Totally agree, this was a performance that introduced us to the Premier league. To score 3 goals ( almost 4) all from open play v the best team in the country who only conceded 16 (?) at home last season was remarkable Like many pre game I just did want us to get outclassed, by the end I was gutted we did not get at least one point All this with our captain and organiser missing It will be the results against the lower teams, not liverpool, man city etc that will define our season, and if we play like that against them, starting v Fulham we will be fine. One thing that did piss me off was the lack of knowledge from so called experts - whilst they, quite rightly gave us lots of praise, some comments showed total ignorance of Bielsaball. Souness , knob, was the worst offender, asking if we had a big squad ( we purposely do not! ) then saying we can't keep this high pressure game all season, welll we have managed to do it for 48 and 46 games in the last 2 seasons so 36 will be easy ( whilst the results collapsed 2 seasons ago the level of intensity and performance did not) Feeling much happier and more confident now than before kick off Just gutted that we cant be there . I saw a quote today that sums it up " football used to be 7 hours with lots of mates, now it is 90 minutes with one other person" Dave On Sunday, 13 September 2020, 08:57:30 BST, Richard Walker via Leedslist <leedslist@gn.apc.org> wrote: What a day, what a game. Everything I write here should be taken in context of around 6 pints of Ilkley Pale Ale. I haven't watched the goals back and refuse to watch Lineker and co with their dull 'expert' opinions. The main question for me is, was Liverpool's defence shit or was it that the way they play completely suited our play ? At times it was like watching the Arsenal defence from the 80s in the way they pushed up nearly to the half way line to play the off side trap. I haven't seen that for a while and I wonder if other PL teams play this way ? Hope so. We started nervously and it looked like we were on for a hiding as we didn't appear to know how to mark them. Not surprising given we had a young lad making his central defensive debut and Koch making his debut. We couldn't get our game going at all but then all of a sudden we broke free and scored with a great goal from Harrison. Philips pass was good but Harrison still had to control it and beat his man which he appeared to do with one touch. Fantastic. After that, we seemed to pass through them as if they weren't there. They seemed to allow us to play, we had loads of space and when we didn't, we made space with simple one-twos. They seemed bewildered. They didn't appear to know how to handle us which I found incredible. We could have scored more in that first half. Harrison, after scoring a blinder, then reverted to type when all he had to do was square the ball to an unmarked Bamford but hit the first man. Frustrating. Costa had a goal disallowed which was a very tight decision and then Bamford was put through and I shouted "dink it over him with your right foot' but in typical Bamford style he didn't and lost out after taking the ball wide. 10 mins later he was in exactly the same position. I didn't bother shouting at the TV cos I knew what was going to happen however, unbelievably he dinked the keeper with his right foot into the net. Great goal which reminded me that Bamford, despite his poor performances last season, is a decent player and maybe this division will suit him more than when he was up against the 6ft 2" hoof it central defenders in the championship. The next big question is are we going to struggle big time this season with set pieces ? Liverpool's set pieces were on a different level and it looked like they would score every time. I think there's a load of work to do there and I can't help think we need another centre back. Overall, I thought this was a great performance. They got lucky with 2 penalties and we definitely deserved a point. I'm fascinated to see whether a lot of games will be like this in the PL or will games against the bottom teams be more cagey ? Early days. Fulham will tell us more Scores: Meisler - 7. I'm not sure he did anything wrong and he did make a couple of top drawer saves. Maybe he could have come and attacked the ball for their headed goal but I think that was Koch's man. Ayling - 8. Again, I'm not sure he did much wrong and actually contributed lots going forward. His performance surprised me because he was one of several players who I thought would struggle in the PL. Dallas - 8. Had a really tough time defending at times but he stuck at it and did well. Going forward he was energetic and fast moving. Koch - 5. I've seen worse central defensive debuts (Fairclough and Rio) bt in those early minutes he did look lost. I thought he was unlucky with the pen but should have ensured he stuck with his man for their goal from the corner. I thought he grew into the game and he looks to me like he's got the ability. We will see. Struijk - 5. It's the first time he's played with Koch (now that's a funny sentence) so it wasn't surprising to see a lot of uncertainty in that first half but like Koch he grew into the game and he won a lot of headers and made a lot of clearances. He can also play a bit. Whether he's ready for the PL as a central defender ? Not sure. Philips - 7. I thought he did well overall with some good passing,link up play and freekick but like we saw in the England game he lost possession a number of times mainy due to his lack of acceleration over 10 yards when the ball seems to get away from him. Klich - 8. Great goal, lots of running but he didn't do an awful lot in the first half for me. Costa - 7. Great pass for Klich's goal (if he meant it ?) Had a couple of runs and he did put the ball in the net but as usual at times he didn't make the most of his possession. Hernandez - 5. I could be wrong here but did Pablo struggle ? It looked like it to me. I can't remember a significant contribution ? Harrison - 8. I'm giving him 8 mainy for the goal but after that he was quiet. Bamford - 8. Great goal, should have got one earlier but looked lively and seemed to enjoy his extra time on the ball Subs: Rodrigo - I think he might have been involved in the build up play for Klich's goal but his only real contribution was to stick out his leg and give away a pen. Stupid. Roberts - looked lively Shack - typical terrier , running to the last minute. Liverpool were there for the taking. We didn't but we definitely showed that we can survive in this league .... hopefully
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