Incredibly naive performance. We tried to go toe-to-toe with them for the entire match which was suicide. If we'd taken any of the chances we created before they scored it could have been different. But once it went to 2:0 then 3:0 so quickly in the second-half we should have gone into damage limitation mode.
You cannot try to outscore Liverpool in a situation like that at Anfield. We just kept pushing forward leaving acres of space behind. They will pick you off and destroy you, which they did. Pack the midfield, knuckle down and limit the damage so you don't end up on the end of a hiding.
Poor game management from Ten Hag today. He should have seen the writing on the wall early in the second-half and avoided a record breaking rout.
I will say though, crazy number of breaks went Liverpool's way today for some of those goals. One of those days really.
We've been due a bad defeat so let's hope we bounce back on Thursday. At least we don't have to wait long to get back on the pitch and put it right.
When you appoint a team builder, you have to take the good along with the bad. He's already made concessions to the original plan and he has gone back to the drawing board on several occasions. One of the reasons we're having a reasonably good season thus far is because, although he comes with a particular set of principles, he's not as rigid as a lot of his colleagues when it comes to the players' roles on the pitch. But he's not going to defend with 11 players behind the ball when he's chasing the score and there are still 40 minutes of football to be played. It should be clear by now that we will (at least) try to play football.
I know that we are the butt of everyone's joke right now, but at least it happened while we were trying to play our game. Not by trying to contain them from the get-go by changing formations and tactics, thus signalling to everyone in and around the first team that we feel inferior to them. This is something ETH can actually use to galvanize the players in order to get a response from them. After a similar defeat at the Etihad (which would have looked as bad, had City not taken the food off the gas pedal) we went on to have our first good run of results. Liverpool are actually having a season like the game we had today, and Klopp hasn't changed his tactics at all to make them more defensive during games. He also comes with a core set of principles. As i said, you're going to accept that there will be good days and not so good ones.
It's true that we look knackered in our recent games. It's also true that when you're playing Liverpool and you're losing all the 50/50s and the second balls, you will probably get a good hiding. People should keep in mind that we are trying to cope with the absence of Martial, Eriksen and Sancho for huge parts of the season. We're currently relying on a Burnley reject, a teenager in his first season in top flight and a loanee to help us achieve our goals for the season. We may not have the ceiling Liverpool/City have when they're at the very top of their game, but we knocked out the La Liga leaders not so long ago.
On the tactical issue, the only thing of real concern is that the most glaring weakness in ETH's plan (and this goes back to his Ajax days) is that, when the man-to-man press is beaten high up the pitch, the opponents can find a direct route to run at the back-four. It cost him the presence in a CL final and it led to some ugly defeats later on in Europe. He has shown improvement, which is an indication that he acknowledges the problem, but there's still plenty of work to be done.
Finally, and with the fact that we are not the finished article yet, maybe this will serve as a reminder that, even when the stats are good and the spirits are high, we can have a conversation about how to move forward. It's good to have players who bring high energy levels to the table, who play with their heart on their sleeve and whose game revolves around being "chaotic" with their positioning on the pitch - or by chasing the ball around like maniacs -, but the final step at the highest level in today's football is all about "control". This is what we mainly lacked today, much more than not having 11 men behind the ball.
