LiquidAK

I'm choosing to believe that this is an elite misinformation campaign from the club to lull Liverpool into a false sense of security. They put out the reserves thinking it'll be a walkover, then the squads are released and BAM - Isak plays - Hall plays - Botman plays - We secretly signed an elite GK and RW in January - We actually did appeal Gordon's ban, and it was double upheld so we start 1-0 up to compensate for the distress caused 5-0, Salah in tears, somewhere in Germany Klopp falls to his knees, Tindall spends the next 72 hours on a London bender

This said it all really. What a transparently miserable way of framing Howe's achievements at Bournemouth

https://www.instagram.com/p/DGvEltWiALB/?igsh=MXY3bzlxNnVjbjA1eg== Good captain behaviour that, the first paragraph about it being natural to look for someone to blame and it should be him. Clearly about Gordon and trying to take that weight from him

We've basically been unable to improve the squad for multiple transfer windows, and despite an aging team on the decline he's still got us to a 2nd final in 3 years, and in the race for Europe for the third year in a row. If people think there's some mythical manager we could go out and get who is going to do better with those restrictions then I've got some magic beans to sell you. At the very least he deserves a chance to make some signings and kick on, there's only so much any one man can keep the wheels on the bus without additional resource

Didn't think there was a lot wrong with our gameplan today to be honest, we started well and had spells of the game where we were well on top. The 2nd half started poorly, he made 3 early subs and we improved as a result. Gordon's red & Isak being forced off in quick succession threw everything off kilter. Extra time was a bit of a shitshow - both teams looked exhausted playing a man down but we looked as likely to win it as not. I'm annoyed at our lack of depth but that's not Howe's doing.

You've got to commend it really, no clue brute has been at this for years. What I'd give for our team to have that level of consistency

Liverpool still want to sign him? We'll do them a deal.

Oh well, at least the massive cunts in our fanbase will have something to smile about. Silver linings

Love football like. Half a game can fuck an entire season. Dunno why we bother

Almost comical how much this game has fucked our season. Hall injured beforehand, Gordon banned for the final and Isak potentially off with an injury. Laughs

The fuck was he even thinking. No defending that

Annoying. Played well overall but gifted another sloppy goal. Again.

Tripps has been really solid today, good to see

Get in, great pen

Bruno crying out for a rest, glad he's getting one before the final

Chris Woods

Gordon's there

Glad to see Isak back, that's huge for the final. Tino on the left over Hall is interesting, hopefully not an injury issue

Sandro ole ole ole

Think there are a few reasons for optimism after that. Hall has kept Salah relatively quiet 2 games in a row (despite him having a season where he can create something with half a second as we saw at SJP) We defended reasonably well and looked dangerous on the counter tonight, if Wilson doesn't miss his 1-on-1 it could've been 1-1 and then who knows, different game. Isak and Joelinton back in the side, on neutral ground, and we have every chance. We're obviously huge underdogs but we've not been blown away by them either time we've played this season, we absolutely have a chance if we get into them from the off. The key will be cutting out sloppy as fuck goals like the 2 tonight. They've not really had to work for either of their goals which is hugely frustrating. Manage to get through the final without any more of those lapses and who knows what could happen. I'm not exactly confident, but I'm hopeful.

They were brilliant for the first 15 minutes but we've defended well, makes that soft as fuck goal even more of a kick in the teeth. If this wasn't those cunts at that shit stadium I'd think we could turn this around

The armband isn't the be all and end all. We need leadership on the pitch beyond just Bruno and beyond who's wearing the armband. Stripping him of the captaincy would be mental though, he's the heartbeat of the team and it'd hurt his relationship with the club. At that point you might as well sell him as I don't know how you repair that. Much prefer we get some more leadership into the team beyond what we've already got in Burn. What I'm trying to say here is that Bruno is great as captain from a being representative of what this team is perspective, but he needs help with more leaders in the team, or for the experienced players we already have to step up and share the load

Doku absolutely rinsing Trent so far

Think he struggled without Tonali in the team. Miley and Willock were great in the first half but feels like Bruno needs the security of Sandro's recovery pace to really let himself off the leash He's still one of if not our best player mind, people calling him overrated in the match thread are off their rockers

Massive 3 points given our next game. Well in the race