[JUSTASILLYOLDGIT]

I try to look at pen decisions as a neutral would do. Cols one was definitely not one, and if Billing kept his hands to himself, then theirs wouldn't be one either. Unfortunately he didn't, and so it was. No complaints!

[Lord Snooty]

It wasn't a foul though. hands or not. Like I keep banging on, this is not yet a non contact sport. If he touches him so in in centre circle, he doesn't fall over. Just because he throws himself to the floor in the area does not make it a foul. It's gamesmanship if you want, but I prefer to call it cheating. And until this cancer in the sport is eradicated it will continue to blight the game I love/hate.
If footballers could behave like snooker players, I'd be happy. Which is another thing that's bothered me for a while. Do footballers cheat at snooker, or any other games they play? I bet they even cheat when they're playing with their kids. Wankers the bloody lot of them (apart from our players of course, who are as honest as the day is long)

---

Anyway, some uninteresting facts. We have now not scored in the last 7 (8 if you include the Shankly Trophy) matches against Liverpool and the last player to score for us against them was cricketer Chris Balderstone in 1962.

[WakeyTerrier]

It is what it is....no complaints last night as we were beaten by a far better team and by the end grateful it wasn't more than 3.
Wagbo tried something different but it still couldn't stop the flow but that isn't to say it won't work against one of the lesser teams.
In the first half I thought we played well and stuck to the game plan despite not having much of the ball. I've not seen it back but I'm told the first goal was a deflection but that Billing turned his back on the ball.
The killer goal in injury time, not sure how he got it in but again he shouldn't be scoring from there.
Depoitre...had to take that chance at 0-0 to give us a fighting chance..but alas he didn't.
Struggled to get out of our half at times but that was because Liverpool hunted us don in packs.
As I say I'm not fussed about last night, I'm not fussed about getting tonked at OT on Saturday either.
What I am fussed about is 7 of the next 8 games (take Spurs out) those other 7 will either see survival or relegation with a minimum of 14 points required to give ourselves a fighting chance

[SHEP_HTAFC]

I must admit I'm getting pissed off with this lack of fight.
Let's just have a go. Liverpool we know are dodgy at the back....Stoke are the same....yet we hardly created a chance in either.
Mooy was shocking last night. Lost the ball every time he got it.
That second goal was the killer. I blame Lossl, but also the central defenders who let Firminho get so close to the goal with no challenge coming in, that he had no choice but to shoot.
All in all very disappointed.

I'm going to say it.....I'd rather be in the Championship seeing us have a go than in the Premiership lying down like lambs.
We've got the money from the Prem now....let's become a yoyo team that fights at the top of the Championship every other year.
It has to be better than what I've seen in the last 6-7 games.

[WakeyTerrier]

With the amount of cash being spent in the Championship even becoming a YOYO team is getting harder by the season

[jjamez]

We seem to have lost everything that made us successful last season and the start of this season. No fight, no zip, no energy, no belief or confidence, the whole no limits mantra has gone too.

We don't even do an aggressive defensive block, we get deeper and deeper and allow others to play and just give the ball back saying have another go.

We seem to have bottled our philosophy of being in peoples faces and using what we have to break on in favour of dont lose at all costs, we either punt the ball long or turn it back allowing the opposition to reorganize and we then struggle for ideas and gift the ball back. Even against Bournemouth we cannot afford to do that, it'll be like west ham again

[Lord Snooty]

Well I think we look exactly the same team that won promotion and the team that started the season so well. The only difference is that we're not getting the lucky breaks.
We aren't getting the 1-0 wins we got last season, mainly because the opposition are much better and the tonkings we're receiving are from the likes of Liverpool and Arsenal instead of Fulham and.....errr Fulham.
Let's face the truth. We weren't that good really. We over achieved and we're now desperately trying to hang on to the over elevated status that Lady Luck bestowed upon us.

[St Charles Owl]

Your season will not be defined by results like this, in fact this result should have been expected and was duly delivered. Lady luck did play a part in getting you up but it was also the team spirit and never say die attitude Wagner instilled in you that played a big part. I didn't see much of the game but this seems to be what is missing and its something that you had in abundance at the start of the season and its still what might save you. The PL is brutal for the teams in the bottom 10, you will lose more than you win and you will need that bit of luck but Wagner needs to work on getting that team spirit back.

