CL knockouts

[Jah Womble]

For beating us fair and square, genuine congrats and re'spect to Rogin, hobbes and all the other Scouse-friendlies on here - but I have to say I've no idea how Spurs allowed that to happen. I hate to say it but Poch's days might now be numbered on the back of this: yes, it was Liverpool - pound-for-pound better than us, all told - but I think even their die-hards would concede that they put forward very little tonight.

I hope that this doesn't sound like sour grapes - which it absolutely isn't meant to - but it does feel to me like a big, big opportunity for my club, binned off rather meekly.

But hey-ho, I've been sh*tfaced since 4pm, so maybe I'll look upon it differently tomorrow morning. (Or maybe I won't...) Gawd bless, either way.

[The Mighty Trin]

Now I'm a long time silent admirer of all your subtly nuanced and excellent posts (and poor Seppings) for the very good reason that football is my second sport, but would Kane not starting have really made a difference? Apologies if this was covered earlier.

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

Divock Origi deserves world player of the year on the back of his last two appearances. Liverpool were awful tonight but moved Spurs out of position when it mattered ... I think they learnt a lot from losing last year, beaten by a more experienced team in Real. Spurs, too, will only come back stronger.

[Third rate Leszno]

Well, just got back to the hotel bar for a nightcap and to reflect on the evening.

I thought the game would be shit, and it didn't disappoint. After a reasonable first 10", Liverpool got steadily worse but it took Spurs til about the hour mark before they stopped being equally shit and realise the game was there for the winning. After that I thought Liverpool defended really well, Alisson was terrific and Van Dijk and Robertson solid. The game opened up in that last half hour but it needed one beautiful finish from the much-maligned Origi to win it - what a massive feeling of relief.

Commiserations to the OTF Spurs contingent, I know exactly how deflating it feels. Although the ones in this bar are putting a brave face on things, to be fair.

[Third rate Leszno]

What crested bird does Mane's hair remind me of?

Goldcrest maybe?

[Toby Gymshorts]

There have been a lot of negatives expressed about Jordan Henderson - mainly on here, by me - but if you can watch the video of him hugging his dad and crying tears of happiness, or pride, or whatever, without getting a little speck of something in your eye, then you're a much harder person than I.

[Third rate Leszno]

Yeah, Henderson was the pick of the Liverpool midfield today, got stuck in and put in a solid 7/10 performance. It was the sort of game where his weaknesses weren't exposed. Chuffed to bits to see him lift the trophy.

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

Ajax and Barcelona must both be looking at that this morning and thinking "fuck". Ajax in particular would have torn that Liverpool performance to shreds last night.

[Sean of the Shed]

They did that to Spurs in the semi final right up to the point that they stopped doing it.

[Jah Womble]

I thought the game would be shit, and it didn't disappoint.

I think that that might be my favourite OTF line this year.

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

"Liverpool are struggling to get back into a match they're winning" will live with me.

[Tactical Genius]

Sorry to my favourite Spurs fans TG and JW. But you wouldn't be any different...

No need to apologize. I would be 1000 times worse

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

That game was every bit as much of a farce as last years final. Last year it was Ramos running around with a sledgehammer crippling people, this year it was 3 weeks off making everyone so rusty that they were unable to pass the ball five yards. This game was always going to be grim on some level because both teams are basically trying to do almost exactly the same thing, except Liverpool are a bit more sophisticated at it. This game would have been much better had it been played a fortnight ago because they players wouldn't have seized up with rust yet, and the managers wouldn't have been tempted to pick Kane and Firmino.

Mane Clearly lashed that ball at sissoko's hand. Either that or he was trying to kick the ball out of the stadium. That just means that Mane is a really smart player, and sissoko is a dozy fool. On the one hand I think giving that penalty is very harsh, but sissoko needs to learn that there is time and a place to be shouting and pointing and that wasn't it. After that there was this horrible realization that spurs didn't have any idea about how to score. The first goal was an absolute killer, because on a good day spurs have real problems breaking down liverpool, but last night you had a horrendous inconsistency of touch or technique by spurs. (though I think that is as much a function of who scored first, and had liverpool had to chase the game they might have been seen as the more technically bereft)

[ursus arctos]

Not directly final-related, but this looks like an interesting paper

https://twitter.com/JohnHolbein1/status/1134972478374023168

[Sits]

My genuine congratulations to OTF's Liverpool fans, a well-deserved trophy after a terrific season, and my genuine commiserations to OTF's Spurs fans, whose team was the better side tonight.

This.

[hobbes]

This game would have been much better had it been played a fortnight ago because they players wouldn't have seized up with rust yet, and the managers wouldn't have been tempted to pick Kane and Firmino.

Yeah, this. It had the look of a pre season game, one of those you play behind closed doors to get everyone fit.
Also both teams play fast and high. It's their first game in this heat and humidity since last August/September. Add that to the long break and they just all looked knackered.

[Del Usory]

And now your question on football, Karl Marx, "how many times have Liverpool won the European Cup?"...

[Del Usory]

Eh?

How come that nom de guerre has resurrected itself?

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

Yeah, this. It had the look of a pre season game, one of those you play behind closed doors to get everyone fit.
Also both teams play fast and high. It's their first game in this heat and humidity since last August/September. Add that to the long break and they just all looked knackered.

it's beyond knackered though. There was a moment in the second half where someone wellies the ball towards danny rose, he kills it with his first touch, his second touch is a nutmeg of Jordan henderson, he starts driving up the pitch, and puts a five yard pass to the player on the overlap out for a throw. Beyond tiredness, there was a total lack of sharpness from both sides, but it was more exposed in the team that was trying to chase the game. You could see every minor technical inconsistency or flaw in spurs was magnified. Son has become one of the better players in europe by improving his consistency of execution, and usually coming down on the right side of the "is he shane long or arjen robben conundrum." There was a couple of key moments last night where his control just deserted him and he had the bemused air of a certain former Tipperary Minor Hurling superstar.

[jwdd27]

Liverpool have been training in Marbella for the past two weeks, so the heat can't have been too much of a shock for them, but I guess for both managers it was a case of striking a balance between giving players a rest and keeping the engines running.
Presumably the scheduling is tied to the later finish of the other major leagues, meaning an extra week of hanging about for the English.

[Satchmo Distel]

That should be easy to fix: move the end of the EPL season to reduce the wait to the final. Having the final EPL round after the FA Cup final, perhaps (as was done before IIRC)

The problem with Liverpool may simply have been not knowing whether to go for the second or play more on the counter. Spurs took a long time to get going; 65-70 minutes. But a Liverpool 2nd goal was always on.

[Satchmo Distel]

"Can Exposure to Celebrities Reduce Prejudice?"

He's a bit more than a celebrity: the best player of a club whose fans treat the game like a religion. It's not like a Muslim character being introduced to Brookside. Or maybe that title misrepresents the study?

[ursus arctos]

Isn't that the definition of "celebrity"?

There are very few, if any, universal celebrities. And there are plenty of people on Mersyside who don't give a monkey's about football and plenty among those who do that don't support Liverpool. I can see the criticism if the study was limited to self-identified Liverpool supporters, but it instead looks at Merseyside as a whole.

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

That phenomenon cuts both ways though doesn't it?

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

Sky News are describing Jurgen Klopp not as a football manager but a "spiritual leader". I'm not going to disagree.