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Football News: Real Madrid V Liverpool Champions League Final - A Liverpool Perspective

Real Madrid V Liverpool Champions League Final - A Liverpool Perspective
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Liverpool v Real Madrid

 


This game was such a disappointment in so many ways, even looking past the result, what could have been a great game was soon turned into a game that really is typical of a big final, tight and decided by silly errors. Such a shame that a piece of brilliance by Bale has been totally overshadowed by so many things that do not deserve to overshadow it. Partly his own fault, to be fair, as he should have deflected away all talk of him leaving for another day and basked in the moment of glory.

Unfortunately, instead of applauding Bale we are left arguing over whether Ramos deliberately set out to injure Salah or not, whether Ramos deliberately elbowed Karius in the head and discussing the silly errors by Karius. First off, I find it difficult to believe that Ramos did not set out intentionally to 'put one on' Salah. It is the way he plays, which is why he has such a terrible disciplinary record when the referee is of any kind of decent quality.

I doubt he intended to injure him, but there is not a doubt in my mind he set out to hurt him, it is the way he plays and always has been. In the past it was normal for a defender to leave a foot in, to boot a tricky forward in the air and try and frighten them. For other teams, those days have past, but Ramos is a throwback in that regard. He is not a good defender in the conventional sense, Ramos is not outstandingly skilled positionally, but he frightens opponents, who know he is willing to take a red card so long as he hurts you.

Throughout the run to the final, Ramos has frightened attackers into avoiding him, such as Dybala, as they did not want to end up like Salah. Ramos will risk a red card, knowing full well officials favour Madrid with decisions so he has a good chance of getting away with a bad foul, to hurt his opponent. He did it again when he elbowed Karius, he also leaves a foot in everytime he makes a challenge outside the box, as he did repeatedly.

What really makes him particularly distasteful and sickening is his penchant for playacting to get a fellow professional sent off. It should not be called dark arts or gamesmanship, those things make it sound like he is being clever. He is simply a cheat and should be considered one. That is the area that he differs from the old hatchet men, they were hard but they would take as well as they gave, not throw themselves to the floor to get Mane booked when there was clearly no contact.

That is probably the key factor, over and above anything else that affected this final. The hand-picked referee, who had not refereed a single minute of Champions League football before the final, killed any chance of Liverpool's press being effective for large portions of the game. When a ball is won cleanly but a free kick is given against you, it makes it difficult to make the same challenge later on.

Early on Liverpool were on top, not to the point of dominance, but the first 25 minutes they were the better side, because Madrid were rushing their game and making mistakes. Salah, Mane and Firmino together create a real fear factor and they were giving Madrid's team a torrid time. Both Kroos and Modric were almost on top of Casemiro, they were so deep, trying to ensure they kept the trio out, which reduced their options to play out from the back, making it more difficult for them to do so and passes out from the back were picked off because of that.

Then Ramos produced a throw on Salah, he went off injured and Liverpool lost their threat up front. Mane had been the best player on the pitch in the early stages, because the Madrid defence was forced back by Salah and Firmino, giving him space to run into. Without Salah, the defence could push onto Mane and ensure he had little chance to receive the ball and run at them. Lallana had all the effect on the game of a 10 year old playing with adults, lots of running round but no impact. Despite that Madrid were not really able to do much in the first half and it went in still in the balance at 0-0.

With Modric pushing further forward, Madrid started the 2nd half on the front foot, up until they scored what was a terrible mistake by Karius. That seemed to inspire Liverpool and they took the game to Madrid until they equalised. Zidane brought on Bale a few minutes later and that turned the game. It kept the Liverpool defence pinned back because of his pace and he scored that worldy to restore Madrid's lead. The belief seemed to drain out of Liverpool once more, they were being pegged back and had no outball other than hoping Mane could work some magic. Instead Karius, who was clearly badly affected by his first mistake, made another bad error and it was 3-1 and the game was all over.

On the balance of play, Madrid were the better side over the 90 minutes, but they still needed two bad errors by the Liverpool goalkeeper to get a win. That just tells you what a fine margin it is between defeat and victory in these situations.

 

Klopp - first off, just want to address the old argument about Klopp's record in finals and how it proves how bad a tactician or coach he is. Each of those finals were reached with a team that was not expected to be there, almost every single time his team were the underdogs in the final itself, so not sure why he is seen as failing. To reach them was an achievement, to win them with an underdog would have been far more than that. If he had reached 7 finals and had the favourite each time, then I would agree there is a problem. As it stands, he has achieved beyond his means reaching 7 finals.

