The all-encompassing TV thread.

[Ray de Galles]

I am ashamed of how happy that result makes me.

[Toby Gymshorts]

Obvious loss is obvious.

[Ray de Galles]

Liverpool apparently flew to the game tonight, is this common?

They trained at Port Talbot Town’s ground too :

”The day Liverpool visited the Sand Siro.”

[tracteurgarcon]

Liverpool apparently flew to the game tonight, is this common?

A few seasons ago Arsenal flew to Norwich, so I would guess it is.

[Satchmo Distel]

Can Klopp do it on a wet Monday in Swansea? Guess not.

[Patrick Thistle]

Do they have dry Mondays in Swansea?

[ad hoc]

My mate's there. They were watering the pitch pre-game despite the rain.
Whatever their previous style of play, this new geezer has them 11 behind the ball, try to hit Ayew over the top.
It's understandable, lots of teams Park the bus against Liverpool.

I didn't see this game, but unless Carvalhal has changed his style utterly in the last month he always tried to play a very on the ground passing game. I can understand why he'd want to keep it tight defensively against that Liverpool attack, but I;d be very surprised to learn that he'd taken on some kind of Charles Hughes approach since moving to Wales.

[Ray de Galles]

He hasn’t at all.

He actually gave an interesting post-match interview regarding his tactics and explained how he’d identified that Liverpool were strong in the centre of the pitch but weaker out wide so when Liverpool had the ball Swansea’s players would crowd the central area but when they won the ball back they would try and move it wide swiftly with one and two touch passes. They would also look to switch rapidly from flank to flank to pull Liverpool across the width of the pitch.

Bilić actually made the point in his post-match analysis that they didn’t resort so readily to the kind of long, high balls that other teams may have attempted in the same scenario. Though obviously they were larruping the ball away under pressure in the final period, especially after Bony replaced Ayew and they dropped much deeper.

[Third rate Leszno]

Following on from Ray’s post, another benefit Swansea had in blocking those central areas is that Salah and Mane both like to cut inside, which theoretically leaves room for the full backs to overlap - but last night highlighted the flaws in the plan as Robertson, despite having lots of the ball, repeatedly stopped and played the ball back instead of going past his man and getting a cross in. As for Gomez, there’s a really decent player in there somewhere but his decision making is frequently poor and he needs more consistency.

[Ray de Galles]

last night highlighted the flaws in the plan as Robertson, despite having lots of the ball, repeatedly stopped and played the ball back instead of going past his man and getting a cross in.

Yeah, you often see teams have one player in the opposition who they are clearly happy to let have the ball - they will press when a more dangerous opponent is in possession but give the man they have identified as the least threatening almost all the time he wants and they'll reset. Roberston was that for Swansea last night and though there were some slightly risky moments he never punished them.

[Toby Gymshorts]

Leroy Sane there, shushing Championship opponents. Dear me.

[Third rate Leszno]

City's defence looking vulnerable again tonight, but their front line is just so overwhelmingly good.

[Snake Plissken]

I've seen great teams win through relentlessness, or swift counter-attacking, or maybe two players who are just too good a combination but I've never seen a team that looks like it could score three goals on you from any player without breaking sweat.

[Gerontophile]

Eraso (sorry, no idea) of Leganes has just scored a reeker from 25 yards against/at Real Madrid in the Cup. The Northeastern twat who does the commentary has just said majesterial 3 times in as many seconds, and I think he probably meant majestic.

[Gerontophile]

The commentators have just been caught with their microphones on, and one clearly says "Fucking hell", and not in a whisper, either.

[Gerontophile]

Leganes go on to win 1-2, and win on away goals.

[Gerontophile]

Oh, and Arsenal won 2-1.

[anton pulisov]

ze real fight starts now

[Felicity, I guess so]

When I lived in Madrid, leganes were in Segunda B, regionalised 3rd division. Oh how I enjoyed that result tonight.

[Satchmo Distel]

What are the chances of Arsenal getting into next season's Europa League via the League Cup route?

[ursus arctos]

They need to win the final

[Satchmo Distel]

They have a chance. Wenger found a way to beat the 2017 champions in last season's FA Cup final. Could do the same here with the 2018 champions. OTOH Man City are better than Chelsea were, clearly.

[tee rex]

An amusing but unlikely development would be Liverpool and Spurs getting their act together in the League, so that the cup of contempt suddenly becomes the precious ticket to Europe, for either club.

[Snake Plissken]

Similar to how the Europa League suddenly became important when Man Utd were not about to finish in the top 4.

[Jah Womble]

An amusing but unlikely development would be Liverpool and Spurs getting their act together in the League, so that the cup of contempt suddenly becomes the precious ticket to Europe, for either club.

We can dream.