KopTalk.com Forums Football Liverpool FC Forum CONFIRMED TEAM & MATCH THREAD V BARCA

I'm not buying the team selection excuse - it's a complete kop-out (literally!). Firmino was injured and couldn't play the whole 90 minutes - and Klopp just doesn't trust Sturridge or Origi to deputise in that position because they don't close down and track back well enough. So he played a false 9 with a harrying player - and we had plenty of chances to score. In fact, Mane often rotated into the middle and he got behind a couple times. TAA has been caught out of position in recent games - and although he's a great prospect, he doesn't always time his runs right and sometimes leaves us exposed. Gomez is more solid defensively - and you just can't say that Liverpool would have secured another fate with TAA or Firmino in the side.

What we can say is that the team on the field was a little naive. Only a fabulous piece of optimism separated the sides in the first half - and we completely outplayed them for the majority of the second half and should have scored. Just like the Real Madrid final last year we were undone by the 'dark arts' of a Spanish team. We were outplaying them and they slowed the game down with dives, injury simulation, and trying to con the ref, which we played into. Just imagine if a Real player had been fouled in the box like Mane was early in the game - he would have rolled around and pretended agony to get the ref's attention. Klopp's teams are always honest and direct and need to learn to cope with the underhanded methods of teams like Real Madrid and Barcelona. The headlines will be about Messi's freekick... but I will forever remember his pathetic rolling around to try and get Milner sent off for running into him. We need to wise up.

People keep saying the formation was too defensive: No it wasn't. If anything we were too open and pushed too hard for an away goal, which left us exposed to the break on countless occasions towards the end of the game. Once it was 2-0 it could have 5 or 6. We should have played a bit tighter - it would have been better to get out of there with a 1-0 loss rather than risking the whole tie. We were so reckless that Allison wanted to go up for the corner at the end - and the coaching staff had to wave him back. But before that late period it really could have been 3-3 as Milner, Salah and Mane fluffed very attractive chances. Just like last year's final, the scoreline flattered the Spanish team who were simply opportunistic rather than good. Also, VVD was slightly at fault for two goals so all the boasting about him being the best defender in the world was probably a bit premature. I think the players are more to blame than Klopp - and they really should have put away one or two of those chances.

We will buy cover up front this summer. Klopp doesn’t buy in January (not many did) so get over it, move on and accept it’s how he works. To say it was that that cost us in this game is simplistic to say the least.