You might on paper have the weakest squad but the PL has shown us time and again that the weakest squad is not necessarily the worst squad!!! Its time for the fans to stand up and be counted again like we saw at the start of the season and help carry the team forward in the games against your relegation rivals. Win a few games against those teams and you will be in a completely different position. Personally I hope you can stay up because there are a few teams in the PL that do not deserve to be in there, lets hope they are the ones who drop out instead of you.

[Lord Snooty]

Cascarino was giving us pelters on TalkBollocks this morning by all accounts. Well, just add his name to the list of "experts" who will get their comeuppance at the end of the season.

[theo_luddite]

My two penn'orth for what it's worth.

1. We played a lot better last night than we did against Stoke, Liverpool at theirs and all the other games we've lost in January even though we tried to park the bus and hit them on the break occassionally. It didn't work and at time it wasn't pretty, but don't try to convince me we played like Brazil last seaon either because I know we didn't ever come close.
2. Wagbo tried something different and it didn't come off - had Depoitre's shot gone in, who knows? We could have lost 1-3. It's worth sticking with but the front two need to be closer to each other. On the few occassions they were things looked like they might happen.
3. The Liverpool that turned up last night was more like the Liverpool that played Manc City, not the Liverpool that thought they just had to turn up against Swansea and West Brom. I doubt many Baggies fans on here could believe what they saw that night. I know my mates in the pub couldn't. It also seems Arsenal probably had the same idea last night too. By the way, despite being below us for a chunk of the season, they've both got more quality and seasoned Prima Donna League players than us, so it shouldn't be a surprise thay are now getting their act together.
4. I haven't watched any replays or highlights from last night, I got home at midnight and was off to work this morning bleary eyed and anything but bushy tailed so I can only go on what I saw, which was the same ref giving them another soft penalty and a handful of other soft decisions. A pity Lössl didn't dive the same way as Anfield to make another save and redeem himself for getting beaten at the near post when we were starting to get some momentum, but again we didn't look like shooting let alone scoring. I also saw us continue to knock the ball out of play in our half to regroup when with no other outlet we should have been knocking it 50 yards further down the touchline and regrouping on halfway if that is what we were going to do.
5. Liverpool didn't give Mooy a second to think what to do, two manning him most of the night, 3 manning him if they had to. They knew where the problems from us would come from if they let him play. The rest of the side needs to give him options that Liverpool closed down pretty damned quickly last night.
6. The idea of playing in triangles is that one of you has to move after passing it, we didn't do it often enough but we were also surrounded by 6 men in no time. There's a reason why their lads are fitter, faster and better paid than ours and it's not because they train harder. They are born that way and eventually they get to earn the big bucks. They play the same game as us to some extent but they are better at it for at least 17 reasons that had their boots and kit on last night.
7. Liverpool are not an average Championship team. 7 of last years average Championship teams plus the 3 that came down are throwing more money at trying to come up than we are at trying to stay here. I don't propose for one minute we try to match their spending but it's not going to help us stay up in the long run.
8. Our "good" start was never really that good by the time we'd played for a couple of months. We were already carrying a negative goal difference and a midfield that couldn't string enough passes together to make chances for the lads up front. That was a continuation from last seasn. The piss poor start by others that made us look better than some thought we were have now been addressed with new managers and a few new and/or injured players returning to fitness that has seen their quality start to come to the fore. Their bubbles can burst just as quickly again though, they are only a couple of bad results from being fragile again.
9. We need to average 2 points a game over the next few weeks, after Saturday, to have a prayer, which isn't going to be easy against a lot of sides we've struggled against once and we've only been managing 1.something a match, even in our good runs.
10. I don't give a damn where we finish.
I'm having a blast going to grounds and seeing teams and players that I've normally got to watch on the box, down the pub, on my laptop or my phone or wherever I can and I'm going to support the club and the team as much as I can while it continues. I'll still be there next season wherever we are. Having been in the lowest crowds at Leeds Road in the 4th Division, seen more than my fare share of games in Carlisle, Workington, Hartlepool, Torquay, Portsmouth, Colchester, Gillingham and everywhere in between do you think I'm going to stop now?

More like 10 bob's worth but that's my rant for the day.

Dry January's over, thank fook I gave that a miss this season.