Stottie

The speed of the decision was at odds with the complexity of the situation. The international feed thought that the offside was a wrong call and that the goal would be given. When it wasn't, their reaction was "oh it must have been Guimaraes", something which hadn't occurred to them from watching the action. The VAR decision looked like it was nullifying an incorrect flag for offside on Isak, but finding a different offside on Bruno which may or may have been correct. He was a yard in front of the keeper, so not impeding him, and not actually in his sight when the shot was taken. You can find the whole match with international coverage (US CBS) online. It sounds like the commentator was Jon Champion. When Isak does score, Champion or whoever it is reminds us that Isak also scored against Arsenal and Chelsea in this tournament. Bravo!

I'm sure we'd have seen more discussion of it had it been an equalizer for them. As it was, we barely got a replay. I would imagine the flag went up seemingly mistakenly for Isak, not for Bruno who the lino can't have known was in the keeper's eyeline. Unless Isak was clearly offside, it should have automatlcally launched a proper VAR review.

6pm here and just about recovered after getting up at noon. Still struggling to believe it. What a performance and the dream scorer in Dan Burn. Beating Liverpool so easily after all our struggles against them of late and without Gordon or Hall. Its a big step forward for the club. It mightn't be for someone else, but it is for us.

Has any other team limited Liverpool to seven shots all season? EH masterclass.

Carra is surprisingly magnanimous mode admitting Liverpool were shite and completely outplayed.

Lets lift up that fucking cup and hear from Eddie our king!

Well in lads! Bruno I love you Drury what a cunt. Easily Liverpool's best performer today. Enjoy it everyone!

Looking good lads. 7 to go. Let's enjoy it.

Gonna be a long half hour. Howay the lads!

Well, we've definitely turned up. Great half, and deserved lead. Just hope the lads have enough in the tank to keep it up. Howay the lads!

The silver lining is them being 10 points off the top half, with 9 games to play. They started their match today with the same goal difference as Forest.

Going over the ball usually isn't an excuse so I was expecting red there.

Liverpool are a strong team and its a big ask. But we've beaten better than them on our day under Eddie in recent seasons. Just hope the lads turn up, we give our all, and any luck there is goes our way. Some decent analysis from Opta here. They say what you'd expect about Gordon and Hall but also mention that we're effective at breaking play up against tough opponents. My own feeling is that we must do that and can't give them an easy goal on a fastbreak or counter. Avoid that and we've got a chance. Both finals Liverpool were in last season under Klopp were extremely dull chess matches. The same players were ineffective at working the ball and creating chances on their own against Chelsea's defence. https://theanalyst.com/2025/03/liverpool-vs-newcastle-efl-cup-final-five-areas-decider

Could have taken a touch there. He was in acres.

Hard to deny with the way they talk about Isak. Hopefully Salah and VVD leave and Liverpool drop to the same level as everyone else. Salah in particular is like a cheat code.

Barnes would also be slightly more useful than Willock defending corners, which are likely to be a big Liverpool threat. They were against PSG. They also won that dour final last year with a header from a corner in extra time.

Brilliant from Fernandes. Arsenal are so far from a genuine title challenge. Such talk really flatters them.

The ref is an omen! (c'mon, let me cling to something)

In the most incriminating angle, where it looks a red, the defender is clearly holding and pulling a huge handful of Gordon's shirt. Gordon has repelled someone holding him. We won't, but I bet Arsenal or Liverpool would get leniency for this. VVD gets leniency for elbowing people in the face.

Dumb move by him, but still a bit soft compared to Cunha or that Millwall keeper. The ref didn't have to give it so eagerly. Millwall keeper needed VAR to intervene despite the worst keeper challenge since Schumacher in 1982. 43 fucking years! Sounds decent. Some variant of what we did vs. Arsenal. Hope PSG can work them over beforehand and show us some cracks in their armour.

Disappointing. Either of the offside goals, first was Barnes being too slow to play it and second was very close, and we scrape a win. We didn't play well, but Brighton didn't either. Their best chances came from us passing it to them and we kicked their first shot into the goal. If that hinders us for the Carabao final, then that is even more disappointing.

A bit meh in terms of general play from both sides. Penno was a freebie off a rash challenge, but we were also a bit unlucky with their goal and them scoring with their only shot. We've created better chances and would have gone two up had Barnes played in Isak a second earlier.

All the more reason to consult stats rather than watch their matches A goalie who does let anything in will also make the games even more dour.

One of Gordon's main moves is to come inside and play a vertical pass. This is a lower percentage but high reward ball. I honestly didn't know before I looked it up but fbref says he's seventh in the league in key passes. The "progressive distance" per 90 stat also says he advances the ball up the pitch more than other key passing wingers like Salah. Kulu, and Mbeumo. https://fbref.com/en/comps/9/Premier-League-Stats#all_leaders

Anfield curse, them flying, and no Isak mean 2-0 is a decent result that most of us would have taken at kickoff. The nuts and bolts of it weren't pretty. The downpour offerred a chance for some good old-fashioned "don't like it up em" battling, but the lads didn't have it in their legs. Presumably they would have tracked the runners for both goals otherwise. Make it like the SJP game and we'll have a chance in the final. Isak is essential. Maybe Botman and big Joe for chaos too.