There was an issue in this one, that Klopp was unable to change the game when Liverpool went behind the second time. Partially that was down to not having the quality to come off the bench, but partly it is a worry that he still does seem to know what to do to turn a game round midway through a half. It can not be due to Buvac leaving, the problem was there while he was there. In large part the issue seems to be a lack of belief in the alternatives at his disposal.

It is something he needs to look at and learn from. Just upping intensity is not always the answer. Sometimes a manager needs to change it. While he has shown signs of doing so when a game is tight or the team have a lead, he has yet to show an ability to change a losing team to turn them around.

 

Karius - what can I say about his performance? He knows he made two dreadful errors, whether or not Ramos' elbow contributed to the first we will never know but there was no excuse for the second. He simply panicked. Such a shame that he crumbled when the pressure was on after keeping 6 clean sheets on the way to the final. Every player makes mistakes, unfortunately for a keeper their mistakes almost certainly end in goals. It was a disaster of a night for him, but I fail to see what good all the abuse he is getting will do. About time people remembered what YNWA is about.

 

Alexander-Arnold - two assists came from Marcelo on the left. There was no one closing down those crosses. The full backs are often left isolated against two or more players and that is an issue. Someone needs to be closing down crosses. Individually Alexander-Arnold actually did not have a bad game, but he needs to be stronger with his team-mates. While Lovren did a good job of helping him out, questions have to be asked why the midfield left the full backs so exposed at times.

 

Lovren - was one of the better players on the night. Protected Alexander-Arnold when he was caught up field, covered for his partner and did his own job as well. Oh and got an assist.

 

van Dijk - had a decentish game. Unfortunately for the amount paid for him, decent is not good enough and he needs to be more dominant in games like this. He has shown he can be when he wants to. That effortless stroll he does is not going to do anything in a game like this but draw opponents onto him, as they know he is not going to get stuck in. He needed to show aggression and it was non-existent.

 

Robertson - not a particularly good overall game. Did some nice things at times, but his final ball was lacking again. Worst was his decision making at times was very poor, making a decision to chase after a loose pass when there were attackers in behind him free was a particular stand out of that. However, in large part his game was massively hampered by being outnumbered, as he was usually facing two or three players on his own. Lallana, after he came on, was not protecting him and nor were the midfield, so I would not blame him for not being able to shine.

 

Wijnaldum - he was much more visible in the opponent's half than usual, but he was being caught up field a lot which exposed the fullbacks. His passing was poor, he had no end product because his passes were not hit with the right pace to enable the receiver to get it and do something. It is bad enough he takes too many touches, but some of the passes were terrible, forcing the ball to go back almost every time. There was never enough pace on the ball to create an opening.

 

Henderson - a lot of the time he was bypassed as the attacks came down the flanks. At times he did some good things, chased back and took the ball off Ronaldo for example, but overall he was a peripheral figure. That is not good enough for a captain, he should be at the heart of things. I am particularly disappointed in him not going over to Karius, though he did say the right things afterwards, actions do speak louder than words.

 

Milner - started off well, but was forced back and seemed to run out of legs in the second half, even before picking up a knock. In fact that knock seemed to be the result of tiredness. Maybe he suffered an adrenalin dump from being too pumped up for it? Hard to know for sure, but it is very unusual for Milner to struggle for stamina.

 

Salah - started the game well, twice Marcelo took him down from behind as he was caught out of position and Madrid were struggling to get to grips with him. Then Ramos literally got to grips with him and injury forced him off. That was a massive blow that the game never recovered from, let alone Liverpool.

 

Mane - excellent in the opening stages as he had space to attack Madrid. Struggled after Salah went off as he was usually crowded out and he was not able to find space to get the ball and go at them so easily.

 

Firmino - struggled after Salah went off. It was a difficult game for him as his pressing game was of little use, Madrid were not holding onto the ball in areas for him to chase down that often and, when they did, the ref was quick to give them a foul if anyone got close. He needed more service to effect the game.

 

Subs:

Lallana - came on in the 30th minute to replace Salah, an almost impossible task, but he made a terrible job of it. He just offered nothing, no protection for Robertson and no attacking threat. He has shown the quality is there, but I would have to say it just looked too soon for him to be back in the team for more than just a few minutes at the end to hold onto a lead by dallying on the ball and running down the clock.

Can - replaced the limping Milner in the 83rd minute and barely got involved.

Written by Tris Burke May 28 2018 11:00:52

 

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