The only player to be forgiven for his mistakes on Tuesday night is Stefan Vaicetić. The Spaniard was 18 years old and in his first ever Champions League match against Luka Modric, arguably the best midfielder of his generation.
Bajcetic passed well, but ultimately forced things too far in the excitement of the game. Still, it was quite impressive how he continued to want the ball after the mistake that led to his second goal for Real Madrid (ultimately Alisson’s fault, of course). but). If there’s one positive thing from the humiliation, it’s the performance of the newest academy graduate.
Another might be the way Mo Salah and Darwin Nunez clearly enjoy rinking. Not as productive as Salah once was with the prime version of Sadio Mane, but the Uruguayan is getting there and the relationship is blossoming. ‘s pace and movement are exceptional, and if he can combine it with a finish like the one we saw in the midweek of the season opener, he’ll score a hatful.
It’s a nice part of the way.
It doesn’t matter who you play against. Leading 2-0 and conceding his next five goals against an opponent in his own stadium is downright shambolic.
Liverpool are very fragile. Defensively, midfield and most importantly mentally. There are more mental midgets than monsters. Let’s take a look at the goal that ruined the game the most in my opinion: his third for Real Madrid. He was not a single Liverpool player to clear a free-kick, so Eder Militon free-ran and headed him from six yards out. There were 11 players in the box. they had five. Still, he ran unmarked and unchallenged, scoring the easiest goal of his career.
Liverpool left Militao alone to score Real Madrid’s winning goal 😮 pic.twitter.com/6uOJtvntpD
— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) February 21, 2023
It was just a collective refusal to take responsibility. No one leaves the defensive zone and tries to attack the ball. Everyone wants someone else to do it. This doesn’t happen because they are bad footballers. But they were mentally fried from what happened in the first half and had effectively lost faith. We can’t lose confidence at 2-2…we were in the game. There are no away goals this season. Real Madrid lost his 2-0 loss but didn’t look the slightest bit upset.
The difference in confidence, optimism and mutual trust between the Whites and the Reds was truly astounding.
And we’ve seen it in the last few weeks as well. Jürgen Klopp’s squad, which has won the European Cup and Premier League, is crumbling like a house of Trump.
That was when he gave the Wolves the lead in a 3-0 loss. game over. Same with Brighton. The first goal comes in and that’s it.
We beat Everton because they were really bad at reaching out to us and if Newcastle had taken one of the multiple chances they created, the emotional effect would have been Liverpool. I can assure you that it would have rendered it useless again.
Given this, what do sports psychologists have to say about it? A team that came back from a 3-0 loss and beat Barcelona 4-3 on aggregate to win the Champions League. A team that knew they had never lost almost inevitably scored a second half goal.
“When people say, ‘They are lucky,’ and my son and daughter say, ‘They are lucky,’ I say, ‘Not lucky.’ But last season it happened six or seven times in the last few minutes before we were able to come back and win the game for the ruthless Reds in 2019.
“The mentality and the talent to learn it. I don’t believe football is lucky. The reason it happens over and over again is because of the talent.”
What will Pep say now behind closed doors? What will Klopp say?
Should he be tactically responsible for the collapse? In hindsight, it’s easy to say yes. If Klopp had been allowed to restart the match from his 2-0 mark, he would have sat back and counter-attacked. Honestly, given our defense and midfield, he probably should be every week, but that’s another story…
However, Vinicius Jr.’s first goal had many players in the box to defend it. There is also an element of luck in football, but not in the second half goals. This comes from the fact that Liverpool were too shocked to act like adults and stabilize themselves. There was a heated debate in the dressing room at half-time, but Eder Militao’s goal ruined it all. What a terrifying night!
The question now, of course, is whether Tuesday’s wounds will stay with the Premier League players. So our best bet is to actually run in the top 4 so we can fund rebuilding over the summer. there is.