The Official Liverpool FC Thread [Vol 8]
Discussion
BossHogg said:
Although disappointed with the result, I'm not panicking yet, we're only 2 games in. 
This 
2nd game of the season against City who squad wise are leagues ahead of us and most likely favourites for the title.
2 new defenders out of the back 4.
Mad how people have lost their heads.
phil_cardiff said:
I see the witch hunt has started early this year. Anyone seen my pitchfork?
As an aside, if we're going to call players 'w
k' or whatever, can we also explain why we think that they are 'wk'? Might add a bit to the debate.
Johnson doesn't seem at all interested, Allen goes missing far too much and Mignolet is very limited. All of these shortcomings were evident last season with these 3 players and they've carried on where they left off last season. This isn't an early judgement but rather something ongoing from last season.As an aside, if we're going to call players 'w
k' or whatever, can we also explain why we think that they are 'wk'? Might add a bit to the debate. Our defensive strategy is 2nd class, it was poor last season and continues to be poor this season. The left side last night was dire, and this wasn't about any particular defender, rather the strategy. The truth is, defensively, we're carrying Gerrard. The other 2 midfielders either side of him need to compensate for this.
You'll have to pick up with Gaz why he's fond of the word w
k. I don't suppose responding by calling him a spaz really adds to the debate either.RedTrident said:
phil_cardiff said:
I see the witch hunt has started early this year. Anyone seen my pitchfork?
As an aside, if we're going to call players 'wk' or whatever, can we also explain why we think that they are 'wk'? Might add a bit to the debate.
Johnson doesn't seem at all interested, Allen goes missing far too much and Mignolet is very limited. All of these shortcomings were evident last season with these 3 players and they've carried on where they left off last season. This isn't an early judgement but rather something ongoing from last season.As an aside, if we're going to call players 'w
k' or whatever, can we also explain why we think that they are 'wk'? Might add a bit to the debate. Our defensive strategy is 2nd class, it was poor last season and continues to be poor this season. The left side last night was dire, and this wasn't about any particular defender, rather the strategy. The truth is, defensively, we're carrying Gerrard. The other 2 midfielders either side of him need to compensate for this.
You'll have to pick up with Gaz why he's fond of the word w
k. I don't suppose responding by calling him a spaz really adds to the debate either.No more than most on here, spent 3 years playing pro evo if that helps
I thought it was obvious where we were getting battered last night. They let us pass the ball in the places it didn't matter and hit us with ease on the break and pushed down the left time after time and forcing mistakes.
And from the home win the week before it was obvious that Sturridge on his own up front means he is much easier to defend against.
I've never really seen much of on the pitch Balotelli. The impression I have is of a central striker that isn't at his best playing across the front 3. Rather that he's best as a lone striker or in a pairing of 2. Hopefully with him added to our attack we become harder to defend against.
I thought it was obvious where we were getting battered last night. They let us pass the ball in the places it didn't matter and hit us with ease on the break and pushed down the left time after time and forcing mistakes.
And from the home win the week before it was obvious that Sturridge on his own up front means he is much easier to defend against.
I've never really seen much of on the pitch Balotelli. The impression I have is of a central striker that isn't at his best playing across the front 3. Rather that he's best as a lone striker or in a pairing of 2. Hopefully with him added to our attack we become harder to defend against.
Disappointing result of course, I think that 3-1 was about an accurate reflection of the game. We didn't play so badly but to be honest we didnt cause that much of a threat. How many balls were played over the top or in behind for someone to run on to ?? Everything seemed to want to go through the traffic. One fast ball in behind and Aguero did damage. They are the runs we will miss. However I guess not unexpected so onwards and upwards.
Pommygranite said:
RT - do you have any football management/training experience?
I don't think you need football management experience - you just simply say what you see. And right now, Mignolet, Johnson and Allen have consistently under-performed for a number of months going back to last season. Yes Johnson has experience, Mignolet probably has potential but when their lack of performances are quite clearly damaging the team as a whole. The defence need a strong commanding goalkeeper when it comes to crosses, corners and the like. Mignolet instills zero confidence in me just watching him so I can't imagine what it must be like as a defender. Johnson just looks like a dazed chicken. Runs up the pitch a lot but often gives the ball away and lazily tracks back to defence. And Allen, I am surprised no one has registered a missing persons report on him.
Sturridge was very isolated last night. Looked more threatening when Markovic and Lambert came on.
Allen played well and looked very active in the first half. We had Sterling, Coutinho and Sturridge all having a go. That all disappeared in the second half as City took over. Sturridge looked clumsy more often than not when he had the ball and Sterling and Coutinho were rendered inactive. As was Allen. Didn't see a lot wrong with Mignolet except the third goal, which surely he should have got down quicker for/closed off the space at his near post.
Otherwise we were undone by a much better team who came to life after 30 minutes and only got better.
As was said above, we got away without much of an attacking threat in the first game. We needed to improve a lot against City and we did for the first half hour. After that...
Interesting that Johnson seemed more mobile when he was injured than Moreno was. And yet Moreno elected to stay on while Johnson was doing the "I need to come off" signal when we had no subs left. Hopefully that's his last appearance now. He was very poor again and offered little forward or back.
No doubt the new back 4 will take a while to bed in - as will this new team. But I still see more positive signs than negative.
