span. Either Brandan Rogers is a miracle worker or having an in-form strike force can do wonders to a team's performances.

Great. Now I'm gonna be a nervous wreck between now and kick off. Thanks a lot you negative statistics person!

For the love of god anyone but Liverpool.

Those who are saying comments like "he made the biggest mistake of his life", "I feel sorry for him"......... are looking at it through the eyes of a spectator. What exactly was the alternative for Mata? Continue warming our bench all season and watching the team that you were once the star player in win games without you? Utd might be in a slump this season but when mata signed for them he surely knew that he wasn't going to be winning trophies any time soon but when you've fallen out of favor and the club you were once the best player at is now moving in different direction you can't afford to be picky. If he had stayed here he would have become irrelevant to the world of football and would have been forgotten about. At least now he's playing regular football and doing so at one of the biggest clubs in the game. While he won't be playing champions league football next season but he knows that he's at a club that has the resources to bounce back.

If the club had any sense they'd use that money and invest it in top class central midfielder.

Exactly. My sense is that Mourinho will continue playing Iva in the right back position. Ivanovic hasn't been dropped once this season - except for the league cup games and then there was that period he was injured but he's mourinho first choice in that position. With the rumors that he'll likely be awarded a long term contract extension I just don't see mourinho dropping him next season for Azpi. It's very likely that mourinho will continue playing Iva in RB and Azpi in LB.

Well that might be true in recent years but Vieira, Henry, Bergkamp.... those were world class players and also real leaders. I think Wenger is an excellent coach and he's created some fantastic teams but there comes a point where a manager isn't able to motivate his players anymore and Wenger reached that point some years back. If Liverpool actually finish above Arsenal, then he should probably do the right thing and step down.

Have people considered that Mourinho might want to continue with Azpi in the leftback position? I just get the feeling that we don't have a strong interest in Shaw. Really hope I'm wrong. We need more English players in the team and those with elite talent don't come around that often.