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A banquet at one end, a dog’s dinner at the other.  There will be many descriptions of our opening day show but they will just about all focus on the same issues that dogged us from Brendan Rodger’s time to now.  If Jürgen is happy with his defensive options maybe we should ask if he’s happy with his defensive coaches.  Someone somewhere is getting something wrong.  Even allowing for the fact the third Watford goal shouldn’t have been given, the ball should have been dealt with just like the one for the first goal should and maybe even the second as well.  Somebody commented last week about an air of anxiety around our support whenever the opposition have a corner and it’s true but not just when the opposition have a corner, it’s when they get into our half.

On the other hand Salah and Firmino looked good, Manè did as well.  Going forward we look like we could be a goal scoring machine but how many will we need to ensure we can finish with three points?

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The sun shone in Dublin, Jurgen sounded happy, the 51,000 crowd sounded happy and the two second half goals that clinched the win made everybody watching on telly happy. Woodburn and Solanke could cause a few defences problems in a season or two…god knows how much they’ll be worth then? A Firmino pen gave us the lead but the old issues at the back still look cause for concern and you’ll need a lot of paper to cover those cracks!!!!

 

I didn’t take the penalty shoot out loss against Atlético as a defeat I saw it as a run out for those on the fringe.  Playing two games in the space of a day wasn’t a good idea and it was pedestrian stuff most of the time.  Jürgen keeps saying we should defend better and about a million or more Reds agree.   You’re talking to the converted, don’t tell us, tell them.

 

It’s hard to believe we went to the Allianz Arena and strolled to a three-nil win over the might of Bayern Munich.  Hard to believe but that’s what we did.  It’s still pick and mix time for teams in these pre-season games but when I looked at our starting eleven, especially the attacking players ours didn’t look bad.  Naturally when I viewed the back line and goalkeeper there was some trepidation but after it was over I couldn’t help but think why has it taken Alberto Moreno so long to actually look like a footballer?  Trent Alexander-Arnold [TAA] has a few defensive limitations but he was basically a kid coping with international footballers and not looking too fazed by it all.  If only he had a Carra there helping him with his education?  Maybe it was because we had Henderson and Can as a bit of a shield but Matip and Lovren didn’t do a bad job against players that have struck fear into many over the past few seasons.  We picked holes in Bayern’s defence and the margin of victory was justified.  Sad that Sturridge picked up a niggle type injury and he won’t be around tonight for the game against Atlético – it must have hurt he didn’t do his dance after scoring.  I still believe we need a good full back and central defender but that’s down to the club but last night in Munich it was our football that lit up the skies after the thunderstorm.