Otherwise we were undone by a much better team who came to life after 30 minutes and only got better.
As was said above, we got away without much of an attacking threat in the first game. We needed to improve a lot against City and we did for the first half hour. After that...
Interesting that Johnson seemed more mobile when he was injured than Moreno was. And yet Moreno elected to stay on while Johnson was doing the "I need to come off" signal when we had no subs left. Hopefully that's his last appearance now. He was very poor again and offered little forward or back.
No doubt the new back 4 will take a while to bed in - as will this new team. But I still see more positive signs than negative.
Flip Martian said:
But I still see more positive signs than negative.
Believe it or not, I also see more positive signs than negative. I mean Johnson will probably be out for at leats a few weeks, meaning manquillo and/or flannagan will get game time and hopefully impress. I can see Allen being used more as a sub going forward, once Lallana is fully fit, so another positive.
The one problem I see that won't be rectified is that Mignolet has no one putting pessure on him. No pressure will mean he will cintinue to make mistakes, drop crosses etc. I liked the way Pelligrini last season dropped Hart and replaced him with Pantimillon. Has the desired effect in the latter part of the season. We can't do that with Brad Jones IMO - needed Reina to stay really but BR has his pride unfortunately. Personally, I would put in a bid for Cech. World class and Mignolet can be used as his understudy at least for this season.
type-r said:
Believe it or not, I also see more positive signs than negative. I mean Johnson will probably be out for at leats a few weeks, meaning manquillo and/or flannagan will get game time and hopefully impress.
I can see Allen being used more as a sub going forward, once Lallana is fully fit, so another positive.
The one problem I see that won't be rectified is that Mignolet has no one putting pessure on him. No pressure will mean he will cintinue to make mistakes, drop crosses etc. I liked the way Pelligrini last season dropped Hart and replaced him with Pantimillon. Has the desired effect in the latter part of the season. We can't do that with Brad Jones IMO - needed Reina to stay really but BR has his pride unfortunately. Personally, I would put in a bid for Cech. World class and Mignolet can be used as his understudy at least for this season.
I agree Mignolet needs competition. Reina could have provided that but clearly BR and Reina had issues. Although Reina's 6 figure weekly salary might have been a factor, understandably. Jones isn't competition, agreed; I only wish he were. No chance of getting Cech I wouldn't think but would certainly be an improvement in the short term. But...we should have a stronger back 4 this season.I can see Allen being used more as a sub going forward, once Lallana is fully fit, so another positive.
The one problem I see that won't be rectified is that Mignolet has no one putting pessure on him. No pressure will mean he will cintinue to make mistakes, drop crosses etc. I liked the way Pelligrini last season dropped Hart and replaced him with Pantimillon. Has the desired effect in the latter part of the season. We can't do that with Brad Jones IMO - needed Reina to stay really but BR has his pride unfortunately. Personally, I would put in a bid for Cech. World class and Mignolet can be used as his understudy at least for this season.
Edited by Flip Martian on Tuesday 26th August 10:07
Forget last night, learning curve for Bren that a newby and a few tiddlers down one side against the champions wasn't his finest work (scary hey guys that he couldn't see that especially when Navas came on)
We have 5 days to work on a putting the players into a formation that attacks and defends whilst accommodating SuperMario - this is more of a test of Bren than last night as it will show how he "strategises" after defeat.
I think we will be fighting for top 4 as fourth against Spurs and Everton hence its important to knock them back at any opportunity.
We have 5 days to work on a putting the players into a formation that attacks and defends whilst accommodating SuperMario - this is more of a test of Bren than last night as it will show how he "strategises" after defeat.
I think we will be fighting for top 4 as fourth against Spurs and Everton hence its important to knock them back at any opportunity.
Are we not back in for the Argentina keeper?
I agree though. More positives than negatives, we need a little time to adapt and having city as your second game wasn't great.
Hopefully Manquillo, Markovic, Lallana and Balotelli playing will give us a better formation with a wider attack and they will pull all the attention from Sturridge so he doesn't get marked out too easily.
I agree though. More positives than negatives, we need a little time to adapt and having city as your second game wasn't great.
Hopefully Manquillo, Markovic, Lallana and Balotelli playing will give us a better formation with a wider attack and they will pull all the attention from Sturridge so he doesn't get marked out too easily.
I think what we’ve seen with the two teams selected is that Rodgers doesn’t want to play more than a few new players at once, which I can understand. As a result you have Johnson and Allen on the pitch, rather than Manquillo and Markovitch. There may be an argument for Cann to play ahead of Henderson or Gerrard in some games/formations, but he won’t get much game time while other players are being bedded in because the other two are known quantities. We saw last season how important it is to manage change properly, hopefully that’s what’s happening.
We also saw that once the game was gone, players that need to learn the system were put on so at least we gained something from the game.
Any news on Moreno’s injury?
We also saw that once the game was gone, players that need to learn the system were put on so at least we gained something from the game.
Any news on Moreno’s injury?
DJRC said:
Erm ... didn't we all have this as a loss anyway? City away second game was always a loss every which way. Chavski away is another probable loss. The home results are where we target.
AgreedSouthampton home - should be a win, was, we played very average
City away - likely loss, was, we played OK
Spurs away - much more of a measure as to our potential this year, and much more important
Have a nasty feeling that that game has come a bit early for us too and they are playing well - a win there would be massive
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